opals POV
The first thing Opal felt was weight.
Not just the heaviness in her limbs—the aching, bone-deep exhaustion that clung to her like a second skin—but something else.
Something pressing down on her.
Like she had been buried beneath an ocean, held there for days, drowning in darkness.
And now?
Now, it was lifting.
Her eyelids fluttered, the world bleeding back into existence in slow, disorienting waves. A too-bright hospital room. The steady, rhythmic beep of a heart monitor. The sterile scent of antiseptic and something warmer.
Something familiar.
Something safe.
She blinked, her vision sharpening, and the first thing she saw—
Was them.
Ash sat slumped forward, his head in his hands, exhaustion etched deep into every sharp line of his face. The dark circles under his eyes made it look like he hadn't slept in days—because he probably hadn't.
And Kael—
