When The Stars Align

chapter thirty nine | drawing the line

two days until

I WATCH LEO AS he slowly eats the bowl of oatmeal in front of him, turning the page of his book. I didn't know what he was reading, but he burned through a third of the book by the time I woke up. His eyes stayed on the pages and he barely uttered a word. Tori came in a couple times to check on him and Lysander and me. She seemed paranoid. Tired. I don't think she's been sleeping much.

"Vera?"

I shift in the bed, turning to look to my other side. Lysander pushes his breakfast tray away - was it even okay to get us on solid food again? My brother has a small smile on his face as he raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"It's kind of creepy watching a little boy eat his breakfast eat his breakfast, isn't it?" he asked. I heard Leo smirk from the other side of me - because of his book or me, I wasn't sure. Lysander gestures to the tray beside my bedside. "Do Vic a favour and please try eating something."

My stomach churned at the thought of it, the smell of the food already making me nauseous. "I don't want to. I'm gonna end up throwing it up anyway."

"You were throwing up fluids all last night, you know that?"

I touched my IV patch. "Faintly, yes." Last night is still kind of... weird. Off. I remember waking up a lot, throwing up a lot. Every time I woke, there was this faint tingle of pain in my chest. I woke up sticky. And as quickly as I woke up, I collapsed back into an unsteady sleep.

If there were rooms available, I know doctors would rather have me on my own. I don't know how many times I broke Lysander's sleep last night with whatever was going on with me. Leo, though, had slept through most of last night's events, thankfully.

I still can't get the conversation with my mother's ghost out of my head. With the way Lysander looks at me sometimes, I'm sure it's stuck in his mind too. How was he supposed to react when he heard that his younger sister tried t kill herself? How was he supposed to react when hearing it wasn't the first time they had to get the junk out of his sister's blood stream. Hell, how was he supposed to act when seeing his mother's ghost. I wasn't sure, but I think he's handling it awfully well.

Suddenly a wave of exhaustion hit me. I closed my eyes, clutching the pillow close to my chest, which began to ache. It's going to pass. It's going to pass. And it does, after a minute, and I'm back to my usual dose of tiredness.

"Vera, do you need a doctor?" Lysander asks, taking the role of a worried parent.

I shook my head. "It's nothing they don't already know." Even with the painkillers in my bloodstream, the pains catch me off guard. They were most of the reason why I kept waking up in the night, I'm pretty sure. The doctors don't tell me anything anymore.

There's a quiet knock on the door, but I don't turn to see and look, staying in my curled up position. Getting out out the sheets made me too cold. Or hot. I really can't explain the feeling. Even with the stupid strap around my waist, I felt comfortable, finally.

"Hey Uncle Atticus," I heard Leo say.

I tilt my head up, feeling the blood rush. Atticus walks in, still in his guard uniform. He walks up to Leo first. "Hey bud, how's it going?" He looked down at the book Leo was reading. "Hunter's Game, good book. A classic."

"The book isn't that old, Att," Lys contered. "Probably not old enough to be considered a classic."

"If it's older than the king, it's old."

I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, why am I stuck in a room with all these nerds." I positioned myself upright on the bed, resting my head on my arm. "You guys are impossible."