That’s fine. I’m not the only one suffering, she shot back at me.We’ll all be in misery together.
“It’s not all that bad,” I said, and it wasn’t so much a lie— because really, it was terrible.
I want my soul to be fused, Ava. I’m tired of being torn in half day by day. That can’t happen until you and Charlie are truly one, Oberi said.I feel as if I’m in two different places, being stretched from one side to the other. I waited many years for the two of you to come together again, and now that you finally are, you’rewastingit. Gods, the drama.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I’ve said too much. Lessons you are not ready to learn,Oberi replied.Perhaps another time.
“Can you make more— ow!” I held my finger up. I’d gotten a small cut on my finger from a tear in the crappy metal bench. Blood leaked out of my finger. I tried to use my Anichi powers to mend it, summoning my powers and sending it to the cut.
Nothing happened. It kept bleeding. I tried again, and the cut didn’t mend this time, either.
I felt my brow furrow. “How can I heal my brother from a deadly infection one day and not be able to heal a cut on my finger the next?”
You can’t really limit what you can do to Anichi magic. Your healing powers go far beyond actualhealing, if you catch my drift.
“Are my healing powers connected to my special abilities as a demigod?” I asked Oberi.
You’re on to something, Oberi said with a nod.Though what you could be capable of, I’m not entirely sure. This will be difficult magic, Ava, and not easy to access.
“Like Kallie’s ability to halt time.”
Yes. Remember that.
I opened and closed my hand. The cut on my finger was still bleeding.
I could do more than just heal. I wasn’t sure where my abilities would lead me quite yet, but I had a feeling my power to heal was different from that of my tribe. It wasn’t like my mother’s Anichi magic, which showed up on command. It was a part of my demigod abilities.
I wouldn’t have been able to heal Ez if I was a normal Anichi. I knew that for certain. I hadn’t manipulated Ez’s body to heal itself, like another healer would. It was like I’d commanded myownpower to stop Ez’s sickness, and fixed him myself, out of my own will.
My healing powers were different. They were the powers of a demigod, unstoppable and able to do things other Anichi couldn’t, but they were also turbulent and unreliable.
Which means they could fail if I really needed them. I hoped to the ancestors that never happened.
Though one day, it might.
CHAPTERNINE
CHARLIE
Adrenaline raced through my system as I rammed my fist into a punching bag over and over again. Sweat dripped down my forehead, and I wiped it from my skin. As much as I hated fight club, Ilovedthe rush of the workout.
I just wished it was under different circumstances.
Grunts filled the room as people sparred, and someone screamed from inside the boxing ring. The smell of blood was unmistakable.
Chancey slurped his water bottle loudly from beside me. “Someone piss in your cereal this morning?”
I steadied the punching bag and turned to him. “What are you on about?”
“On about?What are you, British?” Chancey teased. “I’m talking about the way you’re punching that bag. You’re about to knock it off the chains. You’re angry.”
“Of course I’m angry. I have to deal with your snarky ass five times a week,” I jabbed.
“You should bedisappointedyou only see me five times a week,” he replied with a full mouth. “Energy bar?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
