“Yulia.” A cool hand brushes over my forehead. “Yulia, are you awake?”
The wall of water is back, messing with my hearing, but something about that voice catches my attention. The darkness dissipates, the wall of water thinning, and I open my eyes.
A blond boy is crouching over me, his eyes piercingly blue in his handsome face.
We stare at each other for a second; then my brother jumps to his feet. “Uncle Vasya,” he yells. “She woke up.”
I hear footsteps, and then strong hands drag me off the floor and place me back in the chair. My pulse jumps, but before my panic spirals out of control, I realize that Kirill is nowhere in sight.
It’s just Obenko and me.
“Where’s Misha?” I ask hoarsely. My throat feels coated with sand, and my mouth is woolly and dry. I must’ve been out for a while.
