Well, that sounded like a lie. Doctor Marsh hurried out of the room like her ass was on fire. After she shut the door behind her, Charlie asked, “What can we do to help Ava recover faster?”
Mama appeared contemplative, which was never a good sign. It always meant she was trying to hide the truth. “From what I’ve learned from my training as a healer,someparalysis can be reversed. The spinal cord has the ability to reorganize itself and adapt, due to the brain’s neuroplasticity.”
“Sure, because we know my brain is firing on all cylinders as it is,” I said sarcastically.
Charlie frowned, and Mama hastily added, “The nervous system can rewire itself and make changes based on an individual’s ability to practice and hone skills. Your spinal injury is incomplete, which means these neural pathways exist, but…”
Mama trailed off. Charlie was taking this as a sign of hope, but I knew Mama better than that. She thought I’d fucked myself up to the point there was no recovery.
“I understand,” I said, as to not piss Charlie off and to give Mama the signal I got what she was saying. “We’ll just have to adjust.”
Mama leaned over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “Whatever happens, sweetheart, we all love you no matter what. Our family’s been dealing with health issues for a long time, and we’re equipped to make this change.”
I felt terribly guilty— which was more than messed up, considering this was happening to me and not anyone else. We had enough to deal with, if you included my dad’s disease, my brother’s illness, and my bipolar. Adding this on top of it was enough to make the entire pyramid fall apart.
Mama sighed. “I should talk to your father. He’s doing his best to get here as quick as he can.”
I couldn’t imagine a universe where my father didn’t tear the world down to get to me, so something really bad must’ve happened. Mama rushed out of the room— I’d rarely see her move so fast.
I rode through another bout of pain that shot through my middle, and I managed to ask through gritted teeth, “What’s going on?”
“It’s probably chieftain stuff,” Charlie admitted reluctantly. “The news hasn’t been… encouraging.”
I could only imagine. I didn’t know what was going on out there, and I wanted to hold on to that ignorance a little longer, because I knew eventually I’d have to face it.
“You’re uncomfortable.” Charlie moved closer. “Is there anything I can do?”
I shook my head, before I realized he couldn’t see it, and forced out, “There’s nothing anyone can do at this point but give me time to heal.”
Charlie’s mouth was flat. He didn’t like that answer. He wanted to do something about it. “Oberi, can I give up another part of myself so Ava can walk?”
“Fucking hell, Charlie!” I yelled, giving a cough as a harsh pain flared over my sides. Raising my voice was difficult. I’d justknownhe was going to ask that question the minute we were alone.
Oberi narrowed his eyes.I accredit the audacity of the male species that you have the gall to ask such a question to my face.
“Why not? I gave up my sight so Ava could live. She was supposed to die the night she was born, but she didn’t, because I gave her my eyes,” Charlie argued. “Why can’t we do the same here?”
It doesn’t work that way. When you gave up your sight to save Ava’s life as a young child, that was with the help of Eagle Spirit, who, may I remind you, is a god, Oberi said dryly.The power I had to use to call Ava’s soul back from the Ancestral Lands wasn’t even as strong as that.
“You’re strong, too. Your magic is powerful. I have no doubt that if we put our magic together, it would work,” Charlie insisted.
Even if we could, I wouldn’t allow it. If you two keep giving up pieces of yourselves to save the other, then by the end we’ll have nothing left,Oberi replied in a stale voice.I’m not going to patchwork the two of you back together after this one, because let me make this clear, this canneverhappen again. We managed to keep our bond hanging on by a thread. Be grateful we saved that much.
Charlie gave an aggravated sigh. “Ava deserves to live a full life.”
I was annoyed at what he was implying, because honestly, he knew better. “I can still live a full life! It’s not like my life is worth any less because I can no longer walk. I didn’t throw you in the bin because you don’t have your sight.”
Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose. “Iknowthat, but this isn’t something you should have to deal with!”
“I get that it presents complications. We’ll have to work our way around them.” Not like I’d ever let obstacles stop me before. Though this felt like climbing a mountain.
In space.
Which was on fire.
His jaw worked. “I still think—”
“Charlie, the bigger deal you make out of this, the harder it’s going to be. Just support me, and we’ll get through it together. There’s a lot I have to learn from this point, and it’ll be easier if you let me figure it out.”
