What the mage?
“Kaja!”
Nell’s scream ripped me from my thoughts, and I jerked my head up to see Nell holding her sister, my BFF, limp and bleeding out, in her arms.
Chapter 17
The entire campuswas littered with bodies. All around us, people lay dead or dying, but I kept my focus on Kaja. Nell and I carried her to the castle, desperate for the best healer, only to discover every healer in the castle ward had been killed in the battle.
Before I could ask Nell what to do, a male voice boomed through the air like a magical PA system. “Anyone with healing abilities, report to the castle. All other students, please lock yourself in your dorm until a teacher comes to check on you.”
Nell magically staunched Kaja’s bleeding abdomen with her water power and then went to work on the small gash on the side of her head. Then, we took her to Harvest Dorm, settling inside and locking the door.
“Stay here with her while I go get help?” Nell asked. “I’ll see if any other healers survived.”
Like there was anywhere else I’d go.
I settled in at Kaja’s feet to monitor her, and both Nell and Rue dashed off to try to find another healer. Mother Mage, let the guard at the castle be wrong, that at least one healer survived. Kaja’s other sisters, Mele and Fiona, hadn’t been by either, and I hoped they were okay.
An agonizing half-hour later, the twins returned to the Harvest dorm, both wearing matching wary expressions.
“It’s a madhouse out there. How’s she doing?” Nell studied her sister, who lay in bed, still unconscious. I’d been staring at the rise and fall of her chest, but the rate of her breaths was increasing.
“Not bleeding anymore, but she hasn’t woken,” I told them. “Is it normal to breathe that fast?”
Nell frowned.
I’d cut away Kaja’s uniform and wiped all the blood from her skin to better assess her stomach wound. No more bleeding, thanks to Nell’s water magic, but what if Kaja had internal bleeding? She hadn’t stirred once, and my anxiety continued to coil tighter and tighter until I felt I might burst.
“Did you find another healer?” I looked past them at the entryway, expecting one to walk through any moment. “A strong one?”
Nell’s voice was hollow. “Allthe castle healers are dead.”
Panic flooded me so fast my hands shook. I mean… the guard said as much to us when we took Kaja there, but I thought for sure she would have found at least one…
How could that be?
The twins stepped closer, and Rue pulled out a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, which they must’ve gotten from the castle. After turning on every light in the room, the muted tones of twilight outside fled in the artificial brightness. Kaja’s room was decorated in the vibrant greens of life, and with the lights on, the contrasts became even more noticeable. My bestie’s skin was whiter than a ghost.
Thick scabs covered the once open gashes on her face and another on her stomach, but Kaja lookedbad.
I hovered as Rue did her assessment, and ten minutes later, she shook her head.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Her vital signs are getting worse, not better,” Rue stated, her voice shaking with emotion. “I’m not sure…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, but I didn’t need her to.
“How much blood did she lose?” I asked. “How much can we lose before we won’t heal ourselves?” A wolf’s regenerative capability was in the blood. Without most of it … my gaze bounced from Rue to Nell because one of them should know this. Right?
Nell shrugged, and her gaze dropped. In the last half hour, she’d worked herself to exhaustion, leaving the skin beneath her eyes now dark and sallow. “I don’t know.”
Rue paced the room. “Not a healing mage left on the island. This was a heavily coordinated attack.”
“So … what are our options?” Doing nothing wasn’t an option; I wasn’t going to lose my bestie.
Nell sank onto the edge of the bed with a sigh, and Rue shook her head, her gaze downcast.
