The world was a blur of strobe lights and the rhythmic, metallic clatter of a gurney. I was floating in a sea of grey, the voices around me sounding like they were underwater.
"Vitals are flat! Charging to two hundred!"
Thump.
My body arched, a puppet jerked by invisible strings.
"Again! Three hundred!"
Thump.
Beside me, a hand was crushing mine. It was cold, trembling, and stained with the copper tang of Leo’s blood. Adrian. He was running alongside the paramedics, his expensive suit torn, his face a mask of such raw, unadulterated agony that even the hardened trauma team didn't dare push him away.
"Elara, don't you dare," he hissed, his voice a jagged rasp against the chaos of the hallway. "You don't get to leave me in the dark. You hear me? Fight!"
Two hours later, the "Azure Va
