by K. Manna
That Tuesday morning, I sat at the end of my bed staring at the painting I had finished the day before. It had turned out fine, just fine, nothing too special.
I should have chosen better colors, richer, more lively colors, but oh well. Who cares?
The colors I had chosen matched the depressing mood that had been with me since the royal dinner Sunday night. Jealousy still gnawed at my thoughts. My finger rubbed at the little spot on my nose where I thought I had poked an earring through. I still didn’t quite understand what had happened that night. I remembered feeling upset and jamming the earring through the side of my nose and—of course—the sharp, stabbing pain. But when I woke the next morning there was nothing there, not an earring in my nose, not even the slightest hole. Eventually, I found the missing earring hiding between the pillows, but there was no blood or any indication that the entire experience had been anything other than a dream, like the bathroom dream.
Who the heck is Ethan? I don’t even know a guy named Ethan. Everything is so frickin’ weird lately.
Lottie stopped beside me, glancing down at my painting. “Well, I like it. I could never paint like that, nothing that good.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s all right. I could have done better. It’s definitely not my best painting. Maybe I will just repaint the whole damn thing.”
“Whatever, girl,” Lottie said, pulling me up by my arm. “But you’ll have to leave that for later. Now, we have to go to breakfast.”
I dragged my feet to the door, complaining, “I don’t wanna go anywhere. I wish I could stay in bed all day. Tell everyone I’m sick or something.”
“Oh, stop being a turd. You were a turd all day yesterday; I won’t put up with it today, too,” Lottie scolded.
The last drop of Enertion dripped down my throat. Surprisingly, it didn’t make me gag anymore. Sir Felix was fond of telling me that I’d grown a tolerance for it. Keendra set my breakfast plate in front of me.
Mmm, scrambled eggs n’ bacon bits drizzled with chocolate syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar: Whoogie’s special treat.
When Gage and I would go to our grandpa’s house, he would make this for us, especially when we were in a bad mood. He said that his mother used to make it for him when he was a little boy; she said it cured the crank out of crankiness. I remembered how Grandpa would smile when he told us that; it was obviously a fond memory for him.
Lottie looked at me funny and asked, “Really, you’re gonna eat that?”
“Ew,” Bree whined from across the table. “What the heck are you eating?”
I licked my lips. “Something yummy for my tummy.”
“It looks gross,” Bree said, cringing.
“Don’t judge until you try it,” I said, scooping a forkful into my mouth.
Sasha chimed in. “I never would have thought to put eggs, bacon, and chocolate together, but I love all of them, so it can’t be that bad.” Sasha looked around, searching for someone to take her breakfast order. “Hey, Keendra, can I get what Margo’s having?”
Keendra nodded. “Sure can.”
Another voice rang out. “Ew, yuck. Seriously, how can you eat that pile of muck?”
Ugh, Onnika.
“Hey, don’t knock it,” Gage said, nudging Onnika who sat beside him. “My grandpa used to make that for us. It’s awesome.”
Keendra came back shortly with Sasha’s plate, and when Gage noticed, he asked for a plate, too. Then Anton, Ricky, and Max wanted to give it a whirl. One by one, they ordered a plate of Grandpa’s crank-curing treat. Even Lottie and Bree broke down and ordered some, to my surprise. The very last person to order was …
OMG, I can’t believe it. Miss Ew Yuck is joining the club. She just couldn’t resist being left out of all this goodness, could she?
One plate wasn’t enough, neither was two (I had a lot of crankiness to get rid of), so I ordered a third helping. It tasted so good, and it was just what I needed. Plus, it was kind of cool seeing everyone enjoying Whoogie’s specialty.
Lottie scraped the last glob of chocolate syrup from her plate with her fork. With chocolate-smeared lips, she said, “You’re right. It’s pretty good.”
I smiled. “See, I told you. It’s good to try new things, even if they look funky.”
Gage overheard me and asked loudly, “So does that mean you’re gonna try octopus the next time I order it?”
My face scrunched with that disgusting thought. “Uh, no way. That’s total grossness.”
Bree, Indee, and I sat in a circle on the ground, working with our healing energy. The purple light that streamed heat from my hands felt a little off, weaker than usual. It must have been related to the bluesy, out-of-sort feelings that had clouded my mind these past couple of days. And the frequent distracting thoughts that I had been having over one particular person—the Zyon—didn’t help. He wasn’t around yesterday, but the Z-Screen had kept me updated as to why. News clip after news clip showed the Zyon traveling to the mainland of Alacor to finally meet with the townspeople for the very first time. The people were ecstatic. Some even went a bit nuts. Quite a few of them ended up in the hospital after fainting or being trampled by the crowds. Police and security followed close by to protect the Zyon against those who couldn’t control themselves. One guy even made it as far as to touch the Zyon himself. He burst through the crowd like a crazy man and caught ahold of the Zyon’s pants and wouldn’t let go. It took a half dozen men to drag him away. I was actually pretty amazed that the man didn’t get sent to jail.
Eugene interrupted my thoughts. “Today will be a very challenging day for all of you. We will be working on healing dislocated bones, sprains, and strains to the body. This will include healing misaligned bones back into their proper joints, torn ligaments, pulled and torn muscles, and other surrounding structures that have been injured.”
I turned to find Dr. Avery joining us.
Dr. Avery? Why is he here?
Eugene motioned toward Dr. Avery. “This is Dr. Avery, and he will be assisting me today. Using special equipment, Dr. Avery will be monitoring the injuries and the healing process. His instruments are far more accurate at gauging your progress than merely observing with the naked eye.”
Dr. Avery flashed his gap-toothed smile and nodded his head. In his hands was a silver case.
Eugene looked at me before he said, “And I have also notified Sonya. She is close by, making herself available in case we should need healing help.”
“Who is Sonya?” Indee asked.
“Sonya is the royal family’s healer and is a family relation to the Zyla. You have probably seen her with the Zyla,” Eugene explained.
Everyone nodded with the memory of the red-headed woman who had stayed close to the Zyla’s side at the coming out and the royal dinner. The Zyla had held onto Sonya as if she were her crutch, and had indeed looked like she needed one. Zyla Ambrosia was big and prego, waddling around like a penguin. She seemed to have few facial expressions, most of them exhibiting discomfort and pain.
Eugene turned his back to us and spoke with Dr. Avery for a few minutes. During their talk, Dr. Avery pulled a device from his case and showed it to Eugene. Then I watched him demonstrate how it worked by waving his hand under the flat screen. The image looked kind of like an X-ray, but it was far more detailed. It was as if you could see right into his hand.
That’s amazing. I want one of those.
Eugene oohed and ahhed over the high-tech device, and then looking back over his shoulder, he noticed something that made him smile. “Ah, there they are.”
I turned to see who else had joined us.
Sasha, Cole, and Jeremiah?
“What’s going on? Why are they here?” Indee asked.
Eugene responded, “I spoke with their instructor and she agreed to let them help us this morning. We will need their strength for today’s practice.”
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br /> Aw, great. This is gonna hurt really, really bad. I just know it.
Sasha ran up to us first. “Hey, sorry we’re late, but we’re here now and ready to help.”
“That’s all right, no worries. Dr. Avery was just showing me the machine he will be using. Do you mind being the creator of injuries today?” Eugene asked.
Sasha shrugged her shoulders. “Um, whatever.”
“All right then, who would like to go fir. . . ” Eugene began to ask.
Bree’s hand shot up. “I will.”
Bree is still miffed that Indee is doing better than her, I can tell. Well, maybe she would be doing better if she spent more time practicing and less time looking in the mirror. Ugh, Margo, quit thinking bratty thoughts. I’m not doing any better. I should be spending more time practicing instead of worrying about the Zyon. Stop obsessing about where he is, what he’s doing, when I’ll see him again, and especially about whom he likes.
Dr. Avery knelt on the ground beside Bree and said, “I would like you to lie down on your back, my dear. Jeremiah and Cole, is it? Please hold Maybree down firmly. This is going to be very painful for her, so the two of you must hold her down tightly. None of us would like to be punched or kicked, would we?”
Cole shook his head. “No way, dude. I don’t wanna get hit. Women can get real crazy. Jeremiah, hold her down real good, okay?”
Jeremiah nodded without a word.
Dr. Avery went on. “Jeremiah, please hold her left leg. Cole, hold her arms. And Sasha, when I tell you to, I would like you to twist Maybree’s lower right leg away from her body. I will be monitoring how much pressure will be needed to affect her knee.” Dr. Avery held the flat screen over Bree’s right knee.
Sasha knelt next to Bree and grabbed her leg with both hands. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Please don’t hate me for this, Bree.”
“No more than I already do,” Bree joked.
Dr. Avery cleared his throat. “You may begin twisting, Sasha.”
Sasha took a deep breath in and blew it out. With her fingers squeezing tightly around Bree’s leg, she slowly began to twist. Dr. Avery watched his screen closely. At times, he would press on the screen to change settings to better visualize what he was looking at. Bree’s face cringed with the pain until she couldn’t hold her words in any longer. She yelped and swore loudly. Her explosion of curses didn’t surprise Indee, Eugene, and me, but it shocked the others. Then I noticed one of Bree’s hands rise above her head and squeeze Cole’s leg tightly with her fingertips. Her nails dug in deeply, and pain flashed across Cole’s face.
His pain is nothing compared to hers; that’s for sure.
“A little more … more. Almost there,” Dr. Avery said.
Bree yelled out. “Dammit! Hurry up already.”
POP!
Holy shit! Something popped.
Bree shouted all kinds of naughty words uncontrollably.
“That is enough, Sasha. Let her sit up,” Dr. Avery said calmly.
Bree sprang upright, clenching tightly to her knee. Sweat glistened on her upper lip as her body spasmed in pain. Silence filled the air shortly after her jaw clenched shut. With her eyes rolling back, her head fell forward and then popped back up swiftly. Indee and I hovered our hands over Bree’s to sense her intense heat. When I looked over, I noticed Cole’s leg had small bloody nail marks.
I placed my other hand over the nail-gouged skin on Cole’s leg. The marks were gone just like that. Cole gave me a friendly punch to the shoulder for taking care of him.
Dr. Avery tapped Bree’s arm, asking, “May I check to see how your knee is coming along, dear?”
Bree lifted her hands from her knee, which revealed swelling already. Dr. Avery held the device directly above Bree’s knee. Everyone was curious and watched over the doctor’s shoulder, trying to get a good view of the monitor. Dr. Avery adjusted his glasses with his free hand, pointed to a specific area on the screen, and explained, “The muscle fibers are still torn away from the bone. They do seem to have moved in more closely to the bone, which is a positive sign. Muscle can be extremely difficult to heal because of its strength and density, but I believe you can do it. Be patient and continue.”
Whispering something under her breath, Bree sighed and returned to healing her knee. She closed her eyes, beginning the whole routine all over again.
Poor Bree, she is in so much pain. Well, I will know how that feels soon enough. Man, I really don’t wanna do this.
Eugene gestured for everyone to move farther away so that we could continue practicing without distracting Bree. Everyone gathered their things and quietly crept away, trying not to be noticed.
I brushed my hand over Bree’s one last time, feeling her intense heat. I whispered, “You can do it, Bree. I know you can.”
We settled farther away. Indee offered to go next, to my surprise.
Wow, he does seem to have courageous balls after all. He is becoming more manly and braver by the day.
Dr. Avery moved next to Indee with his device.
On we go to victim number two. Yikes, I’m next.
Sasha sat biting her nails, quietly waiting for her next instructions. Her facial expression read “I really regret doing this; I never should have agreed to help.”
“I dislocated my finger once, and it hurt like hell. The doctor had to pop it back into place, and that hurt even worse,” Indee said with a little uncomfortable laugh. “Ha-ha. When I came out from the doctor’s office, everyone was sitting there looking at me. My sister told me that I screamed like a girl.”
I smiled at his unsurprising story.
Yeah, everyone probably thought you looked like one, too. They probably thought you were a girl just like I did. More bratty thoughts. Stop it! Jeez. Ah, I can’t help it. They just keep happening, especially when I’m in a mood.
“All right, Indee. Please lie down on the ground. Cole, control his legs. Sasha, Jeremiah, please hold an arm,” Dr. Avery instructed.
Indee pulled the binder from his ponytail, laid on the ground, and gripped Jeremiah’s arm. He looked up at me. “Can you get me something to bite on? I don’t want to pop my eardrums.”
“Sure, let me look around.” I nodded at Indee’s hand holding onto Jeremiah. “Watch so you don’t hurt Jeremiah, like Bree hurt Cole.”
“I don’t have nails, but I wish I did,” Indee said, releasing his grip and flashing his barely there fingernails at me.
Ouch! They’re so short. How does he bite them so low?
“Your nails definitely won’t be a problem. Let me look for something you can bite on.” I searched the ground for anything usable.
A rock? No. Some bark? Maybe. Oh here, this branch should do.
I found a short leafless branch that looked to be about the right size. I motioned for Indee to open his mouth, stuck the branch in sideways, and told him to bite down. “Does that work?”
Indee nodded his head, trying to smile but having a difficult time with the stick between his teeth.
Dr. Avery explained to Sasha how he wanted her to push Indee’s upper arm back and pull, so that the head of his humerus would dislocate from some oddly named shoulder joint. When Dr. Avery gave her the go-ahead, Sasha began to pull. Dr. Avery held the screen over Indee’s right shoulder and watched as Sasha yanked away. I peeked at the screen, and even I could tell what was happening. Indee’s face turned as red as a strawberry while he bit down on the stick, nostrils flaring in and out with every quick breath that he took. Tiny droplets of spittle clung to the corners of his mouth. With Indee being in so much pain, it became hard to watch. I had to look away. Then the noise happened.
POP!
This time Sasha knew right away when to let go. She quickly moved away while Indee stayed lying down, reaching over with his good arm to hold his dislocated shoulder. Indee’s body rocked back and forth
in pain, teeth still biting forcefully on the stick. He rolled onto his good side and drooled on the ground.
Dr. Avery checked Indee’s progress a couple times after the big “Pop!” You didn’t need the doctor and his device to tell how bad Indee was injured; his arm was bent in an impossible position. It was amazing to see Indee keep his composure long enough to make any progress at all, but he kept at it. Once Dr. Avery was satisfied with Indee’s progress, we moved away to another area. Now, it was my turn.
No! I don’t wanna do this. I knew I should have stayed in bed today.
As we walked, I glanced back and saw Indee still lying in the exact same position in the exact same spot as we had left him. Bree looked like a dark little image in the distance now. I gripped the jade stone in my pocket, taking the steps that would lead me to torture. We finally stopped by a tree—and not just any tree. A willow tree. It’s dumb, I know, but it made me a little homesick. It reminded me of my mom and the stories she would tell about my childhood and how I would shake my finger at Mr. Willow and boss him around as if the tree were a person.
Those were the days, the easy, careless days.
Dr. Avery scratched his balding head. “All righty then, Margo, you know the drill. Please lie down.”
“Uh, I would rather sit up against the tree,” I said.
“Okay, if that is what you would like, then so be it. Jeremiah, please hold down Margo’s left leg. Cole, take her arms, and Sasha, take her other leg and foot in hand,” Dr. Avery instructed, taking the screen out if its case for the third time now.
To Cole, I said, “Really, you don’t have to hold onto me; I’m not that violent.”
Cole gave a laugh and held onto my arms anyway.
At least I tried. I hate being restrained. I feel like a crazy person on lockdown.
Even with all four of my limbs held tightly by strong hands, I still gripped the jade stone fiercely. I wasn’t about to let go of my good luck charm. I was squeezing it so tight that I thought I might actually crush it. I nervously bit my lip and began to taste blood.
Think happy thoughts. Think of something else. Think of Mom and Dad. Think of home. Think of Eli.