The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 329

Her dark eyebrows were bold, and her eyes were large and bright. The tip of her nose was slightly red from the cold, but her lips held a much brighter smile than they had five years ago. She crossed the helipad in wide strides, pushed open the doors to Endurance Station, and strode into the lobby.

Garrison was standing in the middle of the lobby, holding a transport manifest. He was frowning slightly, having clearly waited a while. Cassandra approached from behind and slapped him right on the back.

"Dr. Foster!" her voice wasn't overly loud, but it was brimming with genuine shock and thrill. "Five years! You kept a secret this massive! Sloane—Sloane actually isn't dead!"

Garrison stumbled half a step forward from the impact. He regained his balance, turned around, and shot her a thoroughly unamused look.

"It's been five years," he said, his voice completely devoid of emotion, "and it seems your brain hasn't grown at all."

"She's not 'not dead'—she died. Her body was cryogenically preserved until future technology was advanced enough to resuscitate her. This is science, not raising the dead."

Cassandra choked on his blunt correction, but then waved it off carelessly, flashing a wide grin that revealed a row of perfectly straight, white teeth.

"Hahaha, it's the exact same thing! Point is, she's going to wake up! Sloane is unbelievable, and so are you! Is this the first case of its kind in the world?!"

"Cassandra." Garrison cut her off.

His voice dropped suddenly, low enough that only the two of them could hear. "Until Sloane has truly recovered, you cannot breathe a word of this to anyone. Anyone, do you understand?"

Cassandra raised her right hand to her temple, delivering a sharp salute. She wiped the smile off her face and said solemnly, "Understood. Don't worry. I swear on my life, my lips are completely sealed."

The staff carefully secured the cryo-chamber to the shock-absorbing mounts in the center of the cabin. Garrison was the last to board. He paused at the door for a second, glancing back at Endurance Station. The iron-gray building had stood tall on the ice field for countless years. Right now, the icicles hanging from its eaves had completely melted, glittering in the sunlight.

Then, he boarded the aircraft and shut the cabin door.

The helicopter lifted off the ground. Endurance Station grew smaller and smaller, turning into a lonely gray cube on the ice plain before disappearing beneath the clouds.

Below them lay The Drake Passage—the most dangerous stretch of ocean in the world. Pitch-black waters churned with foaming white crests, looking like the pulsing veins of the earth from above.

Dark clouds churned ahead, and the helicopter began to shudder. Cassandra shouted from the cockpit, "Hold on tight!" then shoved the control stick forward, breaking through the storm clouds and tearing straight into a boundless azure sky.