Page 52 of Cursed
Nori follows Adele to the clinic within the hospital wing. Adele has thought of a way for Nori to practice her healing power. Because wolf shifters heal almost immediately,there will hardly ever be a need for a healer. However, shifters cannot fully heal when silver is used on them, as Nori well knows.
When they walk into the clinic, ten empty patient stalls line the far wall. Each one is separated by a white, cotton curtain. The clinic is pristine; each station is fully stocked with sealed medical supplies, waiting for an injured pack member to arrive.
Nori notices one stall is set up with two stools and a stainless-steel tray table containing gauze, bandages, and a silver knife.
“What exactly are you thinking, Adele?” Nori asks, wringing her hands.
“You are going to practice on me! I am going to slice my palm with that silver knife, and you are going to heal it.” She’s so pleased about her idea that she doesn’t notice Nori backing away from her.
“No way! I am not ready for this. You could be scarred for life!”
Adele turns around and moves behind Nori, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her toward the medical station. “It will be fine. I’ll make a shallow cut. If you can’t heal it, I’ll have a tiny scar on my palm. No big deal!”
Adele sits Nori on a stool. She walks around the steel tray table and takes a seat on the other stool facing Nori. “OK. You access your power first. Then I’ll slice my hand.”
Nori shakes her head violently and moves to get up from the stool. “This is a bad idea. I don’t even know what to do with this power. How do you know it will do anything? What if that Seer is wrong, and I’m not a healer?”
Adele grasps Nori’s nervous hands. “If Lyra says you are a healer, then you are a healer, Nori. Now, as powerful as my brother is, it took him weeks to access his power. You found yours in only hours, Nori. I know you can do this.”
Adele waits. When Nori reluctantly agrees, a huge grin slides over Adele’s face. “Great! I have complete faith in you. Besides, how are you supposed to learn to use this power if you can’t practice?”
She smiles at Nori, waving the knife around. “Now, I am doing this, so do your thing.”
Adele holds the silver blade against her left palm and waits. Nori settles herself with a few steadying breaths, then turns on her healing power. Soft, golden, sparkling light quickly surrounds her hands. Seeing Adele’s eyes widen, Nori says, “We were practicing again this morning.”
Adele grins and slices a large, deep gash into her palm. Her blood drips all over the steel tray.
The golden light around Nori’s hands suddenly vanishes. “Holy shit! You said a tiny cut!” Nori shouts, her breathing sharp and panicky.
“Nori, you better get to healing this; otherwise, I will have a terrible scar on my hand,” she says, grinning.
“Dammit Adele; you are nuts!” Nori quickly calls her power again and takes Adele’s bleeding hand, surrounding the wound with her healing light.
“Oh! Weird!” Nori says in surprise.
Adele tries to jerk her hand back in a moment of panic, but Nori holds her still. “No. It’s OK,” Nori assures her. “It feels weird the way the power flows. I’m not quite sure how to knit up your palm, though.”
Nori stares at Adele’s hand in disbelief. “Oh! After I thought about your palm knitting up, the power got warmer. I can feel your wound closing. Maybe I need to know what I want to happen before the healing power will work.”
It takes only a minute to completely heal Adele’s hand. When Nori releases her, Adele holds her hand out, inspecting it from all angles. She sucks in a surprised breath. “It’s like nothing ever happened. This is incredible, Nori! Let’s do it again! After that, we’ll move on to some more severe injuries.”
“Why don’t we take it slow today until I am more confident? Tomorrow, we can move to more severe injuries.”
Adele grins slyly and says, “OK, Nori.”
chapter thirty-three
Groans and mumbled curses drift through the rider’s camp. Stiff and sore, the men are finally able to emerge from their tents and pack up. They have been holed up for the past two nights, weathering the storm and eating only what they brought in their packs—mostly dried meats and water. The weather clears on the morning of the third day, and the riders are eager to break camp and get moving.
The ride to the town is slow as the horses trudge through the deep, fresh snow. They enter the town late in the afternoon and drop off their horses at the stables.
Ryland’s massive warhorse is none too happy aboutbeing taken care of by strangers; therefore, Ryland handles him, personally. He takes off the saddle and bridle, brushes him quickly, and then throws a fresh blanket on the giant, temperamental beast. Ryland tells the stablehands to just make sure he has plenty of food and water, but not to go into his stall.
Exiting the stables, Ryland looks around. It’s been years since he’s been here. Silver Pine is a small town with roughly two hundred pack members. Three dirt roads run through the town. Small homes line the outer areas, forming a perimeter around the town square.
Silver Pine’s town square consists of two bakeries, a tailor, a blacksmith, and a hair salon for both men and women. During the spring and summer months, a food market, filled with locally grown fruits and vegetables, takes up most of the square. However, in late fall and winter, the town is almost completely dependent upon regular deliveries of grains and vegetables from the Pack Castle.
The Ironwood Inn sits in the center of Silver Pine. The Inn serves as a gathering hall, restaurant, late-night entertainment, and hotel for travelers passing through. Ryland and Zayne lead the men to the Inn to meet with the Mayor, Valeera Stone, and eat some decent food.
