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The flesh from his ankle to his mid-calf is missing, stark white bone on display. His skin is pale, and his eyes are wild as they find mine.

“Am I going to be able to keep my leg?” he repeats the question again and again.

“Calm down, please. It’s going to be okay; I’m going to help you.” I reach for his face, stroking my hand over his forehead and down his cheek.

Once he has calmed, I focus on his leg, my hands already aglow. The man flinches back, his other leg kicking out at me, his fear apparent.

“Please hold him still.” I aim this request at a woman standing close by. She comes and holds his leg down, murmuring comfort to him. I waste no time saturating his leg in glowing mist.

My eyes drift shut, imagining the muscle that is supposed to be there. I see the tendons and flesh molding back together. I picture the man able to walk again.

A few moments later, I inspect my work: the skin is red, raised in areas. He won’t be without a scar, and it’s not perfect, but the chunk of leg that was missing is now filled in and he will be able to use it .

If I had more time and if I didn’t have to conserve what power I did have, I could have done better, but it would have to do.

I heal person after person. I’m coated in so much gore and blood I wonder if I will ever be truly clean again. The poison I remove leaves me feeling ill, the nausea in my gut so strong it’s a miracle I haven’t vomited.

I grit my teeth against the throbbing in my shoulder, fighting to ignore the acute pain. The man I’m currently working on has his eyes shut and eyebrows drawn in discomfort. My glowing hands move gently around the wolf bites until the frown on his brows ceases.

My head’s spinning from exertion and blood loss, but I can’t bring myself to stop.

“LAYLA!” Ledger’s voice cuts through the mayhem making my stomach drop. I drag my body up and run, my feet reacting before my brain can command them.

Dead Kerolu and Dire wolves litter the streets. I limp around their lifeless bodies, trudging through puddles of blue and red blood. I don’t see or hear any more fighting, an indication the battle is over.

“LAYLA!” His cry comes again. I frantically search the streets as I stumble down the cobblestones. My heart pounds in my ears as I round the corner, trying to push myself faster.

Ledger in the middle of the town square crouched in front of the very fountain I was laughing and eating at days earlier. He is huddled over a body, his scarlet hands splayed out on their chest.

My boots stick to the cobblestones as I stagger to them. Mia is crouched next to Ledger, her face looking grim.

My stomach drops when I see distinct red hair. It was the boy I’d healed in the training grounds. Ledger looks scared as he holds a cloth over Holt’s wounds. I’d never seen that emotion on his face.

I drop to my knees next to him. They are enveloped in wet warmth as blood pools around his body, too much blood.

“Let me see.” I touch Ledger’s hands, and he pulls away the cloth.

There are open wounds in Holt’s chest, and abdomen, and I can make out fresh bite marks on his neck. His breathing is coming out in gasps. His skin is clammy, a sheen of sweat on his forehead as I place the back of my hand on it.

He’s cold. The sensation sends a shock of alarm up my arm. My power flickers in my palms as I hold them up. A steady stream of blood is flowing out of the open wounds, and I know they need to be closed, but I can detect Kerolu poison working its way into his veins.

“Am I going to die?” he rasps. His blue eyes find mine, and I can see the fear behind them.

“No. Holt, no, you aren’t going to die.” My voice quivers as I speak. “You must be brave, okay? I’m going to remove the poison, make it hurt less.” He nods before I start the slow, arduous process. My dwindling power accumulates in my palms, and I grunt at the impact of the poison leaving his body.

His body convulses as the poison continues its assault on my system. I tense, and my hands aggressively tremble. My power and energy wanes dangerously low, but I refuse to stop.

“Stay with me, buddy.” A whimper leaves my mouth as my power flickers. A warm stream of blood trickles out of my nose and over my lips.

A hand comes down on my shoulder, warm and familiar. The buzzing in my veins makes my skin vibrate, a scalding warmth blanketing me. A brief feeling close to ecstasy makes me sway as I look at Ledger.

My mouth drops open as I realize he is giving me his power. It works both ways, he can take and give. Something I wasn’t even aware was possible.

“It hurts,” Holt chokes as a tear falls down his freckled cheek. I focus back on him accepting the gift Ledger is giving. The second the first wound is free of toxin; I begin to heal it. His chest knits together in a jagged, sloppy scar.

“I know, I know. I’ll take the pain away.” My voice cracks.

Ledger lets out a relieved breath as the last of the chest wounds closes. I start closing the wounds on his abdomen.

I let out a shuddering breath, pushing my magic harder. I hear Holt’s sluggish heartbeat, and panic creeps up my throat .

I beg my power to work faster, to close the wounds, to heal what had been so brutally broken.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he gasps, and my heart drops.

“Holt, you’ve got to hang on. Please hang on.” I beg him as his shallow breaths turn to gasps.

No, no, no, no, my brain chants as the glowing in my hands grow brighter.

A spark of hope fills my veins as his stomach wound mends. But then his gasps grow quiet. His chest stills.

I grapple for his heartbeat but can’t seem to find one.

My brain goes blank as I look at his pale, freckled face. His eyes are open, his chest deathly still. My heart drops as I blink.

The trembling in my hands moves up my arms as I continue to pour my powers into him.

“He’s fine, he’s going to be fine.” My vision blurs with unshed tears, the silence around me deafening.

Mia’s face is grim as she falls back onto her heels.

“I’m going to fix it.” My voice wavers as a tear skates down my cheek. My power falters again as I burn through the energy Ledger provided.

“Layla.” His voice is a soft, gentle rasp in my ear. An unfiltered sob breaks from my throat.

“I can fix it.” Tears flow freely down my cheeks.

My head swims as I sway to one side. I know if I don’t cut my power off soon, I will burn out, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I can’t accept the reality this young boy died, and I couldn’t save him.

“You have to stop.” Ledger’s hands come to mine doing what I can’t. My power abruptly stops, and I sag back into him, another loud sob leaving my lips.

Blood, my blood. The thought flashes in my mind and, I reach for my dagger, ready to slice into my palm. Ledger stops me as if reading my mind. “He’s gone, that won’t help.”

His strong arms envelop me as I stare at Holt’s face, void of life. His fiery red hair flutters in the wind. Ledger pulls me away, lifting me up, and turns my face into his chest, where I soak his shirt with my tears.

“I’m sorry, Ledger, I’m so sorry.”

He holds me up, my own legs too weak. Clouds gather, and the sky booms with thunder. Rain pelts my numb skin.

“You did everything you could.” His lips brush my forehead. I fear if he lets me go my heart, along with the rest of my body, will crack in two.

I look up to see the devastation on Ledger’s beautiful face as he stares at the lifeless boy. A boy he knew intimately, a boy he watched grow up.

My hands fist his shirt, grief and guilt hitting me like physical blows. His hand bands around my neck, his thumb stroking my pulse point.

Lightning cracks in the distance, filling the darkening sky with a flash of blinding brilliance .

My mind becomes hazy and unable to register much of anything besides Ledger, the smell of copper and pine.

I sit, unblinking, on Apollo, staring at my crimson-stained hands. No memory of how I got here, the only image in my mind of the boy, pale and lifeless. My ears still echo with the sounds of battle, screaming, metal on metal, and tortured moans.

The only thing grounding me, the only reminder I’m not still back there, is Ledger’s arm around me, the steady stroke of his fingers.