Phantom Game (GhostWalkers 18)

How much time had gone by? Jonas didn’t know. It didn’t seem like very long, but when he made himself actually look at the others in the room through his own vision, he realized Camellia had been working patiently at moving the bullet for well over an hour. She was pale. Swaying on her feet. She had a look of utter determination on her face.

“It moved,” Kaden said decisively. “Can you yank it out?”

Camellia’s soft laughter eased some of the tension in the room and relaxed the knots in Jonas’s shoulders. “It doesn’t quite work like that.”

The smile faded from her lips, and a look of absolute concentration took over her expression again as her gaze dropped to Kaden’s body. Jonas followed the trajectory of her eyes. He could see the fluid around the bullet getting a little thicker so that the metal seemed to float upward. Once again, it moved gently, barely, a tiny seesaw back and forth. Every fifth or so movement, there would be a gentle tug on the bullet, and then the back and forth would start again.

When Camellia had started, the bullet had been mostly hidden by the liver, but Jonas was certain he could see much more of it now.

“Camellia.” He breathed her name in awe. “You’re backing it out of there.”

She didn’t reply, didn’t look at him, but a brief, triumphant smile flirted with her mouth. “Shh. Don’t jinx me. I have to go slow.”

More liquid surrounded the bullet, lifting it so it appeared to float, yet it was still anchored. Just the very tip, Jonas was certain. Like Kaden, he wanted to yank it free. There was just no way to do it. Two more times, she patiently did the seesaw motion back and forth and tugged, and suddenly, the bullet slid free into the liquid and floated right into one of the many long tubes that rushed toward Kaden’s heart.

Jonas’s own heart jumped, and he swore, unaware he did so aloud. Evidently, Camellia had anticipated the arc of the bullet because when it dropped into the fast-moving bloodstream, she was ready in her neuron-fueled starship, calmly blasting the projectile with Kaden’s antibodies. With more than his own antibodies. With tiny little clumps of red missiles that Jonas couldn’t identify but were very effective. Each missile hit the target as if she were playing a video game. The bullet shattered again and again until it broke into such small pieces, she could no longer shoot them with the missiles.

Middlemist Red? Jonas couldn’t help asking.

Camellia didn’t reply but switched from blasting the pieces to using another liquid. This was a distinct pink, much like the color of the Middlemist Red blossom. It shot through Kaden’s veins and arteries, overtaking what was left of the bullet. The liquid slowed. Gelled. Sat there devouring those tiny pieces until there was nothing left, not even specks.

“Put your hands directly over that spot just below his heart, Jonas,” Camellia instructed.

She sounded utterly weary. Jonas did what she asked, moving his hands from Kaden’s ribs to where he knew that gel had consumed the pieces of bullet. Heat spread through his veins. Through Camellia’s. Through Kaden’s veins and arteries. The gel liquefied and moved through Kaden’s system, was absorbed by his tissues, dissipating until nothing was left, leaving no sign behind.

Camellia let out her breath slowly and sagged. “I believe you are free from that bullet, Kaden. Do me a favor and don’t get shot again anytime soon.”

Gator caught her before she fell on the floor. “Don’t crash on us, woman. Sit down.”

Camellia just sat right on the floor. “I think I’m done for the night.”

She looked it. Jonas wanted to scoop her up and take her to his home. He couldn’t be in two places at one time, and now everyone knew she could heal. The thought roused his aggressive instincts, and he wanted to snarl. Where there was one traitor, there might be another.

“How do you feel, Kaden?” Tansy asked.

“Good. Very good. It doesn’t even feel as though I’ve had anything wrong with me.” Kaden sat up and looked down at Camellia. “You really did it. You removed the poison and you got rid of the bullet.”

Tansy put a restraining hand on his shoulder. “Wait a minute before you start moving around, Kaden.” She looked anxiously to Camellia. “Is it safe for him to just get up and start doing everything he did before? Could the metal lodge somewhere else?”

Jonas answered for Camellia. “It’s gone. Dissolved. He’s perfectly fine. It’s as though that bullet was never there in the first place. All the damage the chemicals did to his body were repaired.”

He swept a hand through his hair and reached down for her. “You ready to get some fresh air before I find a place for you to sleep?”