Arcadia's Gift Part 17

"Sure," I nodded. "Give Aaron and Monica the flashlight. They can go deeper into the trees. If we stick to the trail that goes along the cliff base, we should be able to get along alright. When it gets closer to the Mississippi, the trees thin out, so that'll give us some moonlight."

The four of us climbed out of the car and set off down separate paths. My body was mostly recovered from Cane's emotional freeze. I clung to Bryan's arm as we walked as fast as I could in my dress shoes. Thankfully, it hadn't rained in a while, so the ground was hard and dry. Still, I stumbled along in the dark.

"Cane!" I called out. "Where are you?"

In the distance I could hear echoes of Aaron and Monica calling out also. If Cane could hear us, he wasn't inclined to answer.

A break in the trees ahead illuminated a fork in the path. To the left was a steep incline leading up to the trails along the rocky bluffs. The right path wound around the base toward the river. It was the same trail I'd walked the night of my sister's death. I felt a little sick to my stomach at the memory and quickly stuffed it down into a back compartment in my mind.

"You don't think he would have gone up there, do you?" Bryan asked.

I shook my head. "He's not that stupid. The trails get rocky and it's too easy to slide around. It's not all that safe during the daylight, but at night, it's treacherous."

We continued on, calling out to Cane as we walked. I could still hear Aaron and Monica, but their calls were getting more distant. When we reached the clearing before the river, I stopped short.

"What is it?" Bryan asked.

I cleared my throat. "I-I just haven't been back here, you know?"

"Is this...?"

I nodded, pointing a shaky finger toward the train tracks. "Those are the tracks. I was with some people sitting by those boulders over there. We were waiting for Lony and Cane to catch up. She was. .h.i.t right about there."

"I'm sorry," he said, wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulders. "Maybe we should turn around and go another direction. Cane isn't down this far."

I stood silent looking ahead at the tracks. I don't know why it never occurred to me to visit this place before now. I never believed in things like ghosts and spirits before, but meeting Jinx and discovering that I'm an empath suddenly had me questioning everything. Maybe there was something of Lony still lingering here. I sure as heck never felt her presence at home.

"Can you give me a minute?"

Bryan kissed me on my forehead and let go of my shoulders.

I could walk a little easier now that there was more moonlight visible. I drew my jacket tight across my chest, more for comfort than cold. The long, weedy gra.s.s gradually gave way to gravel which rose up a short bank to the gleaming steel tracks. To my left, I spotted an area where the gra.s.s was more matted down. I walked over and found a patch of gravel a shade brighter than the rest. This must be the place, I thought. New gravel to replace the stuff covered in blood.

I knelt down on the rocks, not caring about the sharp pains in my knees. I placed my hand on the cold rail.

"Lony," I whispered. "I feel like I never got a real chance to say good bye to you. In some ways, I still can't believe you're gone. Nothing's the same anymore." I swiped a lone tear off of my cheek.

"Cane told me about what happened, about the break up. I'm so sorry. I know how much you cared about him -how much you probably still do care about him wherever you are. He isn't doing so well, Lon. The guilt is eating him up inside. That's why I'm here tonight. I want to help him. Somehow, I know that's what you'd want me to do. And don't worry, I'll take better care of Mom and Dad, too. I promise. I love you."

I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses, but there was nothing in my range to connect with. Part of me had been hoping that if Lony's spirit was still here, I would be able to feel her with my mind. Nothing.

"Cady!" Bryan cried. "I think I see him!"

Rising to my feet, I wiped the dirt from my knees. I looked back to see Bryan pointing up to the bluff. A figure was stumbling around, well off of the trail, on the side of the rocky face.

"Cane!" I yelled.

The person on the bluff looked in my direction. "Cady? I can't get down!"

I ran back to Bryan. "He's gonna fall!" I exclaimed.

Bryan shrugged off his jacket and handed it to me. Next, he stripped off the tie.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going up there after him," Bryan answered, rolling up his sleeves. "Stay here."

"No!" I protested, but Bryan ignored me and began picking his way up the steep incline.

As much as I wanted to go after him, I knew I'd never make it in my shoes.

"Cane, don't move!" I yelled up to him. "Bryan's coming." I wasn't even sure if Cane knew who Bryan was, but now wasn't the time for introductions.

I withdrew my phone from my pocket and called Aaron. "We found him, but the idiot is stuck up on the bluff. Bryan is going to help him down."

Aaron muttered a curse. "Tell me where you are."

"It's the bluff bordering the river and the tracks. Eastside."

Aaron hung up with a promise to be there soon.

"Aaron's on his way," I called up.

Cane leaned against the limestone rock, his fingers clutching the crevices. I hoped the river view from fifty-feet-high would help to sober him up. Bryan reached the trail along the side of the bluff and was using it to get as close to Cane as possible. At the closest point, he began picking his way in Cane's direction.

"I'm almost there," Bryan called out, his voice echoing between the bluffs. Only a few feet separated them now, but each step closer ran the risk of their rocky footholds giving way. Bryan found a tiny tree growing out from the cracks of the rocks and yanked on it. Seeing that it was secure, he used it as an anchor as he stretched out toward Cane.

"Almost there. Give me your hand."

Cane s.h.i.+fted to his left and grasped Bryan's hand.

"I gotcha," Bryan grunted, holding Cane steady and directing him back toward the trail. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until they made it to the relative safety of the trail, and I let it out with a gush. They're safe.

"Just follow the path," I called up. "I'll meet you back at the fork."

I entered the darkness of the woods again. Without Bryan there to steady me on me, I tripped on rocks and had to cling to pa.s.sing branches to keep from falling. Under the loud chirping of frogs and crickets, I could hear the guys off to my right, still quite a ways up, but I couldn't make out their words. Briefly, I let myself think about that kiss with Cane in the parking lot. Shame filled my lungs as I remembered pressing myself to his warmth and kissing him back. What was I thinking? I chastised myself. How could I do that to Bryan? Especially after the way I reacted over Monica!

I was going to have to tell him, but how would I ever explain? Oh, Bryan. I am some sort of weird psychic who can read emotions, and sometimes I get tangled up in what other people are feeling. Yeah, that'd go over well.

Why did Cane have to go and kiss me anyway? I get that he was distraught, but what made him go there? Maybe it was because I reminded him so much of my sister. I guess he just got caught up in the heat of the moment and wasn't thinking clearly, but at the time, it hadn't felt that way. There was something real in that kiss, at least from his side. I found myself hoping that Cane would forget about it once he sobered and never mention it to me again.

I stopped to pick a rock from my shoe when I heard surprised yells and the racket of rocks cras.h.i.+ng to the ground.

"Bryan! Cane! Are you okay?" I shouted.

"No!" Cane called out, pain evident in his voice. "Help, Cady, quick!"

I left the path and rushed through the brush in the direction of the voices. Brambles and branches scratched at my legs, snagging my dress, but I pressed on as fast as I could. I reached the base of the cliff and saw Bryan and Cane lying on the ground. Cane's leg was bent at an unnatural angle below the knee, and Bryan was bleeding from a huge gash on his side. Bleeding heavily.

All of the blood drained from my head. Huge waves of icy pain vibrated off of the guys, stabbing me in the gut. Between the crazy emotions emanating from them and the tinny scent of blood in the air, my stomach roiled with nausea.

"Bryan!" I cried, rus.h.i.+ng to him and dropping to my knees by his side.

"I slipped," Cane explained through clenched teeth, "and he tried to grab me, but then we both came down."

Bryan's expression was one of sheer horror as he tore open his s.h.i.+rt to inspect the damage. The rip in his skin started just below his back shoulder, cut across his ribs and reached nearly down to his waistband. Even in the darkness, I knew it was deep enough to expose his ribs bones.

"What do I do?" I cried, pressing his coat to his side to hold in the freely flowing blood.

Bryan looked at me. We both had tears in our eyes. "I don't think there's time to do anything," he whispered with finality.

An agonizing noise tore out of me as I realized there was no way he could ever survive an injury this huge. The terror between us was so strong that I couldn't tell where mine ended and Bryan's began.

"You can't die! I won't let you!"

Bryan's face was already pale and the blood was leaking through the jacket onto the ground.

"He's dying?" Cane asked confused.

"I have...hemophilia." he tried to explain, breathing in sharp heaves. He leaned back on his elbow, getting weaker.

"Oh my G.o.d!" came a shriek from behind me.

Aaron and Monica stood a few feet behind us, having followed our voices to our location. Monica's eyes were as large as moons at the sight of the blood. She understood the seriousness of the situation. She dropped to her knees and began sobbing into her hands.

Aaron took off his coat and handed it to me. I dropped Bryan's soaked jacket and replaced it with fresh, soft cotton, still warm from my brother's body heat.

"I'm calling 911," Aaron said taking out his phone.

"There's no time!" Over the wound, my hands vibrated wildly with icy stabs of pain. I recognized the feeling from when I had detected the tumor on Lucy, only this time it was a hundred times more intense.

"Cady...n-nothing you can do," Bryan choked out, dropping to lie on his back. "Just h-happy you're...with me."

"Don't do that! Don't you say good bye to me!"

My hands burned from the freezing pain. Instinctively, I threw up my mental s.h.i.+elds and began to press back. That's when I noticed warmth flooding down my arms into my hands and radiating out from my fingertips. I let my heated hands hover directly over the wound, focusing all my energy on willing it away. The trickle of blood began to slow to a stop, and I feared it meant the end, but Bryan was still conscious and breathing thick wheezy breaths. Determination and love swelled in my chest, as I concentrated on that open wound. Bryan sucked in a sharp gasp.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked. "It tingles...warm."

I flexed my mind and concentrated harder. Heat vibrated out from my hands and the flesh began to knit itself back together before my eyes.

"Holy s.h.i.+t!" Cane exclaimed, watching as the wound closed into a jagged raised scar.

I fell backward and rested my head hit the ground. My breath heaved as if I'd just run a marathon. My head pounded with every beat of my heart.

Bryan sat up and ran his hands along the seam in his skin. "It's healed. Doesn't even hurt."

Monica looked up, mascara running down her cheeks. "Wha...?" She crawled close enough to get a look, managing to avoid the sticky puddle that I was now half-lying in.

"Cady?" my brother said in confusion. He snapped his phone closed, his eyes darting between me and the closed wound.

"What did she do to you, man?" Cane asked. He tried to lean in to get a better look, but winced and gripped his leg.

I drew myself back to my knees, head swimming, and scooted over to inspect Cane's knee. His pant leg was already ripped, but I tore the hole further to get a better look. The skin was sc.r.a.ped and embedded with pebbles and dirt, but not bleeding too badly. The knee was twisted and bent about 45 degrees in an impossible direction. It had to be broken. No way could a normal leg form an angle like that.

"There goes my college scholars.h.i.+ps," he muttered.

I wasn't sure if he meant it as a poor attempt at humor or not, but he spoke the truth. Not only did Cane play football, but he also ran track and was the school star pitcher on the baseball team. Everyone a.s.sumed he would end up going to a Big Ten school on a sports scholars.h.i.+p. Some people even had hopes for him playing professionally someday. From the looks of things, that dream was over.

I placed my hand over the knee and felt around with my senses. Cold stabs of pain flicked my palms. "It's pretty bad, but I can't fix it like this. We have to get it straight first."

Cane's eyes got round as he realized the pain that would be involved with setting the leg.

I wasn't sure I could fix it. I didn't even know how exactly I'd managed to heal Bryan. But I had to try. I had to ignore my weak, trembling body and try.

My hands ran across the cool ground until I found a broken branch. I snapped off the end and dusted the loose dirt away.

"Put this between your teeth," I instructed Cane. "Aaron, can you give me a hand?"

My brother knelt down by Cane's feet.

"When I say so, I want you to take hold of his ankle and pull that leg straight." Amazingly, my brother didn't question my authority, just gritted his teeth in sympathy, and clutched Cane's ankle with both hands.

"You want to set his broken leg?" Monica shrieked, then turning to Cane, "And you're going to let her?"

Bryan set his hand on her shoulder and murmured something about calming down.

I looked at Cane and asked, "Well? Are you going to let me try? I can't guarantee anything, but it's your decision."

Cane's chest was rising and falling so rapidly, I was afraid he'd hyperventilate. His fear caused my palms to sweat and the muscles to tighten in my limbs.

"I-I saw what you did...to him," his eyes flitted over toward Bryan face still pale, but from what we could tell, looked to be healed. Cane turned his gaze back to me, trying to focus through his pain. "I tr-trust you."

"Okay, then," I said sliding closer. "You have to force yourself to relax, Cane, or I'm not going to be able to help you." I stroked the golden hair out of his eyes and placed the stick in his mouth. "Close your eyes and think about something calm. I mean it. I need you to do this for me. Think about a warm beach with rolling waves or something."

"I'll try," he grunted around the stick in his mouth and closed his eyes.

Sending Cane to his happy place didn't really flood me with the calmness I needed, but it did seem to take the edge off of his fear.

"You too," I said to Aaron. "I need you feeling calm. Think about the beach. I mean really picture yourself there."

"Why?"

"Just do it, all right?" I snapped.

I took a couple of deep breaths to clear my head and then placed my hands over the leg again. The cold pain reached up for my fingers, and I felt around with my senses, letting them lap the edges of the pain until I could get a mental picture of the damage inside. When I had a good handle on what I was dealing with, I ramped up my concentration, drawing power from somewhere deep in my soul. My abdomen tightened and my own pain flared behind my eyes.

"Aaron, now!"