Ivory woke to the smell of antiseptic.
For a few seconds, she didn't remember where she was. Then, when she tried to move, intense, throbbing pain shot through her ankle and her head.
Ivory gasped and immediately opened her eyes.
The ceiling above her was white. The lights were dimmed, and a curtain separated her bed from the rest of the medical room.
Her head throbbed.
She slowly raised a hand toward it and felt the rough edges of stitches beneath her fingers.
She winced. "Oh, God." She groaned in pain.
"Finally, you're awake."
Ivory turned her head to see Kael sitting beside her bed.
His hair was messy, and there were dark circles beneath his eyes. He looked exhausted.
"Kael," Ivory said weakly, "You stayed?"
Kael nodded. "You scared me."
Ivory managed a small smile. "Why haven't you slept?"
"I couldn't sleep without knowing you were okay," Kael looked down at her ankle.
Then, Ivory remembered what had happened.
Elara.
The wind.
Orion.
Her body being thrown through the air.
She swallowed. "How bad is it?"
Kael hesitated. "You sprained it pretty badly."
Ivory sighed. "Can you heal it?"
"I already did." He sounded almost embarrassed. "I tried to close the damage, but it's still swollen. I can take away some of the pain, but I can't completely fix it."
Ivory looked at him. "You did enough."
"I should've been able to do more."
"You're still learning, Kael."
He looked at his hands. "I healed some of your head."
Ivory touched the stitches again. "Some?"
"The cut was too deep. I couldn't close all of it."
"That explains the stitches."
Kael nodded.
"I got most of the bleeding to stop before they stitched it."
"You saved me."
"You're my mom," Kael looked up at her.
The simplicity of his answer made Ivory's chest tighten.
She reached over and took his hand.
"I know."
For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Then Ivory looked toward the door.
"Elara. Where's Elara? What happened? I was in so much pain I wasn't paying attention."
Kael's expression changed.
"She ran."
Ivory paused and remained silent.
"Honor and Harley went after her."
"Where?" Ivory's stomach tightened.
"The woods. Cassian used Telekinesis to close the door, but her wind was too strong, and she broke the door and was able to leave. "
Ivory tried to sit up.
Kael immediately stood.
"Mom, don't!"
"I need to find her."
"You can't even stand."
"I can try."
Ivory pushed herself upright and soon regretted her decision. The room spun, and her ankle throbbed in deep pain.
Kael caught her shoulder and stabilized her.
She waited for the dizziness to pass before slowly lowering one foot toward the floor.
Her injured ankle touched down, and pain immediately traveled up her leg.
Ivory cried out and grabbed Kael's arm.
"Nope."
"You're not walking," Kael gently helped her back onto the bed.
Ivory began to cry silently to herself. Kael noticed and sent a message to someone.
The door opened, and Blue stepped inside.
His expression was calm. Too calm.
Ivory immediately knew he had already made his decision about Elara.
Blue grabbed a jar, motioned for Kael to leave, and he left, but not without hugging his mother.
Blue rubbed the numbing cream onto Ivory's once small ankle. He then helped her lay back down and set her ankle onto the pillow. Suddenly, Harley appeared from the curtains with a huge bag of ice. She was placing ice into a Ziploc bag and handed it to Blue, who placed it onto her ankle.
"How are you?" Blue asked.
"My head hurts."
"Your ankle?"
"Hurts more than my head."
"Give the numbing cream a few more minutes. If you still feel pain in a minute or two, I'll give you more."
Harley stood over Ivory's small body and crossed her arms.
"I know what you're going to say," Ivory began.
"I hope you do, because that had to be the dumbest thing you've done, Ivory."
"They're my children, Harley. They were going to hurt each other."
"You should have listened to Blue. Look where you are. You aren't strong enough to fight them off, Ivory."
"You don't get it," Ivory scoffed.
"Oh, really?"
"You don't have kids! You're not a mother," Ivory said hoarsely as Blue applied more numbing cream to her ankle, and she swerved her ankle in pain.
"Don't do it again," Harley said coldly.
"Harley, don't reprimand my wife," Blue snapped.
Harley shook her head and walked away.
"What's her deal?" Ivory asked.
"It's her way of saying she cares about you," Blue replied.
Ivory watched him carefully and began to relax as her ankle started to feel numb.
Blue opened a small metal case beside the bed.
Inside were several tiny glass vials filled with a pale, almost translucent liquid.
Ivory frowned.
"What is that?"
"An ancient Seraphyne treatment."
Blue removed one of the vials.
"It's used when someone suffers damage that ordinary medicine can't repair quickly enough."
He took out a small syringe.
Ivory watched him carefully.
"You're going to inject that into me?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"It's a Regenerative serum, Blue filled the syringe. "We've been using versions of it for thousands of years. Every Seraphyne has a sample of their DNA stored for emergencies."
"You have my DNA?" Ivory looked at him.
"Of course."
"Why?"
"In case something like this happens."
He gently took her ankle and injected the serum near the injured area.
Ivory flinched not because of the pain, just because it was an involuntary reaction. A strange warmth spread beneath her skin.
"What does it do?"
"It uses your own genetic material to regenerate damaged tissue."
Ivory looked down at her ankle.
"The cells begin repairing themselves. Muscle. Ligaments. Bone."
"Bone?"
"If necessary."
She stared at him.
"And it fixes everything immediately?"
"No."
Blue placed the syringe aside.
"It begins the process. Your body still needs time."
Ivory looked at her swollen ankle. "It doesn't look like it's doing anything," she replied.
"It won't yet," Blue adjusted the pillow beneath her leg. "The swelling will remain. The bruising will remain. You'll still be in pain, but instead of taking weeks or months to recover, your body will regenerate much faster."
Ivory was quiet.
Blue looked at her.
"By tomorrow, the swelling should begin to decrease."
"And my ankle?"
"You'll be able to put some weight on it soon. Don't expect to run."
"I wasn't planning on running," Ivory sighed.
"You tried to walk on it five minutes after waking up," Blue gave her a faint look. "I heard you and Kael from outside the door."
"I had somewhere to be."
"You had an injured ankle."
"I have a daughter who's missing."
Blue's expression hardened.
"Elara will be found."
Ivory looked away. She knew from his voice that he wasn't talking about bringing Elara home. He was talking about bringing her back under control.
The door clicked open, and she saw Orion's head peek inside the room.
"She's awake," he whispered behind him.
Lyra, Cassian, and Serene followed after him, and they all surrounded Ivory's bed.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Lyra began to cry.
"I thought you were going to die," Serene said. "I'm glad you didn't."
Ivory turned to Orion, whose facial wound was still mildly visible. She gently touched his face, "You have a bruise."
"I'm okay. You should really focus on yourself," Orion replied casually.
"She almost killed you," Ivory said sternly to Orion.
"She needs to understand what her abilities can do," Orion said.
"Orion, you were fighting her," Ivory stared at him.
"She attacked me first."
"You were pushing her."
Orion didn't respond.
Lyra stepped forward. "Mom, she was beating him." Lyra chuckled.
Orion glared at her. "I was letting her." His eyes narrowed at his older sister.
"You were absolutely not letting her," Lyra laughed, and so did everyone else.
"You'll have the last laugh, for now," Orion shrugged.
"Oh, are you going to challenge me to a duel?" Lyra joked.
"You're too short, so that wouldn't be fair."
Cassian gave Orion a high five as Lyra crossed her arms and shook her head. Serene rested her head against Ivory's shoulder.
Ivory was happy because five out of her six children had visited her. She felt safe and sound with them.
Elara hadn't attacked her because she hated her. She had lost control. And now, Blue would make sure she paid for it.
Ivory looked down at her swollen ankle. She couldn't walk. She couldn't chase after Elara. She couldn't even leave the room without someone's help. For the first time in a long time, Ivory felt completely powerless.
And she hated it.
Outside the medical room, footsteps echoed through the hallway.
"Find her," Blue's voice was heard.
He ordered whoever was outside to look for someone.
Ivory closed her eyes. She knew exactly who he was talking about.
Elara.
"And bring her to the throne room when you do. She's in big trouble," Blue replied.