After an agonizingly long trip to the hospital, both kids were swiftly rushed away to be treated. We explained Ryan’s situation to the hospital staff, and they seemed to understand, allowing Rebecca to go with the kids. They weren’t thrilled letting her follow along with the kids, so I didn’t try to ask to join them. It wasn’t that I didn't want to, but I hadn’t called Shelly or Chloe to tell them what happened. I was dreading having to explain everything to Ryan’s sister, especially when I didn’t know if he’d be okay. Before I dealt with them, I needed to call someone who I knew could immediately help when time was possibly of the essence.
“Ethan, I just fixed you up,” Charlie said, not wasting any time grilling me after picking up the phone. “What did you do now?”
“Charlie, Megan and Ryan were both attacked by a pit bull at a birthday party. Ryan protected her, but he’s hurt bad.”
“Oh my God, how bad? Where are you? I’ll head over now.” I heard her grabbing things over the phone.
“We’re at Valley Medical in Omaha. There’s...a lot of his arm missing. I don’t know what they’ll decide to do, but I haven’t told the staff here we have someone who can heal nasty wounds.” I imagined Ryan losing his arm and knew I had to do something. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to heal him here without people seeing, so if you don’t-”
“I’m not going to let my friend’s brother suffer because I’m worried people might see me.” Her voice was firm and maybe a little insulted. “Have you told Chloe?”
“No, I wasn’t thinking straight in the chaos, I’m sorry. I forgot to call her on the way over. I’ll call her after we’re done.” I had been so focused on the kids that nothing else seemed to matter much, though it wasn’t like I had the ability to do anything myself. My Anomaly wasn’t exactly suited to stitch up wounds or relieve the pain both of them were dealing with.
“It’s okay, I’m sure you and Rebecca did a great job. I’ll head over and fill Chloe in on the way. I'll let your sister know too. Hospitals typically don’t amputate immediately unless they have to. I don’t know anything about these doctors or how they’ll treat it, so please try to explain to them that I can fix his arm up before they do anything too drastic.”
I took a deep breath the moment we ended our call, trying to calm my frazzled nerves. Having them in any kind of harm’s way felt a million times worse than the times I’d been in danger. The kids were both as safe as they possibly could be until Chloe arrived. That was the most important thing. I just had to let them take care of the children while we waited.
“Excuse me, sir. Would you like a shirt?” A young lady, maybe a couple of years older than Rebecca, was sitting at the front desk and smiling kindly at me. She was staring pointedly at my face, and if the situation had been calmer, I would have taken a few seconds to wonder if she had been checking me out. Given I had some of Megan’s blood on me—still not as much as Rebecca had from cradling Ryan—I kind of hoped she was just being courteous.
Realizing I hadn’t put anything else on since we left, I went beet red. Being in a state of undress in front of strangers wasn’t something I was huge on, so I appreciated her offer and help. I mumbled, “Yes, please.”
A laugh burst free from the lady. She turned to dig through a small table covered in featureless T-shirts before she tossed one over to me. I threw it on, immediately feeling much better and a little more put together.
“Sorry about that,” I said, still blushing. “Do you have one for my fiancée? She’s not hurt and, thankfully, had a tank top on under hers. She was covered in blood.”
“Absolutely. She was a mess when you came in.” She started digging for another shirt and I saw her name, Cindy, on her nametag. “It feels weird to have you here. No offense, but seeing what you did in Arizona, I wouldn’t have expected you to visit a hospital in Nebraska. I thought heroes would have some kind of response system separate from what we work with.”
“I don’t live too far away.” I got closer to the desk and she kept up her kind smile. “It is a little weird to be in one. I haven’t been to a hospital in a long time.”
“I only caught a glimpse of what you came in with.” She winced sympathetically. “Didn’t have a choice, did you?”
I shook my head. “No. Listen, there’s...someone who can heal wounds. She usually treats me when I get hurt. She’s a big part of the reason why I haven’t been to a hospital in a long time. I asked her to come here to help heal Ryan. I don’t know what the doctors will decide to do with his arm like that, but can we let her heal him? She does great work.”
Cindy’s smile dropped. “I saw what you could do on TV. I think you’re a good guy. It’s not up to me, and a lot of people still aren’t very accepting of it. From a doctor’s perspective, you’d be asking them to let a random girl come over and interfere with their patient. I don’t know if they’d let it happen. I don’t know the legality of it with all these superpowers involved either.”
“Please, is there anything you can do? I would have lost my left arm if I had been taken to a hospital. She saved it.” I put my hands on the counter and leaned forward, feeling exhausted while preparing for another battle. “Maybe he won’t lose his arm as it is. Maybe they can fix it up. Why take the risk when there’s an easier, safer way?”
Cindy’s face softened and she looked down. “I’ll ask for you, okay? No promises, so don’t get your hopes too high. How does your fiancée win any arguments with you? You look like a sad kitten I found in a box on a rainy night. Ugh, she must hate it.”
“Thank you so much, I seriously appreciate it.” I left Cindy to take care of her work, even though there weren’t a lot of people around. I took it as a good problem to have when you worked at a hospital.
I wanted to go find Rebecca and the kids. I wanted to sit down and clear my head. I wanted to nap until Charlie showed up. I wanted to not be responsible for what happened to the kids under my care. Sighing, I knew I had to grow a pair sooner rather than later. No doubt about it, I knew I owed Chloe an apology as soon as she came in. That, and I didn’t want Charlie to have to deal with trying to get in without me, so I had to stay focused. I knew it was going to be about an hour before they got to the hospital. Every minute I couldn’t check on Megan and Ryan would be torture. Facing the music was starting to feel like a better option than staring at the ceiling with just my thoughts as company.
When they finally got there, I still hadn’t received an update from Cindy, Rebecca, or anyone else about either the idea I pitched or the kids. Charlie was wearing a hoodie, with a focused look on her face underneath. Chloe had obviously been crying, so that made me feel like I was less than garbage. Her brother was in my care and I let her down.
“Chloe, I’m so sorry,” I said, standing up. “I didn’t know they had a dog and I wasn’t fast enough to stop it.”
To my surprise, she gave me a big hug, squeezing my ribs tightly and burying her face into my chest. “Are you okay? Is Rebecca okay?”
“We are. Megan got cut above her lip. I think she’ll be fine with some stitches.” I didn’t push her away entirely. I kept her at arm’s length with my hands firmly on her shoulders. I wanted to be careful with what I said next. “Ryan was in rough shape. He jumped in front of Megan after she got cut. He saved her.”
She smiled and choked back a sob. “He’s a great little guy.”
“The best,” I agreed. I walked them over to the front desk where Cindy sat, writing on a bunch of papers. “Cindy, this is Chloe and Charlie.”
She looked at Chloe and gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry. We’re going to help your brother the best we can. I was told you...might have a different way to help.”
Charlie sighed and pulled back her hood. “I can heal wounds that would normally need amputation. I can accelerate the body’s natural regeneration and give it regeneration when it ordinally wouldn’t be able to heal on its own. If you let me see him, I can probably do more than your doctors in a shorter amount of time without the risk of infection or a poor reaction to medication.”
“So I’ve heard.” Cindy glanced at me. “I was able to get Ryan’s doctor to agree to meet with you. I’ll shoot straight with you three: this could land us in hot water. I will deny this conversation ever happened if anyone presses me, so it’s up to you to convince her to let you do what you think you need to. Remember, doctors are smart and proud, but they’re not perfect. You’ll be telling her that you can do more with ‘magic’ than what she can with years of schooling and experience. Play to her sensibility to save patients, not that you can do a better job than she can, okay?”
“I hope she won’t think of it as magic. It’s just potent, natural healing.” Glancing at me, Charlie looked worried.
“I can’t help you there,” Cindy said. “I’m just telling you how I think she’ll react, so I’d get your sales pitch ready. For what it’s worth, I believe Ethan, and it looks like he believes in you. Here, I’ll take you to his room.”
Cindy got someone to sit at the desk while she stepped away to lead us through the building. After a couple of turns, I was already lost, but Cindy navigated it like a seasoned pro. She gave small greetings to her coworkers when they walked by, not stopping for any conversation in the maze-like building. She put us in an elevator that was taking us to the fifth floor. The map that showed the layout of the hospital was designed to keep people trapped worse than a casino was. It was almost impressive.
“Megan will be fine. She’ll just need some stitches. She probably already got them.” Cindy fidgeted and sighed. “I would feel guilty if I didn’t give you an update on Ryan. Chloe, if you want to cover your ears, now would be the time.”
“I want to hear,” she said, voice shaking.
“Amputation below the elbow isn’t their top choice right now. It usually isn’t. It is on the table and hasn’t been ruled out in the slightest. I was told their current plan is to do some grafting to replace what was torn out by the dog. The upside is they fully expect him to survive. Him dying from this wound isn’t something they’re considering right now. Needless to say, I don’t think you need me saying that’s a positive.”
Chloe looked like she was about to drop. She wiped her eyes and sniffled, nodding her head in relief. “As long as he’s alive. We’ll get through it no matter what happens.”
The elevator dinged and we were greeted with an empty hallway. The walls and floor were painted bright, fun colors. Cartoon characters were scattered around in various spots. Mercifully, no red paint trails on the floor left the impression of blood smears everywhere.
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Cindy put a hand on my shoulder and pointed to the left. “Just take the first left. He’s in room five hundred. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.”
“Thank you for everything you’ve helped with.” I nearly wanted to give the lady a hug, but I restrained myself.
“That’s what I’m here for. Good luck.” She remained in the elevator while the three of us stepped out. “If it all works out, would you ever mind showing me your powers? Both of you, if possible.”
“I will,” I said.
“Same here,” Charlie added.
Cindy waved, looking a little pumped, managing to keep it to herself to avoid being insensitive to Chloe’s mood. She hit a button on the elevator and the doors closed, leaving us with our next task. We needed to convince a doctor we could suddenly heal a severely injured kid while he was under her care. Like Cindy said, finding the room wasn’t hard. Outside stood a woman I didn’t recognize.
“You must be Ethan.” Ryan’s doctor, Dr. Karagas, stuck out her hand. I gave it a firm shake that she matched well. She looked at the other two, pointing at Chloe. “Ryan’s sister?”
Chloe nodded. The poor girl looked like she was about to explode with a million different questions. She managed to remain patient and polite.
“I can see the resemblance.” She turned her attention to Charlie. “And that would make you our magic healer.”
“It’s really not magic.” Charlie looked offended like she associated the idea of magic with some parlor trick done for preschoolers in a little show to make them laugh. “I can heal his arm up and he’ll have full functionality.”
“You expect me to let someone who isn’t a relative just walk in that room and do who-knows-what to this child under my care? Cindy is one of the best, longest-tenured employees we have here, so I told her I’d listen to you as a courtesy to her. I have to remind you all that this is a place of medicine.”
“Okay, what if I just made you let me do what I need to do?” Charlie asked, taking a step forward. Dr. Karagas’s eyebrows lifted, but she didn’t back down.
“Charlie,” I hissed, trying to get her to calm down. I put myself between her and the doctor. “I understand that this isn’t anything covered in the textbooks you studied or anything you’ve seen before. I can vouch for her. She’s fixed me up multiple times now. At worst, she’s helped me avoid limping around for weeks. At best, she’s saved my limbs.”
I turned my left arm so Dr. Karagas could see the scarring. I pulled up the back of my jeans so she could see the scar on my ankle too.
“I had a hole burned through my arm. It went through everything. Bone, muscle, tendons, all of it. Charlie helped heal it for me in just a few minutes. I would have lost it if she didn’t.”
Dr. Karagas’s expression softened some. There was a curiosity in her eyes, one that I hoped would let Charlie do her thing. She may have had the pride of an accomplished doctor, but if something like Charlie’s healing could really exist in our world, it could help her save countless more patients. I just needed to set the hook and reel her in so she’d step aside for a few minutes.
“She’ll show you and it won’t have to be on your patient.” I put the back of my hand up to my mouth and bit down as hard as I could. My bite was stronger than I thought. Blood trickled into my mouth as my teeth broke skin. I was too tired to give much indication that it hurt.
“That’s gross,” Dr. Karagas said flatly. She didn’t look impressed when I held up the back of my hand to her face.
I put my hand out in front of Charlie. “This should be easy for you, right?”
“Yeah, it is. That was gross.” She took a breath and put her hands out, leaving plenty of space for the doctor to observe.
Gentle warmth wrapped around my hand. Pain replaced it seconds later as my skin repaired itself. Given how tame the injury was compared to some of the other things Charlie had to heal, it didn’t even take ten seconds to get it healed up. A little redness and blood were the only signs I was hurt to begin with. Well, the saliva was too, but that was less dignified than the other two things.
Dr. Karagas just about lunged at my hand, grabbing it and looking it over. She looked all over my arm, presumably checking for some trick that must have eluded her. She narrowed her eyes at Charlie and me. “How’d you do that?”
Charlie groaned in frustration. “Please, my friend’s little brother is in there. He might lose his arm. I can’t tell you exactly how it works on a deep biomechanical level. It’s just sort of something I know how to do on instinct. It’s as natural to me as breathing. If you let me heal his arm, I promise I’ll bring Ethan to your house and show you.”
“Wait, what?” I didn’t sign off on being anyone’s guinea pig. Oh well, if it was something that got Ryan healed. “Fine, whatever.”
Dr. Karagas sighed after a few seconds. “Fine, but I’m watching the whole thing. If I don’t like it, you’re leaving and I’m doing this the way I know how to. This is my job. This is my passion. This is how I support my family. This is what I love doing. Even letting you try this could completely ruin my career and destroy my reputation.”
“I know.” Charlie put a hand on Dr. Karagas’s shoulder, who tensed under her touch. “But if you are a doctor worth anything, then you’ll want to do everything you can to get this boy back healthy. Now, I do recommend knocking him out for this.”
“Why?” Dr. Karagas was skeptical again and I was worried we were going to lose her.
“Because it hurts a fair bit,” I answered for Charlie. “When I got this burn fixed up, I legitimately thought it’d be better to just cut my damn arm off.”
“Let me get an anesthesiologist. If he needs general anesthesia, one’s going to be there like this is a surgery.”
“Okay, that’s fine.” Charlie pointed toward the door. “Can we at least go see him first?”
Dr. Karagas looked at Chloe and relented. “Yes. He’s on morphine right now, so he might not be responsive. Rebecca and Megan are in there too.”
When Dr. Karagas left, we slowly opened the door and went in. Megan was asleep in a chair next to Ryan’s bed, her cut already stitched up. Rebecca was next to her, holding Ryan’s hand. She was as still as a statue, and for a little bit, I was worried something happened to her too. She did finally turn to us when we closed the door.
She let go of Ryan’s hand and ran into my arms. She was still wearing her blood-soaked tank top, making me feel like an idiot for forgetting the shirt Cindy offered. She started shaking and quietly crying. Chloe gently rubbed her back and joined the hug.
“Thank you, Rebecca. I don’t need the details. I already know you and Ethan kept Ryan as safe as you could.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Rebecca kept repeating herself, silently sobbing into my chest. She wanted nothing more than to keep those two kids safe. Like me, she felt like she’d failed both of them.
“Chloe?” Ryan’s voice was barely above a whisper. We all turned our attention to the kid who had been braver than most adults would have been in his situation.
“Hey, buddy, I’m here now. Sorry it took me so long to get here.” She took Rebecca’s chair and started running her hand through his hair. “I heard you were a hero. Help keep this little lady safe, yeah?”
“It was nothing.” He mumbled something else we couldn’t make out thanks to the morphine making him all loopy. He had a tiny, proud smile on his face. I wished I had been a hundredth as brave as he was when I was only six.
“It wasn’t nothing. You did a great thing for your friend. We’re going to get your arm fixed, okay?”
“Cool,” he muttered. His head leaned over to the side and he slowly drifted off to sleep. A gentle snoring left his open mouth.
After Ryan fell asleep, Megan woke up. She first saw Chloe and immediately buried her face in her chest, little hands gripping the sides of her shirt. Chloe rubbed the top of her head and held her in a gentle hug, one of many that had been given that day.
“It’s my fault. He saved me.” Megan blaming herself was like a punch to the gut.
“It’s not your fault, honey,” Chloe said. She looked at all of us, her own tiny smile looking just like her brother’s. “And the same goes for all of you. Don’t you dare blame yourselves for this. None of you attacked anyone. You all kept him safe and brought him here.”
“Chloe, I still-” She cut me off by holding up a finger.
“Be quiet, dummy. Look at me.” When I looked into her eyes, she took in a deep breath. “You called to make sure there wasn’t anything dangerous there. They lied. Ryan made a choice to keep his friend safe. It was a noble thing to do. Ethan, how would you feel if everyone you saved cried and moped because they felt guilty you got hurt?”
“I’d feel bad.” I couldn’t deny it.
“Exactly. He’s going to be okay. Ryan and Megan are still going to be best friends after this, and I’m still going to be friends with you and Rebecca after this. Let’s not cry anymore, okay? We’re all in this to support each other.”
It was her brother, and I wasn’t going to argue. We all sat around Ryan, waiting for Dr. Karagas to come back. Megan was a lot more vocal since the shock and adrenaline had settled down. She looked sleepy, though she was happy to see me. She showed me the stitches right above her lip, which looked awful and made me grit my teeth in protective anger. I tried to play it off for her sake and say they looked cool.
“I do get to look like Aunt Lizzy now!” She did a little fist pump and nearly stumbled over. Chloe caught her and chastised her for being reckless. “I don’t need any makeup to be as pretty as her!”
“She’s on some painkillers too,” Rebecca whispered, holding back a laugh. “I’m pretty sure she saw fairies on the wall. She was grabbing at them like one of those videos with a cat and a laser pointer.”
We had some empty chatter to keep the uncomfortable silence at bay for a few minutes until Dr. Karagas came back with a short tan man in scrubs. I couldn’t read his name tag, but I was just ready to have the kid patched up, so I didn’t really care who he was. He brought in a big machine that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie. I had no idea what it was for, but he started getting everything set up.
“Do you have what you need?” Dr. Karagas asked Charlie.
“I do,” she confirmed. “When he’s under, let me know, and I’ll get started.”
The anesthesiologist gave her a thumbs-up after a few minutes. The machine looked like an alien creation, but whatever helped Ryan was a friend of mine. The kid was absolutely gone and wasn’t going to wake up for the end of the world.
“He’s good?” Charlie asked. When Dr. Karagas and the anesthesiologist nodded, she got to work.
It was nice to not be on the receiving end of the healing for once. He didn’t flinch while his mangled arm was slowly regenerating. Dr. Karagas looked on in complete awe. Torn muscle repaired itself and ruptured tendons settled back in place before Ryan’s skin covered everything back up. There was some noticeable scarring on his arm, yet it looked much better than my burn did when Charlie was done with it. She’d definitely been practicing.
Charlie stumbled back, nearly falling over a table against the wall. Rebecca caught her and propped her up by slipping an arm around her waist.
“He’ll be all set in a few days.” Charlie gasped and wheezed, slowly sliding down Rebecca’s body until she was on the ground.
“Are you okay?” I asked, kneeling next to her.
“Just tired. I never told you guys, but I should only heal once or twice a month. It exhausts me.”
“Wait, but weren’t you healing a bunch of people when, you know, that stuff happened?” Just because some of the cat was out of the bag with Dr. Karagas didn’t mean I needed to spill all the beans, even though I didn’t do a great job covering.
“Sure did,” Charlie croaked. “Guess what happened? I almost died. I had to have a caretaker for a month. I could barely get up to use the bathroom.”
“If you need help, I’ll come stay with you for a while,” Chloe offered, sitting next to the healer. “I really can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s your little brother. I wouldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do anything.”
“You did an incredible thing,” Dr. Karagas said, not just talking about the patient she helped. She continued to observe Ryan’s arm. “This is astounding. You could do great things with us here.”
Charlie shook her head. “Like I said, I can only do this so many times in a short span before I’m on death’s door myself. I feel like I’m better suited as a first responder in cases where standard treatment isn’t a viable option. Given the people I hang around, that’s a bit more common than you might think.”
Dr. Karagas shook her head, but it looked to be more from amazement. “It’s your choice, but this is incredible. There’s no one else on the planet who could have done anything close to this. Well, maybe people who can heal like you can come close to this. Nothing in medicine has come this far. Full recoveries take months at a minimum.”
When Ryan was taken off the anesthesia, he woke up, groggily looking around. It took him a bit to come to, but he was pretty coherent. There wouldn’t be any funny videos of him saying silly things while still high as a kite, not that we would have recorded him even if he was acting that way.
The first one to greet him was Megan. She put a quick kiss on his cheek and shyly looked down. “Thanks for stopping the dog.”
Rebecca and Chloe both let out little gasps. I just chuckled behind my hand. Even Dr. Karagas couldn’t resist smiling.
“What?” Megan asked, noticing us staring at her. She pointed right at Rebecca. “You do that to Ethan. He does it back. Shelly does it to her boyfriend. You do it to the people you care about.”
“That is true,” I said. “Usually you don’t...ah, never mind. If he’s okay with it, you can show how you care about him how you’d like.”
“That was so cute,” Rebecca whispered. “They’re definitely going to date when they get older.”
I had been so excited to pretend to be like one of those dads you see on TV when he finds out someone is dating his daughter. I thought it’d be fun to make up a bunch of fake rules for them to date and act like a bit of a dick. If Ryan was going to be her boyfriend, then there was no way I could play that game with the kid. Not when he just risked himself to save my daughter in a nightmare I never wanted to think about again.