By the time she managed to open her eyes, she saw Kellen at the kitchen counter. He picked up a couple of Corbin’s cookies and headed for his hallway. “Hope no one minds I’m taking these,” he called as he exited the common area.
How long Morgan remained frozen in place, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until Greg entered the room, stopping short at the sight of her, that she was able to pull herself together enough to leave the room. If Greg wanted to talk to her about what he’d told her about Chelsea, it would have to wait. She didn’t think her brain could take any more insanity today.
Chapter Fourteen
After the excitement of Christmas, the days began to fall in to the old accustomed rhythm of meals and training time, differentiated from one another by little more than a change in which person Kellen decided to annoy at the time. This particular day, he decided his target was Joss.
“Come on, Queen Bee,” Kellen whined, following Joss from the dining room to the kitchen. “Do it. I give you permission. No—more than that: I dare you.”
Morgan, who was watching this exchange from her spot on one of the couches, locked eyes with Joss. The look on Joss’s face was clear: Help me.
“You know,” Morgan called, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, “I think you better just do it. I’ve found it’s the most effective way to get him to stop bothering you.”
“I agree,” Lia called from her spot at the end of the dining table. She glanced up from the laptop’s screen. “You’re just prolonging the inevitable.”
Kellen looked from Morgan to Lia, smiling broadly. “Ah, thank you. The voice of reason. They’re right, you know,” he said, turning his attention back to Joss. “If you’ll just do it, I’ll leave you in peace. Now, you’ve got no excuse.”
Joss shot Morgan and Lia a dirty look. “Traitors.”
Morgan laughed; Lia turned her attention back to the computer screen.
With a dramatic sigh, Joss rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
Lucas entered from the hallway, a dubious look on his face. “What am I walking in to?” he asked, slowing to a stop.
“Kellen wants Joss to Move him across the room,” Morgan explained, patting the couch cushion beside her. “He seems to think that the allure of possibly causing him bodily harm will help her get over her mental block about Moving large objects.”
Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Lucas crossed to Morgan and sat beside her. “Looks like I got here just in time.” He turned his attention to Joss and Kellen.
Joss was attempting to push past Kellen to get back into the dining room, but he was physically blocking her passage. “Do you mind?”
“No, not at all.”
“Kellen, move it.”
“Jocelyn, Move me.”
Joss cast an exasperated look in Morgan’s direction, but Morgan merely shrugged. As much as she would never admit it to him, Kellen had a valid point.
Kellen moved closer to Joss, invading her personal space. She attempted to get around him, but he anticipated her movements and stayed directly in front of her. As Morgan watched, she Felt Joss’s frustration level increase to the point where Morgan was concerned her cousin would start throwing punches. Morgan glanced at Lucas, ready to ask him if they should intervene, when the irritation coming from Joss abruptly disappeared. When Morgan looked back at her, she saw a distinct smile flash across Joss’s face just before Kellen—as if connected to invisible strings—raised up until his head grazed the cabin’s vaulted ceiling. He performed a set of somersaults before lowering gracefully toward Lia, whose chair slid itself away from the table as he approached.
When Kellen lighted softly on Lia’s lap, he threw up his hands in triumph. “Fantastic job, Queen Bee! I knew you could do it. Team Watcher!”
Lia pushed Kellen off her lap and he crumpled to the floor.
“That’s sexual harassment, and she doesn’t have to take it.” Corbin’s voice sounded from the mouth of the hallway and Morgan wondered how long he’d been standing there.
Kellen was on his feet in moments. “It’s not harassment when she likes it.” He turned to Lia and pointed a finger at her, attempting to touch her cheeks.
Lia smacked his hand away.
Shaking his head, Corbin crossed the room toward the other hallway.
Morgan’s eyes went to Joss, who was beaming with pleasure. She got off the couch and crossed to her, enveloping her cousin in a hug. “You did it!”
Joss laughed. “Yeah, I guess I just needed the proper motivation.” She pulled away from Morgan, her gaze flashing toward Kellen momentarily. “Is it wrong that I considered dropping him on his head?”
Morgan threw her head back, laughing. “Next time.”
“Joss!” Lia called, still smacking at Kellen’s hand. “Will you do something about this?”
Joss started toward him. “Just Push him. Make him leave.”
“Oh, no,” Kellen said, straightening and shaking his head. “I’ve offered my body as a guinea pig for your abilities enough for one day. While I’m more than happy to offer my body to you for other reasons—”
Lia threw a shoe at him.
“Ow! Fine, I can take a hint.” He rubbed his stomach where the shoe hit. “Still embarrassed about your overwhelming feelings toward me. I understand. And on that note, adieu.” Kellen made an exaggerated bow before heading for the far hallway.
As soon as he was out of sight, Lia smacked Joss’s shoulder with the back of her hand. As she started in on Joss about what she’d been thinking, Morgan walked over to the cupboards and started searching for something to eat. She only half-listened to the banter between Joss and Lia, her attention focused instead on finding something to eat that she wasn’t entirely sick of.
The refrigerator opened and Morgan glanced toward it, expecting to see Lucas. Instead, she saw a jar of jelly float out, seemingly of its own accord. She smiled, turning her attention back to her search. As her eyes scanned the canned goods, she heard another cupboard and a drawer open. Deciding on a can of ravioli, Morgan closed her cupboard door and pivoted on her heel in search of a can opener.
A sharp, tearing pain ripped through Morgan’s upper arm. She cried out in pain as the hand of her opposite arm went to the source of the feeling. A steak knife clattered to the floor. Morgan clutched her arm, pressing her hand against the sticky warmth gathering there.
Lucas was at her side in a second. “Joss, what the hell were you thinking?” His tone was low and dark as he guided Morgan so she was sitting on the kitchen floor.
Joss shook her head, her hands pressed against her mouth. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.” Tears spilled onto her cheeks.
Lucas crouched at Morgan’s side. “Let me see,” he said, attempting to gently prise her hand from the wound.
Morgan resisted, her lips pressed in a tight line. The searing heat of the injury seemed to increase exponentially with the passing seconds. She couldn’t make herself look down to see the blood, but she could feel it.
Ellie appeared at Morgan’s side. Before Morgan had a chance to marvel at her appearance—had someone called for help?—Ellie was talking. “What happened?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Joss murmured, hands still covering her mouth. “I just… I thought it’d be funny to make a sandwich—”
“I need to get the first aid kit. Morgan.” Ellie held Morgan’s gaze with hers. “You need to keep pressure on it. I’ll be right back.”
The spot Ellie vacated was immediately filled by Lucas. His hand covered hers gently. “Move your hand—let me—”
Morgan’s mind couldn’t focus. “Ellie said to keep pressure on it—”
He nodded, pressing his hand against hers. “Okay.” He squeezed her upper arm gently, and Morgan closed her eyes against a slight burning sensation that permeated the area.
“What if she needs stitches?” Lia asked to no one in particular.
Joss let out a choked sob, and Lia put her arm around Joss’s shoulders.
Morgan gritted her teeth. The burning in her shoulder had given way to an unpleasant prickling sensation—as if the area had fallen asleep and was now regaining feeling. “Joss, since you weren’t the one… sliced by a steak knife… do you think you could stop crying?”
Joss gulped and pressed her quivering lips together in a firm line. Tears continued to spill down her face. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Morgan turned her attention to Lucas, whose gaze were fixed on her face. She focused on the light blue of his irises, immersing herself in the color until it was all she could see, all she could feel.
Ellie returned, a first aid case clutched in her hand. “Leave it to Wen to put something like this away,” she muttered to herself, kneeling in front of Morgan and opening the plastic box. She pulled on a pair of latex gloves. “Stuffed behind toilet paper and mouthwash…” She tore open a small package and removed an alcohol wipe. Taking in a breath, she turned her attention to Morgan and Lucas. “Okay, you two. Move your hands so I can see the damage.”
After a beat, Lucas removed his hand from atop Morgan’s. Carefully, she followed suit and pulled her hand away from the wound.
“Okay, this’ll sting like hell, but I’ve got to clean it out,” Ellie said, moving closer to Morgan. She held the alcohol wipe in her hand and searched the bloody area with her eyes. After a moment, she pressed it to Morgan’s arm.
Morgan gritted her teeth, waiting for the antiseptic sting, but none came. She looked at Ellie, confused. But Ellie looked equally befuddled. She wiped Morgan’s arm with the alcohol pad now, but no wound presented itself.
“What the…?” Ellie looked up at Morgan. “What did you do?”
“Me?” Morgan asked, baffled. “Nothing? I pressed on it like you told me to. Then Lucas came over and helped me press on—”
Morgan and Ellie turned to Lucas at the same time. He held his hands up innocently. “What?”
“You… You fixed it,” Morgan said slowly.
Lucas’s brow knit. “I what?”
“Lucas,” Ellie said sharply, “have you ever done this before?”
“Made someone stop bleeding? Not that I remember.”
Ellie shook her head. “No, not just bleeding. Anything. Have you ever… fixed anyone before?”
Lucas looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. “What? No.”
But Morgan shook her head slowly. Memories floated forward from her subconscious—events that had seemed innocuous at the time. But they made sense, given the current situation. “You have, though.”
“I think I’d remember something like that.”
“I don’t think you even realized it. I mean, I didn’t realize it until…” She laughed. “The first night. When I activated you and we went to Oakdale. The Hummer?”
“I Moved you out of the way before the Hummer could hit you. You didn’t get hurt.”
“I did, though. I twisted my ankle. Remember? You had to help me back to the car. It hurt so much—I could barely walk, remember? But by the time I got home, it was much better.” She paused, thinking. “And then—the night we came here. Greg and Wen were, like, playing tug-of-war with my body with some Veneret and when I got into the van, I was in so much pain—”
“I remember that,” Joss said, her hands finally away from her face. “I hugged you and you kept saying ow—”
“And you came over to hold my hand,” Morgan continued, nodding encouragingly at Lucas. “And by the time we got here, I was completely better.”
“It was, like, a zillion hour drive to get here, though,” Lucas said. “You probably just slept it off.” But he didn’t sound convinced.
A silence fell over the room. Finally, Ellie let out a short laugh. “Wow. This is incredible.”
They all looked at her, waiting for her to continue.
“I mean, we always assumed you guys’d be exceptional, but I guess we never realized…” She shook her head, smiling.
“Care to share with the class?” Lucas asked.
Ellie came out of her reverie and focused on Lucas. “You’re a Healer. Which is amazing because… Wow, I don’t even know when the last time someone manifested as a Healer.”
Lia moved closer to the group. “You mean in the Watchers, right?”
“No. Watcher, Veneret, Natural… Our abilities have been declining for generations—I told you all that. And it’s not just that there have been less Naturals and weaker abilities. We’ve actually been losing abilities. Healing’s the most notable one.”
Lucas seemed to be coming to terms with the information. “You’re serious. I can, like, Heal injuries and stuff? Could I bring someone back from the dead?”
Morgan laughed. “Lucas Kenrick: Lord of the Zombies.”
Ellie shook her head. “To Heal someone, you use some of your own energy—your own life force. To heal a mortal injury… You don’t have enough energy in you. I mean, you could do it, I suppose, but it’d kind of be a one-time thing, if you get what I’m saying.”
Morgan snorted. “Well, that’s easy, right? You and Greg are always telling us that we’re stronger together. Wouldn’t a Healer just need to share energy with someone else and then, you know, do it?”
Lucas grinned. “Let the zombie apocalypse begin.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Don’t get your hopes up too much, Lucas.” Ellie was smiling, but there was something else behind her eyes that Morgan couldn’t quite place. Before she could figure it out, Ellie was talking again. “Whenever I’ve heard stories about Healing… I’ve never heard of anyone surviving the process of saving someone who’s that far gone.”
Joss, who had been standing aloof as if her very presence might cause more bodily harm, came forward, a curious look in her eyes. “What stories?”
“What?” Ellie looked slightly taken aback, but regained composure quickly. “Oh, just—I guess you’d call them Watcher bedtime stories. When Wen and I were little, our parents would tell us stories that had been passed down from generation to generation about the origins of the Veneret and the Watchers, about abilities back in the old days.” A smile touched her lips as her eyes seemed to lose focus. “I mean, I’m sure lots of the stories were exaggerated by the time we heard them—like a fish story. Enough years pass, and Great Uncle Teddy’s eight inch fish is suddenly half whale or something.”
“But, what about the Healing stories?” Joss pressed.
Morgan couldn’t help smiling: when they were growing up, Joss had always loved hearing stories. In their childhood, when they’d had sleepovers at each other’s houses, Joss always begged for just one more story—usually until everyone involved had fallen asleep.
“Well, Wen might remember some more, but the one that I recall most clearly is about an old man and his granddaughter.” She paused, her lips pulling together the way they always did when she was thinking hard about something. “To be honest, I barely remember any of the details anymore, just the ending. There was some kind of disaster—war or typhoon or something—and the old man is searching desperately for his granddaughter. And he finds her, but it’s clear that he’s too late. She’s so close to death that she can’t talk, she can’t even smile—but there’s a happiness, a peace in her eyes when her grandfather takes her in his arms. And… and she dies. And the old man, he’s just destroyed. He can’t believe that, old as he is, he’s been able to survive while his strong young granddaughter hasn’t. He can’t accept that she won’t be given the chance to live—to explore, to love, to laugh, to cry. He knows that the best days of his life are behind him. So he takes the energy, the abilities, the life force he possesses… and he gives it to her. And when she wakes up, she sees her grandfather beside her and she knows immediately what he’s done for her.”
There was a silence as they waited for the story to continue. When it didn’t, Joss asked, “Then what’d she do?”
Ellie ran her hands over her face, fingertips lingering at the corners of her eyes just a
beat longer than was strictly necessary. “Presumably, she lived. It’s possible that she went on to tell her story to others—to friends, to family.” She smiled. “Or maybe she never existed at all and it’s just an old story.” She turned her attention back to Lucas. “Either way, any story I’ve ever heard about Healing a fatality have been variations on that story. So, sorry, no zombie army for you, Lucas.”
“Come on, Elle—they’re not all variations on that story.” Wen, who was leaning against the wall in the hallway, straightened and walked into the living room. Morgan wondered how long he’d been standing there.
“What do you mean?” asked Joss.
He leaned against the back of a couch and crossed his arms over his chest before continuing. “There are a fair few stories without the happy ending.”
Joss snorted. “You call that ending happy?”
Wen shrugged. “Better than the stories where no one lives.”
Lucas glanced from Wen to Ellie and back again. “Huh? How can no one live? I thought that was the point of being able to Heal someone?”
“Well, for every sacrificial tale of healing, there’s also a cautionary one. For example, stories where someone finds a loved one who’s been ravaged by wolves or who’s been dead for too long. The person tries to Heal his friend or wife or whatever, but the energy necessary is just too much, and he ends up dying right along with the other person.”
Lucas let out a low whistle.
“Moral of the story,” Joss said, “let the dead stay dead.”
Morgan surveyed the room and noticed that three people were conspicuous in their absence from such a dramatic scene: Corbin, Kellen, and Greg. Pushing out with her abilities, she found the library walled off as it had been before when Corbin and Kellen had gone in there to talk. Pressing in a bit further, she came to the conclusion that Greg wasn’t in the room with them.
The Naturals Trilogy Page 53
