Chapter 11: Nose
"Balthazar!"
The call from the top of the stairs in the subway turnaround easily drew the attention of the four sorcerers on the lower level. Veronica and Cameron looked up from the books they were studying, the fire and water Vera had been working with fizzled out and splashed to the floor respectively, and Balthazar furrowed his brow at how distraught the girl who had called him sounded. Becky was a regular visitor to the lab/training area but never had her entrance been as dramatic as this.
"We're down here Becky," Balthazar said, raising his voice slightly so she would hear him. "Are you alright?"
The sound that followed was definitely not the sound of one person making their way down the metal stairs. Vera, now thoroughly distracted, jumped the puddle of water to make her way to Balthazar's side. It didn't take them long to see just what the problem was when Becky appeared on the upper landing with her arm around a pale and bloody Dave.
"Oh, I'm alright," she said, beginning to sound more peeved than worried, "but my idiot boyfriend isn't."
"You dink I'b an idiot?" Dave asked, sounding like he was suffering from a cold. He seemed genuinely worried that Becky was angry with him and began a hasty apology. "I'b sorry Becky, but dat guy was being really rude and I couldn't led 'im say dat stuff..."
"Shh, Dave, it's okay. I'm not angry."
By this point Vera had reached the pair and helped Becky to escort Dave to the chair Veronica had brought over. The two girls helped him down onto the chair and Dave seemed grateful that he no longer had to support his own weight.
"Wow, Prime Merlinian, is that blood all from your nose?" Vera asked. She caught his chin in her hand and tilted his head up to the light so she could see his face better. The ministrations were surprisingly gentle for the sorceress who was normally quite fierce.
"I dink my nose id broken," Dave said, reaching a hand up towards his bloodied nose. Becky quickly intercepted his hand with her own, moving it back away from his face.
"Careful Dave," she scolded gently, "That's probably going to hurt if you touch it."
"What happened, man?" Cameron asked.
"Some guy was harassing me, just being a bit of a jerk," Becky explained. "Dave told him to back off and got punched in the face because of it." She squeezed Dave's shoulder comfortingly as he nodded along with her re-telling of events. Blood was still dripping slowly from his nose and there was the beginning of an ugly purple bruise appearing on his face. "It was quicker to bring him here to get patched up," Becky continued, "though I'm not sure just how bad his nose actually is."
"Id's bad," Dave said. Nobody paid his comment any attention.
"I'll do it," Veronica said, stepping forward. Of all the sorcerers and sorceresses in the room Veronica was the most experienced when it came to healing magic. Balthazar had other ideas though.
"Wait. Let Cam do it."
"What?" Cameron backed away from Dave slightly, eyes flicking between him and Balthazar. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Veronica's a good teacher," Balthazar replied, "You'll be fine." The older sorcerer reached out and grabbed Cameron's arm to stop him from backing away any further.
"I dink I'd rader have Veronica fix my nose," Dave said. Then, as an afterthought, "Sorry, Cam."
Balthazar wasn't about to let them get away with it that easily though. "Okay, ultimatum. Either Cam fixes your nose or Vera does." He gave Dave a pointed look, "Choose."
"Cam," Dave said quickly, looking anywhere but Vera's face as the young sorceress frowned.
"I feel like I should be insulted."
"You'll get over it," Balthazar told her. He pushed Cameron forward and patted him heavily on the shoulder. "Let's see what you can do, Cam."
Hesitantly, Cameron stepped closer to Dave. He held his hands out, fingers hovering just above Dave's bruised and bleeding nose. Cameron glanced over to Veronica who nodded her head encouragingly.
"Just like I've shown you," she said.
"Okay." Cameron breathed out slowly. "I'm going to apologize in advance in case this goes wrong."
"Dat makes me feel so much bedder."
Cameron closed his eyes to focus for a moment before opening them and placing his fingers down gently on Dave's face. For the first few seconds there didn't seem to be anything happening, but slowly the blood dripping from Dave's nose stopped and the bruises faded until they were nothing more than the slightest of discoloration on his skin.
"You did it," Dave said, sounding just a little bit surprised. Cameron removed his hands and sighed in relief.
"Well done, Cameron." Veronica smiled at her apprentice as she moved forward to inspect Dave's newly healed nose for herself.
"Thanks," Cameron replied, running a hand through his hair sheepishly.
"No, thank you," Becky said. She gave Cameron a quick hug on her way past to get some tissues to clean up the blood that still covered Dave's face. "You just saved us a trip to the hospital."
"And us several days of having to listen to Dave complain about how much pain he was in while it healed," Balthazar added. "And just a warning, it will be Vera's turn to try a healing spell next time so try to avoid getting punched in the face again anytime soon, Dave."
AN: Yay, another chapter out within a couple of weeks and not a couple of months this time! XD
As usual, thank you to everyone who reads/reviews/favorites/puts on alert lists. You guys are all awesome :)
