All Wounds (26 page)

“My apologies,” Syd said, though he didn’t sound at all sorry.

“Well, I’m going to go back to bed,” Rebecca said as she got to her feet. She pointed a stern finger at Ryan. “You stay put. No matter how you might feel now, you’re not healed yet.”

Ryan lay down again. “I’m not going anywhere. I feel like you say I look.”“Hey, you don’t look as bad as you have been,” Rebecca teased back.

“This is an actual improvement.”

She reached under Ryan’s chin, cupping it as she tilted his head up toward her. He closed his eyes.

“Look at me,” Rebecca ordered in her calm Healer’s voice.

Ryan opened his eyes, and Rebecca studied them intently, making careful notes in her mind about their shade.

“You still hungry?” Rebecca asked.

Ryan shook his head a little, careful not to disturb her gentle hand beneath his jaw.

“How do you feel?”

“Awful bright in here,” Ryan murmured, closing his eyes again. “And I’m real tired. More tired than I ever been in my life.”

“You probably will be for a while longer,” Rebecca replied. “You’ve been through a hard time, but you’re safe here, so you just rest.” Rebecca moved her hand and laid the back of it against his cheek. Ryan opened his eyes again and looked at her, but didn’t say anything.

He pulled away when Rebecca brought her hand to his forehead.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she assured him, confused. “I just want to see—”

“I’m tired,” Ryan said again, interrupting her. “Quit poking at me.” His tone carried a trace of viciousness, and it scared her. She remembered what Syd said about newly turned vampires being unpredictable and unable to help themselves. She took a step back, flinching as Syd’s hands caught her upper arms and held her steady.

His grip wasn’t warm this time. It was tight and painful, and made Rebecca wince.

“He won’t harm you,” Syd said, glaring at Ryan over Rebecca’s shoulder.

“
He
might not,” Rebecca said. She turned her head to look up at him.

“But
you
are.”

Syd’s grasp relaxed instantly. “Forgive me,” he whispered.

“It’s all right,” Rebecca whispered back. “I know you guys are strong.

Stay with him?”

Sydney nodded in reply but didn’t look at her. Rebecca smiled at Ryan and blew out a few of the lit candles on her way out, to make the room more comfortable for him.

w x

Rebecca woke up refreshed and strangely energized. She was used to getting up early for school and to help Nana get ready for the day, and it was strange to wake up and have to do neither. There had been some days when she would have beyond welcomed the chance to sleep in, but again she’d slept better than she had in weeks. Months. Maybe years. She just couldn’t stay in bed a moment longer, even though the clock beside her bed read 7:37AM.

Her stomach growled. She went into the kitchen and shook her head at the mess Billy had made before she set about making a couple pieces of toast. The untoasted bread reminded her of something and she set another piece aside before popping the other two in the toaster. She poured herself a glass of milk, then took a small pint of cream out of the fridge and poured a few tablespoons into a shallow saucer. As her own bread toasted, Rebecca took the other piece of bread and the cream out to the back porch and set it on the top step.

“Brr!” she said to herself as she went quickly back inside to the warm kitchen. It was
cold
out there! If they didn’t hurry, the bread and cream might freeze before the faeries got it. That is, if any still lived around the house. Rebecca could remember Nana leaving out the traditional offering of bread and cream out on the back porch, but she’d thought it had been for the neighborhood strays or something. Now she knew what her nana had really been doing, and what she had been so adamant about being done each morning before Rebecca left for school. She’d been thanking the garden fae for looking after the plants and trees around their house.

Rebecca had yet to see one of the Wee Folk, as the book had called them, but Billy assured her they were there. As she put the cream away in the fridge, a large brown form filled the kitchen doorway.

“Reminds me,” Billy rumbled. “Need to get more cream. Coffee too.

Sugar. Bread. Whiskey—”

“Whiskey?” Rebecca interrupted. “Faerie beer not strong enough for you?”Billy gave her a surprised look. “Can’t make a decent cup of coffee without whiskey, Bit.”

“I manage fine without it,” she replied, though she tried hard not to smile.Billy grinned at her. “You’re a little human, and drink weak coffee.

Anything else you want while I’m out gettin’ stuff? Figure since I live here now, we’re gonna need supplies. What kind of ice cream you like?” Rebecca just looked at him. “I can’t think about ice cream before dawn.”

“Why not?” Billy asked. “Oh, right...you’re mortal. You got that ‘time of day’ thing going on. Weird beings, humans. Oh, well. I’ll get a bunch of different kinds. You’re bound to like at least one. It’s ice cream!” Billy enveloped her in a huge hug and kissed the top of her head before he left the house.

Rebecca stood there for a long moment, stunned.

A werewolf had just kissed the top of her head and given her a hug.

Either she was going crazy, or Billy had eaten something that didn’t agree with him.

Before she could think too much on it, the mark on her neck tingled and she felt the now-familiar tug below her breastbone. Voices whispered in Rebecca’s ear. She sighed.

The enclave was calling to her. Something needed help, and she knew it wasn’t Ryan.

She still didn’t feel ready to face whatever was waiting for her on her own, but after taking care of Ryan by herself just last night, how could she refuse? She took a deep breath, went up the stairs, and entered the enclave.

A quick glance around showed Ryan asleep—his open eyes still un-nerved her. Syd was gone—no surprise there this early in the day. It was just after dawn, and he needed rest too. As she was learning to do, Rebecca put her own thoughts and concerns aside and made herself focus on what Billy called “what needed doin’.” It took Rebecca’s eyes a moment to adjust to the light of the single candle near Ryan’s bed, but still she couldn’t see anything waiting for her.

“Hello?” Rebecca said in her gentlest Healer’s voice, hoping she wouldn’t wake Ryan. “Does someone need help in here?”

“You are indeed still blind, if you cannot see what is right in front of you,” she heard a very faint voice say.

“Uh...where?” Rebecca peered into the darkness where she thought the voice came from.

“Could you not shout? We can hear perfectly well,” the little voice answered. “Look to the candle!”

“Sorry,” Rebecca said in the softest whisper she could manage.

Then she saw them. Two tiny specks of bright white light that danced around the candle. No wonder she hadn’t seen them at first glance. They could easily have been mistaken for dust particles or sparks rising from the flickering candle.

How am I supposed to heal a light? And what could possibly hurt
—

As though they could hear her thoughts—she really needed to learn to shield them, but it was so hard to do, let alone
remember
to do—Rebecca’s eyes widened as she watched the pinpricks of light become two tiny creatures standing at the base of the candleholder. They were no bigger than her hand, and one was waving its arms and grinning up at her.

She smiled back. She knew these creatures from one of Nana’s old books she’d thumbed through. So this was what came to the back porch for the grained bread and cream Nana had insisted Rebecca put out every morning, even on her “bad days.” The ones who made the ale Billy so loved.

Garden faeries.

With slow, careful steps, Rebecca approached the table on which the candle sat. She crouched down so she was at eye level with the two small creatures. Their beautiful wings were thin and iridescent, nearly touching their ankles. They reminded Rebecca of the wings of a dragonfly.

Though the one fairy was still smiling and waving, his companion did not share his enthusiasm. Rebecca could see why right away—one of its wings was bent backwards, almost to the point of tearing.

That looked like it hurt a lot.

“My brother fell foul of your labyrinthine, my lady,” the smiling faerie said. He tried to look sympathetic, but he had a pleased twinkle in his eye.

Rebecca had no idea what he was talking about. Her labyrinthine? What was that? And why did he call it “hers?” She didn’t have...whatever he was talking about. But that didn’t matter. She put the questions she had away in the back of her mind to either look up or ask her nana later.

“I see,” Rebecca said. “May I know the name of the injured?” He hesitated. Rebecca had learned that garden fae observed politeness and protocol before anything else, and didn’t give their names to anyone without significant need. Still, she would need a name in order to try and help.

“You may, Acolyte,” a second small voice said before his brother could answer. “I am Cort.”

Cort looked to be in considerable pain, but somehow Rebecca knew he was trying hard not to show it.

“All right, Cort,” Rebecca said. “Let’s get you something for your pain.”

“Nay, my lady. It’s nothing I can’t bear.”

“If you don’t need me to help you, why did you come here?” Rebecca asked, raising an eyebrow at the little being.

Cort shook his head and looked at his companion. “My brother has watched you make your offering in the mornings—” The other faerie cleared his throat. Rebecca hid a smile and lowered her eyes as she saw the other’s cheeks darken.

She knew she couldn’t help Cort without his permission and she told him so.“Aye, then. As you say,” Cort replied with a sigh, shaking his head.

Rebecca found her nana’s suitcase and looked through it for one of the glass vials it contained. She opened it and shook out a minute portion of dried skullcap. She crushed the leaf to tiny bits between her thumb and forefinger and separated a faerie-sized dose of the herb out. She held it out to the injured faerie with instructions to chew and swallow it.

Cort wrinkled his nose but took the herb and did as she said. He grimaced at the bitter taste but managed to get it down.

“Yeah, it’s pretty awful,” Rebecca sympathized. She turned to Cort’s brother. “You know, if you wanted to meet me so badly, you could have just shown yourself. You didn’t have to wait until your brother got hurt.” The faerie blushed even more.

“Oh, but—” Rebecca hesitated a moment as something about faerie protocol entered her mind, and she remembered what Syd had said about keeping up with the speed at which her suppressed knowledge would surface. “Your kind can’t just introduce themselves, can they?”
That was it!
“I’m supposed to ask if I may have the honor of your name. Will you honor me with it?”

The faerie hesitated again, and Cort made a noise like a growl and kicked his brother. “I am suffering for your fancy!”

“I am Inth, Acolyte,” the fae managed in a rush.

“You are an
idiot
,” Cort grumbled.

“That wing looks pretty damaged,” Rebecca said to Cort. “It’s very kind of you to endure everything just so your brother could meet me.” The acknowledgement had the effect Rebecca hoped it would. Cort couldn’t help but smile at being called “kind.”

“It was nothing, Acolyte,” Cort replied, as brave as he could.

“How are you feeling? Is the pain still there?”

“Not nearly as much before,” Cort said, though he didn’t sound very sure. “The wing does not ache anymore.”

“Good. The medicine is working,” Rebecca moved toward him, slow and careful. “Now, Cort, I need to touch you. May I have your permission?”

“Aye,” Cort replied, swaying a bit on his feet. “As the Acolyte needs.

I take no offense.”

“My gratitude,” Rebecca said again.

She reached toward the small being and touched his wing, careful and delicate, willing her hands not to shake, though she was very nervous. This was the first healing she’d attempted by herself, and for a second she wondered if she shouldn’t wait for Syd to return, at least to supervise, but waiting for Syd could take minutes or hours, and Cort was in pain.

Besides
, Rebecca thought,
I need to learn fast and can’t wait around for someone
to hold my hand. The knowledge is there. I just have to...

The wing was as light as tissue paper. When she moved it a little, it seemed to change color. Rainbows of watercolored light, like the spectrum of a crystal, played around the dark room as the faerie wing caught the glow of the candle.

She knew she could read wounds and see things with a touch, and she concentrated on the injury beneath her fingers. Rebecca learned that Cort’s wing was only bent, not broken. Yes, the damage had indeed been caused by a...cat? Was “labyrinthine” their name for “housecat?” She remembered when Mishka went through her phase of leaving dead mice and headless birds at the foot of Nana’s chair.
Gross
.

All thoughts of running to Syd for help fled as the knowledge of what to do spread through her in a flood of tingles.

Rebecca cupped the tiny being in her palms and spread her fingers around Cort’s back. She closed her eyes and, with slow precision, rotated her hands until the fingers of one of her hands pointed skyward, while the other pointed toward the earth.

“How warm,” Cort murmured. “My gratitude, Acolyte. That was...

unexpected.”

She smiled and removed her hands, looking down at them in wonder.

For a moment they’d generated a strange kind of heat, and now they were cooling as if she were a toaster that had been unplugged. It seemed vampires weren’t the only ones whose power she could replenish. Cort would need all his strength in order to finish healing on his own.

She went to the chest of drawers near the bed and gathered the supplies she needed. “Now, I’m going to tape your wing flat against your back so it will heal straight, Cort. Inth, please don’t let him remove the splint for one whole human day.”