Eclipsed Star

Chapter Twenty-two

JAKE'S POV 

Until the moment I felt a warm liquid suddenly flowing through my veins, I had felt like I was being pulled between worlds. Darkness increased before it faded and then replaced by a blue light shining over my eyelids. And then finally, I settled into the world I was familiar with. As I slowly came back to earth, I could feel the warmth of hand around mine. I weakly gripped it.

Through the thickness of fog, I distantly knew who it was when I felt the smooth coolness of his steel bracelet brush the tips of my fingers. A large hand gripped my hand back and it reassured my theory, but then the hand slipped away.

"Roman?" I whispered, easing myself up in the bed. I looked around the dark empty room and sighed.

I quickly came to the conclusion that I must have been dreaming. I turned onto my side and closed my eyes. My heart fell as disappointment washed over me. I had desperately wished Roman was here. I needed him. I gripped the sheet with my hand and winced. As my eyes flung open to the IV, something under the sheet brushed my hand.

For a moment I stared at it, feeling the fog still clinging to the walls of my brain before I picked up the red-ribbon-like plant. My thumb ran the length of the thick stem. It lightly burned my thumb as my mind flashed back to the greenhouse-I'd saw that plant the night I was with Roman.

I smiled. I knew he had been here. But then, why'd he leave? When I sat myself up in the center of the bed and slid the plant into the pocket of my jeans, I realised I was stronger and the world no longer spun. There was no pain in my chest either. I took in a deep breath and held it. As I released it, I still coughed but only for a moment.

Another smile pulled at the edges of my mouth as I laid back and stared up at the ceiling. I remembered the dream or vision or whatever it was with Mom. She'd been here with me. I knew it. There was no doubting it because it had felt so real. And what she had said explained all my questions: why my parents were arguing the morning of the crash; why dad was still beating himself over the crash; and why Embry's parents were always fighting before they broke up. But that was the thing, the man I had always thought was Emb's father, wasn't. His father was my dad. I shook my head. My brain was still too far asleep to be coming to these conclusions.

The door opened and allowed the light from the hall to shine in. "Jacob? How are you feeling?" It was Doctor Marsen. He flicked on the light and I jumped under the covers to avoid the bright light. "Oh sorry."

"I feel fine now." I peeked up from under the sheet to see him sitting on the side of the bed. I waited until my eyes adjusted before throwing away the sheet as he pressed the end of the stethoscope to my chest.

I watched as he shook his head from side to side. "This is amazing."

"What is?" I asked slightly worried he'd found something else.

"Your chest is so much clearer Jacob." He set the stethoscope to the side and wrote down some notes on the chart lying on the bed beside him. He then took the usual thermometer and placed it to my ear. It beeped a moment later. I watched as he blinked.

"Ninety-nine-point-one-the slightest temperature." He shook his head as if disbelieving what he read on the thermometer's screen. "I cannot believe this."

"Did you give me anything? I mean, I passed out for like hours from a high temperature and now it's almost normal?" I raised a brow. It was beginning to feel like a dream that was all too good to be real, but I hoped to god that I was wrong. I didn't think I could handle a fluke. But then my mind ticked back to the red plant I had found in the sheets. I shook my head to clear away the thought. Roman had said those were cooking herbs, but why was an Atrian cooking herb in my bed? And so far from the sector?