Finding Jess (First Wave) (10 page)

“Jess! I am so glad you are here!”

There was a quick blur heading for
Jess before Tarvok and Amun could stop it, then Jess was wrapped up in a tight
hug with a woman with dark, black curly hair.

“Sarex?” Jess asked with wonder.

“Yes! I wasn’t sure if you’d
remember me!” The woman responded, tears falling down her cheeks.

“Sarex was the first one Jess ever
saved; at least that we know of. Sarex used to tell us stories of the brave
little girl who had saved her life and made her the necklace that helps her
harness her powers. She’s a precog.” True explained from behind Amun and
Tarvok.

The next hour went in the same
fashion, until Amun was sure, every woman in the room had hugged and cried with
Jess. He watched with pride as he saw her blossom among these women, and felt a
rush of hope that they were just what she needed to heal.

Chapter
Eight

Amun smiled as he watched Jess
playing with the children on the expansive playground equipment. She had
secretly admitted to him that she loved playing on it as much as the children
did. The brightly-colored swings, slides and dozens of other activities to do
never failed to bring her out of the worst of her bad moods. However, if that
didn’t work, being around the children always did.

They had learned after they arrived
that they had nine small children who had been rescued from other camps like
the one Jess had been in, abusive foster homes and even the streets. Jess had
originally been horrified to learn that the other females had been telling the
little ones the stories of how she had helped them escape and that the children
thought she was some kind of superhero.

The first meeting that she’d had
with one of the children was something Amun would never forget. Although it was
one of the most beautiful things, he’d ever witnessed it was also the most
heart breaking.

He had been walking down one of the
hallways with Jess as she worked on exercising her legs, when they turned the
corner and the child collided solidly with Jess’s legs. Jess was so worried
about catching the little girl; she lost her own balance, leaving Amun to catch
them both.

There was something about holding
Jess and the little girl in his arms that broke something inside of him. The
inner beast he’d been able to keep in control easily while Jess had been so
injured was now pushing stronger and harder at him to claim his mate now that
she was almost completely healed. He tried to muffle the possessive growl that
rumbled through his chest.

“Don’t touch her! Don’t touch her!
Don’t touch her!” Amun and Jess both were taken aback by the little girl's
screams. She pulled away from Jess and had begun pounding on him with her tiny
fists until Jess stepped back from Amun, his hands dropping uselessly to his
sides while the little girl hit him. He looked at Jess in horror, not knowing
what to do to help the child.

“Hey, hey he’s not touching me
anymore. You can stop hitting him now.” Jess said gently, moving to kneel next
to the little girl.

A nearly identical pair of blue
eyes, almost hidden under an unruly mop of blonde curls, turned to look at
Jess. Her eyes widened with surprise, her fists stopping in a mid-strike. Jess
continued to smile at the adorable little girl, so she wouldn’t be startled
back into hitting Amun.

“You’re her.” The whispered words
were so quiet that Jess almost thought she imagined them, until she repeated it
again a little louder.

“I’m sorry honey, but you must
think I’m someone else. We just got here a few days ago. If you tell me where
you’re supposed to be, we can help you get there.” Jess just hoped she could
keep Amun from a few more bruises before they found out where she was lost
from.

Jess was amazed at how much the
little girl resembled her; their hair and eye color was almost identical. Where
Jess was weak though, the little girl was tough. Taking on a man at least three
or four times her size was pretty brave. She wasn’t really good with ages of
children since she’d not seen any since she saw Sarex at the camp years ago, so
she couldn’t begin to judge her age. However, as tiny as she was, she couldn’t
be more than a babe.

“You are her! I know you are!” The
tears welling up in the little girl’s eyes as, she yelled at Jess was more than
she could take.

“Come here, honey.” Jess leaned
down, picked the little girl up into her arms and cradled her gently; rocking
slowly back and forth to try and comfort the girl.

“Who do you think I am sweetheart?”
Jess whispered into her ear.

“You’re Jess… aren’t you?” The girl
leaned back in Jess’s arms, so she could look at her, her full bottom lip
quivering at the thought that she’d been wrong, and it wasn’t Jess.

Jess had never been so glad to be
herself at that moment. The thought of telling that little girl that she wasn’t
the person she thought she was would have broken her heart.

“Yes, I am. You were right honey.
I’m sorry; I didn’t know you knew who I was.” Jess said looking at Amun
quizzically. Why would the child know it was her? He just shrugged back at her,
looking completely stunned.

“I knew it was you. Your colors
told me it was you.” The little one smiled brightly before wrapping her arms
around Jess’s neck and hugging her tightly.

Jess looked worriedly at Amun’s
angry gaze; unsure what made him furious so suddenly. Surely, he couldn’t be
upset over the little girl?

Amun pulled out his scanner and
shook his head slightly at Jess while indicating her back. Unsure what he was
talking about, Jess turned her head and saw what Amun was indicating.

The long sleeves of the child’s
shirt had ridden up her arms as she hugged Jess, exposing what looked like
extensive burn marks up and down her little arms. The randomness of the marks
indicating they were made intentionally.

Jess hugged the little girl more
tightly, closing her eyes to try to block out the thoughts of what the poor
baby had been through in her short life.

“Tell me your name and where you
came from honey, and we’ll make sure you get there safe.” Jess tried again to
find out where she was supposed to be.

“They named me Lily when they found
me. Is he gonna come with us?” Lily asked eyeing Amun with nervousness.

“Lily, that is Amun. He’s a doctor
from Valendra. Do you know about Valendra?”

Jess wasn’t sure if she should be
talking to the little girl about Valendra or not, but everyone would get over
it. She could tell by the look on Amun’s face that he was going to heal Lily no
matter what; and she absolutely agreed. When Lily nodded her head, Jess
continued.

“He’s amazing at healing people.
When he met me, my legs were so hurt I could barely walk; now I can walk
perfect! I also had some really terrible scars that he healed too. He’s a good
man Lily; we should be nice to him.”

Jess wanted to laugh at the little
girl’s dubious expression, but managed to hold it in.

“I can prove it. Show me a small
injury.” Amun said softly.

Jess nodded her head when Lily
looked to her questioningly. Appearing to think about it, she finally leaned
over Jess’s arm and pulled up her pants leg to show more burn marks and a nasty
looking bruise on her shin.

“His colors say they aren’t angry
at us, but at whoever hurt me. However, I tripped at the playground and got
that boo boo on the slide. You can’t be mad at a slide silly.” Lily’s tinkling
laugh was so infectious it had both Amun and Jess smiling with her.

Pulling out his belt kit, Amun
programmed the nano tech in a mediband and showed it to Lily to get her
permission before putting it on her; not wanting to frighten the wary child.

Lily looked to Jess again and then
nodded at Amun to put it on her.

“It’s a band aid. Band aids don’t
fix bruises.” Lily told them confidently.

“My band aids can fix almost
anything. Give it a few more minutes and you’ll see.” Amun couldn’t help but
smile at the precocious little one. She looked so much like Jess that they
could pass for mother and child. He fought to silence the beast in him that
roared that it was time to claim his mate and create a child of their own.

“His colors are growling again. I
don’t like it when they growl.” Lily said innocently; causing Amun to look at
her with surprise. She could see his beast?

“What colors are you talking about
honey?” Jess asked, giving Amun a questioning look.

“The colors that are around him.”
Lily looked at them both like they were dense.

Figuring they weren’t going to get
a better answer from the small girl, Amun checked on the mediband. Sure enough
when he pulled it off, the bruise was completely gone. Jess and Amun smiled at
the little girl’s sharp intake of breath when she saw that it was gone.

“You have to see the others! Come
on!” Lily jerked her legs back and forth in Jess’s arms until she relented and
set her back down on the floor. Strangely, she missed the feel of the little
girl in her arms; however, felt better when Lily grabbed her hand and tried to pull
her down the hallway.

“Where do you want to go honey?”
Jess asked with an indulgent smile.

“To the others! They need to be
healed like that! And I promised them I would find you and bring you back to
them.” Lily said breathlessly; her efforts to pull Jess down the hallway were
wearing her out.

“What others?” Amun did a mental
count of the medibands with him and wondered how many he would need.

“The other kids silly!” Lily had
stopped pulling on Jess but made no effort to hide her exasperation that they
hadn’t already done what she asked.

“How many other kids are here?”
Jess was surprised there was more than Lily. They’d been at the compound for
almost two weeks, and this was the first time they’d ever seen a child there.

“There are nine of us! Please come!”
Lily had crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her bottom lip in a
perfect pout. It was so cute; the two adults couldn’t help but give in. And
Amun was curious about what other injured children were here and why no one had
asked him to help them before now. Lily’s burns could have been healed weeks
ago if someone had said something.

They walked quickly to keep up with
the running pace that Lily had set for them; going down half a dozen hallways
before she skidded to a stop in front of a large set of steel double doors.

“Everyone’s in here for playtime.”
Was the only thing Lily said before she opened the door and disappeared.

Jess gave Amun an amused glance
before grabbing the door handle and starting to pull it open. Amun’s hand came
down quickly on hers to stop her.

“Let me go through the door first.
Just to be sure…” Amun let the sentence hang, knowing she understood when she
immediately stepped back and let go of the door.

Amun opened the door enough to peek
his head inside, the room surprising him more than the nine pairs of eyes
staring up at him from the open doorway.

“Are you going to let Jess come
in?” Lily asked him with her hands on her hips.

“I’m coming in honey.” Jess had
looked inside the small opening Amun had made and seen the children. Feeling
pretty confident they weren’t going to harm her or Amun, she slid between him
and the door and entered the room.

Jess could barely hear the children
as she stared in awe around the large room. It was the largest room she’d ever
seen and held huge colorful tubes and rope ladders… and things she couldn’t
identify, but they looked fun.

“I told you it was her! I told you
I’d bring her here!” Lily told the other children proudly, the rest just
staring at Jess like she was a ghost.

“Oh Lily! I told you Grandpa Banny
was going to bring them as soon as Jess was better!”

Jess and Amun looked up as a pretty
brunette woman walked up to them as she gently chastised Lily. Unsure if the
woman might hurt Lily, Jess immediately put as many of the children behind her
as she could.

“Jess and Amun, I hope? It is a
pleasure to meet you! I had hoped Lily wouldn’t find you until you were feeling
better. Where’s my manners? I’m Dr. Maggie Jensen; I work with the little ones,
and I’m the only doctor on staff here. I had been hoping to meet you both.” The
doctor had shaken both of their hands effusively, but the sight of her small
hand in Amun’s sent a wave of anger through Jess. She was very glad when the
woman turned her attention to the children.

“You guys go play while I talk to
Amun and Jess, and then you can meet them properly and have snacks ok?”

Jess couldn’t help but laugh as the
eight little girls and one boy, grumbled and sighed on the way back to where
the colorful tubes and swings were waiting.

“Even with the abilities we have
here, we can’t fully heal them physically. I’ve heard from some of the other
women about the extent of your injuries and how Amun has been able to heal you.
I couldn’t help but wonder if you could at least look at the children and see
if you can help?” The concern in her voice when she spoke of the children told
Amun and Jess how much she cared for them.

“I would be honored to help them in
any way that I can.” Amun offered with a slight bow.

“They need Jess too. Can you be
there when they are examined? Maybe talk to them?” The woman turned pleading
light brown eyes to Jess.

“Why would I need to be there? What
would I say to them?” Jess asked completely baffled by the woman’s request.

“I honestly don’t know of a
delicate way to say this… the other women have been telling the little ones
stories about you and their escapes and your gifts, since the day each arrived.
They used your bravery in the face of what happened to you as an example for
them to follow while we did what we could to treat their injuries.”

“Some of them… I don’t think they
would have made it. I think the stories helped them fight, to try to heal. And
honestly, no one ever really thought you would survive. Everyone always figured
that you would give your life helping one too many of them. And that only made
the children more enamored of you.”