47

THE HOSPITAL ROOM IS silent, save for the beeping of machines. I look around, though it's hard to see in the darkness.

Ophelia sighs. "Atlas?"

"I'm here," I say softly.

"Thank you for saving me."

"I'll always save you. I'm only sorry it took me so long."

We both fall silent for a moment, then I say, "I should probably get the nurses. They need to know you're awake. And I'm sure Reya will want to see you."

"You met Reya?"

"Something like that. She hasn't left the chair outside your room, no matter how many nurses ask her to go home."

Ophelia laughs, though it's soft. "You'll grow on her. Just give her time."

I rise from the chair and squeeze her hand before taking my hand gently from hers. I step out into the hall. There's a nurse standing a few feet away, writing something on a clipboard. She looks up at me. "She's awake."

The nurse's eyes widen and she rushes past me into the room, turning on the lights.

Reya's asleep in the chair, her head tilted back slightly to rest against the wall behind her. I consider for a moment waking her up, but she appears to be out cold. I follow the nurse back into the room.

Ophelia squints at first as her eyes adjust to the brightness.

The nurse begins asking her a ton of questions and checking different vitals. I stand against the wall, letting the nurse do her job.

The nurse sighs as she finishes up. "I'm so glad you woke up. We were truly worried about you. We'll have to do another head scan in the morning. Until then, rest."

"I feel like staying up," Ophelia says.

"I'm sure you're pretty wide awake now. We were able to contact your father, and he's on his way. Your phone wasn't badly damaged, so we were able to find your emergency contacts.It took a while to get ahold of him, but he should be here as soon as possible. He said he works far away from here."

Ophelia nods. But there's relief in her eyes knowing her dad is coming.

He's always buried himself in his work after his wife, Ophelia's mom, left them. Even though he's gone a lot, he's here when it counts. He cares so much for Ophelia. I imagine he's beside himself right now.

The nurse raises the head of Ophelia's bed so she can sit up a bit, then leaves to inform the doctor. Ophelia looks over to her bedside table and then back at me. "Can you hand me my phone?"

"Yeah."

I walk to where it sits. The screen is cracked, but it works otherwise. "When you get out of here, I can take you to the store in the city to get a new one," I offer.

Ophelia smiles sadly. "Thanks. I'm sure I won't have a car for a while."

"Consider me your personal chauffeur." I give a mock bow and a gentle smile.

"Thankfully, I can walk to work when I want. I should call Priya first."

"Would you like me to step outside? Give you privacy?"

"No. Please stay."

She scoots over on the bed, patting the space where no wires are. I slide on and edge up next to her. She makes her phone calls with her free hand, and I gently hold onto her other hand, which is still tethered by tubes and wires.

She calls Priya first. Priya is absolutely beside herself when Ophelia tells her about the accident. I can tell by the way Ophelia tries her best to comfort her.

Then Ophelia calls her father.

He answers after the first ring, and Ophelia starts to cry at the sound of his voice. I hold her tighter, doing my best to comfort her. From what I can tell, her father says he's about an hour away, but he's going to be here as soon as he can.

After she finishes with her phone calls, I set the phone on the bedside table for her.

"I'm glad you're the one they called," she whispers. "I don't think I'd want anyone else here. Don't tell Reya I said that, though."

"Trust me, she cares for you more than you know. She interrogated me before I came in the room," I quip. Then my voice grows serious. "But I'm glad you want me here. I don't deserve it after abandoning you when you needed me. Even before Moriah died. I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you." It feels like I can never, ever say that enough.

Ophelia settles closer to me. "I don't regret being with Milo. But I feel sorry for… how he ended up. I hope he'll come out of this."

"I wouldn't want you to regret Milo," I tell her truthfully. He was a friend to her when I wasn't.

My phone rings abruptly. I turn to pull it out of my pocket with my free hand. Carter's picture flashes on the screen. I put it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Yes, I made it back out of the nightmare alive. Thank you for asking."

"I'm sorry. I was distracted."

"You disappeared into the dome and then next thing I know I was awake."

I cringe. "You have every right to be mad. Ophelia just woke up from the coma, and it's just been one thing after another since we were all in that dome. I'm sorry, bro."

"You're forgiven, but only for Ophelia's sake. I'm really glad she's okay. I'll come see her in the morning."

After a quick goodbye, I hang up. Ophelia drifts off to sleep beside me, and soon I join her, finally in a dreamless sleep.