Treading Water

Jim moaned, turning his head to the side. He had a splitting headache, and his throat felt parched. There was something stabbed into his chest, pulsing pain.

All in all, he'd had better wakeups.

"Oh, you're awake."

"Mom...?" he asked muzzily, as a familiar figure sat down by his side.

She smiled down at him, and Jim relaxed, basking in that care for a moment, knowing that if his mom was here, everything would be all right.

"Master Jim!" A blue stone figure made its way up to him. "Thank Gorgus you're awake!"

"Blinky?" Jim blinked a few times, and the past fell into place. The trip to New Jersey. The attack by the green knight. The shard, causing agony and further transformation. A haze of pain and anger, which somehow wore off when he'd been captured and dumped into a holding cell in Area 49-B, across the hall from...

"Douxie!" Jim sat upright, and immediately regretted it, holding his hand to his head as he wavered.

"Jim!" His mother reached out to steady him. Blinky did too.

Despite his now frankly ludicrous size, Jim couldn't help but feel better for those touches. "Where am I?" he asked. "Where's Douxie?"

Blinky and Barbara exchanged a look Jim didn't quite know how to read. "Now that, Master Jim," Blinky said softly, "is indeed quite a story." He gestured expansively with his three unoccupied arms. "Welcome to Camelot."

"Camelot? Like, King Arthur Camelot?"

"Yup," his mom said, nodding. She huffed a deep breath. "Which is now apparently a flying castle. And I swear, if Sir Galahad pinches my bottom one more time...!"

"I do not think he will do so again," Blinky informed her. "Your display of martial prowess was, indeed, most impressive."

"If Krav Maga isn't good enough to ward him off," Barbara glowered, "I'll sic Walter on him."

Jim couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. "I'm still lost," he confessed. "Why are we at Camelot in the first place?"

"Well, after Claire and everyone found you, under that pile of rubble, they brought you and your new friend back here." Something undefinable flashed across his mother's face again. "And by the way, do you have any idea how irritating it is that pulse oximeters and other medical equipment don't work properly on trolls?"

"What about vampires?" Jim couldn't help asking.

Now the undefinable thing bloomed full on her face. "You know I love you, Jim. But you have a habit of making friends with the strangest of creatures."

"Hope that assessment includes me, Dr. L.," Toby said, sauntering into the stone room like he owned the place. "Hey, Jimbo, good to see you up and around."

"Hey, Tobes." Jim held his arm up; Toby bumped his own to it. The size discrepancy was obvious, but irrelevant. "How's Arcadia Oaks?"

"Man, you would not believe the stuff that's been going on this summer," Toby complained. "I've met some of the weirdest people. I'll totally have to catch you up."

"Sounds great, Tobes."

His best friend plopped down beside Jim. "Meantime, what's this I hear about you making friends with a vampire? Who's Merlin's apprentice to boot?"

Jim shrugged. "Got tossed into the cell across from his."

"Whoo," Toby said, as Blinky and Barbara exchanged a glance. "So who's responsible for flattening Area 49-B? You or him?"

"Him," Jim said. Then, "Wait... flattening?"

"As a pancake," Toby informed him solemnly, nodding. "Couldn't've happened to nicer people."

"We believe," Blinky said softly, "that it was the destruction of the outer walls which allowed Claire to sense your presence again, and thus be able to open a portal to you."

Jim turned that over in his mind a few times. Finally, "Where is he?" he asked quietly, fearing the worst answer.

Barbara sighed unhappily. "His girlfriend hasn't let me take more than a few readings and set up an IV."

"Mom?"

"The most I can say," she told him, "is that he's treading water." Meaning, not drowning, but also not getting better.