Page 67 of The Moonlight Healers

As Peter joined Louise on the couch, Camille’s expression formed a question only Louise knew was there, whether Peter kneweverything. Louise shook her head no.

“Good,” Camille finally said. She addressed Peter. “Can you give us all a little time, to discuss things as a family? You’re exhausted and it’s been a long day. I’ll pack you up some food and you can take it down to the guest cottage. It’s a little dusty but there are clean linens, and soap in the shower. It’ll be hot in there but the window unit still works fine.”

Peter nodded blankly.

Even through the haze of her own exhaustion, Louise knew how overwhelmed he must feel, after learning about her abilities, how she’d used them to save his life. She didn’t want to be away from him. Time was moving horrendously fast. She could feel it slipping through her grasp with each passing second.

“Grandma, I don’t…”

“Louise, we need to talk. Me, you, your mother. Just us. I promise you’ll be able to explain everything to Peter. But first…”Louise was surprised when her grandmother’s voice caught. “But first just us, just family, okay?”

Peter’s eyes met Louise’s, searching for confirmation that everything would be okay, that life would right itself. But she didn’t know how to give it to him. She didn’t have the words.

All she could do was lean her head on his shoulder, feel the solid presence of his body. He rested his head on top of hers and they relaxed into each other. They were in this together.

“Okay,” he said. “That’s fine. I think I need to lie down for a minute. I haven’t really slept in a few nights.”

Camille got up and strode to the kitchen, and when she returned she held out a key and a paper bag of food. “Louise will come get you, once we’ve settled everything here.” She set a hand on his shoulder. “It will all be fine. I promise.”

He rose from the couch, and with one last intense look at Louise, he left.

“You should rest too, for a little while,” Camille said as she stood at the front window watching the driveway. “We can talk about what’s next once your mom gets here.”

“What is there left to talk about?” Louise closed her eyes, defeat enveloping her. “It’s all over, isn’t it?”

“No, Louise,” Camille said softly. “It’s not over. Not just yet.”

* * *

Louise’s eyes snapped open at the slam of the door. In one quick motion, Bobbie dropped her purse, ran to the couch, and took Louise in her arms. She squeezed her eyes shut again as the full weight of the night, of the past few days, pressed into her.

“I’m so sorry,” Bobbie said, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Louise’s hair. “I didn’t know. I promise I would never have left you if I did.”

Louise let out a sob as she and her mother tightened their grips on each other.

When Bobbie finally released her, her makeup was smeared.She straightened and addressed Camille. “How could you have not told me sooner, not told her sooner? After everything that happened, and you still kept this from us.”

Camille stepped forward from where she stood near the staircase. “I didn’t tell you because he’s not going to die. You’re not going to lose him, Louise.” A tiny strand of hope threaded through the grief and fear inside of her. “Sit,” Camille said quietly to Bobbie. “Please sit.”

Camille herself sat in the armchair, but Bobbie didn’t move. “You told me on the phone that it was temporary, that we had to tell Louise together.”

“I wanted to tell her together how Peter couldlive. The way she can save him.

“You gave Peter time,” Camille said to Louise. “You saved his life, but only temporarily. But you can keep him here, living, if you replace his life with another, if you end a life.”

Louise’s hope frayed. “What do you mean replace his life with another? You can’t mean…”

Camille nodded as a terrible clarity settled into Louise’s mind.

“I can…we can…kill people?”

“Only if it’s their time,” Camille said quickly. “If they need help letting go. But yes, we have the ability to still a beating heart.” She paused, her eyes distant. “My mother tried once, she told me, to save a good man’s life. She tried to take the life of an evil man. But he wasn’t dying, and he resisted, violently. But it’s not like that, if a soul wants to leave. If someone is ready.”

If the only way to save Peter was by taking someone else’s life, then it wasn’t really a way at all, unless… “So then…someone sick, someone about to die. A hospice patient. Someone in pain. If they were suffering then it wouldn’t be…it would be compassionate, wouldn’t it?”

“It doesn’t work like that. I thought the same. But my mother told me it can’t be someone who is already dying.”

For a few moments, no one spoke.

---