Rachel Andric and Final Death

Chapter 32: The God of Healing

The Story door was an uncomfortable way of traveling this time. When Rachel stepped through, it felt as though she were being shaken apart. When she hit the floor back in The Story, it took her a moment to regain her bearings.

They were in a Greek temple, she saw when she could finally raise her head without the threat of becoming ill. The others were all there; Merlin, Will, Guy, Red, Alan, and Ewan. There was also a girl with long, curly black hair and light blue eyes. Guy and Merlin were trying to support the swaying Alan, his eyes closed and his face a ghostly-white.

A young man with fiery orange-red hair emerged from further back in the temple, a harp in his hands. His golden eyes reminded Rachel of the sun, and she remembered him from her previous trip to the Greece Story. "Apollo," she said.

"At your service, Lady Rachel," he replied, bowing. Then his eyes strayed past her, and a bright grin appeared on his face. "Morpheus!"

"You remember me?" Ewan said, frowning as Apollo came, placing his harp on the floor in the process, and shook Ewan's hand enthusiastically.

"Of course! I remember everything," Apollo answered.

The girl with the dark hair interrupted quietly. "I reminded him of you. He truly does have a strong memory, though," she added with a small smile.

"I thank you," Apollo said, sweeping a bow. "Now! Let's see about this man. What's his name?"

"Alan-a-Dale," Will said, watching everything with a frown. He was squinting a little as well. "Why? Can—can you save him, sir?"

"Of course I can!" Apollo boomed enthusiastically. "I'm the god of healing! Don't doubt my skills. Now ... just lay him down on the floor over there." Merlin and Guy both hesitated; Apollo didn't seem exactly—trustworthy.

The girl spoke again. "Trust me, Merlin," she said. "Phoebus Apollo is Alan's only hope of surviving."

"Very well," Merlin relented, and he and Guy dragged Alan's prone body towards the spot Apollo had indicated. Ewan drifted after them, and Red sat apart from the rest of them, leaving Will and Rachel alone with the girl.

"Who are you?" Rachel asked her bluntly. "I've never heard Merlin agree to listen to anyone so quickly."

"My name is Wendy Darling," she answered with that strange smile. "And Merlin and I met previously, shortly before he willingly entered the Editor's home to try and rescue the lot of you. I assume it didn't go to plan."

"Not quite," Will admitted. "We all got captured, and my—the Editor forced Rachel to write herself out."

Wendy nodded slowly. "And the Editor rewrote The Story to punish you," she finished. "She must really despise all of you to do such a thing as rewrite her precious Story."

"I thought you were in Tom Thumb's Story," Will said.

"Ah," Wendy said. "The Editor hates me as much as all of you, perhaps even more. I don't stay in one Story for very long. And I came here to seek Apollo's help; Final Death is a treacherous and perilous place. I assumed at least one of you would return injured, and for Alan's sake, I am eternally grateful that I did. It would have been a terrible loss to lose him twice. But I do not see the queen?" She phrased it as a question.

"She's dead," Rachel said flatly.

"Ah." Wendy nodded slowly, her expression sad. "A pity. She was a good woman. And Morgana le Fay remained behind for Alan?" Rachel nodded. "It seems she was misjudged. What do you plan to do now?"