"Where's Jonah?"
The man came back in with a nurse. "I'm sorry. I tried to stop her."
"I need to check on my patient now that she's awake."
Gruff turned to the old man, and his face hardened. "What, are you dumb? Marcia asked you to leave, not keep people out."
"Gruff, don't be rude." Marcia held her hand out to the old man. "I am Marcia, this is Gruff, and my other brother is Jonah." Marcia looked around the room.
"I'm Hermon. I am the mayor of this town."
"Thank you for helping us in our time of need."
"I can't take credit for that. I'm pretty sure everyone would have let you die if it weren't for Gruff's eyes." Hermon looked at Gruff. "Also, our doctor is a wonderful person who doesn't like to let people die, no matter what they are."
"Well, he sounds wonderful." Marcia surveyed the room with a worried expression. She turned to Gruff.
"He's in surgery."
She shot up from her bed, almost making the nurse fall over. "Take me to him."
"You're still recovering," the nurse protested.
"She's right, Marcia. You need rest. Also, you can't. There's not enough magic in you."
"I know, but I have to help."
Marcia marched through the hospital building as Hermon led them to the surgery room. Jonah was hooked to some machines, and the doctor hovered over him with small knives in his hand. The machines were beeping and making suction noises.
"You can't be in here," a nurse yelled.
"Let them," the doctor said, putting down his tools. "We can't do anything for him anyway." He looked up at Marcia. "You are Guardians, right? You should have a way to heal him that I can't."
"How did you…" Marcia looked at the man, baffled. "It doesn't matter. I'll take over from here."
"Marcia, let me at least handle some of the curses," Gruff pleaded.
"Thank you, Gruffy. Go ahead and get rid of the small curses. I'll do the rest."
Gruff and Marcia stood on each side of Jonah. The two of them placed hands on him, and magic flooded the room. Jonah's lifeline quivered as dark energy swirled around it. Gruff began first, getting rid of minor curses that caused pain. Slowly, the dark energy diminished.
Then Marcia's magic entered Jonah, and the evil energies vanquished one by one. The fatal curses left first, followed by the curses that kept Jonah from walking. Marcia worked fast, causing her magic to run low.
Gruff took a breath as he concentrated, but just as he managed to pull out four curses, Marcia stopped him. "That's enough, Gruff. Any more than this, and you will lose all your magic."
"No, I still have plenty to spare."
"Gruffy, I can see the wasted magic spilling out of you. You must calm down and recover before you overexert yourself."
Gruff reluctantly stepped away, and light filled the room. Marcia exhaled as Jonah's wounds started healing one by one. As she continued to use her magic, Marcia began to sweat and heave.
Gruff felt helpless. When Ma taught them healing magic, all he could remember doing was goofing off with Jonah. Regular magic was fun and easy to learn, but healing magic required too much studying. He could kick himself for not having paid better attention.
The last cut on Jonah's body healed, and Marcia flipped him on his side. "Marcia, you don't have the magic to spare."
"He won't be able to walk with his spine like this."
"Marcia, just stop here. You can't recover your magic and-"
"I know, Gruff. I know better than anyone that I can't recover my own magic. And you and Jonah are useless in helping recover magic."
Gruff looked down, unable to look Marcia in the eye.
"I may as well use the magic I have left to help Jonah. We will figure out the rest later."
Marcia lit the room once more with her power. Every ounce of magic she had left transferred into Jonah's spine. Then the room went dark momentarily, and Marcia fell to her knees.
"Did you fix him?"
Marcia choked out a sob. "I couldn't fix it. He won't be able to walk properly."
"You did your best."
"It's not enough. If Ma was here-" Marcia pulled herself off the floor and stumbled out of the room.
"It will be okay," the doctor said. "He's alive. As long as he is alive, there will be a way to fix him."
Gruff grabbed Jonah's hand. "Get better, Jonah. We still need to get back to Ma."