Awake

Gisa

Gisa opened her eyes, her breath weak. White light shone above her. Where was she? Her heart rate spiked immediately. Was she still in danger? She was cold… her leg.. She couldn't move it. She tried to move her head… a pain shrieked through her neck up to her brain. She gasped out, tears rising to her face.

Someone ran into her field of vision, "It's okay, you're alright, just breathe Gisa."

She grunted. She wasn't planning to stop breathing… but she tried to deepen her breaths anyway, cause her heart to calm down as the pain subsided.

"That's it, nice and easy." the woman said gently.

So she obviously wasn't in danger anymore… but she had no idea where she was… Well… was she still in danger? There was something around her neck. Was this her mother's fault? Where was she? Her eyes darted around what she could see of the white tiled ceiling. "Who are you?" Gisa asked, her voice breathy.

"I'm Carolina." The woman said, her round face finally coming into focus. "I'm your nurse. Do you think you could tell me what your name is?"

"Gisa." she said, still struggling to turn to the side.

A gentle touch on her shoulder made her quit the futile movements, "Calm down now for a moment, let me prop you up." She said.

Gisa braced for the pain that would come as the nurse lifted her up. But instead, the bed itself elevated her upper body, the wall slowly came into view, a picture on the far wall, then another chair, nobody there. Then the plump smiling red headed nurse was there. Something about her face put Gisa at ease. "Thank you," she croaked.

Carolina smiled. "Want to try a sip of water?"

"Please," she said, her throat hurting with every syllable.

Carolina lifted a tiny paper cup to her lips. Gisa managed to drink most of it, the other part dripping out of the cup onto her neck. She shivered, but Carolina smiled, "You felt that?"

Gisa managed a small nod.

"Good! We were worried you might have some minor nerve damage there, but it seems you got lucky." Carolina turned around to fiddle with something.

Gisa made a face, "My head hurts… Carolina, where am I? I'm… I'm not sure what…" she struggled on the words. You're safe now, you're safe now. She chanted to herself. Some small part of her screamed as Gisa revealed her vulnerability, but she knew it was different here.

Carolina turned around with pursed lips, "You don't remember?"

Gisa closed her eyes a moment, getting over the pounding of her head. What had she been doing? She was at school… she'd been going there for months… the blood oath swirled in her head, the very back, with a gutteral hiss. Gisa's eyes flew open, her hand flying to her neck. The sudden movement jerked the IV bag directly out of the stand, "Carolina…"

The nurse had the bag back up in less than a second, her other hand gently pulling her hand from her neck, "Yes dear. I see this… disturbs you greatly. But you recovered. Your magic neutralized the poison that was making its way through your blood. You were incredibly strong." And though Gisa's head pounded, though she slowly realized what the attack meant, the words were comforting in a way. "You were also very brave," Carolina stroked her hand once gently.

Gisa felt the tears in her eyes, emotions flooding her. "How long have I been out?" She asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"Eight days," she said.

Gisa fell back onto the pillow, her strength leached from her. Eight days. On the island they would have given up on her. She wouldn't have had her magic though… Her breaths became shorter. She probably would have died. She could have died. She could have been dead.

"Has anyone been to visit?" she asked.

"A few people. The others from the island visit the most." Carolina said to her, "Would you like me to call them for you?"

A doctor came in to check out Gisa's vitals and test a few things she could only just watch. He was there only a few minutes when Ron came in the door.

"Gisa! Holy— Holy… everything! You're awake! And you're okay!" He bumped past Carolina without seeming to notice she was there.

Gisa smiled despite the pain, the needles and the machines all gathered around her, "Yeah, glad to see you are too."

His smile faltered a moment, undoubtedly going back to that day, "Yeah, nothing a little painkiller couldn't fix." His grin returned, but the eyes behind it were hollow. The circles under his eyes were growing. At least since she'd seen him last. The blood bond preened in her head as she took notice of its effect on Ron. She wanted to hiss at it to go away, but speaking out loud would be hard to explain… or result in medical procedures that were not necessary. Ron seemed to understand.

"Where's—?"

"Emma and Jamison?" Ron finished for her, "Couldn't find them. Jamison left our dorm about eight last night and didn't come back. Emma wasn't in her dorm either. I hunted around for a little while, but then decided to come here to see you."

She watched the doctor leave the room before asking, "Do you think they're alright? Do you think that—"

"The creature didn't do it, Gisa. They found his body two days ago in his cell. He was shredded to ribbons." He grimaced for a moment, "I don't recommend looking at the images."

"Ron…" her heart was as heavy as stone, "What killed it?