“It’s done,” she said. “All twelve implants removed. She’ll be sore, but she’s going to be fine.”
Ariston broke down crying in the middle of the waiting room. Sky hugged him without thinking.
“She’s free now,” Sky whispered.
“Thanks to you,” he said.
When Elo woke, she was groggy and confused, but the first thing she saw was Sky sitting right beside her bed.
“You stayed,” Elo whispered.
“Of course,” Sky said.
Eloin raised a shaking hand to touch her head. Bandages wrapped around her scalp, but the constant, burning ache she’d been living with for two years was gone.
“Are they gone?” she asked.
“All of them,” Ariston said from the doorway. “You’re free.”
Elo started crying—not from pain, but from relief.
The doctor smiled.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Tired,” Elo said. “But better.”
“That’s normal,” the doctor said. “You’ll need rest. No school. No stress.”
They went home that afternoon. Ariston carried Elo up to her room and tucked her into bed.
“I’m going to stay home with you,” he said. “No work. No trips. Just us.”
“Really?”
“Really. I have a lot of time to make up for.”
Elo smiled and drifted off to sleep.
When Sky’s mother came to pick her up, Ariston met her at the door.