Sprinkle of Magic

The sounds of steady mechanical beeping filled her ears, willing her eyes to open. They instantly closed again when they were assaulted by fluorescent lights overhead. She groaned at the instant pounding she felt in her head. "Mae?" Ardan's voice reached her ears, and her mind went into panic mode. There was something she had to tell him. An important detail that seemed just out of her reach. She groaned in frustration before she slowly turned her head to the side Ward's voice came from. She blinked her eyes open slowly, keeping them open so she could get used to the light. "Thank the Goddess, you're awake." Maerin tried to smile, but even the simple act caused pain to flow through her entire body. "Easy, now. Don't strain yourself too hard." Maerin nodded, but ignored what he said. She looked down at herself, seeing that the only thing keeping her in the bed was an IV attached to her arm. With that in mind, she gripped the edge of the bed and pushed herself so she was sitting up. Ardan seemed to realize what she was doing, and he clicked a remote to adjust the bed before clicking the overhead button to call for a nurse.

When she was finally comfortable sitting up, she took the moment to look down at herself. Of course, everything was blurry, and she pursed her lips before a pair of glasses were slid over her eyes. She glanced over at Ardan, who smiled and shrugged. She pushed herself to return the smile before she reached out to him. "How long?" She whispered the words, her brow furrowing when they came out scratchy and hoarse. She tried to clear her throat, but her mouth was too dry to do anything. Ardan held out a cup of water, which she took without question. She took small sips, not wanting to push herself, she knew better.

"Two days." His words shocked her to the core. It was Friday already? She'd nearly missed a full week of school. Her mother would be coming in the morning. She was about to ask another question when the nurse came in, a large smile on her face.

"Ah! Well good morning, love! Good to see you with your eyes open!" Maerin tried to return her smile, but she couldn't muster up the enthusiasm the woman had. She stepped up to the monitors, giving them a quick check before she took out Maerin's IV. "Alright, love. Everything looks good. I'll have the doctor come in and give you a final look over, but they way things look now, you may be able to go home today." Both Maerin and Ardan nodded as the woman walked out.

Something still wasn't sitting right with Maerin. She tried to remember why she was in the hospital. How did she even get there? A flash in her head caused her to groan in pain, her fingers flying to her temples. "Celine." She whispered the name before her eyes went wide. "Ardan...Where's Celine? What about Niall? Are they alright?" Her voice was turning frantic, and Ardan placed a hand on Maerin's arm.

"Easy. They're both fine. Celine's in ICU, she just got out of surgery this morning. She had a collapsed lung. And Niall's just fine. He's with your Granda and Ailbe at your house. We all agreed it was the safest place for him." Maerin gave a nod, but she couldn't help but feel guilty. None of this would have happened if she had never moved back. "Hey, it's alright. We did all we could do. And you saved him, Mae. You saved Niall's life." He looked as if he wanted to say more, but the doctor took that moment to come in. He ushered Ardan out of the room while he gave Maerin some basic tests. It wasn't until he wanted her to try and move her leg, did she realize it was in a cast.

"Broken in three places." He said when Maerin gave it a confused look. "Do you remember anything yet? You woke up a couple times for questioning, but you said you couldn't remember anything." She pursed her lips, brow furrowing in concentration, but she shook her head. She remembered going into the house and finding Celine, then going upstairs and seeing Niall, but nothing after that. The doctor smiled and ruffled her hair a bit. "That's quite alright. It'll come back to you." He made a few marks on his clipboards before he sent for a nurse. "No internal injuries, a few bumps and bruises. Besides that leg you're perfectly fine. You'll be in a wheelchair until the cast comes off. We can't give you crutches, because it may displace your shoulder again." Maerin only nodded as the nurse came in, switching places with the doctor. The nurse helped her dress in her baggy cargo pants and a loose t-shirt. This was going to be a pain.

"I've got you all checked out, you ready?" Ardan peeked his head through the door, and Maerin strained to give him a smile.

"Can I...Can I see her?" She asked hesitantly, frowning when Ardan shook his head.

"Family only. I already tried to see her. They say she's going to make a full recovery, though." Maerin gave a soft smile as Ardan went behind her to push her out of the hospital and to her car. It took quite some time to load Maerin and her wheelchair in the car, but they finally did it. The bumps were a bit painful, she'd need to be extra careful to not strain herself. She was dreading having to take a shower, but they'd given her a cast cover at the hospital, so hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult. After the half hour drive back to the house, it took even longer to get Maerin and her chair out of the car. Once that task was done, Ardan had to wheel her around the back of the house where there was a ramp on the deck to get her in. He slid the glass door open and wheeled her inside. "We're home!" He called out to the seemingly empty house.

"Oh! Mae!" Ailbe's voice hit her ears before the woman ran over, bending down to give her a gentle hug. "I'm so glad you're alright, love." Maerin grinned up at the woman before Ardan pushed her into the den, where her grandfather sat with Niall. They had books spread everywhere in front of them, and Maerin was a bit shocked to see the scene. When her wheels squeaked against the floor, both males in the room looked up at her. She tensed when Niall's eyes got a little cold.

"Mae! I'm so glad to see you back home." Maerin gave her grandfather a soft smile.

"Well, I can see that you two are busy." She turned to the boy behind her, silently pleading that he'd help. "Can you help me upstairs?" He gave her a nod before he motion for her to hold her arms up, which she did. He grabbed her around the back and stuck one arm under her legs, picking her bridal style. He nodded to the males in the room before he carried the girl up the stairs, setting her gently in her bed. "Thank you." She whispered with a sigh when he went back down to get her chair. While she waited, she glanced around her room. The only thing that had been changed in the two days she'd been gone, was the pile of papers on her desk. Ardan chuckled when he saw her starting at them.

"Your schoolwork. I made sure I got everything so you didn't fall behind." She couldn't help but smile as she held her hands out for it. Ardan returned his smile as he grabbed the pile and her pens, setting everything in front of her. "Your Granda wanted to know if you felt up to going to school tomorrow, if you want another day to rest." She shook her head, pursing her lips.

"I have to go. I've only had one day of rehearsal for the concert on Tuesday, so I need all the spare time I can get." Ardan gave a nod as he settled down on the end of her bed. For the next two hours, Ardan helped her with her work before she had to take her pain medication. She was going to hate that part the most. She knew they would make her brain fuzzy, and with everything going on, she needed to be on full alert. Sure, she couldn't just get up and kick the crap out of someone, but she still had her focus so she could attempt the energy blast that was used against her. She stopped at the thought. Energy blast? Where did that come from? She didn't remember an energy blast, did she? She groaned in frustration as she flopped back on her pillow, tossing her essay onto Ardan's lap. "Can you read that over for me?" He nodded as she pushed herself back up. She reached out and grabbed the chair by her bed. Steadying herself with her good foot, she hopped into the chair and wheeled herself into the bathroom. As soon as the door was shut behind her, she stood on her good foot, using the sink to steady herself. What she saw in the mirror caused her to gasp.

Her nose was still bruised, and it was obvious that it had been broken, but fixed. Her lip was busted, but healing nicely. She had a bruise on her right cheek, and a nice bump and bruise on her head. She looked down at herself, slowly lifting up her shirt. Her entire right side was one giant bruise, and she could actually see the outline of her ribs through the bruise. She winced a bit as she ran her fingers over it. She shook her head and pulled her shirt down, not wanting to look anymore. She glanced at the shower and gave a sigh. She plopped herself back down in the chair before she reached into the pocket underneath it, pulling out one of the cast covers. She made sure to lock the door as she peeled off her clothes with great difficulty. Once her clothing was on the floor, she slid on the cover, securing it tightly before she wheeled closer to turn on the water. She reached up to grab a towel from the rack, and she wrapped it around herself. "Don't look!" She shouted to Ardan before she wheeled into her room, going to her dresser. She grabbed out the first shirt she saw, along with a pair of basketball shorts before she quickly went back into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door again, setting the clothes on the sink before she hauled herself out of the chair, and into the tub. She braced herself on the wall before she slowly slid down so she was sitting, letting the water run over her.

It took a bit longer for her to wash up, since she couldn't lift her right arm that far without her side hurting. It took hear nearly ten extra minutes to get herself out of the shower and dried off, and another ten to get dressed. She mentally cursed the entire time. When she finally wheeled herself into her bedroom, Ardan was lounging in the window sill. "Can I ask you something?" He nodded, though he didn't look at her. "What do the police think happened?" It had been stuck in her mind the entire time she was in the shower. Surely he didn't tell them that an evil shadow creature attacked them.

"Robbery. I said we'd planned to go over for dinner, but found everything trashed and Celine hurt as soon as we got there. I told them you'd gone to find Niall, to make sure he wasn't hurt, and the burglar blindsided you." Maerin gave a bit of a nod as she wheeled to her bed. She packed away the now finished school work into her bag before she moved to Ardan, placing a hand on his leg. He finally turned to look at her, a smile on his face. "I'm glad you're okay." Maerin's smile grew wider as Ardan bent down to hug her. She was glad to have a friend like him in her life. "Oh, I set up your laptop. You have to watch a clip from the Hunger Games and compare it to the scene in the book. At least a full page." She gave him a nod as he hopped off of the window sill, bringing the laptop to her bed. She wheeled herself over and crawled out of the chair and into to the bed. She couldn't help but wince when the strain pulled at her side. "Alright. Remember, don't push yourself. I have to go. Call me if you need anything." She gave another nod as he kissed the top of her head, leaving her to her work.

She watched the scene three times before she skimmed through the chapter it was based on. In nearly two hours, she had three full pages written. She climbed down into her chair and stuffed the work in her bag, before she slowly wheeled herself out of the room. She stopped when she reached the top of the stairs. The guest room door was closed, but the light was on, and her heart hurt to know that Niall was in there, and how much he despised her. She knew her grandfather couldn't lift her, and Ailbe would probably be cooking dinner by now. She took a deep breath before she slowly stood from the chair, putting all of her weight on her good leg. She gripped the railing as tightly as she could before she slowly began to hop down the stairs. Her foot thumped loudly as she made her descent, and it didn't go unnoticed. The guest room door was flung open, light flooding the hallway. Maerin bit down on her lip, and tried to speed up, but Niall's voice drifted to her ears, causing her to falter. "What the bloody hell are you doing?" She ignored him as she reached the bottom step. The boy gave a frustrated sigh as he picked up her chair, carrying it down the stairs. She had already made it into the kitchen by hopping and holding onto the wall. He set the chair down behind her and forced her to sit down in it. She snapped her head towards him the glare clear on her face. "You're welcome." He hissed out before he stomped back up on the stairs.

"He'll come around, dear." Maerin hadn't even noticed Ailbe standing at the stove, stirring whatever was in the large pot. The girl only sighed as she wheeled closer to the table.

"If it's okay, I just came down to say that that I'm not really hungry. The pain medication is getting to me, and I just want to sleep for a while." Ailbe gave an understanding smile, kissing the top of the girl's head before she wheeled back to the stairs. Her arms and ribs hurt from the last time she tackled the stairs. She hated herself, but she softly called up the stairs. "Niall?" At first, she didn't think he'd heard, but in a moment he was at the top of the stairs. "Could you help me?" She saw something flash in his ocean eyes before he silently walked down the stairs. He picked her up bridal style, and she wrapped her arms securely around his neck as he carried her up and put her into bed. He was still silent as he went back for her chair. When he set it in her room, Maerin peeked up at him. "Thank you." She whispered softly. He froze in the doorway for a second before giving a simple nod, going back into his own room.

She couldn't help but sigh as she turned off the light on her night stand, cuddling into the blankets. She cuddled one of her pillows tight to her as she finally settled down, letting the medication pull her into dream land.