CHAPTER 18 “Familiar Faces”
“Familiar Faces”
Beeping.
Steady. Distant. Cold.
My eyes flutter open to a ceiling too bright, too white. Sterile. The soft hum of fluorescent lights fills the silence above me, and somewhere nearby, a machine clicks like clock marking lost time.
I turn my head.
Pain blooms behind my eyes as if someone’s punched me in the face. The motion feels wrong—like I’m moving a body I’d forgotten how to wear.
A hospital room.
Bland walls. A plastic pitcher of water. A heavy quilt covering my limbs. My right arm is wrapped in gauze. My left hand is bruised, the fingers stiff.
A nurse enters.
No, not a nurse.
Olga.
She freezes when she sees my eyes open.
“My God,” she whispers. “She’s awake.”
Voices follow. The rush of feet. A doctor. A flurry of questions: “Can you hear me? Can you speak? Do you know your name?” All blending into one another, a chorus of noise.
My throat burns, as if I haven’t used my voice in ages. My lips are cracked.
“Elena,” I croak, eyes locked on Olga. She looks different, somehow. Aged. Tired.
Why is she in a nurse’s uniform?
Olga smiles, too bright. The doctor nods. “Yes, that’s right. You’re safe. You’ve been—” He glances at Olga, who’s biting her lip, as if biting back a secret. “You’ve been sleeping a long time.”
“What?” I search their faces. “How long?”
The nurse—Olga—hesitates. “Now, dear, don’t worry about that. You just think about getting better and regaining your strength now that you’re awake.”
“How. Long?”
“Three years,” the doctor says carefully. “You were found unconscious near the old road. Near the edge of Bear Forest. A substantial tree branch had fallen on your head, you’re lucky to be alive. You could have died, Elena.”
I blink.
“A tree branch?” My voice trembles.
“Yes,” the doctor replies, nodding as he checks my vitals once more. “You suffered head trauma and severe dehydration. You fell into a coma.”
I close my eyes. But the darkness behind my lids isn’t empty. I see the mansion. The estate. The decaying walls and tables filled with endless food. Rein. Hunter. Nikolas. I see the lake. The wraith. The water as it entered my lungs.
My pulse surges. Machines chirp.
“No,” I whisper. “It wasn’t a coma. I was there. It was real.”
The doctor exchanges a glance with Olga. “I know it can feel real,” he says gently. “Comas can cause vivid dreams. Hallucinations. Blurred memory. Especially with your injuries. People that you know in real life can even appear in them, making the dreams seem especially believable."
I stare at them, numb.
They don’t know.
Can’t know.
The train ride comes to mind, and my meeting with Olga.
Then the cab and how I’d wandered into the forest. How I’d stumbled upon the Bear Mansion.
My first meeting with the three brothers.
My experiences with Niko. His fervid touches.
His eyes. The way he had looked at me with both awe and hunger, with a hidden emotion that only now I realize was deep admiration and reverence.
I suck in a ragged breath. My heart aches.
It was real.
It had to be real.
They leave me alone after a while, saying I needed rest. Saying they’d call my family. I lay in silence, the steady beep of the heart monitor echoing like distant footsteps. I turn my hand over on the blanket. Something is clenched in my palm. I didn’t notice it before.
I slowly uncurl my fingers.
A gold pendant, the chain broken, rests there.
My breath catches.
How do I have it? I remember losing it in the lake, the wraith-like creature ripping it from my neck.
The light flickers. Just once. The machines beep chaotically before they steady again.
I sink back against the pillows, eyes wide.
No one believes me.
But I know it wasn’t a dream.