Chapter 20 None Of It Was Real

• Chase’s P.O.V
• I blinked up at the sky, the afternoon sun breaking through the trees above me in blinding patches of gold. Everything felt hazy, like I’d just been hit by something far heavier than just the ground. My chest ached from the fall, and my limbs felt like they were moving in slow motion. The world was muffled, like I was underwater. I could hear a distant voice—soft at first, then louder, panicked.
• “Chase!” My mother’s arms were around me, warm and trembling, pulling me against her like she could shield me from whatever had just happened.