I nod, knowing I won’t. I haven’t left my bed since that night to do anything more than use the bathroom. I need to eat. My stomach is all but consuming itself, but the one time I tried, I threw it back up and I don’t want a repeat experience.
Time passes from one day to the next in a blur of fever and pain. Who knew Lyc-V was such a bitch to rebuild. I’m sweating one minute and freezing the next. I lose track of the days. I wish I knew when it would end. I’m tempted to dig out the card and call Ricardo to ask if there is anything I can do to alleviate my symptoms but I don’t. Not only because I can’t be indebted to the Pack, even if I feel like I’m losing my sanity, but also because I don’t think I can make it to the laundry bin where my pants are. I’m too weak. My bones are aching.
Natalia is my only visitor as the week passes. She brings me food and water and tries to coax me to come downstairs, but I never do. The few times I’ve stood up from the bed, I almost always collapse to the floor where she later finds me and helps me back into bed. It’s humiliating.
My body doesn’t feel like it’s mine anymore.
I haven’t checked my phone in days, but I know Rafael hasn’t messaged me. Neither has Jordy or Desmond. My phone has been blaringly silent.
I wake to the sound of heated voices in the hallway outside my bedroom door. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I try to muster interest in what they’re saying through my fevered haze. I stare at the closed door, pulling my covers tighter around myself as if that’s enough to keep me warm. But it’s not. All I feel is a bone-aching chill.
“Something is wrong. We need to talk to a—”
“We are not asking those animals for—”
“What would you have me do then?”
“Give it more time. She’ll pull through and if she doesn’t...” Brian’s words trail off.
I block out what they say next, unwilling to let his words affect me. I look at the clock on my bedside table. It’s just after seven in the morning.
I take a deep breath.
I’m okay.
I will get through this.
You’re strong, Isa.
I take another deep, shuddering breath. “You’re strong like Mom,” I whisper to myself. Mom died. My boyfriend cheated. My boyfriend dumped me. My best girlfriend turned her back on me. I lost my home. I had to go to a new school in a new town. I lost my Pack. My dad never has time for me. I was attacked at school. I was almost ki…
I force myself to finish the thought.
I was almost killed.
I’d been through so much in such a short amount of time. But it was done. Over. Finished. All of it had already happened. No way will I survive all that only to give up now.
Natalia’s voice rises again. There’s mention of the Pack.
I don’t know what Brian says in response, but I can tell by Natalia’s tone that she doesn’t agree.
That’s okay.
I’m okay.
Or at least, I will be. Time heals all wounds, right? That’s what all the inspirational quotes and memes say.
The day I arrived at Hellbound High I told myself all I needed to do was survive this year, graduate, and then I could go home. Back to my Pack.
That is still the plan. I can go home. Things will be better once I’m back in Star Valley, Arizona. There won’t be a school full of people who hate me. There won’t be vampires lurking around corners, hurting me for no other reason than because they can. I’ll be protected there. Safe. I just have to survive here a little bit longer.
Letting that resolve settle inside of me, I force myself from the bed. My feet wobble but I manage to remain standing. I hobble to the shower, leaving my crutch beside my bed because it hasn’t been much help to begin with. I put weight on my cast, and when no sharp stab of pain follows, I release a relieved breath and head toward the bathroom.
Inside, I sit on the edge of the tub and contemplate my cast. I’m tired of feeling inferior. Flexing my leg, I twist it side to side before coming to a decision. My shoulder has healed. My leg probably has by now too.
Shifting my hand, I drag my clawed fingers down the side of the cast on either side before prying the plaster open. It falls to the ground with a loud thud and I survey my bare leg.
It’s still bruised but—I roll my ankle and flex my calf muscle—it feels okay. Shoving back to my feet, I tentatively press down. A zing of pain spears up to my hip but my leg doesn’t buckle.
I turn on the shower, fighting past a wave of dizziness as I climb in and lean against the cool tile wall, letting the scalding spray chase away my fevered chill.
I spend thirty minutes in the shower before getting out and drying off. I don’t think anything is still broken. I feel whole. Battered and bruised, but I can live with that. My bones creak like a ninety-year-old woman, but the shower did wonders for me.
I almost feel like a new person. My fever has relented some. I’m definitely not at one hundred percent, but I feel better, my head no longer spinning and the pain receding to a dull throb.
There’s a knock on my door and before I can answer, it swings open.
Natalia walks in to find me sitting on the edge of the bed wrapped in a towel.
“You’re up?” she asks, sounding surprised.
“Yeah.” I stand and reach for my clothes. A pair of sweats and the oversized hoodie I picked up from my shopping trip with Zheng.
“Oh, umm…”
