Seeing is Believing by Sasha L. Miller Page B

the all-over ache into sharp relief, and Ty's eyes snapped open as he remembered.
    The room was completely unfamiliar, but that wasn't surprising. It wasn't a jail cell, so Reid had gotten them far enough away that they hadn't been caught and dragged back to the city.
    Moving incited more flares of pain, and Ty gave up on it once he'd managed to sit up. The room he was in wasn't huge, but it was nice enough; certainly nicer than his jail cell. Ty wondered how long he was going to be left alone before someone showed up. He certainly wasn't going anywhere.
    A few weeks it'd be lingering, Ty remembered Reid saying. This was nowhere near as bad as the pain he remembered just before teleporting, so maybe he'd been asleep for a few days instead of a number of hours.
    Ty contemplated for half a second climbing out of bed and falling out the door to find someone to tell him where he was and what was going on. A better idea was going back to sleep until all the aches and pains went away.
    He'd spent energy sitting up though, and Ty didn't want to just roll over and go back to sleep after that. Staring at the door, he willed someone to show up. Reid, because he'd know what was going on, but Ty would take someone bearing food if he had to.
    Nothing happened, so he shifted his attention to the room again. The bed he was reclining in was large compared to the pallet he'd had in prison, but small compared to the bed he'd had before that. There were a stifling number of blankets piled on him, but Ty didn't think he had the energy to move any of them to cool himself down.
    The rest of the room was furnished with a soft-looking padded chair and a small dresser. There was a tiny window next to the bed, letting in light, but Ty didn't think he could twist around to look and straighten himself out after looking, so that would wait.
    It smelled clean, at least, so it was probably a guest room. Hopefully Reid had people checking up on him regularly. He didn't want to wait hours to talk to someone, though with his luck he'd be asleep whenever anyone came to check up on him.
    Stifling a sigh, Ty decided to just go back to sleep. Maybe if he tried to sleep lightly, he'd wake up if anyone came in. Shifting a little, he paused when the door opened quietly. A small, wooden tray preceded Reid into the room, and Ty stared, curious because Reid looked rather grim.
    He was still limping too, and Ty hoped that was more the arrow wound than the burn mark—and that he didn't spontaneously start setting things on fire now that he was awake.
    "You're up," Reid observed, looking a little surprised. There was a tiny bandage on his forehead, and Ty tried to remember Reid being hit on the head.
    "Barely," Ty replied, clearing his throat when the words came out hoarse. "Where are we?"
    "Melari," Reid said, crossing the room to Ty's bedside. He set the tray down on a tiny nightstand that Ty hadn't seen. "You're in the Collegiate's infirmary."
    "The Collegiate?" Ty asked, trying not to eye the food too greedily. He was hungry now that the smell of food was so close. "This is an infirmary?"
    "Yes and yes," Reid answered, smirking. "Hungry?"
    "Yes," Ty admitted, wincing as he shifted. "How long was I out?"
    "It's been about a day and a half," Reid said thoughtfully. "Messengers have been sent out to Ari and Caj, so they'll be heading in. Ytha didn't bother going after them since they don't have magic."
    "Good," Ty muttered. "You did bring that tray of food for me, didn't you?"
    "Thought you'd still be asleep," Reid replied cheerfully. "I brought it for me."
    "Uh-huh." Ty narrowed his eyes. "So you were going to sit in here with my unconscious body and eat?"
    Reid laughed, reaching out and tugging on a bit of Ty's hair. "You're cute when you're annoyed."
    "If you don't feed me, I will eat you. You're closer," Ty threatened. And it was totally the heap of blankets on him that were making his face heat the way it was.
    Reid laughed, but obligingly picked up the tray and set