Wolf awoke, surprised to find he really was covered in scratches as well, although some of them looked a little different than he remembered. Coal was crouched over him, bandages in hand. He’d just finished wrapping Wolf’s bleeding leg. Evidently he had been paying attention. He’d done a good job, although Wolf could already see some blood very slowly starting to seep through. But it would do for now.

His leg throbbed. Seeing the summoned bandage Wolf thought of something else. “I don’t suppose you have some spare clothes as well?”

Coal looked at him doubtfully. “In your size?”

“Well, close enough to.”

“Hmm,” Coal flicked his fingers as if to snap them, although he made no sound. A pair of jeans appeared in his hand, followed soon after by an old looking t-shirt, once black but now so faded that it was more of a grey colour. He handed them to Wolf.

Wolf took them without complaint. “Thanks.” The jeans by comparison looked hardly worn. Wolf used the wall, plus a little help from Indi, to get to his feet.

Coal was checking on the other dreamers, making sure none of them were developing new wounds transferred over from their adventures in the dreamworld.

The jeans were too long and Wolf had to fold the cuffs over so he could get his feet out the ends. They were a tad tight as well. Evidently Coal was narrower than he looked, or perhaps these were a size he had once been, or perhaps they weren’t his at all. Whoever they had belonged to must be about Coal’s height though. The t-shirt was closer in size, although it was perhaps a looser fit then intended, but it hung comfortably.

Coal returned a moment later to check on how things were fitting. He nodded then looked at Wolf’s feet and summoned a pair of sneakers as well as socks.

The shoes were a couple sizes too big but they would do.

“You’re going to have to take them off again for Amanda to look at your wound,” Indi said with a blush in her cheeks. She still wasn’t used to someone who was so casually okay with being naked.

But anytime Wolf transformed without first undressing he lost another set of clothing. His sudden transforms to wolf form earlier had destroyed today’s wardrobe. He was a little peeved but it didn’t matter so much. After all it wasn’t like he brought expensive clothing anymore, not that he ever had. Clothing in general was a witch thing. Well, vampires too. Werewolves preferred the more natural attire.

Indi sat across from him on the floor, in better spirits. Now that Cat had managed to wake one Indi was sure it was only a matter of time before the others awoke too. She was glad to have one friend back, even if he was a little worse for wear.

A thump from the door down the hall sounded once more.

Indi’s head snapped to look. She’d almost begun to believe that the fairies had given up.

“What’s that?” Wolf asked, noting that Indi had instinctively pulled her knees up closer to her chest. Whatever was in there, she was obviously afraid of it.

“Fairies,” Indi replied.

It was then that Wolf noticed all the little bodies on the floor. “Where’d the net come from?”

“I saw it is one of the rooms upstairs,” Coal replied.

Beside him, Zephyr sat up suddenly with a gasp.

Coal flinched slightly at the sudden movement before remarking in a cool voice, “Welcome back.”

Zephyr blinked. “Thanks.” He looked around. “This is real right?”

Coal stood up with a smile and shrugged. “Who knows?”

“How would we know if it wasn’t?” Indi asked, suddenly worried.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Coal grinned.

Wolf glared at him. He didn’t like the man toying with Indi like that. He didn’t really like Coal much in general. The man was too smarmy.

“Dreams aren’t usually stable for so long,” Coal replied without looking at Wolf. “Not unless there’s a dreamwalker involved. But if you’re at the point where you’re wondering if it’s a dream you can usually tell. If you’re wondering that and it feels like it’s real, then it is.”

“I dunno,” Zephyr replied, “Felt pretty real in there.”

“This house feels pretty unreal,” Indi added.

Amanda’s eyes blinked back open. She stayed lying on the floor for a second, regaining her bearings.

Coal offered her a hand up.

She took it and got slowly back up to her feet. Then she looked down at her arms with a frown. They were now marred by tiny thin scratches.

“We got attacked by fairies,” Coal explained.

As if on cue, the fairies ramrodded the door again.

“Oh so that’s what did that,” Wolf said as he re-looked at his own arms. “I thought it was from the dream.”

“Well your leg injury is,” Coal replied.

That got Amanda’s attention and she whipped her head around, with a worried look, to see how injured Wolf was.

“I’d really like to get out of this place now,” Indi remarked as the fairies tried once more. They’d picked up in frequency again now, perhaps because there was more talking happening.

At the bang on the door Amanda had whipped her gaze the other way, towards the door.

“What’s Cat doing?” Coal asked Amanda.

Cat still hadn’t woken, even though the others were all back now.

“We found Sirius. She’s trying to see if she can track where his body is.”

“And Kass?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wolf could probably use your help with his wound,” Coal reminded her.

Her gaze had still been on the fairy door, but at Coal’s comment, she remembered about Wolf. She turned headed his way, stepping over sleeping Cat’s body to get there.

Indi moved out of Amanda’s way, switching which side of the hall she was sitting on. She slid in next to Wolf, leaving enough of a gap so Amanda could drop down between them.

Wolf sighed and started undoing his pants. “Sorry,” he said to Amanda.

“Mmm hmm,” she replied.

The t-shirt he’d borrowed was mostly long enough to cover him anyway. As he struggled to get the jeans down, Amanda reached up and helped yank them the rest of the way, being careful when she pulled them over his bandaged leg.

Indi turned away with a blush, but seeing Amanda unbothered, she soon turned back again, curious about Amanda’s magic.

Amanda frowned. “Where’d you get the bandages?”

Coal cleared his throat and summoned another bandage roll to his hand.

“Ah.” She’d forgotten how useful a summoner could be. She wondered what other things he had stashed away so that he could summon them at the flick of an finger. Was there anything they needed that would be useful? A healer would be useful but she doubted he could summon a whole person. Summoning living objects usually ended badly. Whatever he could summon he’d need to know where it was too. She bet he knew where several really good whiskeys were. But as much as she’d like one, that probably wasn’t very useful right now.

As she peeled Wolf’s bandage off, a clot of blood leaked out. The wound looked pretty nasty, and deep. He was going to have trouble walking on that. She paused, wondering how close that went to the femoral artery. There was a possibility cauterizing that would make it worse, if she accidentally burnt through what little barrier there was left to his main blood flow. There was a possibility moving things would make that worse. It wasn’t bleeding heavily but it was weeping continuously. A partial cauterization might do it but she still didn’t like the idea of him moving anymore than he already had.

She looked up at Coal. Met his pale blue eyes square on. “You really don’t have anything healing on you at all?”

She could see his jaw tense and he didn’t immediately answer. He had something, but whatever it was, it was either very rare or it was hard to get. Enough that he obviously didn’t think it was worth using yet.

She sighed and turned back to Wolf. “Okay,” she placed her hand over his thigh. She’d have to hope that whatever damage was on the inside wasn’t too severe. She’d just stop the outer bleeding. A healer would take care of any infection later.

Wolf gritted his teeth as she burned the outside of his flesh. When she’d first placed her hand on his leg he’d been reminded of one very fun afternoon with her and a very comfy couch, back in high school, and he’d been quite glad at the length of the t-shirt he was wearing. But once she started burning, the pain chased any thoughts like that from his mind far away.

Eventually she sat back, worried expression still on her face. She turned to Coal. “Hand me those other bandages. Thank you.”

He handed them over as if he’d been waiting for her to ask, along with the swabbing alcohol they’d used on Cat earlier. Amanda cleaned and wrapped Wolf’s wound and then helped him put his pants back on.

As Amanda got back to her feet, the fairies attempted another three rapid barrages at the door. She eyed the door warily. It prompted Zephyr to his feet finally. Eventually only Wolf and Cat were still on the ground.

Coal and Amanda looked at the sleeping Cat and then at each other.

“You think I should go in after her?” Coal held up a vial of white powder, the antidote to dreamskeep, and a blue-black velvet bag.

What was in the bag? Dreamwalking powder? If she had to guess. Bloody hell. This little trip must have cost him a small fortune already. And while he’d been quite useful, she worried what he might ask for in return later. Coal didn’t do favors for free. Well, she hadn’t asked him here. But then she hadn’t told him to leave either.

She bit her bottom lip. What was taking Cat so long?