“He’s remained unconscious the whole trip,” I tell her, softly running the damp cloth over Dace’s forehead and curving around the slope of his cheek, removing a thick, stubborn crust of blood and debris. “Which was for the best, believe me. Though, if he does wake up and starts acting strange, don’t be alarmed. He’s deeply traumatized. Convinced that he’s dreaming.” My voice catches, reminded of the haunted look on his face when I first found him, unable to imagine the kind of horrors he’s seen.
“Yet you were able to carry him all the way back here on your own?” Paloma lifts a brow, shoots me a questioning look.
I shake my head. Dip the cloth into the bowl. Watching as the water instantly darkens to a deep, brownish red. “Axel was there. I couldn’t have done it without him.” The words leave a bitter taste on my tongue, as I jab my thumb in Axel’s direction, illustrating his place by the wall. Watching dumbfounded when Paloma looks over her shoulder and squints into the distance. “You can’t see him, can you?” I say, stunned into silence when she shakes her head to confirm it.
Paloma can’t see him, but Lita can?
“No matter,” she says. “I don’t need to see him to utilize his healing abilities.”
I sneak a glance at Axel and frown. “His magick isn’t working,” I say. “If anything, it bears the opposite effect.”
No way is he laying hands on Dace. Not after what he did to that tree!
But Paloma ignores me, summoning Axel to her side as she covers Dace’s wounds with a thick, herbal poultice.
“He is here?” She motions to her right, sensing the moment Axel claims the space just beside her.
“Yes, but, abuela, you have to know, his magick—”
“I don’t need his magick.” She’s quick to put an end to my argument. “I need his intent. It is our spirit guides that allow us to perform healings. I don’t make the magick, nieta. I merely serve as a channel for their benevolent energy. You and Axel both love Dace. That much is clear. And since Love is the strongest force in the universe, I need you both to concentrate on that Love, while I proceed to transfer that healing energy to Dace’s wounds.” Then looking at me, she adds, “A Seeker always has something to work with, nieta. Even in the bleakest of times. Sometimes intent is all that’s required.”
“Sometimes? You mean like this time, right?”
My voice is screechy, overly anxious, begging for the sort of assurance she just can’t provide. Instead, she motions for me to take Axel’s hand, and at first, I can’t help but hesitate. The twins are connected in mystical ways, which means the act of energizing Dace will also benefit Cade. But with a stern nod from Paloma, it’s not long before I grip Axel’s fingers in mine, squinch my eyes shut, and project all of the Love I hold in my heart into Dace’s inert form.
twenty-eight
Dace
A welcoming wave of warmth ripples from the top of my skull all the way down to the soles of my feet. Enveloping my outsides as thoroughly as it consumes my insides.
I struggle to lift my head, needing to see the source of the heat. Counting two sets of hands hovering over my flesh. The larger ones bearing illuminated palms.
“Almost there … hold on…” a familiar voice says as an electric jolt surges through me. The current so forceful, so gripping, my head thrashes from side to side, my hands curl to fists, as my body goes rigid with a heat so intense, I’m not sure I can bear it.
Though no sooner have I thought it, when my body falls cool and limp, the hands move away, and a tentative voice says, “Dace? You okay?”
A delicate finger trails down my cheek, and I open my eyes to see a beautiful girl with brilliant green eyes chewing hard on her lip.
The vision alone enough for me to leap off the table and fold her into my arms. I hug her tightly to me. Needing to fill my senses with her. Needing the assurance that she really is here. That I’m not just dreaming her.
I cup my hand to the back of her head, filling my fingers with her soft silken strands. I’ve yearned for her for so long. Feared our reunion would never come. But now, with her face nestled into my neck, inhaling her soft, sweet scent, there’s no mistaking that she really is here. Clinging to me just as desperately as I cling to her.
Our love equally earnest—equally deep.
Or is that just a memory embedded in me?
As though sensing the change, Daire’s the first to pull away. And from the moment she looks into my eyes, the truth can no longer be denied.
I’m still soulless.
And without the soul, I can’t fully grasp the experience.
I can see her. Feel her. But it’s as though it’s happening to someone else.
Like I’m observing it from a distance.
As though there’s an invisible barrier wavering between us.