"Hey! What's going on over here?" called a gruff voice. I whirled around to see a man hurrying towards us, his alert eyes taking in my tear-stained face and the blood-soaked dirt around Fang's pale body. His eyes widened considerably and I opened my mouth to speak. He held up his hand.
"Do you need help?" he asked calmly.
"What?" I asked, startled.
"Do you need help?" he repeated, a little slower this time.
"Aren't you going to ask how this happened?" I asked in surprise. He looked at me, examining my face calmly.
"Do you want me to?" he asked, sounding amused. "By the look of things, it would most definitely be an interesting story, but no doubt a long one, and I don't think your friend here can hold out too much longer. It's none of my business how this happened. Do you need help?"
I looked at him in amazement. "Well, um... yeah," I said lamely. He smiled.
"Okay, then," he said, and hoisted Fang up over his shoulder. "Follow me. My house is just around this corner."
We followed the man until we came to a large house. He unlocked the door and walked inside. We followed, bewildered.
"My name is Rick, by the way," he called over his shoulder.
"I'm Max, this is Jeff, Krystal, Ariel, and, um..." I indicated the birdkid draped over Rick's shoulder. "Nick."
"Okay, hello, Max, Jeff, Krystal, Ariel, and Nick," he said, smiling. He opened a door that led into a large dining room. The table had nothing on it, and Rick laid Fang down on it. Rick quickly took off Fang's shirt and turned him over. When he saw the wings, he glanced briefly at me out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.
"Looks like this is a bullet wound. And I think the bullet is still in there. All right... which of you is quick with his hands?" he said, looking up.
We all looked at Iggy.
"Okay, Jeff, I need your help. We'll have to perform an operation. I'm a doctor, so Nick will be safe with me."
Iggy's eyes were wide. "But -- sir, there's something you should know..."
"I noticed," Rick said, and we all turned to look at him in surprise. "You're blind. I noticed the way you look past stuff. It doesn't matter. Your friends think you'll do fine. They trust you." He looked at us, and we nodded reassuringly.
"We're nodding, Jeff," I said.
Iggy sighed. "Fine. You guys should clear out. This will probably get gruesome."
We didn't need telling twice. I couldn't stand to watch them cut my best friend open. Nudge and Angel left the room, and I followed nervously, my worried eyes glancing over my shoulder one more time before I shut the door.
