Igniting Spirit (Gathering Water Book 3)

by Regan Claire

  I looked for a spare key while Ian and Lena awkwardly got into the back seat since Ezra was riding shotgun, but there was no spare.

  “Uh, Ezra? Can you get the Loa to start the car?” I asked. If I knew heads or tails about car engines, I could have done it myself with Fire energy. Here’s hoping Loa knew more than I did.

  “Maybe?” he answered with a small crease between his brows, as if he weren’t sure of the answer himself. Seconds later, the engine roared to life, and I drove us all to the hospital. On the way, I noticed Cash’s phone sitting on the dashboard, forgotten. I grabbed it and sent a little prayer that there was still battery life in it, since it hadn’t been used in days. There wasn’t, so this time I did use my abilities and gave it a little charge. Fire energy works with electrical items, as well.

  By the time it powered on, I was pulling into the hospital parking lot. I called my Uncle Connor before getting out of the car, motioning to Ezra that the Loa could turn the car off now.

  “Della?” Connor answered the phone with my name. He must have guessed I would be the only one to use his son’s phone to call right now.

  “How is he, Uncle Connor?” I asked, not even taking the time to say a polite “hello.”

  “Where are you, Della? Please tell me you’ve come home before —”

  “I had to get help. How is he? Is Clara still here?” I needed him to answer before I told him my plan.

  “Here? Are you at the hospital? Where are you?” I could hear him moving around over the phone, probably walking around the hospital searching for me.

  “Yes, I’m in the parking lot. You need to answer me, Dux. How is Cash?” I spoke with as much authority as I could muster. This man was my Uncle, and though he was technically my equal — the Dux where I was Duxa — as far as the Elfennol were concerned, I’d just dealt with a lot of shit and needed him to answer my question. I needed to know how my cousin was before I stepped out of the vehicle, and that meant I needed to boss him around.

  “He is hanging on. Clara still doesn’t know how to heal him, and your father doesn’t either. He went to ask the other Elfennol whether any of them can help.”

  “They can’t, Uncle Connor. But maybe the people with me can.”

  The double doors leading into the hospital lobby opened, and I closed the phone, looking at my Uncle’s form standing in the doorway staring at me through the windshield. Finally, I got out of the car, motioned to the others to do the same, and walked to my Uncle, hoping he was in a listening kind of mood.

  “Della, you said the Elfennol can’t help.” He already knew, but I think he hoped he was wrong. He hoped I hadn’t brought a car full of Clades with me.

  “Yes, I did. Do you trust me? Really trust me, the way that family is supposed to trust each other?”

  His chest deflated an inch, and he nodded his head.

  “Then believe me when I say that I would not bring people here that I wouldn’t trust with my life. With Cash’s life. They might be able to help.” I kept my eyes on his, willing him to accept this.

  He nodded his head and I started to walk by when he placed a hand on my arm. “You owe me an explanation, Duxa.”

  “Yes, I do.” And I pulled away and led my group to the room Cash was in. Explanations could come later.

  We attracted a bit of attention in our strange bathing suits — or underwear in Ezra’s case — before I decided to Shield us all from view. Cash was in the same room as before, and when I walked in I thought I’d be prepared for what I saw.

  I wasn’t.

  The musky scent of incense was strong in the air, and Clara was sitting in a chair to the side of Cash’s bed, her forearm wrapped next to his with a deep green silk cord, connecting them at the palm and elbow, like a handshake that went all the way up. Her eyes were open but unseeing, and her mouth was moving in a chant that I could barely hear. I let my True Sight come forth and looked at my cousin. He was much worse than he’d been before I left. Before, the golden net of his spirit was still visible, though clearly crumbling. Now, there was no net, only golden dust sprinkled here and there. But something was there in its stead. Not a net so much as a cocoon, wrapping around him and keeping inside whatever made Cash Cash. It looked like silk cord, identical to the cord that connected Clara and my cousin.

  “Ian, please take a look and see what you can do. Please. Try not to disturb Clara. Whatever she is doing is very important.” Ian immediately followed my direction. My aunt, whom I had overlooked when I first entered, came up and gave me a hug.

  “Della, I’m so glad you’ve come home.”

  “Of course, Aunt Ellis. I only left to bring help for Cash. I need him to get better so I can hit him for scaring us so badly.”

  A ghost of a smile flitted across her face. “Let me go see what clothes I can drudge up for your… friends.” She started to walk past me, but stopped halfway to the door. “Thank you, Della. It means a lot.” I turned to tell her how sorry I was for letting this happen to Cash, but she walked out of the room, giving Lena a wide berth since she had placed herself by the door, guarding us.

  “Della, you’re here. Good.” Clara spoke, and the room seemed empty without her quiet chants. She looked exhausted, and I wondered if she’d been attached to my cousin this entire time, until I saw her unwrapping the cord from their arms.

  She saw my gaze, and explained before I assumed the worst. “The cord will stay in place for about an hour before I have to come back and do the ritual again.”

  No wonder she looked exhausted, if she needed to do that every hour.

  “Clara, I brought someone who might be able to help. Ian, this is Clara. She’s a Dunamis with Casting and Natural abilities for spirit healing. She’s a mutt, really.” I tried to smile at the words, but the constant smell of antiseptic dampened the mood considerably.

  Ian perked up while Clara walked over to us to shake his hand.

  “Who are the other two Clades?” I don’t know whether she guessed, or could somehow tell who they were and didn’t particularly care.

  “This is Lena,” I said, watching the two women shake hands. “And this is Ezra.”

  Clara raked her gaze up and down Ezra, and I suddenly remembered she might have issues with Ezra that had nothing to do with his Clade status and everything to do with the fact that he was not her brother, with whom I had broken up less than a week ago.

  “That’s interesting.”

  “It’s not —”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not worried about Dove. I knew you guys were a temporary item. A stepping stone to your forever loves.” I didn’t know if I was relieved or insulted she didn’t think her brother and I would last. “Stop looking at me like that. Quarter-gypsy, remember? Grandma taught me things before she died. I’m talking about y’all’s auras when you get close like that. Nifty.” I opened my mouth to ask what she was talking about but Ian chose that moment to speak up.

  “Della, will you please take a look at this?” Ian asked, and he didn’t sound happy. He had turned Cash’s head to the side, and was busy inspecting something behind his ear when I walked up beside him.

  “What is that?” I asked as I noticed the very small mark placed behind his ear. It looked like a thumbprint.

  “Nothing good, I fear. It is the mark of a Thanatos, and one of the many reasons why they were so feared.”

  “But what does it do, and how did it get there?”

  “Kaylus’ men must be infected with his power. You saw what that did to Arthur. But the Thanatos can infect a person and keep them alive. It works particularly well to ensure loyalty because it would take very little effort to let them die. Kaylus can work through the people infected with his dark power. It is unlikely he can control them completely, but he can infect others through them. This cord around Cash seems to be keeping the blight from spreading through his body as quickly, but if you look with your True Sight, you can see the darkness of the spot and how small tendrils seem to pulse out from it.”

&nbs
p; “It is like a transmittable disease that is only contagious to those the infected wish to infect.” Lena had walked over and helped explain. Her time with humans and the birthing room must have taught her more about contagion since the Ethnos have no need to worry about such things.

  I looked at the spot with my True Sight, the way Ian said to, and saw what he was talking about. It looked like a round patch of darkness, and the faded light that made up Cash’s aura was inky near the spot. The spot reminded me of Kaylus’ aura, and those who followed him. The spot was so small, and in such an innocuous spot, I’m not surprised no one had seen it.

  “I do not know if I can heal this, my Lady,” Ian said quietly from behind me. When I turned to look at him, he was pale and visibly disturbed by how bad off Cash was.

  That made two of us.

  “What do you mean, you don’t think you can heal him?”

  “That mark will allow Death to infect his spirit once the protections have stopped. I have no knowledge of how to remove it. The Thanatos never shared that secret. I’m not sure it’s even possible without sharing their ability over Death.”

  The room swayed as hopelessness washed over me.

  “What if I can Gather the Death away?” Ezra rubbed my back with one hand, reminding me I wasn’t alone and hope was not lost.

  Ian looked confused for a moment before his mouth opened a fraction in fear and he took a half step back before he realized what he was doing. Ezra’s hand on my back froze, and I knew that reaction was why he had kept his ability with Death energy a secret his entire life. Ian recovered quickly, and he retook that halfstep as the fear melted from his face.

  “I’m not sure. It would be dangerous for the future Dux, but I do not see what we can lose by trying. I must think on this.”

  “Ian, right?” Clara interjected. “Let’s have a talk about how you would normally fix this without the Death infection and what I’ve been doing. Between the two of us, we should be able to come up with a viable treatment plan with all our combined abilities.” She looked at Ezra when she said “combined,” and I knew whatever healing plan they were about to discuss would include what Ezra could do.

  Ian looked at me, and when I nodded my head, he turned back to Clara and agreed. The two of them started to discuss what was happening. I knew if I tried to keep up with the conversation, I’d just ask questions and slow down the process, so I went to Cash’s bed and sat in the chair opposite the one Clara had vacated.

  “Della, I am sorry about Cash. If I had just stayed with you —” Ezra said after coming to stand behind me.

  I didn’t look over at him, just kept my eyes on Cash’s face, willing his eyes to open. “It’s not your fault, Ezra. If anyone is to blame, it’s me for not going with you when you came to warn us. I just wanted to explain everything first. I — I didn’t want to lose my family.”

  “And my family are the ones who did this to him.” His voice was thick with shame.

  “No, they aren’t. Family is more than blood, Ezra. Your sire and his men are not your family. I’m your family now. And Penny. And all the people you risked your life saving yesterday. Screw the rest of your blood, they can go swallow lava or something.” I still didn’t look at him, but my words got more heated as I spoke, and my hand reached over my shoulder to him. I seemed to always need his touch.

  Ezra came forward far enough to grab my hand with his. Cash looked so very bad. The light of his aura was dim. Without Clara’s invisible cord wrapped around him, Cash’s soul would flee his body. That is, if Death didn’t drain him before that happened.

  “Is he going to die?” I asked Ezra quietly, letting a silent flow of tears drip down my chin and into my lap.

  Ezra immediately wrapped me in a hug from behind. “I don’t know, Della. But we will do everything in our power to keep that from happening. I promise you .”

  I closed my eyes and leaned into his embrace, wishing the back of the chair was gone so he could wrap me fully in his arms. He said we would do everything in our power to save Cash. Now it was just a question of whether we were powerful enough, and I didn’t feel remotely powerful sitting in that room with my ears full of machines beeping to the beat of my cousin’s heart, ticking away the time he had left.

  “Della, I found some scrubs for you and your friends. They aren’t pretty, but I’m sure they’re more comfortable than what you’re wearing,” Aunt Ellis said, holding a bundle full of mint green clothes.

  “Thank you, Aunt Ellis.” I stood up and took them from her. Her gaze was fixated on Ian and Clara discussing how to heal Cash. I tossed a set to Lena and Ezra, put Ian’s to the side for him when he was done talking to Clara, then slipped my own shirt on and shimmied into the elastic-waisted pants. “Where’s Uncle Connor?” I asked after I was dressed and finally able to remove my “clothing” Shield. It took a few seconds before my question registered and she turned back to look at me.

  “I made him grab a bite to eat so he wouldn’t disturb your friends.”

  She kept saying that, calling them my friends. Aunt Ellis was probably trying to hammer in the fact that she was okay with whatever it took to bring Cash back to us, even if it meant befriending the root of all evil, as most people thought of the Clades.

  “Oh, let me introduce you, Aunt Ellis. This is Ezra. The woman by the door is Lena, and Ian is the one speaking with Clara.” She might as well call them by name from now on.

  Just then, Ian and Clara stopped talking, and turned to me with hope and worry deeply lined around their face.

  “Aunt Ellis? I think you’d better call Uncle Connor to come back up here. I think Ian and Clara have come up with something.”

  “Come up with what?” my Uncle asked, using his impeccable timing to walk through the door at the exact time his name was mentioned.

  “We think we know how to heal him, Connor.” Clara said, since Ian was busy putting his own set of scrubs on.

  Hope blossomed in his eyes and I knew they did in my own, as well.

  “How?” he asked — demanded.

  “It’s… it’s only a theory at this point, but it should work. Only, it’s dangerous, and if everything doesn’t go exactly right, he may slip away while we’re trying to save him.

  Connor walked up to his wife, and put an arm around her. They both looked at the still form of their son, then looked at each other with the silent communication that comes from years of deep love and understanding. “Do whatever you must to save my son,” Connor said for both of them, while Ellis buried her face in her husband’s chest.

  Chapter Seven

  Journal,

  Dad had his meeting with the Elfennol rep. We were right, my Testing is scheduled for a month from today. There are a million things running through my head at this news — things about my abilities I need to remember, and things I need to do. But the thing that is at the forefront of my mind is him. Will I see Derek there? What will I say? What will he say? Will we pretend to be strangers, and am I reading too much into our connection from the other night?

  It’s hard not to think about him.

  Ellis asked if I met someone because I seem distracted. Okay, she said “boy distracted.” I told her that she would be the first to know if I met someone who was sticking around, and she said, “I knew you met someone!” I smiled and shrugged my shoulders and said “You know me, I only date tourists. It’s already over.”

  We laughed, because it’s true. The drama of dating local boys just isn’t worth it. And Derek was a tourist, of sorts. And it is already over. My brain knows this, and accepts it.

  My heart hasn’t quite caught on though.

  *****

  We all sat in chairs, most of which were stolen from the surrounding hospital rooms. Uncle Connor had pulled some strings and managed to keep the rooms closest to Cash’s empty. We listened as Clara and Ian shared the plan they had come up with. It sounded far riskier than she’d let on before, and I wasn’t sure it was the best idea. But a quick look over my
shoulder to Cash and I knew we didn’t have time for another.

  This was our only choice, and Cash’s only chance.

  Clara had to chant Cash’s cord into place two more times before everything was ready for us to begin. My grandfather, Toby, and his brother Luke arrived within minutes of each other. They — with Uncle Connor — were both necessary for the healing, and I was pretty sure this was the first time they’d been in a room together since Uncle Connor was a child. They had the bad luck of falling in love with the same woman, and Luke had left town for a couple of decades after she had made her choice to stay with Toby, her husband. There was still the unanswered question of whether Luke or Toby was my mother’s biological father, but when it came down to it, Grandma Anise had chosen Toby to be the father, and I wasn’t about to argue with that decision.

  Luke looked uncomfortable in the room full of his family, when he’d been without for so long. He did come and give me a hug and rough kiss on my head. “I knew you’d be bringing help,” he said softly, and I squeezed him back even though I hated hugs.