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  “How do I get back?” I pressed.

  “You already know.”

  “I don’t!”

  She looked back at my body. “You must lie down in your body and bring yourself back.” She started to disappear before my eyes.

  “Wait!” I cried and she hesitated. “Who are you?”

  “I’m your angel.”

  “Angel?”

  “It’s not your time to come home. You have much work to do here on earth. You must take care of your species.” She smiled. This was unexpected. I hadn’t even considered a higher power, let alone figured that it would even be interested in me. I looked behind her to my body, wondering how the heck I was going to ‘come back’ and as I did, she disappeared.

  It’s amazing the amount of weight you lose when you’re in the hospital. I was a shell of a person. My skin had turned a light green color and frankly, I looked like a corpse. On occasion the heart monitor beeped and if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was on my way out. I wondered how much time I had left and felt anxious. Just how was I supposed to do this?

  The door opened quietly and Thayde entered the room closing the door behind him. In his hand, he held a vase of my lilies. Walking up to my bed, he set the vase on the desk next to my cards. Gasping, his hands flew to his mouth.

  “Jesus!” He exclaimed. “Oh, baby!”

  He was right. I looked awful. A doctor knocked on the door as he walked in, my chart at his side.

  “Are you family?” He asked and Thayde nodded. “Do you know when her parents will be here?” Thayde shook his head. “It’s important that they be here if they want to say goodbye.”

  “What?”

  “Her heartbeat has slowed drastically. I’m afraid we’ve done all we can. Her body is dying and we don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t think she’s going to last the day.”

  “No!” Thayde collapsed on the edge of the bed. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”

  “No, I’m very sorry.” The doctor repeated. He moved to the door. “I’ll have the nurse call her parents so they can be present.”

  Thayde dared not look away from me. When the doctor left, he began to plead with me.

  “Morgan! You’ve got to wake up. Please, wake up!”

  It was now or never. Better that I died while fighting to live, than give up. I lay down in the shell that used to be me and relaxed. Calming my thoughts, I focused on silence and peace. I focused on being one with myself and the earth. The sounds of the hospital and Thayde’s voice grew distant until they disappeared altogether. The harder I focused, the louder the ringing in my ears became. The golden orb of energy slowly began to tingle throughout my body. I wasn’t able to release it. Instead, it grew and grew until I felt like my body was going to split apart.

  I sensed movement, hands upon me and faint shouting. Still, I continued to concentrate on my energy. There was a sharp pain in my chest. My mind began to overload again and I could barely hold on to the orb. Finally, when it released, the shock of it brought me to my senses.

  The numerous hands on my body lifted and the voices stopped altogether. Pain took the place of comfort. My hearing returned and the strong smell of chemicals they used to clean hospital rooms stung my nostrils. The silence was deafening. I took in the scene as I forced my eyes open.

  Two doctors and several nurses surrounded my bed with dumbfounded looks upon their faces. One of the doctors holding a defibrillator in his hands stood with his mouth agape. No one spoke.

  “Morgan?” Thayde pushed past the group clustered around me and grabbed my hand.

  I felt as if I were swimming in molasses. My body ached and moving seemed to take an eternity. When I finally moved my head a few inches to the right and focused on Thayde, I felt as if I’d run a marathon.

  “She’s awake!” He cried, squeezing my hand in excitement.

  A nurse took the defibrillator from the doctor and he put a hand on Thayde’s shoulder. “Please, let me check her over.”

  Thayde moved back and watched the doctor take my vitals. He bent over me, shining a small flashlight in my eyes.

  “Can you hear me?”

  Of course I could. I tried to speak, but couldn’t find my voice.

  “Blink if you can hear me.”

  I blinked.

  “Good. Can you squeeze my hand?”

  Probably not. I focused on squeezing and found myself barely able to move my fingers.

  “Okay, not bad. You gave us one heck of a scare, Morgan.”

  My doctor’s nametag read Dr. Foster. He had a kind face, one that made you immediately trust him.

  “In fact, I’m not so certain I know what just happened.”

  The others in the room shook their heads when he looked at them.

  “We need to run a few tests. We’ll start with an MRI to make sure nothing’s been damaged. We’re going to have to take her now,” he said to Thayde. “We’ll bring her back soon.”

  They wheeled me away from my room and down the bright hallway to an elevator. The nurses and doctor were all talking at once, trying to figure out what had happened to me. The barrage of tests they ran was terrifying. Every inch of me was touched by people I didn’t know. I knew they were trying to help me, but the entire time I lay there, all I could think was they won’t be able to find anything and it seemed I was right. After the numerous tests and blood samples, Dr. Foster seemed at his wits end.

  “I can’t find anything wrong with her.” I overheard him whisper to a nurse. “It’s as if she was just asleep all this time.”

  “Do you think she was pretending?”

  “No. I ran some tests on her while she was unconscious. She was not pretending.”

  Both of them looked back at me and I closed my eyes. I was a different species - of course they wouldn’t have a clue what was going on. Eventually, stumped and scratching their heads, they took me back to my room. My parents were nowhere to be seen. Thayde sat in a chair in the corner of the room, his elbows resting on his knees, his head hung in a dejected way. When we entered the room, he leapt to his feet.

  “We’ll give you a few minutes with each other, but we will be back to check on you shortly,” Dr. Foster said. “Hang in there, young lady.”

  Thayde kissed my hand. “Do you know how scared I’ve been? I thought I’d lost you.”

  I just lay there in my pitiful state, looking at him. My body was tired, my eyes heavy.

  “Morgan, please don’t leave me again.”

  I managed a weak smile.

  “Please forgive me for what I said. I didn’t want any of it. I thought that’s what you wanted. I’m sorry. You’re going to be all right. I’m not going to leave your side.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

  It was comforting to know he’d be there when I woke up. I wasn’t able to keep my eyes open. Thayde pulled a blanket around me as I closed them.

  “You sleep, my love,” he whispered in my ear. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  Chapter Five

  Awake

  Truth be told, if I had a choice at that moment, I would have preferred being in limbo. My body ached and my chest was killing me. I felt a hundred years old. I blinked a few times. Mom and Tammer were hunched together, asleep on a small couch that had been brought in. Thayde sat in the ugly chair next to my bed, his head and arms resting on the edge of it. He too, was fast asleep.

  I looked to the clock that hung on the wall. 2:45 am. Lovely. I was wide awake, though my body felt tired. Sitting up would have been nice, but my body wasn’t hearing of it and instead, I reached to the controls on the edge of the bed. My muscles yelled at me. Pushing the button that brought the head of the bed up, I glanced down at Thayde, afraid I’d wake him, but he didn’t move.

  I lay my hand on his head and still, he didn’t move. It was so quiet in the room I could have heard a pin drop. The light from the hallway shone through the small window in the door, creating a little rectangular shard of light on the clean checkere
d floor. Silence - it was golden.

  Yawning, I realized that just drawing in a breath of air made my chest scream. What had they done to me? Shocked the living life right out of me with those defibrillators. Stretching my stiff fingers, I looked closely at them, expecting to see shredded nubs from trying to rip through the walls of my bedroom, but there wasn’t a mark on them. I found that odd, as my room was clearly destroyed.

  “Morgan,” Tammer made his way to me. When he reached the edge of my bed, he gave me a gentle hug. “I’m so glad you’re back,” he said.

  “Hi,” I croaked, resembling a frog.

  “We were so worried. Are you all right?”

  I nodded. His look was one I’d grown used to seeing – one he used when he read my mind.

  “You’re in a great deal of pain.” He took my hand. “Your mother can help you with that.”

  I was glad he could read my mind. It saved me making the effort to talk.

  Tammer smiled, nodding. “Yes, but you should work on getting back to normal as soon as possible.”

  Nice, this is going to be easy, I thought. How long have I been here?

  “About a week,” Tammer answered and carefully sat next to me on the bed. “They didn’t think you’d make it. Truthfully, neither did I.”

  Why did this happen?

  “You know why.” He looked at Thayde. “Please don’t blame him. He loves you so much.”

  I know.

  “Do you? I wish you could read minds - read his mind. Then you’d have some idea of how much he loves you.”

  Guilt coursed through me.

  “Don’t feel guilty. I know what’s going on with you now. I’m going to try to contact my sister, Aletheia. I haven’t seen her since our father was killed. She left that day.” He stopped short and seemed to be thinking about what he was going to say next. “It was very hard on her.”

  Why?

  “She was engaged to Reyes Dartmoth and he died in that fight. She blamed me and disappeared. We haven’t seen or heard from her since.”

  What makes you think she’d help me?

  “I don’t know if she will, Morgan, but I’ve got to try. Aletheia’s one of a handful of women who knows the old ways. She was trained by Geiruna.”

  That was a shocker. I thought about the angel who visited me.

  “An angel?”

  I guess.

  “Not many of us have those experiences. You’re very lucky.”

  Lucky?

  “To have the proof that others don’t. To know when others won’t. Did she say anything to you?”

  She told me it wasn’t time for me to go home – that I needed to take care of our species first.

  Tammer nodded, a far off look in his eye. The tick of the clock counted down my life. I was beginning to feel worn out again and longed for the ease of being in limbo.

  “Morgan!” Tammer whispered harshly, snapping out of his trance. “Don’t ever wish for that!”

  Why? It’s a lot easier.

  “Because you can’t control your body when you’re in limbo. You don’t know anything about these new powers. You were able to stay in limbo for a few days, but look what happened to your body! You were dying, Morgan! There’s no way you can go back to that state until you’ve had the proper training.”

  So I would be able to do it again? That gave me hope.

  “Yes, most likely, but please promise me you won’t try anything until we are able to find Aletheia or someone who can help you harness your new powers.”

  I relented - if anything, to get him off my back. I wanted to lie back down. Tammer pushed the down button for me. When the bed was about perfect, he stopped and reached forward, kissing me on the cheek.

  “I need to talk with you and Thayde when you’re both up to it. There are a few things I need to tell you.” He looked down at Thayde and shook his head. “I don’t know how he does it. He’s eaten once in a week and slept just a few hours. His love for you reminds me of my love for Elan.”

  When he mentioned my mother’s name, he looked back at her. “I think I’ll go and be with her now while you sleep.” He winked and stood. “Sweet dreams.”

  He returned to her, placing his arms gently around her shoulders. She nuzzled into him and he pulled her closer. They were so in love with each other. It gave me hope for Thayde and me. Thayde. He continued to sleep half in the chair and half on my bed. He must have been exhausted. I took his hand in mine and relaxed into the bed. Sleep would be nice.

  I woke up to the three of them standing around my bed, watching me. No one said a word until I wearily opened my eyes and stared each of them in the face. Talk about weird.

  “My baby,” Mom said, squeezing me tight. She held me for a full minute, all her energy flowing into me. I felt as if I’d just been given a massive dose of energy pills or something. When she pulled away, I felt the urge to run a marathon, conquer the Alps, or lift a car. It was an incredible feeling.

  “A few more of those and you’ll be right on track,” Tammer chuckled. “Feels nice, doesn’t it?”

  I nodded and reached for Thayde who pulled me into a gentle embrace.

  “Hi love,” he said. “How are you feeling now?”

  “Good,” I said, realizing my voice had grown in strength. “Much better now.”

  “Great!” Mom was practically glowing with happiness. “The sooner you feel better, the sooner we can leave this place and go home.”

  Home? I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to stay with Thayde. I shook my head.

  “I’m not going home. I’ve got a full year of school!”

  Mom looked confused. “How do you think you’re going to learn about your powers? You can’t do both!”

  “I can’t leave Thayde.”

  “I’ll go back with you,” Thayde offered and I shook my head again.

  “There’s no way I’m making you ditch your last year. You’ve got to finish.”

  No one said a word. The noise from outside my room drifted in. The click of the clock’s hands and the beep of the heart monitor competed for attention.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. Something was obviously up.

  “It’s just that…” Mom stammered.

  “We thought you wanted to learn about your powers.” Tammer finished.

  “Yeah, I do, but I’ve got to go to school too.”

  “There’s no way you’ll be able to do both.”

  “Why not?”

  “Morgan,” Tammer began, “it’s not a matter of just wanting to do it. This is a huge responsibility and it will take a great deal of time. I don’t think you’ll be able to do your grades justice doing both.”

  “So, you just expected me to drop out of university?” I couldn’t believe it. Here they were, doing the exact opposite of what they’d preached to me the entire time last year: finish school, go to college and someday get married.

  “I think you should listen to them,” Thayde sided with my parents. “It’s going to be pretty overwhelming for you.”

  I thought about it for a moment. If learning about all this was truly such a huge ordeal, then I understood why they wanted me to return home. But I couldn’t give up going to university because of it. Thayde would be graduating this year and if I was leaving, it meant he’d be leaving too and that was impossible.

  “Maybe we could work something out?” I asked, my voice hopeful.

  “Like what?” Tammer already knew what I was thinking. I don’t know why he didn’t just go along with it. I rolled my eyes and repeated everything I had just thought for the benefit of the others.

  “I could go to school and on the holidays and weekends, learn about what’s going on with me.”

  Thayde chuckled.

  “What?” I demanded.

  “Sweetie, you have no idea what the work load is for university. It’s a lot different from high school.”

  “I’m sure I can manage.”

  Thayde nodded, suppressing a smile. “It’s a lot harde
r than you think.”

  “You doubt me?” I was trying to keep the anger that wanted to rise at bay.

  “No, I know you can do it, but the question will be whether you’ll want to. University is very difficult. It’s hard to balance studying, attending classes, eating, making time for your friends. Partying. Most freshmen nearly flunk out their first year with that alone. You’ll have that plus the additional learning. I don’t know if you will want to do it.”

  That didn’t make any sense to me, but I let it go.

  “I want to try to do both,” I said firmly. Mom and Tammer could tell they were going to lose the argument.

  “Okay,” Mom relented.

  “Morgan, we’ll see how it goes, but if it gets too overwhelming, I want to know and we’ll work something else out.” Tammer put his arm around Mom in defeat.

  “Okay!” I felt victorious.

  Thayde took my hand, grinning.

  “What?”

  “You have no idea what’s in store for you.”

  “You’re joking right? You can’t be serious!” My doctor’s face drained of color right before us. “She was in a coma for a week! You really want me to release her without finding out what caused it?” He looked back and forth between Tammer and Mom.

  “She seems to be well now,” Mom began and the doctor interrupted, his mouth hanging open reminding me of a codfish.

  “Seems? We still don’t have any idea why she went into the coma. If we release her without knowing what is wrong, she could die!”

  “I’ll be just fine.” I interjected and he looked down at me as if he’d eaten his first chocolate covered grasshopper.

  “You could die!” He repeated slowly, his voice slightly higher as if he was speaking to someone who was hearing impaired.

  “We understand!” Tammer sounded irked.

  Dr. Foster began to pace back and forth across the length of my room. “I don’t understand why you are even considering this at this point,” he mumbled. “Can’t you just leave her here for a few more days?” He looked hopeful toward Mom and frowned when she shook her head.