Taking the Leap

Chapter 33

~Xander~

I felt like I'd been run over by a truck and then had to run a marathon. The room was unfamiliar and too bright, with get well soon balloons strung in every corner and flowers on every surface.

But the other thing I noticed was Klara holding Achilles. Jealousy cropped up before I realized she was the only thing holding him upright. He was shivering, clutching his silver bracelet and I heard his teeth chattering. He was staring at me like I was a ghost, stammering terribly, "Xa—Xa—Xan-der." Was all he managed to get out, eyes bulging out of his head.

Klara noticed I was awake and she gasped. "Oh my God, Xander." Then she started yelling, "Help! Nurse! Doctor! Someone!"

Footsteps thundered down the hall as different people in scrubs came into the room. One person came up to me, asking me questions but I was more concerned about Achilles.

Klara and another nurse helped him into a seat where he was shivering uncontrollably. His face was stark white and his lips were turning blue. It looked like he was literally freezing right before my eyes.

Swinging one leg over the bed, I realized I was wearing a hospital gown. My entire body felt like I was moving through a deep and impenetrable fog. "What's happening?" I tried to say but my usual raspy voice was something else now, resembling a death rattle. It even hurt to speak.

Achilles was desperately trying to get up from his seat, and a nurse helped him up. I watched helplessly as he took slow, stuttering steps towards my bed, the few steps taking forever.

"What's happening?!" I repeated in a stronger voice. A woman in scrubs answered me slowly, "You were in regeneration. You didn't show any signs of waking up, in fact everything was suggesting you'd be in regeneration indefinitely. It's a miracle you're even awake. But, your partner—"

Achilles had finally reached my bed, and he attempted to climb into it. Trying to speak even though his lips were nearly blue and his eyelashes, normally long and thick were webbed together in ice. Finally, he made it into the bed and then fell into me, head resting against my chest. "I missed you." I heard him whisper before his eyes closed.

Quickly, I put two fingers to his neck, feeling a slow but present pulse. Okay, I thought in relief. He's only cold. Stroking his hair I noticed that Achilles' hair was considerably longer and he had something of a beard as opposed to the scruff I was used to. Odd.

I raised Achilles' wrist, seeing small rings of ice surrounding his bracelet. So, this was the problem. Worried that Achilles would only get colder and colder and fed up with everything the bracelet had put us through, I distended my fangs, bringing his wrist to my mouth. There were gasps across the room and someone told me not to drink from him but I wasn't planning on that.

Oh so carefully, I cut into the cold metal with a fang, feeling the metal buckle and then part under the pressure. Slowly, I dragged my fang alongside the seam I made until the metal fell off of Achilles' wrist and onto the floor.

Damn, I should've done that a long time ago.  Colour slowly came back into Achilles' face and he stopped shivering. He lay along the edge of my bed still completely passed out but looking better than before.

I cleared my throat, staring at Klara and hoping I could get an answer from her. "Will you please explain why Achilles is freezing , and how my hospital room got so full between yesterday and today?" The last thing I remembered was talking with my parents about getting my will in order and telling Achilles I would be okay. That had all been yesterday though, or maybe I'd been asleep for one long day.