We all stood in the middle of my dorm room staring at a dress that rested on the floor where Kalli used to be. Raverly said what we were all thinking. “Did she have anything on under that dress?”

Kalli, are you naked? You left your dress behind.

She didn’t reply. While I could still feel her life force through our bond, it felt like we had a bad connection. The fact that she was experiencing panic told me that she must have realized that she lost her dress but I had no clue if that meant she was naked.

I blinked back to reality when Wendy’s vibrant hazel eyes appeared in front of me. “Melvin. Is she okay? Is she talking to you?”

Straining my ears for any hint of a reply, I tried again.

Kalli, can you hear me? Are you okay?

The silence was deafening. I must have looked devastated because Wendy wrapped me in a hug and whispered, “It’s going to be okay. Kalli’s strong. She’ll be fine.”

Sudden movement from under the dress startled us. Stefanie jumped on the couch and shrieked, “It’s a mouse!”

A trash can materialized in Joe’s hand and he dropped it over the dress, trapping whatever was beneath like a giant game of Mouse Trap. Something thrashed around under the can, banging into the sides repeatedly.

I was about to materialize my mana blade when a tiny voice squeaked, “Father. Help me.”

Quickly removing the trash can and the dress, we uncovered Seiryu. The tiny dragon scampered over to me and hid behind my legs. I felt his feelings as he fretted over the disappearance of his mother.

Picking him up, I explained to the group. “I’m positive that he was a tattoo on Kalli’s back when she warped. What does this mean?”

Byakko emerged, nearly knocking the dragon from my arms. “Earth guardians cannot cross the border between worlds. As a product of the denizens of Earth, the mana used to summon us does not extend to other worlds. In other words, we cannot cross over.”

Wendy knelt and scooped up the dress, folding it and holding it out to me. “You should hold onto this. She will want it when she returns to you.”

I nodded absentmindedly, placing the dress in my bag. My chest was filled with the hollowness left behind by the absence of Kalliphae. Echoes of her voice played in my ears, though I somehow knew I was hearing a phantom.

Life went on after Kalli left. While I continued my daily routine, the magical world held no joy. I daydreamed in class about fun times with Kalli. The rest of the time I spent worrying about the dangers she could be facing in Gaia.

Mr. Ramsey complained that my new attitude was upsetting his clients when he sent them back to be awakened. Chogu told me not to come back until I got myself together after I destroyed my fifth ingot in a row.

Joe and Wendy took it upon themselves to spend as much time with me as possible, not wanting me to be alone. All that did was to remind me of what I had lost. Seeing the newly minted couple smile and banter together made the hole inside of me feel that much bigger.

I eventually made excuses to be alone, burying myself in the library as I scoured every book about summoning. We were going to need a lot of people if I wanted to do it relatively safely.

A debate formed about group chat over the weeks that followed. It started with Raverly complaining about not feeling comfortable using the chat while Kiki remained a part of it. I couldn’t explain my position but I didn’t want to abandon my sister.

Slowly, one by one, people started to drop from our group. Even if they had wanted to take my side, I had to admit that it was awkward talking in group chat when someone was lurking in the shadows.

In the end, Joe and Wendy were the last to remain. Joe pulled me aside one day and said, “Look man, I know you’re going through a lot and I don’t want to add to it but Wendy and I were talking about it and we would like to spend some time alone in a group of our own to get to know each other better. We’re not talking in group chat as it is, so it won’t be that different. This doesn’t mean we won’t be here for you whenever you need us. Do you think that might be okay?”

Still feeling hollow inside, I snapped, “Do whatever you want.”

I didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh but the way Joe flinched at my voice made it clear that my words had hurt him. He gathered himself and spoke in a small voice, “Remember that I’m there if you need me.”

In a voice to match, I replied, “I don’t deserve you guys.”

Joe patted my shoulder as he walked past me, “Yet you’ll always have us. Always. Don’t forget that.”

JOE REID HAS LEFT THE GROUP

WENDY MAYUKO HAS LEFT THE GROUP

I stared at the system message until it slowly faded from my vision. The only person left in the group was Kiki. She hadn’t answered in nearly a month by that point. I had nothing left to lose so I just started talking into the silence.

I guess misery loves company. How are you holding up, sis?

When she didn’t reply, I took to group chat to talk about my feelings, finally venting the stress that had been building within me. While my heart still ached for Kalli, it did feel better to get it off my chest.

On a particularly sunny day, I found myself strolling through downtown Los Angeles thinking about Kalliphae.

Have you ever wondered what other worlds look like, sis?

While she didn’t reply, I imagined the Gaia from my dreams and what it might be like to visit sometime. Of course, it would be better to go with Kalli. Everything was better with Kalli.

A sign lifted me from my daydream.

GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL

You know what, sis? It’s time for a distraction.

Not waiting for a reply, I marched into the hospital, stopping in the lobby to take a look at the directory.

Clinic 1

Room 101

Clinic 2

Room 102

General Admission

Second Floor

Pediatric Ward

Third Floor

Oncology Ward

Fourth Floor

Maternity Ward

Fifth Floor

Deciding to start light, I entered the first clinic. It was packed. I scanned the people in the room trying to pick out a suitable candidate to work my magic on.

“Excuse me, sir.” A receptionist who reminded me of the nurse from the mental hospital called out. “You are going to need to sign in first.”

Walking over to the woman, I replied, “I do not need to sign in.”

A glossy look appeared in her eyes. “You do not need to sign in.”

“I can go take a seat.” I continued, fulfilling my childhood dream.

She droned on, “Go take a seat. The doctor will be with you shortly.”

Someone else realized what I had done and asked, “Are you a Jedi?”

Seeking out the voice, I found a young woman who couldn’t be more than twenty years old hunched over favoring her arm in a corner of the room.

I grinned at her and asked, “What are you in for?”

With a grimace, the woman held up her arm, “I think I broke it.”

Plopping down in a chair close to her, I asked, “Can I see it?”

She held it away from me defensively, “Heck no, this frickin hurts.”

By that point, we had gained the attention of everybody in the waiting room. Offering up my best bedside manner, I said, “You said I was a Jedi, right? I think I can help fix your arm. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

The woman considered for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. “Well, that was kind of cool how you got the receptionist to back off. Whatever you do, don’t pull on it.”

It turned out I didn’t even need to touch her. Holding my hand a few inches away from the angry red skin on her wrist, I earned a sigh by pushing my mana into her.

One of the two bones had indeed fractured. I fed my mana to it the same way I had rejuvenated Kalli’s muscles. It took a while but the fracture began to mend itself under the influence of my mana.

“Ow.” She gasped as she started to pull away.

I was too fast for her though and I grabbed her arm with my other hand, holding her in place. “Hang on. I’m almost done.”

Once I was satisfied that the injury was healed, I noticed that she was extremely fatigued, likely due to lack of sleep. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to give her the full service. I had other patients to get to after all.

I released her arm and said, “Who’s next?”

Blinking in surprise as she examined her newly healed arm, the woman cried out. “I can’t believe it. You actually fixed my arm. How did you do that?”

“I’m a Jedi, remember?” I said, grinning at the girl.

She gave me a huge smile and kissed me on the cheek, asking, “Do you want money? I don’t have much but…”

I shook my head, laughing with joy that I hadn’t felt since Kalli left. “Nope. No money. My price was a kiss and a smile and you just paid.”

She giggled and blushed, whispering, “If you were just a little older, I’d give you a much better payment than that.”

Then without another word, she got up and left.

Before I could say another word, a woman with a small child sat down next to me. I could tell by the look on her face that she was desperate. “Please. I know this is probably some kind of scam but I’m at my wit's end here. I’ve taken him to five different hospitals now and I just know something is terribly wrong. If you can even just tell me what to tell the doctors, that would really help.”

I looked down at the kid sitting between the woman and me and other than looking sleepy, he looked completely normal. The receptionist walked over to us and started, “I must insist that you…”

“Leave us.” I barked, realizing that I was probably going to get in trouble if I kept using the words of command on the poor woman.

Her eyes glazed over again and she walked out the door. I idly wondered where she was going but decided that helping the kid was my top priority if what the woman said turned out to be true.

Looking for damage in a small child when I didn’t know where the problem was turned out to be far more difficult than curing a broken arm.

The first thing I noticed was that the kid was running low on blood. I wasn’t sure how I knew that but it was definitely a problem. Fortunately, I was able to compensate with my mana.

I took my time going over every part of the boy, even passing by his core in my inspection. The tiny unawakened core was just a small pea-sized lump. Further down in the kid’s abdomen, I found a problem. Parts of the kid’s intestines were dying from lack of blood.

The mother had been right. If he didn’t receive immediate medical attention, his condition was about to rapidly deteriorate. I immediately set to work rejuvenating the damaged area as well as doing my best to locate the source of the problem.

As usual, the problem started upstream. I noticed a large chunk of his intestine had somehow become twisted, completely blocking both the blood flow and anything else that might try to pass through.

It didn’t take much work to untangle the mess. Through my mana, I could feel every aspect of the child’s innards. Once I got everything straightened out, I repaired the damage and made sure that no more blood leaked into his intestine.

At that point, it was just a matter of flushing out the waste created from the wound and softening the blockage that had formed behind it. My mana worked as a sort of Drano.

I saw the eruption coming well before it arrived in his diaper. “Everyone. You might want to leave the room. Things are about to get very stinky in here as well as a little messy.”

Some of the people believed me and made their way to the exit but half of them were too interested in the show that I was putting on to budge.

That all changed when the kid released a massive gurgling fart and his pants expanded with the first wave of his release. The stench that filled the room made me desperately wish I had never gotten the man in red’s special trait.

I did my best not to puke on the poor kid as I continued to flush his system. The contented smile on his face told me that he was feeling some much-needed relief.

His mom gasped at me and asked, “What did you do? He hasn’t had a good poopie in a few days and he wouldn’t eat. The doctors told me to just feed him prune juice but I knew it wasn’t just constipation.”

I offered her a reassuring smile and said, “Something inside of him just got twisted. Don’t worry though, I fixed everything.”

She lunged at me and pulled me in for a massive hug as the kid’s diaper came dangerously close to rupturing.

Suddenly, a forgotten voice spoke in my ear. What on Earth are you doing, Melvin? Do you realize how much trouble you can get in for doing that?

My sister had finally decided to reply to me. I smiled, trying to ignore the stench.

I don’t know what I’m doing but this is the first time I’ve been happy since she left. How are you, Ki?