Chapter 36

I come to.

Well, that's a relief. I half expected the afterlife, but I doubt this is it. I can hear familiar voices arguing in the distance—not something I'd expect after passing on.

I open my eyes. The hospital room is too bright, so I shut them again.

"Guys," Felix says. "I think she woke up."

I attempt Project Open Eyes once more. The faces of Ariel, Kit, Felix, Itzel, and Valerian are all within sneezing distance from my face, and all are speaking at the same time.

"You're okay." My voice is hoarse as I force out the words. "I was wor—"

"Here." Valerian grabs a glass of water from a table by my bed and places the straw sticking out of it into my mouth.

I take a small sip.

My throat feels better, and I realize I have an IV in my arm, along with tubes in other places and monitoring equipment attached to my chest.

How bad was my condition for me to need all this?

"You're going to be fine," Valerian says as if reading my mind. "You had a nano surgery on your knee, and you should be able to walk on it, no problem. They didn't use any vampire blood during treatment, just pumped you with fluids. You lost so much blood you're bound to be weak."

"What about you?" I croak out, indeed feeling so weak the question takes an effort.

"All fine," he says, his sensual lips curved in a warm smile.

"The doctors here rely on vamp blood too much," Ariel grumbles. "I had to tell them repeatedly not to use it on me."

"Same," Felix says.

"I didn't need medical help." Kit winks at me. "Unlike some, I can handle myself in a fight."

Ariel and Felix object loudly, but I miss what they say due to a bout of dizziness. Breathing deeper, I crane my neck forward to catch the straw and suck in another sip. The cool water makes me feel a little better—until I accidentally spill some.

"You made her wet," Kit says to Valerian and pantomimes lasciviously with her eyebrows.

"Seriously?" Itzel asks at the same time as Ariel rolls her eyes and Felix slowly shakes his head.

"Did I hear you arguing earlier?" I ask, my voice finally my own. "You were loud."

Valerian gives everyone a narrow-eyed stare. "We don't want to worry her."

I feel all the blood drain from my face. "Is it Mom?"

Itzel shakes her head. "She's in the room next door, next to my grandfather."

Her grandfather, of course. I almost forgot. "Is he okay?" I ask.

"Fine, tell her," Valerian snaps. "All this guessing is worse."

"It's not Gramps," Itzel says. "Check any media feed. You'll understand."

I enable the VR and skim the headlines. "Oh. They know about the bomb."

Know is an understatement. The news outlets are reporting every tiny detail, and I soon learn why. Wrakar, the necromancer, scheduled a message to go out. In what they've dubbed the Necromancer Manifesto, he lamented that his kind were second-class citizens on Gomorrah and waxed poetic about how the bomb was justice for his people.

"What a pile of mooft crap." I turn off the VR. "Icelus didn't create the bomb for the necromancer kind. They did it to give people nightmares."

"Which they've succeeded in doing despite our efforts." Valerian's face looks so thunderous the others take a step back.

"I blame the Senate," Itzel says. "When the media asked them if the Necromancer Manifesto was true, they confirmed it, adding that they thwarted the plot."

Ariel curls her upper lip. "Typical politicians. Taking credit for our work."

Felix lifts his hand, as if to touch Valerian's tense shoulder, then decides against it. "Just give me the word, and I'll hack into—"

"No," Valerian says, noticeably calmer. "Icelus won this round. Messing with the media or the Senate would just make things worse."

I suck in another sip of water with a slurp. "They didn't win. Millions didn't die. We didn't die. True, this news will give some nightmares, but not nearly as many as would be the case if the bomb had actually gone off."

"Which is exactly what we were arguing about," Kit says. "Your boyfriend disagrees. He thinks the situation isworse now. The millions we saved are just more people to dream the nightmares."

Boyfriend? Is that what they all think?

Okay, I'll take it.

Valerian's jaw remains tight. He doesn't seem to have noticed Kit's premature labeling of our relationship—or if he does, he doesn't care. "What I'm saying is that Icelus succeeded," he says grimly.

"Only if you believe that nightmares really do feed some deity of theirs," I say. "But since all that is baloney, we won."

His stormy expression softens. "You're right," he says, though I don't think he means it. "More importantly, you need to rest."

Ah, that. He might be right there. The effort of talking does make me feel like I've just completed a triathlon. Still, I'm not ready to get tucked in yet—not until I erase that worry from his gorgeous face.

"Can we talk in private?" I whisper, holding his gaze.

In an eyeblink, our surroundings change to a soothing meadow. My friends are no longer visible. Only Valerian is here, gazing down at me with those ocean-deep, hypnotic eyes.

"Can they hear us?" I ask.

He approaches the bed. "No. Can't see us either, at least not this version of us."

I try to sit up, but a wave of dizziness undercuts my efforts, so I settle for frowning up at him. "You almost died. Twice."

"We both did." His face twists with regret as he leans over me. "I'm sorry. I should've never gotten you involved."

"Then you'd be dead." If I had the energy to smack some sense into him, I would, but my arms feel too heavy at the moment.

"You don't understand," he says, frowning. "I—"

I push up onto my elbows and kiss him smack on the lips. His soft, yummy lips… My breathing quickens, a wave of heat chasing away the worst of the weakness as I—

An angry beep sounds, and Valerian abruptly pulls away. The illusion disappears, revealing the faces of my worried friends and the source of the noise—my heart monitor.

An uber nurse rushes into the room, moving almost too fast for my eyes to track. With the same speed, she examines me and adjusts the monitors before declaring that I'm fine but shouldn't be overstimulated in my current state.

I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. I'm not a doctor, but I feel like if Valerian stimulated me properly, I'd be good as new.

Unfortunately, that's not to be. The nurse herds everyone out of the room and goes to town on my IV, saying, "That should help you relax."

If by "relax" she means "go under," sure.

As my lids grow heavy, I realize something.

I kissed Valerian. In the real world. Without worrying about microbes.

That's huge. I can't wait until I'm all better, so I can make sure that wasn't just a fluke. There's going to be vigorous testing. Maybe double-blind control studies as well—as in, with both of us wearing blindfolds, and maybe handcuffs in his case.

With a smile on my face, I let the drug drag me under.

* * *

I wake up feeling better.Infinitely better. The doctors must agree, as I only have some of the medical paraphernalia attached to me now.

Sitting up with ease, I look around.

The only other person in the room is Valerian. He's sleeping in a chair.

Aww. He stayed with me. That earns him another kiss. Maybe several.

My bladder yanks my mind from sexy thoughts to mundane reality.

I swing my legs down and see if I can stand up.

Yep. The knee is as good as new. I detach the heart monitor and the rest, and go into the bathroom to take care of business.

As I exit, I come face to face with Dr. Xipil.

"Ah, good. You're awake," he says.

I nod at the sleeping Valerian, then put a finger to my lips and gesture for the door. The gnome doctor nods, and we tiptoe out, closing the door behind us.

"I wanted to apologize," he says in a low voice. "I had no idea Dr. Cipactli was involved in a terrorist plot. Had I known—"

"Don't mention it." I beam a reassuring smile at him. "How's my mom?"

He glances at the nearby door. "We've just brought her back from the other hospital. Sadly, there's no change in her condition."

I walk over to the door in question and open it.

Seeing Mom hooked up to all those machines is again a punch to the heart—doubly painful now that I know she got this way because of me. I try not to dwell on that last part, though. Not when I can do something a lot more practical.

"I'd like to walk in her dreams again," I tell Dr. Xipil.

"Now?" He looks at the clock.

It's just past midnight.

I nod. "I'm feeling very strong. Can you get someone to help you subdue me in case I die during the subdream stage?"

He gestures in his VR, and a minute later, the uber nurse from before steps into the room.

We tell her what's what, and I approach Mom.

No touchless business now. I reach out and place my hand on her forehead.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I'll fix this."

Closing my eyes, I fall in.