by T. G. Ayer
Maya nodded again, grateful the doctor hadn’t pushed back, and minutes later when she entered Joss’s room, she understood why.
Chapter 16
Maya’s parents were standing at Joss’s bedside with Sabala, both looking tired and in shock. The moment she entered the room though, her mom’s eyes widened. Leela hesitated only a split second before hurrying over to wrap Maya in a hug so gentle, it seemed she was afraid to break something inside her daughter.
Maya didn’t particularly care. All she felt was the welcome comfort of her mom’s arms and she sank into it in relief and with a greater need than she’d anticipated.
“Honey? How are you feeling?” Leela asked, brow furrowing as she scanned Maya’s face. Maya was saved from replying when she received a hug from her father. Enveloped within her dad’s strong arms, she watched her mom glancing toward the door, no doubt expecting the doctor.
Released from the crush of her dad’s bear hug, Maya turned to find Dr. Woden had indeed followed her into Joss’s room. She arched an eyebrow. “Limit to one person at a time please. After you and Dev finish your visit, of course,” she said to Leela, her tone firm though respectful.
As the doctor turned to leave, Leela hurried after her, closing the door as she went. Maya snorted. “That was smooth.”
“You know your mom. She wants an update, but she doesn’t want it to seem like she’s babying you.”
Maya smiled. “I thought she was supposed to be good at subterfuge? Being a demon-fighting avatar agent and all.”
Dev smiled and shook his head. “She may need retraining. Maybe you two can do the course together. Would be fun. Mother and daughter demon-fighting team. How does that sound?” His lips curved, eyes twinkling as he teased her, but Maya could see clearly that though he’d recovered from his coma, and been given the go-ahead to return to work, he wasn’t yet up to full strength.
Maya found she was too tired to take the bait, too tired to argue with her dad. And she was beginning to wonder if she should have taken the doctor’s advice to get some sleep. But it was too late to back down now.
So instead, she hugged her dad again. “I’m going to stay with Joss. I don’t want her to have to wake up alone.”
“You most certainly will not,” snapped Leela as she walked into the room and shut the door behind her.
“Mom?” Maya said, aware the word sounded like a whine. “I’m totally fine. Even the doc said so.”
Leela sniffed. “What Phaedra said was that you will be fine. As in future tense. She also did tell you to get some rest, didn’t she?”
Maya lifted a shoulder then dropped it. “I will. Soon.”
She gave the room a quick inspection, gaze lingering on the second bed next to the wall. Now where had that come from? When her dad had used this hospital room recently while recovering from his coma, the place had been a single occupancy, not a double.
Warmth filled her heart and tinged her cheeks as she understood that someone had sent the bed to Joss’s room because they already knew how stubborn Maya was. She’d have put her money on her parents but with the doctor being so stern, Maya had to consider Dr. Phead had used the bed to give Maya near-zero choice in the matter of rest.
Facing her parents again, Maya stared at them awkwardly, aware her hairline contained flecks of dried blood, blood which would also have stained her fingers right down to her fingernails.
She wanted to gather her thoughts, to sift through the frantic mess in her mind, and she needed space. She felt like if she wasn’t left alone, and soon, she would literally explode.
But even though she was tempted to send her parents away right now, Maya let them be, aware they too had a right to worry over Joss, who was for all intents and purposes, their surrogate daughter.
They hung around for another forty minutes, in which time Maya struggled to fight the urge to nod off far too many times. She’d ended up taking a few naps—if you could call shutting her eyes for ten seconds a snooze—waking with a start and a blink before checking on Joss instinctively.
Leela frowned. “You need to get cleaned up, honey. I brought some clean clothes from your rooms downstairs. They’re in the closet over there. Plus stuff to take a shower. I left shampoo as well, but probably best to use it later when the cut isn’t still raw.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom.” Maya wiggled her fingers, allowing a small flame to flicker from the tip of her forefinger. “I’m pretty sure I can heal the cut once I get some sleep.”
Leela nodded, then exchanged a look with Dev. Then she gave Maya a farewell hug and stood back. As her dad held her, he said softly in her ear, “Get some rest or I will have you physically removed from this room. And don’t test me.”
When he released her, his smile was so innocent that nobody would have believed her if she’d told anyone what he’d said.
Then her parents were gone, her dad’s knowing wink the last thing she saw before he shut the door. Maya debated a shower, then a sleep, then fix her cracked skull. Or fix skull, shower, then sleep? Or maybe sleep, skull, then shower?
How could it be this hard to make a fracking decision for something as simple as having a shower?
She took a slow breath and sank onto the mattress. Joss was still unconscious, and all Maya could do was watch her friend for now. Besides, she was definitely better off using what was left of her energy to fix her scalp. She had to get all the blood off her body, and she had blood on her from far too many people: the vampire-demon, Joss, Mirov and her own.
That’s three too many.
Maya settled back into the pillow as she took slow calming breaths. She gathered her energy reserves, which from what she could sense weren’t as much as she had hoped, and she began to guide the power toward her head.
Maybe she wouldn’t need to use her hands, but instead send the energy straight to the wound. But was her head any different from her feet in terms of method of healing? Mentally crossing her fingers and praying she’d have enough energy for this to work, Maya guided the pulsing power up from her solar plexus toward her head.
Heat and lightning crackled within Maya’s skull, and even before she passed out, she knew she’d made the wrong choice.
Chapter 17
Beeping filtered toward Maya’s ears; the sound hollow as though she were listening to the noise from underwater.
Another noise penetrated her thoughts, the low pant-pant she’d become so used to that she barely heard it anymore. Until of course it was no longer around.
Sabala.
Pain seared into Maya’s brain, hot and icy cold all at the same time. The hellhound let out a low growl, nails clicking on the floor as he got to his feet. She couldn’t open her eyes to reassure him though, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to speak through the agony.
The torturous pain increased to a point where Maya let out a sob, the sound hollow as it bounced around the room. Sabala growled again, a little louder now as his concern rose.
“Breathe Maya. Breathe through the pain.” There was that voice again. Who was this guy talking to her in her mind at the worst of moments?
Maya sobbed again, her words muffled as she replied, “This isn’t a Lamaze class, whoever you are.”
“Objection noted. But perhaps you ought to try. Think about how your healing fire works and use it to find out what is wrong. Only then can you make a decision on how to fix the cause.”
Maya wanted to yell out to the voice and tell him to leave her the hell alone. She didn’t need a damned ghost in her skull to tell her what she needed to do. Still, he was onto something, though she wasn’t about to tell a voice in her head that.
Instead, she controlled her breathing, and steeled herself against the rush of fire that surged through her head. What was happening to her? She’d passed out trying to heal herself. Could it be that her fire energy had remained in her head, in her mind all this time? And how long had she been out?
Searing heat swarmed within her brain and she wasn’t sure if
it was going to explode or dissolve into mush.
“Control.”
Maya wanted to tell him to shut up, but he was right. She was allowing her thoughts to wander, letting herself lose focus on when she probably didn’t have much time left before she self-combusted.
She centered her mind, releasing her thoughts like shards of embers in the wind. Gradually, her heartbeat slowed to a more natural pace, her breathing fading to soft almost imperceptible soughs.
Darkness pulled at her mind as her body threatened to release her into unconsciousness. It made sense since she’d used up most of her energy reserves with her previous attempt. Could she really expect to have enough left to pull her through this?
Then she tugged free from doubt, suspecting if she didn’t do it herself, the ghost in her head would tell her to. With her thoughts focused and her physiological elements under control, Maya fell into a natural process. She’d done this so many times before, directing her fire to exactly where she wanted it to be.
Even though the heat surged within her head with the force of a flaming tornado, Maya reminded herself her energy only behaved this way because it was caught within the small space of her skull. She reminded herself that her own power would not endanger her.
Hadn’t Kali, the mother goddess, told her so?
Peace filled Maya’s mind and flowed through her chakras, and with that calm she began to work. Guiding a portion of heated energy toward the wound in her scalp, she held the rest at bay, dividing her attention only enough to prevent the full force of her fire from overwhelming her.
Now, she sent ripples of healing energy to her scalp and the stinging hit her almost immediately. But she didn’t let out a sound, even when the pain spiked through the wound like a blade.
She was peaceful. She was controlled.
The pain subsided, leaving a pulsing throb in its place and Maya could almost see the biological changes that would have been happening; the torn edges of the skin in her scalp regenerating, bringing itself together to seal the gash. It was slow, but Maya was confident of the steps to the healing process.
She breathed slowly, the energy she’d used on the healing having almost drained her entirely. Time ticked by, slowly, slowly, until at last the throbbing faded, the pain dulled, and her headache began to ease.
She blinked but even such a small action pulled at her energy levels and she felt the darkness closing in. A quick breath later, she managed to tug her mind through the shadowed veil of unconsciousness.
“Well done, Maya. I was certain you had the skills to complete the healing.”
Maya frowned, then regretted it instantly as the creasing of her forehead pulled the skin of her scalp enough to make her wince.
She lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling, aware that Sabala hadn’t moved from his position, aware that the stinging in her scalp was all but gone. She wanted to inspect the site, to check how well the wound had knitted together. There would be a scab, no doubt. Probably a scar too.
She didn’t think her healing was any kind of magic.
Kali’s fire was light, and light was creation and healing and rebirth. Maya understood the concept though the execution still brought her to awe.
After what seemed like an hour--but which was probably only a few minutes--Maya cracked open her eyes, then shielded them with her hand. Her strength had returned somewhat, allowing her to shift up into a sitting position.
Sabala sat like an ebony statue, eyes glistening as he watched her solemnly. He tipped his head and narrowed his eyes at him. “Hey, pooch. You reassigning guard duty to Joss now? Coulda used you as a living airbag on the ride home,” she teased.
The hellhound sniffed, as though doubling as an airbag was an affront to his very existence, and Maya had to laugh silently at herself. She’d never been one to talk to animals, always finding it weird because she knew full well they didn’t speak human. And yet she’d fallen into a one-sided conversation with the creature almost every time they were alone.
The room was no longer spinning, and Maya found herself a tad stronger than before she’d passed out. Sabala lifted his snout and stared up at her as though waiting for something. And Maya recalled a time not too long ago when she’d healed her ruined feet and had then needed Sabala’s help to walk. Things weren’t so bad this time around though.
At least, not so bad that she’d need his aid to walk.
Maya swiveled on the mattress and scanned the floor for the little stool she’d used to get herself up on the bed. But it was nowhere to be seen. Scowling now, she considered moving to the other side of the bed to check.
But even as she looked over her shoulder, she heard the low squeak of rubber on tile and knew before she turned around that Sabala had found the step. He was nudging it out from under the bed with his nose, taking his time to position the stool in the correct place beneath her feet.
Then he sat on his haunches and looked up at her. Maya could have sworn the look he gave her was filled with self-satisfaction, but she reminded herself that Sabala was an animal and didn’t possess the higher intellect of the humanoid races.
With her mind tired, she pushed the thoughts away—especially since they felt a little traitorous to Sabala—and slid off the bed to stand on the step, then down to the floor.
Joss was still asleep, and the ward sounded quiet, which made sense for the last hours before sunrise. Maya gathered her things and headed into the bathroom. As Sabala attempted to follow her inside, she turned to point a stern finger at him.
“You keep an eye on Joss. If she moves, I want to know,” she said, her tone a little sharper than she’d intended.
In response, the hellhound turned and clacked across the floor to settle on his haunches beside Joss’s bed.
Maya smiled. “Thanks, pooch,” she said before closing the bathroom door. She was so looking forward to the hot shower. But as exhausted as she was, she’d have to get done fast or risk passing out and having the nurses break the door down to get to her.
She’d had enough of being unexpectedly naked. With that thought foremost in her mind, Maya made quick work in the shower, her movements automatic as sleep slowly battered away her defenses.
And ten minutes later, when she crawled onto her mattress, she barely had time to pull the covers over her before she sank into blissful darkness.
All thoughts of pain and demons, of knife wounds and blood, fled into the shadows where they belonged.
Chapter 18
Maya’s memories were again playing tricks on her, a strange vision now overlaying itself on her view of the hospital room. Things were taking on an edge of crazy.
She’d awakened to a rush of activity a while ago and she’d feigned sleep for most of that time, hoping the contingent of doctors and nurses would do their thing and leave without interrogating or poking and prodding her.
Thankfully, her prayers were answered. And now, she’d begun to enjoy the silence—other than the odd snuff or growl courtesy of her hellhound guard who lurked somewhere beyond her line of sight.
When the memory-vision appeared in her mind, the scene was different in time and place, as though dream and reality were still following the same timeline. Now, the overlaid vision played out within a stone-walled room draped in tapestries and dotted with small tables and shelves holding ceramics and brassware. Metals from around the room glinted as the light from a large fire, and from dozens of candles, reflected off the red, gold and silver decor.
Maya could feel the warmth of the fire on her skin, and with every inhalation came a complicated blend of acerbic hospital detergent and rich, fragrant incense.
And in the vision, the medical setting was far from the antiseptic hospital room she currently occupied. Blood-stained linen littered the floor, brass cups filled with dark liquids which let off a rich spicy aroma, lay cooling beside a cot. A steel dish half-filled with brown water, the pile of red-stained linen tossed on the floor beside it, a proclamation of a rushed treatment, thou
gh one seemingly as hygienic as Maya’s present time.
Whoever was treating the patient knew enough about cleanliness and infections to have taken the proper measures, but though curious, Maya just wanted the visions to stop.
She tried to ignore the images and focus on the here and now, although if she were to be honest, this particular room was the last place she wanted to be in, especially not with Joss lying in the very same bed which Maya’s dad had occupied not so long ago.
Maya was somewhat comforted knowing everyone here at the HQ medical ward knew exactly what they were doing, but Joss’s injuries were puzzling to say the least. Her only outward sign of injury was the bump on her head and the irregular trickle of blood from her eyes and nose.
Maya had eavesdropped, catching snatches of conversation which revealed that Joss’s condition had stumped the doctors—even Dr. Phead was at a loss to explain Joss’s coma—which wasn’t very comforting for Maya.
After getting up to use the bathroom and brush her teeth, Maya had returned to the room to find a breakfast tray had been sent up. Nothing too fancy, just yoghurt, granola, coffee, juice. All of which she gobbled up with the gusto of a girl half-starved.
Which she most certainly was, if she had to take into account when she’d last eaten, and of course, the amount of energy she’d expended through the night, from fighting the vampire demon to healing Mirov and then herself, she hadn’t had the time, nor the self-awareness to remember to refuel.
Eventually, the four walls of the hospital room began to close in on her, forcing her to get to her feet. And she’d begun to walk a line across the tiles, telling herself she needed the exercise to prevent stiffness in her muscles.
Maya paced the white bleached floor of the hospital room. Her ears were ringing, and she was still jittery after expending so much of her energy, she felt restless and found herself glaring around her as though the beeping machines and gleaming silver of scalpels and IV-stands and needles were responsible for Joss’s current condition. But that wasn’t the truth.