Dark Enchantments: The Demise of the Dusk Court

Chapter 3

A few hours pass before Julia comes out to the lobby again. "Thomas," she says, "she's stable, but there's not much else I can do for the side effects of dark magic."

"May I see her?"

"Yes, she isn't awake though."

"Okay." He rushes to Ellie's room and sits down next to her hospital bed. "You idiot, I told you you shouldn't have come. I should call Marie. She's probably worried about you." He stands up and calls Marie's number. "Hey, Marie," he says when she picks up, "Well....no she's not physically hurt, but...yes I know, you can come and see her. Yeah, she used a lot of magic and we both got hit with pretty dense dark magic. Yeah, it was...okay see you soon."

Several minutes later, Marie bursts into the room with Charlotte in her arms. "Thomas! What happened?" she asks.

"It's probably because of the dark magic, it usually causes negative effects in people who aren't dark magic users."

"See, I told you she shouldn't have gone!"

"I know! It's a good thing she did though. Matt and I would've been in trouble. You know my magical abilities are shit compared to Ellie's."

"Yeah, I know. Did Julia say anything about her recovery?"

"She can only do support care."

Marie sighs. "That's better than nothing."

A groan comes from Ellie. "Ellie?" Thomas whispers.

Her eyes flutter open and she mumbles, "T...Thomas?"

"How are you feeling?"

"I....I..." She violently begins to cough and blood splurts out of her mouth. Thomas quickly brings a trash can over.

She continues to spit blood up for several minutes. Afterwards, she lays back down and falls asleep again. "I'm going to find Julia," Thomas states, looking worriedly at his sister. "Keep an eye on her, please."

"Okay," Marie answers softly.

Thomas runs around the hospital looking for Julia until he finds her speaking to another doctor. "Julia!" he yells, "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but..."

"Thomas," Julia says, "calm down and catch your breath."

Thomas stops talking and takes several deep breaths before continuing. "It's Ellie, she woke up for a few minutes, threw up a lot of blood and then fell asleep again."

Julia looks alarmed. She follows Thomas back to Ellie's room. She walks over to Ellie and gently begins to shake her. "Sweetheart, wake up." Ellie moans and rolls over. "Honey, I need you to wake up. You can rest afterwards I promise."

Ellie's eyes flutter open again. "J...J...Julia?" she whispers weakly, "I d...don't f...f...feel g...good."

"Of course, you don't. Are you able to sit up?" She shakes her head. "Thomas, could you.."

"Got it," Thomas says. He gently eases her up, this causes her to spit up more blood.

"Sweetheart, I'm going to listen to your breathing okay?" Ellie nods. Julia carefully presses her stethoscope onto Ellie's back.

"C...cold..." she murmurs as the stethoscope touches her back.

"Sorry, sweetpea." Julia listens carefully to her breathing for several seconds. Afterwards she sighs and says, "Thomas, I don't like the way her lungs sound."

"Dammit! I knew she shouldn't have come with me!"

"Thomas, I'm going to X-ray her chest and see if I can figure out what's going on."

"Okay, I'll come with you."

"I'm coming too!" Marie declares.

Thomas picks Ellie up and begins to follow Julia with Marie following behind him. "Set her down on the examination table," Julia says.

Thomas places his sister down on the examination table. Julia carefully moves Ellie to get a good x-ray. She motions Thomas and Marie to follow her. They follow her behind a wall where she takes an x-ray. She walks over to the x-ray and begins to examine it. After a while, she lets out an annoyed sigh.

"What is it, Julia?" Thomas asks.

"Pneumonia."

"Thomas looks alarmed. "What? Julia, if she was still so susceptible to sickness, why'd you clear her?"

"I didn't. I let her go home, that isn't the same as clearing her to work."

"She lied to me?"

"I suspect she didn't mean to lie to you. She probably assumed since I let her go home, it'd be safe for her to hunt. Sorry, Thomas, I should've been more clear."

"It's okay, it's not your fault. I should've asked you before we went."

"Let's get her back into her room. I can start her on IV antibiotics."

"Okay." He gently lifts his sister up and carries her back to her hospital room, where Julia starts another IV to distribute antibiotics to Ellie.

Shortly afterwards, Ellie begins to wake up again. "T...T...Thomas?" she stutters, "W....where?"

"We're at the hospital," he replies, "you pushed yourself too hard and made yourself sick."

"O...Oh, I'm s...sorry."

"You better be sorry!" Marie's voice comes from behind Thomas.

"M...Marie? W...what..."

"I'm here to see you, dummy!"

"O...oh, s...sorry."

"You know, Julia didn't clear you to go on hunts?"

"H...huh?"

Marie examines her friend's face and determines that she looks genuinely confused. "She let you go home. That's not the same as being cleared to work again."

"It's n...not?" She turns to Thomas. "I...I'm s...sorry, T...Thomas, I j....just t...thought...."

"You should've asked Julia first!" Thomas scolds her.

She whimpers softly in response. "I...I'm s....sorry. I'll ask n...next t...time, I p...promise."

"Good, now rest. You won't get better if you don't."

"O...okay." She curls up and quickly falls asleep. Thomas lets out a sigh. "Thomas, are you okay?" Marie asks.

"I shouldn't have let her come."

"Thomas, you didn't know. She didn't know either, so we can't blame her. I'm sure she doesn't blame you."

"I wish she wasn't so sick all the time. I wonder if Julia would let the children come and visit?"

"Probably not, it's too risky."

Thomas sighs again. "They don't understand why they can't come and see her. It kills her, Marie. Her babies can't come and see her because the risk of her getting sicker is worse than them not being able to see her."

"They don't blame her. They understand that she might get sicker if they come and visit. They don't want that to happen and there's always facetime when she feels up to it."

"Yeah, speaking of children..." He looks at Charlotte.

"Oh, yeah. I'll call Blake and she can come and get her." She leaves the room to call Blake.

Thomas walks over to Ellie and whispers, "I hope you feel better soon, kitten."