He was lifted, then set down on a flat bed.
“I need his clothes off. I have to see what I’m working with. Laelia, Radclyffe you two concentrate on Priest and Oron. Vivi, Ellie and Marjoram are helping the survivors.”
When they began to peel his gear off, he screamed and kept screaming.
“He needs blood!”
“I am here!”
“He’s too weak to drink. I tried that in the cave,” he heard Oron advise.
“Luckily, we have other ways. Lord Fabre, if you would lie down here.”
Gage knew he was dreaming. There was no way his father was here. “Losing…”
“Losing what, Gage?” the female voice asked.
“Losing my mind, father not here.”
“Where else would I be? You are my son. I may not know how to show it, but I will learn. I will do better, Gage, for Yuki and Ame,” his father said.
Gage struggled to open his eyes. “Boys?”
In the bed next to him, his father lay with an IV and tube running from his arm. “That is right. I met your boys.” His father actually smiled. “Your son Yuki did not hesitate to take me to task regarding your mother. He is a good lad.”
“Zoe, boys, safe?”
Theo nodded. “Last I saw, they were on Level Six with Meryn.”
He exhaled. Already he could feel the difference in receiving his father’s blood.
“This may sting a bit, but I have to remove the debris and fabric from your wounds,” the woman advised.
“Do it.”
He felt the second her magic entered him. Each time her magic tried to clean his wounds, his body jerked. “Please! Please stop,” he begged.
“I have to clean your back. You’re healing too fast. The debris will stay in your body, fester, infect and rot,” she advised. When he looked up, he could see the toll this was taking on her.
“Try again.”
When her magic entered his body to force the debris out, the burning sensation started, then faded. “Whatever you’re doing is working.”
“It’s not me,” the woman said in wonder.
Gage opened his eyes and saw Ame standing at the foot of his bed. Above him, snow fell. Each flake driving away the heat and the pain. “Ame? What are you doing here?” He looked up. “I thought you did rain, and Yuki did snow.”
Ame walked over to the opposite side of the bed from the healer. “I heard your screams, so I came down here by myself becausehahauesaid to help if I could. Yuki gave me some of his power in case I had to defend myself. We can shoot ice crystals.”
Gage nearly groaned in relief as the snow, coupled with the healer’s abilities, soon had his back feeling nearly whole. “Where are your brother and your mother? Why are you here alone?”
“Yuki andhahauewent home to fight ferals,” he replied.
He went to sit up, and the healer shoved him back down. “She did what? They did what?”
Ame shrugged. “There was a hazy shadow portal, and everyone was here.”
“What!” Aiden yelled and reached for his phone.