Why wasn’t he there when she woke up? Pandora didn’t know how long she had been awake, just staring at the ceiling. Hale was the first thought she remembered having since opening her eyes. She missed him whenever they were apart. But she didn’t understand yet why he wasn’t by her side. Maybe she was being too needy, but she felt as though he should have been there when she woke up. She struggled to remember how she got here or what had happened in the last few hours. Her only crystalline memory was Hale. She closed her eyes and in her mind reached out to him. She remembered exactly how his skin felt beneath her touch and how she trembled from his blue eyed gaze without fail. Thinking about him made her shiver and smile all at once. But she couldn’t deny that something wasn’t right.

There was this feeling inside of her that whispered she had lost him.

She was sure that she had recently been with him. Perhaps she had a bad dream before she woke up, and that’s why she felt like something was wrong. But that answer felt too hopeful.

She would have to remember what had happened before she had obviously fallen asleep. She was concerned about the fact that she couldn’t remember anything but Hale. First, she decided she should figure out where she was.

Pandora opened her eyes. The ceiling tiles were white, glossy, and familiar. She pushed herself up and sat on the bed. The room was practically empty, except for some medical equipment along the walls. The bed she was laying in was a hospital bed. She looked at her arms and noticed the IV in her right wrist. There was too much evidence suggesting that she was not only inside a hospital but also a patient of the hospital.

In a hurry, she checked over her body for injuries. Her feet and legs appeared normal. Her torso had no cuts or bruises. She could move all of her joints easily. But she noticed bruising on her right and left inner elbows and soreness. She remembered getting two injections. She closed her eyes and focused her mind on this faint memory.

The needle pierced her flesh. The stinging pain from the needle worsened as it was pushed deeper into her flesh. The syringe held a glittering liquid colored pink, gold, blue and violet. Once all of the liquid had been injected into her bloodstream, she felt much more powerful than she usually did.

She remembered the glowing liquid vividly now, but where did it come from? And what about it made her feel stronger? She still felt stronger than she ever had been in her life, although she was in a hospital bed ironically. Without any doubt, all of her memories of what had happened were still in her mind. She only had to be patient with herself. Pandora continued to think about the magical-looking serum. Unexpectedly, her mind became filled with images of crystals. But these crystals weren’t ordinary. They were glowing and made of multiple different colors.

They were Elani crystals.

Pandora gasped, surprised that she was able to remember one more piece of the puzzle so quickly. And almost immediately after she remembered the crystals, everything else came back to her. In a moment, her memory was complete once again. And most importantly, she remembered her mission, how she was going to save her home.

She felt the new power flowing through her veins. The experiment she risked her life in pursuit of had worked. She couldn’t believe it. The Ancient Book wasn’t filled with stories; it was real. She just hoped that she was now strong enough to heal Elani.

As she looked around the hospital room, she realized there was something she clearly wasn’t remembering, and that was how she got here. The last place she recalled being was the old man’s cave on Garra. But now she was inside a hospital on—

There was no mistaking it. The presence she felt here was one she had known her entire life. She was back home. Somehow. Hale must have brought her back home. Her heart fell for him again for the one hundredth time. He did care about her, more than he had allowed her to believe. She didn’t know if she would ever be able to repay him for everything he had sacrificed for her and her home. Turning her head to the right, she found a window. She hadn’t noticed it before. From here she could see the city she had grown up in and the calming magenta sky of Elani. She was home again.

As she lay in her hospital bed, she felt the dying life-force of Elani. It had become fainter even in the short time she had been away. But she knew not to worry anymore. She had the strength to save it because of everything she and Hale had done.

Hale… where was he? Was he still even on Elani? What if he returned her home and then left. What would she do then? She knew he was conflicted about them being together, but he couldn’t just leave her like this. That didn’t seem like something he would do. He would at least check on her to make sure she was okay before he said goodbye. She hoped he wouldn’t leave even after that. She wanted him to be with her when she went to the central crystal to complete her goal. After everything he had done, he deserved to see that. Didn’t he want to? They had begun this journey together. They were going to finish it together. She would make it happen. Somehow. Somehow she would.

But still… after that would he leave her? He had said about a dozen times that he would. He was probably desperate to return to his work, whatever that was. He never directly told her. It was almost as if he didn’t have a choice. Hale refused to let her in completely. There was a side to him he hid from her with all of his might. She wanted to know why. She wanted to know everything because he was the one she loved. And when she loved someone, she loved what made them who they are, the good and bad. Maybe she needed to tell him exactly that.

Her eyes started to flood with tears. She worried he had already left. While she watched her tears drip on the hospital blanket covering her legs, she heard the door open. She looked up and saw two women she had feared she would never see again.

“Kara, Lia!” Pandora said happily, thankful to see her two handmaidens. “I’ve missed you.”

“You’re awake!” Kara squealed, running over to Pandora and hugging her.

Lia smiled and walked to the other side of the bed and also hugged Pandora. Pandora hadn’t seen her handmaidens since the night Zaya had taken her from the castle. She couldn’t express to them how seeing them made her feel at home. Both of them treated her with patience and kindness. She could ask for nothing more than to have handmaidens who provided not only excellent service but also friendship.

Lia took her fingertips and stroked though Pandora’s hair, which was quite frizzy. Kara was still hugging her.

“How are you two doing,” Pandora asked.

Lia’s mood changed quickly to one of sadness and frustration. “We were so worried about you. We thought you would never return. And when you came to us, you were in a coma.”

Pandora held Lia’s hands. “I am sorry I worried you. I was captured. I didn’t mean to leave you.”

Kara shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. You had no control over that situation. We are both just glad you are here with us now and that you are awake.” Kara finished by sending Lia a barely-noticeable glare.

“It’s alright, Kara. Lia has a right to be upset,” Pandora said.

“I’m fine,” Lia replied. “I just don’t think you know how much everyone worried for you. It was a terrible situation for everyone. I’m only saying all of this so that you can understand why not everyone is as joyful as Kara is. It has nothing to do with you.”

Pandora wrapped her arms around both of the girls. “I just thankful both of you never left.”

Lia kissed the top of her head. “We would never leave you. We have promised to stay with you. And we care about you. The castle was very lonely without you.”

“We’re all here together. That’s all that matters to me,” Kara said.

They all agreed and then moved on to a different conversation. Pandora asked about their families. Both of her handmaidens were happily married. Pandora watched both of them gush about their loving husbands and small children. She admitted she was a little jealous. While she was younger than they were, Pandora doubted she would ever have her own family. It just didn’t seem possible. Besides, the only man she could imagine sharing a home, children, and a life with was Hale. She wanted to cry and scream because she knew better than to hope for that. Hale never wanted that kind of life. He would say something like he wasn’t made for it.

“Where’s Hale?” Pandora asked abruptly.

Lia furrowed her brow. “Who?”

All of Pandora’s happiness from seeing the two girls had mellowed. She was worrying about Hale again. “The man who brought me here. His name is Hale. He’s Elani. He’s tall and has brown hair and blue eyes. Have you seen him?”

Lia and Kara glanced at each other for a second before staring down at the floor. Kara’s expression was frightfully solemn.

Lia’s was expressionless. “No. I don’t know why you would think we would.”

“Lia,” Kara began, “I don’t know about this.”

“Why don’t you go get Pandora a glass of water,” Lia said to Kara sternly. She made it obvious it wasn’t a question or a suggestion.

But Kara wasn’t intimidated in the least bit. If anything, Lia’s orders made her more determined to stand up for herself. “I think that we should tell her.”

Huffing in exasperation, Lia walked over to Kara and pulled her away from Pandora. She whispered something in Kara’s ear. From Kara’s response, Pandora could tell Kara disagreed.

“She deserves to know!” Kara exclaimed.

“She just got out of a coma. She needs to be able to rest,” Lia retorted.

“But she will worry.”

“She’s going to worry more if we tell her,” Lia said, turning her back to Kara.

Pandora had never seen them argue this fervently before. They were good friends and rarely had disagreements. She thought maybe she could calm them down.

“Tell me what?” Pandora intervened.

“It’s nothing,” Lia responded, trying to excluded her from the conversation.

Kara turned to Lia once more. “You don’t have to tell her. But I will. She clearly cares for him. She deserves to know.”

All of Pandora’s reservations about interrupting their argument left her mind. “This is about Hale, isn’t it? Kara, do you know where he is? You have to tell me.”

Lia went to console Pandora. “My lady, you can’t worry about anything. You have been in a coma for a whole week! You must rest.”

“I don’t care about me right now. I feel completely fine. You have to tell me what happened to Hale. Right now!” Pandora cried out.

“Do you see what you’ve done, Kara!” Lia scolded.

“Calm down, Lia,” Kara demanded. She then sat beside Pandora on the bed. “Hale is fine.”

Pandora couldn’t stop herself from crying. “Is he on Elani? Or did he leave me?”

“He’s still here,” Kara replied.

Pandora began to sob. He hadn’t left her. She was overcome with relief and gratefulness. She was sorry she ever doubted him. “Can he come see me now? I need to see him.”

“That’s a problem,” Kara began. “He—he was arrested. When he came to the castle, he was arrested immediately by the guards, and I believe he’s in prison.”

Every last ounce of her relief turned into unrelenting anguish as soon as Pandora heard and accepted that her love was in prison. After he had done so much for her, after he had rescued her and brought her home, his reward was being held in jail? How could her father allow this? The man who brought his daughter home was kept in a cell. How was that fair?

“I’m sure he’s doing fine,” Kara said.

Pandora clenched her jaw. “No, it’s not fine! If it wasn’t for him, I would be dead. You said I was in a coma. Well, guess who brought me home to this hospital so that I could survive it, Hale did.”

Lia sat on the other side of Pandora. “There is nothing you can do right now. You need to focus on resting. Hale will be alright.”

Pandora kicked off her sheets, and without a moment’s hesitation, she pulled her IV out of her arm. She dashed for the door. But when she pressed the button to open the door, she found it was locked. To open the door, she needed a four digit passcode. Both Lia and Kara grabbed Pandora and pulled her away from the door.

“Kara, go get the doctor immediately,” Lia ordered.

Kara entered the passcode and slipped out of the room, leaving Lia with the responsibility of detaining Pandora.

Pandora didn’t know why she was even fighting her handmaidens. She didn’t know why she had reacted so violently when she tried to escape. Acting uncontrollably wouldn’t bring Hale back any faster. Pandora obeyed Lia and sat back down on the hospital bed.

“You need to be perfectly calm when the doctor comes. It will make all of this go much faster,” Lia instructed her.

Less than a minute later, Kara returned with who Pandora assumed to be her doctor. He a clear tablet in one hand and a pencil in the other.

“Good afternoon,” the doctor greeted. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel normal,” Pandora said.

“That’s promising,” the doctor replied. “I see that you removed your IV yourself. I will have a nurse put in a new one for you. Seeing as you were in a coma for a week, it would be best for us to continue monitoring you. You will need to continue receiving the medication from your IV.”

“But I feel fine. I want to go home now. I feel completely normal. I can’t stay here any longer.”

The doctor was staring down at his tablet and writing something down. When he looked back up, he sighed. “I understand your frustrations. But a coma is a serious medical condition. You are very lucky that you woke up at all.”

Pandora nodded. “I understand of course. I am thankful. But how long do I have to stay here?”

“It is possible that you might be able to return home tonight. I will give you a checkup. If you pass, you can stay at home, but you will have to be monitored for at least an entire day there.”

That option wasn’t ideal, but it was much better than staying in the hospital. She needed to have a talk with her dad about Hale as soon as possible. Pandora never would rest knowing that Hale was in prison. From home, she would be able to talk to her dad like she needed to.

The doctor turned to Lia. “Please make sure she stays in bed. I will be back in a little while. I have to get my equipment for her checkup. A nurse will be here soon to fix her IV.” He walked to the door. “Your Majesty, I assure you I will do everything in my power to make sure you can return home quickly.”