Fractured Crown (Book 1: Terra)

Chapter 40

Raena was in that strange stasis between consciousness and the unconscious. She wasn't aware of whether it was day or night, wasn't aware of what was real, or what wasn't. By this point, everything was mushing together into one, incomprehensible passing of time.

Her dreams were distorted, nonsensical. When they had first injected the needle into her, she had fallen into a deep sleep. She had dreamed she was back at the waterfall, running from the draugr that she hadn't yet seen, but knew was coming after her. As if her subconscious knew of the danger that was awaiting before she herself could see it. She thought she had spotted Iris inside Grandpa Sage's cave, behind the waterfall, but when she tried to reach her, the sheet of water became solid, cutting off her connection from her sister.

She had banged on the thick blanket of ice, calling out Iris's name, begging her to help her, to turn around. And she almost had turned around. But then Raena had been pulled away from her dreamland and back into reality when the anaesthetics had worn off, and what she awoke to made her wish she had never left the draugr in her dream.

Raena's head was fuzzy, her body completely numb. It was only when she managed to glance down at the two nurses in the mint masks, that she slowly became aware of her surroundings, remembered where she was. The male nurse – Evan, she remembered his name – was removing a bag full of blood which she could only assume was for testing.

Her blood. Bile rose in Raena's throat. That was her blood.

Her head spun, and she let out a groan. The nurses noticed, then sedated her once again.

***

It went on like that. She awoke several times, panting and sweating from her hide-and-seek games with the draugr she knew was waiting in her dreams. It hadn't shown its face yet, but Raena knew why. Soon, it wouldn't have to hunt her down. She was weakening with each dream she fell into, the blood loss draining and sapping her energy entirely. All the draugr had to do, was wait until she had no strength left to think, no will left to run. Then it would get her. And she would let it, when the time came.

She once awoke when a searing pain hit her shot up her shoulder, and Raena opened her mouth to let out a hoarse scream when she saw they had cut a part of arm open, and were beginning to stitch it up now.

They sedated her again, but some alarm entrenched deep within Raena's mind wouldn't allow her to fall back asleep. Dream, reality, dream, reality. It was all a nightmare now.

She fell asleep. Then awoke to what felt to her like minutes later, but must've been longer. Even breathing was an effort now, and she felt physically and mentally exhausted. She only hung onto a thread of hope: Braedon. Iris. One of them would find her. She just had to hang on a little longer.

The voices surrounding her were indecipherable. It was as if her brain couldn't function properly enough to comprehend words anymore. But she noted Jasper in her peripheral vision, pointing to something, then to her. Next minute, she was being injected with something that made her legs kick out wildly, as if she had no control of them anymore. They thrashed, and Raena felt some kind of chemically-made adrenaline pumping through her veins. Something deep within her chest grumbled, like a beast stirring in its sleep.

"It's working," she heard Jasper say.

Finally. She was making sense of words. But though the adrenaline had stimulated some part of her brain, it was now making her breath quicken, her palms and forehead sweat.

"More," he ordered.

"But Sir, if we pump anymore into her there's a risk that she might fail, like the others." That was the female nurse, not so much sounding concerned, as she was stating it matter-of-factly.