I was the world’s top robotic engineer—I could do this.
“Emily is calling, I think you should take a break to talk to her.” Rose was holding a phone out for me to take.
Emily.
My mind, solely focused on my heartbreak, had pushed Emily out of the picture. My sister needed me.
Emotions started falling over me like a wave crashing. I’d been so selfish, ready to jump into death’s arms with Arthur, forgetting that one person still needed me more.
“Hey, Emily.” I tried to sound somewhat normal for her; she didn’t need to worry about me.
“Hey, they told me about Arthur. I wanted to see how everything was coming along. Any luck?”
“None yet, but I’m not giving up. You okay with Lynn? Do you want me to come home?”
It hurt to say those words—to offer to leave this work behind to be with her until she fell asleep. But the truth of what Arthur wrote to me hit me like a bag of iron.
I may not be able to do this. Time was against me, and I needed to come to terms with the fact that I would still have to live life, even without him.
I had to live for her now. I was all she had left.
“No, I need you to keep working. I don’t wanna lose anyone else. Even in the short days of having you and him, you’re my family. Lynn says she’ll stay however long she is needed. Go bring him back for us.”
Emily was so much more mature than I was at her age, and I tried to embody her spirit. She didn’t fault me for my mistakes and emotions with this situation. She accepted me and wanted me to keep going. To make our world whole again, with Arthur in it.
We hung up the phone, and I got back to work, feeling peace in my soul and the spirit of my family pushing me to succeed.
Chapter Forty-Two
Gwendolyn
I’d done it.
Working tirelessly, trying new methods, failing, and trying again. I’d found what I thought was the key to keeping the artificial parts working—codes.
The body was one giant computer. Each part sent signals to the brain that told the rest of the body what to do through code. Every organ had to be in sync, or they would fail.
The problem was, there wasn’t enough time to test it on humans before putting them inside Arthur for good.
Dorian and Esme had done all they could to keep him alive, but time was literally almost up.
I watched from the window above the surgery room as Dorian’s team worked for hours, taking Arthur apart then putting him back together again with new pieces.
If they worked, if my theory was correct, then he would survive, and live until those parts gave out like normal organs under normal circumstance.
But if they failed, Arthur would die.
If I had done nothing at all, he would have died anyway. This way I was giving him a small chance of survival. A small likelihood to live, but even a low percentage was better than none.
The new liver, one lung, and kidneys were taking to his body as they sewed him back up. They’d done a complete transfusion of his previously toxic blood. Now I could see bright red fluid pumping through the newly installed organs.
I prayed it was enough, comforted by the other members of the Hero Society, who waited by my side in the observation room.
It was in the early hours of the morning when they rolled Arthur into a recovery room. I’d waited by his bedside as long as I could before needing to go home and reassure Emily I’d done what I could. Leon took the first turn of watching over him while I was away, then Rose.
Everyone helped as the days passed. His body was responding well to the new parts, and his skin seemed to be getting closer to his natural tan color with every sunrise.
“Have a good day at school; I’ll be here to pick you up later,” I told Emily as she hiked her new backpack on her shoulders and reached over to give me a hug.
I used to not like hugs, and they were still something that I had to work up to, but hugging was becoming something I wanted from others now. It showed that we cared for each other without words. Words had always been my weakness, but actions were what I was made of.
“Say hi to Arthur for me,” she said as she opened the door and walked to the school.
So far, she’d been doing all right at school, only calling once when she felt overwhelmed by the other girls in the class. I tried to tell her what I’d read in the parenting books about this, and I’m not sure if it helped or not. But I hadn’t heard of any problems as of yet, so to me that was a good sign.
I picked up a coffee and bagel for myself and Asher, who had been watching over Arthur last night. Everyone was taking turns, making sure he wasn’t alone.
Everyone I walked past at the hospital smiled at me, giving me a thumbs-up for good luck. Every day we hoped that this would be the day that Arthur woke up. His body was doing great, but he was still in a coma.
“His parents came by early this morning. They dropped off those flowers, but that’s about it.” Asher pointed his olive-toned finger toward the bouquet of white roses.
I hadn’t gotten the pleasure of being here when they came to visit him, mostly because it wasn’t often, and I was okay with that for now. When he was back, and we were together again, I’d face the people who didn’t want to accept him as he was, with him by my side.
“I’m gonna go crash. You need anything else before I leave?” Asher stood and stretched. His fingers moved in a flicking motion toward the white roses, and color seeped into them like someone had poured dye on their petals.
I smiled, seeing all the bright colors.
“Sorry, just felt he would have appreciated waking up to colors in this dreary place.” Asher shrugged, and I was grateful for his wild magic. He wasn’t like us, gifted powers by the gods. Asher was something else, but no matter how he got his powers, he was one of us until the end. Part of the Hero Society family.
An hour after he left, I started reading to Arthur, a book I’d started recently about the world of fae. There was a princess who lost her memory and had been with the love of her life, and the fae prince was trying to make her fall in love with him over again. He was taken before she could remember, and then once she’d found out the truth, she was hell-bent on rescuing her love.
It was a very romantic tale. Dragons, witches, fae, and wild adventures, all wrapped into one story.
“I’m still lost in you.” I gripped his hand and squeezed it a little. Nothing ever happened.
Until it did.
Arthur’s fingers curled around mine.
My body froze, and then thawed a second later.
“Arthur?” Was he finally coming to? I waited to see his eyes open, to look into those hazel depths, and tell him how much I loved him. That I didn’t hate him for doing what he did. He saved everyone and made me become a woman I never thought I could. I became a warrior. Being willing to die for some was easy, but choosing to fight, and live for them even if they wouldn’t be there with you—that was what a goddess would do. The goddess he believed I was.
I held my breath while his closed eyelids twitched.
“Come back to me, baby, come back and be the color in my world,” I begged, hoping it would help push him to fight this battle one last time.
Slowly, those soft eyelids opened, giving me the sight I’d prayed for days to see.
Arthur had woken up, and he was looking right at me.