Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“At least you acknowledge that I’m a bullshit tough guy,” Malichai said. His heart pounded and for the first time in a very long while there was no controlling fear. His mouth went dry. He glanced toward the door, needing her, understanding a little bit of what Trap felt when he said he needed Cayenne.

As if on cue, as if she was so connected to him, Amaryllis slipped into the room and without looking at the newcomers, came right to his side and took his hand. “You all right, honey?” She bent toward him and he leaned down to feel the silk of her lips brushing his.

His gut settled a little. “You going to stick with me if they have to cut it off?” He tried to make a joke, but his voice wasn’t right.

Ezekiel glanced at him sharply. Trap did as well.

Amaryllis nodded. “Absolutely. I’m not that in love with your leg. Maybe if it was other body parts, I’d have to think about that.” She squeezed his hand and then angled her body closer to watch Rubin. “Do you mind if I see as well? Maybe I screwed something up.”

Malichai’s heart contracted hard. She was hoping she missed something, willing to take blame if that would be the cause of whatever was happening. He knew that was impossible. Rubin had worked right alongside her. Even though they’d taken different parts of the bone, Rubin would have overseen her work.

“You didn’t screw anything up, Amaryllis,” Rubin assured. “This is Joe Spagnola, a healer like you.”

Joe nodded to Amaryllis. “Get up on the bed and come in from the other side.”

Malichai would have laughed if he hadn’t been the patient. He felt like an experiment with mad scientists gathered around him. Amaryllis crawled up on the bed and lifted her palms up in the same way the others had.

Rubin barely acknowledged her request with more than a slight nod. There was pure concentration on his face and a little frown that boded ill for Malichai.

“Talk, you two,” Trap said. “I have to know everything to figure this out.”

Trap was the brain, the one Malichai could count on. If there was a puzzle to be solved, Trap was the man to do it.

Light blazed under Amaryllis’s palms. Heat increased against his skin, through it, straight to the bone. Malichai felt it like a blast from a laser. He kept his leg still, but it was difficult. The cool stream coming from Rubin was a counterpoint to Amaryllis’s heat.

“When you want to power down the energy, you have to breathe from your chi, your life force, feel it move through you into him, and your breath directs how much energy you use on your patient,” Joe said unexpectedly.

Immediately, Amaryllis changed her breathing to slow and even, following Joe’s instructions, and almost at once, Malichai could feel the difference in heat.

“Do you see how the light is bright, illuminating the bone and all the injuries? The heat and light are two separate things. You have to divide them in your mind. The fridge can continue to run when you turn on the stove.”

Amaryllis again followed Joe’s tutoring and the heat decreased by several degrees. Joe cleared his throat, his frown going to a scowl. Rubin’s face was absolutely inscrutable. Malichai switched his attention from Joe to Amaryllis. Her face had gone very pale.

“Just say it.” Ezekiel was the one who ordered it. Malichai couldn’t find his voice.

“The bone appears to be disintegrating into hundreds of fractures,” Joe said, giving the information to them without softening it in the least. Just straight business, as if Malichai could take knowing his bone was falling apart while they could be in the middle of a very real homegrown terrorist plot.15There was a long silence in the room. Malichai feared everyone, with their enhancements, would be able to hear his heart pounding. Ezekiel moved closer to him as if he could somehow protect him from what was happening. He leaned both elbows onto the mattress, up close to Malichai’s head, partially shielding him from the others’ sight.

“Joe, that isn’t helpful information,” Trap declared, sounding annoyed. “That doesn’t give me a fucking thing to work with. Describe what you’re seeing. Is it a fungus causing this? Is the bone weak? Is it brittle? What’s happening? The best I can do is look at it and it’s not up close like you two see. I get an impression at best.”

That was just what Malichai needed. Trap was always going to be that person in the room who took everything back to science. It didn’t matter that two people in the room were psychic healers and one was a psychic surgeon. Trap would come up with a way to explain it. Right now, he was Trap being annoyed and short with everyone because they weren’t giving him the data he needed to solve the mystery. Malichai was also very aware Rubin hadn’t said one word. Not one. He hadn’t looked at Malichai or Ezekiel. To Malichai, that was worse than anything Joe could say.