Chapter 357 – Healing
Ella
I push my suspicions aside as I come to Cora’s side as she explains to Conner – the bright, red-haired young man who noticed that the men who attacked me didn’t transform into their wolves – our plan.
“Sure,” ,” he says, blinking up at both of us when Cora asks if he’d be willing to let me try to heal him with the Goddess power. “Um,” he says next, hesitating a little, “does it hurt?”
“Um,” I reply, rubbing an anxious hand up and down my arm, “I don’t think so? But then again, I’ve only tried it on myself?” I look over at Cora to see if she has any ideas, but she just shrugs.
“Consider it a very experimental treatment,” Cora says, turning back to Conner. “But I think Ella is right – it never seemed to hurt her before, when she used it. Or that one time I used it. But if it works!” she gives him a big smile now, “I think you will be a very happy little guinea pig!”
“Guinea pig?” he asks, confused. “Will I is this going to transform me into a guinea pig!?”
“No,” I say, laughing and sitting down on the edge of his bed, reaching for his arm, which he pulls away from me in sudden anxiety. “Seriously!” I say, laughing still. “That’s just a common phrase – you don’t know it? Maybe it’s a human phrase. For like, a creature who gets experimented on first.”
“Oh,” Conner says, relaxing a little but still looking at us warily. But then he nods, letting us know that he’s on board. “Just a lot of strange….magic, I guess, these days. Magic that I don’t think we’ve had a lot of exposure to before.”
“You’re telling me,” Cora murmurs, checking some final details as she runs a hand over her stomach, which is hosting what we can best describe as the first human-wolf hybrid pup ever conceived.
Conner doesn’t get it, but I do, and I give her a bright grin, which she returns. “Okay!” she says. “Conner, can we try it on the burn on your arm?” she asks, pointing to the gauze on his right forearm. “I think that’s a minor enough wound that it could be a good place to experiment.”
“Okay,” he says, moving to unwrap it. I lean eagerly forward, but regret it immediately when he pulls the gauze away, wincing as he reveals an angry, wet red wound. I sit back again, grimacing at it, reminded again of why I didn’t become a nurse. But then I steel myself and sit closer, looking up at Cora. “How do I start?”
She just shrugs at me, as lost as I am. “I don’t know, Ella,” she says, waving a vague hand at me. “Do your… meditation thing. Access the gift. Or whatever.”
“Okay,” I agree with a little shrug. And then because it feels strange not to be doing anything to engage with the wound, I reach out and hover my hands over Conner’s arm as I close my eyes.
It’s easier to fall into the state than it has been before – maybe because I’m not wounded, or growing a child, or stressed in any real way. This time, the relaxation comes almost immediately and I find myself sinking quite deeply into that space where the light behind my eyes turns a light lavender.
“You’ve got it, Ella,” Cora whispers next to me, and I can tell that she’s excited but working hard not to distract me too much. “You’re glowing. Now, do you feel like you can direct it?”
I take another deep breath and, when I exhale, I begin to seek for pain. I feel the gift move then, as it’s done before – it sweeps through me first, seeking to heal anything, but when it doesn’t find anything it…pulses a little, curious, almost wondering why I’ve called on it.
And so I give it a little push, asking it to look…further than me. To go outside. And it feels, a very little bit, like the time that I passed it to Cora – though it’s hard to compare, because I had been so weak at that time.
But now, when I’m strong, I feel like I have so much more control – like I don’t have to shove the entire gift into someone’s hands before I collapse under the weight of it. But instead, like I can just take a piece of it, and move it forward to where –
To where I can begin to feel a very real pain in front of me, radiating up towards my hands. And so I give it a little nudge, and push the gift towards it, and I feel it flowing from my hands.
Next to me, I hear Cora gasp, and Conner inhale sharply, but I do my very best to not let myself be drawn away, to continue with my steady little push until I feel…
Until I feel the pain beneath my hands cool, and ebb, and steady. Until I can’t feel it at all. And then I pull my hands back, and lay them in my lap, and take a few deep breaths as I allow the lavender light to fade behind my eyes. And then I open my eyes and look around.
And Cora and Conner are staring at me, their jaws wide open. “Did it work?” I breathe, curious. And neither say a word, so I dart my eyes downward at Conner’s arm-
And my own mouth falls open.
His wound it’s…
It’s gone. I blink, shocked, and lean forward, grabbing his arm – which makes poor Conner jump – so that I can bring it closer to my eyes. And as I study it I realize that the wound is not gone it’s just…fixed. The skin has closed over what was a few moments before a pussy, bloody burn. And it’s not as if the magic has unmade the wound and returned the arm to its former state –
It really, honestly looks as if it just healed it. On Conner’s arm is a new patch of flesh, still tender and pink and hairless, without any of the freckles that cover the rest of his arm.
“Oh my god,” I breathe, staring at it, and then up at Cora, and then over at Conner.
And when I see the bright smile on his face, the tears in his eyes, I burst into joyful laughter myself, hardly able to believe it. And then Cora lets out a shriek of joy and throws herself on top of me in a crazy hug, knocking me back against the bed and poor Conner’s legs as she, too, laughs with joy.
“It’s a miracle!” she shouts, so excited she stumbles over the words. “It’s incredible! Ella! Think of what you could do!”
“I know!” I yell, giddy with excitement for it and hugging my sister close to me. Then men in the room are all turned towards us now, even those at the far side of the room who probably had no idea what we were trying –
And, as they figure it out- that they could start feeling better so soon if I’m able to keep doing this smiles spread across their own faces.
“Are you okay?” I ask Conner when Cora lets me sit up straighter, our arms still wrapped excitedly around each other. “Did it hurt – does it hurt?”
“It’s fine,” he says, holding his arm up in front of his face and marveling at it. ” It didn’t hurt at all – I mean, it was tingly – and a little cold – but it’s amazing – it’s totally fixed!”
“Ahh!” I yell, excited, and I squeeze Cora closer in my excitement.
“Thank you,” Conner breathes, and my heart squeezes when I see tears start to streak down his face. “Thank you so much, Luna,” he says, shaking his head. at me in wonder.
“I’m so glad,” I say, reaching out and squeezing his hand. “So glad, Conner.”
And I bite my lip and smile at him, and he smiles back, and then suddenly I’m jumping to my feet almost spilling 1 Cora to the floor –
“What!” Cora shouts, laughing. “Ella, what are you -”
“I’m going to tell Sinclair!” I shout, dashing towards the door. “I’ll be back!” I call over my shoulder to her, to all of them. “I’ll be right back!”
And I can barely contain my excitement as I sprint down the hall towards the conference room, where I know the boys are working hard, trying to come up with a plan.
