52
1119 Words
Matt was barely able to repress his own smirk at their shared secret but managed it with a herculean effort.
“My name is Healer Cox. C, O, X. Not quite as funny when it’s spelled that way, is it?”
Matt didn’t understand, but his dad snorted, which seemed to be the reaction the Healer wanted.
“Okay, basic questions first. Just to see if you’re all there. What is your name?”
“Matt”
“How old are you?”
“Seven and a half”
“What year is it?”
“1747”
“Who is your elementary school teacher?”
“Miss Aberdeen.”
“Count back from 100 by 7’s.”
“100, 93, 86, 79, 73…”
“72, but that’s close enough. What is 7 times 9?”
“63.”
“Smart for your age, aren’t you? I’m going to show you a list of letters. I want you to point out each letter A.”
This went on for a good while, until finally…
“List all the animals that start with the letter B.”
“Bee, Bear, Buffalo, Bison, Blue Whale, Beaver, Ba.”
“Okay, that’s enough. Not sure if I should count ‘Blue Whale’. I’m going to show a picture of an animal and you tell me what it is.”
“That’s a fox. A white one!”
“Yep, cute little bugger. Well Mr. Matt, congratulations, you’re neurologically intact.”
After that, the healer inspected his throat by pressing down on Matt’s tongue, but he didn’t seem to see anything noteworthy.
Once he was free, Matt asked, “What’s the difference between a doctor and healer?”
Healer Cox smiled. “Now that is a good question. The main difference is that a doctor generally works with mundane medicine. Healers can do all of that, but we also have a little magic to help us as well.”
As the Healer said that, he raised a finger, and it glowed slightly with light blue luminescence.
Matt couldn’t help but gasp. “Wow! A real spell!”
Healer Cox smiled and winked at him. “Work hard, and you could do the same thing one day.” Then he pressed his glowing finger to Matt’s abdomen and stared off into space for a while.
When the man blinked back to the real world, he smiled at Matt. “Well, you look nice and healthy now. The treatment was a complete success. I’ll cast [Healing Touch] so you can recover more easily from being bed bound these last few days.”
Matt shivered as what felt like goosebumps traveled from the healer’s touch all the way to his head and toes. It wasn’t pleasant, but Matt felt the need to rub the raised hairs back down on his forearms.
Before they could say anything else, there was another knock on the door.
Unlike Healer Cox, who had knocked softly, this knock was assertive and crisp.
Healer Cox rolled his eyes at the knock and said, “Well, you might as well come in. If you knock that hard, people might think you’re compensating for something.”
The woman who walked through the door looked like she was cut out from every military movie Matt had ever seen. She had a ramrod straight back with square shoulders, and the woman had a no nonsense air about her that immediately shifted the atmosphere in the room.
She nodded to the Healer and his parents before looking at Matt with piercing silver eyes.
Matt swallowed like he had done something wrong but knew he hadn’t.
“Mr. Alexander, I need to interview you about your recent history. I am Imperial Investigator Rebecca Ignite, Tier 16, and under the jurisdiction of Count Allaway. Do you have any questions?”
Matt blinked. “A lot. What’s going on?”
Healer Cox didn’t seem amused, and in a much harsher tone than he used with Matt, said, “Some of us understand bedside manner, and try to give our patients time to acclimate and adjust before badgering them.”
Investigator Ignite didn’t look amused; she just stared at Healer Cox while they seemed to have a silent conversation.
Eventually, Healer Cox turned to Matt and said, “What happened, Matt, is that you were infected with a disease we only see from undead rifts. Which is concerning on its own, but that same disease has infected six other people. As far as we can tell, you were one of the first to be infected, so we need to get as much information as possible about who you talked to before you got sick. The others are still asleep so you are our only source of information.”
Investigator Ignite stepped in as Healer Cox took a breath. “Could you walk me through everything that happened the day before you fell ill?”
Matt nodded slowly but couldn’t think of anything odd. He had never been near a rift, though. Everyone knew they couldn’t spawn in the five mile strip between the coast and land, and their city was built entirely inside that safe area.
Seeing the Investigator not taking her eyes off him, he shook his head. “Nothing really strange happened that day.”
Investigator Ignite seemed unhappy with that and said, “Matt, this is important. While we already found and destroyed the rift that had undead in it, we don’t know how the disease got inside the city limits. What do you remember about that day? Start from the beginning. Every detail you can remember, I need you to tell me. We know you should have been infected the day before, so I just need you to think really hard about that day. But don’t make anything up. If you don’t know, just say so.”
Matt looked to his parents, who nodded, and he started reviewing his day.
“I woke up and got ready for the morning like usual—”
Investigator Ignite shook her head, interrupting him. “Matt, I need every little detail. Please, it’s important.”
Trying to add every little detail he could remember, he restarted. When he mentioned his clothes, Investigator Ignite, who had been nodding along, asked. “Were the clothes clean?”
At his mother’s outraged huff of air, the Investigator just shrugged a shoulder. “If they were old, it might change our timetable.”
His mother nearly growled. “They were clean, thank you very much. I had just done laundry the day before, and I know his clothes very well.”
Investigator Ignite nodded for him to continue, so Matt did so.
- Writer
