Page 114 of Lovesick Titan

“But he’s stable?” Danny said, relaxing since he could see Mal clearly from where he lay.

“That’s where the weird comes in,” Andre said. “Cho doesn’t have a healing factor, but when he kept hanging on against the odds, we looked at his blood and…”

“And what?”

“There are traces of Lightning DNA instead of just Ice,” Lynn said.

“What?” Danny looked at each of them in turn. “How is that possible?”

“Whatever you did, Danny,” Stella said, “when you shorted out Ludgate’s belt, some of that energy went into Mal.”

“I can’t believe something like that could happen from just one moment of exposure,” Lynn shook her head. “Unless there have been other times he was in contact with your lightning directly? Not from an offensive attack, but…around you, sparking from your body like in the mirror world?”

Danny remembered more than once during their love making when he’d sparked strongly, eyes glowing, with the hair on Mal’s arms standing on end, especially the night before they faced Ludgate when their powers entwined.

“Yeah…a few times,” he said, not wanting to explain the truth in front ofeveryone.

“Multiple exposures could have something to do with it,” Lynn said, “but it’s still a one in a million chance that it wouldn’t do more harm than good, or nothing at all. Whatever the answer, because of that connection, however small, his cells have been regenerating. Not as fast as you—”

“He’s healing?”

“Partially. But it’s been slowing down. We don’t know if it’s enough. He’s stable, but…”

“He won’t wake up,” Danny said, the dull ache of failure mingling with his stubborn hope. Mal was alive. He wasalive. There was still a chance. “What about Ludgate?”

“Where he belongs,” John said. “Infirmary for now while he heals his burns and…well, Cho gave him a hell of a beating when it was over. Once he’s healthy enough to make it to the courthouse, there’ll be a hearing, not that it’ll take much to get him in jail with a full trial pending. Everyone in Olympus City saw what he tried to do to you.”

Danny had almost forgotten. Ludgate had been broadcasting the fight. He wondered just how much the city had seen. But instead he asked, “My lightning…Ludgate didn’t—”

“Nothing like what’s happening with Cho,” Andre assured him. “No change to his blood, we checked, and he’s healing nice and slow.”

Danny refrained from saying, “Good,” despite how knowledge of the man’s discomfort soothed him, as long as he still lived to pay for his crimes the right way.

“You need to rest, Danny,” Stella patted his ankle again.

“Yes,” Lynn said sternly, “you do. By the time you’re able to get out of this bed, I’m sure Malcolm will open his eyes, and we can really celebrate, alright? In the meantime—”

“Everyone else is fine, right?”

“All present and accounted for,” John said. “Captain Shan, Hephaestus and Hermes, Carla and the kids…”

Danny smiled at that.

“Michael really wants a visit,Zeus,” Lucy called from across the room, groggy but loud enough to catch Danny’s attention. She hadn’t moved off of Dom, but she smiled as she roused from her much needed slumber. “Hurry up and get better so your mug doesn’t scare him too badly, and we’ll bring him in to help you and Mickey recover, okay?”

Danny chuckled as he met her eyes. “Sounds like a deal.”

The melancholy in the room was palpable, but they hadn’t given up hope yet that Mal would wake up. If becoming an Elemental at twenty-eight had taught Danny anything, it was that miracles could happen in the strangest of ways.

“Glad to have you back,” Joey said, big smile beaming from beside Stella.

Even with Mal still asleep, still healing, Danny felt warm and at peace with his extended family around him. “Thank you.”

Lynn’s new concoction worked wonders for a while, but as Danny recovered, his metabolism sped up again without having to expend asmany resources healing. Soon, like he was more accustomed to, he burned through everything too quickly to dull the pain or to help him sleep. He found himself staring at the ceiling much of the time. Or at Mal.

They had to roll Mal over every so often, since he couldn’t move on his own. The first time they rolled him away from Danny, the sight of his back made Danny’s breath catch. The scar was gruesome, deep and jagged from however Ludgate had torn the glass free.

Danny eventually slept and discovered in the morning that it had been two days since the fight. By day three, his scars were only the faintest grooves, so he asked for a mirror and only grimaced slightly at the mess of his face. He had a wicked scar through his hairline, but as it healed, the hair was coming back in rapidly. Maybe the most soothing part was being able to hold the mirror without any fear of his reflection.

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