He winced at the cold pain he got from Azazel throwing his body against a tree. After Max was settled into the dark of the dungeons, Rose turned to Shadow. "Take off your shirt, I want to see how bad it is." Rose said.

I'm fine, sis! Promise!

He chuckled as he pulled his shirt off. She then gasped.

"What?" He wondered.

"You have such a bruise! He got you good, it looks like you landed right on your spinal chord!"

Oh, great! No wonder it hurts bad.

He turned to her. "You got anything in that satchel that you can use on me?"

Rose nodded. She pulled out a salve from her satchel and rubbed it on him. He winced again at the pain.

"Sorry..." She said.

He groaned. "Fuck!"

After she rubbed the medicine into his back, she had him go lay down on one of the beds she made for everyone.

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Shadow sighed. "It's gonna hurt to change, huh?"

Rose shook her head. "I don't want you to be transforming at all.....both you AND Max!"

"It's okay." Zack then said, looking down at Shadow. "It's not a big deal for you guys to take a break."

Shadow chuckled. "You just don't want to hear my sweet, sweet voice!"

Zack paused before saying, "Yeah, that too."

Shadow thought about his lack of shifting. He then looked at his sister. "Rose, come on. Please? There's got to be something in there that lasts twenty four hours?"

Rose then sighed to herself.

"Rose, I meant what I said earlier, I'm not going to be an asshole!" Shadow pleaded.

"It's not about that, Gabriel. You need to take time to heal!" She retorted.

"Rose, how long?" Her brother pressed.

"A few days at least."

Shadow sighed. "Aw, shit!" He grumbled. "We don't have that much time until he finds us!"

Zack turned to Shadow. "Shadow, stop!"

Shadow slammed his fist on the metal bed. He then caught it, was he too late though? He took a breath before looking at his sister. "Sorry..."

Rose herself calmed down as she looked at her brother. "It's okay. Just get some sleep."

"Mica, Ebony and I will be on the lookout." Zack mentioned. Mica glared at him, but did as was told.

Shadow turned his gaze to Max, who was knocked out by one of Rose's sleeping potions. "How bad is he?"

Rose shook her head. "Pretty bad..his eye isn't completely damaged, but he's got a scratch in his cornea.....his eye already lost its color. He can't be exposed to light, I need to get a patch for him."

"I know where the medicine room is....I'll go find one." Mica announced.

Shadow sighed to himself. "Just don't be seen."

Mica rolled his eyes. "Yeah, cause I don't want to get my ass kicked too!"

Shadow put his hand over his eyes.

...........................................