Page 38 of Unbroken

ChapterTwenty-Two

MICAH

Ican’t contain my rage any longer. I’m a boiling pot ready to explode. My hands shake, my blood feels like it’s on fire as I pace the hallway outside Esme’s room. I can’t take any more hurt. I’ve reached my limit and I am tired. I am tired of the people I love the most being dangled on a string, their lives held in the balance because of who and what I am. I want to burn it all down. Maybe God has a point. Blow it up and push reset. There’s only so much good one can hold on to, only so much hope, until it all runs out. Well, my well is dry. I want blood. No one knows what happened to Esme but Esme, and she can’t tell me. I can’t fix this. God, I wish. . .I wish.

It’s a hive of activity all around me as Ms. Bertha, Ms. Margaret, and Professor Adder treat Esme’s room like a revolving door. Their faces are lined with concern and worry as they try everything within their power to help Esme. None of them has said a word to us as they converse with each other in private. This has been their routine for the last hour. Still nothing. Sam is the only one inside the room in Wolf form, refusing to shift as he lays at the foot of her bed protectively. I get it. She’s his fated Mate, he should be with her. But Sam has the sight, all he needs to do is touch her and get an impression of what happened. Maybe we would know what we were dealing with if he is in there on two legs instead of four. But the stubborn Wolf won’t snap out of it.

Ty and Trys sandwich me between them, lending me their comfort and strength, but it’s not helping. I need to be actively out there doing something. Anything, because right now, here I am again feeling powerless.

Professor Adder finally comes out of the room and acknowledges us for the first time since he arrived. The poor man looks exhausted and weary as he removes his glasses and rubs his forehead. “Miss Jones, let’s move this conversation up to the nurse’s station please.” He turns and leaves, giving me no room to argue about leaving this spot. Okay, fine. We follow him down the hall, past the medical bays until we reach the front of the nurse’s station.

He turns and leans against the desk as we approach. “What’s going on, Professor? Is she going to be okay?” I ask with a bit too much irritation in my voice. I can feel the heat of Ty and Trys behind me and I give myself a moment to breathe and release. It is not his fault, I remind myself, he doesn’t deserve my ire.

He sighs. “To get straight to the point. Esme is not healing. Ty and Trys can contest to her skill there is no greater healer than Nurse Bertha, and she has given Esme everything. I’m not sure if you know it or if she shared this information with you, but I was born in the Blue Mountains. The Coven doesn’t covet their male offspring like they do the female. The Blue Mountain Witches are a matriarchal Coven, so when males come of age, we are sent packing.” He sighs again. This professor is going to hate me, and I want to say sorry, but my patience is fraying. “From the way you’re looking at me I guess you are wondering why I am telling you this. The Blue Mountain Witches are blessed with their powers by the Goddess Ourea. The Goddess of the Mountain. We worship her via our High Priestess. The High Priestess is always the most powerful Witch in our Coven,” he says as I cross my arms over my chest. I want to yell at the man and tell him to get to the point.

“The little witch didn’t think she had much power. That’s why our mother acquired her,” Ty cuts in, frowning at the mention of his mother. Thank goodness for the break in the conversation though, his voice eases my nerves a bit. “But the day her powers came in, she had a vision about Micah dying—”

“Yes, that is when the dam broke, so to speak. I warned Esme, as I told you earlier, that she was holding onto an immense amount of power and the High Priestess would come for her,” Professor Adder continues. “Whether you’re male or female we are all connected to her, because of our psychic abilities, no matter how weak or strong you are. A boost of power like Esme’s wouldn’t go unnoticed.” He looks at us as if we understand what he’s saying, and I lose it.

“No disrespect, professor, please, give me the Cliff’s Notes, tell me what I need to do. I will do it. I just want her to be okay,” I snap at him, shifting from foot to foot as my anxiety takes hold.

He raises his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, I want you to understand the nature of things, but I will give you the Cliff’s Notes as you requested,” he replies sternly, and now I feel like an asshole.

“Professor Adder, I—”

“No need, Miss Jones, you have a lot on your plate, and I know Miss Blu is your Tether. So, this is what we are looking at. Miss Blu has been stripped of her powers, not all, but what she was left with almost makes her Human. But there’s more, something is blocking her healing, or shall I say our means of healing her. It appears Miss Blu is a mystery, whatever is blocking her is Supernatural.”

“What do you mean?” Ty and Trys ask at the same time.

“I honestly don’t know. Nurse Bertha and Nurse Margaret are still back there working on her. But it does make me question her parentage. Esme’s mother, Cashira, was a powerful seer, but little is known about her father, he is apparently Human, which went against Coven law. But something tells me there is more to the story there. No mere half breed would be able to harness that much power. Esme hadn’t even begun to test what she could do. Now, we will never know. On a more personal note, and sensitive in nature, Esme was pregnant, but no longer. Her body is broken from the fall and there is so much damage. I don’t believe there’s anything else we can do for her.

“Baby? She was pregnant? The baby is gone? Is this what she was hiding? What she couldn’t tell me?” My throat clogs and my eyes burn as I fight back tears. Why didn’t she just say something to me.

“It was very early. Nurse Bertha confirms it. Honestly, I don’t think Esme had any idea,” he says reassuringly, but I am not reassured by the fact. Someone hurt her, and an innocent child. It doesn’t matter how early it was, the baby was hers and Sam’s.

“Fuck,” Trys mutters and bows his head. I reach out and hold his hand, more for my own benefit than his. I don’t know how I feel about children but if it happened with either one of my guys, I would cherish him or her because they are a piece of us. I hurt for her because her baby would have been our baby.

Professor Adder clears his throat, and I focus my attention his way. “But as I was trying to say in a roundabout way, I don’t feel our High Priestess.” He points to his chest and continues. “Whatever happened on the mountain, it involved her. No one has the power to strip you of your magic except the Goddess herself, because as I mentioned, she blesses us with said magic. I almost don’t want to believe it but if the High Priestess died for whatever reason, then Esme would have been next in line. So, putting two and two together, I think Esme might have turned Ourea down to become the next High Priestess. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume she turned the role down, that she chose her bonds, you and Mr. Baker. You have to understand an entity as old as that is not used to being told no. But these are just my assumptions. I am not sure if Miss Blu will ever wake up to tell us the truth of it. As far as Mr. Baker’s concerned, we think his Wolf is sensing her body is failing and he’s already grieving his Mate.”

I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me as Trys wraps his arms around my waist to hold me up. I asked for the professor to give it to me straight, but I wasn’t expecting this. I close my eyes. Come on, Esme. . .be there. . .I search for her thread, sifting through the rainbow of colors tying me to them all, and I finally find it, flickering in and out. The connection is faint, but it’s there. I gasp in relief to find it but my heart aches. I can’t lose her too, and somehow this all feels like it's my fault. I should have never come here.

“Don’t do that, kitten. Don’t you dare blame yourself,” Ty says to me. I try to hold onto that fact with all that I am because it is so easy to slip into despair. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do any of this. I’m tired of the higher ups using us as game pieces for their amusement. We are not toys to be played with, we are flesh and blood who deserve to live our lives without manipulation.

“Can I see her?” I ask Professor Adder.

“Of course, you should,” he says solemnly. “I’m really sorry. Miss Blu is one of my favorite students and I wish I could help her further.”

“What if I can help her? She’s my Tether, maybe I can heal her,” I say with determination because I have to try. I’m not going to let her die, not on my watch.

Professor Adder opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted as the doors swing open. “Micah!” Marcus shouts my name as he enters through the doors with Rodyn behind him. I stare at my brother, his eyes are wild, his jaw is clenched, his shoulders raised in high alert. Something is wrong.

“Marcus, what happened?” I ask, looking at him and then Rodyn as they approach.

“Michael got in,” Marcus replies, and I’m halfway out the door before Rodyn catches me.

“Hold on, Micah. There’s more.” He pulls me away from the door and back to my brother. I moved instinctively, without even thinking about there being more.

“How did he get in?” I pause. “Wait, it wasn’t him, if it was, he would have come for me,” I say as I think it through.

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