Consciousness was pain, and Eden fought against it for as long as she could. The only thing protecting her–the only thing standing steadfastly between Eden and the pain–was the shroud of bliss that the sedative had wrapped her in. It sang through her veins, smoothing over her sharp edges. Eden tried to burrow deeper into the soft cocoon, the only place she was safe, but her cocoon was shaking. She fought, more comfortable in the darkness than she was in the light. The light was pain, and threats, and captivity. In her sleep, she was free. In the darkness, she was safe. Eden clung to the shroud of bliss and safety, even as her cocoon began to crack.
“Eden, please.” Something that sounded like home was whispering through the darkness, slipping through the cracks in her armor. “Wake up,” the voice begged.
Eden had no choice but to follow the voice out of the darkness. The world was too bright, but she blinked until her eyes adjusted to the horrifying combination of sunlight and fluorescent lighting. The first thing she saw was Rory and her smile came unbidden.
“You’re okay,” he said, staring down at her as if he didn’t believe it.
“You look awful,” she croaked. The words were agony on the way out and she tasted blood as her lip split open.
Rory laughed. “Do I? Oh, you know. Work has been rough lately.”
Eden’s laugh died in her throat as she suddenly became aware of another presence in the room, and the machine beside her began screaming as her heart raced. Eden shifted up in the bed, struggling for an upright position, but the wires and tubes connected to her tugged at her skin and she cried out in pain. Eden collapsed back down into the pillows of her bed, keenly aware of Rory standing protectively over her, his hands on her shoulders.
“It’s alright, Eden,” Rory said, smoothing some of the hair from her brow. “It’s just the doctor. You’re okay.”
“Please, Miss Cooper,” the man said. “You’re safe now. Truly. My name is Dr. Roman. Do you know where you are? Your friend here found you last night, in pretty rough shape. I understand you’ve been through quite the ordeal?”
Eden started to answer, but another voice from the doorway easily drowned her out.
“Is she awake yet?” Mara, in her too flashy red and black uniform, let herself into the room. She appraised Eden, hands on her hips, and nodded. “Glad to see you alive, Cooper.”
Eden snorted. “Glad to be alive.”
“I’ve got questions for you,” she said. Straight to the point. “Lots of questions.”
“Now is not the time!” Dr. Roman sputtered. “You were instructed to wait in the lobby. I suggest you return until I’ve had a chance to speak to the patient.”
Eden nodded her agreement and winced. Even from her bed, Eden could feel how badly Mara wanted to question her. There would be no getting out of it, even if Dr. Roman could delay it. She couldn’t pretend not to understand Mara’s urgency; to her own knowledge, none of the missing had ever returned. Rory was certainly looking at her like she was a ghost come back to life and, in a lot of ways, Eden felt that way. She’d come back to life, but she wasn’t the same. She was a shadow of who she’d been; she no longer belonged to herself.
What could she possibly say to Mara? Even with the details Eden had carried home through the fog, what could Mara do with them? The base was underground, she knew that, but she didn’t know where the entrance was, or how to find it. She knew about the Hive’s interest in Paradisium, and she knew the name of their leader. What could Mara do with Bianca’s name before Rory paid the price for Eden’s breach? In her panic, Eden missed most of the argument that Mara and Dr. Roman were having, but Mara’s sharp tone brought her back to the infirmary room.
“Now is the perfect time,” Mara snapped. “Now, while it’s fresh. Eden, yes or no. You were taken by agents of the Hive, correct?”
Eden hesitated before nodding without thinking and immediately winced, more from regret than pain. The doctor paled. Eden took a deep breath and Rory, who couldn’t possibly understand what was going through her mind, squeezed her shoulders.
“The patient needs rest,” Dr. Roman said. “She needs time to recover. Once she’s released, you can ask her all the questions you wantThe patient needs rest,” Dr. Roman said firmly. “She needs rest and she needs treatment, which I cannot provide with you agitating her.”
In helpful confirmation, the machines hooked up to Eden gave a loud indication of her discomfort. The doctor was right and Eden silently pleaded that he would win out over Mara. What could she say to Mara while still keeping Rory safe? She needed time, alone with her thoughts, time to decide who she could trust. Mara, the Cards, the city police, all of them had been worse than useless at finding the Hive. Rory’s safety was too big a gamble to risk on the chance that Eden’s half clues would make them any more successful.
She realized suddenly that Rory’s warm hand was holding hers. Eden turned her own dark eyes up to meet his, and he stared back down at her with the warmth she’d been missing. He was the quiet eye of her storm.
“You’re safe now,” he whispered, so close to the words she needed to hear. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not worried about myself,” she whispered back.
He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask. Instead, he squeezed her hand. “We’re going to catch them, sooner than you think. They can’t hurt you anymore. Or any of us.”
Eden successfully caught herself before she snorted. Rory had no idea, couldn’t possibly have any idea, of what they were facing. She shifted in the bed uncomfortably and adjusted her hospital gown, hating how vulnerable it all made her feel. The weapon at Mara’s side made her feel more comfortable, but true comfort would only come with having her own weapon. Something she would have been allowed if she’d taken Mara up on her original offer. Eden tried and failed to fight the urge again; she snorted and tried to disguise it as a cough as Mara and Dr. Roman continued to bicker in the corner. Rory looked down at her in concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked, patting her back lightly.
“Maybe I should have taken Mara up on the offer,” she admitted under her breath. Rory looked confused. “To be a Card,” she explained.
Rory grimaced. “Maybe,” he said. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“How long was I gone?”
“Three days” Rory answered. “Felt longer.”
“You’re telling me,” Eden said before she could stop herself.
“Sorry,” he said quickly.
In the corner, Mara and the doctor seemed to have come to some kind of compromise. Mara, her eyes full of fire and a vein on her forehead threatening to burst, let herself out of the room without a word. Adjusting his white coat, Dr. Roman took a breath and rejoined Eden and Rory at the bedside.
“Now,” Dr. Roman said. “Mara will be waiting in the lobby. If all goes well, Eden, I’ll be able to release you before this afternoon. Would you like that?”
Eden nodded, although her stomach twisted. Rory squeezed her hand again.
“Before I can do that, I need to run some tests.”
“What kind of tests?” Rory asked before Eden could say anything.
“That’s unfortunately a matter of confidentiality between my patient and myself,” Dr. Roman said sternly.
Stolen story; please report.
“But–”
“I’m going to ask you to wait in the lobby as well,” Dr. Roman said. “This won’t take long.”
“It’s alright, Rory,” Eden whispered. “I’ll be okay.”
Reluctantly, Rory let the doctor usher him to the door. Dr. Roman latched the door securely behind Rory and twisted the lock. At the sound, the skin on the back of Eden’s neck prickled. She’d made a mistake.
“What’s going on?” she asked, perhaps too harshly.
Dr. Roman turned his attention to her with an icy calmness. His warm, almost bumbling, demeanor was gone. A different man entirely stood before her. Eden tried again to sit up straighter in her bed, propping herself up on her elbows. She held Dr. Roman’s gaze.
“You’re fine. For now anyways,” he answered.
A glint of sharp metal on the medical tray beside her bed caught Eden’s eye. A set of sharp tools laying in wait, utensils she didn’t recognize but didn’t need to. She could reach them from her bed, if she stretched. If she was fast enough. Was she?
Dr. Roman took a seat in the rolling chair at his desk and rolled slowly up to her bedside.
“Bianca told me to be on the lookout for you, said I’d be seeing you here,” Dr. Roman said. “She asked me to give you her regards, and to remind you that you will never be alone. Isn’t that comforting?”
Of course. Of course, Bianca had spies everywhere.
“Stay away from me,” Eden hissed, shifting subtly to her left, closer to the medical tray.
Dr. Roman chuckled. “I’m not going to hurt you, Eden. None of us are, not unless you deserve it. I’m here to warn you. If you tell anyone what happened to you, what really happened to you, Bianca will find out and she will never forget. She will punish you. Who did she threaten? Parents? Friends? That nice young man who slept at your bedside?”
Eden swallowed back her rage. Her vision swam and she glared at the doctor with every ounce of hatred that she felt. The machines beside her began to betray her heart rate, and Dr. Roman nodded. It was all the confirmation he needed.
“Whoever it is that she has threatened to hurt you with, believe me when I tell you that she is not bluffing, and she will be brutal. Do not tell that dreadful Card woman anything that happened to you. Not unless you want to lose everything. My suggestion to you would be to claim amnesia. Physically, you’ve been through a lot. It’s believable, and as a special favor, I’ll back you up.” Dr. Roman stood and brushed his spotless coat off. “Give it some thought,” he said, crossing to the door and lingering beside it.
“I’m not afraid of her,” Eden lied.
“I felt the same way once,” Dr. Roman said. “But now I just miss my wife. I wish I’d been afraid.”
The door clicked shut behind him softly, the closing of her prison door, and Eden heard Dr. Roman speaking softly outside. He was telling someone–Rory most likely–that she was too tired for visitors now. Rory’s words were lost in his low mumble and as his footsteps receded down the hallway, Eden wished she could call him back.
She was alone again.
Eden crossed through limbo between waking and sleeping the entire night, never truly relaxing. She kept one eye on the door as she fought against the heavy tug of sleep on her lids. The doctor didn’t return for the rest of the night, leaving Eden alone in the room with the steady beeping machines and a sense of dread that had nestled into her chest and refused to give up its new home. Every time she made the mistake of closing her eyes, Bianca’s cold eyes stared back at her, and the resulting rush of adrenaline sent the machines beside her into a panic.
No one came to check on her, not a doctor or nurse. In the silence and the hazy half light, all she could do was chase one incoherent thought to the next through her foggy mind. One thing was clear: Bianca’s threat against Rory had been a serious one. Everything came back to that. Saying anything to Mara about what she had learned or what had happened to her was no longer an option. Refusing to do as Bianca had asked had never been an option. Any move Eden made would make it back to her. Any failure? Eden shuddered and the machines hooked up to her gave voice to her fear. She wouldn’t fail. She couldn’t. There was no question of whether or not she could live with herself, when life without Rory was impossible to contemplate. There was no choice. Eden clenched her fists around the soft sheets of her bed, feeling the threads begin to snap just before she would.
Whatever Rory was working on had gotten the attention of the wrong people. All of the wrong people. If she was honest with herself, she was surprised Rory had managed to keep his project to himself for this long, surprised that she didn’t already know more details that she could remember. That’s how he’d been with the Garden.
This was nothing like the Garden. Paradisium. That’s what this was all about. Somehow, she would have to get Rory to tell her. A small betrayal now, to save his life. What was her morality worth without him?
She must have fallen asleep at some point in the early hours of the morning, because Eden remembered watching the sunrise, but then Rory said her name and pulled her back from her slumber and the sun was high in the sky.
“Good morning,” he said with a grin, his face more full than it had been even the night before. The dark circles beneath his eyes were a deep gray, without the purple tinge they’d had before. In his hands, he had two cups of coffee and he offered one to her.
She took it, hating the way the wires and tubes moved with her, but the coffee was hot and strong and exactly as she liked it. She took a sip even though it burned. She was known.
“You look better,” she said as Rory lowered himself into the chair beside her bed.
“Do I?” he said. There was a sparkle in his eyes again, one that had been missing even before she had been. “How are you feeling? What did the doctor say? Stars, I’m just so glad you’re back, Eden, I can’t even— I don’t even–” he sputtered before finally throwing his hands up. A bit of coffee sloshed out of his cup and onto his pressed slacks. “I’m just so happy to see you, Eden. Are you really okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said. “Rory, can you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” he said quickly. “Anything at all.”
“Don’t ask me about it, okay? Any of it. Please.”
Rory nodded, but there was confusion in his eyes. Eden was saved from explaining when a nurse came in and began disconnecting Eden from the machines. The nurse had a list of restrictions for Eden, about lifting and running and working. Luckily, Rory seemed to be paying attention, because it took everything Eden had to keep from screaming as she was examined and her vitals taken again. She was discharged before lunchtime. Rory had brought her a change of clothes from home and waited just outside the door as she changed from her scratchy hospital gown back into her familiar clothes. Her jacket smelled like the kitchen, warm bread and grease and spice, and she hugged it tight against the imaginary chill of the halls as she followed Rory out of the infirmary. Dr. Roman, lingering at the front desk in conversation with a nurse, waved pointedly at Eden as she walked past. She didn’t look back.
Mara was waiting for them in the lobby, slouched in a chair in the waiting area, her head leaned back against the wall. She was on her feet quickly when she spotted Eden and quickly fell into step beside them. To Rory’s credit, he placed one arm protectively around Eden and did not break his stride, continuing to guide Eden through the lobby towards the elevators.
“Eden needs to rest, Mara.”
“Are you being discharged?” she asked, stepping in front of them and blocking their escape. She ignored Rory entirely, focusing on Eden who did everything she could not to cringe before her. “I’ve got questions for you, Eden. There really is no time to waste.”
Eden hesitated. Only feet away, Dr. Roman was conferring with a nurse at the nurses’ station. Could he still hear them? A tiny tendril of fear wrapped itself around her heart. “I’m sorry, Mara,” she said, a bit too loudly. “I really don’t remember much.”
“You remember something, I’m sure.” Mara sputtered,. “Come on, Eden. Think! Anything could help us. Anything you remember could help me find those bastards.”
“I don’t remember,” Eden said more measured, acutely aware that she was still speaking much too loudly. Rory flinched away from her volume, but Dr. Roman looked up and against her better judgment, she met his eye. He winked at her. Her stomach rolled.
“For stars’ sake, Eden. Anything.”
“I was drugged! I just don’t remember. My head hurts,” she said, pressing her hand against her forehead.
Mara glared at her, seeming unconvinced. Eden, feeling Dr. Roman’s watchful eyes on her, held her breath, silently begging Mara to accept this.
“I’m sorry,” Eden said finally. “Really, I am.”
“Absolutely useless.” Mara’s eyes were ice cold and filled with twice as much hatred as Bianca’s had ever held. “They should have kept you.”
Eden felt herself wilting under the stare, hating herself for protecting the cancer that had infected her home city. Selfish. All because she could not lose Rory. She watched his face as he led her around Mara and out of the hospital, wondering what he would think if he knew the choice she’d made. Wondering if it was the same choice he would make. He could never know what had been threatened against him, and he could never know the choice she’d made for him. Mara’s words couldn’t change that.