Toffee's Trick

Chapter 14

It was Tom who moved first.

"We need to get him out of here," he said quietly, putting a hand on Star's shoulder. "We don't know how long he's got."

Star just sat there, stock still, tears rolling down her face silently.

"Star," Tom said, a hint of urgently in his voice. "Star, we have to hurry."

"It's too late."

Star's voice was barely audible.

"Star?"

"Toffee's won." Star wiped her nose noisily on her sleeve and turned to face Tom. "Look," she said, pointing to the blood on the floor. Tom looked closer and saw swirls of sparkling jet mingling with the crimson.

"Dark magic," Tom whispered, dread filling his stomach like cold lead.

"Exactly," Star moaned. "So even if Marco survives this, he won't be himself anymore. He'll be corrupted."

"Star- wait," Tom said quickly, thinking hard. "I've heard of this happening before; When someone's blood is mixed with dark magic, it doesn't always have to end in corruption."

Star stared at him.

"Well, I'm not saying it isn't a possibility," Tom said hastily, walking over to Marco and bending down to pick him up. "But there are chances of other things happening instead." He gently reached around the back of Marco's neck and under his knees, cringing as he felt the warmth ebbing out of the body and the hot, sticky blood covering him. "I mean, sometimes the dark magic even prolongs their chances of survival after an injury."

"Really?" Star lept to her feet as Tom stood up, easily lifting the feather-light limp form of Marco.
"Oh, yeah," he grunted as he made his way over the blood spattered rubble to the door. "Yeah, the dark magic can actually help keep the blood loss levels down sometimes."

"Oh gosh, I hope that's happened here," Star said feverishly, following Tom.

"Me too," Tom said, looking down at Marco's broken figure with worried eyes. "Now... How are we going to get him to a hospital?"

"We can take him to the infirmary at the royal palace," Star said, pulling the stolen pair of Dimensional Scissors from her bag. They couldn't use them on the way because they hadn't known the location of Marco.

"Excellent," Tom said, a little too enthusiasticly. There was a large, painful lump in his throat. "There's no time to lose."

Star cut a large, glittering rip in the fabric of space-time, and she, Tom and Marco stepped through.