The flowers and greenery on the balcony, which now resembled a lush jungle rather than a forbidding wasteland, pressed against the cold glass of the sliding doors as Daniel returned to the living room. He felt as if he was moving through extremely cold water; everything was numb and his mind felt slow and uncooperative. He did his best to be a comfort to Ella, but in the end there was not much he could do besides give her the water and keep her calm with more reassuring talk of absolutely nothing. Every once and a while he would look up at Vlad, just to see if he was still there and drawing strength from the fact there was someone more capable near.