Ben was following Grandpa Max and his lizard friend, who just invited him to go to outer space, right there and then. Ban was afraid he would go.
In his fast alien form, he hurried back to the van to tell Gwen. A black and blue flash passing through the woods.
He saw the dishes wash themselves glowing blue and Gwen was sleeping. "Gwen!" he shouted "Gwen wake up!"
She was sitting back against the window.
"It's not funny. I know you're not really sleeping. Your dishes are still washing themselves now get up! Grandpa's gonna leave us! Gwen come on".
She didn't even flinch. He didn't like this game. He caught her by the arm and lifted her up, so she'd stand and stop pretending. But she didn't open her eyes. Her body was still completely loose and wobbly.
Ben realized it was serious. He felt shivers down his spine. He put her back on the seat and tried to check her pulse. Nothing.
He took her and sprinted back to Grandpa. Max told the spaceship's owner that he'd rather stay.
Ben dashed into her side, knocking her over, turned to Max and yelled "Gwen's dead!"
Max checked and stated "She's breathing. What happened?"
"No idea! I just found her like this"
"take her to the hospital, call me when you get there".
And the alien ran again. He ran faster than the eye could see.
In the entrance a nurse stood ready for him with her hand already up signaling to stop. "Bring your witch this way, demon. These people can't help her"
He followed her. She had dark skin and looked serious and tough with the scorpion tattoo on her arm.
"You're a nurse here, right?"
"Yes, and the only witch around. My name is Aya. Let me see her." She checked her heartbeat with this doctor thingy. But she checked in the middle, not the left. Ben wasn't the smartest but even he knew that's not where the heart is. Aya held Gwen's hand and Gwen moved a bit.
But it wasn't a 'waking up' moving, more of an 'electric shock' moving.
"What was that?"
Aya walked fast "I gave her some of my magic to run on"
They got to a garage with cages of mice, chickens and parrots. And both walls had shelfs up to the top filled with herbs. In the corner there was a cauldron in a fireplace.
Aya asked "What was the last magic practice she did?" She pulled out a hospital bed for Gwen.
"Dishwashing spell"
Aya bolted her head in frustration and whispered to herself "Damn western witches with their spells and their elixir…"
Ben asked, "How bad is it?"
Aya was stressed "I thought she went down summoning you. If I could send you back to hell and… Nevermind, how long before you go back?"
"I'm not a-" he changed back. Aya was startled. "What are you?" she asked, calm and fearful.
Ben looked at Gwen, they didn't have time for that "I'm her cousin. I want to help"
Aya sighed. She decided to trust him "good enough".
"What's wrong with her?"
"She's out of elixir, magic fuel. That dishwashing spell she casted is feeding on her lifeforce. That's why I never cast spells without a tool. It's not worth the risk"
She walked over to Gwen and enchanted. A hologram life bar appeared above Gwen. Like that of a video game character.
It began with a yellow part, then an orange part and a short red part. Her Elixir stood on the orange part.
Aya said, "It's very simple, you see the orange part, 5 out of 20?"
"The life force?"
"Yes. The spell consumes one elixir per minute. That leaves me five minutes to help her. Once it's spent, she dies".
Author's note: Gwen has a pulse, Ben couldn't find it because he was stressed.