Page 226 of Gift from the Source
Suddenly, Tillman was shouting for Draken and Jamie to heal me, and more voices started screaming so loud I couldn’t make out my own thoughts. I pieced together enough as Jamie was shoving his magic in me that while they were losing their minds, they refused to let any of the rest of our family near us.
Gaster, Oakly, and Lyker were fighting to get closer to Willow but were being held back. On Cas’s orders, my dads kept my mom back from getting closer to me.
They couldn’t bear the thought of anyone touching us.
I tried to speak three times and couldn’t get the words to come out, but I finally managed to mentally murmur,“She’s alive.”
That seemed to calm down the protective rage in them a bit, but once my eyes finally opened and Jamie pulled his magic back, Cas shadowed us away.
The three of them paced along the edge of the bed until I announced I had to use the bathroom. Then they attempted to carry me, and I had to put my foot down.
I was coming out when she woke up.
“So that’s how long I was out for?” Willow sniffles as she lifts her head to look at me.
“Are you eavesdropping?” I ask.
“Yes. I have every intention of being as bad as Tillman from this day forward.”
“Elementra helps us all,” Cas grumbles and Willow’s face crumbles just a little.
I tilt her chin up to meet my gaze and I search her eyes for what that look means. “What’s wrong, princess?”
“She pulled me into my mind, if you all didn’t figure that out already.”
“We did,” the four of us say and she nods.
“She told me…I asked if she’d given you back to me. She said I have done nothing then followed it up with there were things in the beyond she had to figure out.”
My mouth opens and closes as I search for the words to say. I decide on the truth, although it isn’t much.
“I know it wasn’t her, but I don’t know what happened. I remember opening my eyes to a brightly lit, I don’t know…empty space, then I ran. Where, I don’t know that either. I just remember the light. It was like sunshine. It was powerful and very familiar.”
Her hands cup my cheeks as she rubs underneath my eyes. “Right now, I honestly don’t care how it happened, just that it did.”
I lean down and capture her lips with mine.
I don’t have any words to give her or my brothers. Especially none that would be reassuring at the moment.
It’s not easy explaining the feeling of death. One moment there was so much pain, I couldn’t breathe, to nothingness.
I could feel the power of what I assume was the beyond thrumming at my back from where I lay, but it all changed as the light did.
Words continue to escape me, so I decide to just speak another way. I continue to kiss Willow until we’re both struggling for breath. I don’t want anything right now but to be surrounded by her and my brothers.
I crawl us into bed and pull her higher on my chest. She lays her head on my mark and my heartbeat slows. I trace my handprint on hers and we both sigh in contentment.
The sound of Tillman’s communicator going off has each of us turning to him. His eyes squeeze tight as he looks down at the message, then lets it fall to his chest.
“How many?” Willow asks softly.
“One hundred and sixteen confirmed dead or missing as of now, little warrior.”
The waterworks immediately start, and I glance at him to get a better understanding of those one hundred and sixteen. Any of our immediate family? Close friends?
All their lives are important. That’s a huge chunk of our army who sacrificed their lives today, but if it’s anyone closer to us, I need to prepare myself.
“Look at me, little wanderer,” Draken says softly, and he wipes her cheeks when she listens. By the breaking in his cobalt eyes, I know he’s about to say something hard. “My dad and Tanith are both alive, but Tanith took significant damage to one of her wings. The healers are working hard to get her healed. She’s feeding and Keeper is transferring her some of his blood in hopes the power in him will help it heal completely, but she’s got a long road ahead of her.”
