Me Without You (26 page)

"Okay, fine—we will have it your way,"
Dr. Lively said. His voice was still as kindly as possible. "But we
will need help. I will call Dr. Moore."

"No!" Xavier said vehemently. He sat up
and wrapped his hands on both his legs. He was trembling once
again. He could barely keep his mouth shut as his teeth were
chattering against each other. At the same time, cold sweat was
flowing non-stop through his face. After some time, the tremors had
stopped.

Helen was handy with a towel and a
glass of water. She wiped Xavier's face and changed his wet clothes
with her own quivering hand. Then, she let Xavier drink water from
the glass.

"God, X!" Dr. Lively said out loud in
frustration. "Why won't you allow us to do what we were meant to
do?"

Helen approached her husband and gently
tugged at his arm to leave the room for a while. "Call Dr. Moore
from the study, honey!" she whispered at him and he
left.

"My dear boy, Xavier," Gilda said.
"Tell me the other healer you have entrusted yourself to. I do not
have much effect on you anymore because another healer has touched
you and you allowed yourself to be healed by her. Healing is
eternal. It must not be stopped. She will give you relief now. Tell
me who she is."

"She?" Xavier asked. He lay on his bed
weakly. "There's no one but Hugh. But I forbade him to touch me
again because he becomes weak doing it."

"But of course, my dear boy. If it was
Hugh and he becomes weak—that's because he has not sealed it yet,"
Gilda replied and looked back at Hugh.

"Seal it—what do you mean?" Hugh chimed
in.

"A new healer has to seal his fate by
giving life to a dying one," Gilda said. "Unless he does this, he
will be weak around sick people, until he himself gets sick and
die."

"And what happens if Hugh seals it,
Aunt Gilda?" Xavier asked.

"He will become a healer—powerful and
immortal," Gilda answered matter-of-factly.

Both Hugh and Xavier stared at each
other momentarily. They were both thinking about Jonah. If she had
become a healer, she needed to seal it too.

It was the kind of
information both Hugh and Xavier were not able to draw out from Fr.
Ulysses. The only thing new they discovered from the priest was the
other group of healers, who called themselves the
Magdala
, which also wanted
the healer's blood to continue their lineage. Unlike the
Andalusian
hunters, the
healers also want the new healer for a sacrifice. To preserve the
lineage of the healers, the
Magdala
believed that eating a healer's flesh and drinking
his blood will produce more of their kind. And they would want to
sacrifice the greatest of them all to extract the strongest power
possible.

Gilda stood up and instructed Hugh,
"You need to do something!"

Hugh approached the bed and sat beside
Xavier. He held out his hand and Xavier reached out for
it.

"Promise me something, no matter what
happens you will not allow Jonah to seal her fate," Xavier
whispered.

"What?" Hugh asked looking at Xavier
perplexed.

"Don't deny it. We both love her,
Hugh," Xavier said. "You wouldn't want to see her live the kind of
life Aunt Gilda does, would you? You will not let her seal her
fate, promise me!" Just then, Xavier stood up again. He let go off
Hugh's hand and clasped both his hands tightly around his knees,
quivering hard. "Hugh!" he muttered painfully.

"Yes, I promise!" Hugh said, enveloping
Xavier in a hug. He felt Xavier's body shaking against him. He
could sense a faint and dreadful foreboding from Xavier.

In a matter of minutes, Xavier was
soaking wet from his own sweat. And when the chills had passed.
Xavier slowly lowered his body back to bed, closed his eyes and
fell asleep out of exhaustion.

Gilda took Hugh aside and reprimanded
him, "I don't know what both of you are playing at. But it will
cost you Xavier's life. You are definitely not the healer who had
touched him."

"I don't know what you are talking
about," Hugh said. "There's no other healer."

Xavier stirred and he awakened again.
"I want to see Jonah!" he said dreamily.

"X, go to sleep so that you will regain
your strength back," Helen said.

"Jonah!" Xavier said one more
time.

"It's the girl?" Gilda said
knowingly.

"Jonah is his girlfriend," Hugh said
exasperatedly. "Naturally, he will want to be with her!"

Xavier bolted up and began shivering
again. He allowed himself to lie on the bed in a curl, his body
still trembling uncontrollably.

Helen could no longer help herself and
cried. She took Xavier in his arms and held on to her son long
after his ordeal was done.

"Hugh, please fetch the girl," Helen
said.

"Before you leave, give
the
habak
back to
me," Gilda ordered.

The Guesswork

Jervais has to be there too. Hugh was
convinced that Jervais had to come along. He needed to see the
amazon not just Jonah. Although, in his mind, he was totally
persuaded that the new greatest healer was Jonah, however that
happened, no other cover up was better than to have two possible
healers at the same time.

Let her do the
guesswork
… Hugh chuckled within
himself.

Hugh had his own guesswork
earlier as well. He had been thinking of a way to outsmart Gilda.
He figured when Gilda asked for the
habak
back, she was really intent on
finding out if Jonah was the new healer. The problem was he was not
sure if he gave Gilda the half that he had the jeweler made or the
genuine half.

Hugh did not have time to
compare as he split the
habak
in two again. The resemblance of the markings was
very much alike, it was so difficult to tell. In his haste, he just
had to eeny, meeny, miny, moe
and
bet on
the half that looked the newest and gave the darker and ancient one
to Gilda. That wasn't an easy feat for him. It was like dismantling
a bomb and cutting off the blue wire, not really knowing if it will
stop the whole thing off or blow it off right in his
face.

In this case, the timer was
still ticking and Hugh just had to warn Jonah about it. Not that it
would make any difference if Gilda got the authentic half, for he
had seen how Jonah had reacted to the
habak
the last time she touched it.
Anything can happen to Jonah. In fact, anything worse can happen to
her.

Hugh was skeptical whether to ring the
bell or not as he stood by the front door of the Blood mansion. He
realized he had already wasted so much time and Xavier must be in
so much pain.

Hugh was just here a moment ago and it
hadn't been a welcoming experience. Being in the house of the once
greatest healer with her kin gave him the chills. If it were not
for Helen and Xavier, he wouldn't have been here and picking Jonah
up, hopefully with Jervais, too.

As it turned out, Hugh did not have to
ring the bell. The door opened as a house help carrying two black,
bulging trash bags, came out and almost collided with him. They
both jumped at the same time.

"Er—" Hugh began, scratching his head
and moving his eyes to and fro as he could not really concentrate
on a thing. "I came to see Jonah. Is she still up?"

The helper put the bags aside and
invited Hugh in. She left him in the living room and then retreated
to a wide staircase leading upstairs.

The whole atmosphere was so heavy for
Hugh. No matter how well-lit the huge house was, with its emptiness
and Brice's urn, the whole place still had the touch of spookiness
in the air.

I hope she gets Jonah
immediately
… Hugh whispered to himself. He
couldn't bear to face one of Jonah's siblings. Although, he did not
mind facing the amazon because he needed her to accompany them back
to Xavier.

Hugh couldn't silence his nerves any
more. He stood up and paced back and forth. He was on edge, so
ready to scamper with Jonah if she showed up.

But when Jonah appeared followed by the
house help, all Hugh could do was foolishly smile at her. And the
urgency of his visit vanished momentarily from his
thoughts.

We both love her…
Hugh recalled Xavier telling him. It was just the
kind of wallop he needed to awaken to the reality that he was
indeed beginning to feel something really special for
Jonah.

"Hugh?" Jonah asked surprised.
Although, her brows were raised in a cautious and nervous manner,
she was also returning the smile at him. "What's wrong? What
brought you here?"

When Hugh's own brows met, he needed
not say anything anymore. Jonah seemed to have that knowing that it
was about Xavier.

"I'll get my purse," Jonah
said.

Hugh grabbed Jonah's arm and stopped
her in her tracks. He approached her and came nearer until he was
almost whispering in her ear. He had almost forgotten what he was
about to say because of the scent of wild flowers coming from
her."We—" he stammered. "We need the amazon, too!"

"Why?" Jonah asked looking at him,
their nose almost touching. "We are not—Jervais and I still have an
issue to fix."

"Until now?" Hugh asked. He got the
idea that it had something to do with Jervais preventing Jonah from
making the careless move of almost sealing her fate when Brice was
almost dying. He could just imagine how Jonah would react if he
fulfilled his own promise to Xavier not to let her seal it no
matter what. He looked around him for a moment, "I can't explain it
here. But we need the amazon."

"Besides, she is not here. She's at the
hospital looking after Jemmah. But I can send her a message to
follow us," Jonah replied. She grinned at Hugh teasingly, "Stop
being mysterious, Hugh! Why do you want Jervais to come along?
What's with Jervais—"

"Jervais?" A voice said from above
them. It was Jane from the top of the stairs. Without breaking eye
contact with Hugh as she came down the stairs step by step, she
continued, "Jervais is at the hospital with Jemmah. I am on my way
to relieve her now."

Hugh backed away a few feet from Jonah.
He was faltering as he averted Jane's gaze and clearing his throat
at the same time.

When Jane reached both Hugh and Jonah,
she wrapped one arm around Jonah's shoulder protectively and said,
"What's wrong? What do you need Jervais for?"

"Jane, there's no more time to explain
now!" Jonah said and broke away from Jane's arm. She dashed for the
stairs and added, "Just tell Jervais to go directly to X's house. I
will be waiting for her there. And Hugh, please wait for me in the
car."

Hugh nodded obediently. Without a word,
he quickly exited the house and waited for Jonah in his car. He was
so glad he didn't have to wait for Jonah inside. He would rather
have his blood consumed by mosquitoes and other insects than share
the room with Jane Blood. He could not just point his finger on it,
but she reminded him of Rebecca Blood in a way.

On the way back to the
Lively mansion, Hugh told Jonah about the
habak
and his sneaking suspicion about
Gilda. If it had been possible to drive in circles, Hugh would have
done that. And if it were possible for Jonah to walk to and fro,
she would have exactly done it as well. Both did not know whether
to stop, go back or proceed to the mansion. However, the car just
glided slowly towards their destination as if it had a mind of its
own. And the drive had never been so short before, Hugh calculated.
It felt like he had just driven to the next house when in fact
acreage of land separated both properties.

Hugh stopped the car just in front of
the porch. He impulsively reached out for Jonah's hand and squeezed
it.

"We know the
habak's
effect on you,"
Hugh said. "But no matter what will happen, don't admit to
anything."

"Of course! Why would I? I am not the
new healer. I did not kill my mother," Jonah replied
strongly.

Hugh squeezed Jonah's hand again and
blurted out, "That's my—the spirit, girl!" Before any one of them
could fathom what he just said and notice that both of them were
blushing in the dark, Hugh was swift to get out of the car and
Jonah followed.

It was the first time Jonah was able to
get inside the Lively mansion. She was not surprised to find that
the interior was almost like her own house. The whole neighborhood
had been designed exactly the same. Only the ones who were acquired
by new owners had contemporary renovations on them. But there were
a few, including the Blood and Lively mansions, which still
maintained the same design of affluence.

The living room boasted of a
high-ceiling of about thirty feet. Although, the antique gold,
candelabra-style chandelier had probably never been used much for a
decade, the arms were beautifully crafted with clear crystal
pendant and matching
Capiz
shell shades
.
The grand
staircase leading to the second floor was on the right corner. And
Jonah was quite sure, the little dark corridors beyond the living
room each led to the kitchen and the study just like her own
house.