Clara’s POV
The sound of steady and rhythmic beeping. That was the first thing I registered as consciousness slowly returned to me. The second was pain—a dull, throbbing ache that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
I tried to open my eyes, but a blinding light made me shut them immediately. Slowly, I tried again, allowing my vision to adjust bit by bit. White ceiling. Medical equipment. The antiseptic smell of a healing room.
I was alive. That realization hit me with surprising force.
"Ah, you're awake," a male voice said from somewhere to my right. "Good. I was beginning to worry."
I turned my head carefully, wincing at the stiffness in my neck. A man in his forties stood beside my bed, checking one of the machines connected to me by wires and tubes. He wore the white coat typic
