"Let's see if we can get his shirt off and check his wound. We can see if Sofia got it closed up and check to see if it looks infected," Doc ordered.
Between the three of them, they had the stranger's shirt off in short order.
"That looks like it hurt." Allan winced, pointing to the guy's chest. A diagonal scar ran from his collarbone to the opposite hipbone.
"Sword," Doc commented before gently rolling the guy over onto his stomach and looking at his back.
We all flinched.
The knife wound was closed, but whoever had stabbed him hadn't done it cleanly, and while the scar wasn't too bad, the person had done more than just slide the knife in, they had twisted it.
"Wonder what he did to deserve that," Ed puzzled.
"Pissed someone off," Allan replied.
Doc put his hand over the wound. "It's not hot, so we probably got all of the infection, and his heart is beating normally now, so he'll probably recover."
"He looks Asian," Ed suggested when they rolled him back over onto his back and covered him with a blanket.
"Not quite," Allan replied.
"Yeah…" Ed trailed off. "Strange."
"Well, whoever he is," I said. "I hope he's friendly." He didn't look much older than the rest of us, though I knew that could be deceiving.
The guys looked at me, then back at the guy on the other side of the bed. Their expressions darkening from curiosity to suspicion.
"Let's hope," Allan agreed.
∞ ∞ ∞
I drifted in and out of consciousness, recovering from the magical exertion, while Ed, Allan, and Doc rotated keeping watch on us.
Warm hands caressed my cheek, and I opened my eyes. Ed pressed his lips to mine gently before whispering, "Allan and I are going to go run. If he's not awake by the time we get back, join us in my room?" His eyes shone with hope.
"I will."
Ed's sky-blue eyes lit up with joy, and I couldn't help but smile.
He kissed me again before leaving the room.
Thirsty, and wanting a shower after being drenched in sweat earlier, I got up.
Doc glanced up from the tablet he was staring at, the light from the screen illuminating his face in the otherwise dimly lit room.
"Whatcha doing?" I came over. He put the tablet down in his lap and put his arm around me until I was leaning against him and the chair he sat in.
"Grading papers from one of my upper level classes."
"You know, you have yet to give us anything other than reading assignments."
Doc cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "This may be the year my freshman history class gets A's for showing up."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I find myself not wanting to grade a certain student's assignments."
"Oh." I blushed. "Sorry."
"It is far more my fault than yours, Sofia. I'll have to give a final, just don't fail that, and it should be fine."
I laughed. "Sure, Mr. Cassidy."
He groaned. "Gods, please don't call me that."
"Ha." I planted a kiss on his cheek and headed for the bathroom.
The hot shower drained away some of the stress and tension from my shoulders along with washing away the sweat from earlier. I didn't linger, not really wanting to leave Doc alone with the stranger for too long. Not that he couldn't take care of himself, but it still worried me. As soon as I turned the shower off, I heard voices, so I hurried through drying off, threw on a pair of Doc's flannel pants and one of Ed's shirts, though they were all a little too big, and stepped out into the bedroom.
The newcomer was sitting up in the bed, back pressed against the headboard, looking terrified.
Doc hadn't moved from his chair, but he had put the tablet down, and I knew from experience he could cross the room before any of us could blink.
The new guy turned to look at me, but Doc kept his attention directed toward the potential threat.
"Hi." I tried to sound welcoming.
He tilted his head, as if trying to figure out what I said.
Finally, he replied. It sounded like a greeting, but I didn't know the language. I looked at Doc. "Do you understand him?"
"No. Sounds Russian, though."
I pointed to myself. "Sofia."
That he understood. He said something, then my name, following with pointing at himself. "Nikolai Orlov."
"Nikolai. This is Doc." I pointed.
"Doc." Nikolai nodded his head. He relaxed a little, but his shoulders were still tense and his eyes darted around the room. He said something else that, to me, had the cadence of where am I.
"There doesn't happen to be any magic that will help you understand us, is there?" I really didn't know the full extent and limitations of magical power. I only knew the stories people told. Growing up in a non-magical family, even though I possessed the ability, had a lot of disadvantages. Including being completely untrained.
Nikolai stared at me, and I got the idea he was trying to decide if he was safe or not. As long as he was friendly, he was safe, but he had no way to know that. Though hopefully waking up healthy and not restrained was a clue. Though, by the way he eyed Doc, he knew the other man was dangerous.
I held my hands up and let lavender sparkles dance across my palms.
Nikolai's eyes went wide, his gaze darting between me and Doc. If anything, he pressed himself further into the headboard.
Pulling my magic back into myself, I dropped my hands and tried to look non-threatening.
"It's okay. We're friends."
He studied both of us for a few more minutes while I tried not to move. I was guessing he was a trained mage, but either he had an idea that Doc could get to him before he could cast a spell, or he was still exhausted from whatever had happened to him, because he didn't look like he
