Balmythra

by Linda Palmer

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Healer

  I grinned back. "Oh yeah."

  "So there’s some kind of war going on right now?"Kenny asked.

  I nodded. "Yes. With the Dagonel. They’ve taken over my home city. There were tanks and everything." I gulped back a sudden wave of nausea. "It was awful." Everyone stared at me for a moment without speaking, attention that brought heat to my cheeks.

  Then Ashley spoke. "So the magic man has gone to get the doctor?"

  "You could say that, yes." I hoped I wasn't lying. Jor should have been back some time ago. Something just wasn’t right.

  "Any more questions?" Matt sounded like a PR rep at a press conference. They all looked at each other and shook their heads.

  "Then I think we'd better get some rest."

  More looks were exchanged before Ashley stretched out and lay on her side with visible distaste. "I don't suppose you can turn that pet of yours into a pillow...."

  "Possibly, but there'd only be one."

  The boys followed suit, plopping down in various positions within reach of the fire’s warmth. Sure that I'd never fall asleep, I moved near Rocc, who lay in exactly the same position as the last time I'd checked on him.

  Anxiously, I studied his face by firelight, making note of every detail, much as I had in the laundry shed—was it just that morning?—at Pringle’s. His appearance was the same, but different in some way now that I knew he was truly my brother. Memories flooded my weary mind, and with them came tears that I hastily blinked back. A Guardian didn’t have time for emotional breakdowns. She usually had too much work to do.

  But how could a seventeen-year-old with limited Eniywan do any work at all? Mom...Dad...where are you guys? I need you now.

  I felt no response of any kind. It was as if my mental cry for help had never left my head, as if I were nothing more than a Nodyran like Matt, with no idea how to harness the power of the mind.

  Sadly regretting my serious lack of talent, I settled myself near my brother. There was no use trying to sleep. I’d never be able to stop the thoughts ricocheting inside my mind.