Authors: Fabio Bueno
Today is the day. Skye will be busy with her interview. She won’t be able to drop by or call.
The three girls who will be trying to help Boulder are meeting with me at my house before we go to his. Yara, Mona, and Pain look at me with expectant eyes. I’m the director, the coach, the leader. It’s
my
best friend’s life after all.
“Before we go,” I say, “I want to make sure we’re all a hundred percent in.”
“I’m with Mona,” Pain declares as soon as the words leave my mouth.
“I’m with you.” Yara points to me.
“And I’m with Mona as well. So it’s your decision, sis.”
Mona nods. “Let’s do it, Drake. I mean, that’s the whole point of having this…” She sweeps her arms around. “…power, right? It makes no sense having it and not using when someone needs it.”
A sudden urge compels me to step forward and hug Mona. “Even if it doesn’t work, I’m so proud of you, sis. And thankful.”
“Come on, Drake. You’re embarrassing me.” Despite her words, her face lights up.
We ride there in my loyal Volvo. I’m a little late on purpose. I hope Sean has already gone home by the time we arrive. I know today is Priscilla’s day off too.
“This piece of junk is making a loud noise,” Mona says from the back seat.
“I know. It’s the engine. I think.”
“I’m joking. Come on, Drake, relax a bit. Look at your hands,” she replies.
I’m grabbing the wheel so hard my knuckles are white.
Yara pats my hands. “Don’t worry, D. We’ve been rehearsing the ritual at home. Without energy. Mona knows what to expect.”
Mona says, “She walked me through it many times. It’ll be all right.”
I look at her in the rearview mirror. “Just don’t release too much energy, Mona. This is already too risky. Stay inside your limits. Yara, let her know if her energy goes off the charts. If it’s too much, it’ll alert the witches nearby.”
Yara snorts. “Not that many witches around, silly.”
“They have at least some witches a few blocks from there,” I remind them. “Taking care of Brianna at Seattle General.”
“That’s like ten blocks away,” Pain says.
“Either way, it’s too close for my taste,” I point out.
We ride in silence. Pain makes everyone check their cells. If needed, we’ll be exchanging texts. Pain is our lookout.
“I wish Greta were coming too,” Yara says. “More energy for the commune.”
Mona says, “Believe me, I’ve got all the energy we need. Besides, we don’t want to share my secret with more people.”
I park half a block down from Boulder’s house. Paranoia is at an all-time high today.
We walk to the house. I go first with Yara. The street is calm. As always, clouds hide the sun. I look down. Someone cleaned the driveway; it doesn’t have Boulder’s bloodstains anymore.
“Yara, do you sense anyone?”
“No. No Sisters around.”
“Let me know, all right? If there’s a risk of them identifying Mona, we’ll abort on the spot.”
Looking back, I wave to Pain and Mona. They join us. I ring the doorbell.
Mona is biting her lip. Pain squeezes her hand and smiles at her. “It will be all right.” Mona leans her head against Pain’s shoulder.
“Hey, a crowd today,” Serena says. This is her shift. She’s the nurse taking care of Boulder.
The living room is so different from the day of the party. No one would imagine that it was once filled with music and laughter. My guests enter and gather around the sofa while I talk to Serena.
“Hey, Serena.”
She smiles. “Hey, Drake. Is it your shift?”
“Yeah. I brought my sister and her friends today. We’re doing a circle of prayer for Boulder.” It’s not technically a lie.
“Oh, sweetie. I don’t know. It’s only two at a time, you know that.”
I make puppy eyes at her. “I know, I told them that. What if it’s only three of us? It’ll mean a lot. Boulder needs all the help he can get.”
Serena wears a tiny golden cross in a pendant over her nurse uniform. She rubs it for a second. She whispers to me, “Okay. But don’t let anyone else know.”
“Thanks. You’re an angel, Serena.”
“No, I’m not.” Serena glances at the three girls and does a double-take. “Those are some pretty girls, Drake,” she says in a playful voice. “Does your girlfriend know about what you’ve been doing?”
Oh, Serena, did you have to bring that up? No, Skye doesn’t know and doesn’t approve. In fact, she would be pretty mad if she found out.
I just smile at her and mumble, “Thanks. The short one is my sister, by the way.”
But my nurse friend has already destabilized me. I had managed to bury the thought, at least for a while. Now I feel sneaky. Why? Why do I feel that way? I’m doing the right thing.
I hope.
Jeff shows up and gives me a handshake. “Sean just left,” he says. “I really appreciate you boys keeping my son company.”
I force a smile. “I know, Jeff. You tell me every day.”
“It’s worth repeating.”
“Hey, my friends and I want to do a prayer. Non-denominational. Do you have any objections—”
He holds his hand up. “Of course not. Every bit helps. I’ll be upstairs with Diana. She’s having one of her bad days.”
I nod. Boulder’s mother’s health has gone downhill, and Jeff mentioned strong antidepressants. Jeff walks up the stairs, running his fingers through his gray hair.
Serena introduces herself to my gang and goes to the room Boulder is living in now. His parents converted the large den into a patient’s room. They couldn’t take all the bulky equipment upstairs.
The smiley nurse comes back and points to her watch. It’s time. Yara stands up and joins Mona and me. Serena waves us in.
When I open the door to Boulder’s room, Yara gasps. She hasn’t seen him since the day after the accident, when Boulder was in pretty bad shape, but still looked like Boulder.
Now he is pale, his pasty face devoid of emotion. His muscles are losing their tone. The skull in his Gears
of War tat looks like an ominous sign now. His breathing is forced, unnatural. He looks smaller than ever. Yara squeezes my hand.
“It’s okay,” I say. “That’s why we’re here today.”
She nods and lets go of my hand.
This has been his room for a
while. No computer, no futons, no Sean and I laughing.
I turn to Boulder. “Hey, big man. New visitors today. I think you’ll enjoy this afternoon.”
Yara approaches the bed, leans over him, and kisses his forehead. She whispers something into his ear.
Mona stares at Boulder, but doesn’t say anything. A benign smile forms on her lips. “We’re doing a good thing here.”
I nod and look at my cell. If an unexpected visitor shows up, Pain will text me right away.
They installed a door with a small glass window, so the family, Serena, and the other shift nurses can check the room without going in all the time. I wish I could lock the door, but it has no lock. “Let’s do this,” I say.
Yara leads Mona to one side of the bed and moves to the opposite one. “No worries, Mona. Just like we practiced, right?”
“Right,” Mona says, her voice faltering a bit.
Yara opens her purse, gets out a handful of bottles, and pushes them into Mona’s hands. Yara opens the first one, some kind of clear ointment, and spreads a thin layer of it on Boulder’s head.
She gives the bottle back to Mona, who hands her the second one right away. They seem to have practiced this part too.
Yara tells me while moving to the next bottle, “Since we don’t have a bonfire, and we can’t use the smoke of offerings, I’m making do with alternatives.”
They work fast. Yara takes a deep breath and announces, “We’re ready.”
Standing by the door, I take one last look through the glass window and nod.
The two girls hold hands above Boulder’s head. Yara chants in a low voice. My sister soon closes her eyes and joins her.
Their hand grip is similar to the one trapeze artists use: they grab each other’s wrists. They must have agreed on a signal, because from time to time, I see one of Yara’s fingers tapping my sister’s forearm while holding the grip. Mona tenses up every time this happens, and soon after Yara’s arms tremble, as she just have received a jolt of energy.
My gaze switches from them to Boulder, to my watch, to the cell, and to the living room through the door’s window. In one of these passes, I see Serena approaching our room.
She stops and stands right before the door. She looks past me, at the two girls beside Boulder.
I turn to the bed. The girls have their eyes closed, hands held together, and are murmuring something. I look back at the door.
Serena nods and smiles. Then she winks at me and goes away.
I take a deep breath.
“Keep going, Mona,” Yara whispers. “Drake, we’re not getting results. We’ll try a little more.”
“Okay,” I whisper back, trying not to disrupt their ritual.
A couple of minutes after that, Yara’s brow furrows. She taps Mona’s forearm. Then she taps again, more insistently.
“Mona, slow down,” Yara’s voice is low but her tone is urgent.
Yara’s torso jerks a bit.
“Mona
,” Yara says in her normal voice. “This is too much.” She still holds Mona’s arms with resolute strength.
“I can control it,” Mona says in a quiet voice.
“That’s not it,” I say. “They might sense you.”
“There’s no one close. Now, quiet, please,” Mona murmurs.
Yara opens her eyes to look at me. “She’s the one directing the energy now.”
Mona ignores us.
Yara’s body jerks back again. “Goddess, Mona, release it slowly.”
“I know.” I hear distress in Mona’s voice.
“Mona,” I say. “Take it easy.”
She nods.
Right after that, Yara gasps. She’s pushed back as if someone punched her. “Stop,” Yara says, almost out of breath.
This time Mona shakes her head.
“Let go of me,” Yara says. “It’s over.”
“Can’t…break the circle,” Mona says, her teeth clenched. “You told me.”
Yara’s hands open and she tries to twist her arms out of my sister’s grasp. Mona holds on, her fingers digging into the flesh of Yara’s forearms. Yara groans when another energy wave hits.
Mona starts to shake.
“Mona!’ I say. “Let go!” I approach and try to separate the two, but it’s as if a powerful magnetic force keeps them together. I don’t feel the energy, but Mona’s shaking harder.
“He needs me! We need to help him.”
Then I see it out of the corner of my eye. His finger moves.
Boulder is awake!
His hand slowly turns. I let go of Yara and grab his hand. He squeezes my fingers in a weak grip.
“Boulder is moving! We did it!” I don’t care who hears me.
Boulder’s eyelids tremble a bit and soon they open.
I instinctively look at the door. Serena’s staring back at us, frowning.
“You did it, Mona. He responded,” I say. “You can stop now.”
But Mona is vibrating like mad. Her eyes are forced shut, her teeth gritted, her face a mask of pain. “I can’t…control,” she growls.
Yara is terrified and still cannot escape Mona’s grip. She lets out a cry.
Mona and Yara scream. A wave of green light washes over all of us with a whooshing sound. Yara is thrown across the room. My sister takes two steps back and hits the wall right behind her.
Serena opens the door. She, Boulder, and I are only hit by the sound and light. A loud clinking noise takes over the room. We stay frozen in place.
The green light slowly vanishes. The jingling sound hangs in the air, joining the beeping noise of one of the machines.
Boulder is blinking. Mona is gasping for air, plastered to the wall.
Yara gasps. “Goddess, Mona!” She is holding onto her back as if in pain. Her lips are bleeding, but she looks fine otherwise.
Boulder gapes at me. He has no expression and doesn’t say anything. But he’s awake. That’s all that matters.
Serena rushes to the bed and finds her patient awake. She’s taken aback, but soon her nurse training kicks in. She takes his pulse while snarling at me, “You have a lot to explain, mister. What was that?” She’s not an angel anymore.
My cell vibrates.
Only it’s not Pain.
“What have you done?” Skye asks in a cold voice.
***
“What have you done?” Skye repeats.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“Are you with Mona?”
“Why?”
“What did you do? Did you try to save Boulder?”
“Skye—”
“Drake, I saw the wave. I felt it. All the Sisters felt it. All of them!”
“She’s with me.”