Touch (Denazen #1)(84)

Dad hesitated, but I could feel him tense. He knew he was screwed. Letting go of my arm, he backed away. The gun followed him. “This isn’t over.”

“Lemme guess—you’ll be back? Fire whoever is writing your material,” I snapped, glancing over my shoulder. Kale still wasn’t moving, but that didn’t mean he was dead. He couldn’t be dead.

Mom came up beside me. She was wearing her own skin now and looked a little worse for the wear, but she was alive.

I expected Dad to put up a fight, but he only smiled. Not the expression you’d expect from a man who’d been one-upped and lost a few of his favorite toys. “Enjoy your freedom, Deznee. Because make no mistake, it’s temporary.”

The two suits were out the door with Fin, Dad right behind them. He didn’t look back.

Ginger stepped up to where Kale lay motionless. “Daun,” she called. A small-framed woman emerged from the crowd, barefoot and wearing a simple white shift. I’d seen her come in, but hadn’t seen her when the fighting started. I was relieved to see she appeared unharmed. She reached down and, to my amazement, lifted Kale into her arms as though he weighed nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

She placed him on one of the remaining tables and turned to me. “I may be able to help him,” she said, tilting her head to the right. “But you must first understand something. I am a healer, but I do not give my gift easily. In one week’s time, I will be forty-two. In all my years, I have healed exactly three people.”

An icy lump formed in the pit of my stomach. “Why?”

“In order to heal someone, I must give them a part of myself.”

“A part of yourself?”

She nodded. “A side effect. An exchange. There is no telling what it will be. Something as simple as a memory, or”—she tapped her left ear—“my hearing.”

She looked from me to Kale. “In this case however, things are a bit different.”

“Different?”

“To heal someone, I need to touch them. Contact with skin must be made.”

The lump in my stomach exploded, numbing me from the inside out. “So then you can’t help him…”

“I believe I can heal him through your touch.”

“Then what’s the problem? Hurry, before it’s too late!”

Her eyebrows raised, she frowned. “So it is acceptable?”

“Huh?”

“You can touch him, so the side effect, the exchange, will be with you, not me.”

I fell to my knees beside them. I had no idea what I’d lose, but did it matter if I didn’t have Kale? There was no way I would let him die. Not if I could do something to prevent it. “I’ll give anything for him.”

Daun nodded. “Place your hands on his skin. No matter what happens, do not let go.”

I reached out and cupped the side of his face. Beside me, Daun took my hand. The sensation was instantaneous. Warmth. It felt nice at first. Tingly, like the summer sun kissing my skin on a day at the beach.

Then it changed. Stifling and humid. Choking. Daun’s fingers tightened on mine as a spasm racked me to the core. “Just a bit more,” she said.

The room began to spin. I leaned forward into Kale, trying to steady myself. As the heat started to ebb, I said a silent prayer, thanking God it was finally over.

Only it wasn’t.

The room began spinning again, this time so violently, everything mashed together. Daun, Kale, the charred remains of the party—all swirled together in one massive blob of color. Vomit rose in my throat as a loud keening sound filled my ears. Several times, I almost let go of Kale to shield myself from the sound.

Then, as abruptly as it all started, it stopped. I collapsed on the floor, unable to open my eyes. In the distance, I heard a faint sound.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

Steadily, it grew louder. Stronger. My heart.

Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump.

I listened to it, still unable to open my eyes. Well, maybe not unable. Possibly unwilling. The rhythm sounded strange. Unnatural. Something in the back of my mind told me I should be concerned, but I wasn’t. Every bone in my body ached, and each one of my nerve endings vibrated like a guitar string ready to snap. Had it worked? Had I managed to save Kale in time? A sick feeling washed over me. Surely it hadn’t worked. The room was too quiet.

Then I heard it. Not one beat, but two.

Thumpthump thumpthump thumpthump.

Something warm and soft slid over my hand. Kale. With a squeeze of his hand, I had the strength to open my eyes.

“You did it again. You saved me.”





33


“It doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Kale said. “We came all this way for nothing.”

He rubbed his chest, below his heart. The wound had healed months ago, but he said it still tickled sometimes.

I squeezed his hand. “It wasn’t for nothing. We’ve had an entire two days of peace and quiet. Besides, they’ll come home eventually.” I checked my watch. “They’re probably still at work.”

We settled down on the steps of the bright yellow Victorian, Kale on the top step, me on the bottom, leaning back. The summer had been rough at first. Two weeks after the disaster at Sumrun, the Denazen law building burned to the ground. Dad had disappeared, along with Mercy and Fin and the other Sixes, but I had hope. We could still save them. Even if we had to do it one at a time.