Precious Time

by W. J. May

  “What does it matter?” Simon answered in a hushed undertone. “There’s no time to get him to a hospital. We’ll just have to work with what’s here. Do you have any ice?”

  “Yeah,” Luke responded, backing away, white as a ghost. “I’ll get it.”

  “Julian, please!” Devon begged, crying without shame. “Please open your eyes!”

  “It doesn’t matter if he bleeds out if he’s already not breathing.” Gabriel pushed past the two arguing men, and shoved Devon aside. “Move.”

  With shocking speed he leapt onto the table as well, pressing his palms together as he began to administer CPR. His lips moved silently as he counted out the beats, and every so often he would bend down to breathe into Julian’s mouth.

  Still, nothing happened. Equipped with her fiancé’s tatù, both Rae and Devon could hear perfectly well that Julian’s heart had stopped beating.

  “No!” Devon sank to his knees, holding tight to his friend’s arm as he hyperventilated into his other hand. Tears and blood were running freely down his face, but Rae didn’t think that any of it was his. It all seemed to belong to Julian.

  “Please,” he whispered, pressing his forehead into Julian’s wrist. “Please don’t. Jules, you have to come back.”

  There was a slight pause in the rhythm, and Gabriel glanced down with dread. His eyes lifted slowly to Julian’s face before he redoubled his efforts, upping his speed.

  Tristan paled and backed away as Simon gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

  “Do it harder,” he commanded.

  Gabriel never broke his stride. “Any harder and I break his ribs.”

  “Rae,” Molly whispered, shrinking back, “I can’t watch this. I can’t watch him—”

  “Your power!”

  It was the first thing Rae had said since they burst inside, and for a split second the entire room turned to stare at her. She was shaking, head to toe. But her voice rang out against the walls.

  “Gabriel, use your power. Keep his blood flowing!”

  Gabriel froze in shock then stared down, wondering if it would work. The next second, he leapt off the table and took Julian’s other hand. “Come on,” he muttered under his breath, rigid with concentration, “work with me here.”

  At the same time Rae rushed forward, elbowing her way in between Simon and Tristan to get a better look at what was going on.

  Big mistake.

  The sight of it almost stopped her heart. Never before had she seen so much blood. So much destruction. If that much was on the table, how was it possible that Julian had any left?

  “Okay,” she put her hands on his jeans, trying to steady herself, “blood is just…blood. I should be able to conjure that.”

  “Are you crazy?” Luke gasped, having just returned with the ice. “There are specific proteins and antigens. Rae, what if you get the type wrong—”

  “What’s the alternative?!” she demanded. When no one answered her, she opened her palm and conjured a syringe and a tube. “That’s what I thought.”

  With trembling hands, she rolled up Julian’s sleeve and stuck the needle deep into one of his veins. As usual Alicia’s healing tatù floated tentatively to the surface, but it was one of the more complicated sets of inks she’d ever received, and she’d yet to figure out how to use it. The only time she’d ever tried, ironically also on Julian, the psychic had strictly forbidden it. Implying that not only would she fail to help, but she would make things much, much worse.

  “How are we doing, Gabriel?” she asked quietly. Half to distract herself, half because she was desperate to know.

  He braced against the table, clenching his jaw with the strain. “There isn’t much to work with.”

  A shudder ran through Rae’s body, but she nodded firmly. “Well…that’s what I aim to fix right now.”

  “You can do it,” Devon breathed from the other side of the table. “I know you can.”

  Whether he was talking to her or to Julian, she would never know. But one thing was certain, they were both going to try…

  Chapter 5

  Rae had never focused so hard in her entire life. She swore nothing had ever been more serious. Never had the stakes been so high.

  Her eyes closed as one hand clenched the open tube and the other drifted down to Julian’s skin. It came up wet. Slick with blood. Exactly what she had intended. Tuning out everything else around her she rubbed her fingers together, slipping into one tatù, followed immediately by another.

  First up was Ellie. If Rae wanted to conjure the right kind of blood, then she had to understand what it was she was working with. Fortunately, she knew a girl who was capable of doing exactly that. A hundred thoughts burst into her mind all at once. A hundred terms and sketches and calculations she could never hope to understand. Except, she did understand them.

  And not a moment too soon.

  Before she could lose focus she slipped immediately into Ethan’s conjuring ink, letting all the knowledge she’d just acquired flow fresh through her veins and into Julian’s.

  There was a soft gasp beside her. Gabriel’s green eyes shot open in wonder; he was staring down at the table with the faintest flicker of hope.

  “It’s working,” he breathed. “I don’t know if it’s going to be in time…but it’s working.”

  Rae nodded stiffly, every bit of focus locked onto her solitary task. “Once we get enough into his system, we need to restart his heart.” Her eyes flashed across the room, coming to rest on her best friend. “Molly, you up for it?”

  All the men in the room turned to stare as the tiny girl walked bravely forward. “Just tell me when.”

  Rae glanced questioningly at Gabriel, but he merely shook his head.

  “I have no idea how much is enough, but I can’t keep doing this much longer.” Little beads of sweat were running down his face, mixing with the rain. “You can always give him more later.”

  Rae nodded solemnly and stepped away.

  “Okay, Molls. Give it your best shot.” Gabriel set his feet shoulder-width apart and braced himself.

  The infamous Molly Skye needed no more invitation than that. With surprisingly steady fingers, she unbuttoned Julian’s shirt and placed her hands on either side of his chest, pressing them gently into his bare skin. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I know that I promised I’d never do this do you.”

  A swirling cloud of electric blue started building up behind her eyes—then came to a sudden pause. The entire table stared at her in breathless anticipation, but she turned to Devon instead.

  “Dev,” she said gently, “you have to let go now.”

  Rae’s heart broke into a million pieces as she moved forward and took him by the wrist. No matter how urgent the circumstances, he seemed completely unable to let go of Julian’s hand. After a split second, she had to literally pull the two apart. “He’s going to wake up,” she whispered, holding him tight. “He’s going to be okay.”

  Devon’s entire body held its breath as he leaned towards the table. “He has to be.”

  Molly flexed her fingers, then took a deep breath. “Okay. Here goes nothing…”

  A bolt of electricity shot through her fingers, straight into Julian’s chest. His body arched against the table, then fell lifeless once more.

  Rae watched with bated breath, her heart hammering against her chest.

  Little spiral of smoke began trailing up around them as Molly tried again and again. Then once more after that.

  Every time he lifted, Rae’s heart lifted, too. And every time he crashed back down, it broke into a thousand broken shards. Devon lived and died with each shock—flinching, like he was being whipped—as the tears continued to fall. The others merely stood and stared, growing more and more grim with each passing moment.

  He’s gone. I can’t believe it. He’s actually… gone. Rae brought her hands up to her mouth, watching in some kind of nightmarish daze. All the power in all the world, and she was going to watch her best fr
iend die on the kitchen table. How can this be happening? A few hours ago, we were all fine. Laughing by the fire…

  Molly was shaking now. Shaking so violently, it was hard to see that she was crying.

  “You are not going to do this to me, Julian,” she hissed through her teeth, building up a wave of power once more. “You’re going to snap out of this, you’re going to open your eyes and, damn it, YOU’RE GOING TO HELP ME RAISE THIS BABY!”

  Another bolt shot through her hands around Jules’ heart. Much stronger than the rest. His entire body lifted off the table before crashing back down.

  Only, this time, something amazing happened.

  This time…Julian opened his eyes.

  “Jules?” Devon whispered.

  No one dared move an inch as he blinked slowly at the ceiling, letting his eyes adjust to the bright light. It took a few seconds for him to realize where he was before he managed to focus on the tiny redhead hovering anxiously over his face.

  “Jules…can you hear me?” Molly shouted loud enough to wake the neighborhood.

  He coughed out a mouthful of smoke, then glanced down at his chest. Two little handprints were burned into his skin. Sizzling mementos of the worst hour of his life. “Molly Skye,” he coughed out another cloud of smoke, “what have you done to me?”

  A loud intake of breath filled the room as everyone remembered to breathe.

  “Is this…” Devon took a halting step forward, pale as a sheet. “Are you really…” Words failed him as he returned to the table and took Julian’s hand. His face tightened with an overwhelming wave of emotion, and a faint tremor shook through his voice. “We almost lost you.”

  Julian was still in a daze. “…lost me?” His eyes flickered curiously to Devon, lingering a moment on the bloody tear stains painted down his face, before looking around the rest of the room.

  It looked like a bomb had gone off.

  Rae stood clutching her heart with one hand as the other wiped away silent tears. No matter how long she looked at him, she couldn’t believe it was true. That he was awake and breathing. That he had done the impossible and opened those beautiful eyes.

  The second he spoke, Molly had half-collapsed on top of him. Her tiny arms circled around his waist as she wept openly into his bloody shirt, pausing every now and then to pick up his free hand and hold it against her cheek. Luke squeezed her gently but kept one hand on Julian at the same time, pressing the ice that was still in his hands absentmindedly against the psychic’s ankle.

  Even the adults were struggling to keep it together.

  Simon closed his eyes in momentary relief, leaning shakily against the counter, while Tristan took what looked like his first breath since the lot of them had burst through the door.

  Only Gabriel kept his composure. Granted, it was hanging on by a thread; Rae knew him well enough to see he was near the breaking point. “Julian?” He took a tentative step forward and stared apprehensively at the fallen psychic, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “How’re you feeling?”

  It took a second for the question to register.

  Julian glanced from the ice on his ankle, to the tube sticking out of his arm, down to where Molly was planting tearful kisses on his palm. For a second, it looked like he was more concerned for all of them. Then his face tightened with a sudden grimace.

  “That’s okay,” Gabriel said quickly, nodding as though he’d been expecting it. “Jules, you got stabbed. Your body’s in temporary shock, but we need to—”

  “No…it’s my hand.” Julian gasped, and pulled weakly at his wrist. “You’re breaking it.”

  Devon glanced down in surprise, then released Jules’ hand with a look of horror. His pale skin lost even more color as he took a deliberate step away, utterly mortified over his mistake. “I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t realize—”

  “It’s okay,” Julian replied gently, trying to get his bearings. “I just don’t…” He trailed off as Gabriel’s words registered, then looked down at his chest for the first time. “Wait…did you say stabbed?”

  That’s when the pain caught up with him.

  A tortured cry escaped his lips, and the room snapped back into action.

  Devon sprang back to the table, pressing a towel firmly against the open wound. Luke relocated the ice in an effort to slow some of the bleeding. Rae snatched up the tube and started conjuring, racing to get more blood into Julian’s system than was streaming out onto the table.

  I’m such an idiot! He woke up, but nothing’s changed! Something still tore him open!

  “Julian, stay with us, okay?” Gabriel circled around to the head of the table, placing his hands on either side of Julian’s face and speaking with that practiced, reassuring tone he slipped into whenever things turned dire. “I want you to focus on keeping your eyes open. Can you do that?”

  Julian trembled and nodded, but it wasn’t entirely up to him.

  “Where’s your damn girlfriend, Gabriel?!” Devon demanded, switching out one towel for another as the first one soaked through. “Get her over here!”

  “I told you,” Gabriel muttered through his teeth, “she’s not answering her phone. The Council was sending her as medical back-up into the field. She must have left already.”

  But Devon was too far gone to see reason. If Julian was going into shock, there was a good chance that his best friend would as well. “I don’t care! Someone find out where she is and get her back here! We need—”

  “No, we don’t!” Molly interrupted quickly. Her hands were stained with blood from holding onto Julian, and there was a crimson smear across her cheek. “Rae, you have her power! Use it!”

  An icy hand clamped down in Rae’s chest, and she backed a step away. It was one thing to use Alicia’s original diagnostic skill, but she had specifically avoided the healing aspect of her ability when they’d first come in for precisely the reason that she had no idea how to make it work. “I don’t think I can,” she whispered. Devon flashed her an indescribable look, and she shook her head quickly. “It’s not a crisis of confidence—it’s a fact. This isn’t like conjuring! If I make a mistake trying to figure it out, I could…” she trailed off, unable to say the rest.

  They had been down that road already. And far too recently.

  Gabriel looked at her steadily before turning back to Julian.

  His cries were softer now, his eyes less focused. That scary ashen tint had returned to his skin, and every time he pulled in a ragged breath a new wave of crimson splattered to the floor.

  “Rae, I don’t see that we have much of a choice,” Gabriel said quietly. “You have to try.”

  “But, I—”

  “There’s no time!” Molly shrieked, shoving her forward. “It’s the only option!”

  How the freakin’ heck is this coming down to me?! A wave of cold terror poured down her spine, but Rae jerked her head up and down and walked forward. Julian’s eyes were drifting in and out of focus, and drifting in and out of time. For a split second she wondered if he was checking his own future, seeing if he made it through.

  “Rae, you can do this,” Gabriel said, his voice steady and confident.

  “Okay.” She rubbed her hands together, then held them over Julian’s chest. “I can do this.” Except…I don’t know how.

  “What…” Julian stirred weakly on the table. “What’s going on…?”

  “It’s okay,” Devon soothed, taking his hand once more. “Just stay with us, all right?”

  “Guys,” Rae whispered in a panic, staring helplessly at her hands, “how do I—”

  “It’s a force of will,” Simon interjected encouragingly from behind her. “Tris and I had a healer back at Guilder. He used to say that he simply willed the body to knit itself back together.”

  Simple as that, huh?

  With a look of the utmost concentration Rae took another step closer to the table, pressing her hands down onto Julian’s chest. There was a painful hitch in his breathin
g and his eyes struggled to focus, but for once she was the one in a trance.

  Will the body to knit itself back together…

  Her eyes closed and she imagined it. Imagined the wound pulling itself shut. The veins beneath the skin repairing. The bones and muscles piecing themselves back together.

  For a second, she thought it might be working. A strange heat started emanating from her hands as the ink blossomed up to the surface.

  Then Julian started screaming.

  Her eyes flew open as a host of other voices immediately joined in. Gabriel was telling her to keep going for a few seconds longer, watching as the wound began to close. Devon was shouting at her to stop, staring down in terror as his friend thrashed violently upon the table.

  In the end, it wasn’t up to her.

  A hard shove caught her right in the chest and sent her flying backwards. Without Devon’s tatù, she tumbled into the cabinets on the far wall before finally being able to catch her balance. A host of stars exploded before her eyes, but at that point it couldn’t possibly have mattered any less.

  Who’d pushed her? What—?

  Julian lay propped up on his elbows, pointing a shaking finger at her chest as his dark eyes narrowed into a threatening glare.

  Rae stared, her mind blank. Her mouth hung open.

  “Hands off, Kerrigan. I told you to never practice that one on me.”

  Rae collapsed back against the cabinets in utter relief, sliding her face into her hands as a feeling of breathless exhaustion swept through her entire body. He’s angry! He has to be alive to be angry! And if he can shove like that, he’s going to pull through!

  The next second, she and Molly descended upon him. Kissing, and hugging, and crying, and generally not letting him get any air until the boys eventually pulled them back.

  “I’m sorry,” Rae apologized, unable to contain the giant watery grin that had spread across her face. “I know you did, but I had to do something—”

  “Let me die next time,” he fumed, staring down painfully at his chest. She hadn’t been at it long enough to actually heal him, far from it, but it had at least mended enough to where the immediate danger had past. “Honestly, I’d rate that right up there with you trying to conjure waffles.”