Giftless

Chapter 35

"Welcome back to the land of the living," a female voice said to you as you finally started to wake. You cracked your eyes open and looked to the voice, still feeling dazed and like it was hard to wake. The voice belonged to Julia, the head healer in the infirmary. She was standing next to your bed and was maneuvering it so that you were in a sitting position without having to actually sit up yourself. You weren't sure you could move.

It was taking you a minute to focus on anything, but you realized that you was in the infirmary. Again. It was also one of the private rooms, which meant whatever had landed you in here was serious.

You were rather confused, and frankly surprised to be alive, once you remembered what had happened. Your sleep fogged haze began to clear and you looked frantically around for Loki. "Easy, Kat. You nearly died and you've been unconscious for two days. Your young men have been quite worried about you," Julia told you gently. She took a step back and you could see around her. Loki and Tony were sitting on the couch in the infirmary room. Both of them were asleep and they were sitting as far apart from each other as physically possible on the small couch. You didn't understand why they weren't both instantly awake the moment Julia had started talking to you, they were both overprotective. Julia caught your expression. "Don't worry, I put them to sleep a couple of hours ago. They refused to leave. Or sleep. Your uncle is extra cranky when he hasn't gotten any sleep..." she complained. You managed to give her a tentative smile at that. "I'll wake them in a minute. First, you. How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?"

You nodded, but she just looked at you pointedly until you actually answered her. That seemed like too much effort with how bad you felt, but you answered her anyway. "I remember The Harlequin's clowns broke into the compound and attacked us. I was shot," you told her simply. It was a lot of effort to talk. You just wanted to sleep. "I feel like I got shot in the chest," you added, since she was still waiting for an answer to her question.

"You did nearly die," she reminded you. You nodded. You remembered that part, and how you should have died. "And you're still a long way from healed, but it's good to see you alive and awake. You'll be ok."

You looked down at yourself and saw the bandage peeking out from the top of the hospital gown covering where you had been shot. There were tubes and needles going into your right arm. Your left hand and arm was covered in swirls of black, green, gold, and blue. It was beautiful and elegant. you would have compared it to a tattoo, but it looked more real, more clear than ink could ever achieve. Plus, it was shimmering with magic. "Any idea what that's all about?" she asked, noticing your gaze. You shook your head. You had a vague idea when it had happened, but you weren't sure how or what it meant. "You ready to face them?" she asked, nodding at the sleeping boys.

"Yes," you replied. You wanted answers and the only way to get those would be to talk to Loki. You remembered the words he had spoken before you had passed out. You needed to know what they meant.

"If they get too annoying or loud, call for me and I will deal with them. You need to heal and they can't be allowed to interfere with that," she told you. She was an overprotective healer, as they all were. She left the room and the boys started to stir. You steeled yourself to face them.

They startled awake at nearly the same moment and looked anxiously at your bed. You smiled at them, they looked so ridiculous that you couldn't help the grin on your face. They both ran to your bed at the same time when they saw that you were awake. You were afraid they were going to fight over which one got to hug you first, but Loki took a step back before he reached the bed and gestured Tony forward with an elegant bow. "Kat! You're ok!" Tony exclaimed as he wrapped you in a careful hug.

"So it seems," you told him. "Though Healer Julia did say I'm still a long way from healed." You reached up with the hand that wasn't covered in needles to hug him back.