Waking up

"Uhh... urghh", Alice groaned, her entire body was hurting, she had a splitting headache and was completely disoriented.

"Hey, she is waking up!", someone exclaimed.

"Urgh, stop talking, my head hurts.", Alice mumbled.

Trying to sit up, she put both her hands on the ground and just as was about to push herself up, stinging pain shot through her right arm.

"Be careful!"

"Arrgh!", not expecting the sudden pain, her arm gave way and she fell back down again, hitting her head on the hard ground.

"Here, let me help you.", this time Alice could make out that it was Eric who was speaking.

A moment later, Alice could feel a hand in her back, helping her to sit up slowly.

"Drink something.", Gale said, holding a cup to Alice's lips, helping her drink. Only now did she realize how dry her throat had been as if she didn't drink any water in days.

"Thanks. What happened?", Alice croaked in a dry voice. Her memories were still pretty jumbled and blurry. She could only remember that she had been angry, more than ever before in her life, and then that sudden calmness.

"You have been sleeping for about two days because you overused a mantra. You wouldn't sleep this long normally, but I guess thanks to it being the first time you ever used one and since you went pretty wild, you were in that bad of a shape afterward. But I think that was actually good in this case. When Forster brought you back, you were covered in bruises.

But you really did go crazy when catching that guy! I don't know what makes you more monstrous, the fact that you managed to run over the wall of a house or that all your bruises disappeared in under two days. Though it seems like your right shoulder has a fracture and the arm is broken, but we have already fixated it. But I think those will still take a while to heal, even for you.", Alex explained.

Looking at her arm, Alice saw that she indeed had two wooden boards tightly bound to her upper arm, fixing it in position.

It took Alice a few minutes to collect her mind and sort out her memories, but when she finally found her bearing again, she took a look around her. They were inside the hideout, but it seemed like the other three boys were out right now.

"Why are you three even here right now? Shouldn't you all be out to make sure that things aren't repeating? And what happened with the thief?", Alice Asked.

"Well, Gale and I were just talking about strategies on how to deal with similar situations in the future. This time we got lucky that you got involved, but if that had not happened, it might have ended quite differently, to be honest. And Eric has been taking care of you while you have been out."

"Hmm, thank you, Eric.", Alice said, to which he just nodded his head.

"About the conclusion of the case, after your treatment, Dick is out of the picture for at least two months. And since te foxes have to deal with the wolves right now, they won't be able to annoy us anymore. And even if they came with their entire group at us, they would suffer bigger damage than we would, so they won't do something like that.

Also, as punishment, they are providing us with ten people worth of food for a week. And another thing, you could say as a little thank you for you, they will guide you to the dealer they sold your staff to. Though you shouldn't get your hopes too high up, even if he is willing to sell it to you, he will probably ask for a ridiculous price."

"Thank you, you can't imagine what that means to me!"

"Gladly, but now let's talk about something more enjoyable! I have already talked with the others about this and they all agreed, you are the only one I still need to ask...", Alex said, taking a pause at the end as if he wanted her to ask him.

"What do you think, would you like to join our little group? You don't have to answer right now, you can take your time to decide. But to be honest, I think you are a very nice girl and strong as well, actually, we all think so and would like you to join."

When she heard this, Alice became incredibly happy. She had been worrying about it for the last few days as she had already become close to these guys during the short but long time they had been together. And now that her staff was in the hands of that dealer, she couldn't leave before she took it back, no matter what.

"There is no need to think about this. I'm very happy that you asked! Of course, I would like to join.", Alice answered almost instantly, showing one of her rarely seen bright smiles.

"Perfect!", Alex exclaimed: "Then tonight is the perfect time to do that!"

"You mean that?", Gale asked, looking a little nervous.

"Ohhh, please not! Can't we just not do it this time?", Eric had an annoyed expression on his face as he complained.

"What are you talking about?", Alice asked in confusion.

"Just wait, you will see!"

"Storytelling!", Eric spoiled the surprise annoyed.

When Alice heard this, her eyes went round and almost began to sparkle.