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The medical team made the decision to put Lydia in a drug-induced coma. The pain from her wounds was so severe and so extensive she couldn’t function without the drugs at this point.

“We need to take her to the pond,” said Trak, staring at the young girl.

“Honey, I’m not sure the pond can help with all of this,” said Gabi. Riley nodded, agreeing with her.

“We can’t be sure, Trak, and I don’t want to give her hope if there is none.”

“She’s not awake. She won’t even know where we’re taking her. Can’t we at least try?” he asked, looking up at the two women, tears in his eyes. It absolutely gutted them both. This was not a man who shed tears for anyone.

“Alright,” nodded Riley. “But we leave the bandages on for now. It should heal the sutured wounds, but the burns, the burns I’m not sure of, Trak. They’re not superficial. They’re deep, down into the dermis of the skin. That’s a lot to ask the pond to repair.”

“I can lift her to someone, but I don’t want her to wake next to a naked man in the water,” he said calmly.

“I can handle her,” said Gabi. “I’ll get in, and you and Doc hand her to me. I’ll take it from there.”

He nodded, leaving the room to get Doc. When they returned, Lydia was moved to a gurney, then to an awaiting stretcher on the back of the ATV. She didn’t even move. Not so much as a moan was heard by any of them.

Turning their backs, Doc and Trak waited until Gabi was in the water. Riley tapped them on the shoulders, and they turned to see the silver-haired demon doctor smiling at them. They both shook their heads and gently lifted Lydia.

“She shouldn’t feel a thing,” said Riley. “Just be careful.”

The two men knelt at the same time, then leaned forward over the pond, using their superior core strength to hold themselves up and not tip in with her. Then, they gently lay Lydia into the water and Gabi’s awaiting arms.

“She looks so small right now,” said Gabi, brushing back the hair on the good side of her face. “I just hope this works.”

She held the young woman around the middle and swam backwards, allowing the waters to flow over her. When she had done that a few times, she dared to take her beneath the water. One dunk, two dunks, finally a third dunk, and she swam to the dock.

“I think that’s enough. Let’s get her out, and we’ll check her wounds,” said Gabi.

Doc and Trak lifted the young girl, wrapping her in towels before laying her on the gurney. When Gabi was out, she stood by the gurney and looked up at Riley.

“Her face looks healed,” said Riley. “Look. It’s clean, pink, fresh skin. The hair is there as well. It’s short like it’s growing out or something, but it’s there.”

“Look at her neck and arms,” said Trak, unwinding the dressings. “It’s all gone. The burns are gone.”

“It worked,” grinned Gabi. “I can’t believe it worked. Let’s get her back to the hospital and start bringing her out of this. We’re going to have some serious explaining to do, but we’ll manage that.” Riley gripped her arm, staring at Doc and Trak.

“Have any of you ever seen healing like this with the pond? I mean, we’ve healed a lot of wounds, breaks, that sort of thing, but nothing like this.”

“I’m not going to question it,” said Trak. “The great spirits obviously thought she was worth saving. I will not question that or argue with it.”

“Same, brother.” Doc nodded as he drove toward the hospital. Behind them, standing in the shrubs, were Irene, Ruby, Matthew, and Gabe.

“How did you do it, Pops?” asked Gabe. “That was a lot to heal, and it was definitely more than we’d ever done before.”

“I’m not exactly sure,” he said with a smile. “I just knew that child deserved another chance. Sometimes, you pray for certain things, and you don’t get exactly what you want. Sometimes, you pray for things and get what you need, but not what you wanted.

“Either way, that girl got what she needed, and so did Trak. Now she’ll be able to tell the boys what she knows, and her future will help thousands of people. I had to try.”

“You’re a powerful man, Matthew. I’m glad you’re being used for good,” said Ruby.

“Same to you, Ruby,” he chuckled. “Same to you.”

It took a full forty-eight hours for Lydia to come awake completely, and when she did, she screamed. Loud.

“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” asked Cruz, running into the room.

“No! No, I am not, and the question is why. How? I mean – look at me. How???” she asked again.

“Honey, I need you to calm down,” he said as he began to take her vitals. Lydia nodded, but they could tell she wasn’t exactly calming down. She was staring at the places where her wounds were once so horrific, touching her face and hair. “We’ll explain everything to you in a minute.”

After checking to be sure she was fine from a medical point of view, Cruz sent messages to the doctors, Trak, and the senior team to come to the hospital. When they walked in, they all smiled.

“I remember you,” she said, pointing to Trak. “You were an ass to me.”

“That’s me.”

“He also saved you,” said Riley. “He carried you away from the still and brought you here. Do you remember anything about that?”

“Pain. I was in horrible pain,” she whispered, looking down at her body. “The burns. Where are the burns? And-and my hair. It’s shorter than the other side, but it’s there.” She touched her scalp and then looked at everyone in the room.

“We have exceptional doctors here,” said Trak. “I’m glad you’re well, little one.”

“Th-thank you,” she said, staring at everyone. “He took it, didn’t he?”

“Took what?” asked Ghost. “He took what?”

“Hugo. He took the land since I wasn’t working the still, didn’t he?”

“The land is yours?” asked Gaspar.

“It was,” she said, exhaling. “I mean, it belonged to my mother, and when she died, my stepfather took it. He let an old woman build a bar out there, but she couldn’t take care of it any longer and just left it. It didn’t belong to him. It belonged to me. Legally, it was mine on paper, but he made a deal with Hugo to use part of the land for the still, and my only way of getting it back was to make enough to remove the still from the land.”

“The still is gone,” said Bull.

“I know. I don’t care about that. What I care about is that if the still isn’t running and I don’t make money to give to Hugo, I lose the land, and it’s valuable.”

“Honey, that land was nothing but swamp and trees. I’m not sure it was valuable,” said Bull.

“I had a land study done. It’s rich in natural gas, but I couldn’t afford to hire someone to drill and figure that out for me and to tell me just how much was actually there. So, I agreed to run the still because I was at least making some money. No one is going to hire an eighteen-year-old girl with no college degree.”

“What was your stepfather getting out of this?” frowned Trak.

“Me out of the house, number one,” she scoffed. “I had a tiny little efficiency not far outside the bayou. It was horrible, but it was what I could afford. He got a thousand dollars a month from Hugo.”

“How much were you paid?” asked Nine.

“The same. A thousand a month. It paid my rent, utilities, and the rest went in the bank. If I couldn’t catch my food, I didn’t eat.”

“That ends now,” said Trak.

“See, you’re still damn bossy. Why? I didn’t do anything to you. Why don’t you like me? Why are you bossy?” she said, staring at him. He grinned and nodded.

“I am bossy. Just ask my wife and children. And I do like you, and I’m going to keep you alive for many reasons, but one is that we want Hugo,” said Trak.

“Well, good luck with that. He’s hard to find unless he wants you for something. I don’t even know if he lives in the area or not.”

“What’s his ultimate goal?” asked Ian. “I mean, why push the stills?”

“Truthfully?” she asked. The men all nodded. “I don’t think it’s about the stills at all, although he does talk about mass producing moonshine. Every person who owns a bar for him or a still for him, he has something of theirs. Something he can hold over their heads.”

“Like?” asked Nine.

“Like me.”