With the opinion that the more tools she had, the better off she would be, she chose insight and then confirmed her decisions for the two of them mentally. She smiled at them and said cheerfully, “Maybe one day I’ll be just as lucky to find someone…” Two blue boxes had popped up on her mindscreen, and they were the last thing she saw before her vision went black and she felt herself falling.
She was out cold. So much for her conviction to wait until the last batch had finished...
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Healing Magic from Mike Scribner underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Luck and Insight from Elisa Scribner underway.
Chapter Five – Altered
“It’s fascinating. The changes are occurring every hour…”
“Yes, but when will she wake up? It’s already been six hours…”
“I think she’s starting to wake up…” She was. Waking up, that is. She could hear their voices through what sounded like a really long tunnel through which she was very, very slowly reaching the end. Their murmured conversation was slowly processed as she tried to figure out where she was.
Her brain felt like she’d been hit by a truck, either that or like she had a massive hangover. Not that she’d touched a drop of alcohol in her life, but still. She imagined the pounding in her skull was comparable. Why did everything hurt so much? She tightened her muscles on reflex, only to have her eyes shoot open. She could feel her feet!
Above her stood a kind plump lady and a stately older man. She blinked blankly at them, trying to figure out which of the nurses or doctors they were. There had been so many over the years, but she didn’t think these two matched the current rotation… Were they visitors? She didn’t get visitors. Why could she feel her feet?
“Oh sweetheart, how are you feeling? You gave me a right scare when you passed out on us…” Jade stared blankly until she noticed that in the top right of her vision were some blinking blue dots. Her memories of the day came back in a rush, and she started hyperventilating. She could hear Mike and Elisa trying to calm her down, and she grabbed onto Elisa’s arm, staring at her almost feverishly.
“It wasn’t a dream? I’m really here?”
A note of pity crossed Elisa’s face momentarily as she confirmed, “Oh, dear. It’s real. You’re here in Abala.” She exchanged glances with Mike, seemingly imploring him to tell her what to do. She hadn’t had to deal with a lost traveler before.
Mike reached over, patting them both on the shoulder reassuringly. “Never mind that. Why don’t we get you something to eat, I’m sure that’ll help you get back on your feet.”
“Oh, right!” Elisa jumped to her feet, bustling off, while Jade just stared at Mike for a second.
“Back…on my feet? Feet!” She looked down again, remembering that she could actually feel them now. She moved them quickly, jerking to her feet. Mike grabbed hold of her before she pitched forward onto her face, but she was giggling like a maniac. “I can walk! I forgot!” Mike chuckled softly with or at her; she wasn’t quite sure which really, but he seemed to find her joy infectious.
He humored her, helping her walk around the back room a few times as she beamed with joy, simply reveling in the feel of walking on the wooden floor. When her stomach rumbled and she realized she was hungry, Mike led her into the next room where Elisa was putting several full bowls of some type of soup that smelled absolutely amazing on the table.
“Sit down, sit down. Let’s get something in you!” Elisa seemed happy to be able to fuss over her, and the three of them sat down. Jade watched them discreetly to see if they were planning on saying any sort of grace, but when they didn’t, she too picked up her spoon. “Eat, eat!” Elisa urged her, and she required no further encouragement, digging in happily.
When she had completely cleared her bowl, she looked up again to see Elisa beaming at her. She smiled back, but upon remembering that she had basically just passed out, she tilted her head, asking quietly, “So uhmm… How long was I out?”
Mike answered promptly, “It’s been about six hours since you passed out. It was the most curious thing. You seemed to go through two growth spurts every hour until the end there when your body finally settled down. How do you feel?”
Now that he asked, she started to take inventory of her body. It was…strange. Everything felt just a little…altered. Her skin felt tighter, and if she wasn’t wrong, it felt like she was a little more stable than before. Had she put on muscle? Without a before and after picture, she wondered if she’d ever really know what had changed for sure.
“Do you have cameras? Or clocks? How do you tell time?” She blurted her questions out abruptly, unable to contain her curiosity anymore. She really needed to figure out what the level of technology in this world was.
Elisa gazed at her curiously, asking in return, “What’s a camera? As for time, we do have clocks. Most of us keep a pocket watch, or people just listen for the tower to ring the bells.” She said it like it should have been obvious, pulling her pocket watch out as if to emphasize her point.
Stymied and yet slightly mollified, Jade tried to explain. “Clocks are good… Cameras… They’re...uhm… It’s like a painting that a machine takes instantly of your likeness?”
Mike grinned. “That sounds fascinating. How does this camera work?”
Jade’s smile fell as she realized…she had no idea. “I...don’t know, sorry. It had been invented a long time past in my world, so the process was automated by machines by the time I was born…” At least, she thought it had. She couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t had cameras. Besides, TV had been around for forever, and hadn’t cameras come first? Whatever, she couldn’t do anything about it at this point. It wasn’t like there was the internet to look up the pertinent information, sadly.
“Oh, don’t worry dearie. It’s fine if you don’t know.” Elisa looked like she wanted to ask more about her world, but thankfully she stopped herself. Apparently tact was a strong point, and she had realized that Jade’s lack of knowledge was perturbing her.
Jade finally realized something else as she observed them, “Oh no, I owe you money, don’t I? Doctors are so expensive…”
Mike and Elisa exchanged glances, and Mike put down his silverware. “No, you don’t owe us anything.”
Jade tried to interrupt. “But the cost of healthcare for doing a checkup and taking care of me when I passed out and food…” She was rambling.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s been a pleasure to have you here.” They ignored her old world references, though she wasn’t quite sure they’d even caught them, given that she’d been talking so fast. But she was totally right. They were the clichéd childless couple. They were going to tell her they wanted to adopt her and… “Our kids don’t come around all that often, so it’s nice to have someone young around.” He smiled benevolently. Okay. So maybe they weren’t going to adopt her, though that might have conveniently solved a bunch of her problems. “Besides, studying your condition was absolutely fascinating!”