The Healer: A Young Adult Romantic Fantasy (The Healer Series Book 1) (39 page)

“Betty, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you like that.” I grabbed her shoulders to make sure she was all right.

She looked startled, which was to be expected. What I didn’t expect was her look of unease.

“Just be more careful next time,” she said awkwardly as she pushed the wheelchair past us.

Strange, I thought as we continued our insane run to Kirby’s room.

I skidded to a halt just inside the door and nearly panicked. His bed was empty, and a nurse stood in the corner gathering up hospital equipment.

At first I nearly lost it,thinking he’d died, and no one had called to tell me. Then I realized that was impossible. He still had a few weeks left. I was never wrong about things like that.

“Where is he?” I croaked out.

“I’m sorry?” the nurse said looking up from her work.

“Where is Kirby?” I nearly screamed. I felt Angie place a steadying hand on my shoulder.

The nurse’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, you mean our little miracle boy!” she practically sang.

I looked at her feeling stupid. I had no idea what she was talking about. The only thing I could process was that Kirby was in danger, and he wasn’t here where he was supposed to be.

“What do you mean, miracle boy?” Angie asked for me.

“The doctor on call believes he may no longer have leukemia. No more cancer! The staff simply can’t understand what happened to bring such an amazing transformation about. We all thought for sure the poor little thing would be passing on soon.”

Kirby was well? He wasn’t sick anymore? I glanced at my watch and noted that it was three in the morning, and I’d finished healing Kirby around five or six last evening. That was less than ten hours ago. I was scared to believe it for even one minute. All Kirby had ever been was sick, with me hoping and healing and never being sure anything would ever change for the better. It had to have been that last healing. I hadn’t thought it was complete, but his body must have continued healing itself after I left. I should have been happy with this knowledge, but something felt wrong. Where was Kirby?

“Why didn’t anyone call me? I’m listed as the first person to call if there are any changes in Kirby’s condition.”

“Oh, you’re Hope Fairmont?”

“Yes.”

The nurse’s cheerfulness grated on my nerves.

“We did call you. Betty was moving Kirby out of the cancer wing to a different room where he could be monitored for a while. We need to run some tests to make sure the young boy will make a full recovery, but the doctor is very hopeful. Betty wanted you and your father to come and oversee everything. Didn’t she tell you?”

My stomach felt a bit hollow, and my ears started ringing.

“I never got a phone call. I never even talked to Betty. I just saw her in the hallway not thirty seconds ago, and she didn’t say anything…”

She’d hardly said anything, and Betty was always one for words. My mind replayed my brief interaction with her, and I remembered something else that had been different about her. She hadn’t been wearing her tiny gold cross. It hadn’t been around her neck when she was taking that chemo patient to…
Oh no! No
. My mind refused to process what my heart told me was true. A slow pulsing thud sounded in my head. I didn’t know where it was coming from, but I channeled all of my thoughts towards pinpointing the source of the noise.

I ran out of the room with Angie following close behind me. I took the stairs down and hit the second floor, running toward the break room where Betty usually grabbed her coffee. I dashed inside and felt an ominous sense of dread as I took in the dark, empty room. The slow, pulsating beat grew louder.

Betty always used this particular break room at night because hardly anyone came here. It was out of the way, and the coffee machine never worked for anyone but her. I flipped the light on and held my breath. The phosphorescence cast an ugly yellow-green hue against the pale floors and wilting flowered wall paper. The pounding beat of a human heart drew me to the left. I headed straight for the supply closet in the corner and wrenched open the door still hearing that slow pulsing sound in my head.

Inside the closet I discovered Betty slumped against the wall. Her head drooped against the back wall, and her hands covered a large, gaping wound in the middle of her stomach. I rushed in and knelt down beside her, knowing from the moment I touched her she had only moments to live.

“Betty,” I said gripping one of her hands in my own. I connected to her as fast as I was capable of and tried with all my might to help her body fix her injuries.

Her eyes rose up and focused on me with an enormous amount of effort.

“He wanted me to give this to you,” she wheezed.

“Who did, Betty?”

“Don’t you dare let him get away with it, baby. Beat him anyway you can.” I felt her other hand slide something into mine and then she let go…of everything. She was gone. There hadn’t been enough time to save her, and I should have been able to save her. I looked down at Betty’s tiny frame and saw nothing but my mother.

“Hope?” Angie asked softly. She placed her hands on both my shoulders and squeezed them tight. Her hands trembled with the effort.

I continued to see my mother lying in a pool of her own blood with my hands draped across her body, unwilling to believe I’d lost her. Somehow, she’d slipped from my grasp when there should’ve been more time. I should’ve been able to save her just like I should’ve been able to save Betty. It was too late.

I was always too late.

I felt Angie’s voice rising in volume and realized she was trying to get my attention.

“Hope, please. We have to find Kirby!”

That last remark shook me. I looked down into my bloody palm and stared at the paper Betty had given me. The tiny blood splatters on top sickened me. A sad reminder of a beautiful life ruined. I wanted to rail against the unfairness of it all. I wanted to heave huge sobs filled with anger and grief for the passing of a woman who hadn’t deserved to be caught up in this complicated, dangerous mess.
My
mess. I didn’t have time to grieve the way I wanted to. I’d have to cry later because there was still a chance I could save Kirby.

I fumbled with the paper and finally managed to unfold it. The writing was jagged and strangely angled. It was clear the author wasn’t used to writing anything, let alone a threatening message.

High school football field. Now.

“This is bad. This is very bad. There’s nothing there. It’s totally deserted right now,” Angie wailed in panic.

“I know.” I was feeling an increasing need to vomit. “That’s why the monster chose it.” I stood up, resisting the urge to look at Betty’s bleeding form. “If he’s got Kirby then that’s where I’m going, but you should stay here.”

Angie looked at me like I’d just suggested she go join the debate team.

“I’m going to assume you’re in shock and overlook your stupidity,” she muttered. “Let’s go get Kirby. Together.”

Ah, Angie.

Typical.

Chapter Twenty-One

The drive to the high school took five minutes. Walking from the car into the football field took less than two. I couldn’t remember a time when seven minutes had dragged by so agonizingly slow.

Angie had forced me into attending many football games over the last three years. I was used to being here when all the lights were blazing and the stands were filled with fiercely loyal fans. The field was dimly lit now by the silvery light of the moon in the distance. Everything was quiet and motionless. As the soft turf gave beneath my feet I began to feel like I was standing inside one of those Christmas snow globes. Completely cut off from the outside world and stuck with whatever had been placed within.

“I’m freaking out!” Angie whispered.

She grabbed my arm, and I winced as her nails dug into my skin. I continued moving forward, scanning the remaining field ahead of me without any idea of what to expect.

“Stop. That’s far enough,” said a scratchy voice several yards ahead.

Angie and I froze. I spotted a few silhouettes in the distance but had trouble making out any faces. Suddenly, the lights surrounding the stadium lit up the entire field, and what I saw next made my insides freeze. The nekomata posing as Betty stood before me with a broad grin splitting its face. Knowing this creature wasn’t Betty made the sick leer on its face that much more offensive.

Standing next to it, scared and confused was Kirby. He’d changed so completely from when I’d last seen him. I couldn’t believe how full his cheeks looked. His sickly frame had metamorphosed into that of a very healthy young boy. He didn’t appear ill at all. My eyes filled with tears as I made a move toward him, but Angie jerked me back.

“Hope,” she hissed. “Psycho cat has a gun.”

My focus on Kirby had been so intense I hadn’t even registered the gun pointed at his head. I stepped back and held still. I needed Kirby to think I had everything under control.

“Kirby, are you all right?”

He gave me a shaky smile.

I reluctantly took my focus off him and stared at the hideous aberration before me.

“What do you want?”

“We want you. I thought you’d have figured that out by now.” Its voice was guttural, completely unnatural. How could I have been fooled by it at the hospital?

“Fine. I’m here, and I’m not leaving, so you can let the boy go. He’s served his purpose.” My voice sounded stronger than I felt. In reality, I held absolutely no power in this situation. If the nekomata wanted to it could just put a bullet in all three of us and walk away.

“I still have need of him,” it said, teeth gleaming.

“Why?”

My stomach had managed to twist itself into several different knots. I could feel Angie’s vice-like grip on my arm grow tighter and tighter with each word spoken.

The cat’s grin changed into something ugly and evil. Its teeth began to sharpen and its eyes turned to green slits as the rest of the body morphed back into what it really was.

The giant, black cat from Ms. Mori’s house, the one whose heart I’d almost stopped, stood before us.

I’d never seen anything more horrific in all of my life. If I’d killed that thing when I had the chance, Betty wouldn’t have died tonight. The thought weighed heavily upon me.

I felt a pull on my arm as Angie slid to the grass. She put her head between her knees and started dry heaving. I looked back up to Kirby to see how he was handling things. His eyes were wide with fear, but he wasn’t screaming at the top of his lungs like any normal human being. I couldn’t believe how still he held himself.

“Insurance,” it hissed, responding to my earlier question. “I’ll need your full cooperation. If you refuse to give it willingly then death will claim this miracle child faster than his leukemia eventually would have.”

It was cruel, really. I finally managed to save Kirby from the cancer that held him hostage for so long, and now his life was being threatened in a different way.

“Put the gun down, and I’ll do whatever you want,” I said.

All that mattered was Kirby. All that mattered was keeping the people I loved safe. Keeping them alive.

The nekomata eyed me suspiciously for a moment and then slowly holstered the weapon to the side of his belt. He

pointed one hairy claw at me and motioned me forward.

I took one step and then one more.

I had no idea how they found us so fast, but it couldn’t have happened at a more vulnerable moment.

Victor appeared from the sidelines up ahead of us and immediately dove for the nekomata. They both went down in a jumble of swords, armor, and cursing. I ran forward the minute I spotted Victor, but felt an arm wrap around my waist before I could get very far. The arm tugged me back.

“What are you doing? Let go of me!” I shouted. I searched for Kirby and saw him rolling away from the commotion, trying to get to a standing position.

“Not a chance, Hope,” Tie grunted trying to pin my arms to my sides. “It’s bad enough that you sneaked out, but there’s no way I’m letting you fight another nekomata. I don’t care how hot you look with a sword in your hand.”

“I don’t care about your stupid nekomata or your ridiculous prophecy. I’m not interested in healing an imaginary veil for an imaginary people from another lifetime ago. I just need to save Kirby!” I was shrieking at this point.

“You stay here. I’ll get Kirby.” He pushed me behind him and then sprinted forward before I had time to argue. Victor still fought a vicious looking battle with Kirby’s captor, and Angie, to my surprise, had gotten up from the grass and migrated about fifteen feet to my right. She was involved in a fierce yelling contest with Ms. Mori and my father.

When did they get here?

My father made eye contact with me and moved forward. I looked for Tie. He held Kirby in his arms and began sprinting in my direction when a second nekomata came running up from behind. I screamed a warning to Tie, but he already seemed to know it was there. He threw Kirby forward, and doubled back.