Gifted Connections 3

I was trying to take in a deep gasping breath. Jace laid his head on my chest and looked up at Jaxson. “Where is he?” he barked out.

I saw several vehicles pull onto the abandoned access road and several feet advancing towards us. I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed. I couldn’t call my gifts. I hope they were friends and not foe.

In the distance I could hear Noah. “What happened?”

“She was pierced with poison darts,” Greg explained quickly.

“Why does she look like that?” I heard Jemmy cry out in fear. I was glad I couldn’t see how I looked; it probably would have freaked me out. My swelling hand was disturbing enough.

“It’s the poison,” Greg said with something akin to remorse. “A normal healer can’t do anything.”

“I’m not a normal damn healer,” I heard Noah yell out furiously. “Stay with me, Blake. I need you. We need you.” I heard the tremor in his voice as he held his hands over my skin and…nothing.

I didn’t feel the normal warmth. I didn’t feel his presence.

“Sierra! Gavin!” Noah cried out in fear and frustration as tears streamed down his face. “I need you! Now!”

Sierra and Gavin was by my side in moments. They kneeled next to Jemmy, Jace, Troy, Remy, Drake, and Jaxson. They held out their hands beside Noah and…nothing.

“We can’t do it,” Gavin’s eyes were filled with tears. “Come on, Ake. Don’t you do this to us. We need your help!”

“Don’t you dare leave me,” Drake bent down next to my ear. I felt his tears on my face and his gentle hands on my hair. “Do you hear me, Blake?”

I tried to nod, but I couldn’t. I was dying.

With my last breath I pushed my feelings out to all of them. “I love you and I am so thankful, even briefly, I knew you all!”

Chapter 26

I sat up with a gasp and saw Yaris kneeling over me, his hands hovering over me. Bright green vapors were rising from my body and into his extended hands.

“I think that’s all of it,” he spoke gruffly as he looked over at me. Mini Mr. Clean looked relieved as he looked at me.

I felt a tangle of arms embrace me. “Don’t ever do that to me again,” Jemmy said between sobs. “You can’t leave me. You can’t leave us.”

“Let her breathe,” I heard Remy bark out, then felt his arms engulf me as he hugged me close. He was squeezing me so tight I was afraid I would stop breathing again.

I patted his back with arms that felt like lead. He released some of the pressure. The poison had taken a toll on me. I knew I had died. I just didn’t know how Yaris was able to remove the poison from my body or how he knew to even do it. We still hadn’t figured out what he could do.

“We need to go. Pops is on the way to meet us,” Jace demanded. He threw the keys to Terrance. “Drive us to the extraction point. Then pack up everything and meet us back at the base.”

Terrance nodded. “Copy that,” he turned and looked at the rest of the people. “Let’s go.”

“I’m staying with Blake,” Kade quietly stepped forward.

“We’re staying with her, too,” Gavin stated as he pointed to Sierra and Jemmy. “You may still need us.”

“Let’s go,” Troy insisted as he hopped into the bed of the Tahoe. Kade, Gavin, and Jaxson climbed in next to him.

“What’s going on?” I asked groggily as Remy climbed in with me cradled in his lap.

“We’re going to go get Dr. Cornwall and Harry, your half brother” he responded quietly. It took me a moment to realize that Miranda and Greg were huddled up in the third-row seat. “Greg is a reader. He not only sees the gifted but he can determine their gift. He knew Yaris was capable of removing the poison from your body.

“The techs have been looking at satellite images. We know several vehicles are heading to the cloaked cabin that Dr. Cornwall and Harry are in. Pops and Micah are on their way with a chopper. We need to put as much distance between Dr. Cornwall and them.”

I nodded and laid my head against his chest. He traced my fingers that was braced next to my head. “I love you, Blake,” he murmured in my ear. “I wouldn’t have been able to continue living if you would have died.”

“I love you, too, Remington Murphy,” I murmured back. I stroked the back of his neck. “It’s a good thing you were the one to suggest Yaris came with us. It was you who saved me more than once.”