A muffled scream from behind her drew her to her feet in an instant.
Jamie lay prone on the floor with Leah’s body draped over him. His body shook with spasms as if he were possessed of some horrible demon trying to shake his limbs from his trunk.
Leah’s body shook as well, but her hands were held tightly affixed to either side of the boy’s face.
“Let him go!” Isa yelled, throwing herself at Leah, trying to pull the girl’s hands from Jamie, to no avail.
When she tried to shove Leah away, the girl’s head lolled to one side and her eyes rolled up. Clearly she no longer had any control over her actions.
In the next moment, right before Isa’s eyes, the side of Leah’s face began to redden and pucker, the skin bubbling and crawling, forming itself into a hideous parody of Jamie’s scars.
“We have to stop this,” Margery cried breathlessly, falling to her knees next to them, digging at Leah’s fingers as she tried to break the horrible writhing connection between the two.
A high-pitched hum whined around Isa’s head, and a pressure pounded at her as if the room were too full of air. The hum grew in both volume and power, and Isa could feel the sound rumbling and vibrating in her chest. She could swear a shaft of green light pierced Leah’s hands where they joined Jamie’s head, and then the light shattered into a million shards.
As the light shattered, both she and Margery were thrown across the room like rag dolls, landing several feet away.
Isa lay on her back, gasping for air.
Jamie! She had to get to the child to protect him.
She fought down a wave of nausea before rolling to her hands and knees. Another moment to gain her balance, and she slowly crawled back toward the crumpled pair in front of the fireplace.
The silence surrounding them now was almost more painful than the noise had been earlier, and she fought the urge to cover her ears against the roar of the silence.
Isa pulled Leah’s limp body off the child’s, pausing only long enough to see that though the girl’s face and neck were as scarred and disfigured as Jamie’s, she still breathed.
Too frightened to cry, she grabbed Jamie’s arms and dragged him into her lap, clutching him to her before leaning away to check his breathing. His small face was so peaceful, his lips barely open, and just as she had when holding little Sean the day before, she turned her cheek to him. The soft, sweet breaths pulsed over her face and then, knowing he’d survived whatever had just happened in that room, she felt the tears prickling at her eyes.
“He’s alive,” she said aloud, to no one in particular, her fingers trembling as she pushed the tangled hair from his perspiration-slicked face to see if he’d suffered further damage to his injuries. Only then did she fully realize what Leah had done.
Jamie’s face was perfect. All of it. The skin as smooth and soft and pink as little Sean’s. Not a scrape, not a mark, not a single trace of the scars from the fire that had ravaged the boy’s body.
Like a madwoman, she dug at his clothing, freeing his little chest and his legs. Annie had told her long ago that the entire side of Jamie’s body bore the same scars as his face. It was the cause of his limp.
But now, the whole of him was smooth and perfect, as if he’d never suffered a single injury in his life.
Disbelief held her captive. Amazement kept her stroking his beautiful unmarred cheeks. How long she stared at Jamie’s face she had no idea, but gradually she accepted that he was unhurt in any way and merely slept, albeit a deep sleep. As carefully as possible, she laid him back on the rug and moved to kneel beside Leah.
The marks on Leah’s face looked like fresh, puckered blisters, the outline of the damage still vibrantly visible. It was as if she had taken on the damage that had been Jamie’s only moments before. As Isa watched, the scars morphed and twisted, then amazingly began to fade, as if Leah healed right before her eyes.
The girl groaned as Isa touched her skin, but she didn’t open her eyes.
“The lad?” Margery pulled herself up to stand.
“Sleeping.” Isa answered. “Completely healed and sleeping. Leah, too.”
Margery nodded, touching her fingers to a large bump on her forehead. “Well, that was an experience, was it no? If you’ll wait here with our charges, I’ll have someone come take them both to their rooms so they can rest in comfort.”
Isa nodded, not moving from her spot on the floor as Margery bustled out of the room.
Though she had no idea exactly what it was they’d just experienced, she had not a single doubt it entirely involved the magic of the Fae.
Even now she could smell its familiar scent in the air.
One thing had become absolutely clear to her in the past few minutes. She wasn’t the only one in this keep with Faerie ties.
Chapter 30
