"Kalista," said an echo.

It took never-ending seconds to finally open my eyes and come into the light. Tristan. He was kneeling close to my side, his face a few inches from mine. And in the middle of the haziness, something caught my eye. His eyes looked surreal, with streaks of silver, like beams of light over a gray ocean. The green haunting the depths an electric emerald.

"Oh no," I sighed, pushing up myself with my weak elbows. "I'm dead."

He chuckled, relieved. "No, ...