I let out a frustrated huff. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous.”
Not being able to walk again was one thing, but I was determinednotto endure another one of these fucking tests. One more night in this hospital was too much. I wanted out, and I was leaving now, dammit!
My brain worked ceaselessly to come up with solutions. And since I was in the hospital, time was what I had boatloads of. Unfortunately, my mind wasn’t exactly up to capacity. I forgot everything. I couldn’t hold on to a thought for more than two seconds before it was gone, and I was left wondering just what I’d been thinking about. I’d blown away half my brain cells along with my spine.
I just wanted to find a way to walk again, before the answer slowly clicked. My legs couldn’t move… but my magic was working. My Anichi powers couldn’t heal my spinal injury, but that was a problem with my body, not the power itself. I’d healed Charlie’s bruise the other day, so I knew my magic was still up to par.
I began to theorize. I could attempt to use my Water magic to walk… move the blood to my legs and force them to maneuver the extremities. I’d seen Marcus reanimate dead bodies. Why couldn’t I do the same with my living vessel?
My heart began to race as I thought of the possibilities. Oberi was off with Charlie, and good riddance, because I didn’t want a lecture for what I was about to try. Brilliant people didn’t find solutions to huge problems without taking risks.
Maybe other people had tried this before, but I wasn’tother people.I was Ava-Marie. I could do anything I wanted, and if I wanted to walk again, I’d find a way.
With a tremendous amount of effort, I used my hands to lift my legs to the side of the bed, propping myself upright at the same time. It was painful and took a while, but thankfully, no one came in to catch me.
I took a deep breath and focused on moving the water in my blood. I felt it begin to rush downward, toward my feet. My heartbeat pounded against my ribcage, and I dared to put some weight on my right foot.
It held! I couldn’t believe it! Although my Water magic was protesting for me to stop, I forced the magic to keep doing my bidding, moving my left foot, then the right, until I was walking again!
“Ancestors, it’s fucking working!” I yelped— but not before I became extremely lightheaded. The room began to spin, and my heartbeat became so quick I feared I was having a heart attack.
My legs buckled underneath me, and my Water magic refused to comply with my demands. The floor rushed up to meet me quicker than I expected it.
“Ava!” I heard someone cry my name, then footsteps came as they rushed forward to catch me. I let out a fresh cry of pain as someone grabbed my middle before I completely blacked out.
* * *
I must’ve only been out a few seconds, because I was slightly aware that my brother was carefully carrying me back toward the bed, my feet dragging behind me against the floor.
Shit, I hadn’t even made it two steps. My experiment hadn’t worked after all.
“What happened?” Ez asked, clearly in alarm. “I saw you walk!”
I forced out the words. “I tried using… Toaqua magic…”
That was all I had to say. I saw the flash of his anger through my dreary haze as Ez spat, “Should’ve known you would’ve tried to pull a stunt like that.”
“I had to try. Please don’t call for help,” I begged weakly.
“You severely threw off your blood pressure,” Ez worried as he carefully laid me back down. My body sank into the mattress, experiencing sweet relief as my heart rate returned to a normal state.
“Yeah, kinda worked that out as I was falling toward the floor.”
“That was fucking stupid, Ava. I’m gonna tell Charlie,” he threatened.
“Ancestors, no! I’ll never hear the end of it,” I begged. He’d worry himself to high hell, and putting my husband through more bullshit than I already had wasn’t my idea of a fun time.
Ez was fuming, but he took the chair beside me as he said, “Promise me you won’t do anything like that again, okay? That was scary.”
“I won’t. It’s clear that’s not an option.”
Ez heard the heartbreak in my tone. He pulled the chair closer as he leaned his arms on the bed. “Don’t get down on yourself. I know you’re desperate. But the rest of us are desperate not to lose you again. So please be careful, okay?”
“Sure.” I put a hand to my temple, because I had a raging headache. I closed my eyes to get the room to stop turning. “Ez, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. I need to apologize.”
“Apologize?” he seemed baffled. “For what?”
“I took the attention away from you… again.”
