When the second week of them being sick started, Charlie was determined to find something to try to work with. However, that's when they had a downpour strike. It lasted three days and Charlie was sure if she tried what she had in mind, she'd die from hypothermia before the illness had a chance to kill her.
When the rain ended, Charlie couldn't help but feel time was slipping away from them. So, she got up and crawled over to the nearest tree, planning on using her magic to scan each plant, one at a time, no matter how long it took and work herself until she passed out, regardless of how long it took her. Or even how long she'd be out.
She didn't worry that one of her friends would try to stop her, as they barely had enough energy to take care of themselves rather than worry about what Charlie might be up to. Although, she wondered if she succeeded with this if her friends might start wondering that in the future.
Charlie wasn't sure how long she fell unconscious the first time as she was making her way towards the nearest tree, but after the second when she'd started using her magic to scan any kind of life she could get her hands on around the tree, she suspected that it was closer to an hour, at least based on the sun's location through the mist. Or at least when it could be seen through the mist. She could only hope that she wouldn't have to go to another location to find more growth to scan through.
When Charlie had picked up a mushroom after her fourth time passing out, she almost set it back do because of the blue speckles on it that was about the size of her hand, just like the red speckled mushrooms. She remembered that she'd checked one before and that it was poisonous to consume. Yet, she made herself scan it, because she really couldn't say she wouldn't catch something she'd missed before. Or didn't know to look for.
She wasn't surprised to find that she had fallen unconscious before she could do anything immediately after scanning it and had even dropped the mushroom while she was sacked out by the tree. As she came to this time, she felt a pounding in her head that almost made her forget what she'd been doing, in addition to what she'd learned from her last scan.
Charlie almost let herself fall asleep when she'd come to. Largely because she couldn't think of what else to do and with the little amount of her magic she'd been using for the past couple weeks, she started to feel the effects of using so much of her magic this close together.
However, as she was starting to drift off, she suddenly recalled something that she'd seen when she last scanned the blue speckled mushroom. It was that it could be used recover from any magical related condition or fatigue.
Which Charlie couldn't help but wonder if this illness might apply to it. As it seemed to absorb magic and it also had them being to hardly use any kind of magic.
The preparations with it were also very simple. Boiling the mushroom in water would help leech out the parts of the mushroom that would help without poisoning them. Although, they'd still need to not drink the water or it would poison them. Instead, they would need to use a washcloth or something to wipe their entire bodies down so as to let it get absorbed through their skin. Yet, Charlie felt she should try that on herself, so if it went badly, she wouldn't have to worry about her idea creating more problems when they really didn't need any more.
The main problem now was getting the mushroom back to the camp. It wasn't far in regards to distance, but that didn't mean she'd have an easy time crossing that distance with the condition she was currently in. On the other hand, the sooner she started, the sooner she'd finish, regardless of how long it took. Besides, not only did she have the distance from their camp and the tree, but she also had to go around the tree as well.
In the end, the sun was rising up when she came around again, having used up all her strength twice on getting back to the camp. She had made sure to keep the blue speckled mushroom safe so she wouldn't have to worry about needing to go get another one.
As she dragged herself back into the camp, she saw that Tim, Wes, and Hannah were boiling some water with the remainder of what firewood they had left. Though, Charlie assumed that Hannah had started the fire, as she was out cold.
The sight of the fire made the cold she felt from being away from her sleeping bag for so long, including through the night, much more prominent in her mind. It wasn't until that point that she even realized she was shivering.
"Charlie...?" Tim said slowly, fatigue clear in not only his voice but his eyes. "Where… did… you… go...?"
"Found… some… thing… to… try…" Charlie whispered, the strength to talk normally having been gone for about a week. She held up the mushroom. "Boil… it… in… water… and… wipe… our… bodies… with… it…"
Charlie immediately kicked herself for saying all that, She'd wanted to verify it herself, but as soon as she saw her friends, she blurted it out without thinking. Of course, with how worn out she was fighting the disease, she had to admit that she probably wasn't thinking very well anyway at the moment.
"Isn't… that… poison… ous…?" Wes asked, looking at the mushroom.
"As… long… as… we… don't… drink… the… boiled… water… it… was… in… we'll… be… fine…" Charlie asured him.
Wes looked at Tim. "Might… as... well…" Tim said.
Wes then motioned Charlie to drop the mushroom in. Charlie did so, though it took her a few minutes to crawl over to the fire. As she did so, she suddenly realized that the colored spots on the parts of their bodies she could see were starting to fade. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not, just that it was happening.
"How… long… should… it… take…?" Wes asked as they watched the mushroom sit in the water that was still heating up.
Charlie slowly shook her head, not wanting to aggravate the headache she felt on the edge of her consciousness. "Can't… say…" she said. "Don't… really… know…"
"Let's… at… least… wait… until… it's… boiling…" Tim suggested, looking like he might fall asleep at any moment.
"What… do… we… do… then…?" Wes asked.
"Take… a… wash… cloth… and… wipe… our… bodies… with… the… water…" Charlie answered. "Just… don't… drink… it…"
Wes nodded and closed his eyes, Charlie wasn't sure how long it'd take either, but she only realized she'd fallen asleep when she woke up and found the water had started boiling and over half of it had evaporated.
Alarmed, she quickly picked the pot up and set it on a stone that they'd been using to place the pot when they didn't want it on the fire anymore when cooking.
She looked around and saw that Tim, Wes, and Hannah were all sound asleep at the moment, which suited Charlie's purposes well enough. Although, she suddenly realized that she didn't have a washcloth with her and was afraid to go to her tent to get one. She didn't want to waste the moment and let someone else try it on themselves. Though, Beth, Amelia, or Ralph also might not realize they should drink the water and end up getting poisoned themselves.
Charlie looked around and partly because she didn't see any of her friends awake, and modesty can take a backseat when it came to survival, she slowly took her shirt off and dipped it in the water, trying to avoid looking at the numerous spots on her torso that were starting to fade, leaving her skin looking rather angry with the red orange merging with her usual skin color.
Gently, she dipped her shirt in the water that she knew was still scalding hot before starting to wipe it on her skin. It even took her a moment to even start to feel anything as she wiped her arms, face, and belly.
When she did start to feel something, at first it was the warmth of the water spreading through her body. It was a welcome sensation, dispelling the cold that had seemed to enter her bones, helping her feel more lucid than she had for days. Then she began wiping herself on her chest, making sure no one was looking when she lifted her bra to get her breasts.
When she'd finished that, she looked around and suddenly realized she didn't have the headache anymore. She couldn't say why, but felt almost giddy with relief of not having to deal with that anymore.
Then the next thing she realize was that as she stood up to head to her tent, that she wasn't nearly as fatigued as she had been since this had pretty much started. Though, when she got to her tent, she stopped as she realized the spots had become clear again and weren't fading away anymore, but looked like they were dropping off, like a sticker that had lost its stickiness.
She glanced back at the path she'd taken and could see several red orange spots that she had shed like skin dotting the ground where she had walked.
Shaking her head, she entered her tent and closed the entrance. She wasn't going to take any chances as she removed her pants and began wiping down her legs. She was surprised at see how well it worked and was even surprised at how clear her head was getting. Clear enough that she could see the spots go from a fading into her skin to becoming distinct again before they dropped off.
When she was done, she knew the only part of her body she hadn't gotten was her back. Largely because that was always a tricky area to get. However, she glanced at Beth, hoping she remain asleep for this, before she took her bra off and began rubbing her back with her shirt, using a sawing motion, to ensure she got all of it.
After she finished, she suddenly realized something that nearly made her throw up: the smell of the potion she'd made with the mushroom and water smelled terrible. Almost like it was something that had rotted and had sat in the sun for hours.
Charlie then looked at her pack and at the clothing she'd taken off, as well as her shirt she'd used to dip into the solution. She set her clothing aside and hoped the stench would wash out. She couldn't say for sure what she'd do if it remained and lingered in the clothes she'd been wearing.
Then she got a complete change of clothing out of her backpack, including fresh underwear, and got dressed. Somehow feeling like she was finally waking up for the first time in over a week as she did so. Like her old strength had fully returned.
When she was done, she pulled out a washcloth from her pack and went back outside. She figured the next person who she should get to do this was Amelia. After all, Amelia was their resident 'doctor' and would need to be the one to make sure that they were wiped down with this treatment for whatever disease this had been.
However, she had no plan of wiping Amelia down entirely, as she had done to herself. Instead, she figured that she'd get Amelia started on it and when she was awake enough, have Amelia finish up herself before starting to go around to get the others, one at a time. While Charlie could go back and rest, not having to deal with helping anyone else wipe themselves down.
So, Charlie first wiped down Amelia's face, arms, belly, and lower back, having to lift her shirt up to get that location before Amelia started to wake up.
"Huh? Charlie?" she asked, her tone clearer and more alert than she had been since Charlie could remember at the moment. "Wh-what's happening?"
"I think I found something to treat the disease with," Charlie told her, putting the washcloth in Amelia's hand. "Use this to dip into this," Charlie lifted the pot with the remaining water and mushroom solution in it, "and wipe your body with it. Then do the same to everyone else." Charlie then turned to leave, but suddenly remembered something as she was halfway out of the tent. "Oh, also. Don't drink it. It's poisonous if you do."
"Okay," Amelia said, uncertainly. "But where are you going?"
"I'm going to get some sleep," Charlie answered, hoping that after she woke up, this would all be over and she'd feel as she had before this disease entered their lives.
Or at the very least, it would at least have been a nice pleasant dream to have escaped the horror of what had been waiting for them. She couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't over, despite her feeling a lot better. After all, she couldn't be sure that this feeling wasn't just part of the dream itself. That when she woke up, she'd be back where she was, at death's doorstep, ready to have failed at her attempt at getting the crystal that contained the memories of Alairna back to Petals, where she could get Petals to remember who she had been before she'd extracted the memories.
When Charlie did wake up, the forest was starting to brighten with the light of a new day, though the perpetual mist in the trees was still present, just as it had been every day since they got there. She stretched as she sat up, feeling like she'd been in the same position for too long.
She quickly climbed out of the tent, wondering what might be cooking for breakfast only to find that all her friends were still asleep. Charlie couldn't help but be surprised at this fact. Either she had woken up uncharacteristically early or her friends were all sleeping in late.
Given how light the forest was, she couldn't help but assume it was that she'd woken up earlier than she usually had. Not that she was that surprised at that fact, given how much she'd been sleeping the past couple weeks.
As Charlie turned to see what was available to cook, she stopped. Suddenly remembering why she'd been getting so much sleep lately. She then looked at the tents of hers and her friends and felt a stab of panic.
Charlie quickly rushed back to her tent, partly expecting to see her own body lying in her sleeping bag, no longer moving or breathing. Yet, when she didn't see that, she only felt slightly relieved.
She then looked at Beth and felt her knees threaten to give out from under her as she recognized that all the colored spots that had been on Beth's face were gone and while Beth might still have some where Charlie couldn't see, she doubted that was the case.
Charlie couldn't bring herself to move at the moment when she came to that conclusion. It was such a relief to know that the nightmare of the disease was actually over and they'd survived it.
Eventually, she felt her strength returning to her body and she took a deep, shuddering breath. All the worry and fear she'd accumulate during the time they'd all pretty much been at death's doorstep feeling like it was draining from her in that breath. The fact that it was over felt like it was finally starting to sink in and become real.