Ella Awakened (4 page)

Ella closed
her eyes and slid down, letting herself become completely submerged in the
water.  After a few seconds, she slid back up and just lay resting and enjoying
the warmth and aromatherapy.  Burke returned with a cup of tea.  Without
looking at her, he set it on the little bench beside the bathtub.  Then he turned
his back and sat on the floor next to the drawn curtain.

“The tea will
help with any nausea you have; it will ease your head too.  It’s made from the
same herbs that are floating in the bath water.”

“I’ve never
smelled anything like it,” Ella replied.  “I could lie here forever just
breathing it in.”

“You’ve
never smelled anything like it, Ella, because there
is
nothing like it. 
When your father and I came here, I had some seeds with me.  I have a small
greenhouse out back where I grow the herbs and some other plants from home.”

“If these
are plants from another world, or planet or whatever you’re saying; isn’t it a
little risky for you to just be growing them in your backyard?  Aren’t you
afraid someone will find them?”

“Well,
they’re not just in the backyard.  They’re in a greenhouse.  The property here
is pretty secluded; we’re in the middle of a seventeen acre wooded lot.  To be
honest, I don’t think anyone really cares whether or not I have a greenhouse,
much less what’s in it.”

Ella swirled
her hands through the water catching little bits of herbs, studying them, and
then releasing them back into the tub.  “So you don’t ever have company out
here?”

“Have I ever
had company out here?  Some.  Have I ever invited some kind of plant expert to
check out the greenhouse?  No.”  Burke smiled a little as he teased her.

“Okay,
thanks smart guy.”  In spite of her cautious reservations, Ella was starting to
feel at ease with Burke, and she enjoyed talking to him.  “Are you going to
tell me what’s happening to me?  Do I have some kind of alien flu?”  She poured
a little soap on a washcloth and ran it over her skin as she listened to
Burke’s explanation.

“Back home
there are a few different kinds of people.  Some, like your dad, are warriors. 
Some, like me, are healers.  Others are what we call common folk.  All of us
grow up the same way, but just before our twentieth birthday some of us start
to evolve.  The common folk never go through a change.  The process is
physically a little harder for warriors.  For them, there is a little more
going on internally.  You are becoming a warrior, Ella.  When the change is
complete, you’ll be very strong and very fast.  Your senses will be beyond
anyone of this world, even beyond mine.  Your reflexes will be lightning fast,
and fighting will be as natural for you as walking.  There won’t be a person
alive who’ll be able to take you down.”

“What about
you?  Will you be able to take me down?” Ella teased.

“No,” Burke
was serious.  “I’m not a warrior, Ella.  I’m a healer.  I’m a little stronger
and faster than the common folk, but nothing like you.  Healers have other
gifts.”

“Like…” Ella
encouraged.

“Like making
the tea I just gave you.  We just know what will help.  We didn’t have chemical
drugs back home like they do here.  Everything was natural.  There are other
things, but we’ll talk about that later.  How are you feeling?”

“My fingers
look like raisins, so maybe I should get out.”

“Give me
just a minute and I’ll get you some clothes.”  Burke left and returned a minute
later with a pair of pajamas from Ella’s bag; it was a pair of shorts with a
matching cami.  He laid them on the toilet seat and put a large fluffy towel on
the bench next to the tea.  “I’ll be right outside if you need me,” he told
her.

Ella rinsed
herself, got out of the tub, dried off, and dressed.  She took her time; the
last thing she wanted was to fall over naked only to have him run in to save
her.  It was weird enough having him go through her bag and bring her pajamas. 
She put her hand over her mouth to stifle a little hysterical giggle.  Of
everything she had been through in the past few days, what she thought was
weird was Burke going through her clothes.  If she came through this without
losing her mind and needing some of those
chemical drugs
Burke had
referred to, it’d be a miracle.

There was a
little knock on the door.  “Are you all right?” Burke asked.

Ella opened
the door in response.  They stood for a moment just looking at each other, and
then Burke moved to pick her up.  Ella took a step back.  “I’m okay; you don’t
have to go carrying me around.”

“Sorry,” he
said.  “I’ve made you a tray.  Why don’t you go back to the bedroom and I’ll
bring it to you.  You’ll probably want to sleep some more after you eat.  The
pain will continue to come and go, and it will be a little easier for you if
you can sleep through as much of it as possible.  I’ll sit with you.  I’m sure
you have questions for me.”

Ella
returned to the bedroom while Burke went to the kitchen to get the tray.  He
had changed the sheets and remade the bed.  Her dirty clothes were gone, and he
had moved her duffle bag.  She was still standing and looking around when Burke
returned with the tray.

“Everything
all right?” he asked her.

“Fine, I
just didn’t see my bag.”  There was a slightly weird silence.  “I just wanted
an elastic to pull my hair back,” Ella added, to break it.

Burke set
the tray on the bedside table, walked over to the closet, and opened it.  Her
bag was right there on the closet floor.  Ella felt silly; she didn’t know what
she had been feeling.  It was just strange having him baby her so much.  She’d
always been independent - almost to a fault.  She didn’t want to feel like she
needed anyone.  On the other hand, she really didn’t want to hurt his
feelings.  There was something about Burke that comforted her whether she was
quick to admit it to herself or not.  She decided she needed to chill out.  She
didn’t argue as he motioned her toward the bed and got the hair band for her. 
After she put her hair up, she leaned back against the pillows and let him set
the tray across her lap.

He had made
the same tea, but it was cold this time and served over ice.  There was warm
buttered bread and some kind of soup.  Picking up the spoon, she tasted the soup. 
It was delectable.  “Is this homemade?” she asked him.

“Chicken
soup is one of the greatest discoveries of mankind.  I always go overboard when
I make it, so I can freeze some.  Don’t look so surprised; I like to cook. 
Most healers do.  We enjoy combining herbs and spices.”  Burke noticed the
slight furrowing of Ella’s brow, and the paling of her skin. “There’s a pill
there on the napkin.  You’re being very brave Ella, but I can tell your
headache is intensifying.”

“What is
it?” she asked, picking up the pill and turning it over in her palm.

“Demerol. 
It’s the same thing I gave you last night.  I don’t have everything here that I
had back home, or you wouldn’t need something like that.  Combined with the tea,
you’ll sleep well, the headache will be better, and you won’t feel nauseated.”

Ella took
the pill.

“I know you
must have a lot of questions.  Go ahead,” Burke encouraged and he sat down at
the foot of the bed.

“Okay, first
of all, in the picture you showed me you look exactly like you do now and not a
day older.  That picture is ten years old.”

“We don’t
age like humans, Ella.  We live longer, and we don’t get sick as much.  I’d
never heard of cancer or many other diseases before coming here.”

“How old are
you?”

“Forty-three,
but by human standards I guess my body is in its early to mid-twenties.”

“How long
will you live?”

“Our life
expectancy is five to six times longer than that of a human.  We age similarly
through the first twenty years, but once we reach adulthood everything slows
down.  I say five to six times because the common folk don’t live quite as long
as healers or warriors.  Warriors have the strongest bodies and the longest
life expectancy with healers coming in a close second.”

Ella almost
choked on a piece of bread.  “Wait a minute, are you telling me I’ll live to be
six hundred years old?”

“Around six
hundred, give or take, if you die of old age.”

Ella sat in
stunned silence.  The implications were mind boggling.  What could a person
experience and witness in six hundred years?  Not to mention lose.  She would
watch generations come and go.  “And you, you’ll live that long too?”

“Close. 
I’ve probably got a good five hundred or so years left in me.  Five hundred and
fifty if I lay off the red meat,” Burke smiled.

“You say you
were my father’s best friend.  Why weren’t you a part of my life growing up?”

“We’ve met
before, but you probably don’t remember.  After the accident I started
traveling.  You father was all I had from home.  He and I were trapped here,
and then he was gone.  I just left.  I’ve been all over this world.  At first I
clung to the idea that there had to be others like us.  There aren’t.  Your
mother was human, Ella.  I’ve always watched you, and I’ve always cared about
you; but I wasn’t going to burden you with the truth about your dad if you
never awakened.  There’s never been anyone like you, Ella.  Your dad and I were
both surprised when your mother became pregnant.  We didn’t know if you’d live
a human life, the life of the common folk, or become a warrior like your
father.  Being a warrior or a healer is usually passed down from parent to
child, but it isn’t always that way.  Two common folk might parent a healer for
example, although it doesn’t happen often.”

“How did you
and my father get here?”

This was the
question he’d known was coming.  The question he’d been dreading.  Everything
hinged on how Ella took what he was about to tell her.  He needed her to
understand that although he needed her help, that wasn’t the only reason he’d
brought her here to his house.  He cared for her, and he would have helped her
regardless of how they had met or who her father had been.

“Where your
father and I came from is very peaceful.  The warriors have kept the peace for
thousands of years.  Anyone committing a crime would be swiftly brought to
justice.  It’s a good deterrent and it works.  You can imagine the shock when
one day while out hunting your dad and I came across a body.  Someone had been
murdered.  I held their head in my hands and saw what had happened.  That’s one
of the gifts of a healer.  I can relive someone’s last moments from a touch. 
Something we came to call the Demon had come to our world and was feeding on
our people.  We tracked it for several months.  It took nine lives, including
my little sister.  She was only fifteen years old, not even to the age of
awakening.  We learned that the Demon was very old and killed in cycles. 
Approximately every ten years it would take ten lives.  Then it would become
dormant, or go into hiding, for about ten years before the cycle would start
again.  It became stronger with each kill.  It killed swiftly and was good at
covering its tracks.  I knew I couldn’t kill the Demon, but I worked closely
with the warriors.  More than one warrior was injured, and I was able to be of
some use.  The warriors had trapped the Demon, but as I said, by that time it
had already taken nine lives.  It was very strong - strong enough to open some
sort of portal.  It was escaping.  Your father followed it and before the
portal closed I dove through.  We were here, with no way to return home.  We
tracked the Demon for about a month.  It must have taken its last victim and
gone into hiding, because the trail just went cold.  We never found the last
victim, but with hospitals and the fragility of the people of this planet, it
wasn’t surprising.  We would have to wait ten years for our revenge.  Your
father met your mother and it was love at first sight.  He used to say she was
his soul mate, and he had been called from across the universe to be by her
side.  They were very happy together.  They were even happier when The Mother
of All smiled upon them with the gift of you.  The Demon’s killing cycle had
just started when your parents died in the car accident.  I left hoping to lead
him away from you.  I was afraid his evil vengeful nature would draw him to you
like a bee to honey.  Even though to my healer’s senses you were at that time a
human like any other, I couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t sense some kind of
strength in you that humans lack.  So I left, and I waited, and I watched. 
Because he draws his strength from those he kills, he chooses victims
possessing health and strength.  He won’t be as powerful now as he was after
claiming victims from my home.  The humans don’t have the same strength for the
Demon to draw into himself.  He will have become weakened over the last cycle.”

Burke
noticed Ella’s eyes becoming heavy.  She’d been listening attentively to him,
but the medicine had taken its effect and she would be asleep very soon.  Burke
stood and picked up the tray, he set it on the floor and knelt next to Ella.   “There’s
something else you need to know.  Your awakening has coincided with the start
of the Demon’s cycle, Ella.  It has started again.  Jill Stevens was his first
victim.”  Burke wasn’t sure whether or not she had heard his last words before
she fell asleep.