Most of the beds in the room were empty before the sun even set. But even at almost four o’clock in the morning, Cadence still couldn’t go home since two of the most important people in her life were sound asleep in the cots next to the chair she’d spent most of the day in. Brandon and Cassidy continued to sleep like modern day Shakespearian lovers, and Dax was also still out across the room. Tara occupied the bed Hannah had vacated only a couple of hours after her injections, and though the teen had spent a great deal of time on her phone, Tara was now asleep.
They had woken up according to age, which Cadence thought was quite an odd phenomenon, and it had sparked a conversation amongst the doctors as to why that might be. Christian had been under for less than two hours. Hannah had been next to rejoin the waking world, followed by Aurora, and then Shane. Jamie had done a lot of tests on the Guardian since he had gotten one of his injections outside of the vein and the Healer had put him to sleep. It appeared as if Shane wasn’t quite as fast as some of the others who had gotten the serum, but it was difficult to see a difference since they were all so unbelievably quick.
Meagan had woken up next, and then quite a bit later, Mickey and Ashley had come to almost at the same time. Jamie had been relieved to see Ashley was okay and had even left the room with her for over an hour while the rest of the Healers kept vigil. Cadence’s love for Jamie overrode her distain for the blonde, and she couldn’t help but smile, thinking of how happy she made him.
Now, they were down to the last three kids, the ones who’d most recently Transformed, and Cadence wondered if Dax would wake up first because he was the oldest or if Brandon would because he had Transformed first. Her money was on Brandon, but she hadn’t said much of anything aloud for the last few hours. Her mother was sitting on the other side of Cassidy’s bed. She’d insisted on coming back with Aaron when he’d gone to tell her what had happened, and she refused to leave until she was certain Cassidy was okay. While Cadence remembered she hadn’t been at her own bedside during her procedure for more than a few minutes, she tried to remember this was different; her mother still thought of Cassidy as her baby. Her dad had also swung by, but when Liz insisted he go home, he hadn’t fought it. He’d never been one for hospitals, and this place was close enough.
Aaron had been with her most of the day, but she’d sent him back to the office for a little while once the meeting in Melbourne started, which wasn’t long ago. She wasn’t following along, nor would she be watching the attack if Cassidy was still out. She needed to take one thing at a time so as not to get overwhelmed, and it was going on twenty hours since her sister had injected herself with the serum. There was no way to know what might happen when she opened her eyes, so as heavy as her own eyelids were, Cadence continued to keep her vigil.
The sound of snoring roused her a bit, and she realized her mother was asleep in her chair. With a soft sigh, Cadence got to her feet and gently picked her mom up, carrying her to the cot Christian had vacated hours ago. Liz only stirred slightly as Cadence pulled the sheet up over her, smiling at the irony of carrying her own mother to bed. She kissed her mom on the top of the head and looked longingly at the other vacant beds, but she wouldn’t take one.
“You can sleep. It’ll be all right. I can wake you,” Jamie said through her IAC, and not for the first time. He was the only doctor still in the room since there were only three patients left.
“It’s okay,” Cadence said, reclaiming her chair. She assumed they were using their IACs so as not to wake her mother and Tara. She stifled a yawn. “I’m awake.”
“You know, assuming everything goes all right with my procedure, we are planning a hunt tomorrow night, right? You’re going to need some rest.”
“I know, but I can sleep while you’re out. I mean, it’s not like I care what happens to you.”
He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at her.
“If you two are talking to each other, you have to include me,” Elliott said. He was sitting on the floor across the room, watching YouTube videos or something with earbuds on, and Cadence had momentarily forgotten he was even in the room.
“Sorry. I was just telling Cadence to go to sleep,” Jamie replied.
“And I was just telling him I’d sleep while he does.”
“Well, if my calculations are correct, and I’m sure they are because my math is genius level, I’d guess Brandon should be up soon enough. Cadence, you were out for nineteen hours, right?”
“I guess,” she replied, not knowing exactly how long she had been asleep, never having cared to count the hours.
“And these kids have been out for twenty now. You’re just a little over a year older than him so, I’d guess he’d need about an extra hour to get this done.”
“So shouldn’t Dax be awake by now?” Jamie asked.
“Listen, Doc, I’m not gonna tell you how to do your medicine, and you’re not gonna tell me how to do my math. Hell, I don’t know how old Forest is.”
“He’s nineteen,” Cadence replied. Dax was only about a half a year younger than her. “But I haven’t figured out if it’s age or how long it’s been since they Transformed that wakes them.”
“I think it has more to do with how long they’ve been Transformed,” Jamie said. “I suspect Brandon will be next, and I do think it will be soon.” Even as he spoke, the Healer crossed the room and checked Brandon’s pulse.