Chapter 8
Nature’s Will
“Calli! Hey, wake up.”
I heard Chris’s voice. The pain in
my mind still lingered. I opened my eyes to discover his face near mine and I
realized I was on the floor. He had pulled my upper body into his arms, trying
to wake me.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.” I sat upright next to Chris.
Everyone was awake and staring at me. “What happened?”
“You started screaming and holding your
head and fell to the floor,” Chris told me.
I looked for Jonas, and when I
found his face, I searched his mind only to find the tumor intact, unchanged. He
wasn’t aware I’d been in his head and he still didn’t know he had cancer.
Chris figured out straight away
what I was trying to do. All he had to do was glance in the same direction of
my eyes and who I was looking at.
“Get up,” he held out his hand to
me. I stood and he led me into the bathroom and closed the door behind us.
“Why are we in here?”
“Because I don’t want everyone else
freaked out by what I’m about to tell you, especially one in particular.” He
reached over and turned on the bathtub faucet, looked at me and opened his
mind,
“Background noise,”
he pointed to the running water.
“They will
be trying to listen, and all they will hear is your side of the conversation. Do
not say Jonas’ name out loud, alright?”
I nodded and sat down on the floor
with my back against the door. Chris sat on the edge of the tub.
“You are on dangerous ground. One
of the first things we learn about at the compound is how to accept death, and
why we should.”
“Well, I never started my training
so you can’t expect me—”
“I know. This will be your first
lesson. Jonas is going to die and you can’t do anything about it. You tell me,
how serious is his cancer?”
“Terribly serious.”
“Calli, consider this, if a
doctor discovered his illness, do you think they would even try to fight it, or
send him home to die?”
“Send him home.”
“Exactly. In the early stages,
most kinds of cancer are treatable by both human and Healer alike, but when any
illness is far enough advanced, both know when to pull back and let nature take
its course.”
“I’m a Healer, I can heal him.”
“Think of yourself as a glorified
surgeon. You can heal wounds and broken bones; basically your powers are
limited to what a doctor can do. He can shock a heart to beat again, but if the
heart has damage that will prevent it from beating on its own, his hands are
tied. Think about a crash victim in a coma, a doctor can’t wake them and if
they are brain dead … do you comprehend the limitations doctors have? They are
not all powerful. Everyone dies, our bodies give out, and Jonas is going to
die; he just doesn’t understand yet.”
“I can remove it, I know I can.”
“Do you remember falling in
agony a few minutes ago? Clearly, you are trying to do something which isn’t
meant to happen.”
“Will it kill me to try?”
“Ssomewhere along the line, you’ll
realize what you are trying to do shouldn’t be done. Think about this, if you
came upon a brain dead individual, you wouldn’t be able to reawaken their mind
or be able to read thoughts or view their future. Our bodies die. At some
point, we have to die.”
“I disagree.”
“Now this is where you are on
dangerous ground.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Thinking you can defy death,
cheat death, is bordering into evil. Let’s imagine for a moment you did heal
Jonas, but in five years he’s shot in the head, oh, but wait, you fix his head
and he lives. Then, when he’s sixty, he suffers a massive heart attack, but you
heal that too. However, at ninety, he develops congestive heart failure, and
you fix him. And when he’s one hundred and twenty his kidneys give out, but you
heal him. Then he’s one hundred and fifty—”
“I get your point, when nature
takes us, its game over. He’s so young; he has so much life ahead of him. He
shouldn’t have to die now.”
“Why do you believe that
‘when
he dies’
is up to you?”
“I don’t, I only
—
”
“You do, again, tread on
dangerous ground.”
“Why?!”
“Anyone who thinks they have the
power to decide who lives or dies is going against nature and is in direct
opposition to the universal order of things. They put themselves up higher than
everyone around them and they all, and I mean all, turn evil. They become power
hungry, obsessed with total domination and eternal life. The Death Clan are
Healers—were Healers, now they are striving for immortality and ultimate
control. They do not answer to anyone, they do not care about anyone, only
themselves. They rely on each other to heal their injuries, illnesses and keep
them from death as they cannot heal their own bodies. Their goal is to gain all
the abilities of every other clan and become invincible.”
“I’m not like that.”
“You already are.”
“No!”
“There is a natural order to
life, to all forms of life, and it is not our place to try to alter it. Through
the years, certain species have gone extinct; the world’s populations have
taken drastic hits due to naturally occurring illness or disasters. But without
those, the population today would be astronomical.”
“But
—
”
“But nothing. No one can live
forever.”
“I’m not trying for forever with
him, just a few more years.”
“In a few more years, he might
be married with children, and when he gets sick, you’ll feel his children
shouldn’t be without their father, and so on. Do you follow? Do you understand
the limitations and the need to learn how to accept death? You need to learn
this before you wind up in a situation where someone who means a lot to you is
dying. What is going to happen when someone you deeply love is mortally
wounded? It is vitally important you learn to recognize when nature is taking
over. If you don’t, you’ll be no better than the Death Clan who, at one time,
were good and kept everyone alive; kind of like you and your desires to keep
Jonas alive. But then they took nature into their own hands and began deciding
when people would die. Their very existence is against nature. I say that
because most of them are over two hundred years old.”
“What about the other Healers? Are
they evil?”
“No, because they understand
when to stop healing and let nature take over. Let me tell you a story. Several
hundred years ago, a clan of Healers started down this path of overriding
nature. They wanted, and discovered, a way to achieve immortality by killing
others and absorbing their youth. Nature found a way to intervene and the
entire clan was obliterated in their power hungry states. They are the Shadow
Demons; you would know them as vampires.”
“They don’t resemble vampires.”
“They were never called vampires
except by humans. They didn’t have long incisors like Hollywood would have you
believe, they didn’t bite their victims, and wooden stakes through the heart
wouldn’t kill them. Nothing would kill them except other members of their clan.
Humans couldn’t handle the facts so they came up with their own stories of how
to kill vampires to satisfy the fears.”
“How did they absorb the youth?”
“No one knows for sure because
their methods died with them. The Death Clan hasn’t even figured out the
secret, to my knowledge. But, Calli, what you need to accept is that the Death
Clan, the ancient ‘vampires’, all started out like you, learning to heal and
trying to keep people alive. You see me dying in your visions, and I think,
perhaps, that will be the natural order of things.”
My powers were a limited time offer
and would be removed from me once the diamond was delivered and I just couldn’t
see the harm in doing one good deed while having the ultimate power. It wasn’t
like I’d turn evil or anything; my powers would be gone in a matter of days. My
mind warred with right and wrong. How wrong was I to want to help? Chris must
have sensed what I was thinking because he started up again.
“For every change in the order
of things, there is a repercussion. Wise Healers know when not to heal, when
not to help, and when to walk away. Someday you’ll be a wise Healer.”
I wanted to tell him,
“No,
someday I’ll be a nobody, again.”
But I couldn’t do that without revealing
why.
The bathroom had filled with cool
mist from the running water and Chris’s skin shimmered with moisture. I figured
mine did too because he moved back a little from me and took in my appearance. I
watched the expression on his face change slightly. He seemed to be seeing me
with different eyes, the kind that makes your stomach flutter with
anticipation.
Anticipation for what? Was he about
to kiss me? I wish I had more experience around boys and the way they think, of
course, if I had any boyfriends before now then maybe I’d have a clue about
what he was thinking. Here I go again, wishing I could read his mind, yet
anxious of what I’d find.
He held his hand out to me.
I took a hold and he helped me
stand. We stood facing each other for several electrically charged seconds. I
say that because the emotion in his eyes had a kind of physical energy to it that
made my skin prickle.
He dropped my hand and shut off the
bathtub water. “Let’s get some sleep,” he said rather gruffly and we left the
bathroom.
The clock on the end table said
one-thirty as I lay back down on the bed I shared with Lizbeth. Chris still
stood in the doorway staring at me with a concentrated intensity. He
disappeared into his room and shut off the light.
“What was that all about?” Lizbeth
asked.
“I just needed a lesson about
death.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Let’s get some sleep.”
“Do you and Chris have a thing
going?”
“Of course not. He’s too old for
me.”
“Could’a fooled me.”
“And me,” Ashley’s voice sounded
nearby.
Olivia said, “Yeah, he’s hot for
you, girl! You’re all powerful, but you seem to be blind in that area.” Olivia
and Ashley both giggled.
“Hey, I’m not an idiot, and don’t
forget I can read minds. I know about his feelings for me, and you two for that
matter.”
I got them giggling again.
Ashley said, “I’m going to have you
look in my crush’s mind to find out if he likes me.”
“We already know he doesn’t,” Olivia
answered.
Chris said in a loud voice from the
other room, “Go to bed!”
Lizbeth rolled over and asked, “Why
were you on the floor screaming?”
“I tried my powers without knowing
what they would do to me.”
“Which power?”
“Healing.”
“Who’s hurt?”
“No one,” I said in a yawn.
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I. Goodnight.” I rolled
away from her, hoping she wouldn’t continue. She didn’t.
The morning came faster than I
thought it would. We met up with Justin and found his group didn’t have any
trouble with their sleeping accommodations, but apparently a good night’s rest
did nothing for his mood. He still glared at me like he’d swallowed something
nasty.
Azeel left our company and began
his journey home. I couldn’t help but wonder what Chris was thinking. Justin
was visibly upset with the idea that someone like Azeel was roaming the
countryside with insider information concerning their delivery mission. I knew
he was only worried about his own neck and not our necks.
We ran across hilly farmlands and
skirted around the edges of towns far enough not to be seen. We stopped for a
lunch break by a large river and ate more of our dry granola bars. I stretched
back on the grass and rested my mind as best as I could, trying to enjoy the
favorable weather and warm sun. I heard splashing sounds and laughing down by
the river. I closed my eyelids and could tell every time a cloud passed in
front of the sun.
I thought about Azeel and hoped he
would find everything alright when he got back home. My mind went to Maetha and
the day at Harold Bates’ office. A particularly dark cloud blocked the sun
light, causing me to open my eyes. I became nervous and anxious as I realized
my companions were not down at the river anymore. I twisted around finding
myself totally alone. Where did they go? And why was the sky so dark? When had
the sun gone down and why didn’t anyone tell me? Somewhere in my mind, I
realized this must be a vision of some kind. I stood and climbed the small hill
discovering large spotlights set up illuminating the ground. Several enormous
army-style tents were erected with people entering and exiting. I walked
forward wondering if this clearing was the one from my vision?
As I neared the tent, Maetha came
out to greet me. “Ah, you found me. The diamond is giving you bi-locating
abilities.”
“Bi-what? Where are we?”
“Canada. Your mind sought out mine
and brought you here, and from a considerable distance too, impressive.”
“I don’t remember seeking you in my
mind, I only thought of you. Is this where the exchange will happen?”
“No, you’ve seen the clearing in
your mind.”
“Why is it dark? It’s only noon.”
“I am simulating darkness to test
the effectiveness of the flood lights.”
I glanced into the shadows and saw
the Demons lurking. Interesting that they could be present in the middle of the
day, I quickly deduced that during a full eclipse of the sun the Demons would
be a threat. I turned my attention back to Maetha. “Maetha, why did you give my
perfume to Justin?”
“Because he’s not to be trusted.”