"Wake up."
The voice arrived somewhere at the edge of my consciousness, distant and muffled.
Then something landed on me.
Not lightly.
"Hmm—" The groan came out before I was fully conscious of making it, dragged out of my chest by the sudden weight.
"Wake. Up."
I turned my head and forced my eyes open with considerable effort, blinking against the groggy resistance of a sleep that had evidently been deep enough to leave grooves. My vision swam, blurred, then gradually resolved itself into a face hovering inches above mine.
I recognized her before my brain had fully caught up.
"Wake up, dear," the voice said again, and Sydney smiled down at me.
She was straddling me, her dark hair loose around her shoulders and her blue eyes narrowed in mischief.
Before I could produce a coherent response, she leaned down and kissed me.
I was surprised enough that it took me a full second to catch up to it. Then I kissed her back without much thinking about.
