Asleep

71 Awakened

Nora~~

My eyes ache, and I fight to open them.

A distant gray ceiling greets me.

My muscles feel weak as I try to raise my hands above me. When I counted in Somnia, I always had ten fingers except for moments ago. Did we really shut down the dream or did I fall asleep while in Somnia and only dream we succeeded? Am I dreaming right now?

My arms shake as I hold my hands over me.

Ten fingers.

Charlie said there would be a muscle stimulate located underneath the exam table—if this is the real world that is.

I slide my hand off the end of the table, grappling underneath it. My fingers close around a small cylinder. After some maneuvering, I manage to snap it free and bring it to the top of the table.

It looks like an EpiPen.

It has to go into my thigh, just as Charlie said. I position it on my leg, over my pants—the gray uniform I wore when I woke up in the dream—and push down on the button at the top of the pen. A needle injects into my leg.

I hiss.

"Nora?"

I know that voice.

I turn my head to the side and meet Aaron's blue eyes. My heart slows for only a moment before it sets to racing. As a surge of what feels like power jolts through me, I grit my teeth. This must be the stimulate. I close my eyes, letting it pass through me.

Once the energy fades, I can breathe normally and raise myself into an upright position with ease, turning my focus back to Aaron.

He's still staring at me. "Nora. I . . . I hurt you."

The population of the hall is waking up, and the oneirologists spread throughout the room look stressed—glancing at one another and checking their holotablets that are gripped in their hands.

I slip my legs off the bed and stand for the first time in three months. "What's your name?" I make my way to his bed, my steps not as shaky as I expected.

"Aaron." His throat bobs. "Not Ryann. Not Benjamin."

I reach under his bed for the em-pen, holding back a sob as my eyes fill with tears. "Benjamin?"

"The other name they gave me."

Joy fills me, and a laugh bubbles out of me instead of a sob. I position the em-pen over his thigh. "Hold still." I click the button, and he winces as the needle ejects. "We're free."

His eyes widen before he squeezes them shut as the shot takes effect.

Someone grunts, causing me to look up.

The boy on the bed beside his holds an em-pen over his leg. Good. Hopefully the rest of the dreamers will catch on.

I help Aaron sit up.

"I'm so sorry," he says. "I wasn't in control."

"I know." I pat his shoulder. "I know."

"Did you wake us up?"

"Not alone." Charlie, where is he? Since he was woken up before me, did they do something to him? And what of Avery, Tye, and Ricky? Pace made it sound like they did something to Avery and Radia. And what did he mean about my dad?

With a deep exhale, he stands with my help. "I told you I'd protect you, but I did the opposite."

"It wasn't really you—"

"Nora!"

I stiffen. That voice. Is . . . I scan the room around us. A few beds away, Radia has propped herself on her elbows. It's her. It's really her. I wipe away more tears while Aaron's arm squeezes my side.

"That's . . . Radia. Go. I'll catch up."

My feet shuffle forward an inch. "Are you good? You're not going to fall?"

He laughs. "I'll be right over. Promise"

When I reach Radia, I find the em-pen at her side.

She grins at me. "It's got a bit of a kick, doesn't it?"

I throw my arms around her, my tears soaking into her hair. "Thank you. I'm not sure I would have been able to wake up if it weren't for your note."

"I can't believe you found it."

I lean back, my eyes examining her face. "Did they hurt you? Doctor Pace said something before I woke up, and I thought he might have been talking about you."

"There was a commotion in the dream I was in as Doctor Pace was about to put me into a nightmare. An oneirologist made a comment that there were Lucid in Somnia's headquarters, and I knew I had to do something."

"You caused your own commotion."

"Let's just say I became the biggest pain in the butt."

I hug her again. "Thank you. You bought us time." Time we desperately ended up using.

"Radia?" I hear Aaron ask from behind me.

She pulls away from me. "Ryann?"

He comes to stand beside me, and we share a look at the mention of his alter ego.

"About that . . ." He scratches his neck. "It's a bit of a story."

Radia swings her legs over the side of the bed and loops her arm through his. "You can tell me the whole thing after we get everyone on their feet."

I wring my hands, feeling anxiety creep over me. Where is Pace? How long do we have before the oneirologists and security guards figure out how to subdue us? Right now, they're looking dazed at the sight of all the dreamers now awake. "I have to find Charlie. Make sure he's all right."

"And Tye," Radia adds, a spark of life in her eyes.

I shift my weight between my feet. "He's not here."

She blinks. "What?"

"He's in a different facility, but everyone's awake now. We'll find him and meet him. It just won't be today." We'll finally get to meet the real him. Will he even be the same person?

She bites her lip but nods.

Aaron nudges her. "We better hurry before the scientists figure out how to knock us all out again."

Originally, Asleep was a two book series, and this chapter is where book two would have began.