All of her limbs felt ridiculously heavy, as if someone had replaced her bones with lead.
“She’s awake,” murmured a familiar voice.
“Rick?” she rasped out.
“I’m right here,” he said. “Do you need anything?”
“I feel tired.”
“Does anything hurt?”
Pierce took a moment to evaluate herself. “No. I just feel exhausted.”
A hand tipped a straw into her mouth. She sucked in the drink; it tasted like chocolate milk with a strange aftertaste. She finished the drink and felt considerably better. Pierce sat up, staring at her leg; it was as good as new, there was no sign of the shark biting it. She was still wet, though not from seawater, but from sweat.
“How long was I out?” she asked.
“Only for a few minutes,” said Indigo, helping her onto her feet. He turned to Rick and said, “Do you still need Pierce?”
“No,” said Rick. “We’re done for the day.”
Thank goodness, thought Pierce.
“This way,” said Indigo, leading her by the elbow. “You’re going back to your room.”
Pierce didn’t have the strength to resist or complain; to be honest, taking a nap sounded like a very good idea at that moment. Walking back to her room, Pierce took the time to go over the three stimulations. While she hadn’t exactly aced them, she hadn’t failed them either.
“Will Trainer Rick tell me how well I performed today?” she asked. Pierce only half expected Indigo to answer.
Indigo shrugged. “I think so.”
“Have you ever gone through those stress stimulations before?”
“Not the same ones, but something similar.”
“Do all Restorers go through them?”
“Most, but not all.”
Pierce sighed, thinking of all the things she would’ve done if she could go back in time and fix her errors in the three stimulations. I would’ve headed towards the buildings first instead of the oasis in the first one, she thought. In the second one, I should’ve paid more attention to what I was grabbing. And in the third one, I should’ve killed the tiger on land, instead of in the water.
“You did good,” said Indigo, surprising Pierce by speaking out to her rather than responding to one of her questions.
She laughed a tight laugh. “Yeah right. I barely made through the three stimulations. I wouldn’t exactly call that ‘good.’”
“But you made it through all three; the stimulations got progressively harder.”
“I’m sure there are other people who went through all three stimulations without ending up half-dead at the end of each one.”
“Wrong.” Indigo ushered Pierce out of elevator. “You’re the first person ever to have completed all three stimulations successfully on the first try.”
