Nana hands twitched.
Her fingers clutched at something soft—hospital sheets, her mind supplied distantly—gripping the fabric so tightly her knuckles should have hurt. But there was no pain. Just the overwhelming sensation of falling, of ice and mist and Zayne's hand slipping from hers—
Her eyes snapped open.
She gasped—a horrible, drowning sound, like someone who'd been underwater for far too long finally breaking the surface. Her lungs burned. Her chest heaved. The fluorescent lights above her were too bright, too white, too wrong after months of Avalon's eternal gray.
"Miss Wang!" A nurse's voice, high and panicked. "Miss Wang, please calm down—"
Calm down?
Nana tried to sit up, her body moving on pure instinct. Strong hands pressed against her shoulders, trying to keep her down, but she'd fought demons and vampires and survived. A few nurses weren't going to stop her.
"Where is he?" Her voice came out raw, desperate. "Where's Zayne? Dr. Zayne Li—is he here? Is he in the hospital?"
She had to find him. Had to know. Maybe—maybe—he'd made it through somehow. Maybe the portal had accepted him at the last second. Maybe he was here, unconscious in another room, and she just needed to find him—
"Miss Wang, you need to rest—"
"WHERE IS HE?"
Nana's aether core flared without her meaning to, energy crackling around her hands.
The nurses stumbled back, eyes wide.
A doctor pushed through the small crowd that had gathered around her bed. He was older, with kind eyes and a gentle voice that reminded her painfully of Mr. Simon from the first settlement. The settlement that had drowned during the flood cycle.
"Angelina," the doctor said softly, using her full name in that way medical professionals did when they wanted to sound authoritative but caring. "You were found unconscious in the forest. You've been out for approximately three hours. We need to examine you, make sure you're not injured—"
Three hours.
The time dilation. Just like Zayne had explained. Months in Avalon, but only hours here.
"It's was real. It had all been real"
Nana said, though her voice shook.
"I need to find Dr. Zayne Li. He's a cardiologist here. Is he—" Her throat closed up. "Is he in the hospital? Please. Please tell me where he is."
The doctor and nurses exchanged glances. It was a look Nana recognized instantly—the kind of look people gave each other when they thought someone was having a mental breakdown.
"Miss Wang," the doctor said carefully, "we've actually been trying to locate Dr. Li as well. He has a scheduled heart surgery this afternoon, but he didn't show up for his shift. No one has been able to reach him since—"
"Since when?" Nana's heart was pounding. "Since when has he been missing?"
"Since approximately three hours ago. Around the same time you were found."
No. No, no, no.
"He is not missing," Nana said desperately, trying to make them understand.
"He was with me. In Avalon—in the realm between life and death. We fell through an ice portal and we were trapped there for months and there were vampires and demons and—"
She could hear how insane she sounded, but she couldn't stop.
"He got bitten. During the blood moon cycle. He turned into a vampire and he dissolved into mist when he tried to go through the portal because it only accepts humans and—"
"Miss Wang." The doctor's voice was so gentle it made her want to scream. "I think you may have experienced some trauma. Hallucinations aren't uncommon after—"
"I'M NOT HALLUCINATING!"
Nana shoved past the nurse still trying to keep her in bed. She needed proof. She needed to show them she wasn't crazy.
"The necklace," she gasped, her hands flying to her neck. "Mina gave me her necklace before she died. I had it—I was wearing it when I came back—"
Her fingers found only smooth skin.
No necklace. No chain. Nothing.
"No, no, it was there." Nana's hands moved frantically, checking and rechecking. "I had it. She gave it to me before I—before she asked me to—"
Her voice broke on a sob.
The mercy kill. Mina dissolving into white mist.
"And the scars!" Nana held out her hands, turning them over to show the nurses.
"Look! I have scars from fighting. From the demons and the hybrids and—"
She stopped.Her hands were smooth. Unblemished. The calluses from months of wielding a sword were gone. The scar across her palm from when a demon's claw had sliced her open—vanished. The burn mark on her wrist from the fire spirit—absent.
"That's impossible," she whispered. "I had scars. I had—"
Her hands flew to her head. Her hair. The hair she'd cut short after Mina died, hacking it off with rusted scissors. because she couldn't stand the memories of Mina brushing it.
It was long again. Falling past her shoulders, exactly as it had been the day she'd fallen through the portal.
Nana stumbled toward the small mirror mounted on the wall, the nurses calling after her but not stopping her this time. She stared at her reflection.skin. No dust, no blood, no dirt ground into her pores from months of surviving in hell. Her face was the face of the hunter who'd eaten pasta in the Linkon Cafe, who'd kicked Wanderers with her bare legs and made Zayne sigh.
Not the face of the survivor who'd killed dozens of creatures. Who'd mercy-killed her best friend. Who'd watched the man she loved dissolve into mist.
"No," Nana whispered, touching her cheek, her neck, her hair. "No, this isn't—it was real. It was all real. I was there for months. I cut my hair. I had scars. Mina gave me her necklace and I—"
"Angelina." The doctor's hand on her shoulder was meant to be comforting.
"I think you should rest. We can schedule you with our psychiatrist, Dr. Chen. He's excellent with post-traumatic stress, and these kinds of vivid dreams after unconsciousness are actually quite—"
"It's not a dream!" Nana spun to face him, tears streaming down her face. "Zayne was there! He saved me! He fell through the portal three years before I did and he—" Her voice cracked. "He loved me. He told me he loved me and then he let himself get bitten so I could escape and he dissolved right in front of me and I couldn't—I couldn't save him—"
She was sobbing now, full-body sobs that made it hard to breathe. The nurses were murmuring to each other, probably discussing sedatives and psychiatric holds.
"Please," Nana gasped. "Please just—just help me find him. Even if you don't believe me. Even if you think I'm insane. Just help me find Dr. Zayne Li. Please."
The doctor's expression was so full of pity it made Nana's chest ache.
"We're looking for him, Miss Wang. I promise. But right now, you need to—"
She didn't wait to hear the rest. She pushed past the doctor, past the nurses, out into the hallway. Someone called after her but she didn't stop. She ran.
Through the corridors of Linkon Hospital. Past shocked patients and medical staff. Down stairs because the elevator would be too slow. Her hospital gown flapped around her legs but she didn't care.
She had to find him. Had to prove he was real. That Avalon was real. That she hadn't just hallucinated months of horror and love and loss.
Zayne.
His name echoed in her mind like a prayer.
Please be alive. Please be somewhere. Please don't be gone forever.
She burst out of the hospital's main entrance into harsh afternoon sunlight.
The real world assaulted her senses—car horns, the smell of street food, the chatter of civilians going about their normal lives like nothing had happened.
Like she hadn't just spent months in hell.
Like the man she loved hadn't sacrificed himself to save her.
Nana collapsed onto the pavement, her legs finally giving out. People stared. Someone asked if she was okay. She barely heard them.
All she could see was Zayne's smile—sad and loving and fading into white mist.
"I love you more than my own life."
"No," Nana sobbed, curling in on herself right there on the sidewalk. "No, Zayne, please. Please don't be gone. Please—"
But there was no answer. Just the indifferent noise of the city and the terrible, crushing certainty that no one would ever believe her.
That she was utterly, completely alone.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.