So there seems to be enough people that want to know how Kate's solution was to be fixed that I decided to post what was going to be the first chapter of the second book, which should explain it all well enough for the lot of you. :)

And no, I have no intentions of picking this up any time soon. Still trying to figure out what the heck I want to do with this story in general...

Mya

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-One-

"Are you sure this is the only solution?" Kate asked the elven doctor from her hospital bed as she, her parents, and aunt and uncle sat in consultation.

He sighed. "We've tried everything else... I just don't see what else there is to do. We've wracked our brains... brought in the best experts on the subject... I just don't see what else there is to do about it. It won't be a hard procedure, we discovered a while ago that it was traces of rare elven blood that allowed you to maneuver the spell that would have otherwise killed you... it's only through that same elven blood that you'll even have a remote chance at normal life."

"But... you said before that turning me into an elf wouldn't make me able to move... and might cause more problems."

He nodded. "That's true, but the only other option is that we layer five or more different magics on you, which may or may not work, may or may not be volatile with each other, and at the least, will make your magic null and void and make your life hell, with the constant reaction and interaction they'll have with each other, or we can turn you into an elf, and then it will only be a matter of bringing in a specialist to reanimate your body. The elf blood you have in you works well with this brand of stone magic... so even animating your body temporarily should do the trick... your body should be able to figure it out from there."

"Emphasis on should, right?"

"Unfortunately. To be honest, you're the first case we've seen of someone coming across that level of that kind of stone magic and actually live. The fact that you've been completely stable the month you've been here has also been kind of a miracle. This person really must have wanted you dead... they definitely knew what they were doing."

"Right." She muttered. She craned her eyes over to see her mother sitting there, stony faced and like she could or would cry at any moment. Her dad looked... well... mostly just angry, but she figured that was mostly a cover to keep himself together. Her aunt looked similarly, but it more than touches of frustration and exhaustion. Her uncle, well, she could never read him. The only thing she could actually read on him was his pure exhaustion... They'd all worked so hard to find a cure for this... not to mention lied through their teeth to pretty much everyone in the mundane, non-magical, human world. She was supposedly in some specialized hospital in California after falling over for no apparent reason, only for her uncle to have diagnosed her with some rare neurological condition that was potentially fatal if not treated correctly... They figured it was the only excuse that would work... they didn't know what condition she'd be in when she finally would be able to move, and with the nature of the magic, they weren't sure if she would actually be able to return to mundane life... the thought of which scared her to death, but she knew there were other options if they weren't able to disguise the stone...

But she knew how hard they'd all looked. Her uncle had scoured nearly every contact he'd had, even some that he shouldn't have. His mom and aunt too. The fact that she was in an elven hospital at all had been miraculous.... her uncle had pulled some amazing feat to get her into here... and she sort of figured he now owed a lot of powerful elves a lot of favors in return for this...

Her aunt sighed. "I'm sorry, Kate. I just don't know what else there is to do."

Jo nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it... she's right. It's our best shot."

She felt her dad put his hand on her shoulder, and she heard her mom start to cry.

She sighed. "I guess we should do it, then."

The doctor nodded. "Alright. I'd like to have my stone expert here... I want you to be animated almost as soon as you're done transforming. I don't want anything to settle too much before we start that. It will be more likely to pick it up if it's not quite used to everything when it happens, cause then it will think that normal. Luckily for you, one of the best is actually here... originally for other reasons... it shouldn't take much to get him to agree to see you, probably today."

"Really?"

"Really. I'm going to go see if I can track him down and schedule it with him, alright?"

"Okay." Kate agreed. The doctor nodded and left.

"Are you doing okay?" Her dad asked.

"Yeah... peachy." She said with a hint of sarcasm. To be honest... besides being scared for her life that nothing was going to be the same... and that she'd never move again... she was mostly just bored out of her scull. There were only so many things you could do when you couldn't move, and even having near constant parental company got kinda boring after a while... she was looking forward to going home, whatever the outcome, more than anyone there could have known. Her only real refuge here was when Chris would come and tell her all about what was actually happening at home, or Tim would come and read to her. Jev hadn't ever visited because of some stupid rule the elves had about elementals, and Sarah had only visited the once... but being around this many elves had messed up her oracle powers so badly it nearly made her sick... and she'd only been there fifteen minutes. Needless to say, she hadn't been back since. Kate couldn't blame her.

And that left Nick, who also visited, but less frequently than Tim and Chris, and his visits mostly consisted of news of home and school, and sometimes he'd read from the book her mom left, but he always seemed a little... out of place... when he visited. She chalked it up to him not used to being so obviously apart from Sarah, and the fact that the two of them had never really spent any real time alone before.... despite his mutterings once about the weirdness of elven minds and how they projected their thoughts. Cause, really, they didn't have much in common... and in the past, it mostly revolved around Kate mostly good naturedly making fun of his dress sense... which, really, she was too thankful for the not glossed over truth and company to do now. She very much preferred his awkwardness to her mother's insistence that everything would be okay. Like any of their lives would ever be the same after this.... there was no reversing this... she had understood that from the moment it had happened...

The door opened again moments later, only to see the doctor entering with a seven foot rock golem behind her.

Kate tried not to stare, having never seen one before... especially one so huge or so... human-like.

The figure smiled down at Kate. "I see. Well, Kate, you're lucky... I'm between clients right now."

"Thank you." She said.

He smiled, almost sadly. "I'm just sorry there isn't much else to do... your doctor is quite right..."

"I figured." She muttered.

"So... are you ready for this?"

"Do we--?"

"Yes." She said, loudly, before her mother could finish her sentence. She just wanted this over with, now.

The doctor nodded. "I'm afraid we're going to have to ask your guardians to step outside for the procedure... we don't want anything to interfere with the process."

"I understand." Kate agreed.

She could hear her mom sniffling as her aunt and uncle got up.

"We'll be right outside if you need us." Her Aunt Zoe said.

"Okay." She agreed as they walked out.

Her mom made a bit of a show out of leaving, but eventually her father managed to get her out.

The doctor closed the door after them. "Alright, Kate, I should warn you.... this is going to hurt. I'm going to put up barriers around the room so your guardians won't notice anything, and also to keep inside things in, and outside things out, okay?"

"Okay." Kate agreed, not liking the sound of that.

The doctor closed his eyes, and within moments, a translucent shield appeared all over the room, even floor and ceiling.

He then turned his attention to Kate, sitting down beside her and putting his hands on her chest.

Nothing happened at first.

Then suddenly she felt her features start to shift subtly. Then all at once, pain exploded all over her body. She heard herself scream, despite herself, as she felt her bones re-structure themselves... including her face.

She felt her ears change then in more pain, but at a level just low enough that she didn't scream again.

She found herself panting, hard, as she felt the doctor lift his hands.

"I'm sorry about this." He said.

And before she could ask, she could feel the golem start his magic on her. At first it was just a subtle feeling, then it increased until it almost started to hurt. But just as she thought her body was going to explode in pain, she felt her arms start to move with their own volition, then elbows, hands... fingers... finger joints...

She felt her body start to catch on and him move on, suddenly, leaving her laying there with her arms raised and her hands in weird positions. So she moved them down, and to her delight, it worked flawlessly.

She felt herself sit up then, and her upper body start to contort... which... again... her body started to pick up quickly. First he released her neck in weird positions, then torso.... then hips... then suddenly she was standing up on not of her own volition. He was moving her legs in weird ways... except... this wasn't working like it was supposed to... she could tell. She didn't know what it was... maybe her body was getting tired... maybe it was starting to settle... but she didn't think it was any of the above.

Then suddenly she felt energy shift in her body, and felt something push in from the rest of her body to her legs, and she felt it push him out.

The look on his face was pure shock, to say the least, as her legs started to collapse.

The doctor quickly moved forward, caught her, and sat her down on the bed again.

She looked from the doctor to the golem. "What was that?"

"Your body.... it seems, even as an elf, even as this particular elf, your body still has limits... and the magic that kept you immobile... well... not all of it was able to be changed. Your body would have eagerly gotten rid of it if there had been less damage... but as it was, in a way, it's a miracle it turned out this well. Even with what you're made of, it's not hard to animate your body temporarily, but it takes a lot of energy for your body to animate itself... really, it shouldn't have surprised me that there'd be a catch somewhere... your body has practically shut down your legs to make it possible for the rest of you to move."

Kate nodded slowly, trying to let it all sink in.

"But... on the plus side... because of the way your body did it... it looks like you won't require any extra energy."

"Right." She agreed.

"You shouldn't have any side effects."

"Except having a gray body, right?"

He smiled. "You shouldn't have a problem disguising that... I feel great potential in you. When your elven side was awakened, so was your elven magic. Rare and powerful, at that."

"Really?"

The doctor nodded. "I feel it too. Though I don't know if we'll be able to help you... I don't think there's anyone alive who has it... at least... that we know of."

She nodded. "Well, my family has a pension for figuring out magic by ourselves... I'm sure I'll figure it out."

"No doubt about that." The golem agreed.

"So... I'm going to need a wheelchair, right?" Kate asked.

The doctor nodded. "A normal one will work just fine. We can get you one, if you'd like."

"That would be nice." Kate agreed. "Does this mean I get to go home?"

The doctor smiled slightly. "Almost immediately."

"Well that's a plus." She looked down then... only to realize... she wasn't gray anymore... she was burnt red.

She looked up at the doctor in shock.

"I wondered if that would happen. With the kind of elven blood that was in you... it's not unlikely that that was going to happen. That clan always had brightly colored skin and hair."

"Hair?!" She exclaimed, grabbing a hank and bringing it around, only to see that it had turned obsidian. Tim would be thrilled...

"If you want, we can wait a bit before letting your guardians in."

She sighed. "I'm alright. Just numb."

The doctor nodded.

"I'm sorry." The golem said.

Kate shrugged. "Hey, I'm moving. That's more than I can say for a month ago."

He smiled slightly and nodded.

"I should probably let you know." The doctor said. "The side effects for elves, typically, when they've used their powers too much, is the sensation of being cold. And if you ignore that, the shivers. Either that, or the opposite... too much heat."

"So... no getting weak and near fainting?"

He shook his head. "You'd black out before getting that far."

"Right... good to know."

"By the way... do you have a color preference?"

"Um.... purple?"

He nodded. "We can do that." He pulled a measuring tape out of nowhere. "Do you mind...? So I know the dimensions for the chair..."

Kate shook her head. "Go for it."