“Sorry.” I turned my attention to Phelix, pressing my fingers to his throat. A faint pulse throbbed. But more important, my magic sensed his symptoms had lessened.

My sleep fog disappeared in a snap as I realized what it meant. I hopped to my feet and grabbed Danny’s arms.

We jumped up and down like fools, shouting, “It worked! It worked! It worked!” at the top of our lungs.

“What worked?” Loren asked. He stood in the entrance with Quain and Odd. Swords drawn, half-dressed and barefoot, the three appeared to have been roused from their beds.

“We found a cure for the plague,” I cried.

“You found a cure,” Danny said. “I just helped.”

“I couldn’t have done it without Odd.” I grinned at him.

“Me? What did I do?” he asked.

I explained about how Odd’s comment sparked the idea to use my blood as I picked up the clean syringe. Danny helped me fill it with my blood and I injected it into another patient.

When I finished my explanation, all three of them had huge silly smiles.

“Danny, can you get me two more syringes? I’ll finish with the stage-three patients and then move on to stage two.”

After I’d injected the remaining patients, I gave the syringes to Danny. “Ask Ginger to sterilize them, please. And bring me more.”

“Will do.” He snapped a salute and shot out the door.

“This calls for a celebration,” Quain said. “I’ve some whiskey I’ve been saving.”

“With breakfast?” Loren asked.

“As breakfast. This stuff’s so good, you don’t want to ruin it with anything else.”

“How about later? After I heal...” The room spun. I reached for the wall and missed.

Odd grabbed my elbow, steadying me. “When’s the last time you ate?” he asked.

“Uh...”

“That’s what I thought. Blood loss and no food is a dangerous combination.”

“Uh...”

He tsked. “And the injustice of it is that you would yell at us for not taking care of ourselves, yet you can abuse your body without anyone giving you grief.”

“Technically, you’re giving her grief right now,” Quain said.

“But it doesn’t work. She won’t listen to me.”

“Don’t feel bad, she doesn’t listen to anyone,” Loren said.

“Hey! I’m standing right here.”

“No, you’re swaying.” Odd tightened his grip. “Come on. Food first, then sleep, and then you can go back to work.” He guided me from the cavern.

“Good luck with that,” Quain muttered.