Page 23 of Bones
“You need anything?” he asked, and I noticed he was watching me study his gun.
“No,” I snapped, stomping back inside to tackle the loft.
4
Iwas working on banishing all the spiderwebs in the loft when the door opened with a crash.
“Bones!” Griz called.
Adrenaline spiked through my body, and I clambered down the ladder. Griz stood in the middle of the clinic with a man holding a young boy in his arms. The boy’s features were sunken and pale, and his chest terribly still.
“He’s been sick,” the man said, his voice panicked. “Fever. But now he won’t wake up.”
I moved before he even finished speaking, taking the boy from his arms and laying him gently on the exam chair. I struggled to find his pulse; it was so faint. He was burning up, his small body shutting down. I glanced at Griz, unsure of the rules.
“Can I use my power?” I asked, hoping I sounded calm and not near tears.
Griz looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “Yes?—”
Relief surged through me, and I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I laid my hands on the little boy’s shoulders and concentrated. That kernel of warmth ached like a sore muscle, but it responded as I directed it into the child’s small body. I heard the man gasp as color flooded back into the little boy’s face. The warmth flowing through me eased and then vanished, and the boy took a great shuddering breath and opened his eyes.
“Dad?” he asked.
The man gathered him up in his arms in a tight embrace. I had to turn away, emotion threatening to undo me. The man thanked me, his voice shaking.
“Bring ’em sooner next time,” I said, turning back around once I knew I wouldn’t do something stupid like cry.
The man looked startled by my cold response, but he just nodded and promised he would before leaving with his child in his arms. I wiped the counter clean.
“Why’d you ask if you could use your power?” Griz asked, his voice curious. “Did Madame say something?”
I turned my back to him and started to rinse out the rag. “No.”
“So why’d you ask?”
“I wasn’t…I wasn’t sure if it was allowed.”
“What do you meanallowed?”
“Juck wouldn’t let me use it on anyone but him,” I muttered.
I didn’t turn around so I couldn’t see his expression, but he sounded angry when he growled, “That fucker.”
I stayed facing the sink, bracing myself on the cool metal. As the adrenaline faded, the confusing swarm of relief and anger overwhelmed me. I’d been terrified I’d be forced to watch that boy die in front of me, knowing Icouldsave him. Like I had time and time again. The fury at Mac and his crew for dragging me here remained, but I also couldn’t deny the grateful tears pricking behind my eyelids.
“So you were just Juck’s personal healer?” Griz asked.
“No. I was the healer for everyone,” I muttered.
In the long pause, I waited for the question that came next.
“So what’d you do for the rest of ’em if you couldn’t use your powers?” Griz finally asked.
Shame burned hot in my face. “As much as I could, like a regular healer, but mostly I just watched ’em die.”
“Did they know you had powers?”
“No,” I said, then amended, “not until a few weeks ago, anyway.”
