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“I’ve done all I can do for the moment,” Asa said, listing with exhaustion.“We need to move him to a bed.Once we’ve recovered somewhat, I can work on him some more.”
How bitterly ironic that a flood of uncontrolled magic had nearly killed them all, and now they couldn’t recover for want of magic.“What about other familiars?”Nic asked.
Laryn’s eyes flew wide, her lip curling in a silent snarl.Nic ignored her.She’d given her own magic to Jadren; Laryn could share her wizard.Asa was frowning.“The unbonded familiars Alise brought?”
“Yes.”Or bonded ones, Nic didn’t care at this point.“Let’s round up every unbonded familiar in House Phel.Do you have the strength to use them?”
Asa’s expression wavered—and Laryn glared hot daggers at Nic—but he straightened and nodded.“I need some food first, and we need to get him into a bed.”
“I’ll take care of that,” she replied, forcing herself to her feet, despite the aches in every pore.Jadren appeared to have fallen asleep, or passed out, over Selly’s prone form.Selly herself was sleeping, looking more peaceful than Nic had ever seen her.Nic made it to the infirmary doors by concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.Fortunately, Jadren’s wards had collapsed with his consciousness, and she was able to manually unbolt the doors.
Outside, GF and Daisy sprang to their feet with anxious expressions.Of course they hadn’t gone home.“Nic!”Daisy exclaimed.“You look awful.Let me help you.”
Nic couldn’t even manage a sarcastic reply.GF put his arm around her, his strength and bulk so like Gabriel’s she wanted to cry.“I’ve got the gel,” he said gruffly.
“Are they…” Daisy didn’t finish, trying to peer around Nic, eyes narrowed as if afraid of what she might see.
“They’re both alive,” Nic managed to say, her ribs protesting the draw of breath.“But we need help.Brawn to move Gabriel to a bed.And I need unbonded familiars—Han and Iliana.”
“What about Narlis?”GF asked, surprising her.He frowned at Nic’s blank face.“Didn’t you say she’s an unbonded familiar, too?”
Yes.An aged one, her magic weak, but they could use all the help they could get.GF nodded at her.“I’ll fetch Narlis and send brawn.Daisy, my love, you find this Han and Iliana.”
“But—” Daisy protested, straining toward the infirmary.
“You can help the kids more right now by getting them what they need,” GF told her.
“Food, too,” Nic remembered.
“Let me help you sit,” GF said kindly.“You’re weaving on your feet.We’ll be back soonest.”
He sat her on a chair probably intended for patients to wait in, and Nic stared numbly at the blank wall, unable to do more than that.She really wanted to go back to Gabriel, but apparently the chair had developed magnetic properties, sucking her down and practically inside of it.Alise found her there soon after, crouching before Nic and taking her hands as a stream of people rushed inside, carrying food and drink.Iliana ran past, also, the redhead flashing her a reassuring smile.They would help.Bless them all.
After a while, Nic became aware that Alise was talking to her, low and quiet.Telling her some bit of gossip from Convocation Academy about people Nic was certain she didn’t know.
“Why are you telling me about Cordelia Calliope’s wardrobe malfunction?”she finally asked.
Alise grinned, climbing to sit beside Nic.“Because I knew when you asked me that it would mean you were back inside your head.”Alise stroked Nic’s hair, concern in her wizard-black eyes.“You frightened me.You’re drained dry, honey.”
“Gabriel,” Nic said, leaping to her feet.Or, at least, in her mind she did.Her body stubbornly failed to obey her intention and Alise restrained her easily.
“There’s nothing more you can do for him,” Alise said, then her eyes flew wide at Nic’s choked gasp.“No!I mean, he’s alive.But you’re tapped out and other people are working on him.You’ve already done everything.”
“Selly?”
“Also alive, being hovered over.Jadren is like a felled tree.Laryn is completely tapped out and sleeping.It’s like the aftermath of an epic magic battle in there.Actually, of them all, I think Selly is in the best shape.”
Nic tried to smile, but her face felt too numb for it.GF arrived, moving slowly as Narlis crept alongside him, her arm through his.Narlis beamed, her wrinkled face lighting with it.“Hello Nic,” she said—a bit of a shock as Nic hadn’t been sure Narlis knew her name.“Where’s my good boy?”
“Inside,” Nic managed.
“I walked as fast as I could,” Narlis confided, and GF raised his eyes to the sky.
“She wouldn’t let me carry her.”
“I’m old,” Narlis scolded him, “not decrepit.Now take me to my boy.”
“Would you help me inside, too?”Nic asked Alise in their wake.
