Generation Gem

Dawn

Jamie cupped my face in his hands, his eyes full of worry.

"Are you OK? Did she hurt you?"

I didn't know quite how to answer him. Yes, she had hurt me. I'm not sure what she had done or what spell she had chanted to make my body hurt so much. Thunderbolts of pain were still rocking my core and I didn't know when it was going to stop. But more than that, she had hurt my heart. I nearly lost Jamie. Maisie had sacrificed herself. I glanced at Dianne's body, which was coming to now, stirring gently. Miles was now a ghost. Everything was wrong. Of course I was hurt. But I didn't want to overwhelm him.

"I'm fine Jamie. Don't worry about me. How are you?"

He shrugged and sat up, surprisingly with ease for someone who had just been at death's door.

"I feel weirdly good." He rubbed his head and swung his legs around so he was sitting up fully. "What just happened? Everything was a blur. I... I can't remember much. One minute we were...." His eyes widened as he looked around the room. "Wait a minute, is that Miles?"

Sadness hit me once more as I looked at his now ghostly form. I pulled Jamie up, holding his hand, walking over to where the others were.

"Yes, this is Miles."

Jamie frowned, then held a hand out in salute.

"What happened? Why are you a ghost?"

Miles shrugged as he hovered above his wheelchair, which still had his old body in. It made me shudder.

"It's no big deal. I wanted this."

"Miles gave up his Sapphire to save you. It was the only thing that could have bought you back to life. Without his stone, he would have become weak and died anyway, so I managed to turn him into a ghost."

Jamie's mouth fell open at Popkins words. I knew he was finding it as unbelievable as the rest of us.

"Miles....mate.... I, I don't know what to say."

Miles smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Like I said, no big deal. I'm just glad you're alive. Besides, any time you're annoying me from now on, I can threaten to ghost you, it will be awesome."

We laughed uneasily at his joke. I didn't know how to be happy about this. Jamie scanned the others.

"Are the rest of you OK? Mel? Popkins?" They nodded, shooting each other an awkward look."Maisie?"

Jamie looked around the room, confused. He turned to me.

"Maisies OK, right? Where is she?"

I shook my head, my eyes filling with tears. I knew I had to tell him, but I didn't know how. I looked at Popkins and Mel for some help, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, the guard who had helped us after being under Dianne's hypnosis came running forward.

"Look, she's getting up."

We watched in silence as Dianne's body stood up. It took some effort. She faced us, looking sad. It was weird to see the woman who had caused us so much grief looking so emotional. Jamie turned to me.

"Why are we all just standing here watching? She's a maniac, we need to do something."

I held his hand, squeezing it. I really was lost for words.

"Jamie, I'm not going to hurt you."

Dianne's voice was now Maisies. I could see the confusion in Jamie's eyes. He looked at me, then back at Dianne, shaking his head.