Chapter 3: Waiting

     The sun was beginning to rise over the mountains to the east and still no word of his sister. Jacob was beginning to lose hope.
     No news is no bad news, he told himself. She was not dead yet.
     If she can make it through the night she will live. Those words had kept him going. His legs had log since gone numb from exhaustion. His throat was dry and raw. His stomach was empty. His eyes burned. None of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was Mirael. He would not leave her, not ever again.
     Other people began to walk the streets, starting their day as if nothing had happened. Some had smiles on their faces, some focused looks, as if they were going about the most important business in the world. There were even a few that were whistling to themselves. Joy, some of them expressed joy. It was a concept that seemed so unfamiliar to him now he wondered if he had ever been happy before in his life.
     People gave him confused glances as they walked by. He ignored them. From time to time a professor would stop and try to speak to him. He ignored them too until they gave up and walked away.
     He hated being so useless. It was his job to protect her and right now he could do nothing but wait. Time as his enemy. He hated time. He hated everything, everything but her. He would kill every single person in the academy if it brought her back to him. No one else mattered. Nothing else mattered. He would burn the entire world to the ground for her. But none of that would save her.
    So he waited.
    The air grew warmer and warmer as the sun moved its way across the sky. His saliva grew thick and hard to swallow. His skin was turning red and was sensitive to his touch. His eyes hurt so much that he had them closed more often then open. Still he paced.
    Finally, shortly after midday, an old man that Jacob had never met before stepped out of the infirmary.
    Upon closer inspection Jacob realized he did know this man. It was Eli, though when he had seen Eli enter the infirmary he had been a strong and healthy man in his forties. Now he looked as if he were over one hundred years old. He knew healing magic could drain a person but he had never seen anything so drastic before.
    "She is awake now and all she will say is your name," said the old man in a voice that sounded as if his throat were full of sand.
    Without hesitation Jacob rushed past Eli, slammed open the heavy wooden infirmary door and ran full speed to his sister's bedside.
    She looked so small and weak. Her hair was still completely gone, though some of the skin on her scalp had grown back. Where she did have skin it was red and thin. Parts of her still looked like hot wax had been poured over her flesh in place of skin. Her arms and legs had been wrapped with thick white bandages. Her blood and other bodily fluid had begun to turn them a dark shade of brown and he was about to tell one of the doctors that they needed to be changed when she spoke.
    "Jacob," her voice was so fragile, like she had shrunk to the size of a mouse. He could feel tears trying to well up in his eyes but his body was so dehydrated that they never came. "It was you, wasn't it. You saved me."
    "I'm so glad you're okay," the words caught in his throat and he wasn't sure if she even understood him.
    She smiled. Most of her face was unburned, though deep fissures where her the magic had torn through her skin were on her cheeks and forehead. Still, her smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "Of course I'm okay. Nothing can ever hurt me while you're around."
    He fell to his knees, clutching the side of her bed. His chest convulsed in dry sobs that he could not control. "I failed you. I almost lost you," he cried out between sobs. "I promised to protect you and I failed you. I'm so sorry, Mirael. I couldn't protect you."
     She tried to raise her hand to touch the side of is face but was too weak to lift it. "No, Brother. If not for you I would have burned alive. Eli told me what happened. You saved me when everyone else ran. Even Professor Cora left me to die, but you were there. You are always there for me. I made a real mess of things, didn't I?"
    His lungs calmed down and his sobbing subsided. He smiled at her.
    My sister, always sweet, even in the face of all that has happened.
    "Mira, it wasn't your fault. Professor Cora never should have made you try to light that candle. It was against the rules and I am sure she has been released of her duties because of it. You had no way of knowing how to control your magic. Students go through years of training before they are ever even allowed to light a beginner's candle."
    Mirael's eyelids began to sag. She was falling asleep. "You look tired, Jacob. You should get some rest."
    "I couldn't sleep until I knew you were going to make it."
    "I am fine," she said through a yawn. "You can rest now. I will be here when you wake up."
    He was getting up to leave when she spoke again. "Did I do it?"
    "Do what?" he asked.
    "Did I light the candle?"
    But before he could answer she had already fallen asleep.