Page 48 of Tino
“Thank you.”
He stopped just before he opened the door. “You know what? Let me bring her back here and then we can all eat lunch outside. I finally got around to building those tables outside which you told me would be perfect. And you were right. I see customers using them every day.”
“I’m glad! Told you they were needed, especially since so many people buy Betty’s amazing sandwiches.”
He laughed. “Yes, you definitely did.”
Xari took my hand in his. “We’ll sit outside at the new tables and wait then.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be back in ten.” Then Jerry held the door for us and hurried to his car. Xari led me to the newly built tables with matching benches. They truly were perfect.
We sat down and as soon as Jerry’s car had left the parking lot, Xari said, “You’re going to try healing her, aren’t you?”
“Of course. If I can.” It had been my first thought when I heard she was sick. I wasn’t a true healer, but I could still help. Iwantedto help Betty. If it hadn’t been for her, I never would’ve met Jerry, and would most likely have been eaten by mama bears.
Since being a healer was a skill you could be trained in, I’d started doing it with Altair. He could heal everything with his ability as easily as breathing. I had to rely on my magic and knowledge like other healers. The others had wanted to learn too, but none of them could master it. It was a rare skill to obtain, which was why there were so few healers around.
“There hasn’t been a thing yet that you haven’t been able to heal, baby. And I’ll hold your hand while you do it. Do you think hugging her or holding her hand will be enough?”
I frowned. Normally when I healed, I touched the affected area or over it. But it would be hard to touch her body exactly where the cancer was without it being weird. “I’ll try.” I also had my locket with me, another perk we’d learned reading more of the old books. Altair had given us one each with his healing magic inside. The one wearing it was protected from being hurt or sick. I hoped it could heal her slowly over time, if my healing attempt failed.
Grethe had been an amazing healer and even though I was as good now as she had been, at least according to Nujik, that still didn’t mean I could cure cancer in one quick healing session. One the patient didn’t even know about.
“I um, I have a thing I want to do before we leave here. Just know I have everything under control, so don’t worry.”
“Because that doesn’t sound worrisome at all,” I said, rolling my eyes. But I trusted Xari, so whatever he had planned would somehow work out.
Jerry’s car came into view fifteen minutes later, and then Betty hurried out and over to us. My powers were already seeking out what I needed to fix before she’d even reached us. Xari steered Jerry inside so he wouldn’t see the light from my healing, giving me some privacy with Betty.
“Oh, Niam! You look so much better! So vibrant!” She gave me a big hug and instead of sinking into it, I hurried to use my healing magic as I embraced her. She sighed as I let my healing erase everything that was hurting her, mending together the parts of her the cancer had already ruined. It was so easy healing her, maybe because she didn’t have magic that needed to be taken into account too. When I’d healed other mages as I trained, I also had to lend them some of my magic so they could heal better, making me weaker as I healed. But with Betty I just had to heal. I hoped she wouldn’t question why it felt so good hugging me, but as the last of my healing eased off, I saw the tears in her eyes and then her soft nod. Like she understood but wouldn’t say anything. I smiled back, then took off my locket and placed it around her neck.
“I want you to wear this every day, it’s supposed to protect you against bad vibes,” I said, knowing it sounded silly as hell. But I very well couldn’t explain what it truly did.
“Thank you, dear. I’ll cherish it forever.” She held the locket in one hand and looked it over. “It feels like a warm hug in a locket.” She grinned.
Xarius
It was now or never. I could see Jerry looking at his watch and soon our meeting would be over. We’d spoken with them for over three hours, and in that time, Jerry had to go back and forth between working and talking to us. But now it was time for my plan.
I held Niam’s hand and then focused on the station while I used my earth magic.
The earth began to shake under us. “What?” Jerry said, looking around. It intensified and we heard the building begin to collapse. “Fuck!” The earthquake I’d made wasn’t enough to harm us, but I forced the station to crumble. I didn’t want to ruin Jerry’s place, but I had to do this for him to see what was under it. And now he could rebuild easily.
The building crumbled, my magic made sure nothing inside was truly broken, but just enough for Jerry to want to rebuild.
“Oh, honey,” Betty said, stroking Jerry’s arm as we all looked at his workplace in ruins. I could feel Niam’s eyes on me. He trusted me, I knew that. But he was also confused as to why I would ruin Jerry’s place like this.
“Let’s check it out,” I said to Jerry. “You two stay here while we take in the damage.
I finally looked at Niam and he nodded in understanding, taking Betty’s hand in his. He would keep her there until we came back.
“I fucking hope it looks better inside. If there evenisan inside. I guess the roof falling down means no,” Jerry said, his voice resigned.
I knew what I wanted him to see first, so I walked behind the building where I’d made a hole under the rubble. “Look,” I said, pointing to the freshly broken ground. The cement had cracked and with it you could see underneath the foundation.
“What is that?” Jerry walked closer, moving debris out of the way. I squatted down next to the biggest area.
“Um. I’m pretty sure that’s gold.”