Chapter 5: Open Your Eyes

Nobody moved.

I kept my heels in the mattress and my breath slow and my eyes shut, and I hoped the whole room could not hear my heart.

"Felix," Stefan said, too lightly. "She's out."

"Her toes are curled."

"People curl their toes in their sleep."

"Not like that."

Jonas let go of my thigh.

"Check her, then," he said, and his voice was hard. "You're the medic."

A cool hand closed around my ankle, and I felt him press his thumb along the arch of my foot.

I stayed still.

I willed my toes to open one at a time.

He held my ankle for a long moment, and I felt him look at my face.

"Felix," Tobias said from the chair.

It was the first thing he had said in minutes, and it was very calm.

"She's asleep. You're tired and you're frightened of yourself. Go to bed."

"Tobias."

"Go to bed."

Felix let go of my foot.

The mattress rose as Stefan sat up, and my sweater was tugged down over my breasts by careful, shaking hands.

Jonas dragged the quilt over my legs.

Nobody said another word.

They filed out one by one, and the chair scraped last.

Tobias paused beside the bed and I felt him look down at me.

Then the door closed, and I lay alone with the taste of blood in my mouth and my whole body singing.

I was awake when the window turned grey.

I had not slept at all.

At six, somebody knocked once and came in without waiting.

Felix shut the door behind him and turned the key.

He was dressed and shaved, and he was holding his glasses in one hand.

He sat on the edge of the bed, and the mattress dipped under his weight.

"Open your eyes," he said.

I lay still.

"Verena. I took your pulse four times last night. You have never fainted in your life, and your pulse never dropped once."

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