Page 98 of Bones
“Keep going!”
I was running out of air, but I desperately focused on spooling out that warmth. Somebody yelled, but the hand tightened on mine.
“Keep! Going!”
I kept going, pushing my powers up through my arm and into the hand holding mine. Everything blurred and went dark around the edges, but Wolf still yelled at me to keep going so I did, right up until everything faded away again.
* * *
I woke up in my bed in the soft light of morning. A vague panic lurked on the edge of my mind, but I couldn't figure out why. I turned my head, my eyes automatically looking toward Trey's bed across the room, but I was startled to see him right next to me. He sat on the floor, half slumped over on my mattress like he'd accidentally fallen asleep there. One of his hands rested on top of mine. I sat up and stared at him, confused.
A slight noise caught my attention and I whipped my head around to see Mac sitting on a chair beside a cot. A body lay in the cot, but I couldn’t see them. Mac got to his feet and strode toward me with an expression I couldn’t read. I watched him warily as he crouched on the opposite side from where Trey still slept.
“Do you feel strong enough to get up?” he whispered, and something in his tone made dread slip through my veins.
I nodded, confused because I felt fine. I slid out of the bed, trying not to wake Trey, but paused when I noticed my clothes. They were stiff with dried mud and blood, and now that I noticed, so was my hair. I frowned, but then it all came roaring back to me. Zip. Brimstone. The Pit. The girl I’d tried to save. The pain.
My gaze snapped to my arm, remembering the jagged bone and blood, but it was perfectly whole save for a new scar in the middle of my forearm. I prodded my ribs, remembering struggling to breathe, but there was no pain. I looked up at Mac, my eyes wide.
“How?” I demanded in a whisper.
He beckoned me to follow him. I got to my feet, my mind whirling. He led me over to the other cot and I stared blankly down at the person laying in it.
I started shaking my head like I could deny what my eyes were seeing. Sam lay on the cot with his eyes closed, his skin grey and his face gaunt. If I hadn't seen his chest rise, I would have thought he was dead. I stared horrified at him for a moment before my brain jerked into gear. I dropped to his side and grabbed his bare arm. My powers flowed down my arms, but instead of seeping into him, they hit a wall, and ithurt. I couldn’t help my gasp of pain as I let go, shaking my hands. Mac crouched beside me, his eyes sharp.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, horrified. “It’s like I can’t…I can’t heal him.”
Mac’s eyes filled with pain, the most emotion I’d ever seen from him.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“He had you direct your power through him to heal yourself.”
I stared at him, speechless. That wasn’t possible. I looked back down at Sam, noting how it looked like the very life had been drained from him. I had done that? Why had he…how could…
“Bones,” Mac’s hand wrapped around my upper arm, and I jumped, “it was his choice.”
I jerked my arm away.Fuck that. I would not let this dumbass die. Mac called my name, but I ignored him and focused as I took Sam’s arm again. I called the warmth and tried to direct it into Sam. My power slammed into that invisible barrier, and I winced. Mac called my name louder, but I still ignored him. I tried pushing gently, then harder. It felt like the healing power built in my hands with no outlet andburnedfrom the inside out. I gritted my teeth and kept pushing, even as tears of pain started spilling down my cheeks. Then someone grabbed the back of my jacket and jerked me away from Sam.
I fell backward and as soon as my fingers left Sam’s skin, light shot from my hands like a flame thrower, filling the clinic with a blinding golden light before vanishing. As I blinked, trying to rid my vision of white dots, I realized someone’s body was curled around mine like a shield.
“Bones!” The arms tightened around my waist. “Bones, you ok?”
It took my brain a second to register that it was Mac holding me and calling my name. The pain had vanished as soon as the golden light shot from my hands.
“I’m ok,” I gasped. “Are you ok?”
“I’m ok.”
Mac sat up, pulling me with him, and we both sat huddled together squinting and blinking. As soon as my vision cleared I checked on Sam first. He still lay there like a corpse, but he didn’t seem to be hurt worse. I looked up at the loft next, terrified for the kids, but it looked empty.
“We sent the kids to our bunkhouse,” Mac said, his gaze following mine. “They’re safe.”
“Bones?”
I swung my head around to see Trey sitting up and blinking at us.
