Page 8 of The World Undone

While she wasn’t familiar with every injury and torture the lab had applied in their recent months of desperation—she’d never spent much time with the prisoners of The Guild, her work had mostly been healing protectors who’d been attacked—she was able to ease most of the demons’ pain and symptoms.

Most of it was a waiting game, however. Demons and protectors were strong—time healed most things that could actually be healed.

But not those afflicted with Sarah’s torment.

Druden—Nightmares as they were also called—were uncharted territory for us all. So far Atlas was the only one who’d healed, and even then, I don’t know that I could really call him healed.

He wasn’t like the patients here, but he wasn’t like himself either.

I shoved my worry for him to the back of my mind. I’d make sure to check up on him this afternoon. If I let myself linger too long on his pain—a hollow, deep presence I could feel echoing inside of my own chest—I’d be of no use to anyone.

Sarah wasn’t on her bed. Instead, as she’d been each morning when I’d arrived, she was huddled in on herself, pressed into the corner of the room. Her dark hair fell in limp waves over her arms and knees, several strands caught in her eyelashes. She didn’t even have enough awareness to notice the nuisance.

Vacant blue eyes met mine.

With careful fingers, I cleared the stray hairs from her face. She didn’t flinch from my touch.

She didn’t react at all.

I set one palm against the side of her head, the other just under her collarbone.

I didn’t know Sarah particularly well, and my power always worked better the deeper my connection to whoever I was trying to heal.

Outside of the bonds, Ro was the only person I’d been able to actually successfully heal—my connection to him being ironclad. But even then, I’d almost died from the exertion.

Still, I had to try.

Closing my eyes, I reached for Sarah in my mind, visualizing an invisible tether, not yet formed, trying to filter the few memories I had of her into it. My power flared, tingling in my skin, but it was listless and erratic, like it was unsure of where to go—or how to get there.

It was a feeling I was growing familiar with. One that sparked anger deep in my gut.

My teeth ground together as I tried—and failed—to swallow the frustration. I was useless against this darkness shrouding her. It was like trying to catch smoke in my hands.

I hated feeling useless. Hated knowing that Sarah was locked in this battle by herself and none of us could figure out how to reach her. How to save her.

Eli pressed in against my back, his fingers lightly touching my shoulder. I knew my healing powers wouldn’t hurt him, but the brief possibility that they might pulsed through me all the same.

As if sensing my resistance, he doubled down and pressed his other hand to my other shoulder, his presence sturdy and strong as he worked out the tension in my muscles.

It took me a few minutes to notice, but slowly, I felt the invisible thread I’d conjured connecting me to Sarah—like, actually felt it. Not just imagined it like I had been for days. It was as tangible as any intangible thing could be.

A sharp breath pulled from my lips as I clung to it, trying desperately to shape and strengthen it, but it was like trying to shape a shadow without any light.

Still, it was something. More than I’d had any other time I’d tried to help her.

Eyes pressed shut, tight and eager, I called on what I’d learned about healing from Khalida—and, later, from Lucifer and Sam.

It was fractured and awkward, and something about my power couldn’t quite locate the pulse of Sarah’s, but I fought for collision all the same.

I opened my eyes and found hers locked on mine. They still looked vacant, not entirely recognizable as belonging to the girl I’d briefly known, but I had the distinct feeling that she was actually looking at me for the first time since we’d rescued her, rather than through me.

A breathy laugh of excitement pulled from my lips as I doubled down and pushed as much of my energy into her as I possibly could. I felt Eli’s presence radiating over us both, infusing me with his quiet strength.

“Max,” he whispered, but I barely heard it.

The brief flare of recognition I’d seen in Sarah’s eyes was gone, and a wave of frustration with myself threatened to drown me.

I fought to cling to the thread of power, but it was fading.

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