"I'm sorry, Marty, but I don't think I can make tomorrow night's show. My sister is in bad shape with her condition.”

“Are you serious? How will I fill your shoes? Tonight's show is sold out!”

“Yes, I’m very serious,” Marty could hear Lily trying to hold back her tears, “I’m sorry, please don't fire me!” Lily hung up the call and ran back to her apartment and to her sister’s side.

“Lily… I think I need to go to the hospital.”

“Is it really that bad?” 

“Yeah, I'm so tired but the aches and pains are keeping me from sleeping."

“I'll call an ambulance.”

“Those are expensive and take forever.”

“Then what do I do?!” 

“Could you make a magic stretcher?” 

Lily knew what that meant, enchanting their carpet and carrying Linda using it. The problem was the hospital was a long ways away, and Lily’s magic wouldn’t hold out all that way. Lily tried to enchant the nearby carpet rug and make it lift. It hovered over the ground for a second or two, but Lily's breath became fast and panicked. Lily tried multiple times to keep the spell stable, but to no avail.

“Sis! I can't do it!” Lily struggled to say with her tears choking her words.

“Try again. I really need to see a doctor.”

“I'm scared!”

A grizzly old dwarf with a beard nearly reaching the floor, waving his wrench, walked into the living room. “What the hell are you two doing? Your door's wide open, a burglar could come in!”

“Mr Super! My sister is really sick! I need to take her to the hospital!”

The small but gruff man let out a sigh, “…come on, we can take my truck wagon.”

The hospital immediately took Linda to urgent care and set her up in a room. Once she had some help from nurses and painkillers, she could finally close her eyes and rest a bit. Lily went over to talk with the doctor looking over her.

“I'm sorry, but we don't have the medicine specific to your sister's condition,” he said.

“Can't you just make some?!”

“Easier said than done. In fact it's a million times easier said than done. What we need are a few ingredients to make some serum for her. Here, let me write them down for you. It'll give you a scope of how difficult it is.”

“Difficult? I'll get them if I have to! I'll do it no matter how hard it is!”

“Well you could ask around for some of them, but one thing is for sure, you'll need to bring in a sand stinger. We need its venom for the serum. That's no easy feat-” The second the list was in Lily's hands, she bolted for the exit. She knew where to get these things, far out into the neighboring desert.

She managed to hitch a ride from a passing trucker. He was willing to take her to a rest stop in the middle of the desert since he was heading out there too. From there, she would need to venture into the hot sands into untamed territory; territory mostly inhabited by dangerous monsters.

In the scorching heat, she collected plump and prickly cactus fruits, climbed a few palm trees to grab some coconuts and juicy Jubi fruit, and plucked as much wild sand rice as she could. She knew of these ingredients and their properties from their mother, who collected or bought them for Linda when they were growing up. 

The hardest part was going to be the sand stingers. These were highly venomous snakes that could bite you with fangs and sting you with their scorpion-like tails. They may not usually kill, but the sting of the bite and the pain of the venom going through your veins was not a pleasant experience. How would she catch a live one without ending up in a hospital bed herself?

As if by some miracle, however, she spotted a trap. A simple animal trap made with sticks and rope. Some desert trapper must've left it, yet Lily didn't see anyone else around to keep watch over it. She snapped her fingers and lit up a Bait Wisp spell and placed it in the trap. Then she went over to a nearby hole that might have a sand stinger and slowly waved a finger, enchanted with bait Wisp, near the hole. Sure enough, a purple skinned serpent slithered out and chased her finger with deadly curiosity. She flung the Bait Wisp ball over onto the trap and fell over onto her bottom out of fear. The snake followed it and was ensnared in the trap. 

Before she could collect her catch, someone grabs Lily by the arm, dragging her down into the sand. When Lily got the sand out of her eyes, she saw the culprit, some figure in sand camouflage gear, putting the sand stinger into a basket, then tying a rope over the lid.

"Man this one is pretty big. I could sell it for a pretty penny.”

“Sir! I need that! I need its venom to make medicine for my sister! Please!”

"Like I care, ya little brat. Now beat it!"

The man turned his back to leave. He took three steps and was hit by a bright flashing light at his feet, sending shockwaves through his body, making him collapse. Lily snatched up the basket with the snake.

"I'm sorry, sir! Here's some money to replace the trap!" She leaves a few coins by the man's side and runs off. She doesn't get too far as a massive version of the sand stinger, presumably the Queen Stinger arose from the sand and bore its fangs. The startling entrance shook Lily and made her fall backwards onto the sand.

“A-are you his mother?” Lily asked the giant snake. 

The queen lunges at Lily, who dives out of the way, basket and all. With the lunge being a miss, the giant snake buries itself again into the sand. Lily tries to make a run for it before it reappears, but it does so right in front of her, popping out of the sand in an instant. This time Lily thought she was going to be swallowed whole, but a bolt of lightning pierces its head like a bullet from behind, and it collapses to its side dead. Lily looks over and sees the one who slayed the beast, the man who she stunned with a spell a few minutes ago. 

“I can sell the carcass of the queen for an even bigger pretty penny!” He turns to Lily with contempt in his eyes. “Just get out of here kid. And I better not ever see you around here again. You may regret it.”

Lily hitchhiked her way back to the hospital with a bag full of goods and a basket with a nasty snake in her lap. Good thing the driver, or anyone, didn't ask what was in the basket. It was unsettling having a venomous and dangerous creature in your lap, but if it meant her sister would get better, then her emotions were the least of her priorities. She got back to the hospital and presented the items to the doctor.

"Oh, we got pretty much everything we needed for your sister's serum treatment in our last shipment. It came while you were gone. She's fine now."

After all that hard work, Lily might've screamed, but all she thought to do was smile wide and say, "Thank you for taking care of her." 

Lily walked over to Linda's room and saw her fast asleep. Just the sight of her sleeping soundly was more than enough to put Lily at ease.

She then checked the clock hanging nearby, "Still six o clock, if I hurry I could get to the Molly-Wood… who am I kidding? I've got to stay with my sister.”

The grizzly old superintendent dwarf walks in, "Hey, Lily… how is she?"

“Hi Mr Super. She's asleep now. The doctors said she'll be fine.”

“That's good, but shouldn't you be at work?”

“I can't leave her here.”

"The doc's done all they can, and so have you. Let her sleep in peace. I know Marty and your fans would be relieved to see you tonight.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Lily yawned.

“Or maybe you should go home and get some sleep. You look like you faced quite the battle.”

“Eh, I’ll be fine.” She yawned again and rubbed her face. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to be fired over calling in sick.”

“But you have a legit reason?”

“As long as Linda’s fine, I’ll be fine too.”

The minute she started her walk from the hospital to the Molly-Wood, Lily's eyes grew heavy and were begging her to keep them closed. After two encounters with deadly creatures even professional monster hunters have had trouble  She soldiers on, hoping Marty would be relieved enough not to fire her. Besides she could use the money, especially since her sister was in the hospital and would be sent a bill for the treatment. She didn’t want to let her sister, Marty and the Molly-wood, or her fans who pay good money to see her down, after all.

Lily got to the Molly-wood just in time for her to perform with some time to do a bit of makeup. Marty spots her and stops her before she even steps in the backstage door.

“Are you sure you’re up to perform?” Marty asked her. “You seem kinda tired. Besides, what about your sister?”

“My sister is fine. And did you get a replacement?”

“No, we were planning on just canceling-”

“Then I’ll sing. The show must go on after all.”

“Alright fine, just try not to faint on stage.”

Lily performed three songs with her usual grace and cheerfulness, or at least as much as she could muster. The crowd was none the wiser and enjoyed their dinners and the music. Once done with her set, a set just as lovely as ever, Lily did her curtsey, took in a lovely applause… and then she collapsed backwards onto the stage floor. The audience applauded with glee thinking it was part of the act as the curtains closed. Marty and Bill rushed to her side once she was out of the public’s view.

“As I thought, you are not okay, kid. How long have you been up?”

I’m fine… but come to think of it, I might've been awake for a full day and a half.

“Good lord…”

“That’s Star Canyon for ya, work until you collapse to the floor,” Bill commented. 

“Come on, you can take a rest in my office. I have a couch there.”

“But I need to check on Linda…” Lily sleepily mumbled 

“You will, after you take a rest in my office.”

Lily couldn't argue, as she didn't have the energy to keep herself awake long enough to argue, so she agreed to lie down while things were wrapping up on stage and for dinner service. 

After about three hours, Marty woke Lily up, despite Lily asking for ten more minutes, and drove her to the hospital. She might have been drowsy, but she still wanted to see her sister, not to mention the Molly-wood was now closed and she’d be soliciting if she’d stayed.

When she got to the room and checked on Linda, she became fully awake with what she saw.

"Linda? When did you get your laptop?"

"I asked Mr Super to bring it for me."

"And you're working on articles when you need to be resting?"

"Well we're expecting a big bill from this place any minute, gotta make the money for it somehow."

"But sis, your health is way more important. You need to put that away and get more rest."

"I'm not in the mood to argue about this, just go home and get some sleep."

“Not until you stop writing that stupid thing!”

“I have to, sis, otherwise we can't afford our bills…”

“Is money the only thing that matters to you?”

“Money is the only thing that matters in the world.”

"Linda, don’t say such crazy things! What about your health? What about us having one another? Do those things have no meaning to you?”

Linda sighed angrily, "I know those things are important, but do you want to go back to sleeping under a bridge or in an alleyway? Because that's the world we live in. We may have each other, but what about food and a roof over our heads. Get that through your thick skull."

“But…!”

"No. Butts!"

"Yes, butts! I don't want you getting even more sick! Is that too much to ask!?"

"Ugh!"

A nurse came into the argument, “I'm sorry, you two, but all your yelling is going to wake up the other patients.”

The two sisters looked at each other. Linda looked away with a harsh frown on her while she folded her arms, and all Lily could do to retaliate was stick her tongue out at her sister.

The nurse turned to Lily, "you know since you went well out of your way to bring us more ingredients for medicine, especially the sand stinger, which we can keep contained and harvest its venom, I think we can waive some of the medical bills."

The twins looked at each other for a second then back to the nurse. "You sure?" They said in unison.

“Why yes, in fact, just for a live sand stinger alone, I think we could waive off your stay for the night and all. We’ve been having trouble getting resources like that, you see. Now both of you get some rest. We'll check you out once you're better."

As the nurse left, Lily sighed with relief.

"Sis," Linda paused for a while, completely solemn in her voice, "where did you get a sand stinger? Those things can kill you."

All Lily did in response was laugh and hug her sister.