Josie had a nurse help her with a rolling bed. Jack lifted Caroline to the bed with

Gravity before switching back.

“How would you like to go skydiving for your first date?,” Jack asked as he pushed

the bed out in the hall.

“Skydiving, Jack?,” asked Josie. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you

crazy? Don’t answer that.”

“I’m just saying that it will be supervised and it will be a way for her to be close to

Case without being indecent,” said Jack.

“What is skydiving?,” asked Caroline.

“Where we are from people are able to use machines to fly,” said Jack. “And they like

to jump out of them with a safety device and float to the ground.”

“It is dangerous despite people saying that it is safe,” said Josie. “People can get hurt

if they jump too close to the machine, or the device doesn’t work like it should.”

“I did it,” said Jack. “It was easy.”

“You skydived?,” asked Josie.

“I was in the Army,” said Jack. “They train you to do it. And you have to have so

many hours. So yes, I can skydive, and show others how to skydive. It’s even easier

now that I can fly. Plus I took all those goblins skydiving with me, and Elena’s

villagers.”

“They trusted you with that?,” asked Josie.

“Not the goblins,” said Jack. He grinned at her.

“Could you take us skydiving?,” asked Caroline.

“Sure,” said Jack. “We’ll jump out and walk home. That will give you and Case some

alone time.”

“We’re not supposed to be giving them alone time,” pointed out Josie.

“I’ll take the kids,” said Jack. “I should be able to juggle them all. And Laura and Bea

will be great backups for me in case I drop someone, then we can go fishing like I

wanted.”

“I don’t think I like this plan at all,” said Josie.

“It will give you a chance to take a day off,” said Jack. “Unless you want to go

skydiving too.”

“Why would I want to do that?,” asked Josie. “Besides we can fly.”

“You can make sure that I don’t drop one,” said Jack.

“Maybe it would be good to take a day off,” said Josie. She thought about being alone

at the Hole in the Wall. “I think that you should take Elaine with you. She doesn’t like

to fly, but maybe she will want to fish with you guys.”

“What do you think, Caroline?,” asked Jack. “Ever been fishing with six kids and two

adults that just want to take it easy?”

“Not really,” said Caroline. “Could we do that?”

“Sure,” said Jack. “I’ll call the kids and we’ll do it.”

“Not today, maybe not tomorrow,” said Josie. She frowned at her partner. “We still

have to take the king home, let the queen sleep on the couch, and move June out. And

we don’t know how strong Caroline will be tonight after we go over her injuries.”

“Have you thought of your other two supervised dates with Case?,” said Jack.

“Not really,” said Caroline. “I thought about going to a show.”

“Elaine and I went to one about Hurley the Hurler,” said Jack. “I don’t know if it is

still running.”

Their talk had got them through the elevator ride downstairs. Josie held the door

while Jack rolled the bed out and toward the operating theater where Josie had

worked on Marla, and Jack had took his samples of Massa’s growths.

“Madam Witch said that you are teaching your dragon responsibility,” said Caroline

as they navigated the doors.

“She likes Ear Ripper better,” said Jack. He grinned at her frowning face.

“Do not,” said Josie. She tried to make it clear that she was warning them with those

two words. “Josie is fine.”

“And Matilda is teaching Aviras,” said Jack. “If anything happened to her, we might

have a dangerous beast on our hands. He just puts up with us because I cursed him,

but that wouldn’t stop him from doing things to get even if he wanted to enough.”

“Here we are,” said Josie. She opened the doors for Jack to wheel Caroline into the

room. Jane and Madam Harp stood inside the room.

She agreed with Jack about Aviras. He was smart enough to get onboard the

Enterprise and use his authority to blast anything that had hurt Matilda.

“All right,” said Jack. “We’re going to look at Caroline and see if we can get her on

her feet. I recommend the nurses that have to have the Goblin Tree spines cleared out

either don’t eat twenty four hours before they take the first pill, or they take half the

dose at first. That might limit their time in the latrine.”

“I’ll pass the word,” said Madam Harp. “How are we doing this?”

“Just like your husband’s arm,” said Jack. “I change into Doctor Strange and start

doing what I can, Josie changes into Doctor Occult and follows up when I run out of

power. Case said the healing potion that you gave her doesn’t seem to be helping that

much, so we’re probably going to have to flush it and give her something I make on

the spot.”

“I’ll send Hilda to talk to the alchemist we used,” said Jane. “We might have to cut

him off.”

“All right,” said Josie. “Let’s get started. We’re going to have to check on Mister

Warner and June after we take care of this. Maybe a day off will do me some good

after all.”

Josie doubted she would take that time. There were still too many things she needed

to do to finish her quests. She could take a day without other people around to figure

out how to clear what she had.

“All right,” said Madam Harp. “The scanner is on. This is a lot.”

Josie looked at the screen. It was covered with red indicators pointing at injuries up

and down Caroline’s body. Some of the smallest cracks in her bones filled in while

she was looking.

“Okay, the healing potion is working,” said Jack. “But it is healing small sections at

a time. It’s just enough to make sure Caroline’s organs don’t fail, and her skeleton

doesn’t come apart. We can do better than that.”

“Start with the organs, Jack,” said Josie. “Then we can work on the skeleton. It

doesn’t look like we’ll need to put in pins. They are cracked but not completely

broken.”

“We’re going to put you to sleep, Caroline,” said Jack. “We’re going to have to cut

to fix some of this despite what I thought at first. I’m sorry.”

“Case has told me stories about you,” said Caroline. “So have the others. Budd, and

Emily. They say despite being terrifying, you will help more than you hurt. They told

me about the arm you built on a whim.”

“And it still works,” said Madam Harp. “Darry is happy about that.”

“Told you,” said Jack. He smiled at Josie.

“Don’t get cocky,” said Josie. “That always leads to a Gibbs slap.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Turn your face, Caroline. And close your eyes. I don’t want

you to see the body I have to use, and I need to put you to sleep.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“Why not?,” said Caroline. She turned her head.

“Because it looks like Jo’s mom,” said Jack.

“Even if it’s true, you are about to get punched,” said Josie.

Josie shook her head as Jane and Madam Harp smiled. They had seen Doctor Strange.

They knew how bad it looked. Nobody would trust Jack working on them if they saw

that squamous horror.

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s get started. I can feel Mister Warner leaving Juni to be

monster bait from here.”

He called on Doctor Strange and opened the various floating screens he used to check

things. They were magical versions of the scanner Josie had built, but information

was sorted to different screens so he could look at everything with his many eyes.

He put Caroline to sleep with a drug produced by one of his tentacles. He examined

the damage, unsure where to start his repairs.

“There is just so much here,” said Jack. “She really is lucky to be alive.”

“Where do we get started?,” said Josie. She wanted him to stay on track. The longer

he took, the quicker his watch would time out.

“Let’s start with these cracks in her skull, and the bruising on her brain,” said Jack.

“She might feel different about Case once we clear those up. Then we’ll work down

to these cracks in her collarbones and the hyperextension in her upper arms and

shoulders, then lower.”

“All right,” said Josie. She frowned at the scanner. “Her lower body has a lot of

evidence of rape.”

“Typical Montrose,” said Jack. He began to implant healing tabs in Caroline’s scalp

with needles at the end of his tentacles.

“As if I needed more reasons to blow them up,” said Josie. She watched the scanner,

and how it tracked the reversal of damage in Caroline’s head. “I’m glad Hax pushed

me now.”

“I bet he’s not,” said Jack. A showing of fangs imitated his natural grin.

“I bet,” said Josie. She didn’t know how many of the Montrose were in Shemmaria’s

government when she attacked, but they weren’t living in the capitol anymore.

“All right,” said Jack. “Her heart and lungs seem okay, but her rib cage and upper

spine are both chipped. The lower organs are bruised. The intestines are bruised

almost perforated. Some of it looks like it has healed over.”

“When did you guys give her the healing potion?,” asked Josie. She looked at the

perforation marks on the scanner.

“Almost as soon as we took her to her room, and I talked to her,” said Jane. “Why?”

“You saved her life,” said Jack. He produced some more healing elixir and injected

it in Caroline’s stomach. He stepped back and let her system start spreading it on its

own.

“The potion is crap at widespread healing,” said Josie. “But it made sure her

intestines didn’t leak poison to the rest of her body.”

“So we saved the princess,” said Jane.

“Yes,” said Josie. “You did.”

“I’m so proud of you,” said Jack.

His transformation faded as he checked his scanners. His elixir rolled through

Caroline’s system on its own. It would fix what it could when it reached those

sections.

“Josie is not the only one who can punch you in the face,” said Jane.

Jack grinned back at her.

“All right,” said Josie. “My turn. Maybe I can take this elixir and speed up the healing

process.”

She touched her watch and Doctor Occult threw out her scan to take over Caroline’s

bodily functions. She sped up the elixir, making sure it touched everywhere. She

stopped any cancerous growths that looked like they might appear. She fixed wounds

in Caroline’s lower torso from where she had been assaulted. She changed back after

watching the elixir work down to her patient’s toes and fixing those.

The bruises on Caroline’s skin, the swelling in her face, the patches where hair had

been pulled out, healed in a matter of seconds as they watched.

“If you ever give up killing monsters, you can be a healer and save lives like that,”

said Madam Harp as she watched the scanner.

“Killing monsters is easy,” said Josie. “Fixing people is harder. I’m glad the both of

you, and Massa are helping me with this. This hospital will be more important to

Hawk Ridge long after Jack and I are dead and gone.”

“She is probably going to be hungry when she wakes up,” said Jack. “Let’s roll her

up, make sure we have people watching her, and then find Case and the parents. Then

we can sort the rest of our day out.”

Josie looked down at the sleeping princess. She looked so much better than when she

had exchanged her from her prison with a bird. She was going to live a little longer.

She was going to have kids now.

That will be a big surprise for her if she and Case spent some quality time together.

“I think we did something good here,” said Josie. “I’m going to celebrate when I have

time. Thanks, Jane, Madam Harp.”

“Just part of the job,” said Jane.

“How long will she be asleep?,” asked Madam Harp.

“A few hours,” said Jack. “The elixir will flush out on its own.”

“All right,” said Jane. “Let’s get her back up to her room, and let her sleep.”

Josie wrote a letter and sent it to Eric Fass. She still wanted someone to watch

Caroline other than random adventurers in the hall. She thought about putting a ward

on, but she couldn’t figure out how to do it other than putting a bird in the room and

popping people’s heads.

They placed Caroline on the rolling bed, and Jack rolled her to the elevator. He rolled

her inside and waited for Josie to push the button. They rode up to the room in

silence. When they got to the proper floor, two more adventurers waited with Emily

at the door.

“How is she doing?,” asked Emily. “She looked rough when she was brought in.”

“We took a look at things and straightened it out, Em,” said Jack. “How’s your

brother?”

“He’s okay,” said Emily.

“He’s needs a better haircut,” said Josie. She frowned at Emily. “We have to round

up her parents, and check things out. Caroline is going to be staying with us when she

gets out of here.”

“I’m sure Elaine will love that,” said Emily.

“Don’t rub it in,” said Josie. “We want you to take over for us. If there is a problem,

just hold out until we can get back. I have added some new tricks with the firebirds.”

She pulled out some paper and a pencil. She enchanted the paper and handed it over.

“Is this necessary?,” said Emily. She tucked the paper and pen in her belt.

“The Montrose went after her once to use her as a hostage,” said Josie. “If they come

back, I want to let them know that Hawk Ridge is my city, and I won’t have it.”

“Eric is collecting the pay sheets,” said Emily. “He said he will hold them until he

sees you.”

“Thanks, Emily,” said Josie. She opened the door so they could roll the princess

inside the room. Jack lifted her over to her regular bed and covered her with the light

blanket used by the hospital. “Don’t let Case stay with her by himself.”

“What did he do?,” asked Emily.

“He proposed,” said Jack. He grinned at her expression of disbelief. “And she said

yes. The parents are less than impressed and may want Case to fight some giant

menace on his own to prove he can be a good husband.”

“Save me from fairy tales and the Brothers Grimm,” said Josie. “In any case, he is not

to do any more than hold her hand at the moment because I don’t want him facing a

rope if I happen to be called away.”

“I’ll pass the word around,” said Emily. Her grin matched Jack’s for a moment. “I can

already hear Eric groaning from here.”

Josie could too.

“All right, Jack,” said Josie. “Let’s rescue Case from his future in-laws. Then we have

to do something about Mister Warner and June.”

Jack left the room, talking to the guards on the door. Josie ignored it for the moment.

“If anyone other than Jane, or Madam Harp, try to take Caroline from this room,” said

Josie. “Don’t be afraid to cut them apart. Only people I can trust are allowed to do

anything with Caroline until I can get her and Case through this courting thing.”

“Other nobles?,” asked Emily.

“Especially other nobles,” said Josie. “The Montrose tried to use her for a bargaining

chip. They might have struck deals with others that don’t have the Makeover. I’m not

going through all this trouble for Case to have someone like Lord Brat get in my way.

I don’t care how noble he is.”

“You are soft on the inside,” said Emily. She smiled at the shorter woman.

“That doesn’t help people I hate,” said Josie. “I’ll check in when I have all the rest of

this sorted out.”

“The princess and I will still be here,” said Emily. She gave Josie a small wave.

Josie nodded. There was a small chance that the King and Queen would want their

child closer to home, but she was ready to fight that if she had to. It was better to get

this romantical nonsense with Case out of the way so Caroline can look for someone

else if she wanted to do that.

“All right,” said Josie. She waved at Jack to follow her. “What do we do now?”

“We let Case and his in-laws get to know each other while we check on Mister

Warner,” said Jack. He pulled out his phone. “Then we take Boim up north to inspect

their house.”

“All right,” said Josie. She had no experience with other people’s parents other than

Jack’s. The Lees were atypical of other people as far as she knew.

Jack pushed the button to call Mister Warner. He waited for the retiree to answer.

“What is it, Jack?,” asked Warner.

“I’m just checking in on you,” said Jack. “We’ve done some running around and we

are getting ready to head up north and try to find June a house. How are things?”

“We made it to Tern, and we’re trying to divine what is going on,” said Warner. “We

haven’t found any magic circles, or cryptic signs.”

“No stargates?,” asked Jack.

“No stargates,” agreed Warner.

“I’ll come down there and look around,” said Jack. “Wait, Josie is waving to me.”

Josie held out her hand. She took the phone.

“Mister Warner,” she said. “I’m going to send you a bird to point you to the thing you

are looking for down there. Just follow it.”

She handed the phone back to Jack and made sure that he had the speaker pointed at

her. She transformed into Zatanna, and released a bird. It flew into the phone. She

almost smiled at the outcry from the other end. She changed back.

“All right,” said Mister Warner. “The bird flew into the cliff side. It looks like there’s

an opening hidden there. Hold on, we’re going to take a closer look.”

Josie wondered what could be there. She grimaced at the thought there could actually

be a door there on the shore. What did it mean if the door opened? Did they want to

find out?

She hoped Mister Warner and June could handle any problem with their watches.

Mister Warner had a lot more experience dealing with things, and June could form

things out of the air with the Kami. With more time, she might be able to do more

things with her spirit magic.

“All right,” said Mister Warner. “We have a hulking big door here in the cliff side.

It looks like something has been pounding on it from the inside. Something big.”

“Right,” said Jack. “We’ll get the Enterprise, and come down there with a mess of

firepower.”

“Better hurry,” said Mister Warner. “I can hear whatever it is pounding away on the

other side of this thing.”

He cut the connection.

“I’ll meet you down there,” said Josie. “I’m going to take the bird express.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I wonder what was stashed down there.”

“Probably some kind of Godzilla designed to protect the inner world,” said Josie. She

became Zatanna again and sent out another bird. “Giant monster that shoots flames

everywhere.”

“Cool,” said Jack.

She shook her head, before she was yanked out of the hospital and across the

continent.