“Don’t be in such a hurry! Wait till I’ve examined you.” Very gently, I placed my fingertips on both sides of her head, brushing aside her silky auburn hair. “I’m one of the rare healers who can work with nerves.”
“Thought…that was…almost impossible?”
“True.” I began scanning her mind magically. “Even the best Guardian neurologist on earth—that would be me—can only heal damaged nerves some of the time. But let’s just take a look.”
I narrowed my focus to study Rebecca. If an elephant followed me down the steps, I’d not have noticed.
The nerves of her brain were burning. The closest thing I’d seen to this was some damned fool golfer who’d been struck by lightning on a course because he wouldn’t go inside during a thunder storm. In his case, the damage was done in an instant.
Rebecca still burned. Or maybe it was more accurate to say she was being toasted since the damage was still underway as the nerves were slowly consumed by an unearthly magical fire that glowed violet red. No wonder she’d been in such agony. I wasn’t sure this was something I could fix. It might be kinder to learn how to find the children, then stop her heart to end her agony. Sometimes death that was the only healing possible.
But that was a last resort. First Rebecca deserved my best attempts to heal.
Where to start? The optic nerves were very dark. When they became charred black, it would be too late. I began with them, pouring white light along the neural pathways. First I extinguished the unholy burning. After the searing red faded away, I added healing magic, building up the neural fibers until they were fully restored.
Rebecca didn’t move her head, but she blinked as her eyes focused on me. “Simon? With that mane of curly blond hair, you look like a mad scientist.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I said absently. “Let’s see if I can figure out a way to fix your whole nervous system quickly.”
“Probably a good thing you are a mad scientist,” she said with a breath of amusement.
Next step, the insanely complex neural network of the brain that defined Rebecca Malmain. This time the healing went faster as I got the knack, but I needed to be faster yet or many of the nerves would be dead before I reached them.
I’ve never attempted to restore a complete nervous system, but I’d never seen one with this kind of damage. I closed my eyes and concentrated so hard that everything but the nerves and body beneath my hand vanished as I poured the full power of my consciousness and healing magic into her neural network.
Going inside her nerves felt deeply strange, like ricocheting through a disco light show. But where my consciousness moved, the nerves healed, changing from dark to light to radiant life as the magic swept through.
The process became easier and soon I was tearing through her nervous system like a Formula One racer. Heart, lungs, brain, other internal organs, finally limbs, fingers, toes. She was a magnificent physical specimen, as fit as an Olympic athlete. Not surprising since she was a Guardian hunter.
I’m not sure how long the restoration took—not as long as it felt like. I finished my repair job and collapsed on my back on the filthy concrete floor, limp as overcooked pasta and gasping for breath. I’d never done such a healing in my life, and I devoutly hoped I never would again.
Moving raggedly, she pushed herself to a sitting position and stretched like a cat. Her “ghost” had fully aligned with her body. She was whole again. With awareness in her face, she was beautiful, radiating intelligence, focus, and humor.
“Dear God, thank you!” she breathed as looked at her hands, turning them back and forth. “I had no idea such healing was possible.”
I forced myself to sit up. “Neither did I. If I survive tonight, I’ll have to write an article for the Journal of Guardian Healing.” As an afterthought, I said, “I didn’t know you would have a British accent.”
“Not surprising since I’m British. Accents don’t come through in mind talk.” She opened her backpack and pulled out a handful of granola bars. “Here, you look close to burnout.” She tore open a wrapper and put the bar in my hand.
“Used up a couple of years worth of energy.” Which was an exaggeration, but only by a bit. I barely had the strength to take a bite of the granola bar. Peanut butter and chocolate, among other things. Great fuel. I took another bite, feeling my energy lift. I practically swallowed the rest of the bar whole.
Rebecca immediately placed another unwrapped bar in my hand. She was wolfing them down as fast as I was. Healing burned energy for both healer and healee. After she’d gone through three bars, she slowed down enough to pull a bottle of water from her backpack. After a swift swallow, she handed it to me.
In my present state, that water tasted finer than the fanciest drink I’d ever had in my life. Feeling halfway to normal, I glanced at my watch. Only about a quarter of an hour had passed since I’d found her. It felt like a week. “Now what? The quicker we find your abductees, the better.”
Rebecca nodded and got to her feet, again flexing her hands in wonder. “Agreed. I presume the demon wants to suck the life force out of them. That’s what demons do—they’re all mindless, stupid hunger. Because the children are young, there’s a special brightness to their energy that must be tasty.”
“You were going to show me how to find the children. Can you still do that now that you’re not dead?”
She grinned, revealing a dimple in her left cheek. “Footsteps in the dust. Plus, I’ll was able to attach a bit of tracking magic to the youngest girl. I hoped that if you found my body, I’d still have enough awareness to show you the tracking magic. See?”
She gestured with one hand, and I saw a faint pulse of ragged blue energy leading away into the darkness. It was not as clear as the thread I’d followed to find Rebecca, but if I relaxed, I was able to sense the direction. “I see it. Time to call in the cavalry.”
I pulled out my cell phone to dial 911, then swore. “No signal down here.”
“Not surprising.” Rebecca lithely rose and tied her long red hair in a knot at her nape so it wouldn’t get in the way. “You need to climb back to the surface and find help. I’m going after them.”
I shoved the cell phone back in my pocket. “Are you crazy? The demon already near as dammit killed you once!”
