The Responsible Witch (The Ward Witches) Read Free Page B

need to ask before helping Dymphna get him inside.
    “ We need to get him to the spare bedroom,” Dymphna said, heading toward the stairs.
    “ Man I wish I had air magic now,” Skylar responded, looking at how many steps there were between them and the spare bedroom. With air magic, she could have levitated him up the stairs.
    “ You're right. Couch it is.” Dymphna paused, holding the man on her own while Skylar got a sheet to lay over the couch. Not that it would do much good based on the amount of blood he had on him, but it was a good effort. “Get a pillow too; he's got head injuries.”
    As Skylar went to comply, Dymphna laid her hands on either side of his head, getting ready to go into a healing trance. His skin tingled, like there was an electric contact between them, but Dymphna dismissed it.
    “ Should you wait for Leo to make sure you don't hurt yourself?”
    Dymphna had a tendency to overdo her healing efforts, which could wind up with her among the injured as well.
    “ He needs help now, Skylar. By not finding him immediately, we've wasted enough time. Watch the clock. Give me one hour, and then shake my shoulder to get me to come back. And if it looks like something weird is happening, get me back before then. But do call Rita, she may be able to help.”
    Skylar situated the pillow, then went to grab her cell phone. Dymphna relaxed, and let the calm of her healing meditation wash over her. She hated healing people with injuries like this. To completely heal the injury, and not just mitigate the pain, she had to force her magic through her hands and into his body. It had the potential for the water witch to drain themselves, and could result in serious damage to the healer. Not to mention the pain. The act of forcing magic through to another person can hurt. A lot. After all, Dymphna would be draining the magic out of herself in an almost-violent manner. Most healers wouldn't do it, and theywould just speed the body's natural healing process without hurting themselves in the process. But Dymphna was worried that this man wouldn't make it, and if she could help, she'd do everything she could. That was the kind of healer she was.
    Dymphna psychically examined the head injury first, since it was worst. Unfortunately, it was near some key elements of the brain. She didn't feel comfortable with meddling too much in that. If she started forcing things to move around in there, it could damage or mess with whatever wasn't already hurt. So she took the easier way with that one, and put a considerable amount of healing magic into accelerating the body's self-healing abilities. The body knew how to heal itself better than she could in most cases. If this wasn't one of them, she'd get back to that later.
    She knew she wouldn't have long before Skylar came back to wake her, so she went after the second worst injury-a shattered fibia and tibia in his right forearm. Dymphna screamed because it took a lot of magic to force those bones out of the puzzle they were in, put them in the right order, and meld them together into a strong bone once again. She was grateful Skylar knew enough not to wake her yet, despite the scream. She doused the rest of the wounds with accelerating healing magic. She had already over-exerted herself, and she needed to be careful. Then she came back from her trance. Dymphna didn't have much left, and she was aware enough to bring herself back rather than wait on Skylar as her safety net.
    “ Are you alright?” Skylar asked, ashen.
    “ I'm fine. Well, I'll be fine soon. But I'm really tired and hungry.”
    “ I can imagine. You only had five minutes left on the clock, and you were making some awful noises. I know that that much magic will make you tired and hungry. Why don't you lay down on the other couch and I'll prepare you a large snack?”
    “ You're awesome.”
    “ Rita's on her way too, so she can take a look at what's going on with him as well.”
    “ Thanks.”
    Dymphna passed