Dawn's going back to visit Ken, and I make references to the past again. "Unwell" is by Matchbox Twenty. Yes, I stole an entire scene from BtVS, if you're smart enough to catch it. I'm not saying the rest of you aren't smart, though. I'm saying...oh, heck, just kill me now!

Chapter VI: Unwell

The world was spinning in lazy circles. Although her hands were burning, they were also terribly cold.

The next hard kick to Ken's stomach took his breath away. Steve struck him square in the face. Ken felt his arms and chest sting as if they were on fire.

"This is all your fault!" Steve spat at Dawn. "And it's your fault, you little twerp, that your little girlfriend is getting electrocuted. Apologize to her," he demanded to Ken.

Ken had enough energy to gasp for air.

"Apologize before I…"Steve held up a chainsaw, of all things, and put it near Dawn's leg just close enough for her to feel the speed at which it whirled.

"Dawn! Dawn! I'm sorry!"

"Ken, Ken," Dawn shook her head. "I'm sorry I couldn't help."

"Lilith shoved you in an electric socket. I don't know how you could've helped," Ken gave Dawn's arm a week squeeze. If one looked at a particular feature of Dawn's, namely her eyes, they could always tell what she was thinking about.

"So, what was in your note card?" Dawn asked.

"It was a word in a phrase. It's a riddle," Ken said. He was clearly losing his fight against unconsciousness.

Dawn seemed to come to a decision, not taking her eyes off Ken once. "Ken, I need you to do something for me," she said seriously.

"Anything," Ken breathed, eyes struggling to stay open.

"I need you to focus on getting better. I need you to let me solve this whole card crud without worrying about you rushing through treatment to help me. And before you protest," she added, "I have known you for such a long time, and you've always dropped everything if I asked for your help. I can't let you do that anymore. I know you like to play hero, but I know how to be my own hero."

Ken turned his swollen face toward her and smiled. "Card crud? Whatever happened to your favorite c-word?"

"You don't say it," Dawn half-whined. "And besides, some things go beyond four-letter words."

"Yeah?" Ken stared right into Dawn's eyes, and she stared back.

They say that, when you look into the eyes of your soul mate, you can see all the generations you will…er, produce.

Dawn Reid couldn't see next Wednesday, only partly because her left eye was swollen shut.

Ken closed his eyes and fell asleep. Dawn dropped his hand and left. She brushed her hair back behind her peach-pink ears.

"How is he?" Callia asked.

"Great," Dawn said. "Doesn't seem like he's lost any brain cells. He said our names just right. He gave us details of the cards, but no answers. Only one thing's for sure—figuring out the words in," she took the note cards from her pocket, "these are now the most important things. They form a phrase which should make the volcano disappear. Everyone who's come back say it will. And with all the magick that's happened, what else can I do but believe it?" Dawn sighed.

"Why do you need to believe it?" Mara asked.

"I was raised to believe that magick doesn't exist," Dawn swallowed. "Now that it does, it makes me question everything else I've ever believed in too. I need something to believe in, so it might as well be something that seems to be good for my sister and this entire island," Dawn shrugged. "A least I think it's for this whole island's good. I don't know what to believe in."

"It'll be alright, Dawn. We have you," Dawn was astonished. Callia had never complimented her. Not in a way to suggest that she relied on Dawn, at least.

"But I don't even know where to start with the phrase, Dawn protested.

Callia looked at Dawn—or, more specifically, at her shiner—and said, "We need to get that out of the way so we can talk about your eye."

"I can see fine…oh," Dawn blushed. She would have to start reading people better soon if she wanted to weasel her way out of this. ****

"Stop!" Dawn screamed. Her fingers were smoking at the tips. Casimir tried to intervene, but was pushed away.

Lilith took out an electric cattle prod. One shock on the back of the neck, and Dawn gave up. She was unconscious. There was a large, bleeding burn, but there was also nerve damage on the back of her neck which would be there forever.

When Dawn opened the door, her spine had tensed. The lights were humming in tune to the blood pulsing on the back of her neck. She cursed her sensitivity to electricity. At least it wasn't like she would have a seizure if she touched a computer. The worst it ever became was her being able to walk past a room and tell if there was, say, a T.V. on. Dawn sighed. She would be desperately unhappy tonight and extremely cranky the next morning if she had to be all alone with her nightmares. She pulled out her phone and dialed her life line. "Hey, Ken." ****

"Hello?" Callia held the LG camera phone to her ear. "Yes, this Calantha. What's up, Jaunie?"

"Ken isn't healing. Not at all. He keeps calling for Dawn. Can she come here quick? He seemed to calm down when she was here before," Jaunie pleaded. 'If I lose a patient, I can't intern here anymore, and I'll be nowhere then."

"Alright. I'll tell D—Judge Ratner, get me my lingerie."

"Why are you sleeping with a judge?" Jaunie asked.

"I do what I can to save my sister from them," Callia said. "You saw the black eye. You saw the injuries. You know what her parents did to her."

"Yes I do. Good luck," Jaunie hung up.

Ken twisted the raw places where the rope bit into his skin so that they'd rub elsewhere. Steve and Lilith tossed him in the bathtub filled with scalding water and he thrashed as hard as he could. The only parts of him not throbbing and burning were his shoulders. Air exploded from his longs and his jaw slammed into his chest. Finally, as he was on the verge of passing out from the lack of oxygen, he was pulled out by none other than Dawn, with Hanna standing behind her. He took a deep breath, but pain stabbed at his chest as a warning. He saw a single white bone jutting out from his rib area. The thick taste of blood filled his mouth and choked him. He coughed, causing pain to rip at his chest and throat. The lumpy ground he was laid on hurt. Every breath and movement tortured him. Waves of pain wracked his body. At each agonizing wave, he struggled not to whimper and alert Lilith and Steve that he was still alive. He tried to lick his lips to cool them, but the pain instantly made him stop. With horror, he realized that he had bitten his tongue off at some point. When Dawn finally untied him, his stomach began to cramp and he winced. Dawn stood back as he convulsed and vomited. The torturous pain made black patches dance across his vision.

"Steve does build his tortures cunningly," Dawn said, disgusted.

"The hurt?" Hanna whispered, not taking her eyes off Ken, yet not daring to go toward him either.

"The hope," Dawn turned toward her and turned back quickly.

"Ken?"

"Yes?" Ken opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"You can't get better?"

"I'm not getting better. There's a difference.

Dawn considered him queerly and got up decisively. "I'll get Mara here to talk to you, but I need to start getting to the bottom of this."

"Good luck," Ken said slowly.

Mara came in with a plate stacked with sweet potatoes fresh off the barbecue.

"Thanks Mara. Okay, Callia, where do we start?" Dawn asked as she took the plate, laid it on a part of the desk between her and Callia, and started to peel one to eat.

"I'll read a phrase from a card, you write down all the words it could mean, and we go from there."

"Okay."

"Justice will always find evil."

"Um, just, retribution, triumph, fairness, equitable, and defeat."

"Well, I think only just, fair, and equitable make sense. Just means justice has been served. Equitable means equal to all parties. And fair means free from favors, prejudice, and self-interest," Callia said.

"The way you say in, fair seems like the best one."

By next week, the phrase was complete, mostly.

"Fair ruler magick fly. What are we missing?" Dawn asked. ****

"What word have we missed?" Callia sighed.

"Maybe we've been thinking too hard," Dawn snapped in such an icy manner that the temperature in the room may have actually dropped. "We've been looking at this so long, and we've only thought one way. Maybe we've need to look at it a different way."

Callia bolted up, looking frightened. "Any ideas?"

"The word is absent from my speech."

"Listen to yourself. Could you say it another way?"

"'Course," Dawn bowed and found there was something familiar. She couldn't quite place her finger it though. "But why me?"

"Why you what?" Callia looked like she expected to be punished.

"Why am I the one who has to solve this riddle? Why couldn't you have bugged Varda or Mara? I've never seen you talk to them about solving the riddle!" Dawn stood. "I'm sick of all this. I've been blowing off a lot of stuff just so I can help you with this, everyone hates me because I keep flaking off plans for you, and I hate everyone hating me. So tell me why I'm giving everything up, or I'm not giving them up anymore."

"Have you noticed that Mara has an odd ability now? One that she hasn't had before?" Callia said as she picked up her barbecued sweet potato.

"No."

"Here's a hint—the sweet potatoes you've eaten were barbecued by her."

Dawn nearly choked.

"Hiya Dawn! Thanks for coming to my birthday sleepover. Come on, we're about to start the movie. Here's popcorn. My very own recipe!" Mara said.

"You pushed the button marked 'Popcorn,' right?" Dawn asked.

"Actually, I pushed 'Defrost,' but Varda rescued me," Mara blushed.

"She can cook. She can cook well," Dawn savored her sweet potato. Her eyes snapped open. "Why?"

"Anything different about Ken?"

"Jaunie said his injuries should have killed him already."

"And me?"

"You—I had to come up with the answers. You…relied on me. And I wasn't pushed in an impatient way, like you don't know the answer either," Dawn looked at the paper with the phrase on it floated to the ground. She looked around for an open window, but there were none. What breeze had made the paper fall?

"Dawn, Mara has control over an element. So does Mara, Ken, I, and now you."

"Like, really?" Dawn stopped breathing.

"Yup. So were Bill and Kitty," Callia's eyes shone.

"Mara barbecued the sweet potatoes. She's always been a pyromaniac. So it's Fire. And Ken…Light, because he is purely good, no hidden agenda. Varda…is so concerned with nature. She lives in a wooden house, uses hemp toys for her pets, and she's vegan. So she must be Earth. You…you used to be light because light clarified things like you do now. Mommy…was close, but very cold, so I don't know."

"There are 7 elements total: Fire, Light, something we still can't figure out called Antimatter, Air, Darkness, and Water."

"Well, Darkness is like death, and no one knows what it is. Mommy…I can just see her using it. And nobody knows what Antimatter is, so I either have that or…" Dawn looked at the paper. "I'm air."