Page 103 of Hearts of Stone

Carrick was there beside me, keeping pace before grabbing me in his arms and then throwing us off the top step. I yelped but then his wings flapped open, and we sailed down to the front door in seconds. He ripped it open, then we were back in the air as Carrick made for the front gate.

“No…”I said, as we began to land. Harry was sitting there on the concrete just outside the gatehouse, a battered form in his arms. Together, they looked like one of those Pieta sculptures, where Harry was an atypical Mary, and Daniel… Daniel was the dead Jesus, pulled from the cross and given to his mother after the crowds had had their fill of him. “No,” I whispered, over and over. “No, no, no…”

But saying that made no difference as Carrick set me down on my feet and I stumbled closer, then was brought to my knees by what I saw.

“No…” I wasn’t whispering anymore, tears clogging my throat as I wailed, begged, pleaded, for my eyes to be playing tricks on me. “No…” I didn’t want any of it to be true—for my friend to be covered in such a dense criss-cross of bleeding cuts and bruises that it was hard to find an inch of skin unmarked;for his breath to be rattling in his chest; for blood to be bubbling between his lips.

But it had happened, because I’d allowed this to happen.

Big had dumped him like so much rubbish at the gates once before, with no qualms at leaving him pale, bruised, and battered, so why would this time be any different? A leopard like him didn’t change his spots. But he could love-bomb a guy who wanted to see the good in him, then use the moment when Daniel’s guard was down to deliver his coup de grâce.

And we hadn’t stopped him.

I hadn’t liked the idea of him going out with the guy again, but instead of trying to stage a goddamn intervention, I’d helped him get dressed up on a date. My hands went out, shaking, as they reached for Daniel, but not bothering to touch.

“The ambulance is supposed to be on its way.” Harry’s voice broke on the words. “The police, everyone. I even called fucking Mellors.” His head jerked up. “But where the fuck are they?!” His voice rang out into the street, demanding help where there was none; his tone anguished because we were stuck, helpless.

Someone had beaten the living daylights out of Daniel. My whole body shook because adrenalin was pumping so hard through my system but it didn’t have anywhere to go. It was supposed to let me run the fuck away from danger or run towards it, to fight like the devil, but there was no fighting this. I put a hand out, but couldn’t see any part of him that was uninjured; where I could touch him without hurting him more.

Tears filled my eyes, sparing me any more details of what had been done to Daniel, and I was ashamed to say I was glad for that. I shook my head, then stared blindly at Harry as more tears welled up.

“Where are they…?” I whispered. “Where are they?!”

I couldn’t hear sirens. How could any ambulance be doing anything else other than racing to our address to help my friend?How could they ignore our plea for help? But I knew that people died every day, waiting for an ambulance to get there on time. I’d read about it in the paper, the columns of outrage meaning nothing to me then. But now…

It sounded like Daniel was fighting to take a breath, every inhalation noisy, every exhalation a shudder.

And those breaths were coming slower and slower each time.

I strained to listen, to catch a hint of something that would indicate help was coming, but there was still nothing. I blinked my eyes clear, and then I saw another tool I might use. My hands still hovered in the space between us and both palms glowed like the moon itself.

I heard Mother Agnes’ advice in my head, warning of all that could go wrong when trying to heal someone, but I also remembered the way she had turned the plant from brown and shrivelled back to green and vital. The lights in my palms flared to life in response.

“Jade, you can’t—” Graven started to say, crouching down beside me.

“I have to.” I looked up at him while I stabbed my finger in Daniel’s direction. “The ambulance has been called, but they’re not here!”

“But Jade—” Seneca said.

“He’ll die.” I pulled my eyes away from them as I heard Daniel cough, his chest involuntarily lifting as a fine mist of blood sprayed into the air, before he collapsed back against Harry. “Daniel will die and I… I can’t do this without you.”

“Then you’ll have our help.” Carrick placed his hand on my shoulder, then gave it a squeeze. “I’ll give you what I can, but the others will have more…”

I realised he meant that because I wore the mating marks of the other two, we were locked much tighter together. I looked up at Graven and he nodded slowly.

“Whatever you need, my mate.” His fingers linked with mine. “My strength is yours to use.”

“It goes without saying.” Seneca’s hand slid into mine. “We’ve been used by masters far less worthy than you. Use what power we have to heal your Daniel.”

But how?

Why had I fluffed around going to charity auctions when I should’ve been learning about my power? Agnes had put us off the other day due to ‘chaotic energy’, but I could’ve been reading texts, studying the nature of this power. Again, I felt the frustration that although all my immediate problems had been solved the moment I’d inherited the house, coming into wealth and magical power, new ones arose.

Well, necessity was the mother of invention, so I’d need to work out how the fuck to start using my powers for good, and that started now. I put my hands out and very, very gently placed them on his poor, abused body.

Visualise what you want to see happen, Agnes had told me, then release your power into it.

That part was easy, because this battered body wasn’t Daniel, not how I knew him. My mind was flooded with all of the memories I had of him. Daniel, grinning at me from behind the counter, not doing his job properly, ignoring the customer who was complaining, before turning back to them to give them a mouthful so that I’d be forced to intervene. Daniel, bouncing along beside me as we walked to the pub, with all of the energy of ten Golden Retriever puppies. Daniel, sitting down next to me, taking my hand and just holding it as I cried; his silence everything I needed. No advice, no lectures, nothing but letting me feel seen. Daniel, flirting outrageously with several guys and then cackling when they started to get huffy about it. Daniel, leading me onto the estate, eyes wide, to go ghost hunting. Daniel, whole. Daniel, healed. Daniel, exactly as he should’vebeen before this fucking bastard brutalised my friend. I felt a surge of something, then, manifesting as a rush of white light that went pouring into his body.

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