赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Three weeks had passed since the war had ended. Three weeks of investigating the mountainside or doing research on the fae.

Ashleigh had asked Myka to help her. He was the only one that seemed to believe there was a chance that Caleb was still alive.

Her mother was focused on rebuilding defenses and Axel. Of course, Ashleigh understood that those things were important, but Caleb needed them to focus on him, on finding a way to pull him back out of the ley line.

Fiona and Galen had returned to Summer. They were also busy with repairs and finding homes for those that had lost theirs. She had asked them to send someone to the way gate on their end to see if they could find anything. But they reported back with nothing.

Ashleigh was exhausted. Her nights were filled with painful memories that left her sobbing in her bed for hours. Her days were filled with research and disappointment.

Even Myka had refused to help her as often as he had those first few weeks. Now he was spending his time working with the orphaned children and those that had been rescued from Autumn and the lab.

Ashleigh was more alone than ever. She was even avoiding her best friend.

Bell had pretended to support Ashleigh's search. She had acted like she believed that Caleb was still alive. But when it came down to it, she was more focused on Ashleigh processing her grief than anything else.

There was no point in continuing to fight about whether or not Ashleigh was fooling herself. Bell would never understand. No one understood.

He wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

But Ashleigh needed more ideas. What else could she do? She wanted to go to Spring, to the Dark Queen's mound. That place had a solid connection to the ley line for so long it was possible that there was still a way that existed from there.

Unfortunately, all the scout reports said Spring was overrun with rogues and fae. Even the path that she had taken with Myka and Alice had been exposed. She didn't know of any other safe way.

But Alice might.

Ashleigh approached Axel's room slowly. This was the first time she had visited. In all the time since she had woken, she had not come here even once. A part of her felt guilty, but Axel didn't need her. He was here, and he was being taken care of. He had Alice and everyone else beside him. Caleb only had her.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

The smell was the first thing she noticed as she stepped into the room. Overall, there was a sanitized smell in any hospital room. But on top of that, she caught the scent of fresh gauze and antibiotic ointment.

She had heard that he had to have surgery on his leg a few days ago. The nurses must have changed the bandages recently.

His healing was slower than anyone expected. But Ashleigh wasn't surprised. Lily had warned her it was a possibility.

Ashleigh stepped further into the room. She caught the scent of chocolate. Looking around for the source, she saw an open candy bar beside the bed. She smiled, thinking of all the times she and Bell had stolen from Axel's secret candy stashes.

He would pout and grumble, telling them that he would find a better place to hide them, somewhere they would never find it. But they always did. It was a game for them. They couldn't help it. Axel's pout was so childish and adorable. They just wanted to see it again and again.

Ashleigh swallowed as her eyes began to shift toward the bed. The memory of him in the hospital after the first fae attack floated to the surface. His bruised and bloodied body. The pain he had to endure at Granger's hand and in fighting to make his way home.

She closed her eyes, clenching her jaw as her heart thundered in her ears and a bottomless pit formed in her stomach.

The report she had read said that he had penetrating wounds from roots and knife wounds. The hybrid infection had spread in his leg, and he had suffered frostbite and come close to organ failure from the cold. Nevertheless, it had been a miracle he had survived.

"He just looks like he's sleeping," Alice's soft voice came from behind her.

Ashleigh turned with a gasp.

Alice stood at the doorway. She held a small plastic bag and stared toward the bed, not looking at Ashleigh.

Ashleigh turned back toward her brother. Alice was right. He wasn't broken and bloody. He didn't look like he was in pain. He just looked like he was sleeping.

"When I found him, he looked dead," she said. "He was blue… barely breathing. But, when they brought him to this room, I finally saw him again… he was… all different colors."

Ashleigh furrowed her brows and swallowed as she listened to Alice.

"Yellow, brown, purple from the bruising. Red and pink in the places that they had to cut… reddish-purple in the cold places. Black and green where they eventually cut again," she continued. "But he wasn't blue anymore."

Alice moved past Ashleigh. She walked straight to the bed and leaned forward to touch Axel's cheek tenderly. She smiled and then turned her attention to the chocolate bar on the table. She picked it up and dropped it into the garbage can before pulling a new one out of her bag. She opened it and brought it to her nose, sniffing deeply before smiling and moving it to Axel's nose.

"Dark chocolate this time," she said softly. "I'm feeling slightly bitter that you're still sleeping after so long."

Alice put the chocolate on the table and set the bag on the floor before sitting in the chair at his side.

Ashleigh felt a painful tug in her chest as she watched Alice with Axel. The devotion, the love.

"Don't be shy, Ashleigh. It's not your style," Alice said, keeping her attention on Axel.

Ashleigh swallowed and took a few steps closer to the bed. She looked at Alice and then back at Axel.

"You'll have to greet him first, but I'll warn you now," Alice said, looking up at Ashleigh with a playful grin. "He has been quite rude to all his guests the past few weeks, blatantly ignoring every one of them."