Josie wondered what was going on at the Hole in the Wall. Maybe they should have

  installed a camera to show the office. She put that down as something to do when she

  had time.

  She still had to figure out what the punishment for her sisters should be.

  And maybe change the alert from the gate to something other than the sound of the

  Tardis materializing.

  “Josie?,” said Jack from her com. “Have you started flaying the kids alive yet?”

  “Not yet,” said Josie. She glared in the direction of the city.

  “Loan me Beatrice, or Laura,” said Jack. “I need an extra pair of hands.”

  “Go ahead, Laura,” said Josie. She waved the girl on her way. She wondered what was

  going on that Jack needed hands. “What’s going on, Jack?”

  “The old guy from across the road had a seizure,” said Jack. “I’m trying to make sure

  he doesn’t drop dead.”

  “Duncan?,” said Josie. “I’ll be right there.”

  “I got it,” said Jack. “It’s nothing serious. Do me a favor and call Jane and tell her we

  have incoming to the hospital.”

  “Nothing serious?,” said Josie. The instinct was not to believe him. Their definitions of

  nothing serious varied greatly.

  “I just need to do some cosmetic work,” said Jack. “Laura’s here. I need to change

  bodies. I’ll let you know what’s up when we’re done.”

  “Jane says she has a room,” said Elaine. “They cleared out a nurse earlier.”

  “Thank you, Elaine,” said Josie. Should she take a hand in this? Did she trust Jack to

  handle things?

  “Thanks, honey bun,” said Jack. “All right, Laura. Lift us. We’ll use the gate in the Hole

  in the Wall, and get him to the hospital faster than flying. Then I have to really go to

  work.”

  A few seconds later, they heard the klaxon of the gate working.

  “Ladies, I want you to redo the reports,” said Josie. “Case and Budd, head home. I am

  going to look at this emergency. Tomorrow, I will sort out some kind of punishment for

  Beatrice and Melanie. I expect you to be a little more honest.”

  Josie pulled on her magician and whisked herself to the hospital. She let the other body

  go as she thought about where Jack and Laura had taken her neighbor.

  Josie saw adventurers roaming around, but she didn’t know them enough to ask them

  for help. She decided to use Zatanna to find the patient.

  She changed bodies and used a fire bird to find Jack. She appeared in a room upstairs.

  She paused at the scene in front of her, before letting the persona go.

  Duncan lay face down on a bed. Gwyneth and Laura stood to one side as Jack and a

  nurse went over his back. The nurse had a scanner in hand. She showed him the

  readings.

  Jack looked up and nodded at her appearance.

  “What’s going on?,” she asked.

  “His back erupted,” said Jack. “I am trying an elixir to cut things down before I go in

  and do some looking around.”

  “Those tumors we found when we looked at him?,” asked Josie.

  “Yeah,” said Jack. “They don’t look like tumors now. They look like parasitic nesting

  places.”

  “We should have done something about this before we finished our quests,” said Josie.

  “You can’t make horses drink,” said Jack. “The elixir is working. He will be fine in a

  few days. He’ll just need to sleep things off, and then take it easy.”

  “So he’ll live?,” said Gwyneth.

  “Unless he does something stupid like falling out of bed,” said Jack.

  “Thank you,” said Gwyneth. “Thank you both.”

  “He’s going to be weak for a while, but he should slowly get stronger until he is back

  to his old self,” said Jack. “He can stay here until he’s ready to leave. We’re across

  town, so you should either stay in this room with him, or go home until he is ready to

  leave.”

  “I think I should stay,” said Gwyneth.

  “Laura, please take Gwyneth home so she can grab some things to keep her busy while

  she is waiting,” said Josie. “After two days, it will be boring without anything to do.”

  “Yes, Missus,” said Laura. “Are you really going to make Beatrice and Melanie scrub

  the Enterprise?”

  “I’m sure they would like to have help,” said Josie. “Rewrite your report after you bring

  Gwyneth back and go home. I will look at it when I get home.”

  “Yes, Missus,” said Laura. “We’ll fly back to your house, and then come back to the

  hospital. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, Madam.”

  “You can tell me why two of you girls have to scrub the Enterprise,” said Gwyneth. “It’s

  a castle in the sky.”

  They walked out of the room as Laura told her about the cheating on their homework.

  “You can go home, Jo-jo,” said Jack. “I can put off my creation of a baby until your

  friend wakes up on his own.”

  “I’m sure Elaine will be pleased about that,” said Josie.

  “Josie,” said Jack. “There’s nothing you can do here. I got it. Go home. As soon as

  Gwyneth comes back, I will go home too. All the rest is waiting until he wakes up and

  starts feeling better.”

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  “All right,” said Josie. “I have to think about what kind of punishment I want to put on

  Beatrice and Melanie.”

  “Take them camping without supplies,” said Jack. “Let them show you what they can

  do.”

  “Beatrice is capable of dealing with things with her ring,” said Josie.

  “Tell her no powers,” said Jack. “Get out there and let them carry you.”

  Josie turned to the nurse who had remained in the room.

  “I don’t know anything about children,” she said. One hand came up to ward off any

  questions. “I suppose you can rip an ear off like Carol.”

  “Do you see what you have done?,” said Josie, rounding on Jack. She glared at his

  stupid, grinning face. “Everyone thinks I rip people’s ears off.”

  “I expect the people around here would love a good ear ripping,” said Jack.

  “I’ll give you a good ear ripping,” said Josie. She shook her fist at her partner.

  “Now, now,” said Jack. He held up his hands in a warding gesture. “I’m sure I can

  fix Carol’s ear so you can rejoice in not having to take the blame for that.”

  “I’m going to rejoice in ripping off one of yours,” declared Josie. “Maybe both of them.”

  “I think Elaine would not love that,” said Jack. “I know I wouldn’t.”

  “It’s the price you pay for messing with me,” said Josie. “I’m getting even.”

  “You can’t just rip my ears off here,” said Jack. “This is the room of a sick man. You

  don’t want to wreck his health with such a sight, do you?”

  “I’m sure he has seen such a sight before,” said Josie. “Which ear do you want me to rip

  off?”

  “I just realized you can’t rip off my ear for one simple reason,” said Jack.

  “Why’s that?,” asked Josie.

  “Because tag,” Jack turned into a phantom, and blasted through her. He left behind

  a coating of slime. “You’re it.”

  His laugh filled the halls as he sank into the floor and vanished.

  “Would you like a towel?,” asked the nurse.

  “This stuff is horrible,” said Josie. She wiped at her face with a hand. “What was that?”

  “It looked like a ghost,” said the nurse. She went into the bathroom and returned with

  a waste basket and two towels. “Let’s see if you can wipe some of this off.”

  “I have a better idea,” said Josie. She grimaced at the slime dripping from her. “That

  Jack. I’m going to pay him back for this. Let me use the bathroom, and I will clean this

  mess up.”

  “All right,” said the nurse. “I will tell the madam and your child that you are indisposed

  until you get done.”

  “Thank you,” said Josie. She went into the bathroom and shut the door. She took off her

  clothes. She laid them out on the floor, muttering at everything. She transformed into

  Zatanna and cleaned the slime away. She cleaned the hospital room as well.

  She took a moment to calm down. She smiled. Who knew Jack would do something

  like that? She should have. He had always ran her ragged as a kid. And he was trying

  to look out for her in this place.

  What did she want to do in Hawk Ridge? Did she want to help those women trapped

  inside themselves? Did she want to chase after Markus, and see if she could build a life

  outside of doing quests? What did she want for her girls?

  What did everyone think of her? Was it important in this new world?

  A knock sounded on the door. She looked at her dried clothes on the floor. She had to

  get dressed and back in the game.

  How could she get revenge on Jack?

  “I’ll be out in a second,” said Josie. She began pulling her clothes back on.

  “All right, Missus,” said Laura. “The nurse said Jack covered you in slime and flew

  away.”

  “Yes, he did,” said Josie. “I’m trying to think of a way to get revenge for that.”

  “He ditched you then?,” asked Laura.

  “I’m sure he is still here in the building,” said Josie. She checked her appearance. She

  looked okay. “But do I want to chase him around when I know he has to come home?”

  “If he comes home,” said Laura. “He can stay on the Enterprise without actually heading

  back to the Hangar except to pick up Elaine. I don’t know if she will want to move to

  a castle in the sky.”

  “You’re right,” said Josie. She stepped out of the bathroom. “He is so infuriating.”

  “Is that why you never courted him?,” asked Laura.

  “No, I screwed up my life trying to get away from my mother,” said Josie. “What more

  can we do here?”

  “The elixir is working,” said the nurse. “He will be fine enough to go home in a few

  days. You should go home and take a moment. Come back tomorrow if you feel you

  need to.”

  “The three women with the Goblin Tree infestation?,” asked Josie.

  “I don’t know,” said the nurse. “I doubt they have been released.”

  “Missus,” said Laura. “Jack might have been right. Maybe you do need to take break.”

  “I don’t have time for that,” said Josie. “I have a to do list a mile long.”

  “One day is not going to make a difference in my opinion,” said the nurse. “You don’t

  remember me, do you?”

  “Not really,” said Josie. She didn’t hide her puzzlement.

  “I was one of those women that you and the adventurers saved from that camp,” said

  the nurse. “The one that Jack pulled down and killed the majority of the people there.

  You loaded us on your flying boat and sent us to our homes with some spell.”

  “We were going somewhere else,” said Josie. “That’s where the sleepers came from

  that I am trying to heal up.”

  “We’ll handle it,” said the nurse. “Go home and be with your family. The day is over.

  Get ready for tomorrow.”

  “We shouldn’t have cheated the homework,” said Laura. “Melanie didn’t come up with

  the idea by herself. She just took credit so you wouldn’t punish the rest of us.”

  “I see,” said Josie. She frowned. “You all went in together. Why did Beatrice go along?”

  “To have time with Thad,” said Laura. “The rest of us wanted to do our own things.”

  Josie thought about the situation. She had already promised to punish Beatrice and

  Melanie. Did she want to let them get away with basically a minor line crossing? Did

  she want to be vindictive like her own mother when she didn’t have to.

  “All right,” said Josie. “Gwyneth, I am going to give you some paper. If Duncan gets

  worse, rip the paper and it will send a message to me to come take care of the problem.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t remember you,” Josie said to the nurse. “I hope the help I gave you

  was good enough.”

  “It was better than I thought it would be,” said the nurse. “My name is Rue.”

  “Thank you for helping out,” said Josie. “I need to take the day despite not wanting to.

  I will see you in two days.”

  “Take more than that,” said Rue. “You want to be at your best the next time you rip

  someone’s ear off.”

  Josie started to say something in protest. Instead she pulled a sheet of paper out of her

  bag and handed it to Gwyneth.

  “We’ll go,” said Josie. “But I’m not happy about this.”

  “Deal with your brother,” said Rue. “We can take care of this problem without you.”

  Josie stepped out in the hall, Laura at her side. She frowned as she headed for the

  elevator. She triggered her com as she walked.

  “Jack,” she said. “I know you’re still here in the hospital. Laura and I are going home.

  Don’t be too much longer.”

  “That seems way too reasonable of you,” said Jack from behind her. She couldn’t help

  but to jump. She noted that Laura did the same, pulling up her control of gravity, or

  telekinesis. “Whoa, Tex. Calm them horses down.”

  “You are so lucky,” said Laura. “I was about to slam you through the ceiling.”

  “Are you done?,” asked Josie.

  “Maybe,” said Jack. “I still think you should take the girls camping and spend some time

  with them. Go and enjoy yourselves.”

  “The forests are dangerous,” said Josie.

  “For a master magician, and six terrifying girls with powers beyond mortal

  understanding?,” said Jack. “Dangerous for who?”

  “I don’t know a thing about camping, and I don’t think any of the girls do,” said Josie.

  “And?,” said Jack.

  “I don’t want to leave the city,” said Josie.

  “Are you afraid?,” asked Jack.

  “Why would I be afraid?,” asked Josie.

  “It’s okay to be afraid,” said Jack. “I was afraid once.”

  “Really?,” asked Josie. “Scratch that. So you want me to pack up the kids and just

  take them out into the wilderness and what? Stay out there until I get tired of it and

  whisk us home?”

  “Would you like to turn it into a challenge?,” asked Jack.

  “What kind of challenge?,” said Josie.

  “You and your kids versus Elaine and me,” said Jack. “We can see who can get back to

  the city the fastest. I’ll even throw in the boys for you if you think they can handle it.”

  “So you want me to take all the girls, Caroline and her entourage, and Budd, while you

  just take Elaine?,” said Josie.

  “No powers, no cheating,” said Jack.

  “So we just walk back to the city from some random spot on the map?,” said Josie.

  “And I will do the same,” said Jack. “Of course, I would be afraid of spending time

  away from creature comforts if I was a city girl like you.”

  “I’m not afraid,” said Josie. “I just don’t like camping.”

  “Sounds like a chicken clucking to me,” said Jack.