The Witch in the Woods (bxbxbxbxbxb)

Chapter 10 - The Dangers of Magic

Michael's pov

We heard stumbling from inside the room Cosmo was in, Matthew twitched with anxiety. I stood up, the others quickly following suit.

The door opened and we saw Cosmo looking dazed, we gathered around him asking if he was okay. He looked unsteady so we made him sit down, Jacob put a blanket on the floor underneath Cosmo.

I noticed that his nose was bleeding, I grabbed one of the blankets and wiped off his face, not caring about the fact the blanket would be stained. He barely registered it and just let us do whatever we wanted to him. Matthew wrapped another blanket around Cosmo's shoulders, he immediately held it tightly to himself. He was shivering, I put my hand to his forehead and swore, telling the others, "he's got a fever."

Truffles trotted over and somehow managed to squirm her way into Cosmo's arms. She purred softly, making me remember that Cat's did that to heal or comfort themselves, and sometimes others.

We heard footsteps from the balcony and Evan ran towards them, quickly coming back with Alice and Ms. Delilah following. Ms. Delilah waved us out of the way and held her son's face, asking him, "Cosmo, what day is it?"

He didn't respond, his eyes weren't focused on anything, he seemed to be off in his own little world. I worriedly asked, "is he going to be okay?"

Alice looked on the verge of tears as she told me, "he used a lot of magic, it drains his energy significantly when he uses so much. He probably woke up with a fever, hence why he thought he needed to cast so many spells. Wait... how much has he been sleeping in the past couple days?"

Evan informed her, "as much as he could. Pretty much all day, he got up and made a potion. He woke to eat too, but that's about it."

Both of the girls swore, I worried what they were upset about. Ms. Delilah enlightened us, saying, "Cosmo is an insomniac. He only sleeps for a few hours every night, and it's gotten a lot worse since the passing of his father. His dreams are usually plagued with nightmares about that night... he hates sleeping because of it."

I saw more blood drip from Cosmo's nose, he wiped it off with his hand and looked down at his hand, a confused look crossed his face as he saw how much blood covered his hand. His eyes seemed to get more distant and he suddenly collapsed into his mother's arms, she quickly held him close but made sure not to touch his back.

Alice ordered us, "one of you pick him up. Bring him to his room and stay by his side. Holler if he gets worse, Mom and I will start brewing a potion to settle his fever."

We didn't waste a second, Jacob carefully picked up Cosmo and brought him to his room, all of us following him.

***

Matthew's pov

It had been a few hours since Cosmo had stumbled out of the dark room, and he still hadn't woken up. Alice had forced Cosmo to drink a potion that she said would bring his fever down, but it wasn't easy to get an unconscious person to drink something. He squirmed in his sleep, and Ms. Delilah told us he usually looks so peaceful when he sleeps because he didn't want to worry anyone. Even when he was asleep he cared more for other people than himself, he truly was an angel. It was heartbreaking to see him in so much pain, my mates and I didn't leave his side for a second longer than necessary.

Cosmo groaned, our heads all instantly snapped in his direction. He was on top of Jacob, and the rest of us were curled up around him. Moose was watching from above while Truffles was lying down right in front of Cosmo, staring into his soul. His eyes slowly opened, I smiled at him and gently ran my fingers through his hair. Evan quietly told Alice and Ms. Delilah, "he's awake."