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I grabbed her hand, squeezing it as gently as possible. Sending my power into her, I first eased her pain. “Is your son young? Maybe eight?”
“Coby! He’s nine!” The words came out clearer now that her pain had lifted, although from the sound of her breathing at least one of her lungs was in trouble. “Have you seen him?”
“I healed him just earlier,” I said in my most soothing tones. “He told me his name was Coby, and I sent him somewhere safe. I also told him I’d send you after him, so I need you to work with me and stay strong.”
The woman collapsed, her tense muscles loosening now that she was freed from both pain and fear. But as my power raced through her body, I sucked in a breath. Her internal damage was severe, far worse than any of the others I’d so far healed.
My head spun, and I shook it, trying to get a hold of myself. I was already so drained from the previous healings, but I couldn’t lose focus now. This woman didn’t have much time, and her son was waiting for her.
I sent my power into her, wishing I knew more about the parts I needed to fix. Pages from my anatomy books swam before my eyes, and when I touched her collapsed lung, I tried to remember everything Hayes had ever told me about the organ.
But I was too tired for finesse. I would have to do what I’d done too often before and rely on strength and instinct to force a healing. The fire that spread out from me seemed to flicker instead of burn, though, nearly exhausted. I coaxed it brighter, pushing it onward through her body. From her lungs, it traveled to her ribs, her kidneys, her liver, her stomach, mending and repairing and regrowing as it went.
The woman gasped. “The sensation! It’s so strange!”
I frowned. Patients didn’t usually feel our healings. They found it distressing, so we blocked the sensations. I knew how to do that. Didn’t I? Wasn’t I doing it right now? I thought I was. My thoughts flew out of my grasp, fuzzy and indistinct. I tried to grab hold of them, tried to remember what I was doing. Blocking the sensation! That was it. I told my power to do it, but nothing happened. I reached deeper and finally it responded.
The woman calmed, and I pushed on. How it felt wasn’t important anyway, as long as she was healthy at the end of it.
Her bones came after the organs, then the veins and finally the single patch of torn skin. I knew I should do a final sweep to be sure I’d fixed everything, but my power didn’t seem to be responding to me anymore.
“Make sure you see a healer soon,” I gasped out. “To check…”
The woman pushed tentatively to her feet, looking down at herself in wonder.
“I thought I was dying. Absolutely everything hurt, and I couldn’t breathe. But now I feel fully healed.” She peered into my face. “You’re so young!”
“Promise you’ll check,” I whispered and realized the wind had nearly stopped completely because she could hear me.
“I will, I will!” She reached down a hand to help me to my feet. “Thank you! Thank you so much.”
As she hauled me upward, I noticed the rain had also stopped. I knew I should be relieved by that, but I felt too numb to care.
I couldn’t seem to feel my feet either, which must have been why I was swaying, but the woman didn’t seem to notice, distracted by her visual search of our surroundings.
“Over there.” I somehow managed to raise my arm and point. “Coby is waiting for you.”
“Thank you!” the woman cried again, spinning and dashing off across the wet ground.
“Careful,” I tried to call, but the word wouldn’t fully form, my voice strangely quiet.
What was wrong with me? I tried to lift a hand to my head, but my limbs weren’t responding now, like my power hadn’t earlier.
A roaring filled my ears, although the wind didn’t seem to have picked back up. My legs gave out completely, and I collapsed.
Strong arms broke my fall, and I thought I heard a familiar voice frantically calling my name. But my eyes were closing against my will, and all sounds faded away, replaced with deep, refreshing, nothingness.
ChapterSixteen
The first thing to reach me was noise. But it wasn’t the wordless roaring of the wind or the pounding of heavy rain. A babble of voices overlapped each other, mingling with footsteps and the various bumps and bangs of industrious activity.
The next thing was the soft fur of a familiar, sleeping animal, her warm body tucked under the blankets by my side.
I tried to open my eyes, but they resisted. I reached a hand up to my face and found a cloth lying across my eyes. From its stiff feel, it had once been wet, although it had long since dried.
I pulled it off, opening my eyes, only to quickly close them again. Without the protection of the material, the bright daylight speared at me even through my eyelids. Taking several deep breaths, I waited for my eyes to adjust to the daylight filtering through my closed lids. Only once it reached a comfortable level did I try cracking my eyes open again.
For a second time I had to wait while they adjusted to the new level of light. How was it already full day? How long had I been sleeping?
