Who I am

Recovery

*Hey guys. Arilioness here. I'm really sorry I haven't been updating. Swimming has been consuming my time and I'm so tired I never update. I'm trying to be regular I'm so sorry. Thanks for reading! Caio!

"Jace, you really need to sleep, Ari's-" Isabelle stops dead in her tracks and Alec runs into her.

"Yeah, Ari's-" They stop and stare. Then they both break into a run and tackle me into a gigantic group hug.

"You're ok! We thought you dead!" Izzy claims.

"Well, I'm not. Now you guys are crushing me, and might kill me yourself on accident." They let go.

"You gave her the vial right?" Alec asks. I nod.

"You should rest." Alec states.

"Yeah, I'm getting to my room first." I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed.

"Bad idea." Jace says. I wave him off and stand. My right leg collapses and Jace catches me.

"I'm still getting to my room." I say.

He puts his arm around my waist and I hop in the direction of my room. Instead of going right, Jace takes me left. The Lightwoods follow. "Hey, my room's the other way." I point out. The library looms in front of me. "No, guys. I don't want to talk to Hodge now."

"Too bad." Jace wrinkles his nose. I hobble inside.

"Hodge-" Alec starts, but is cut off.

"I see Ariella has woken up. How are you feeling?" I blink.

"Fine. I mean, my leg is hurting and walking on it is a bad idea." He sees Jace's arm around my waist.

"I see. Well, I suppose you should go and rest." I hobble out, with Alec and Izzy beside me.

"Hodge didn't seem to be happy to see me." The other two smile, and Jace explains.

"That's his way of saying he's glad to see you're alive, just like we are."

Alec coughs and get in a few words. "Some more than others. I mean, we were worried as all get out but," another wave of "coughing" breaks out. "Some more than others." Isabelle smiles and wacks Alec on the arm. I ignore that statement. I open my door and fall onto my bed, the fire isn't there, but in it's place is aching and tiredness.

"You sleep. You have no weapons training." Jace says. I give him a look of sadness. That's my favorite part of learning. I give him pathetic eyes, and make my lower lip quiver. "No. I don't want you to overexert yourself." I drop the look.

"But you have the rest of the weekend off." He adds, like I'm supposed to be excited.

"But-" He cuts me off.

"No buts, I don't want you to get worse." He gives me his big brother look and tone of voice. I give up. I know Jace, and he's as stubborn as me. He won't give in. Not with this.

"But since you can't really do anything, I'll stay here with you." He sits next to me.

"Were you sitting there the whole time? Last night?" I ask. He nods. "I also heard you muttering my name. You saying Ariella and Chloe, that's what woke me up. And then you fell asleep then I woke up for real."

"I was hoping if I kept saying your name, you'd come back. And you did. But it never lasted long. You went back under, and I- I couldn't do anything. I couldn't do anything to help you. If I had just tried to get to you, this wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't have almost-" He stops again.

"Almost what?"

"Almost, almost," The last word was a whisper. "Died." I suck in a breath.

"I almost died?" He nods, but it was a small nod.

"If you died, I don't know what I would have done. I would have been a wreck. I was a wreck, waiting to see if you were going to be ok."

"But I'm ok. I'm alive." My eyelids start to get heavy. "I'll be ok. I'll be-" I never got to finish my sentence, for I fell asleep. Before sleep completely overtakes me, I hear Jace whisper,

"Sleep well."