Me Without You (27 page)

Hugh dragged Jonah to the second
landing where Xavier's room was. This is where the difference lay.
While Jonah's house had bedrooms occupying the space upstairs,
Xavier's place had a huge family space which could be as large as a
ballroom floor. The whole package was another ambience altogether.
It was like stepping into a cozier home and a fun station, complete
with a home theater, shelves full of books, a billiard table, cozy
settees and colorful floor cushions everywhere and in one corner
was the coolest Wii gadgets and stuff section.

"It's mom's idea," Hugh said, seeing
how impressed Jonah was with the whole play room set-up. "She never
liked the house. This is where Dad, Mom, X and me mostly spend time
together—minus her. I would give you a tour but—"

"I know," Jonah said and followed Hugh
as he moved towards Xavier's room.

Xavier's room, Jonah found out, was not
a regular boy's room. It was more like a guest room in her own
home. Everything was polished and perfect. There was an oil
painting of a mother and child in one wall. No sleazy posters of
sexy girls. Not even a sports or a car poster. No paraphernalia
like a book or a CD or a shirt lying on a chair or anything that
could pertain to Xavier. Even the bright-toned colors did not seem
to suit Xavier at all.

"This is his idea," Hugh whispered in
Jonah's ear.

"No way!" Jonah said looking at Hugh
dubiously.

"It looked different before he got
sick," Hugh informed Jonah. "But he redesigned it with the weird
idea—"

"That I would not be leaving any mark
of me at all," Xavier finished the sentence for Hugh beneath the
covers. He raised himself up in a sitting position and pulled a
pillow to put behind his back. He smiled at Jonah. His face was
pale, his eyes were swollen and his lips were slightly
cracking.

"X!" Jonah burst out and ran towards
Xavier.

"No!" Xavier uttered suddenly. "Stop
right there!"

Jonah was already beside him by the bed
when she stopped. "What—"

"Just do as I say," Xavier pleaded. "We
cannot risk you getting weak because of me."

"So, why in the name did you want me
here?" Jonah demanded. She sat on Xavier's bed.

Xavier moved away from her just a
little. "I just want you here," he said. "I want you
here."

"X, please!" Jonah begged. But she did
not dare move towards him anymore. She did not want Xavier to use
any more of his energy arguing with her than he needed
to.

"Jonah—" Xavier spoke her name slowly,
as if tasting its syllables rolling through his tongue. "I beg you.
I just want to see you. There's nothing else you need to do.
Besides, Dr. Moore dropped by and gave me a very powerful
antibiotic I should have already fallen asleep. But I don't know, I
wanted to wait until you're here. And now, maybe I can rest." He
smiled a little and yawned. He took the pillow behind him and lay
his head on it. He did not take his eyes off Jonah, then blinking
once… twice… three times… he closed his eyes.

Nervous and with a lot of fearful ideas
which were running through her head, Jonah shifted her position so
that she was looking down at Xavier.

"X!" Jonah whispered frightfully. There
was no reply. Then, she threw Hugh a panic-stricken
look.

Hugh instantaneously came forward. He,
too, was looking alarmed.

Kidnapped

Xavier stirred gently as Jonah
impetuously placed both her hands on Xavier's chest feeling its
slow rising and descending. But Hugh briskly seized them away,
pulling Jonah to her feet. However, it was too late. The familiar
feeling within Jonah's stomach had smashed through her, coming in
harder.

"Woman!" Hugh cried out belligerently.
"Can't you not do what you were told? If hands only grow back I
could be cutting these off now." He raised both of Jonah's hand
which he was grasping with just one of his own and flashed them
right in her face.

"This is not the right time to scold
me," Jonah told Hugh. She smirked slightly before she keeled over
towards him. "X!"

"For goodness sake, what
were you thinking? He is fine. He is breathing. He is only asleep,"
Hugh replied in between gnashing his teeth. He carefully backed
Jonah to the wall. With his own weight supporting against hers and
one hand around her waist, she was able to stand on her feet.
"Think of yourself and the
smite
." Then, with his other free hand
Hugh slowly pressed Jonah's hands down to her wrist at certain
points, as if freeing her stuck blood to flow freely through her
veins again.

"What now? You're not doing acupressure
on me, are you?" Jonah asked feeling the tingling sensation all
over her body. With their closeness, she felt Hugh's warmth almost
consuming her. His outdoorsy, fresh-fabric scent was even drawing
her closer to him and giving back her strength little by little.
And as Jonah held on to Hugh with her head against his shoulder,
she saw Xavier's smiling face as he sang his favorite song, his
bold and vibrant voice, echoing through her head.

"This is all too romantic but you need
to fix yourself, Jonah," Hugh urged Jonah gently. "Any moment now,
she will arrive! You can't afford to be vulnerable now. You need
your strength back."

"You are such a big flirt, Hugh!" Jonah
replied. "And a lousy one too!"

"Okay, since we're at it, let's just
continue dancing," Hugh said. He swayed Jonah slightly to his
right, then to his left. Then, he whirled her around, carrying her
on her feet.

It was even perfect timing, as Xavier's
voice rang in louder and louder in Jonah's ears. She began to
snicker. And hearing her own laughter was also bringing back her
alertness.

The door opened and Gilda entered the
room. Jonah and Hugh abruptly froze. Both could not see the
expression on Gilda's face with the light behind her back. The
outline of her body shone brightly especially at the topmost part
where a few strands of her white hair escaped her neat coiffure.
Coupled with her trademark menthol scent hovering through the air,
her daunting presence filled the whole room.

Gilda walked directly to Xavier totally
ignoring both Hugh and Jonah who stepped aside. Mumbling to
herself, Gilda ran her hand a few inches above his head down to his
chest in a blessing.

Without leaving her position by the
bed, Gilda turned her head sideways until her bluish-grey eyes
rested upon Jonah's face. Gilda said, "You are much younger than I
expected. Are you the seventh child?"

Jonah was glued to her place
transfixed. She just glanced at Gilda. However, she could not think
of anything to say to the woman.

Gilda's eyes had looked glassy all of a
sudden. Her eyeballs seemed to leap out of their sockets making
Jonah feel Gilda could read the emptiness of her brain and the next
word that she was still conjuring to come out of her mouth. It was
odd but Jonah could almost feel something deep inside her that
could seemingly be magnetized by Gilda like a walk-through metal
detector to a pacemaker, not really knowing what effect to expect.
Jonah knew that somehow Gilda knew.

"She is the youngest of seven," Hugh
answered for Jonah.

As if Gilda did not hear what Hugh had
said, she just resumed to assess Jonah with her eyes. "Is my dear
boy, Xavier, okay now?" she asked.

Not knowing what to say, Jonah avoided
Gilda's eyes and directed her gaze at Xavier, who was already
sleeping comfortably and breathing normally. Jonah even detected
what to her was an impish grin on his lips.

"He has some color now," replied Hugh.
There was a minor change to the color in Xavier's face from the
pale tone he had to a soft pink one.

"You must have laid your hands on him,"
Gilda concluded, addressing Jonah. She shifted her whole body so
that she was facing Jonah face to face.

"The antibiotic was probably very
strong," Hugh reasoned out.

With a mixture of nervousness and
foolishness on Jonah's part, she chortled, only to suppress it
instantaneously. "I'm sorry! I —" However, Jonah was not able to
finish what she was going to say as Gilda lunged dangerously
towards her.

Gilda gripped Jonah's wrist
in one hand and pulled it towards her. Then, she took the
broken
habak
and
placed it on Jonah's palm. She
closed her free hand around Jonah's fist with the belly chain and
did not let go.

"This was your mother's," Gilda said.
"I ought to return it to your family where it belongs."

Hugh and Jonah held both their breaths
waiting for the effect of the belly chain to hit Jonah like a
scourge.

Hugh couldn't think of
anything else. No distraction tactic entered his mind. If he had
given the authentic half, it was all his fault that Jonah's life
was at risk in the hands of his own mother. Jonah will have to
leave and hide…far away where no healer or hunter could harm her.
Far away from Xavier and far away from him.
This is it…any moment now and Gilda will know she is the
one.
Hugh thought to himself.

However, nothing
happened
.

Jonah squeezed her hand out of Gilda's
clasp. She placed the belly chain on her pocket and massaged the
skin on her wrist. "Thank you," she uttered nonchalantly. "I
believe my family will be thrilled to get this heirloom
back."

Gilda was indignant. She could not
believe that Jonah was unaffected at all. She could make out the
scent of a healer in Jonah. It was so potent that Jonah could very
well be the new one.

"It can't be. I am being deceived. You
are the new one," Gilda lashed out at Jonah. She forwarded towards
her, while Jonah backed away. "Why won't you admit it? You need
help. You can't just hide. You are the new greatest
healer."

"No, she's not!" A voice said. "I
am!"

Gilda turned to see Jervais standing
from the doorway with Helen and Dr. Lively from behind her. "And
who are you? If you're really the new one, lay your hands on our
dear boy, Xavier! And prove it." Gilda challenged.

"Rebecca Blood had never done anybody's
bidding before, why should I? The new one will do as she chooses,"
Jervais answered flippantly, much to Gilda's surprise. Even Jonah
was gaping at her. She had spoken like a true and highly-powerful
healer, one cannot just bully around. "Besides I have not sealed it
yet."

Without looking back at
Jonah, Gilda extended her hand and asked for the
habak
. "Give me the belly
chain so that I can present it to your sister. She will be more
suitable to keep it."

Jonah stepped forward towards Jervais.
Without taking the jewelry out from her pocket, she told Gilda, "We
will make sure this jewelry will be returned to our family." To
Jervais, she urged, "Let's go, I am done here!"

"I'll drive you home," Hugh volunteered
and steered both girls out of Xavier's room before anybody could
say another word.

"Whew!" Jervais said out loud in relief
when they were inside the car on the way home. "She is just as
scary as your mother, Jonah!"

Hugh just chuckled in the driver's
seat.

"Thanks," Jonah said looking back at
Jervais, who just shrugged her shoulders and looked outside the car
window. Jonah smiled to herself. Although, there had been an issue
between her and Jervais, she knew that the bloody duo was back.
Nothing more was needed to be said.

Jervais took out her phone and dialed a
number. She immediately spoke, "Jane—did Damian gett your stuff?
No? I am with Jonah now. I sent Jenssen to prepare them. Oh, okay—"
Then, she hanged up.

"What is it?" Jonah asked sensing that
Jervais was worried about something.

"Jane had asked me to pick a few of her
stuff which she left at home. She told me Damian will just follow
to pick them up. Jenssen and I left the hospital together. But I
asked her to drive me directly to where you were and told Jenssen
to prepare Jane's stuff before she goes to her place. But Jane
said, she hasn't gotten her stuff," Jervais replied dialing another
number. "Now, Jenssen's phone is off. So, why do I get a bad
feeling about this?"

"Damian is still probably on his way to
the hospital," Jonah surmised. She tried not to appear anxious to
conceal the reality that she too, had the same sense of dread
Jervais had about the whole thing. After the conversation she had
with Jane, any worse scenario was possible.

"Yeah, I think that's it—" Jervais said
cheerily. However, her mood changed abruptly, "But why is her phone
off?"

"Jervais, please!" Jonah said
exasperatedly. Her uneasiness had surfaced. "Low bat!"

"She just charged her phone back at the
hospital!" Jervais said. She was almost screaming at Jonah. "And
she has an extra battery with her!"

The sisters' emotionally charged voices
stunned Hugh to step on the gas and increased his speed just a
little faster towards the Blood mansion. Unlike their travel
earlier, there seemed to be a stronger friction which made them
slower and a stretched of dark, wooded area on both their sides
towards the horizon seemed miles and miles away.