The Healer: A Young Adult Romantic Fantasy (The Healer Series Book 1) (40 page)

“Run,” I shouted.

I tried to close the distance between Kirby and myself. Tie spun around and pulled out a black sword, one that looked similar to the swords owned by the nekomata I’d slain. He allowed his momentum to bring him center with the ugly beast. He sliced the cat’s head off as easily as if he were playing a casual game of baseball.

From the corner of my eye I saw Ms. Mori fighting a third nekomata.

I was only a few yards away from Kirby when I heard my father shout out a warning.

I looked to where my father pointed. Victor held his opponent in a choke hold, but the nekomata who’d murdered Betty had managed to free the hand holding his gun, pointing it directly at me.

“If she doesn’t come with me then she dies with all of you!” His guttural cry rang out across the entire football field.

I looked to Kirby and motioned for him to stop, trying to slow myself down as well. We were about ten feet apart, but he wasn’t stopping. He looked over at the nekomata and ran faster. I knew what he was doing. I tried desperately to stop moving toward him, but he kept running, closing the distance between us. Kirby flung his arms around me at the exact moment the gun went off. I fell with my back to the ground and Kirby covering me.

I held still and prayed the bullet had hit me. I wanted to feel a sudden pain slicing through me signaling the bullet’s impact. I felt nothing but Kirby lying lifeless in my arms. I held him close to me and carefully rolled him to my side so I could look into his eyes and make sure he was all right. The moment I did blood began pouring from his back.

I didn’t waste any time. I had no idea who was winning or losing in the fight against the nekomata, and I didn’t care. I connected to Kirby and assessed the extent of the damage the bullet had inflicted. What I saw filled me with dread. The bullet had severed his spinal cord at the C-3 level which meant the nerves controlling his ability to breathe had been damaged. He was suffocating. I worked frantically to help his body repair his vertebrae, but his life force wouldn’t respond. It told me Kirby was meant to die.

I felt an inhuman sound rising up from the back of my throat. I began pushing through that invisible veil just as I had the first time. I wasn’t going to lose him. I wasn’t going to let him die, not after I’d fought so hard to give him life. He couldn’t die trying to save me. It wasn’t his job to save me. I used all of my mental strength to shove through that stupid, ridiculous barrier. All the while I felt Kirby’s heartbeat slowing as his body failed to draw in the oxygen he so desperately needed. I was in a race against time, and my panic began impairing my ability to focus. I’d get so close to ripping through it, and then the spaces between Kirby’s heartbeats would become more prolonged causing me to lose my focus again. I’d almost cut my way in, mentally stabbing and slicing at the invisible force before me, when Kirby slipped from me. It felt like he squeezed me lovingly one last time and then gently let go.

That inhuman noise escaped from my throat and soon I was screaming in a way I never had before. I kept hacking away at that barrier in an attempt to follow Kirby wherever he had gone. I could still feel his presence next to me, but the obstacle ahead of me prevented any contact with him. I continued screaming, cutting, clawing and fighting until the pressure and pain within me came to a boiling point, and suddenly, I broke through.

I’d broken through! I pushed past the veil and moved forward, latching onto the presence I felt before me and pulling back with all the strength I had left, sending Kirby’s spirit back through the veil, through this invisible entity that had, for so long, taken and taken and taken from me without giving me a choice or a chance to save what was mine.

No more.

I was making the decisions now. I was calling the shots, and to hell with anyone who thought otherwise. I kept that veil wide open as I taught Kirby exactly what he needed to do to heal the injuries done to the spine, the nerves, the blood vessels, and anything else that needed repairing. Slowly he was coming into focus. He was breathing again. He was feeling again.

He was alive.

I had no idea how long I floated like that keeping the veil at bay while

Kirby’s body began healing itself, but when it was all over I found myself never wanting to leave. Then I found that I couldn’t leave. Every time I tried to move through the veil and join Kirby on the other side I found it impossible to do so. After a little while longer I began to forget who it was I was trying to get to. Then I forgot more. My thoughts grew vague and distant. I considered the possibility I was dreaming, and I wondered if I would wake up in a nice warm bed overlooking an amazing garden filled with beautiful cherry trees.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Tie Hart

Tie ignored the battle behind him, recognizing that determined look in Hope’s eyes, the look that signified her willingness to sacrifice everything, including her own life for those she loved. She had worn that look the day she’d saved his life.

By the time he reached her she was already connected to Kirby and bringing him back from the brink of death, but blood dripped from her nose and her entire body shook.

No. Dammit, Hope. Not again.

There was no doubt in his mind that she had breached the veil. Fortunately, he knew she was his, and he didn’t have to wait for Victor to attempt a healing. As her soul mate he was the only one capable of repairing the damage to her life force. She collapsed next to an unconscious Kirby, and Tie dove for her, catching her just before her head hit the floor.

He wrapped his arms around her and frantically fought to recall her spirit back to him. He felt her warmth, saw the vibrant golds and oranges of her life force and held them close to his as he repaired the damage she had sustained in order to heal her little friend.

Her selflessness never ceased to amaze him. Even now, after a thousand years and an entirely different upbringing, the woman he loved was essentially the same compassionate person at her core. She had the right to know what had happened to her. She needed to remember who she was and the choices that had led her to her death so very long ago. Tie also couldn’t deny a selfish desire for her to remember him as well. He wanted to know if any of it had been real for her before he’d forced her hand and taken away all of her choices.

There was only one way to accomplish that, and he was the only one with the power to unlock those memories for her. He held tightly to her as the healing neared its completion and gave her life force one final command, giving her access to her first life and instructing her body to remain in a coma until she had relived every minute detail.

Someone approached in a great rush and landed on Hope’s other side.

“Hope. You have to wake up. You have to wake up,” James screamed. He turned his eyes pleading look on Tie. “What happened? Did the bullet hit her?”

“She saved Kirby, but she broke through the veil to do it.”

“What?” Victor shouted behind them. He crouched low in front of Hope and Tie, placing his hands on her head. “Some things never change.We need to heal her then. Together.”

Tie eased Hope back and away from Victor’s touch. “I was able to get to her before she did any damage to her life force.” A bold-faced lie, but the alternative was to admit that he had brought her back from the edge of death. Then Victor would know that Hope no longer belonged to him, and he wasn’t ready for those repercussions. He’d be sent away while Victor and Ms. Mori took hope to Kagami and tried to find a way to reverse what he had done.

He knew it was selfish. The safety of the world depended upon Victor and Hope’s ability to join together and heal the veil, and they couldn’t do that unless they were bonded as soul mates. Yes, it was selfish, but he couldn’t lose her just yet. He couldn’t leave her side again until she remembered him, remembered all that they had shared together. He had to know if Hope had ever consciously chosen to love him, and he had to protect her from any other threats she might face once she awoke.

Victor and Ms. Mori had to remain in the dark a little longer, for Hope’s sake and for his.

“If you repaired minimal damage, then why is she still unconscious?” Victor barked.

Tie hoped the next series of lies he told would be believable enough to mislead Victor and Ms. Mori for a while.

“She damaged the veil by healing Kirby. This is the consequence that follows. She’s in between our world and the next, and will need some time to regroup and recover.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ms. Mori said a she stepped up behind Victor.

“Victor warned Hope of the possible consequences for breaching the veil. This is simply one of those consequences. We’ll have to wait it out until she is ready to come back to us.” Tie did his best to disguise his desperation. They couldn’t find out what he had done. Not yet, anyway.

“This has worked out nicely then,” Ms. Mori stated. “We needed her incapacitated and now she is. Victor, grab her and let’s get going.”

Tie reluctantly placed Hope in his former friend’s arms, but James lunged forward.

“You’re not taking my daughter anywhere.” He reached for Hope, but Tie held him back.

“Trust me,” he whispered to James. “We’re all going with, Hope.” He stared at James willing him to back down. In the state that Victor and Ms. Mori were in, he had no doubt that they wouldn’t hesitate to incapacitate everyone present and leave them all behind.

James’ stubborn look caused Tie to hold his breath, but he must have seen something in Tie’s face that gave him some modicum of peace. He capitulated and sank back to the ground.

Ms. Mori and Victor hurried forward with Hope while Tie rounded up Angie, James and an unconscious Kirby. He carried the young boy in his arms and studied his face for a moment. Something about the kid seemed familiar. He shook his head, and turned to James.

“Listen to me very carefully,” he said as they moved to follow the others. “I’ve put Hope into a coma so she can regain her memories. She won’t wake up until her first life has merged with this one, but we can’t tell Chinatsu and Victor.

James nodded. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t trust them.”

“They aren’t bad people, James, but if they find out what I’ve done they will send me away, and I won’t be here to protect any of you.”

“I understand.”

“Well I sure as hell don’t,” Angie muttered. “Hope being held in Victor’s arms isn’t right, Tie, and you know it.”

Tie assessed her in surprise. “Whatever you know about my connection with Hope, you have to promise me you won’t say anything, Angie.”

“Loose lips sink ships. Got it.”

He quirked a smile at her, but it quickly faded as his eyes floated back to Hope being held in Victor’s arms.

Things were going to get rough once she finally recovered her memories and awoke from the coma. He sincerely hoped they would all be ready for it, but most of all, he prayed that Hope would be able to forgive him for what he had done to her, and somehow find it in her heart to love him anyway.

Epilogue

I felt as if I traveled from a great distance, fighting to remember locations, faces and even names as the heavy sleep that enshrouded my mind threatened to steal my memories from me. Just before I burst through that hazy state between sleep and consciousness a pair of icy blue eyes filled with longing flashed before me accompanied by a soft voice that desperately pleaded over and over again…
Remember me. Remember me.

I sat up abruptly and rubbed my eyes.

“Honestly, mistress! You should’ve awakened two hours ago. Your father has an important meeting he wants you to attend, and your mother has threatened me within an inch of my life if you don’t appear properly dressed in twenty minutes.”

I squinted up at the haughty looking woman frowning down upon me.

“I had the strangest dream. I just can’t remember what it was about,” I said, feeling troubled.

She rolled her eyes.

“You do test my patience, Mistress. Why can’t you be like every other ordinary girl and simply do as you’re told?”

She grumbled something under her breath as she began brushing out my hair.

“But I’m not an ordinary girl. I’m not even what you might call normal.” I felt a familiar sadness sink within me. “I’m her Imperial Highness Princess Mikomi, the girl of prophecy, the hope of our nation, the savior of our world.”

“The Healer,” my maid whispered in reverent tones.

“Yes.” I stood up and crossed over to the full length mirror on the wall next to my armoire. I stared unhappily at the perfectly groomed girl before me. “I suppose I am that as well.”

Author’s Note

I hope you enjoyed the first installment in The Healer Series. Your support keeps me writing so please consider letting others know about this story by leaving a review for The Healer
here.

Other Books by CJ Anaya

The Healer Series