Balmythra

by Linda Palmer

  ****

  I don't know how long I lay there before someone scooped me up from the ground. Disoriented, I struggled for freedom.

  "It's me, Alli. It's Rocc. We've finally found you."

  With a sob of relief, I threw my arms around my brother and buried my face in his neck.

  "I've got her!" He half-ran, half-stumbled up the slope with me in his arms. I risked a peek when he stopped to catch his breath, and saw people running towards us from every direction. Some held torches, some provided a glow of their own, but everyone was obviously relieved.

  "You're bleeding." Jor stepped up close and pressed his hand against my freshly injured temple, moving with me as Rocc set me on a low boulder. Warmth spread across my face as his fingers worked their magic. He healed my scratched arms and palms next.

  When he removed his hand, I caught it in mine. "Would you look at my ankle? Same one. I sprained it again."

  "Maybe Tirafalen should mend it this time." Jor flashed a wry smile. "So it'll be as good as new."

  I noticed that his eyes brimmed with tears. He flushed when he realized how hard I stared and turned quickly away. Only then did I realize who made up the group surrounding me: Kenny, John, Cadrow, Lucianis and some others I didn't even know.

  "Koann is with our mother," said Rocc, quickly adding, "She's fine now."

  So Belial had been behind her trance. I tested the mental waters and felt a strong sense of my parents and my people, all safe and sound. Abruptly I realized that the one face I wanted to see most was missing. "Where's Matt?"

  "Here." Matt pushed his way through the crowd, his expression oddly tentative, as if he wasn't quite sure how to act. I helped him decide by reaching for him. Grinning, he dropped to a knee and hugged me so hard I cried out. He immediately backed off, his hands in the air. "Sorry. I was just so—" he gulped rather self-consciously "—worried about you."

  "Worried, huh? You went nutzoid, dude." Kenny shared a sly grin with John. "Go ahead and kiss her. We know you want to."

  Matt ignored them, even though I wouldn't have minded if he hadn't. "You're a mess, Leah. Are you okay?"

  "Yeah." I noticed my shirt, shredded to near indecency, and my torn pants. "Where the heck are we, anyway?"

  "Sumpemptera." Rocc pulled off his outer shirt and handed it to me.

  I quickly slipped it on, pushing up the sleeves, which were way too long. "Really? How'd you find me? The nexus wasn't working at all...."

  "So you did try to reach us!" Rocc shook his head. "With Mother still out of it, we didn't have that option, so we tried every other kind of mind link imaginable. No one, not even Jor, could find you. It's like this place has some kind of built-in thought barrier or something. Then Mother woke up and told us where you were."

  "Any clue how I got here in the first place?"

  "Actually, we hoped you could tell us that," said Cadrow with a frown.

  "I have no idea."

  "Then you do know—?" Cadrow stopped when Rocc raised a hand.

  "First we take her home," my brother said. "Then we ask questions, but only when she's ready."

  "Thank you." I reached out to Matt.

  He picked me up, and Rocc laid a hand on his shoulder. The next thing I knew the three of us stood in Goodpringle's. My brother led us to the girls' sleeping quarters, or so I thought. Instead of stopping there, however, he continued down a long hallway calling, "Tir. I have her."

  Tirafalen appeared.

  But I needed my mom way more than an ankle repair. As if he'd read my mind, Rocc made an abrupt turn and pointed to Mom's doorway. Matt stepped through it with me in his arms.

  "Alli!" My mother jumped up from her chair. Matt met her in the middle of the room. Now in tears, she hugged us both.

  Belial's attack, my ankle, and every other negative thing in my life receded to the far corners of my mind, and I was happier than I'd been in a long, long time.