Magic Touch

Chapter 33 - Code Red

Morning came, and Kate pulled herself up with a groan. Rose had pestered her in the world of dreams for a while, but thankfully not enough to leave her completely without sleep. She fluffed up her pillow and got dressed, slowly remembering that today was the day of that case she really didn't want to take on, but had to.

For a split second, she entertained the thought that maybe Anna had been right that time she said Kate was too hung up on giving every patient a chance. Once she recognized the thought, she shook her head in disgust. No, she would never buy into that sentiment. As long as her magic had a reasonable chance of improving their quality of life, or provide an extended lifespan with a quality of life they deemed acceptable, she wanted to give them the shot at that.

She whipped up a quick breakfast and then she was off to the hospital. The time up until the start of the first surgery went by at a crawl. Kate felt queasy and periodically drifted off into her own thoughts, but she was well-drilled enough to still be able to provide accurate answers to any medically-related inquiries.

Finally, the time of the dreaded operation arrived. Kate was unable to tell whether she felt better or worse, the only thing she knew was that she was feeling a lot. When she stepped into the room she was disappointed but not surprised to see that Mari wasn't back. In her place was a recent hire whose name she didn't remember yet. Rose had already arrived and stood between two supply shelves and was leaning her back against the wall, clipboard in hand. Kate's stomach lurched at the sight. Rose briefly nodded at Kate, but didn't say anything.

The team made the usual pre-op preparations, and Kate was grateful for the existence of checklists. Missing a step could happen easily enough on a typical day, not to mention now that her head was in all the wrong places. Once she made the first incision, however, she had to banish those thoughts.

She did her utmost to push the thoughts of Rose, potential discovery, and any associated doubts to the back of her mind and focus on the patient in front of her. The beeps of the monitoring equipment helped her get into the zone. She didn't talk much, being too focused on keeping her thoughts under control and executing the surgery. It was going to have to be perfect.

She worked in concentrated silence, being careful to take into account any hint that suggested the anesthesia team might be having trouble keeping up. It wasn't just her who had to be perfect, the whole team needed to. Thing proceeded somewhat slowly, but well, up until they were three-fourths into the case.

At that point, all hell suddenly broke loose. A blood vessel burst, though Kate could swear she hadn't made contact with anything at that moment. The patient's state quickly deteriorated from there.

She searched the probable locations, but the source of the bleeding eluded her. Stretching the time as far as she could, she kept up the search. Still no results. The anesthesiologist made a remark, and Kate realized they were out of time. She would either have to use her magic or have the patient bleeding out on the table. At least, she had already reached her decision beforehand.

She took a deep breath and used her magic.

A faint golden glow enveloped her hands. Locating the bleed took hardly any time at all, and she soon had stopped it in spite of it being in a pesky location. She used an additional dose of magic to strengthen the blood vessels in the area, not wanting a repeat of the situation. The golden glow intensified as she did, but only for an instant.

Repair complete, patient out of immediate danger. Her chest felt tight. She drew a shaky breath and gave instructions to her assistant.

Though she knew she had been focusing, the rest of the operation felt like a blur to her by the time they closed up. She discarded her protective gear and left the operating room. People were moving about the hallway so she opted for the nearest stairwell for a breather. She still had to tell the family that the operation had concluded successfully, but she first needed to refocus her own thoughts. At the moment she was tired to the point where forming even simple thoughts bordered on painful. Resting her back against the wall, she slumped to the floor.

After a few minutes she pulled herself up, plastered on her good news-face and went to tell the family. Keeping them waiting for too long would be unprofessional.

Unsurprisingly, they welcomed the news and a few tears were shed. She reiterated a few points to keep their expectations realistic, then headed for the break room. While she would normally have gone to get started on some of the paperwork, she reasoned that she deserved a breather this time.

The break room was pleasantly empty and she let herself sink into the couch and closed her eyes. Zero points for posture, full points for comfort. She was too tired to look who was entering when she heard the sound of the door opening.

Let them. For all she knew it was just one of her colleagues coming to grab some coffee.

When she heard a familiar voice next to her, she startled.

"That was magic. You can't tell me otherwise this time."

Kate's eyes were wide open by this point and her vision was filled by the sight of Rose with her arms crossed. She tried to move to the side and get off the couch, but Rose stepped in front of her and blocked the way. Kate made another escape attempt to the other side. Same result.

"That was magic," Rose repeated. "I saw the glow."

"B-but normals aren't supposed to see the glow!" Kate blurted out. Then she realized her mistake and cursed herself for her carelessness.

"You're a witch!" Rose's lips curled into an odd smile. "You're really a witch!"

At that point, Kate couldn't take any more. Something within her snapped and she pushed Rose and rushed out of the room. She didn't even check to see how she was doing. She canceled her upcoming surgeries, reporting that she had an immediate crisis in her family which required her presence. Not like there was a point of cutting into someone and having to abandon them halfway because Rose had spread the news and people were coming to get her.

She cursed herself again. If only she hadn't been so tired. If only she'd been smarter about it. If only Rose had never happened.

She returned home and fell onto her couch, where she remained.