The next time she hovers on the brink of waking, she'll likely feel the warmth of sunbeams bathing her from the left, the right, above. Jars placed on tables and hanging from macramé nets surround her in a cocoon woven of light.

And it's on the outside of the blades of sunlight that a boy sits--curled up over a book with his knees tucked to his chest, squinting. His face is cast in half-shadows, but his glasses glint as he turns the page.