Rook remained at the doorway.
Whitaker approached him.
“You paid for the bear?”
“Most of it.”
“No,” Whitaker said. “The boy did.”
Rook looked through the glass at Eli.
“Yeah,” he said. “He did.”
Waking was the beginning, not the ending.
Lucy had lost muscle, coordination, speech, and pieces of memory. She could not sit without support. Her right hand remained tightly curled. Food had to be introduced slowly, and ordinary light frightened her.
Rehabilitation lasted two years.
Some weeks brought progress. Others took it away.
Eli attended therapy sessions after school. He learned to hold flash cards, count repetitions, and celebrate movements too small for visitors to notice. When Lucy became frustrated, he placed Rosie beside her and read aloud.
The bear became part of therapy.
Lucy reached toward its paws.
She practiced naming its ribbon.
She used its fur to retrain sensation in her fingers.
The Iron Lanterns kept their calendar.
