by Moshe Harel
“Nothing special,” I said. “We went to the movies and then met with some friends and returned home.” I knew it was not what she wanted me to tell her, but I kept my innocent look.
“You only walked home, haven’t you?” She was clearly teasing.
“Well, we walked part of the way and then transformed and flew a bit as well,” I admitted.
“You know it’s dangerous and you shouldn’t try it unless accompanied by some more experienced fairy, don’t you?” Gran could hardly hold her temper. I was actually surprised at how angry she was. I couldn’t remember her ever being so angry at me.
“We’re experienced enough and we can protect each other, if we need to,” I said defiantly.
“And you actually needed to do that last night, didn’t you?”
She now seemed more worried than angry. In a way, I was flattered. Gran was worried for me, which only showed that she loved me and cared for me. I suddenly felt sorry for making her worry.
“We could probably do without that, actually. We were in no real danger at any moment.” I may have exaggerated, but only a bit.
Gran finally set down, looking for a moment much older than usual. “Sophie and Brian, you two are more than just two more fairies, especially for me. You, Sophie, are my magical daughter. You’re so much like me in some ways, that I feel closer to you than to your mother. And you, Brian, have become the son I never had, since becoming her mate. I need you to continue my work for the fairy species and I have some great plans for you, as I already told you, but most of all—I want you to live your life fully. Becoming a bird’s prey is not a part of that.”
“But Gran, we were never in any real danger. That owl was far enough for us to confuse and distract it before it could come much closer.” It then occurred to me that we had not told a soul about it. “How do you even know?” I asked.
“There’s some ancient system that records every bit of magic performed by any fairy. Normally, nobody cares for these records, but as you are so important to me, I check them every time I can. I was checking them last night. You transformed and a few minutes later you used some magic to confuse and redirect that owl. You transformed back soon after that. Can you imagine how I felt, knowing that an owl had been chasing you?”
I hugged Gran and Brian joined the hug. “We’re sorry, but it really went very well. I think we could have easily escaped even without that additional bit of magic, and it was actually more fun that way.”
Gran sighed. “Please don’t take any unnecessary risks. I really look forward to seeing your children, in a few more years, you know . . .”
I felt really sorry for worrying her, but I knew I would not have acted differently even had I known she was monitoring us. It was just too much fun, and flying came naturally to us. Being cautious in our fairy form was already deeply ingrained in our minds. We just couldn’t have acted differently.
We were on our way from school when I heard the brakes of a car screech and then I heard it knock something and an almost silent moan of pain. I feared somebody was hurt or worse. We hurried to see what happened. As I walked closer, noticing that the car stopped and the driver was getting out, I was relieved that I saw nobody hurt. Well, no human hurt. Just in front of the car’s bumper, there was a ginger cat, clearly hurt from the impact.
As a small child, I loved playing with cats. They were fluffy and cute and most let me touch them, pet them, or even cuddle with them. As I grew up, I found that they were not always as nice as they looked and some claw marks made it even clearer. Once I became a fairy, I started looking at them as a potential danger. Joshua’s story about his mother only confirmed it. Still, seeing a cat suffering, I felt compelled to help it, although I wasn’t sure I could.
“Do you know whose cat this is?” the driver asked us.
I glanced at the cat. It had no collar, as most domestic pets have. “I don’t think it belongs to anybody,” I said, “but we can’t leave it here. Do you have something we could carry it in?”
The driver seemed anxious to help, as if to cleanse his conscience of the accident. I really wasn’t sure he could prevent it. I had seen cats run to the road more than once, disregarding the cars. I had also seen some crushed to death under the cars’ wheels. In many cases, the driver couldn’t even see them before that happened.
A moment later he brought us a large cloth, not quite clean, from his luggage compartment. It had probably been used to protect something fragile and was left there. We lay the cloth down, wrapping it around the cat in a way that would not allow it to scratch us, and took it to the sidewalk. “I really need to get going. I need to collect my daughter from school,” the driver excused himself and left, seeming relieved to get away, leaving us with the badly hurt cat.
We unwrapped the cloth. The cat hissed at us but didn’t seem able to move. Taking a good look at it, I saw it was a female and her tits seemed full. “It’s a nursing mother,” I told Brian. “If she dies, her kittens will probably die as well.”
As I said that I felt it was a fate I couldn’t allow. I simply had to do all that I could to save the mother and her kittens.
I remembered the way Gran checked me after my birthday party. By now, I already knew what she had done and how to do it myself. Brian probably knew it too, but he didn’t think of it, so it seemed. I held my hand above the cat and concentrated. A moment later, I could see in my mind’s eye all that was inside it. I found two broken ribs, a broken shoulder bone, a broken hind leg, and a dislocated front leg—all on the side that clashed with the car. Gran had not taught us healing, but she had taught us how to move objects and how to encourage growth in plants. I could do the same for the cat’s bones, I thought.
“Reduce its pains,” I told Brian, “and keep it unconscious for a while, so it won’t suffer while I treat it.”
“Shouldn’t we do this more discreetly? People are gathering around us,” he said in a whisper.
I lifted my head and saw several people watching us. It would be unwise to let them see us use magic. I sighed. I needed to create a distraction before we could hide. I looked around and noticed a shop with a large sign, “This shop is protected by an alarm system.” It was supposed to deter burglars, although I thought that such a sign could only give them some idea of how to proceed, since it had the logo of the alarm maker shown boldly.
I moved my hand, as if to take some hairs out of my eyes, and directed a bit of magic to that store, turning the alarm on. The noise made the people around us turn their attention elsewhere. I quickly used another bit of magic to make us unnoticeable. By the time the alarm was shut off, nobody paid us any attention. Although still visible, we seemed to blend into the surrounding area, with nobody noticing us at all.
I turned my attention back to the cat that was now sleeping restlessly. I first moved the shoulder bone to its place and urged it to mend. I straightened the ribs, making them mend as well. The lungs were punctured by one of them. I had the lung tissue close the hole and stop the blood trickling. Repairing the dislocated leg and the broken one was quite easy after that. I also made sure to strengthen the tendons keeping all joints in place. Once I finished, the cat seemed to sleep more peacefully.
We dragged the cloth with the cat under a nearby hedge and waited a few more minutes for the bones to fully mend. Brian then awakened the cat after we took a few steps back. It looked a bit confused and sniffed around, probably trying to understand what had happened. It then stopped and listened before running deeper into the hedge. It still seemed to limp a bit, but it looked quite healthy otherwise.
A few days later, when we passed there on our way to school, I heard some mewing. Looking around, I saw that old cloth under the hedge, housing four kittens and their ginger mother. She looked at me straight in the eyes and I could almost swear that she thanked me for saving her and her kittens.
13 Gran’s parents
The streets were already decorated for Halloween. Brian and I were getting into the festive mood an
d were returning home with a smile every time. We were surprised to find Mom crying one day.
“What is it, Mom? Why are you crying?”
She lifted her eyes to me. “My mother has just informed me that her parents were involved in a car accident. They are now at the hospital and are in a very grave condition. She went there as well.”
“But Mom, you’ve never known them . . .”
“And if they die, I’ll never even get the chance to know them. They are my grandparents, just like Gran is yours.”
Although I didn’t fully understand, it was clearly very important to Mom. I knew she couldn’t help them. She couldn’t even visit the hospital, as she had my younger siblings to take care of. I could offer to do that for her, but . . . maybe I could help even more if I tried to heal her grandparents? I’d already healed a cat after an accident. Healing people shouldn’t be much more complicated.
I made up my mind quickly. “Where is that hospital?”
Mom gave me its name and its address, along with the names I needed to look for. The hospital was in a town about two hours’ drive away, and neither I nor Brian could drive yet. We could take a taxi, or find a bus that went there, but I had a different idea. I dragged Brian to my room and closed the door, just as we were always doing. “Do you remember how to open a portal?” I asked him.
“Yes, but why would you go to the fairy realms now?”
“Not there. I want a portal to the hospital. Gran needs us!”
“Well . . .” He studied the address and looked for it on a map on the Internet. “I think we can do it,” he finally said.
I started waving my hands at the wall, directing my magic at the hospital. Gran had probably tagged it already, as I found it with no problems. A moment later, the wall vanished and I was looking at an empty corridor. We walked through the portal and I closed it behind us. The corridor connected to another one, where I could see some signs. One of them directed me to the visitor information.
Five minutes later we found Gran sitting near the intensive care section, her face ashen. I sat at her side and hugged her. Brian sat on her other side and put his arm comfortingly on her shoulders. “How are they?” I asked her.
“Not well. They have several broken bones each and they also lost a lot of blood. The doctors are not ready to say anything concerning their chances yet.”
“Where are your siblings?” Brian asked.
She smiled bitterly. “They can’t travel as fast as we can. They’re still on their way, and it may take another hour or two before they arrive.”
“Can we help?” I asked eagerly.
She looked confused. “How can we? The doctors are doing their best for them, I’m sure. We may only disturb them if we go in.”
I disagreed. “Not necessarily. We can use magic, while they can’t. Don’t you remember what I told you about that cat?”
Gran thought for a moment and then her face broke into a reluctant smile. “Well, maybe we can help a bit. Wait here. I’ll check if we can go in now.”
She called me to join her a moment later. Brian stayed outside, not being officially related to them in any way.
The man and the woman who were lying on the two beds in that room, connected to multiple tubes and instruments, were in their seventies and didn’t look any younger. The doctors were trying to stabilize their conditions before they could undergo any operation. They were put to sleep for the same reason so that the medicines they were getting through those tubes would be able to ameliorate their condition without any disturbance.
“My mother is in a worse condition, having broken her pelvic bone, and the concussion is worse as well,” Gran told me.
I moved to her bed and scanned her. Some blood vessels in her head had been damaged by the accident and blood was trickling into her scalp. I remembered reading somewhere that this could be fatal. I used a bit of magic to repair the damage and vanish the blood that had already accumulated where it shouldn’t. It immediately showed, as her breathing calmed down and became more regular.
Scanning farther, I found some clogging of several arteries. I wasn’t sure if removing it all was safe enough, but I vanished about a third of it, allowing better blood flow, especially to the heart. Mending the broken bones seemed easy after that. Once I finished, I was sure that she had much better chances. She was not fully healed yet and she still had some chronic problems that might be solved with some more magic, but it would have been unwise to do anymore.
As I finished treating her mother, I saw that Gran was giving her father a similar treatment. “I think we did well,” I smiled at Gran once she finished.
“It does look like that,” she agreed.
We intended to get out of the room when the door opened, letting a man and a woman in. I didn’t need to ask—both looked similar enough to Gran for me to know they were her siblings, yet none seemed happy to meet her.
“What are you doing here?” the man asked, not in a friendly tone.
“I’m looking after my mother and my father who’ve been involved in an accident. Luckily, I could arrive here much earlier than you two.”
“You can go now. You’re not welcome near us.” I was actually surprised that Gran’s sister, a woman who looked so similar, could act so differently.
“And who is this one? Why did you let her in?” the man asked, pointing at me.
“My granddaughter came as soon as she heard, to comfort me and to try and help. She’s sixteen now.” I could hear Gran’s pride in her voice.
The man didn’t seem impressed, yet he clearly didn’t want to make a fuss near his parents’ beds. “How are they?” he asked, somewhat mellower.
“They were very unstable, but during the last hour, since Sophie came here, they seem to get calmer and more stable. You should ask the staff, though, as they should know better.”
“You didn’t . . .”
She shrugged. “I’m not a doctor, nor a healer. How can I do anything?”
She then turned to me. “Come, let’s join Brian. I’m sure that my siblings prefer to be alone with my parents for a while.”
Brian seemed relieved to see us. “What took you so long?” he asked.
“We tried to help them the way we had helped that cat, remember?” I said.
“Did it work?” He seemed concerned.
“Looks like it,” Gran said, glancing at her watch. “The doctors are going to check on them soon. We’ll know more after that.”
I cuddled back into Brian, Gran sat at my other side, looking pensive. It was clear that she was in turmoil. Being worried about her parents and meeting these . . . people, who were supposed to be her closest loving family, was not easy for her in many ways, I was sure. Yet it was her presence (and mine, though I only came due to her) that made their fast recovery possible. Without our intervention, her parents would have suffered much longer and could have even died. I was quite sure they would be perfectly well in a matter of days.
Gran’s siblings came out a few minutes later. “The doctors are checking on them. They seemed to be pleased, though,” her brother informed us, some of his previous hostility gone. The woman looked still sour. They seated themselves opposite us. I could notice no warmth between them. Both looked at us as if studying us.
“You look a lot like your grandmother at your age,” the man suddenly spoke to me. “Do you have her other talents as well?”
Gran lifted her head. “She does, but this is not the time nor the place to discuss such matters. I’m sure that she and her . . . fiancé will be glad to talk to you once things calm down. We all have a lot to catch up to.”
Her brother seemed anxious to learn some more about her and about me, but he just nodded and sat silently. The woman at his side closed her eyes, although she was clearly not sleeping. We stayed that way for a while until a young woman in a white uniform came out of that section. “Your parents seem to get well much quicker than expected. If you want to hear more details, please come to my office.”
It was almost funny, the way we all jumped on our feet, eager to go with her. My Gran’s siblings looked at Brian suspiciously but said nothing as he joined us, holding my hand tightly.
“Your parents were brought here shortly before noon, after their car was hit by a speeding truck. Both had some broken bones and suffered from internal bleeding and both were unconscious. Their heart rate and blood pressure fluctuated so badly that we needed to first stabilize them before we could do anything else. We gave them some infusion, to account for blood loss and added some medicines to regulate their hearts, along with a mild sleep-inducing agent, to help them rest peacefully. At first, this didn’t seem to help much. They didn’t get worse but didn’t get better either. This changed about an hour ago. Their heart beating slowed down and became stable, their breath also calmed down and their blood pressure returned to normal. We were surprised to find that the broken bones also seem to have started mending the right way. They may still need a cast on the broken limbs, to allow full healing, but they are no longer in danger and if they stay that way until tomorrow morning, we’ll be able to move them from intensive care to the regular sections.”
Gran’s sister was still puzzled. “What caused the change?”
The doctor shrugged. “We don’t know. Some patients get well almost miraculously and we can only pray all will get just as well. Medicine has never been an exact science, you know.”
“Could it be my sister’s presence near them?” the man asked.
“It could be. They may have heard her or smelled her scent and that could help them heal. We don’t know how, but such things do help in many cases.” She glanced at the clock on her wall. “I need to go now,” she added.
“Can you direct us to a room where we can have a private discussion?” Gran’s brother asked.
She looked around. Her table was clear and her computer was waiting for a password. “You can stay here for about half an hour. If you’re still here when I return, I’ll look for another place then.”
