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.No wonder she'd run away.But why hadn't Kayla ever heard of her? With an ability like that, Ace's face—if not the name Kayla knew her by—ought to be on billboards all over the country."It's got vacancies now.I checked today," Kayla said."Just go and talk to them.If you don't like it, you can leave.They won't stop you.Now, let me work on Jaycie, okay?""Don't let her," Magnus urged."Yes!" Ace said."I believe her.I don't think she's told us the whole truth, but I believe her when she says she hasn't told us any flat lies.And he's sick, Magnus.I don't know what's wrong with him, but he's awful sick—and whoever his folks are, they've got to be worse than yours and mine put together, the way he cries at night.We've got to help him.You've got to help him, Kayla," she said urgently."I'll do what I can," Kayla said."Now, when I touch him, there's going to be a kind of light.Don't touch me or him while I'm working, okay? That could mess things up."Magnus grinned without humor."Just be careful.He could start struggling—he does that sometimes if you startle him—and he's a lot stronger than he looks.Knocked me all the way across the floor once."Oh, this just keeps getting better and better, Kayla thought.She nodded, and went back to where Jaycie was sleeping.Though they'd been talking—and arguing—in normal voices, the boy was sleeping soundly again.Kayla crouched on her heels, preparing to spring out of the way at the first sign of movement from Jaycie.She unzipped the sleeping bag and peeled it back, revealing Jaycie in a parka and gloves.That was no good.She needed to touch exposed skin for the best results, and all she could see was a bit of his cheekbone at the moment.She sighed and pulled off his watch cap.Long silky black hair tumbled free.Huh.I wonder how he keeps it so clean?He didn't move, and she relaxed a little.Very cautiously now, she brushed it away from his face, but he still didn't stir.His eyes were closed, long black lashes stark against his milky skin.I'd have to use two tubes of Max Factor to get the same effect.It isn't fair.Showtime.She glanced up.Ace and Magnus were standing several feet away.Apparently they hadn't been kidding about how violently Jaycie reacted to being awakened, though she doubted he could be as strong as Magnus said, not now.Well, at least her health insurance was paid up.Kayla pulled off one of her gloves, flexed her fingers—it was cold in here—and reached for his cheek.A spark of blue fire leapt from her fingers to his skin.She touched him, and the glow raced over his body.He isn't human.He was—He was Sidhe.But elves don't sleep—Suddenly Kayla thought of every time she'd seen Jaycie with a can of Coke in his hand, of all the pound bars of Baker's chocolate she'd seen him wolf down.It's the caffeine.She'd known Jaycie was an addict just from watching him, and hadn't been able to figure out what he was using.Now she knew.Coca-Cola.Chocolate.Caffeine was deadly to the Sidhe.And he'd come here to poison himself with it.Focus!He was Sidhe, so caffeine was a poison—a drug—like any other.She concentrated on sweeping it out of his system, repairing the damage.She knew the way that the Sidhe "were" now, familiarly, intimately.Once you knew that, every system was alike to a Healer: it wanted to be well and whole.But Jaycie didn't.The stronger she made his body, the stronger she made him.He began to fight her.Where's the off switch on this thing?Normally she could simply send an unruly patient to sleep.But a healthy Sidhe didn't sleep.And he was getting healthier by the minute.He began to struggle, trying to push her away.She reached up his spine and cut off the nerve impulses to his muscles—tricky, that, and she couldn't leave the block in place for long.Dimly, she sensed his body going limp again.But that left his mind—awake, aware, and fighting.Will you chill out? I'm trying to save your life!A wordless response: fury, grief, despair.and terror, as if life was something to be fled from at all costs.Kayla soothed him as much as possible, but Healing the mind was a delicate thing, and she couldn't afford to split off too much of her attention from Healing his body.At last she'd taken care of the worst of the damage—as much as she could in the time she had before she had to remove that spinal block, anyway.She pulled the block, releasing control of his body—A blow from Jaycie sent her sprawling, breaking the link."How dare you?" he shouted, standing over her and glaring down at her, fists clenched.His eyes flared green in the dim light of The Place."How dare you meddle in my life, you foolish mortal wench?"Kayla stared up at him, mouth quirked in a half smile.He'd knocked her sprawling, she was dizzy from the abrupt breaking of the link, and her stomach hurt where he'd punched her, but whether because of the Healing or because she'd gotten him well and truly wound up, he'd dropped his glamourie.She could see his pointed ears plainly.And if she could, so could Magnus and Ace."You've got an audience, elf-boy," she said breathlessly." Oh." Jaycie looked truly appalled.He turned around."Magnus— Ace— I did not mean—""What did you do to him?" Ace cried.Gee, thanks a bunch."I didn't do anything to him," Kayla said, taking a deep breath and getting to her feet with a wince."This is what he actually looks like.Your friend Jaycie is an elf—a Sidhe.And he's a junkie.Elves can't handle caffeine in any form.It poisons them.Coffee—chocolate—Coke—they've all got caffeine in them.And he's hooked on it."Jaycie took a step toward them.Ace hesitated."Elf?" she said blankly, stunned."Like in my books?""There's no such things as elves," Magnus said flatly."Yeah?" Kayla said."Tell that to him.""Magnus? Ace?" Jaycie repeated uncertainly."I didn't want to lie, but—""Oh, you damned fool!" Ace cried, and threw herself into his arms."You can be an elf if you want—I don't care—but how could you do something like that to yourself?""It isn't true," Jaycie said quickly, putting his arms around Ace."She's lying."He reached out a hand to Magnus.Hesitantly, Magnus took it, grinning in relief."I'm not lying," Kayla said."And I'll tell you something else that's true.Elves do just fine a lot of places in our world, but not in New York City.There's too much iron in the air here, or all around them, or something like that.If Jaycie stays here very much longer, even without caffeine, he'll get even sicker.And die, maybe.I dunno for sure; no Sidhe I know of ever stayed around long enough to find out
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