Marcus smirked. “I might’ve slipped in a sedative. Nighty night.”
“You little bitch,” I grumbled. That’s all I got out before I slumped in my chair and went to sleep.
I must’ve been sleeping for a few hours, because when I woke up, the morning sun was beaming through the windows. I’d been moved to a separate room in the hospital and given my own bed.
Marcus was sitting at the edge of my bed with a wry smile. “Rise and shine.”
I scowled as I roused. “That was a dirty trick.”
“We had to put you down and give you a time out. You were out of control, even after you fixed him,” Marcus said. “Ez checked you while you were sleeping, and he said everything’s all good. We had to make sure. Sorry, not sorry.”
“How’s Charlie?” I asked. I was concerned the organs I gave him might suddenly fail, or some other catastrophe would happen.
“He’s up and talking. He’s already been looked at, and he’s in perfectly good health,” Marcus informed me. “We told him what happened. You can see him soon, but first…”
Marcus’ gaze shot across the room, and I lifted my head to see he wasn’t the only one here. His parents were in the room as well, looking rather worried.
I gave Marcus an inquisitive look. “What’s going on?”
He wrung his hands. “We know what you’re going to try to do, Ava, and we all agree it isn’t worth the risk. I’ve asked my parents here to help talk you out of it.”
“And what exactly do you think I’m going to do, Marcus?” I demanded.
He drew a deep breath. “You replaced Charlie’s organs. Now that you know what you can do, we’re afraid you’re going to try using this power to replace the nerves in your spine.”
I might as well get on with replacing my heart, too, because it nearly stopped beating at the suggestion. I’d been so worried about Charlie, the thought of replacing my own spine hadn’t crossed my mind.
But now that Marcus mentioned it, it wasn’t such a bad idea. The angel surgeons had fucked up my spine during surgery, all while my healing magic was trying to repair the damage, and everything had healed wrong. Now I’d utilized power that went far beyond any average healer. Why couldn’t I use it to replace the feeling that I’d lost? I certainly had a better chance of going up against the Warden if I was agile on my feet.
Marcus knew that, too, so why was he acting so apprehensive?
I looked at Nadine and Lucas. “Forgive me, but why areyouhere? If I have a chance to repair my spine, shouldn’t I do it?”
“That’s what we want to speak with you about,” Nadine said gently, taking a step closer to my bed. “Marcus told us that healing magic has failed to repair your injury thus far because supernatural forces were involved. As we understand it, your own healing magic set the injury, and therefore, no magic has been able to undo the damage your demigod power already caused.”
“We’ve never seen healing magic like what I performed on Charlie before, though,” I said. “My power is stronger now, so I should be able to overpower whatever spell I used to set theinjury in the first place. I could make a full recovery and walk again! Isn’t this great?”
I turned to Marcus, but he had a solemn look on his face. My voice turned cold. “You’re acting like this is a death sentence rather than a beacon of hope.”
“It’s not going to work,” Marcus stated firmly, like he was certain of the fact. “I don’t want to shatter your hopes, Ava, but I also know it’s dangerous to even attempt such a spell. My parents can explain better than I can.”
Lucas cleared his throat. “When Marcus was very young, our enemies used his own power against him. Enemies of ours used Marcus’ magic to cast a curse, which prevented us from telling him about his demigod abilities, until he learned of them himself.”
“Marcus has told us about this curse before,” I said. “What does it have to do with me?”
“We tried many things to break this curse,” Nadine admitted. “We even tried to use Marcus’ own powers to break it, the same way our enemies used his powers against him. But nothing worked. We were able to determine that once a demigod uses their magic onthemselves, even their own power cannot reverse the spell— whether the demigod intended to cast the spell or not.”
“Please, Ava,” Marcus begged. “We’re only trying to help. What you did to help Charlie was incredible, but if you try to reverse what your demigod magic already did to you, you only risk doing more damage. When a demigod casts a spell like this on themselves, that spell will always remain permanent.”
I got that he was worried, but wasn’t he taking this a bit too far? Marcus was a warlock, and I was an Elementai. We didn’t know if my powers would have the same effect as his. He was too scared to brave the risks, but wasn’t it at least worth a try, considering the potential reward? If I could regrow all ofCharlie’s internal organs— nerves, blood vessels, and all— then I didn’t see why I couldn’t fix a few nerves in my spine.
My lips set into a thin line. Marcus and his family had my best interests at heart, but they didn’t know the lengths I’d go through to test my limits.
“Thank you for your concern,” I said evenly. “You have nothing to worry about.”
Marcus breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m so relieved to hear that, Ava. I knew you would listen.”
Eh, only sort of. I’d learned from Kallie how to twist my words, and I wasn’t exactlylyingto him.
