by Kealohilani
He placed his index and middle fingers against the side of her throat and checked her pulse. It was extremely weak and thready. Worse, it was fading.
“I need a clean cloth to bandage her head. Justin, you’re an Eagle Scout too, so you take care of splinting her leg. Erik, you go find blankets for her so she doesn’t get hypothermia or go into shock! Come on, Lani— stay with me, now. I’m here and I’m gonna make this okay, okay? Just stay with me!”
Arante handed Raoul a long white cloth that was about six inches in width. He launched straight into action, wrapping it securely around her head a few times— trying desperately to stop the bleeding.
Jharate was pulled aboard just as Raoul finished bandaging Lani’s head. Jharate was out of breath and exhausted but he immediately rushed to Lani’s side, grasping her hand to his heart.
Seeing that Jharate was safe, Arante called out to her people in a hoarse but booming voice.
“Put out the lamp and set sail before we are seen! NOW!”
It was done. They sailed out of the patch of moonlight and into the black of night.
Drakne reached the edge of what had previously been the forest and saw the ship just as it slipped away into the shadows.
“BLAST IT ALL!”
He turned abruptly to face his men with a deep frown on his face.
“Search for another boat!”
Drakne’s men rushed off to comb the shore in both directions. Drakne knew there would be no vessels to be found. He did not want a boat. He would never set foot on a boat. What he did want was a moment to himself in order to strategize.
He regarded the ebony surface of the water in the same manner one would expect a hungry tiger to regard a raging river that stood between itself and its prey. His mind raced for a possible solution.
It was true that he had tremendous powers— but his powers were mostly those of great forces like electricity, wind, fire, and control over life energy. Water and earth were a different matter. These did not obey him.
He could electrify the water within a fairly good radius. But all that would accomplish at this point would be to kill all of the fish and make the mermaids angry— and he did not want to deal with those creatures.
Drakne wished he had gotten a better look at exactly where they were— because then he could have teleported to them and killed them all. However, that would mean setting foot on a boat for at least a few moments and give the mermaids a possible crack at him. And, without the precise image in his head, he knew that teleportation would likely just get him killed.
He had to be able to picture the exact destination for any of his transportation powers— but especially for teleportation— or he would just end up somewhere in the middle of the dark lake at the mercy of one of its terrible creatures, who all hated him. He would need a different plan.
What little color Lani had left, drained into a near-ashen grey.
“NO! Don’t do this to me, Lani!” Raoul exclaimed.
“What is wrong?” Jharate asked in alarm.
“Her pulse is gone and she’s stopped breathing! That’s what’s wrong!”
Raoul placed the heel of his left hand below the lower half of Lani’s breastbone, placing his right hand on top of his left while interlocking his fingers, and began to press down firmly and smoothly— compressing to one-third of her chest depth. He continued pushing— keeping his elbows locked— and leaned in with his body to keep the motion steady and conserve his own energy.
After he finished the first round of compressions, he moved over, closed her nostrils with his finger and thumb, placed his mouth over hers, and breathed into her. Her chest rose slightly in response. He finished the breath cycle and returned to giving her compressions. He continued cycle after cycle, becoming a little more frantic with each unsuccessful attempt to revive her.
Kendra and Justin had been watching intently over Raoul’s shoulder ever since Justin had finished splinting Lani’s leg. Kendra grabbed on to Justin and buried her face in his chest. He put his arm around her, while running his free hand so roughly across his forehead that it moved his skin back and forth as he stared down at Lani’s pale face in silence.
Raoul’s movements became more and more frenzied— to the point of nearly losing it altogether— but he would not stop.
“Raoul,” Justin said quietly.
“No! Don’t say it! Just don’t say it!”
Raoul continued to alternate between pumping her chest, and breathing into her mouth, again, and again, and again.
“Raoul, you did your best…” Justin interrupted again.
“Shut up, Justin! Just shut up! You don’t know anything! You don’t know anything!”
Raoul repeated the steps, over and over and over again, without missing a beat. He finished yet another breath cycle and moved on to pumping her chest.
A small bright white light emanated from his hands. In that same instant, she started to breathe again and her pulse returned. The light faded away and Raoul’s eyes widened with shock. He turned his hands over to look at his palms with a baffled gaze. There was no sign of the light.
Jharate’s eyes widened and he straightened up as he looked at Raoul. “A healer! Raoul, quickly move your hands to her head and attempt to heal the wound.”
Raoul stared at Jharate, open-mouthed, with fear in his eyes, and looked down again at his open hands. Being asked to repeat such a freak occurrence felt like being asked to fly. But Raoul knew that if he didn’t act soon, the wound in Lani’s head would kill her.
He quickly moved his hands to her head and placed them gently on top, closing his eyes. He concentrated hard. He tried to picture the light coming again and the wound healing. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and exhaled sharply.
“Aah! How do I do this?! I can’t— I don’t know how!”
“Focus. Breathe deeply and feel the energy from your body collecting in your hands. Allow that healing power to enter into Lani. Do not worry if extreme fatigue overtakes you. If you accomplish this, the healing power will drain much energy from you— in order to give it to her.”
Raoul felt a Herculean hand on his shoulder.
“You can do this, Raoul,” Jaresh encouraged fiercely.
Raoul took a deep breath and tried to focus all of his energy into his hands as Jharate had instructed. He held very still— working to keep his breathing steady and sure— clearing his mind of any thought but the thought of giving Lani the energy she needed to live.
He felt something. His hands felt warm and he could feel energy leaving his body. Raoul kept his eyes closed and remained very still, but the corners of his mouth turned up as he realized— by feelings alone— that it was working. He knew he would never be able to explain this— but he could feel Lani’s life force coming back to her.
Jharate had been holding his breath as he watched. He finally exhaled as he saw the white light coming from Raoul’s hands once again. Eventually, the light stopped and Raoul fell back onto the deck, onto his elbows. He opened his eyes, leaned forward again, and pulled himself closer to Lani.
Jharate hadn’t been kidding when he had warned him about feeling fatigued— Raoul felt utterly exhausted. But he had to know. He gently checked under the material he had wrapped around her head.
He gasped as he saw what was beneath. There was nothing wrong! He carefully unwrapped the rest of the bandage. There was a little dried blood in her hair, but her scalp was perfect! There wasn’t so much as a scratch!
Raoul sighed in relief and collapsed onto his back next to her, completely drained. He had been running on sheer adrenaline to that point, and the energy transfer— or whatever it was— had finished him off. He saw Justin and Kendra still standing where they had been during the entire ordeal. They looked relieved and tranquil.
Raoul barely understood Jaresh as he told him that he would return with something to help him regain his strength as soon as he could prepare it. As Jaresh left, Erik arrived and put some blankets over Lani. Justi
n scowled.
“Good job, Erik! My grandma could have gotten those faster! And she has a walker! Lani could have gone into shock, you idiot!”
Erik scowled back.
“Shut up, Justin! How was I supposed to know where they were? No one else did!”
“Excuses, excuses!”
“Guys! Guys! Shouldn’t we just be glad she’s okay? And can you keep it down? I’m really tired from that light thingamajig-thing.”
Raoul placed his arm across his eyes. Erik and Justin exchanged bitter looks, but held their tongues.
Justin looked around for the first time at everyone else on the boat. He saw all of the other rebels working to dry off and warm up— while also working to restore order to what was left of the supplies that they had managed to grab. Justin scanned every face to see if everybody had, in fact, made it aboard.
Jharate gently tucked the blankets around Lani and drew her carefully into his arms— keeping her legs flat on the deck, parallel to the ship railing, and making sure not to harm her splinted leg— as he leaned back against the bottom of the railing. He knew her leg would still be broken until Raoul had the strength to heal again. However, he prayed that she would not have to wait long.
He held her close and sighed deeply. If only Raoul had been strong enough in his gift to be able to fully heal and revive a victim to instant consciousness… He knew, however, that they had been more than fortunate that Raoul had accessed his gift at all. For this, he felt deep gratitude.
Jharate was astonished that one as old as Raoul could have lived so long without developing his gift. He had not even discovered it!
Those types of gifts were innate. They often manifested before the time a child would even have left its mother’s womb— and control over them ordinarily began in the first few years of life. Adolescence was usually the latest stage in life in which the more difficult gifts were mastered— and that was long ago for Raoul.
Jharate looked at Lani’s peaceful face as he continued to hold her in his arms. He tenderly stroked her hair as she slept. Her color was nearly back to normal and her breathing was steady and calm. Jharate inhaled deeply— grateful, again, that at least Raoul’s gift had surfaced in time.
“Where’s Kara?” Justin asked as he completed his visual scan of the ship. “All that drama with Raoul should have brought her running… I don’t see her anywhere.”
“I think she ran away,” Arante shrugged.
“Excuse me?!” Justin freaked out.
Arante rolled her eyes and a puff of air escaped her lips.
“I was making my rounds through the camp when I came across her bedroll. It had a note on it saying something about how she couldn’t ‘take it anymore’ ” Arante made quote marks in the air, “and that she was going to try to find a way to get home.”
“What?!” Kendra exclaimed.
“I was about to send someone to go find her when I saw the fire coming. If she ran into the men chasing us, she has probably been captured or killed. If she somehow avoided both the men and the fire— maybe she will find a way back home. There’s really no way to tell.”
“Well that’s not very comforting,” Justin retorted. “We have to go back for her! We already almost lost one of our best friends tonight!”
“Wake up! Nothing about our world is comforting anymore! The sooner you deal with that fact, the better off you will all be! You have to accept that sometimes there is nothing you can do. We can’t go back for her or we will all die. So assume the worst or assume the best— either way, our course remains unaffected.”
The four conscious friends stared at Arante. They eventually blinked, shook their heads, and looked away. Erik, Kendra, and Justin walked as far apart from Arante and her seemingly-callous attitude as they could get. They sat down close to each other on top of a huge and very-sturdy wooden chest.
They stared off into the pitch-black darkness of the night as they traveled across the lake in silence. Kendra mindlessly ran her fingers across the top of the chest and was mildly aware of the texture changes between the polished wood and the riveted smooth black metal support structures that held the chest together, as tears streamed slowly down her cheeks.
Raoul remained flat on his back— motionless from the fatigue. However, his mind was alert and active. It all made sense now.
Once, when he had been quite young— maybe ten years old or so— his father had suffered a heart attack. Raoul panicked as his mother called for an ambulance. He shook his unconscious father and pushed on his chest to try to wake him— and all of a sudden… his father was fine.
The paramedics arrived and were beyond bewildered— as were the members of the Evans family who were home at the time. They concluded that it must have simply been a panic attack. Raoul’s father had insisted he was a calm and rational person who would never have such an attack— but could offer no other explanation.
Raoul now theorized that he must not have noticed the light coming from his hands at the time because of his frantic emotional state. Not to mention it had been daylight.
Realizing he had this gift was a strange feeling for Raoul. It was thrilling. Mind-boggling. He had grown up having this wonderful power and had never known it. He had never even dreamed that something like this could be true— and yet Jharate had recognized Raoul’s gift for what it was the instant he saw it.
Raoul pondered this strange world that they had come into. He wondered if maybe they were actually better off being here in some ways. Obviously running for their lives on a daily basis was not what he considered better— but there were places on Earth where life was like that anyway. What he meant was this world’s belief in— for lack of another word— miracles.
The fact that Jharate had seen him healing Lani and had identified it as a gift— instead of fearing it or seeing it as something strange— said something to Raoul.
What if everyone on Earth had a unique gift as special and awe-inspiring as the one he had? What if none of them knew that they were each blessed with these amazing gifts because they were raised in societies, which taught that those things were not real? Societies with no faith or dreams or beliefs— just jaded cynicism and the desire to expose anything with no basis in scientific fact.
What if something like this had happened to Lani on Earth? Would he have been able to save her? No. It had taken help from Jharate. He would have lost her.
The very thought made him cold— colder than he already was from being in the dark lake twice. He shuddered at this realization as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Hours passed as the ship sailed across the calm waters of Lake Helasi. Jharate knew that there would still be at least three hours before the sun came up, and another six after that to complete the lake crossing.
Lani was still in his arms with her legs flat on the deck next to the railing. He had not slept at all as he kept a vigilant watch over her. He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently. As he straightened back up again, she sighed contentedly in his arms and the corners of his mouth turned up serenely.
A moment or two later, Lani’s eyes slowly fluttered open. As she saw Jharate’s face above her, she looked up at him, very nonplussed.
“Wh–What?”
She closed her eyes as she slowly moved her neck. It felt sore. She opened her eyes again. Where were they? The last thing she remembered was running from the fire. She opened her mouth to speak, but Jharate spoke first.
“Do not force yourself to speak just yet. You were on the verge of death only hours ago. Your foot became entangled in the root of a tree. Your leg broke as you fell and you hit your head on a rock. You were bleeding profusely.
“I carried you out of the forest to the lake. Matters were made all the worse for you when we had no choice other than to bring you through the icy water. I was— we were afraid we were going to lose you.”
Lani remembered falling now and suddenly became intensely aware of the pain in her leg. The pain was greater than any she had
ever experienced. She had never broken anything in her body before in her entire life.
She blanched and lifted her hand unconsciously to her head. Her hair felt as if it had been dry for a while now— and as she touched her scalp, it felt fine. She felt the rest of her head. Again, everything felt as it should feel.
There was no lump on her head. No hint of a gash. And— to her further astonishment— she realized that she did not even have a headache. There was nothing wrong at all!
“I thought you— I thought you said that my head was bleeding?”
“And so it was. You are very fortunate. It seems your friend, Raoul, is a healer. He was quite surprised— as were we all. He fought valiantly to revive you after you stopped breathing. Then, suddenly— during one of his many attempts to do so— his gift surfaced on its own.
“You began to breathe again. I gave Raoul guidance— which he followed. He was thereby able to heal your head. Fatigue overcame him following that effort— rendering him unable to heal your leg. It could be some time before he is strong enough to finish. However, you are alive— and that is all that matters.”
He spoke the last part softly, almost reverently, as he kissed her gently on the forehead again. Lani was so shocked that she barely even noticed the sweet kiss. She had known Raoul for eight years and had never had a single clue that he might have any mystical gifts. And— apparently— neither had he.
Between her near-death experience and trying to process the thought of a dramatic save by a power she never knew her friend possessed, she felt dizzy. But there was one thought she liked a great deal. Jharate had stayed with her to save her life— when it would have been much easier just to save himself.
Lani smiled as she realized Jharate truly cared for her more than he did for his own life. She felt the same way about him— but the fact that he had just proven it made her feel extremely warm and cozy despite the cold.
She felt the kiss on her forehead now. Even though his lips had withdrawn moments ago, it felt warm on her cold skin. She sighed happily.
