Under the Stars (a lunar chronicles Modern AU)

Chapter Seventeen: You Win

She felt as if she were drowning, the current sucking her down into a whirling underwater cyclone, her body being battered against the waves until she ached.

Where was she?

It was so, so dark, everywhere she turned she saw only a glimmer, two dark eyes and a whirl of black hair surrounding her. The figure drew closer, a figment of her imagination she knew, yet when he held out her hand her fingers connected with smooth skin.

Suddenly everything went still. The waves calmed to a lullaby, the winds drifting instead of smashing as she was brought to the surface, the figure floating up besides her. They arrived on shore without needing to swim. Where they stood a pebbled beach could be seen from the inside of a beach house.

The figure was now a young girl, curls riding up around her blotchy cheeks as she cried over a broken shell. Cinder shuffled up to her cousin and wrapped her in her arms.

"We'll find another shell," Cinder said, unsurprised to find that her voice resembled that of a five year olds, all high and squeaky, so full of plain innocence.

Winter shook her head, fingers trembling over the broken shards "It was my favourite," she whimpered as Evret stepped up into the room picking Winter up and hugging her to his chest until her whimpering ceased.

"How about I get you girls some ice cream?" he suggested, and in an instant any shell drama was forgotten. Cinder grabbed her floppy sunhat and they took off onto the beach.

Further along the coast on one of the few sandy patches, Levana was sun bathing, shades covering her eyes, wearing a bikini that barley covered her. Evret glanced only briefly at her as they passed and restrained from letting Winter see her step mother. Cinder saw something then in that dream that she didn't remember originally, but laying besides Levana in equally revealing swim shorts was a tanned lifeguard who insisted on poking her belly every so often.

Evret picked up the pace and continued his merry chatter until they reached the market.

---

When Cinder came to she felt numb. She could barley open her eyes, and when she finally managed to peel them open it was a ceiling she saw above her and not the underside of Iko's bunk.

She didn't remember climbing into Iko's bed the night before, though every now and then she would steal the other girls bunk. Actually, she couldn't remember the night before at all. She looked around; this wasn't her dorm.

Frightened she sat up, her head bursting in pain as she did.

"Lay back down," she heard Iko say from beside her, and although she didn't know what was going on she let her friend lay her back down.

"What happened?" Cinder asked, turning herself on her side, "Why am I here?"

From her brief glance around Cinder had deciphered she was in a hospital, but why? Because of her aching skull? Wouldn't she have just taken a tablet? She wouldn't have had to go to an actual hospital... and fallen asleep there.

"Do you not remember last night?" Iko asked. Cinder began to shake her head, but it screamed in pain and she resulted to answering verbally. She couldn't remember a thing beyond returning back to school after meeting the others for pizza. They'd made plans to visit Levana and Evret over the weekend. Would that still happen if she was in hospital.

"What happened?"

Slowly Iko explained in detail the events of the night before, flinching when she saw Cinder's confused look.

"When did we get to the hotel?" She asked.

"You don't remember," Iko muttered, "you don't..." Iko ran off and was back minutes later with a nurse tailing her.