Chapter 7: Healing The Unhealable
Author's Note: *Nessie peeks from behind the doorlock and hesitantly steps into the room* Ahem... *clears throat* I wish my cliffie didn't give anybody a heart attack... And... *tries to keep a straight face* I need you all safe and sound to read and comment... *laughs* So... I shall give you the next chapter... NOW! And maybe... just maybe... you find out what they are. Or at least find out what their names are... Hehehehe! And then I'm gonna post my very favourite chapter so far! :D This by the way, is my second favourite chapter! :D Hope you enjoy it!
Lots of love,
Nessie
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The ghosts pulled away from the ashes the moment their job there was done and slid away, so far away that I felt almost normal; I didn’t see any of them. That was until I faced Lillian’s semi-transparent purple-silver ghost. Her body was lying on the ground, her chest still rising and falling slowly, and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time. I shouldn’t be involved. He had almost finished her off; I should let things take their natural course and let her move on to the world of the dead. But those sad, sad, pleading eyes looking at me through the thick, now silver, lashes made me think I couldn’t leave her. Way to not let her get under your skin, Brian! Dumbass!
“Please…” I heard her say. It could have been a fiction of my imagination; I had never heard a ghost talk after all… but it did the trick anyway. I moved a little closer and heard a soft splash as I walked on something wet.
My gaze left Lillian and her almost gone soul, and moved to my aunt. She was bleeding badly, but she was still alive. Maybe more alive than Lillian was. I fell on my knees on the bloody ground and took the stupid woolen hat off my head, pressing it against the deep cut on her throat. To my surprise, her eyes fluttered open and her hand lifted, clutching my wrist.
“Brian…” she said.
“Hush. Stop it, Kellah, I’ll fix it,” I said.
She squeezed my wrist a little more tightly. Lillian’s ghost in the meantime was lingering near me, not going too far from her body though, and pleading for me to help her.
“It’s… its dog trainer,” Kellah said and I saw tears in her eyes.
“What?” I asked surprised.
“In case I don’t make it. It’s not dog walker. I’m your aunt, the dog trainer.”
An uncomfortable smile broke on my face. “Look, you’re going to be fine. Just be quiet, don’t waste your strength with talking such nonsense dog trainer.” I pressed the hat against her neck, careful, trying not to keep her from breathing, but enough to hold off the bleeding.
“I… I got it,” she said, her fingers making a frail, vain attempt to push my hand away but still trying to replace my hand on the hat. “She really wants to live,” she said, looking at Lillian’s direction. She seemed to look more to where the ghost than the actual Lillian was and for a second, I wondered if she could see her. I highly doubted that, or could she? Did Aunt Kellah have a secret? I snorted under my breath as I turned toward Lillian again.
“Keep it there, okay? Don’t let it go. I’ll fix everything. You’re going to be fine,” I said, not believing my own words, but taking her hand and showing her where she should apply pressure.
I moved on to Lillian. Placing two fingers on the side of her neck I felt her pulse. It was so faint… weak. She was leaving.
“Please…” her ghost said again. The purple turned more to silver with each passing second, meaning that if I didn’t do something soon the transaction from one world to another would become permanent. As much as I hated this violet color, the color of death, it was better than the silver I faced every day.
So for once more today, I decided to use my magic in a very wrong way. I healed her. I felt the magic flowing from my hands to her, silver threads of smoke pulling her soul back into her body. The ghost above her was slowly fading, sliding back into the real Lillian. I felt a rush at the use of magic, that verywrong rush that I should not let myself feel. Mom was gone for two days now and I was already doing so much wrong, but necessary… Without a warning, Lillian under me gripped my hand, holding on to it as if it was the most important thing in the world. She was alive.
“Thank you,” she said, taking a deep breath.
I just nodded, my heart pounding inside my chest. I didn’t have time for that now; I had to do something for Kellah. I quickly crawled back to my aunt, shaking her urgently. She had her eyes closed. She shouldn’t fall asleep! If she did, she was gone!
“Kellah! Kellah, wake up! Listen to me!” I said, shaking her. The hand which was holding the hat was now soaked with blood, limp on her side, just lying there, useless and fragile. I figured that mine was just as soaked with blood. And it was black. Black as ink.
She mumbled something inconceivable and looked at me for a second. I knew I couldn’t do anything though; they had used their claws. That was why the blood coming from the wound had turned black. That was why it was no use trying to save her.
“What happened?” Lillian asked panicked. “Why aren’t you doing anything?!” She rushed close to me, looking at Kellah’s body. She’d be dead soon enough. I didn’t manage to save her. Because I saved Lillian. I made a choice and now, had to live with that choice forever. I chose Lillian over my own flesh and blood… What was I thinking?! How could I? What will I tell Silvia? I fought back a sob and then angrily answered Lillian, like it was her fault.
“There’s nothing we can do about her,” I said, trying to look away from the gory sight. I couldn’t.
“Are you serious?! Why aren’t you applying pressure on the wound?!” she snarled at me, making me move aside and pressing down on the wound with the sleeves of her shirt.
“Come on! You brought me back! I thought I wouldn’t live another day for real! And I’m here, perfectly fine! Go ahead, do it!” she urged me. Her voice was filled with such passion, her eyes looking at me in such a way that I felt as if they were two hot burning flames.
“We can’t do anything. She’ll be gone soon enough,” I said pathetically, letting my hands lie on my lap, feeling utterly useless.
With her free hand she took my hands and placed them on Kellah’s chest. “Come on! Do it!” she repeated.
I shook my head. “No. Lillian, there’s nothing to do! Look at her! She’s dead!” I knew very well she wasn’t yet, but she’d be soon enough.
“If you don’t want to do anything, then I will,” she said stubbornly, glaring at me, before turning to Kellah again.
She threw the hat away and pressed her bare hands against the wound, having the most focused expression I had ever seen in her face. For a second, I wasn’t sure about what I was seeing, thinking I was in shock and my mind was playing tricks on me. Her hands began glowing, a blue faint light radiating from them, pulsating from her hands to Kellah’s neck. It wasn’t like anything I had seen before. There was no smoke, the standard indication of dark, necromancer magic, coming from her… but it was magic… Just not the kind I had known. I stood there, mouth open and staring in a daze, as little balls of light flew from her palms into the wound. They were flowing so quickly that they looked like small waves of blue, crystal water, glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second.
“What…?” I tried asking but what happened next made me forget what I was going to say.
The light seemed to sink into Kellah’s skin, vanishing, but in fact the light was going in and out, in and out, as if it was weaving the slashed skin back together, sealing up the wound. I gasped, watching in awe with my mouth still wide open, as the wound vanished completely, as if it was never there. I saw the color returning to my aunt’s cheeks and instinctively took her wrist in my hand and felt a strong heartbeat. She was alive. Really alive.
Lillian gave me a weak smile and pulled her hands away; all the blood from the ground and anything it had stained was gone too. She told the truth when she said she could heal people. I smiled back.
“See? Told you I could…” She stopped for a second, and ignoring me she put her head between her knees as if she was dizzy. A few seconds later she looked back up. “… do it.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just a little drained. It’s because of the miracle doing. Those things can be really tiring.” Her smile grew a little wider and I felt her hand touching mine. I let her hold it. I felt exhausted myself and after destroying that monster and practically reversing Lillian’s death, I believed I had done some miracle doing myself. Maybe I’d pay for those decisions in the process, but right now they felt like a real achievement to me.
“I know,” I said. “Can… can you stay with Kellah until she comes around? I left Silvia somewhere safe, I need to get her.”
“O-okay. I’ll be here,” she said in a weak voice.
“Just one last thing,” I asked, looking at her. “Do I look bloody as hell? Because that would really freak Silvia out.”
Lillian shook her head, chuckling lightly. “For just saving me from that… thingand running around in that messed up leg of yours… you actually look in pretty good shape.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” I said and stood up giving her a smile. Yep, I am so screwed, for so many reasons. I looked at her for another second and took off as fast as I could.
Trying to mute the pain from my leg, I sprinted towards the alley where Silvia was, focusing on sensing her. I saw silver flashes slipping away as I moved, ghosts, who, feeling the magic I had used, tried to get themselves as far from me as possible. I didn’t mind that at all.
Silvia was still there, sitting on the dirty ground, looking dazzled by the ghosts surrounding her. I remembered the feeling, the ghosts coming closer to you, creating a barrier of silver all around you, trying to touch you. Sure, someone with Silvia’s power didn’t have a problem keeping them from intruding her body, but the feeling was overwhelming nonetheless.
“Be gone,” I said steadily as I approached my sister. She looked at me and relief washed over her features.
“Whewe wewe you?” she asked me.
“Went to find Lillian and Aunt Kellah. Come on, we need to go to them,” I said and lifted Silvia, placing her on my shoulders. I walked back slowly, knowing they wouldn’t send anybody else after us today. They had already lost one of their people, and that didn’t happen often. I remember me killing only five of them in my life; most of the time, I ran. And the other four killings were forced, kill or be killed, so to speak. This one… I could have just let them both die and run away with Silvia. I wasn’t sure what caused me to decide differently, or did I?
When we got back to the alley, Lillian was still kneeling on the ground, looking at Kellah. She didn’t appear to be moving, and for a second, I was worried that something happened while we were away. Silvia kicked her legs on my shoulders a little, showing me she wanted to get off and I placed her down. She rushed to Kellah, observing her curiously.
“She’s fine,” Lillian assured us. “I checked her pulse. I just thought I could let her rest until you came back.” Lillian herself seemed as if she could do with some more sleep. Faint purple circles had formed under her eyes; I was sure those weren’t there this morning when she woke up.
“We should move now though. If the station’s security finds us, we’re gonna need to come up with some excuse for being here. And my mind feels pretty blank at the moment. Not the perfect time for storytelling.”
Lillian nodded tiredly and ran a hand over her face. “That thing really exhausted me. And it’s still morning,” she murmured.
“I think that after this specific morning; it’s fine to call it a day.”
I knelt next to Kellah again and shook her gently. She stirred a little, frowning in her sleep but didn’t seem particularly aware of the fact I was trying to wake her up. I wondered if recovering from all this was more difficult for humans than it would be for someone like me. I usually healed quickly, but nothing extraordinary, at least not if I let things take their natural course, as I usually did. And I had crossed my limits today. I had ignored enough rules for a lifetime. I still had the feeling though, that it was just the beginning.
“Aunt Kellah?” I told her, shaking her again. I hadn’t called her Aunt Kellah for… Probably since I was ten or something.
This time, she seemed to hear me and opened her eyes, sitting up slowly. Instinctively, she clutched the side of her throat but after touching just smooth, scar-free skin, she observed her unstained hand in awe. “How…?” she started but never got to finish her sentence.
“Maybe you’d prefer to lie down in a motel instead of the middle of a cement covered alley?” I said, lifting my eyebrow. “We can explain everything to you then. And personally, I wouldn’t mind taking a shower. Sound good, dog walker?”
She smirked and sat up carefully, as if she was expecting something to throw her on the ground again. I probably had missed some details while running away with Silvia too. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get the whole picture though. Silvia caught both Kellah’s and my hand as we entered the main area of the station and acting as normal as possible, we left, as if we were any other passengers. I just really hoped there were no security cameras in the alley.
We stood on the pavement next to a streetlight, waiting for it to turn green so we could cross the lane to the other side. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Lillian standing next to Kellah, looking at me.
“Um… Where does this leave me?” she asked.
I looked back at her for a few seconds, finding an excuse to look away when the streetlight stopped being red and I had to put my focus back on crossing the street. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. She had proved she wasn’t… as much as a killing machine as she looked at first, when I first realized what was going on. She may be nice deep down inside. She saved Kellah. But… she was just an extra burden to us. As Kellah was. Only that I had no actual excuse to send her away.She on the other hand… She had a pretty convincing argument to keep sticking with us.
“Come with us for now. You could rest a little and then you can make a decision,” Kellah said kindly.
“Sounds good,” Lillian said, giving her a thankful look.
I wondered how much Kellah did remember from earlier. Apparently, she was aware of the deep slash in her throat but… She asked me to save Lillian, and it was all too obvious her outcome if I granted her request. Did she remember anything after this? Did she know Lillian was the one who brought her back? That I had actually given up on her and was going to let her bleed to death? I wished I could find an excuse to take a walk alone, take some time and think of everything that happened. But there was no good excuse for me to leave. I really had to be with them. Since we were all together, we had to be united. And I appeared to be the only one with any kind of fighting skills… maybe Lillian knew a few things too, but apparently she couldn’t defend herself if a situation like this showed up and she was alone… While I… the coward… the person who ran away without trying to stand up a fight… could. It may not have been my first choice, but I had the skills to destroy one of them if I wanted.
“Sometime around this moment, I have to ask,” I said, breaking the silence. “Do we know where to find a decent and cheap motel?”
“Decent and cheap don’t go together,” Kellah said seriously. Slowly, something that looked like a smile, showed on her face. “But I know a place that somehow combines both.”
My aunt was familiar with the area as she had spent part of her teenage years here. I had lived here for a while as well, with mom and dad, a long time before we had even imagined that Silvia would have existed; the battle we would have to fight for her safety included. We changed a couple of busses and had to walk several blocks down from the closest bus stop, but finally we were there. If my leg could complain, I knew it wouldn’t have shut up in the meantime; I really needed to rest it. Especially the running away part had taken its toll on me. I didn’t rest it properly in the train, occupied with having a killer by pay in my cabin, and the wound had burst open again… I was getting the feeling that I should change bandages pretty soon.
Kellah took care of the checking in and the paying part and to my discomfort, with all rooms for four (they were just three in total sadly) full, we had to split in rooms of two. And Silvia, surprising me, declared she wanted to stay with our aunt, so I would end up with Lillian. Again. I couldn’t believe my own sister didn’t want to be with me! But I tried to look on the bright side. Kellah would raise fewer suspicions, as I would be expected to be with Silvia, protecting her. And our rooms were just next to each other, so I could rush inside if any signs of danger.
I unlocked the room’s door quickly and threw my backpack on one side of… thedouble bed in the room. I sighed. Why couldn’t there be separate beds? Oh God… This was going to be a long night. I spotted a little reclining armchair on the other side of the room, which looked actually decent. Maybe I could handle a night in that. Just maybe. I had told Kellah to rest and that we would have time to discuss everything later and Silvia felt pretty content with her little doll while watching everything in the morning zone of Cartoon Network.
I pulled out the only change of clothes I had, a green sweater and a pair of dark jeans, wanting to get out of these clothes. Without glancing at Lillian twice, I took my clothes and went in the bathroom, turning that lame lock on the door, as if someone couldn’t use the back of a spoon to turn it and just open the freaking door. Unfortunately, I was completely right about the wound; it had begun bleeding again and if I had let it a little more, I would have probably stained another pair of jeans. I walked in the shower, washing away the fresh blood from the wound. There was no other sound than the water and I thought things were quieter than they should. I changed quickly into the clean clothes and hurried back to the room to get bandages from my bag. Lillian was sitting on the bed with her eyes closed.
I sat on the edge of it on the other side and lifted my jeans, exposing the cut. Lillian sat up and observed me for a few seconds as I struggled with the bandage.
“Need help with that?” she offered.
“Um… Okay,” I agreed. She scooted closer, placing her hands over my wound in a familiar way. I shook my head. “I don’t need healing. Just wrapping it up would be fine.”
“It would make your life much easier,” she said, but just took the bandage, finishing quickly with the whole process. She had done that before.
“Why would you know how to take care of wounds the old fashioned way if you can just heal them?” I asked curiously.
She crooked her head to the side, looking at me with those big lashes of hers. “You also know how to heal, but you don’t seem willing to do it. Or even mention you can do it. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“Because I was not obliged to tell you,” I stated simply. “I had absolutely no reason to explain it to you. And it’s not really a secret to be shared or a power to be used without suffering dire consequences.”
Wanting to put an end to the conversation, I lay on my back, placing my hands behind my head and staring at the ceiling. She imitated my movements, only that she rolled on her side and propping herself on her elbow, looking at me. I pretended I hadn’t noticed and kept looking at the ceiling and a green eyed ghost of a child that was hanging upside down from the ceiling like a sleeping bat. It was odd how he was the only ghost in the room; there were usually tons gathered wherever I went. I liked that change, although I knew that it was not permanent. And even better, I knew that later I would suffer some much less pleasant consequences at the use of my magic. The absence of ghosts should have been the least of my worries.
“I have questions,” she declared.
“Yeah? Go to a fortune telling lady. She’ll answer even if she has no clue what you’re actually talking about.”
“I don’t care about those kinds of answers,” she said, smirking.
“How are you feeling?” I said, softening. I remembered the first time I had encountered… them. I didn’t think I’d ever really forget it. It was a really soul-destroying experience.
“Absolutely terrified,” she answered honestly.
“It’s understandable,” I said, trying to find a reason to keep my eyes on the ceiling instead of looking at her. I was being drawn in by her soft voice and kind tone.
“What are these things?”
“They have many names…” I trailed off, recalling vividly the first time I had encountered one. I wished I could just wipe this moment from my memory. And what followed. The time my mom spent, explaining to me what they were. I expected Lillian to say something, ask for some enlightening on the subject, but she never spoke. She just sighed and started running her fingers along the lines of the bedding. “Pectlacero’s is the name I use most. It means Soul-Shatterer. The rest sounds too nice to be accurate for what they were. Monsters would fit just as well though,” I said, talking more to myself than her.
“I agree… I would have never gotten involved if I knew they weren’t human… Thought they were the average psychos I’m dealing with,” she said, trying to make the atmosphere a little lighter.
“They’re far from that. I don’t think they’re really crazy though,” I said silently.
With my eyes still pinned on the top of the room I thought I noticed a movement on my side, maybe Lillian widening her eyes. Either way, I definitely heard her gasp.
“They seem pretty brainless to me,” I continued.
“They looked smart. In… their own way. I mean, they seemed to have a plan. And definitely some power. I don’t want to see any of them ever again,” she finished in a low voice, as if she was afraid they’d hear. At such moments, I felt so myself. I was glad that the walls didn’t have ears. I smirked, wondering what my life would be like without them. So much easier. “Do you come across them a lot?”
“A lot is an understatement.”
“It must be awful,” she said sympathetically.
“You get used to it after a while,” I lied.
She remained silent for a few seconds. “And… why would you tell me that?”
“Because if you get involved with them once, that’s not the last time you’re gonna see them. Plus… You’re stigmatized now.”
“I’m… what?”
“What that thing did to you… Trying to rip your soul from your body… It leaves scars behind. All of them will see them clearly now. They’re going to be drawn to you. You will be seen as a kind of challenge; ya know, someone who was attacked but somehow got away. It always makes you appeal to them more. You have the role of a trophy now,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Isn’t there a way to get rid of them for good?” she asked. My last words had obviously gotten to her; for the first time since I met her, she sounded actually scared.
“You’re lucky you survived in the first place,” I snapped at her. “Don’t ask for more.”
“You’re not looking at me,” she said a little angry.
“What?”
“You. Aren’t. Looking. At. Me. Why? I’m not suddenly an evil creature because they tried to whatever my soul, right?”
“It wouldn’t be that making you an evil creature,” I replied.
“Yet if you considered me an evil creature anyway, it never stopped you from looking me in the eye before,” she said, her tone becoming just a little higher.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes and turned my head suddenly, finally facing her. She looked a little tired, but nonetheless as beautiful as every time before.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For spending a second of my life to turn my neck on my left?” I said sarcastically.
Her upper lip curled, revealing her white teeth. “For that too. But… if… you didn’t do… whatever it was you did… I would have really died. Wouldn’t I?”
“You would have,” I agreed.
“Thank you,” she repeated.
“For a killer, you’re a pretty thankful person,” I observed, unintentionally smiling at her.
Her lips responded to my smile automatically; that kind of smile I knew that was on her face no matter if I looked at her or not. “For a tough guy, you’re a pretty soft person inside,” she said, almost instantly. I smirked at her and she laughed. “I will keep telling you, until it imprints on your memory for good and you start to believe it yourself.”
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is she planning on sticking around a while? Yay me? I couldn’t help the snort that escaped my lips as my heart skipped a beat and I thought again… Really, yay me! Yep, I’m screwed!
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