**
He woke, groggily, to sobbing. Crysta was holding onto him like he was a life preserver, whispering ‘wake up’ over and over. He hugged her tighter, shifting in her arms, “Hey,” he said softly.
She picked her head up to stare into his open eyes. “Oh god,” her voice was soft, broken, “Please, this isn’t a dream, is it?”
He shook his head, “Nope. You just had a nightmare, that’s all.”
She pushed her face against his shoulder, her entire body shaking. He rubbed her back and waited. Eventually she quieted down and looked up at him again, drowsy, “You were hurt.”
“A little. But you healed me, didn’t you.”
She nodded, hiding her eyes against his shoulder again, “When I woke up and your eyes were closed, I thought…”
“I’m fine. That was just a dream.”
She nodded again, biting her lip. “What happened? I remember….” She squinted for a second, loosening her grip on him, “I was in the hallway because I was heading to Gideon Enterprises, and then…I got tired and…”
“The Lazarus Group attacked you. Scott was working with them, I think he made you tired, and then Mary took you to one of the group’s facilities. They have…had a guy there that could make people sleep and alter their dreams. But it didn’t go as planned; I think you panicked and shorted out the entire building. You hurt yourself, I don’t know how, but you look a lot better now.”
Crysta carefully considered the chain of events, her eyes glued to the rise and fall of his chest. “I…remember some people trying to get me to go with them. But Vitaly had killed you and I couldn’t leave you. I tried so hard…to…heal you…but it wasn’t…working…and…” Her voice faltered again, becoming watery.
Hugo gave her a light squeeze, “It’s ok. I’m fine, and they won’t hurt you ever again.” Crysta gave him a slight nod, and then rested her head on his chest, sighing. They lay there together for a long time, not saying anything, before he finally worked up the courage to apologize, “I’m sorry.”
“Hmmm?” Crysta looked up at him. It was plain on her face that she’d almost fallen back to sleep.
“I led Mary to you. They found out you could heal because of Mary. I’m sorry.”
She shook her head, pushing way the apology, “It was my decision to heal her. I just wanted to get her fixed up as soon as possible in case I had to go after you. You did nothing wrong.”
“But-”
“Shhh.” He obeyed. The silence lengthened out, strips of light filtering in through her blinds. Finally she spoke again, “What do we do now?”
“Clem and CJ are going to find out what Vitaly’s doing now that he’s lost his two greatest allies. Maggie is finding out who plans on siding with Vitaly so we know who he’s going to go to for help next."
“And what are we going to do?”
“We are going to lie here until it gets really boring.”
Crysta smiled at that, lowering her head again, “That sounds like a good plan.”
The Sound of Wind Page 111
