This Magic Moment

by Susan Squires

  “I think we can dispense with the screen,” Brian said from behind the blanket. “Let’s just use it to wrap Jane in case she’s cold.”

  Brina was streaming tears as she looked at the two bodies in front of her. “Go to your new grandchild,” Michael said. “Drew and I will stay with Tammy.”

  The crowd gathered around Jane, propped up against the rocks, and her husband, kneeling beside her. Kemble held a bundle. The baby must have been wrapped in his shirt, since he was naked to the waist. He stood, and looked down at the bundle, wide-eyed, then around at his family. “It’s…it’s a boy.” His voice held all the wonder, the terrible responsibility of fatherhood. Michael had never experienced it, except through Tris and Maggie, but he recognized it now in Kemble.

  Michael put his arm around Drew. This must be hard for Drew when she wanted a baby so badly. She’d never accused him, but of course it must be his fault that they couldn’t conceive.

  “Congratulations,” came the murmurs. Tris punched Kemble’s shoulder. The girls hovered and grinned and cooed at the new addition. They probably hadn’t realized yet that Thomas was dead.

  “How are you, Jane?” Brina asked, even as she pulled the swaddling of the shirt away from the baby’s face and gazed at the boy fondly. “Do you need me?”

  “No.” Jane gave an exhausted grin. “Brian did just fine.”

  “You did all the work, my dear,” Brian said, leaning over to kiss her forehead, and gently move her sweat-soaked hair behind her ear. “And he’s a beautiful baby. Would you like to hold him? If we can get him away from that lug of a husband, that is?”

  Kemble made his way back toward his wife.

  Michael glanced down at Drew. “You knew Tammy would live didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” Drew looked back at Tammy, a look of puzzlement on her face. “She appeared in a vision. And since all my visions are of the future, she had to be there.”

  Michael sighed. “I feel so sorry for her. I know too well what she’s going to go through.”

  Drew chewed her lip and stared at Thomas. Suddenly she went over to the body and felt for a pulse at the carotids, just as Marrec had. She hung her head. Wishing wasn’t going to make that kid come back to life for Tammy. Drew closed Thomas’s eyelids and stood. Michael went up behind her and gave her a hug. Marrec came up behind Drew, carrying a blanket, ready to cover the corpse.

  “We’ll give her all the support we can,” Michael said.

  “I don’t know,” Drew said, frowning absently. “I never know. Maybe it’s somebody else. Maybe she’ll meet somebody else.”

  “God, I hope so,” Michael whispered in her ear.

  Marrec covered Thomas.

  “Let’s give Jane some time to rest up before we get out of here,” Michael heard Tris say. “Somebody’s gonna come looking for the source of that explosion, even out here in the desert.”

  Michael looked back at the cluster around Jane. Brina whispered to Brian, who looked over at their sad little group. Marrec had gone to stand with Jason and Duncan, staring out at the desert. Guess they were standing guard in case any other Clan members survived. Brian frowned and walked over with Brina to stand over Tammy and Thomas’s body, doused in irregular light from the flashlights leaning against the tires of the SUV.

  “She’ll be all right,” Brina said.

  Brian glanced to Michael. “No she won’t,” he said grimly. “Will she, Michael?”

  “No.”

  “Damn. I liked him, too. I never thought I’d say that about a man courting my baby girl.”

  “She wanted me to save him first, but what if I didn’t have enough strength for them both?” Brina fretted. “I couldn’t bear it if I let her die.” She looked up at Brian. “Was I wrong?”

  Brian shook his head. “No, my heart. You weren’t wrong. I just wish there was another way.” He held his wife’s shoulders. “Are you okay? All that healing and holding that shield….”

  “Actually, I’m fine,” Brina said, as though that surprised her. It surprised Michael. She looked around as though the desert held an explanation in the rocks and the sand or the sparse creosote bushes that lurked in the shadows beyond their puny lights. “Maybe because we used all our power together. I…I feel pretty good. Tired, but the power is strong.” She looked around at the others. “Everybody looks pretty good. Cuts and bruises but I can fix those.”

  “Kee has a broken arm, I think,” Brian said, but his mind was elsewhere, Michael could see. “Duncan’s shoulder looks dislocated. Nothing you can’t handle…” His gaze fell on Thomas’s body. Others had come up. The Tremaines were solemn. Kee was holding her arm to her chest, her face creased with pain.

  “We’ll take him back and give him a proper funeral,” Brina murmured.

  “I don’t think we should do that.” Drew’s voice was small. “I could be wrong. It could be somebody else. But the set of those shoulders, the hair…what are the odds she’d find someone with the same hair?”

  “You’ve seen him.” Brian seemed to pounce.

  Drew shrugged helplessly. “I saw someone with Tammy. From the back. On the path down to the beach from The Breakers. She was turning back and laughing.” Drew looked around at the family. “She looked happy.”

  Brian took a purposeful stride toward Thomas and knelt, drawing back the blanket.

  “Don’t bother, Father. I checked. He’s really dead,” Drew said.

  Brian still felt for a pulse at Thomas’s carotids. Then he stood, frowning.

  “Senior, what is it?” Tris asked.

  “Maybe we’re giving up on him too quickly,” Brian said. You could have heard a pin drop. Well, except for the faint noise of Jane cooing at her baby. Brian looked over at Brina, who was suddenly very alarmed.

  “I’m just a Healer. Only Morgan can bring back the dead.”

  “Isn’t resurrection an extension of Healing?”

  “I don’t know.” Brina was in real distress. “Even if it were, it would take more power than I’ve ever had.”

  “Exactly,” Brian said, looking rather astonished at himself. Then he said, more firmly, “Exactly. And we know a new trick, don’t we? Together, we can amplify our power enough to help you make a shield that held back the best the Clan could give, made even more powerful by the Talismans. Hell, it held back the power emanating from what I’m pretty sure is another dimension. We put love in a fucking Cup and contained the power of the stars.” Brian never swore. The family all looked shocked. “Shouldn’t we just try to see how far we can make Brina’s healing go, together? What have we got to lose except the life of a young man I have grown to care about and Tammy’s happiness?”

  They looked around at each other. Michael could see the open skepticism on some faces: Tris, Lan, Greta. Others weren’t so sure. Jason, Duncan and Marrec had turned back and were watching the group. It didn’t take a clairvoyant to know what they were thinking—that the family had finally gone around the bend.

  His dear wife had always pretended not to believe in much of anything yet had the courage to fight her own demons and believe in the family and the future. She stepped forward into the center of the circle, her back to the unconscious Tammy and the very dead Thomas. “If who I see with Tammy is Thomas, then we can do it. Maybe it isn’t him. Maybe Tammy finds happiness with somebody else.” Drew looked to Michael. “If we don’t try to bring him back, we’ll never know.”

  There was a moment of silence. No one was sure you could resurrect the dead. Unless of course you were Morgan. That brought up another point.

  “What if he’s not the same? I mean, Jason,” he called. “Were the people Morgan resurrected the same as before they died?”

  Jason looked uncomfortable. “Not if they’d been dead a long time,” he muttered. “The generals…” Then he took a breath and looked up. “If they just died and she brought them back—yeah, I think they were the same.”

  “That’s it then,” Brian finally said. “Who’s game?”

  �
�I am,” Michael offered. He had to try to spare Tammy the pain he’d gone through.

  “I’m in,” said Kee, “whatever good I am with this arm. That means Dev’s in too.” Devin shook his head in resignation at his wife’s assumption, but he nodded.

  “Me too,” Maggie and Greta chimed in unison, both looking quite determined.

  Tris seemed disgusted with himself. “Sure, why the hell not?”

  Lan yelled to Kemble, “Get over here, bro. We’re trying an exorcism.”

  “You mean a resurrection,” Greta corrected. She prodded him in the ribs with her elbow.

  Jane looked puzzled. “Not you, dear,” Brina called. “You look after the baby.” She added softly, “In case this doesn’t work and we blow up the whole place.”

  As the family formed a circle, Michael bent and picked up Tammy. Best get her out of the way here. But to his surprise, she moaned and turned in his arms.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  ‡

  “Thomas,” Tammy murmured as she fought her way to consciousness. Where was she? Why was Michael carrying her? What had happened? Where was Thomas? She felt distant, removed from herself, as if Mom had been healing her flu, but way more pronounced.

  Healing! It all came rushing back—Morgan stabbing Thomas, the rift in the compound, the horrible creatures lurking there and the lava, the explosion, then waking to see the light go out of Thomas’s eyes and the terrible ripping of her mind and her soul as his departed. “Thomas!” she wailed and struggled in Michael’s arms. “Put me down!” She gave Michael no choice but to set her on her feet, but her knees buckled and she was glad to have his strong arm to support her. The pain of loss overwhelmed her. She wanted to run to Thomas, lying naked and bloody and still in the center of the circle of her family, but the same arm that supported her also restrained her. “Thomas…” she sobbed. Life would never be the same. She knew that with a certainty that tore at her sanity.

  Drew stalked over and took her by the shoulders and gave her a good shake. “Tamsen Tremaine, you just get a hold of yourself. We’re going to try to help him, and we don’t need the distraction of trying to take care of you too.”

  “Help him?” Tammy asked in a small voice, surprised out of her sobs.

  Michael now squeezed her shoulders. “I know what you’re going through.” Tammy looked up at him as tears spilled over her cheeks. Yes. He did know. “We’re gonna try sharing power with Brina.”

  Bring him back? It couldn’t be done. Morgan could have done it, but she was dead, or maybe immortal in the hell on the other side of the rift that had closed. Tammy would have sold her soul to Morgan to bring Thomas back. But even that was denied her. Mom was a Healer, not a Resurrectionist.

  She looked around the circle at her family, whether by birth or marriage. They were dead serious about this. She so wanted it to be true! Could they?

  “You stand back,” her mother said. “You’re still feeling the effects of the Healing.”

  Faces around the circle grew grim as the enormity of what they were going to do sank in. Tammy swallowed and stood on her own. “No, Mom. Sorry. But you need every bit of power you can get. I may not be much, but I have to try.”

  No one had the heart to refuse her. She counted on that.

  “Join hands, like we did before,” Daddy said. Michael took Tammy’s hand and Daddy grabbed her other one as they all formed a circle. “It’s up to you, Brina. Our job is to concentrate on sharing power with you,” Daddy said, nodding encouragement to his wife.

  Mom looked frightened. Tammy saw her as if she wasn’t her mom, but a strange, beautiful woman with dark hair streaked with white. Even with the flashlights that created light and shadow in the circle she couldn’t see her mother’s eyes, but she knew they were turquoise like her own. No one would guess that this woman had magic running in her veins. But she did. People would call her a witch if they knew.

  “You hang on to us and our power, Brina,” Michael said.

  “Maybe you could use some extra,” a hard voice drawled.

  Jason and Duncan stood just outside the circle. They were Clan, enemies of Tremaines for so many years now that it seemed like forever. What if they poisoned the effort somehow?

  “Guess we know what it’s like to lose the One,” Jason said. “Don’t we, Duncan?”

  Duncan nodded. The sorrow in his eyes was naked and raw. He held the arm of his dislocated shoulder across his chest.

  They shared much with the Tremaines. Magic genes, loss and pain that Tammy was just beginning to understand. And they’d just helped the Tremaines against Morgan, maybe for their own reasons, but still.

  “Make room,” Brina said and Tammy was glad.

  Luc made his way over to Jane. He had no power to give to the circle, but by that move he said that he would be there for Jane and the baby if something happened to the family. Did he think they’d all blow up? Or maybe rip a hole into another dimension and be eaten by whatever those things were? Kemble nodded curtly to him.

  Jason grabbed Maggie’s hand on one side and Dev’s on the other. Duncan stepped up to Kee, but her broken arm prevented her taking his hand. Brina stood. “I’ll take care of you first Kee.”

  “No way,” Kee hissed. “What if we wait too long and we can’t get him back?”

  Oh, God. Tammy hadn’t thought of that!

  Duncan said, “I’ll hold your arm up here. That okay?” He gripped Kee’s upper arm with his good arm. Lan, on the other side, gingerly gripped Duncan’s upper arm just under his dislocated shoulder.

  “Then let’s get to it. You think about sharing power,” Daddy said to the newcomers. “Even now you can feel it humming between us.”

  Tammy could feel it all right. It warmed her core and shot out to Michael and Daddy, and back through them to her. Right around the circle a blue glow began to spread. You could hear the power humming in the air out here where it was quiet and there was no chanting or weird music. The signs of success emboldened them all. Tammy redoubled her efforts. The power leaped up and created that same blue bubble as they had achieved in the compound, with Brina and Thomas’s body in the center. Tammy stood up straight now, surer of herself. There was power in their circle, even without the presence of the Talismans. Could they do it? She would just die if after all this, Thomas were still dead.

  “Power to Brina,” Brian growled.

  Mom started to glow blue herself. Tammy didn’t dare ask herself what that meant or whether that was good for her mother. They were playing God here. Just like Morgan had. And that hadn’t worked out so well for Morgan in the end. But Tammy didn’t care. She just wanted Thomas back. There was a hole in her that blue light couldn’t fill. Nothing could fill it but Thomas. She strained to put forth power, not the specific power needed to see through an animal’s eyes, but just power, the kind that lived in her bones and her blood and her chromosomes, the power she’d gotten from her ancient ancestor, and now shared, one way or another, with everyone in the circle.

  Mom knelt beside Thomas and placed her hands on his body. Her eyes closed. She began to shudder violently. Thomas’s body arched under her hands. It was more like electricity making the muscles on a dead frog twitch than life. A cold doubt crept into Tammy’s belly.

  Then Mom opened her eyes, and they weren’t just the lovely turquoise Tammy saw in the mirror. They glowed with the otherworldly light of the power that hovered in the air around them all, palpable. It was the most intense blue Tammy had ever seen, like rays would shoot out of her eyes, if this were a cheap horror movie.

  No rays, but Mom stared down at Thomas, and through her, they all willed Thomas alive. In fact, Tammy could feel the damage in Thomas’s body, as if the power flowed two ways, and she was feeling what Mom felt when she healed. She felt organs sorting themselves out, and muscle knitting together, cuts sealing themselves.

  But she didn’t feel Thomas. So what if his body is whole if he’s not in it?

  Jane’s baby cried behind the humming pow
er.

  A hand on her wrist made her jump. Mom looked up from Thomas. Jane. She ducked a little unsteadily under their hands and tottered over to stand by Mom, something carefully cupped in one hand.

  “Eyes on the prize,” Daddy growled and everyone refocused. Mom’s glowing blue eyes turned almost white as she gazed back down at Thomas. The humming ramped up to something almost painful.

  Thomas’s body trembled as it arched.

  Jane squeezed her cupped hand and something dark trickled down onto Thomas’s chest and belly “Live!” Jane shouted. It was so unlike Jane to shout.

  And Thomas’s chest heaved. His eyes snapped open.

  Mom jerked her hands away from his body as if she’d been electrocuted. Her glow faded immediately. Thomas collapsed, groaning. Tammy had never been so glad to hear anyone groan. She trembled as the hole in her soul was filled, abruptly, with Thomas. She broke the circle and ran to him. The blue glow faded into the desert night.

  “Mom, you did it!” she shouted. But she had no time to hug her mother. Thomas was looking around, bewildered. She knelt and threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, still slick with blood. She sobbed uncontrollably, murmuring his name over and over.

  She looked up at her family to find everyone gathering their senses.

  “Wow,” Tris said.

  “That pretty much says it,” Drew drawled, just as if it were a summer afternoon at the swimming pool and none of this had happened at all.

  “Now, Kee, let me see that arm,” Mom said.

  Thomas hugged her. “Tammy,” he whispered. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

  “Me too.”

  “Did I black out? What happened to Morgan and the Talismans?” He looked down at his body and all the blood. “I thought I was going to die. But I feel fine.”

  “Mom Healed you. I’ll tell you all about it. But right now I need some serious hugs.”

  Thomas obliged. His lips found hers, and his tongue delved into her mouth as though it was coming home from a long journey.