Forbidden (The Seeker Saga, #2) (41 page)

“And you don’t have your limp anymore,” I noted.

John smiled.  “No, I do not.  Truly, the crystals – and the women – are remarkable.”

“How long was I asleep for?” I asked.

“Not long.  A day and a half.” John laughed.  “You slept like a babe the entire time.  The healing they do takes a lot out of you.  From what I gather, they can fix the ailment, but ultimately it’s up to the body to recover.”

“Rob!” I exclaimed, suddenly remembering.  “What about Rob?  How is he doing?”

John took a sudden interest in the rug at his feet.  “As best as he can,” he answered softly.  “He’s still hanging on.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” I demanded anxiously.  “I thought they healed him?”

“They fixed the wound, yes,” John explained, “but Rob lost a lot of blood.  His body was in shock before the seeker got to him.  His heart stopped for some time, as well.  The woman who healed him… she was able to close the wound, to make him whole again, but he’s got a long way to go.  He needs nourishment now, and rest.  It will take time for him to gather his strength.”

“But he’ll recover?” I pressed.  “Won’t he?”

John sighed, and raked a hand through his hair.  “It’s… uncertain.  Personally, I think so.  He has too much fight to give up.  Besides,” he added with a wry smile, “I don’t think he’ll let go of you so easily.”

My heart froze in my chest.  “Let go of me?  What do you mean?”

“Clearly, the two of you care for one another,” John said.  I opened my mouth to deny it, but he raised his hands defensively.  “Don’t worry, I haven’t said anything to the others.  I know how tricky these relationships can be sometimes.”

I exhaled a breath I did not know I was holding.  “Thank you,” I said.  “It’s just that sometimes, Liz… ah, never mind.  Can I see him?  Do you know where Rob is?”

Just at that moment, the door to the room opened, and Liz walked in. 

“Speak of the devil,” John said slyly.

Liz saw me, and jumped.  “Oh!” she exclaimed.  “You’re up!”  She ran over to squeeze me in a tight hug.  She had a beige jacket on, and gray pants, in an outfit similar to what I remembered the villagers wearing.  The clothes were made of… wool, if I wasn’t mistaken.  The garments looked cozy enough, but completely unlike anything Liz would wear.  “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” I said, trying to pry Liz off.  She let go, and I staggered forward unexpectedly.  I had my legs under me, but they were weaker than they had been just moments ago.  In fact, my whole body felt weak.  A powerful wave of hunger crashed into me, and I sat down hard on the bed.  As if to accentuate the point, my stomach rumbled loudly.

Liz had a knowing smile on her face.  “You’re hungry,” she said.

“Famished.”

“Aeryth said that would be the case when you woke up.”

“Aeryth?” I asked.  “Who’s Aeryth?”

“The seeker who healed you.  You met her.  She’s the one you told to heal Chris.”  Liz twisted her mouth in distaste.  “I wanted to ask you about that ever since.  Why did you have her do it?  Chris deserved what he got.”

“Nobody deserves to die,” I said.  “Not even Chris.  Not when it can be helped.”

“Even after everything he did?  He tried to
kill
you, Tracy, I have no doubt in my mind.  I saw the fight with my own eyes.”

“Maybe his father pushed him to it,” I said.  “Maybe he only made it look like he was threatening my life to refill his
voliar
.  Maybe… I don’t know.  But I had no right to let him die, not when my word would have stopped it.  I couldn’t live with myself if I had.”

“You’ll have a hard time convincing the other girls about that,” Liz said.

“I’m not worried about them,” I replied.  “I’m more worried about Rob.”

Liz bit her lip, and suddenly looked uncertain.  Her eyes tightened, and she looked past me to John.

“She already knows,” John said gently.  Relief blossomed on Liz’s face momentarily, but was wiped away quickly.  Her face became a still mask, though her eyes remained tight.

“Aeryth and the other seekers did all they could for him,” she said.  “He’s hanging on right now.  I was just in his room – he looked better than this morning.  But nobody can tell when he’s going to wake up. 
If
he’s going to—”

“Don’t say that!” I cried out, cutting her off.  “Of course he’s going to wake up.  Of
course
he is!”  I heard footsteps behind me, and turned to see John walking around the bed.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone,” he said, going to the door.  “I’ll have some food brought up for you, Tracy.”

“No!” I said petulantly.  “I’m not staying here.  I want to go see Rob!”

“Rob’s not going anywhere,” Liz said gently, sitting down on the bed beside me.  “Besides, you can’t take two steps without falling over.  You need the nourishment after what you went through.  Once you’ve eaten, I’ll show you where Rob’s room is.”  She glanced over her shoulder at John.  “Arthur wanted to speak to you, which is why I came here in the first place,” she told him. 

John raised his eyebrows in surprise, but nodded.  “I’ll get your food quickly, Tracy, so you can stand up all the sooner.”

“Thanks,” I said half-heartedly, but he was already out the door.

“I didn’t mean what I just said.  That was just my nerves getting the better of me,” Liz admitted.  “I wasn’t thinking.  I
know
Rob’s going to get better.”  She smiled, but the smile was tremulous.

“There’s nothing I can do for him now, is there?” I said in a small voice.

“No,” Liz answered.  “There’s nothing any of us can do besides what’s already been done.  The only thing to do is wait.”

I nodded silently.  I didn’t like feeling helpless.  I didn’t like waiting in this room while Rob fought for his life elsewhere.  But, what choice did I have?  The seekers did all they could, which was infinitely better than anything that could have been done with modern medicine.  Besides, Liz was right.  All I could do now was wait.  Wait, and pray for his recovery. 

For some reason, I did not feel particularly upset at that prospect.  Rob
would
get better.  I knew it in my heart.  All I would have to do was wait for it to happen.  It was far from a feeling of helplessness.  Because, after all, waiting for a
certainty
to happen did not seem so dire.  I would simply wait, and it would happen.  I
knew
that.

“The seekers told us a lot,” Liz said, and I jumped, startled out of my thoughts.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Well, they wanted to wait for you to recover before
showing
us anything, but they said that all of us has the potential to use the crystals like you do.”  Liz couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice.  “Even
Ashley
!  They said she would have recovered her ability on her own before long, but Aeryth took her aside and healed what she had done to herself, too!”

“That’s marvelous,” I said.

“Aeryth said it was like a muscle sprain,” Liz continued.  “When Ashley pulled on too much of the crystal’s power – back when she didn’t have the best opinion of
you
– she strained her ability to link to the crystals.  It would have come back eventually, according to the seekers, but with Aeryth’s healing, it didn’t have to wait.”

“Unbelievable,” I said.  “I’m really happy for her.  These women really do know a lot about the crystals, don’t they?”

“They know
everything
,” Liz stressed.  “They said they’d teach us as soon as… well, as soon as you woke up.”

“I just think it’s remarkable they would agree to teach us anything after what’s happened.”

“What do you mean?” Liz asked.

“I mean, everything that we brought upon them,” I replied.  “They’re not going to be able to stay here anymore, are they?  Not when there are people out there who know where the village is now.”

“I never thought of that,” Liz answered solemnly.  “You’re not blaming yourself for what happened, are you?”

“How could I not?” I sighed.  “Without us, the people here would have continued their idyllic lives without a single worry.  But look what happened with our arrival.”

“With
Chris’s
arrival,” Liz corrected.  “Him and his dad.  Without us, without
you
specifically, who knows how much worse things would have turned out?”

“What I don’t understand,” I said, “is why the seekers didn’t fight back against Chris and his dad.  If they know so much about the crystals—”

“They couldn’t fight back because they don’t keep their crystals with them,” Liz cut in.

“Huh?” I frowned.  “What do you mean?  I saw Aeryth heal Chris before my eyes.  And they healed Rob before, and me after.”

“I gave her my crystal,” Liz admitted.  “They don’t keep their crystals on them because they don’t
need
them, Tracy.  From what I understand, they try to do as much as they can without them.  Not because they’re frightened of anything – no, of course not that – but rather, because they don’t want to grow reliant upon them.  The seekers respect the crystals’ powers, and with that respect comes the strength to stay away from them when need be.”

“That’s how they explained it to you?”

“Uh-huh,” Liz confirmed. 

“That’s interesting.  Hey—do you remember Arthur’s warning?” I asked suddenly.  “Arthur
senior
’s warning, that is?”

“From his letter?” Liz asked.  I nodded.  “How could I forget?  Everything about that night seems like it’ll be etched in my mind forever.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you to find him there on your own…” she trailed off, and gave a strong shudder.  “The warning?  Of course I remember.  ‘
Be forewarned
,’ ” she quoted, “ ‘
the crystals
lead to neither peace nor freedom.  Make haste to close this chapter of your lives.  It is something I could never do
.’ What about it?”

“I just thought of it now, when you were talking about how the seekers don’t keep their crystals with them.  There’s power in the crystals that others will try to exploit.  We’ve seen it firsthand with Chris and his dad.  Maybe that’s why the seekers stay away from their crystals.”

“Maybe,” Liz said.

“And, if nothing else, I think Arthur senior was right about one thing.”

“Which is?” Liz asked.

“The crystals cannot lead to peace.  Not while there are people out there who know about them.  I think we’ll be in danger for as long as knowledge of them remains in the world.  Other people will want to use us for our powers.  I think that’s what the warning meant.”

“What are you suggesting?” Liz asked.

“Nothing,” I said.  “Just something we need to be aware of.  And maybe—”

I cut off as the door banged open.  Instead of John, who I was expecting, in the doorway stood a plump woman with a graying bun of hair on her head.  She had a spotless white apron on, and didn’t hesitate before walking in carrying a large tray.  She smiled warmly at me, and I was reminded instantly of my grandmother.  The tray was covered by a cloth, but tantalizing food smells wafted out from it anyway.  I could smell freshly baked bread, buttered fish, baked potatoes, and even some kind of vegetables.  It smelled delicious.

The woman set the tray on the bedside table and took the cloth off.  My stomach growled and my mouth watered at the sight of the food.  Everything that I had smelled was there, in even larger portions that I expected.  There was even a slice of chocolate cake at the side!  Greedily, I reached for the tray, but the woman stepped in my way.

“Careful now,” she said, but not unkindly, “I know you’re hungry after what you’ve been through, but you need to pace yourself.  You wouldn’t want to stuff down all this food only to hurl it up moments later because your stomach can’t hold it down.  Take your time, and enjoy it.”

“Thank you,” I said curtly, casting an anxious look around the woman to my tray.  Take my time?  I felt like I could wolf down the entire tray in minutes and still want more!  Besides, I had to finish the food so I could see Rob quickly. 
That
was my priority above everything.

“Liz?” the woman said.  “Aeryth called for you.  She’s waiting downstairs.  Hurry now, you wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.”

“Oh!” Liz exclaimed, and shot straight up.  Aeryth must have made quite an impression on her to elicit such a response.  She ran to the door – ran!  I’d never seen Liz run for anybody before! – but paused just before leaving.  “One last thing,” Liz said, turning to me.  “Just something I thought of.  I don’t think the people who came after us really know what the crystals can do.  The government force who trapped us in the cabin, I mean.  The truth is, we don’t even know.  At least, not until the seekers teach us.  The people who were watching the cabin might suspect there’s value to the crystals, but there’s no way they know exactly what it is.  I just thought of that.  Maybe we can use that to our advantage.”  And with that, she ran –
ran! –
out the door.