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01. Limbo

I hop the fence without a second thought and kneel beside Mal’s spasming form. The spark is just in front of me, panicking just like I am.

Wings erupt from his back and begin twisting in a painful display, knocking into my stomach and knees to unbalance me.

With awoofsound, I land on his upper abdomen and put my hands on his body. Instead of zipping directly to the source of Mal’s problem, the spark spreads out to coat an area several feet around me to create a warning zone. If someone comes inside it I’ll get the heads up.

I’m already doing everything I can to keep Mal stable but I can’t find a source for the sudden seizure. If I don’t hurry he might swallow his own tongue and I don’t think I have the strength to roll his massive body to his side.

I absently feel a body where Mitri is standing. I know when Ben jumps the fence and blocks him from reaching me. Like tiny stars, several life forms sparkle just out of my sight, and another full-sized figure is approaching. I have to trust that Ben has things in hand as Sparky circles back to me, shedding miniature sparks in its wake to land directly on Mal’s forehead.

Brain damage? His synapses are firing rapidly, trying to overcorrect an imbalance that looks like it’s been happening for a while. Whatever was clogging his brain just dropped suddenly, and his body is fighting to make up for lost time. It’s flooding him with his natural thought processes and getting caught in a million snags.

Unfortunately, the brain can only take so much stimulation before shutting down entirely. I don’t know enough about what goes on in a brain, and I hope the spark knows what it’s doing as it settles into him.

His seizure stops suddenly, and he’s lying very still. It scares me because, for the first time, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing to fight the damage that’s been done. There are wrinkles in the brain that control a lot of different issues, including memory, and I don’t want to just traipse through there and wing it.

Unless I want to watch him die, I have to.

Please be doing this right. I beg the spark, and it flares in response before it gets down to business.

I get a mental image of a cinder block maze with several routes blocked off by thick black vines that writhe in place. Some look burnt away, leaving scorch marks on the cement. Others are alive and thriving.It’s fighting to regrip him and coat all of the paths.

Inside the picture, my spark appears and begins flowing down a section. It multiplies when it reaches a fork in the maze, so it’s going down both at once. Every time a mass of vines comes, they wilt and shrink back, leaving everything sparkling and clean in its wake. When it passes the scorched section, the sparks clean up the mess and carry on.I’m stuck following along and repairing the cracks in the bricks.

It’s like watching a side-scrolling video game happen while someone else has the controller.

In other words, you can only sit back with your rising anxiety and yell things like “No, not there” and “Stop. Now go!”

I lose track of anything happening in the background as I focus intently. I don’t dare take my attention away from him in case I screw something up. Ben’s officially tagged in for protection duty.

Everything narrows down to the maze and repairs. I don’t know how long it takes but when I come back to myself, the maze is spotless.I sag in relief.

“You’re ok,” I whisper to him weakly.

Mal is breathing softly as if he’s asleep. My body aches from laying half on top of him with my hands braced, one on his chest and the other low enough on his abs that I’m in danger of copping a feel.Somehow my weight has pushed my hand until my fingers are just under his gold belt against overheated skin.

I snatch my hand away in a panic with a squeak.

Let’s not unintentionally feel up people we’re helping. Consent is a thing.

Mal’s eyes snap open, his pupils thin slits that slowly begin to expand. He stares at me with surprise, but whatever he says is lost as the spark bounces on his chest.

I sit up, trailing my fingers over his pec as I focus on what it’s trying to show me.

I see a glowing red ribbon tied securely around his heart and trailing into the night. An image of Mal and King standing face to face with the ribbon attaching them together, heart to heart.

Where Mal’s side is vibrant and glowing, King’s side is dull and tattered. The spark shows me a rain cloud over Mal’s head that childishly displays how upset Mal is at the circumstances.

Sparky starts drawing a soft gray string out of my chest and building a support network underneath the line. It’s bracing it up in the weakest spots.

I’m shoring up a broken marriage. What am I, an undercover councilor now? Whatever. Do your thing you sappy fireball.

The mental picture is wiped away to reveal Mal’s beating heart with thick, rusted chains binding it tightly and a lock with a symbol on it that I can barely make out.

“What isthat?” I wonder out loud. It looks painful. He lives with this daily? Tough guy.

“What is what?” Mal’s voice is faint as if he’s talking from the other side of a tunnel.