They didn’t need to wait long.
In fact, about an hour after Himari had left, Hailey’s father and sister arrived.
While Hailey clearly wanted to get out of her bed to greet them, she settled for sitting up after she’d discussed the matter with Dave.
Though, Dave kept as still and as quiet as possible, hoping that he’d go unnoticed.
“Hailey!
You’re awake!” Jamie called out as she ran over to her sister while their father talked with the nurse.
Dave chuckled quietly at the reproving look the nurse gave Jamie, even though she didn’t say anything to the girl.
“Good to see you, runt,” Hailey replied as Jamie ran up next to her bed and stopped.
Giggling, Jamie reached out and grabbed Hailey’s hand with both of hers, her arm bumping into Dave.
“What’s this?” she asked, not letting go of Hailey’s hand.
“I don’t know,” Hailey remarked, clearly lying through her teeth to protect Dave.
“He was here when I woke up.” “What’s his name?” “Dave.” Jamie looked at Hailey as if she expected something different.
“That’s strangely ordinary coming from you,” she remarked dubiously.
Hailey shrugged.
“Hey, he’s the one that said that’s what his name was.” Jamie giggled again, squeezing her sister’s hand a moment before she quieted down and got serious.
“So, what happened?
I know you tried to do it again.” Hailey put her free hand over Jamie’s, smiling gently at her.
“What happened is I got knocked out of the raft just as we entered the rapids before the river started turning white and before I could do anything, the current slammed me into a rock, face first.” Jamie looked at Hailey suspiciously.
Though, while he supposed it was because Jamie didn’t trust her sister fully, Dave couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else to her story that Hailey wasn’t saying.
As he already heard her lie once and this time felt similar to him.
He wasn’t sure what it was that Hailey wasn’t saying, just that it felt like she was either editing the truth or was leaving something out.
Whichever it was, he figured he’d need to talk with her about it later.
As for one, he didn’t want to discuss it in front of her sister and for another, he didn’t want this to be a potential problem down the road if they actually encountered an evil spirit or whatever it was that the voice had said were the enemies of magical girls.
Besides, he doubted that he’d like working with a girl who was suicidal, since he couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t get drawn into whatever idea she came up with next to end her life.
While Dave suspected Jamie wanted to continue the conversation, their father appeared, which made her go quiet and pull her hands out of Hailey’s.
Dave would have thought that it was just Jamie, but then Hailey got quiet herself and looked like she would like to be anywhere but there right then.
“So, it looks like you’re feeling much better, huh?” he asked, sounding much more pleasant than the words Dave had heard him say to Hailey the night before.
Which Dave assumed was for the benefit of those who were present who could also hear what was said.
Hailey nodded slightly, looking like she wasn’t sure she could trust her voice.
“So, I brought you a change of clothing, since the clothes you were wearing need to be washed, and we’ll discuss this more when we get home,” he continued, as if Hailey had done more than just nod at his question.
Then he clapped his hand on Hailey’s shoulder in a friendly manner, even though his eyes blazed with anger, something Dave was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to see if he was in a human form.
Though, he doubted that he’d have cared as much as before he had turned Hailey into a magical girl.
“I know,” Hailey whispered in response, looking anywhere but at her father.
“As long as you know that,” he said, setting a bag on the bed next to Hailey.
“The nurse said you can change here, that they’re done keeping you for observation, but that you need to take it easy for the next few days before school starts.” Then he looked at Dave.
“The things these places give out,” he muttered to himself, looking like he didn’t care for Dave but wasn’t going to say anything about it.
Which Dave felt rather grateful for.
He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had to meet up with Hailey in secret to help her learn to be a magical girl.
Then Jamie followed her father who stepped away from the bed and closed the curtains around the bed.
Hailey got up, undid the hospital gown and started pulling out clothing from the bag her father had left on the bed.
Dave looked away from Hailey once he realized what she was doing.
While he doubted that she’d have minded, he certainly did as he wasn’t interested in seeing a girl’s body, even if she was an older teen like Hailey was.
Besides, he also was pretty sure that she wasn’t convinced that he had originally been human before having been turned into a plush toy.
Something that he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to convince her that he was telling the truth about that fact.
When Hailey finished, she sighed, making Dave look at her.
She was wearing a casual t-shirt and a miniskirt.
Though, aside from that, he could tell that there was something going on for her that he wanted to ask about, but at the same time, he knew that this wasn’t the time or place to do so.
Especially considering the curtains hardly blocked any sound, which would mean that any conversation they had would be able to be overheard by anyone in the room, even if they were quiet about it.
Then she put Dave in the bag, which he supposed was fair.
As he doubted that Hailey wanted to be seen carrying him down the hall while she was also carrying this bag.
Which he supposed was fair in all.
As it certainly would have likely seemed strange to anyone who saw that.