Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

Deliberately, as if he had complete confidence she would step back to their patient’s side, he indicated Milo. He isn’t able to get the oxygen to his lungs properly because the parts aren’t fitting together. It’s like they took pieces of pipes and connected all the wrong tubing. Check Leon and see if he’s the same way. I want a good look at Milo’s lungs. You do the same with Leon.

Starting with assessing the damage would give Jonquille confidence. She could see the inside of both men’s bodies easily. She had a strong healing ability, and that transferred into a need to help, no matter how afraid she was.

Rubin didn’t take his mental image off the inside of Milo’s chest. Over time, he had learned to treat surgery exactly as if he were in an operating room. He had to deal with all the same body parts. It was a matter of moving everything with his mind, rather than his hands. The problem was, Milo’s body parts weren’t exactly all human, and they really were like a mismatched puzzle.

The inside of the body appeared as if a child had thrown pieces together, connecting the organs with too-small veins and arteries—even the chambers of the heart were mismatched, as if the creator had taken leftover parts and shoved them together. Blood leaked everywhere. It was a wonder the man had lasted this long. It was a testament to his strength of will and the care his fellow Ghost-Walkers gave him.

Leon appears to be a mirror image of Milo as far as I can see, Rubin. Jonquille filled his mind with an image of Leon’s upper chest. If they put the two bodies on top of each other, they would pretty much have the same problems, other than a few of Leon’s veins and arteries allowed for better blood flow.

Let’s get it done, Rubin said. They had to reroute the blood so they could fix the veins and arteries, give both men ones that would actually work. It was a time-consuming and dangerous surgery. Extremely meticulous. Sorting out what amounted to what carried the life’s stream of blood and oxygen supply throughout the human body and making certain it was the correct size and shape for every major organ was a nightmare.

We have to go very slow and take our time. You have to take breaks, Jonquille, when you need them. Self-care is just as important as patient care in this instance, or we won’t survive.

He remained steady and calm, moving through Milo’s body with complete care and confidence so that Jonquille could follow his every action doing the same for Leon. She had to learn control of her ability along with the actual surgical skills. He took great pride in her for following the map he laid out for her, but also for listening to Joe’s quiet instructions when it came to pulling back her heat as she sealed connections with white-hot energy. Joe was very experienced in psychic healing. He might not be a psychic surgeon, but he was extremely good at healing most wounds or illnesses. Rubin knew his experience would help to steady Jonquille.

This type of surgery wasn’t the same as trauma surgery. There wasn’t an exchange so much as an actual surgery. It was just time-consuming because one had to use the mind to move everything inside the body. It was extremely difficult and took an amazing amount of energy, draining the body and mind until one felt as if they couldn’t move or even think.

Time passed and Jonquille staggered. Joe caught her and lowered her into the chair they’d provided, quickly pushing water at her and wiping her face. Rubin sank into the chair behind him. They needed to continue. They had to take a break after hours of work, but they were both exhausted.

“We need some way to get energy fast, Diego,” Rubin said. “If Jonquille could absorb it, she could feed it to me. We’ve got several more hours of work to do.”

“That’s what you need, Rubin?” Ezekiel asked.

Rubin sighed. “A lot of it. She’s like a magnet. She can absorb it, but everyone here is so low-level …”

“I can give her whatever she needs,” he said. “The others need to go to the other side of the room for a few minutes though, just leave us.” He waved them away.

Joe, their team leader, stood looking at Ezekiel for a moment, shook his head and then followed the others across the room.

Ezekiel crouched down beside Jonquille’s chair. Bellisia took her hand. “You really can absorb energy, Jonquille?” Ezekiel asked quietly.

She nodded but kept her eyes closed.

“It’s going to be dark and powerful.”

She gave him a faint smile. “Best kind.”

Around them the air crackled, began to heat. Power amassed in Ezekiel and poured off him in waves. They could see sparks snapping all around Jonquille, as the dark energy streamed straight to her and was swallowed up immediately until her body was glowing. Humming. Static electricity made her hair stand out. Little dots of light snapped and crackled, leaping from Jonquille to Rubin.