Healing Hands (The Queen of the Night series Book 2)

by Laura Emmons

  “It takes more strength to hold the poses than it does to move fast. That way, when you need speed, your muscle memory and strength are ready.” I showed him several blindingly fast ‘push hands’ strikes.

  He shook his head, impressed. “I heard what you did to Steve McCoy, now I see how.”

  Luckily, it only took an hour for the council to agree I could talk to Evan on the phone. Fiona ducked back in to give me the good news and the handset. I thanked her. Jimmy waited outside the door to give me the semblance of privacy but I really didn’t have any.

  He answered the phone on the first ring.

  “Hey,” I said, relieved to hear his voice.

  “How’re you holding up?”

  “Oh, well…”

  “Splat?” he asked, tentatively.

  The air rushed out of me. “Oh Evan, I don’t get it. We let go and still went splat!”

  “Now I’m convinced we shouldn’t have let go.” He sounded regretful.

  “Me, too.” It felt good to know he felt the same way.

  “Listen,” he said, “I’ve been thinking. If we’re found guilty, the council will probably shun and exile us from the clan. That’s really the most they can do. It would be stupid, because they’d lose their last Healer and their Great Seer. The real problem is the Queen’s vengeance.”

  “She’s going to try to kill us like she killed so many others. What can we do?”

  “That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I turn eighteen in two weeks. If we’re found guilty then I want you to run away with me. We’ll hide like your parents did.”

  “Oh, Evan, it won’t matter. No one can hide from her once she’s decided she wants them dead. My dad was in Afghanistan for crying out loud. We can’t hide.”

  “Then we’ll have to fight.”

  “How can we fight her?”

  “I don’t know. In the meantime, don’t go outside at night. Stay away from the windows and watch out for her spies.”

  “How do I know who her spies are?”

  “I’m still working on that.”

  “Okay.”

  “Take care, Mags.”

  “You too, Evan,” I started to press the END button on the phone when I heard a click. Did the council get a wiretap on my phone? Deciding it couldn’t be possible; I hung up and wrote it off as one of those weird things.

  ***

  The week dragged. At one point, Paula Sinclair Schwartz came by to interview me. I told her the same story I had told my family. She listened impassively, took a lot of notes and left without any inclination of what she believed. I bet she’s a really good prosecutor.

  ***

  Without school, choir, work or training, I found myself incredibly bored, until I noticed Corey spent a lot of time alone, also. At least one positive outcome resulted from my incarceration. I started hanging around with him in the den, playing video games. After a while, he relaxed a bit and confided his fear.

  “I’m worried about Arianna.”

  “The moon goddess? Why are you worried about her?”

  “She’s going to kill you… and Evan. She’s already murdered or ordered the murder of a lot of people.”

  I stared at him open-mouthed. Evan and I hadn’t told anyone about his dream diary, my family tree, or the connections we’d made.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I have nightmares,” he whispered.

  I gasped. How powerful is Corey? I’d already deduced he had Healer vision, like me. He’d just confirmed my suspicion he had dreams of other people’s memories, like Evan. A chill ran down my spine.

  “Have you had a vision of me or Evan getting hurt?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word ‘killed’.

  “Not yet,” he still spoke softly. We couldn’t let Deputy Jimmy find out about Corey’s magic. His voice, still raspy from the change to baritone, shook with fear and worry.

  I squeezed his hand. “Tell me about the nightmares.”

  He looked down at our linked hands curiously, shrugged and told me about two. The first story he relayed was new to me.

  “Rhonda MacDougall, aged 27, the unmarried younger daughter of Robert Wallace and Tamryn MacDougall, died tragically one day while hiking through the forest, looking for medicinal herbs to harvest. Everyone thought she tripped accidentally when her feet tangled in some vines and she fell over the edge of a mountainside cliff. Except it wasn’t an accident. Those vines shot out of the forest undergrowth of their own accord and wrapped themselves around her feet.”

  “A gnome did it.”

  “Yup. I keep having bad dreams about Madison McLoed, too.”

  “I had one of those. I think it’s better to try and ignore her. They’ll find a witness. Evan and I will be proven innocent.”

  He didn’t look convinced.

  “Tell me another dream,” I prompted, to change the subject.

  The second story was the same memory Evan had recalled about my maternal grandparents being killed in a head-on collision with a truck. He added one detail. “The gnome hid in the cab until the truck driver was driving down the highway. Suddenly, an approaching pick-up was bathed in moonlight. It must have been a signal, because the gnome started to transform into a massive tangle of vines with large leaves and big, white flowers. The plant blocked the window so the trucker couldn’t see and covered his feet so he couldn’t take his foot off the gas pedal. Then there was the impact. The gnome shifted his shape back into a short, wrinkly person, snuck out of the cab, and ran off.”

  “Moon flowers,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  “In the moon garden in the backyard lives a gnome who spies on us for Arianrhod. He shape shifts into a vine of moon flowers.”

  “Well, he also killed our grandparents. Did you know Grandpa Kyle was the last living McGuire, the only other Healer family in the clan?”

  “Yeah, I knew.”

  “If I ever get my hands on that gnome, he’ll never hurt anyone again. We have to stop her.”

  “How? She’s a goddess. She has incredible power.”

  “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out. You know, if she can get a few of these magical creatures to do her dirty work, she can get hundreds, maybe even thousands of them to kill for her.”

  “What are you talking about? Do you think she’ll attack the whole clan…with an army…like a war?”

  “We’re already at war with her sis, we’ve been at war our entire lives. She declared war on our family when Mom and Dad got married. Only we didn’t know it. Now we do, and I’m gonna fight back. I’m gonna protect us from her.”

  “Oh kiddo, don’t talk like that. It’s not your responsibility. I’ll talk to Evan and see what he thinks.”

  Corey grunted.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Mooney

  After school on the sixth day of my incarceration, Corey thrashed about downstairs cussing a blue streak which would have gotten him weeks of restriction if my mom still lived. I rushed to my door and looked at Deputy Jimmy. By tacit agreement, he allowed me to join him in a sprint down the stairs. Definite sounds of a struggle came from the kitchen. Furniture was being thrown around and maybe even broken. Once in the door, I immediately grasped the situation. “Jimmy, help him. Restrain that gnome!”

  Jimmy was so overwhelmingly powerful he had the scrawny gnome imprisoned in moments.

  “Omigosh, how did you catch Arianrhod’s spy from the garden?”

  Corey was still winded from his struggle, but he nodded his head as he gasped for air. Finally he said, “The air hole’s got something he wants to tell us.”

  I had walked over to where Corey stood, behind the overturned kitchen table. It smelled like roast pork only gross. Corey’s hands smoldered. Blisters were starting to form and they looked painful. With a quick glance to make sure Jimmy was preoccupied and wouldn’t notice, I reached down to Corey’s damaged hands behind the cover of the sideways table and healed him quickly.

  He smiled his
thanks, but it looked more like a grimace.

  The gnome sported nasty looking blisters on his chest and one arm. I made no effort whatsoever to heal him. “You, you’re the moonflower gnome that spies on my family for Arianrhod. Tell us what happened to the Brideog doll and Madison McLoed!”

  Next to me Corey held up his hands. Jimmy thought Corey offered a gesture of supplication, but the gnome’s eyes widened in terror.

  Jimmy shook the gnome to urge his response. “Tell us your name,” he ordered in his law enforcement voice.

  “M-m-mooney…They call me Mooney…”

  Corey spoke first. “I thought about what Fiona said. She wanted to find out what happened to the doll after you threw it in the backyard, so I started keeping a watch out there. Soon Ginger, Rock and I were taking shifts looking out the back windows. I saw this guy transform from a vine into…this, and then Arianna herself came out of nowhere last night and started talking to him. As soon as I could, I went out there to chat with him myself. What did you do with the doll, Mooney?”

  “I took it,” he said in a small voice.

  “And then what happened?” asked Jimmy.

  “A voice called me from the front yard, so I spoke to it. She asked me to get the doll and the toy bed and give them to her. I took them to the fence on the right side of the house and gave them to a pretty young woman who was waiting for me on the other side.”

  “What did the woman say to you?”

  “She asked me if the boy had touched the doll, too. She wanted to be sure her plan would work.”

  Jimmy asked Mooney, “Are you willing to tell your story to the High Council?”

  “Oh, he’ll talk…” Corey said while wiggling his fingers.

  ***

  A massive group of people crowded into our living room. The five judging members of the High Council and Paula sat around the coffee table. Jimmy still had the restrained gnome in his arms. They stood in front of the group. Evan, Madison and I were asked to stand around as well. Fiona, Rose and Corey hovered in the background.

  I couldn’t stop from scanning Madison, looking for something in her aura or physical health which might explain why she had been so malicious. There was a strong haze of gold hovering over the other colors, meaning she was powerfully magical, as many Seers were. She had spikes of purple which indicated her power of premonition. Shades of red and black indicated how angry she was at getting caught. Gray meant fear, but there was also something else. A translucent brown color existed, not the solid gray-brown of a tumor, but an indicator of a personality trait or emotion. I’d never studied the meaning of this particular shade of dark walnut brown and made a mental note to ask Jenny about it the next chance I got.

  The gnome choked out his confession and Madison was placed under house arrest. The rest of the room let out an audible sigh of relief. Jimmy’s cousin, Bobby, also a police officer, had been Evan’s guard for the week long incarceration. The two policemen escorted Madison away.

  Fiona placed a motion before the council. She asked that Evan and I be considered ‘coveted’.

  “What’s that?” I asked Rose, who had come to stand beside me.

  “It’s when the clan declares you to be protected from retribution from the magical community. Even Arianrhod herself couldn’t try to harm you without it being considered an act of war.”

  I remembered Corey’s comment and thought we’re already at war. Instead I said, “Isn’t that what we wanted for Corey?”

  “Yeah, but after it was determined he had no magic, it wasn’t necessary.”

  “Oh,” Such a thing wouldn’t stop Arianrhod. She’d needed little incentive to kill many of my ancestors, including all four of my grandparents, who had done nothing wrong.

  Fiona informed me that the council needed to deliberate the motion and Evan and I had to wait for their decision in my room.

  ***

  Stunned at the rapid turn of events and drained from the emotional roller coaster of the last week. I just sat on the edge of my bed with my shoulders hunched over, saying nothing. Three feet away from me, Evan did the same thing. We didn’t talk. Finally, Fiona stood in the doorway. She addressed us briskly.

  “The council has made its decision. First off, Evan, the council wanted me to send you their apologies for your treatment this week. Your status on the council and as Great Seer has been reinstated.”

  “That’s good,” I said, hopefully.

  “They need me,” growled Evan. I wondered if he preferred the ‘running away’ plan.

  “You’re right,” Fiona snapped, “We all need you. You have a responsibility to the clan and to Llew.” Evan accepted this.

  She continued. “Okay, you’ve both been declared ‘coveted’, and I just wanted to say one more thing to the two of you before I left.”

  Evan and I waited patiently.

  “Clan law is specific. Neither of you is allowed to marry. Neither of you is allowed to have children. Madison’s accusation was taken seriously because of the implication of Brighid’s blessing, not because they thought you guys were intimate.”

  Huh?

  “In the old days, a ritual like the Brideog ritual was enough to establish a common law marriage. Maggie invited Evan, Evan accepted the invitation. He entered the house and was accepted. Brighid gave the house her blessing, end of story. By ancient clan law, the two of you would be married by now, so here’s the bottom line. Don’t get pregnant. Don’t do anything that might be construed as a common law marriage, like move in together, and for Goddess’ sake, don’t elope. In the past, the Great Healer and Great Seer had a huge generation gap between them. It is unprecedented that you are so close in age. Since you are both forbidden to marry anyone else, why shouldn’t you want to take comfort in each other? It makes perfect sense to me but remember, the law is specific. DO NOT GET PREGNANT. Am I understood?”

  Evan and I just stared at her, from the opposite sides of the bed, with jaws dropped and eyes wide.

  After a moment she decided our reaction equaled confirmation. “Okay,” she nodded and left.

  For a long time, neither of us said anything. Then Evan spoke slowly, as if still trying to come to grips with what she’d said. “Did the leader of the clan just give us permission to have sex?”

  “Great-Aunt Fiona is more progressive than I realized.”

  ***

  Soon after, we were forced back to reality by Corey. He came into the room grim-faced and sat between us.

  “Thanks, Corey, you did good,” I said softly, ruffling his hair.

  He didn’t smile. “Yeah, but we still have a problem. It’s in the basement. Follow me.”

  Evan and I got up and walked after him.

  Our house was built in 1920. It doesn’t have a basement. It has a root cellar accessed by steel, storm doors from the backyard, but it’s built solidly. I didn’t hear the muffled shouts until we stood in front of the double doors. Corey pulled back the sliding bolt and opened one of them. Evan helped him pull the other one open. We walked down the stairs and I pulled the string which turned on the single bulb mounted in the ceiling.

  In the center of the cellar, tied to a chair and covered with blisters, was Mooney. His mouth was gagged, but he still made a racket. Immediately, I scanned him to see what other injuries he sustained. There weren’t any, but he had the same translucent walnut brown haze in his aura that I’d noted in Madison.

  Corey explained why Mooney was still with us. “Rock helped me get him down here and tied up.”

  After Mooney had confessed, I had forgotten all about him, assuming he’d been allowed to return to his home.

  Corey echoed my thoughts. “I couldn’t let him go back to the moon garden. He knows my secret. The first person he’d tell would be Arianna and it would all be over.”

  “What secret?” Evan asked.

  “That Corey really is the Destroyer,” I replied, shocked, as the pieces fell together in my mind.

  “Yup, that’s the one,” conf
irmed my brother. He took a weary seat on the floor.

  Evan and I did the same.

  He continued to explain. “You see, the first day you were under arrest, when you guys talked on the phone, I listened in on your conversation. You said Arianna wanted to kill you anyway. I can’t let you die, Maggie. You’re all I have left. You know as well as I do she’s killed a lot of people in our family, so when you were downstairs or in the bathroom, I’d sneak in your room and look at the family tree you have on the wall. I recognized a few of these names from the stories in the Poet’s Play.”

  I’d thought he’d slept the whole time, but he must have been listening instead.

  “I also recognized them from my dreams. Leslie MacDougall was an in-betweener. She was born to a generation of Healers who would not become a Great Healer. After her older sister gave birth to the next Great Healer, Leslie mysteriously died.”

  I disagreed with him, “No Corey, she died during the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1944. She was a nurse in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Mark Stewart,” my brother continued, “was the younger brother of grandpa Ewan. Two years after Dad was born, he died too.”

  Again, I had a counter-argument. “Mark died in Vietnam, Corey.”

  “And Dad died in Afghanistan!” he shouted, “but we know Arianna murdered him!” Corey had a good point. Arianrhod’s pruning may very well have gone beyond revenge and infanticide.

  Corey finished his argument. “The war began a long time ago. Now we know we’re in it, we have no choice but to fight back or we’ll be the next to die.” He lowered his voice, “if she finds out I have the power to kill her, or that I might someday, I’m dead meat. Besides, Mooney confessed. There’s no way we can let this guy go free.”

  “I know, he confessed to helping Madison, but it sounds like you’re talking about killing him. We aren’t murderers.”

  “Self-defense and capital punishment aren’t murder. He confessed to killing Grandpa Kyle and Grandma Kathryn. He also confessed to killing Rhonda MacDougall in 1915. He’s been a bad gnome for a long time. If we let him out of our sight for a second, he’ll go to Arianna and tell her I’m the Destroyer. Then she’ll find a way to kill all of us. There’s no way I’m letting him go free.”