He was sleeping in his bed, with a pillow pulled over his head. So he didn’t need her neither. Hmm …
Confuzzled by her feelings, she flew back to her room and frowned.
Something was wrong. She listened intently for a clue.
All of a sudden, she heard the voice in the ether and knew who was illing.
Akri-Thorn. He was awful hurting. His voice was faint, but she could tell he was having trouble breathing.
Before she could think better of it, she left and headed to the human world where she heard him whispering.
When she found him, he was lying in a field with what looked like hundreds of other soldier men all around him. This was a battle site.
Most were dead.
The rest were dying. It looked like those who were able to leave had done so and not cared about the other poor people who were trying to move away from the bodies. The able-bodied survivors had been out to save themselves.
Tears filled her eyes at the horrible sight. She could feel the pain of the dying as if it were a living, breathing creature. One that suffocated her.
Then she heard it …
The sound of Thorn attempting to crawl on the blood-soaked field. He was whispering the name of his horse as he tried to get to it.
Rushing toward the sound, she found him on his stomach, breathing heavily. “Akri-Thorn?”
Thorn froze as he heard the last voice he’d ever expected, especially after the day he’d just had. “Simi?”
Suddenly, she was there. No longer a little girl, she’d grown quite a bit since the last time he’d seen her. So much so that he barely recognized her.
Had it not been for her wings and red eyes and horns, he might not have known her at all.
“Akri-Thorn … you got lots of aches. You needs help!”
He wanted to argue, but she was right. In a horrid ambush, the Malachai had not only torn his army apart, Adarian had left him in figurative pieces. Never in eternity had he hurt so badly. Every breath was a struggle, and he really thought he might be dying. “Can you get me home?” His pain overrode his powers to such an extent that he couldn’t teleport on his own.
“Simi can try.”
Thorn began coughing up blood.
Simi gasped as she wrapped her arms around him and held him against her. Closing her eyes, she did what she was never supposed to do. What her matera had told her to never do.
She tapped her powers to heal him.
But they didn’t work. Nothing changed. Thorn was just as ill as he’d been when she arrived!
“This isn’t good, akri-Thorn.”
He wanted to respond, but all he could do was cough and gasp for breath.
Until everything went dark.
Simi panicked as she felt akri-Thorn go limp in her arms. How could her powers not work? They always worked. She was a Charonte. Their powers weren’t dependent on others. “No! No! Wake up, akri-Thorn!”
He didn’t move.
Terrified that they both were broken, she called out to akri even though she wasn’t supposed to bother him whenever he was at that mean old Mount Olympus. “Akri, your Simi needs you. I gots a problem.”
Akri answered immediately. I can’t leave, Simkey. Artemis won’t let me. Ask Alexion for help.
