Keeper of the Lost Cities: Elysian

Chapter 32

What mattered?

What existed? What was still there?

Ready to be taken? Claimed? Seized by its rightful owner?

There was so, so much...

Too much.

A whisper came from the darkness, cold and giving a sense of foreboding.

The time has not yet come.

But...

Didn't you use to say...

If you listened to me then, listen to me now. The time has not yet come. But it will...

When?

Soon... then we will wake.

Wake.

The word crashed into Sophie's beleaguered brain.

Wake. 

The word searched for meaning and then found it. 

"You're awake," a voice said with a tone she couldn't decipher. Was it Linh? Biana? "Finally." 

Light swarmed her and stung her eyes. It was too bright, too radiant.

Too much.

But her brain managed to work, despite the panic and stress she was being bombarded with. She recognized the still-hazy figure sitting in front of her.

How long had she been asleep?

"Rayni?" she mumbled, trying to sit up and rubbing her eyes.

Everything felt sore. And painful.

She blinked a few times and her vision gradually returned to its normal state.

"A lot has happened since you were out," Rayni said slowly. As Sophie's vision focused, she realized Rayni had extremely dark circles under her eyes. "After the storm." 

The storm. 

Sophie remembered the many drops of rain that had fallen during the night.

It was like her brain.  

When she was too exhausted even to stand... 

When everything was just a muddy, soggy mess of thoughts. And rain... 

Too much. 

Was there something that happened right as she fell asleep? 

There felt like something important. But she couldn't remember... 

She just wanted everything to be sane, typical, and normal. 

"Have you gotten rest?" Sophie asked. "And... where are the others?"

There was no one else in Elysian's living room aside from her and Rayni, as far as she could tell.

The windows were open and it was probably around midday. The sky was rather bleak, with clouds enveloping it like one huge blanket. 

No wind, as far as she could feel. 

"I'm fine," Rayni insisted, placing a hand on her face. "I couldn't sleep anyway. And... like I said, a lot has happened. I don't know if I should be the one to fill you in, though."

Sophie heard a familiar voice and her eyes widened as she recognized it.

"I'm going to check on Sophie," Grady said to someone outside. Sophie saw the door swing open and her father's familiar face appear as he stepped inside. "It's nearly noon, so she might be-"