Last November
The little magic carrier boy was asleep when I went into his room. Francis Powell. He hadn’t been here when I’d last been on shift. We didn’t get many magic carriers as patients, them being so rare. Plus I worked in Pediatrics, so if any adults were admitted, I wouldn’t know.
I’d only been able to see the magic inside Wonders and magic carriers for a couple of months.
I wasn’t sure if I’d get any new abilities on top of this or not, but it was still cool being able to identify people who were a part of the campaign, as Shane and Ellis called it.
When I’d consulted Jackson, they said they hadn’t known that the magic they’d healed me with would stay inside me, so they had no idea how or if it would evolve.
They didn’t have a complete understanding of their own abilities, after all.
Francis’ vitals weren’t great. I’d just come on shift, and Rhoda had asked me to switch out his bag of fluids, so I didn’t know why he was here yet.
I checked his chart, and yikes. Tissue necrosis from a brown recluse spider bite on his upper left hip.
He was ten years old, and the bite had gone untreated for almost two days before he’d been brought to the emergency room.
He’d had surgery this morning to remove a bunch of the dead tissue.
I looked at Francis’s magic again. Really looked. He had a spinning wheel, like everyone else except me and Jackson, but it was slow, almost struggling.
I didn’t want to take my eyes off it, but I made myself walk over to the dispenser on the wall and snag a couple of gloves. I put them on and proceeded to change Francis’ fluid bag. As soon as I was done, my eyes went back to his magic.
If Jackson were here, they could heal him.
Could I heal him?
When Jackson had healed me, they’d taken some of their own magic, some of the material they were made of, and put it into my wound.
What if I did the same thing? My magic seemed to flare inside me, agreeing that it would work, I could heal Francis. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try.
So, what? Put something of... me into his wound? My magic flared again, and I pictured Francis’ spider bite vanishing, healed in minutes. Shit, that would be too quick. His doctor would notice and there’d be questions.
I looked up at Francis’ bag of fluids. There was no way I could get anything into that bag without it being obvious the bag had been tampered with. And what would I put in it, anyway? Blood? Saliva? I felt ill just thinking about it.
The easiest way to get something inside his body would be for him to ingest it. My magic wasn’t as thrilled with that option, but I could sense it would work, only more slowly. Perfect.
The room was empty of anything I could use to transport my...
whatever into Francis’ belly. And if his parents came back, I’d never be able to do it.
Now was my best chance. I checked his chart for food restrictions, and he didn’t have any, but he hadn’t eaten anything since he’d been admitted.
I needed something small he could swallow easily.
Ripping off my gloves, I dashed out of the room, down the hall and around the corner to the vending machine, luckily not running into anyone who’d ask me what I was doing. After surveying my options, I bought a bag of gummy bears and booked it back to Francis’ room. He was still alone.
Swiftly I gloved up again, went over to the counter, opened the bag and removed two gummy bears, both red. Everyone loved the red ones, right?
My gut was telling me to use my hair, and I didn’t have anything else to guide me, so I reached up and yanked out two strands, both about two inches long.
That seemed right. I looked at the hairs, willing them to carry my magic into Francis and heal him.
I wasn’t sure I needed to do that part, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.
I held the hair next to the gummy bears. Now what? I couldn’t hide hair in a tiny gummy bear. It’d be too noticeable, even if I could get that much hair inside one bear.
“Hello?”
Shit.
I spun around, putting my hands behind my back and using my body to hide the bag of candy. “Hey, Francis, right? I’m Manny, one of the nurses.”
“I like to be called Fox.”
Well, who wouldn’t? “Fox, then. Nice to meet you. Um, how are you feeling?”
“Bad. Am I going to die?” His voice wasn’t strong, but I liked the spirit in his eyes.
“No. Not if I have anything to say about it.”
He made a face. “You can’t do anything. I heard the doctor telling Mom that it’s up to my body whether I live or not. She ran off crying. I should’ve told her about the bite sooner, but I’m not supposed to go in the shed.” He looked toward the door. “She’ll be sad if I die.”
I went over to the bed, still keeping my hands out of sight. “Fox, can you see my magic?”
“Yeah?” He squinted. “Where’s your wheel? Everyone’s supposed to have a wheel.”
“Not me. I’m different. But what that means is, I can help you. It’s just, it might be a little gross.”
He rolled his eyes. “My body’s rotting because a spider bit me. They’ve already cut out a bunch of me, so even if I get well I’ll always have a crater on my side. It can’t be as gross as that.”
“Okay, fair. Um, alright, so I can heal you. It won’t be instant, and I’m new at this so I might have to do it more than once.”
“You can? I’ve never heard of anyone being a healer.” His eyes were narrowed and his tone was suspicious.
I shrugged. “Just me and one other person I know can do it. But, uh, you have to keep it secret and pretend you healed on your own.”
“Say I believe you. What would I have to do?” He wasn’t entirely buying it, but a faint hope appeared on his face.
“I need you to swallow two strands of my hair.” I held up the hair. “And I have some gummy bears you can either squash the hair into or eat them after to get the taste out of your mouth.”
He stared at me, then shrugged. “Okay, what do I have to lose? Will it hurt?”
“I promise it won’t.” Though what did I know? Maybe healing hurt like hell. I’d been unconscious. Mentally crossing my fingers, I handed him the hair and gummy bears and went back over to the counter for the bag of candy. “There are more if you want them.”
When I turned back around, Fox had twisted the hair into a small wad, which he mashed between the two gummy bears. He took a deep breath, then he popped the candy and hair combo into his mouth and swallowed without chewing.
“Good job. Want another?” I held out the bag just as the door to the room swung open.
The woman in the doorway stopped short when she saw me.
I resisted the urge to hide the bag of candy, though technically I wasn’t supposed to be giving unapproved food to a patient.
I smiled into her red-rimmed eyes. “Fox, now that your mom is here, we should ask her before you have any more gummy bears.” I held up two fingers.
“He’s only had two, I promise.” Her magic was strong, the familial connection between her and Fox sturdy and vibrant.
Neither of them had any other family connections.
Her gaze tracked between me, Fox, and the bag. “Um. Okay. I... You ate something? Are you hungry now?” Her tone and her expression held cautious hope.
I looked back to Fox. I wasn’t sure his mom would notice it, but a subtle sparkle was working its way out from his belly, most of it congregating in his lower left abdomen but some circulating through his extremities as well.
“If you want something more substantial to eat, bud, I can make that happen.”
He smiled at his mom, then at me. “I am kind of hungry. Do I have to have Jello, or can I get French fries?”