By the time Saffie snuck back into her bedroom, the first glint of morning sunshine was already breaking over the horizon. Having had no sleep all night, she should have been just about ready to drop, but she was so buzzing from the adrenaline of finally gaining access to the counterspell, she wouldn’t have been able to get a minute of sleep even if she’d tried.
Instead, she sat on the edge of her bed, psyching herself up for what was most likely going to be an unpleasant conversation with her mum. As far as Saffie knew, she was still grounded, but she wasn’t going to allow her mum to keep her away from Dax for a day longer.
At just after 7:30am, she heard the clank of a coffee spoon against a mug, so she marched downstairs and stood in the kitchen doorway with her arms folded, glaring at her mum.
“It’s been over a week since I last visited Dax. I want to see him today.”
Holly returned Saffie’s glare without saying anything for longer than was comfortable, and Saffie felt the blood drain from her face as a horrible thought hit her.
“No…” she said. “Please tell me you haven’t already done it. You haven’t turned his life support off. Please, mum, no…”
Holly looked down at her coffee and began stirring it impatiently.
“Of course I haven’t. Do you know the kind of reputation I’d get around here if I did? They’d say I was a monster for doing it too early. I’ll give it a month or two at least.”
Saffie’s whole body relaxed. She didn’t care if her mum planned on signing away Dax’s life in a few weeks or a few months. As long as it wasn’t before her next visit, it wouldn’t matter.
“Your father can take you this morning,” Holly said, pushing past Saffie and sipping her coffee as she took it into the living room. “It’ll give me a break from having to listen to him waffle on about that wretched quadcopter.”
Saffie raced back up to her bedroom and beamed at her reflection in her mirror. It was happening. In just a few hours’ time, Dax would be awake, and she couldn’t wait for him to see her for the first time as a mage with her own panion.
Since joining the Mage’s Guild, Saffie had worn nothing other than the basic robes Keith had given her, but with all the errands she had completed and all the battling she had done over the last few weeks, she had won three more outfits that she hadn’t even tried on. Now seemed like the perfect time.
“Open Wardrobe,” she said, and an old looking closet popped out of nowhere just to her right, its doors creaking open to reveal the three outfits she’d won.
The first of them had been awarded to her for defeating a gargoyle on Oxford Street. She touched her finger to it, and the robe wafted over her, replacing the original. It was stone white, complete with a hood, a scarf, and a pair of metal shoulder blades.
The second robe she had been given for freeing a friendly feathered animal from the clutches of a vicious reptilian beast called a Snapjaw, and was split into two parts; a pale yellow under-layer that covered her from neck to toe, and a golden top layer that was more like a cloak.
Saffie would have been happy wearing either of the first two robes, but as soon as she touched the third and it fluttered onto her, she knew it was the one. It was a stunning gradient of turquoise and cerulean, and was complemented by various, highly decorative silver armour elements that reminded Saffie of the kind of thing the Elves in her favourite movies and video games would wear. On top of that, a bunch of text in the top left of her vision let her know that the outfit came with a few status bonuses:
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Magic Defence Increased
Physical Defence Increased
Stealth Increased
“Outfit selected,” said Saffie, and the wardrobe slammed shut before vanishing with a pop. She put her hands on her hips and Acorn jumped onto her shoulder. She looked cool and she knew it. Dax wasn’t going to believe his eyes.
During the car journey to the hospital, Peter tried to make small talk, but Saffie still couldn’t stomach having a conversation with him after what he and her mum had done to her possessions, so she just gave him short answers in the most polite tone she could muster, hoping he would get the hint without causing a fuss. Instead, Saffie used the almost silent journey to think of all the things she was going to tell Dax when he woke up - that she’d defeated a growlem in Kensington Gardens, that she’d joined the Mage’s Guild and undertaken dozens of errands, that the Onyx had been stolen from his apartment, and that she’d battled another glitch hunter in the London Library.
When they reached Dax’s ward, Peter said, “I’ll wait in the foyer, honey. Just let me know when you’re ready to go home.”
Saffie nodded, just about holding back the gleeful grin that wanted to spread across her face. She pushed through the doors, practically sprinting towards Dax’s bed, but she screeched to a halt when she realised there was a nurse changing his IV fluid bag.
“Oh, hello darling!” the nurse said as she noticed Saffie. “Enjoying your summer holidays?”
Saffie recognised the nurse from her previous visits; Lauren, if she remembered her name correctly.
“It’s been… an eventful one so far,” said Saffie, as Lauren approached her.
“It can be tough seeing a loved one like this,” Lauren said, taking Saffie’s hands and giving them a squeeze. “Not knowing if they’re ever going to pull through.”
“Well, I have a funny feeling he’s going to wake up very soon,” said Saffie.
The nurse smiled, and Saffie could tell it was a pity smile.
“Maybe he will,” Lauren said softly. “Maybe he will.”
“I know he will,” said Saffie, and the nurse gave her a slightly confused expression before moving onto the patient in the next bed.
As soon as Lauren was preoccupied with her duties, Saffie approached Dax’s side.
It felt like she hadn’t seen him for months, even though it had been just over a week. But it was time to get him out of this hospital for once and for all.
Saffie took a deep breath and raised her hand in Dax’s direction, her fingertips splayed. Then, with an unwavering conviction, she said the words she’d been dreaming of saying ever since she’d first been shown the Great Spellbook at the Mage’s Guild:
“Unburdened Mind.”
There was a moment in which nothing seemed to happen, but then she felt it: positive power surged through her knuckles and into her fingers before a bright white light burst out of them, swirling towards Dax and soaking into his body.
As the spell finished, Saffie lowered her arm and waited with bated breath.
When Dax didn’t stir, she said, “Dax, it’s me, Saffie!” in as quiet a volume as she could manage.
She studied his face while listening to the steady beeping of his cardiogram.
“Dax!” she said, a little louder. “Wake up!”
She searched around his bed for any sign of his panion, Fumble, but there was none.
After a few moments, Acorn climbed onto Dax’s chest and touched his paw to Dax’s nose, but there was no reaction.
“I know you desperately want to help him wake up, lovely,” came Lauren’s soft voice from behind her. “But there’s really nothing you can do.”
“No,” Saffie said, keeping her eyes locked on Dax’s face for any sign of a change of expression. “You don’t understand. I cast the spell to wake him up. He’s going to wake up any moment, I swear.” She was so baffled by Dax’s lack of change that the word ‘spell’ had just slipped out.
Lauren put her arm around Saffie.
“Oh, lovely girl,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be an amazing thing if we had magical powers to make people better? How great that would be to simply cast a spell and have a loved one come out of a coma. Just remember, the greatest magic in this world is love. And I know that you love your uncle.”
Saffie pulled herself away from Lauren. She wanted to scream at her that she didn’t understand; that she had cast a real magic spell, but she knew it wouldn’t make any sense.
“How about we get you back to your dad?” Lauren said, gently nudging Saffie away from Dax’s bed. Saffie resisted, feeling tears forming in her eyes.
“This isn’t right,” she said as Lauren took her arm and ushered her towards the waiting room. “It should have worked. Why didn’t it work?”
As Lauren held the door open for her to leave, Saffie took one last look back at Dax, fully expecting him to suddenly sit up with a great gasp.
But he didn’t.
The spell had done nothing.