Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (10 page)

“It’s the humans, Traina. They use stones to
shift. Those two standing guard outside the bedroom door were
humans, not Majs.”

“You’re crazy!”

“No, I’m not. Hayden can see auras.”

Traina jerked at the sound of my name. I
smiled at her.

“Hi.” She didn’t answer. “How about we have a
look at Damian and maybe we can figure something out between the
three of us.”

“Hayden?” Emelly’s voice was barely a whisper
which was odd since she’d become much more confident since finding
Matthew.

“Hmm?”

“Do you think…that is…would it be alright if
I watched?”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. But if I
tell you to leave, you do as I say.”

She nodded.

“Jasper?” His eyes met mine. “If you stay,
you can’t interrupt. And the same goes for you as for Emelly. If I
say leave, you listen.”

His jaw clenched and he took a deep breath
before nodding.

I made my way to one side of Damian’s bed,
Rainen to the other, and Traina to his head. I ran a light green
wave over him to try and assess what was happening to him.

“Hey, Damian. I don’t know if you can hear
me, but it’s me, Hayden. I’m gonna see if I can help fix you up.” I
moved the wave slowly from his feet to his head. I frowned and
looked across the bed at Rainen. “His energy is just leaving him.
It’s very slow, but I can see it.” I chewed on my lip, thinking.
“What if we covered him with a shield, to keep it in?”

Rainen shook her head. “We tried that.”

I frowned. “Can you do what you did with
Cholta? Multiply his energy? Then, Traina, you could form a shield
at the same time, and I’ll project it all into him.”

“We’ve tried that too,” muttered Traina.

“But we didn’t try it with Hayden.”

Traina shrugged. “Alright. Let’s give it a
shot.” Rainen whispered the spell she knew to multiply Damian’s
energy. Every time she would push her nudge toward him, I would
make it stronger. Traina then placed a shield over her mate.

My nudge bumped into Rainen’s. “Sorry.”

She frowned and concentrated on rebalancing
hers. “It’s alright.” Her eyes widened.

I slowly moved my nudge along hers, trying to
feel what she had felt. I stopped short and looked at her. I
pretended to accidently bump into Traina’s nudge and gave an
experimental push. By the feel of it, Rainen was no longer the
strongest sorceress in the room.

“Alright. Let’s see what that did.” The three
of us were starting to breathe a little harder than normal. I ran
the green wave over him and shook my head. “It’s leaving as quickly
as we can put it in there.”

“What about using your energy?” asked Jasper
quietly. “That seems to stick to everything you push it into.”

I looked up at him. “That was going to be my
last resort. I don’t know how much he’ll need.” I glanced back to
Damian, his features so gaunt he looked like a skeleton with skin.
I could imagine the strange grey eyes and rocked back on my heels,
trying to think of a way to make them open again. My chest felt
tight.

Jasper kissed my forehead. “I’m going to go
talk to Collin about the best way to call in the packs so you can
scan them all. Let me know if there’s any change.”

I gave his hand a squeeze.

“What do you think, Hayden?” Rainen was in
the same crouching position as me, her head on her knees.

“I’m not sure. The only thing I can think of
is for me to transfer my energy to him. And I’m not sure that will
work either.”

“What if you took from all of us?”

“I’ve never been able to do that. Both
Fillian and Hanna have worked with me, but I can’t.” I felt as if I
hadn’t slept in a week. My eyes closed. “Rainen?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you feeling really tired?”

“Hmm hmm.”

The world started to spin. “Traina?”

There was no answer. I tried to open my eyes
to check on her. At first it was as if my strength was leaving me.
After a few minutes I realized what was happening and by then, it
was too late. Whatever was happening to Damian was happening to us,
but more quickly. I tried to call out to Jasper but couldn’t.

It was almost like a dream. I heard someone
humming notes under her breath. I tried to place the voice. Then
another voice joined in, this one humming a different tune. The
darkness closed in, the voices tuned out, and somehow I knew. I was
dead.

Chapter Four

My first indication that I was alive was the
pain. I groaned and tried to bring my hands up so I could hold my
head. That movement hurt too much.

“Chaid! She’s waking up!” The words were
slurred and fuzzy to my ears, but I was sure the voice was
Jasper’s.

“Hayden? Can you hear me?” This voice was a
man’s but I didn’t recognize it. I tried to nod. The pain in my
head tripled and I gasped.

“Don’t try to move, Shlova.” I could hear the
relief in Jasper’s voice. His lips touched my forehead and I felt a
tear fall on my face. He wiped it off then kissed me softly on the
lips.

“I think she’s through the worst of it,
Jasper. If she’s coming to, then she should be fine.”

I felt strong fingers lock with mine and I
squeezed.

“How is she doing?” That was William.

“I think she’s starting to wake up. What
about Rainen?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Hey.” Matthew sounded exhausted. “Did I hear
you say Hayden is waking up?” Jasper must have nodded. “Thank god.
Maybe she can explain what the hell happened in there. Emelly is
still out.”

“Damian?” Collin.

“Same as when we first got here.” Jasper.

I tried to swallow. “Wa…”

“Water?”

I squeezed his hand. I felt the glass touch
my lips and I took a few sips and tried to follow the rest of the
conversation. Sleep came for me again and I didn’t fight as it
carried me away from the pain.

*****

When I came to again, the first thing I
noticed was how quiet it was. I took a few deep breaths. When that
didn’t hurt I decided to flex one muscle at a time. I felt as if I
had run a marathon with no training, but no part of me was anything
more than sore. I opened one eye, noticed that the only light in
the room came from a couple of candles lit on the table beside me,
and opened the other. From the room next to mine, I heard a snore.
I turned my head one way, then the other.

Jasper sat on a chair, his legs sprawled out,
his arms crossed, his chin resting on his chest. I turned slowly
onto my side, reached out and placed my hand on his arm. He jerked
awake, knocked the chair over and looked around wildly before his
gaze focused on me. He blinked and ran a hand over his face. I
smiled.

“Bontu,” I whispered.

“Hello,” he answered back huskily. He
swallowed hard.

“Come here.”

He simply stood and stared.

“Chom labba, Jasper. Come here. You’re
awake.” I scooted back gingerly to make room for him on the bed. He
walked over then lay down. His hand moved slowly to my face and
came to rest on my cheek. I closed my eyes as he stroked my cheek
with his thumb. I put my hand over his, turned my head and kissed
his palm.

“Shlova?”

I nodded, unable to speak through the sobs
that were making their way up my throat.

“Oh, god, Hayden.” Jasper pulled me to his
chest. “I thought this was it. You were gone. I felt you die.” His
own sobs shook him and we clung to each other. He pulled back and
looked at me as though making sure this wasn’t a dream. I reached
up and wiped the tears from his face. He returned the favor then
brought his lips down to mine. I pulled myself up onto my elbow and
pulled him to me. His arms crushed me to his chest. He lay back and
I rested my head over his heart. I checked myself mentally a final
time to make sure everything was in working order.

My heart stopped and my breath caught in my
throat. I sat up quickly, Jasper a fraction of a second after
me.

“Hayden…”

I closed my eyes and concentrated. He put a
hand on my leg.

“Hayden.” He took my face in his hands.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“It didn’t make it.” I heard him swallow hard
before continuing. “Whatever almost killed you was too much for it
to survive.”

I pulled the green waves in front of me and
passed them over my belly, looking for the little ball of energy
that had been there.

“No…no…no! This doesn’t make sense! We were
supposed to make Damian better! I felt it suck everything out of
me! What the hell was it? What the hell happened?”

Jasper pulled me onto his lap and rubbed my
back. “We don’t know. You’re the first one awake. Rainen is still
out. So are Emelly and Damian. Traina is dead.” He took a deep
breath. “I was talking to Collin. I could feel you were tired, but
nothing serious. Then in the matter of minutes you felt weak. I ran
back to the room and just as I was opening the door…” A tremendous
sob shook him and he pulled me closer. “That was it. You were dead.
I couldn’t feel you at all. I went to you and just as I picked you
up Traina dropped, then Rainen, and then Emelly. Just before Emelly
hit the ground you jerked and felt pain.”

I lay pressed to his chest, shaking from the
shock of it all. He brushed the hair from my face.

“We knew this might happen, Hayden. We knew
the odds were against it.” His voice was thick and I knew he was
trying to reassure himself as well as me. We were both quiet, lost
in our own thoughts and misery.

“Hayden?”

I jumped as his voice broke the silence.

He tilted my head so that I was looking at
him. His perfect blue eyes searched mine from under a few stray
curls. I reached up and brushed them out of the way.

“I love you, Jasper. I’m so sorry.”

He frowned. “Sorry for what?”

“I should have listened to you. We shouldn’t
have crossed back.” I started to look away but was stopped by his
hands on my face.

“This was not your fault. You had no way of
knowing something like this was going to happen.”

“Maybe not this specifically, but if it
wasn’t this, it would have been the next battle, or the one after
that.” A tear slipped down my cheek.

“If I had stayed in the room I could have
gotten you out.”

“Or you would be dead.” I shook my head.
“There’s nothing you could have done. If you had been in there you
wouldn’t be here now.”

“And you almost weren’t. Shlova, I’ve never
lied when I’ve told you I’d be happy simply holding you for the
rest of my life.”

“I know, Jasper, it’s just…” My throat
tightened and I had to clear my throat.

“I know, Hayden.”

“What are we going to do?”

He pulled me to his chest and I held him
tightly. “I don’t know, Shlova. I don’t know.”

*****

Every day I would run a green wave over
Rainen, Damian, and Emelly twice a day. Each day, Rainen and Damian
got better while Emelly stayed the same.

It took three more days before Rainen finally
woke up. By then I had started to remember some of the things that
had happened before I had blacked out. I only told Jasper, wanting
to verify with Rainen before I told everyone else and caused an
uproar. I was, however, extremely confused about the events right
before everyone dropped like flies.

I was sitting outside with Jasper, watching a
couple of wolf pups chase each other up and down the road in front
of their house. A black haired man sat on the step, keeping an eye
on them. William came running out of the house.

“Hayden! She’s awake!” He was back in the
house before I could acknowledge that I had heard him. Jasper stood
and pulled me up.

“I wish Marilynn was here.”

I looked up to see him frowning at the house.
“Why is that?”

“Rainen may not be very happy to hear what
you’re going to tell her and you’re not totally recovered yet.”

I started to laugh. “She just woke up from a
coma; I think I’ll be safe. Besides, she will have felt it too. You
can’t fake the feel of your magic.”

“Well, either way, I’m coming in.”

I smiled and brushed a few curls out of his
eyes. “I know.” He hadn’t left my side since I had woken up and I
didn’t want him to. “Come on. Let’s go see if I’m right.”

We walked through Rainen’s house and made our
way to her bedroom. She was propped up on some pillows, taking a
glass of water from William. Her midnight blue eyes met his hazel
ones. He gave her a lopsided grin which made her smile. She turned
towards me and the smile widened.

“Hayden!”

I walked to the bed and gave her a hug. “Hey.
How are you feeling?”

“Ugh. Like someone threw me over the edge of
a cliff. You? How long have you been awake?”

“I’m better; almost back to normal. I’ve been
up for three days now.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Hayden. I had
no idea until my nudge touched her.”

“Don’t be sorry. Like you said, you had no
idea. When the Zerpanay came for us, I thought the magic felt
familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Then, when we were in the room,
I didn’t remember the feel of it until…well, by the time I
realized, it was too late.”

She nodded.

“What’s going on? You guys know what
happened?” William was glancing from me to Rainen, looking more
than a little annoyed that he didn’t know what was going on.

“I was pretty sure, but I didn’t want to tell
anyone until I talked to Rainen. There are still a few things I’m
fuzzy about, though. When the Zerpanay used its magic on us, it
felt familiar. That’s because it had the same feel to it as Damian.
But it wasn’t exactly like Damian’s and it threw me off. When we
were in the room, it was actually Rainen who felt it first. The
magic Traina was giving off was the same as the Zerpanay’s. She
sent it.”