by Regan Claire
“I believe it may be prudent to ask your Uncle to address the Dunamis in the area concerning the current happenings. We do not want an uncomfortable situation to arise if they happen upon one of the Clades, and until Kaylus is apprehended, your family is still at risk for being taken by him to fulfill his needs.” Holy cow, I forgot how much danger they were all in. We were all in danger with a maniac like Kaylus on the loose, but my family, specifically, held the key to something he needed.
“Uncle Connor, wait.”
They had only made it past the door to the room next to Cash’s when I called out to them.
“Yes, Della?” Connor asked.
“We need to let everyone else in the family know exactly what’s going on. Can you set up a meeting so I can explain to them?”
“I’ll do you one better. I’ll let them know, myself. You have enough to handle in the upcoming days. We can handle the humans, you take care of the Ethnos,” he gave me an exhausted smile.
“One more thing. Uh, there’s a good chance that our entire family may be targeted by Kaylus —”
“Your father already filled me in on that one. We have all the family we can muster at Dad’s place, or ours. And about a dozen or more guards watching us. Even Luke was rousted out of his place this morning. He’ll be staying with us, obviously, but it’s been interesting.” It must have been a good “interesting” because he looked pretty happy about it.
“Everyone will be so happy to hear that Cash is awake! It’s taken a lot of convincing to keep them all away from the hospital. It can be overwhelming in places like this, and we didn’t want Cash to wake up with that type of activity surrounding him.” Aunt Ellis was beaming. I could see that she was beyond exhausted, but also happy. Her son was okay.
We said our goodbyes again, and I went back into the room with Cash while Alexander did bodyguard things. I sat down on the couch in the room and ate one of the sandwiches that Alexander had picked up for us. Hospitals are boring, and it wasn’t long before I was considering being an awful person and waking Cash back up.
Before I made the move to do so, a nurse walked in to take his vitals. She got to be the mean one to wake him up. I made my way to the bed while she asked him a few questions about his pain level, and whether there was anything else he needed to be comfortable. I stifled a laugh when he winked at her when she finally said she was done and turned to leave.
“Cash, she’s easily twice your age.”
“As long as she’s not half my age, I don’t see how it matters,” he said, stifling a yawn.
“Are you still tired? Do you think that’s normal? Clara should be by sometime today, I can call and tell her to hurry up if something’s wrong. Or Dove?”
“Della, I’m fine. I’m sure it’s normal for… whatever happened to me. When did Mom and Dad leave?” he asked, reaching around his back and readjusting the pillow which had been placed behind him.
“Only about a half-hour or so ago. Why, do you want me to call them?”
“No, just wondering. What I do want is a soda. Think you can go grab one for me? They have vending machines, right?”
I wasn’t sure you were supposed to give people in a hospital soda without talking to a doctor about it first, but I didn’t see the harm so I went to ask where I could grab one. Alexander was outside the door still, but when I told him I’d come get him if I left the floor, he stayed where he was. A man sitting behind the nurses station pointed me in the direction of the vending machines in a small waiting area. I spent a few minutes frantically looking for change in my pockets, knowing I didn’t have any, before seeing that there was a credit card slot on the drink machine. When I got back to the room with two Dr. Peppers in hand, I felt like I walked in on a private moment. Cash had pulled his right leg out from under the blanket. There was a pool of gauze around him, falling to the floor, where he’d unwrapped what used to be a complete leg, and now was not. His leg was lifted, and he was bending his knee over and over, experimentally, until he saw me come in and threw the blanket back over himself.
I walked closer and studied his face. It was pale, and I could see he was trying to control his expression.
“Can I see it?” I asked. I would not feel pity. I would not feel guilt. I repeated those words over and over, because I didn’t want Cash to feel those things from me.
But I had to feel something about it, and that something might as well be curiousity.
“Uh, sure,” he said, not looking at me as he pulled his leg back out. They had made the cut about four inches below his knee, and because of Doves healing, there wasn’t even a scar. No evidence that it hadn’t always been that way, other than our memory.
“Does it hurt?” I asked him. It seemed like it should hurt, even though there was no wound any longer.
“No, but — are you Tempering Fire?” he asked me. I was, because I always did, but once he asked if I was, I noticed something strange about where his lower leg used to be with my Tempered sight.
There was still a calf and foot shaped aura there. His aura had not changed at all, even though there was nothing physically there for it to be connected to like that. That’s why I didn’t notice anything strange, because his aura looked as it always did.
“Is it supposed to be like that? Can you feel your foot there?”
He lifted his leg again and bent his knee to give himself a closer look. “No, but kind of. It’s weird. I can’t feel my foot, but I can still sense what my aura is feeling where my foot used to be.”
“That is so weird,” I said. We both sat there, staring at his stub for a few minutes.
“How bad was it before?” Cash asked, quietly. I thought back to our fight with Kaylus’ men.
“It was bad, Cash. I mean, really really bad.”
“Bad enough to do this? If Dove had gotten here fast enough?”
“Cash, it was bad enough that I puked when I saw it. Dove couldn’t have fixed it. I’m surprised he was able to fix your eye.” Before Dove had healed it, it was just a wrecked socket of blood and goo — or that’s what it seemed like at the time.
“I remember getting hit in the face, hurt like a sonofabitch. Wait, you puked when you saw my leg? What a whimp!”
“Clara threw up too, you know. But that was after you were all prettied up by her brother. It was when she saw your aura.”
“I made Clara puke?” He groaned, then stayed quiet for a minute. “What happened after I was knocked out? Did someone come help you?”
I flashed back to the final moments in the fight. I hadn’t even consciously used my powers, yet had destroyed the remaining Clades completely. Utterly. If I’d had time to dwell on it, the memories would have given me nightmares — as it was, I had a hard time thinking of what I’d done to them. “No. I took care of it.”
“I was useless in that fight, Della. I should have had your back and instead could have gotten us both killed.” His face was down like he was too ashamed to meet my eyes.
“We were really outmatched, Cash. You did have my back.”
He didn’t respond at first. “When do you think I can start training again?”
“Cash —”
“I’m not going to let this— “ he gestured to his leg “ — make me weak, Della. I’m not going to sit on the sidelines while you’re probably going to be out there risking your life — again.” He was almost shouting, he was so upset.
I held up both hands. “Okay, okay. Talk to your doctor about how long it takes for one of those prosthetic legs, alright? I wonder how long you have to stay in the hospital. Now that you’re awake, and Dove has healed all your physical injuries, I don’t see why you have to stay here.”
“I’ve just been waiting for some type of transportation. Crutches, wheelchair, whatever can get my crippled ass out of here, and I’m gone.” He looked around as if something might be forgotten in a corner.
“Cash, your parents would kill me if I let you do that while I’m here.”
“Well, that
’ll just be the sacrifice you have to make to help your favorite cousin out.” Cash’s voice had gone back to its usual playful tone. It wasn’t quite the same, but close enough.
“What type of sacrifice are you two talking about?” Clara’s voice came from the doorway.
Cash and I both turned in her direction. I stood up and walked a few steps in her direction, giving Dove my spot next to Cash. Clara came to stand next to me while Dove and Cash gave each other one of those “brotha-man” handshakes that all males know.
“He seems to be doing okay,” Clara said.
“Thanks to you, he is,” I told her. “He’s trying to find a way to get out of here. It seems wrong though, right? He just woke up.”
“Yeah, but there’s nothing actually wrong with him anymore. The hospital will try to keep him here, anyway, but if he pushes hard enough, they’ll have no choice but to release him.” She said it so matter of factly that I knew she was right. Besides, Cash was an adult — it’s not like we could make him do anything he didn’t want to.
I put up a token argument about it though. “What about physical therapy? Won’t he need to… I don’t know, have that?”
“Yeah, definitely. Of course, Dover just got off the phone with your Uncle. He’s using some of his connections to get Dove’s next internship here. Cash will be starting PT with a certified therapist next week. They’ll make the decision whether he’s going to get a prosthetic or use crutches, then start working with him on that. Dove’ll be coming over after work each day to work with Cash some more with whatever he decides.”
“I forgot that he’s almost done with his training to become a physical therapist.” Did that make me a bad friend, that I couldn’t remember something like that?
“Yeah, he’s not really qualified to be working with Cash one-on-one,” she shrugged a shoulder, “But Connor and Ellis are assuming that Cash will push himself too fast. I think they’re hoping Dove being with him will dampen that a little, in addition to his having a better idea on which things would help Cash the most, and he’d be able to keep an eye on him to make sure he’s following doctors orders — at least some of the time.”
Our voices were pretty low, though it wasn’t necessarily because we were trying to hide our conversation.
“Why does it make me nervous to see you two conspiring over there?” Cash raised his voice to get our attention.
“Because you’re smarter than you look,” Clara answered.
“Does this mean you’ll stop breaking my heart and take me out sometime?” Cash asked, waggling his brows, while Dove called out “Dude” in protest.
“Oh, now it’s me taking you out? These propositions keep getting more and more romantic.” Clara rolled her eyes.
Cash’s face fell. I hoped Clara wouldn’t fall for whatever ploy he was cooking up. “I wish I could take you, Clara. But, you see… I’ve misplaced a limb, and until I get a replacement, I can’t drive my vehicle. S’not safe. And as I always say,’“safety first.’”
Clara’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?”
My cousin’s face split into a grin. “Hey, a pity date is still a date. Whaddya say, Dove, don’t you think your sister should give me a shot?”
Dove laughed, then patted his friend on his shoulder. “Cash, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: She’s not your type, bud — she has too much self respect.”
Cash clutched his heart with both hands. “That hurt, Dove. That hurt real bad.”
Before I could add my two cents about the type of girl Cash was usually into, I felt my ring flare up. Looking down showed the color had changed to yellow, which was mine and Ezra’s sign for “let’s meet up.” If that weren’t enough of a distraction, Alexander knocked on the door before letting himself in.
“Epiklayra, a moment?” Alexander reverted back to using my official Elfennol title, but I hoped it was just because Clara and Dove were in the room and that he needed to speak to me about Ethnos business.
I straightened my back and lifted my chin to meet his eyes. “Of course, Alexander.” I looked at the other three people in the room — my friends — and excused myself. “I need to step outside for a minute, guys.” Then turned to follow Alexander out of the room. He led me to the small waiting room that was next to the vending machines. We both stood, despite the chairs that were in there.
“What did you need to speak to me about, Alexander?”
“Your father just contacted me. The Council will be here before nightfall. The message was brief, but I am under the impression that rumors have reached their ears and they are in a hurry to come here and discuss things.” Alexander stood with his legs apart, and arms locked behind his back. It was like he was at attention, and I had a random urge to say “at ease,” before what he said sank all the way in.
I rubbed both hands over my face and groaned. “I don’t have time for them to be early! We still don’t know where we’re going to meet them. I don’t know if Uncle Connor has had a chance to explain things to the other Dunamis, and I wanted to meet the other Clades in the area to make sure they aren’t tainted by Kaylus’ evil. Can we postpone a meeting with them for a few days?” I also wanted to make sure Cash was okay, and hopefully get him settled back in at home.
“We can, but I do not think that would be the wisest course to take at this time. As for the location of the meeting — I believe that your father and Uncle discussed a few possibilities last night. There were several options that will give us an advantage in case things go badly.”
“You don’t think it will be dangerous, do you?” I twisted the ring on my thumb.
“It is better to be prepared for something that does not happen than the alternative,” he said.
I nodded. “Thank you, Alexander. I’ll talk to Connor about it, as well, but I think you’re right. Can you ask my father to meet me at my house in an hour?” I was really going to need to learn how to communicate through the gems… sometime.
“Of course, Della. I believe Laurel will also be here around that time. I am glad she will arrive before the Council. She is well respected, and her support of you will only help things,” Alexander said.
“Plus, she’s awesome.” Laurel had become a close friend when I was in Eurybis learning about the Elfennol.
“Yes, there is that, as well.” He smiled.
After I was done talking to Alexander, I called Ellis on my way back to Cash’s room to let her know I would be leaving. Only Dove was still there when I walked in the room; he and Cash were hovering over Dove’s phone, laughing at what sounded like a rap battle between Chuck Norris and… Abraham Lincoln?
“Did Clara leave already?” I asked when they looked up.
“Yeah. She said she would be back later, though. Did you need her?” Dove answered, looking up from his phone to meet my eyes with his.
“No. Will you be sticking around? I’ve got to head out, and Aunt Ellis won’t be able to get back here for another hour,” I asked him.
“I don’t need a babysitter. I’m fine, guys,” Cash told us.
We ignored him. “Yeah, I was planning on hanging out for the day, so no worries. I want to be here when his doctor comes in to discuss a therapy plan. Did you hear that I’m staying in town for another semester?”
“Yeah, that’s awesome. I have a feeling that more than Cash will be needing your healer mojo. I hope I’m wrong, though.” I tried to look happy about it, but not too happy so he wouldn’t get the wrong idea. When we broke up, one of the points I’d made was that he was going back to school after Christmas break — that our paths only lined up for a short time before they split again. It took a minute to explain that it was more than our physical location that was preventing me from wanting to pursue a relationship with him. Laurel had told me a few months ago that if you were with the right person, you’d be willing to fight for them to make it work.
I hadn’t been willing to fight for Dove, and that made it clear that we were
n’t right for each other.
My ring flared yellow again, Ezra probably reminding me in case I forgot about it’s earlier color change. He was next on my list though. “Okay, I really do have to go. Cash?” I walked closer to him.
“Yeah?”
“Brush your teeth and change into real people clothes before that doctor comes. Your bag is in the floor next to you. If you’re serious about wanting to come home, looking like a patient will not help your cause. And it’s been three days since you’ve brushed your teeth.”
I saw my cousin slide his tongue over his teeth. “Yeah, they do feel a little furry.” He grabbed my arm, pulled me close, and huffed air in my face. “Does my breath stink?”
I took my free hand and flicked his earlobe, then jerked away. “You’re disgusting.”
When I left a few seconds later, Alexander followed me to Cash’s Jeep and I told him Ezra needed to see me when he asked. I wasn’t sure where he was, at first, but my tracking ring seemed to be coming from the direction of my house, so I just headed there.
Chapter Eleven
Journal,
I knew I wasn’t making it up! I knew it! What is between Derek and I is absolutely real. Absolutely true. Breathe Gabby. You can’t write if you don’t breathe — all you can do is pass out. Derek came to see me.
Inhale. Exhale. That’s a good girl.
He makes me forget how to breathe!
I have a problem.
I can’t believe he came to see me. Yes I can. I mean, when I went for a walk last night on the beach, tracing the same path we’d taken together a couple weeks back, I didn’t expect to see him. But I wasn’t surprised when I did. I just turned, and there he was, watching me.
But not in a creepy stalker way. Watching me in a “hurry up and see me already” type of way. I walked over to him, slid my hand in his, and we just kept walking as if it were a normal thing for us to see each other. Our conversation picked up where we last left it — we’re both going through a little more pressure at home right now. I talked about my issues with my dad and brother, no specifics — I still don’t know why I’m so wary to tell him exactly who I am — but he gave me some great advice. Well, I guess we gave each other the great advice. He’s going through similar issues. His family doesn’t trust him, doesn’t think he’s ready for his future.
