Dragon Gifts: Chapter Eleven
“She’s awake,” Daniel yelled.
“Ow, ow, owwww,” Gina muttered. Her head hurt something fierce and her body felt like a giant bruise. She rolled over, half asleep and pulled a pillow over her head. “Go away,” she mumbled, then again in a louder voice when she sensed he hadn’t moved.
A second set of footsteps told her that someone else had entered the room. She tried to block it all out, but the pillow was pulled away from her and a pair of strong hands rolled her onto her back again. She tried to see who it was, but the sunlight coming through the window temporarily blinded her.
“You’re doing better,” her aunt said happily. “I wasn’t sure if you’d ever wake up, not after hitting the counter like that.” She gestured at her head. “You lost a lot of blood.”
Gina reached around to feel the back of her head, prodding with care to find where it was the most tender. Apparently her headache had a physical cause. There was a bandage there, but even brushing it with her fingertips sent lancing streaks of pain into her head. The bandage felt clean and dry, but she could tell her hair was a mess of matted blood. “What happened?”
“You passed out and fell backwards into the kitchen counter. The corner juts out a bit there and it’s pretty sharp.”
Gina pushed herself up a little further and slumped against the headboard. She wasn’t in the bed she’d been in last night. Another glance out the window made her question that. It certainly wasn’t nighttime anymore. Had it been two nights ago? “What time is it? How long have I been out?” Daniel was sitting on his hands in a chair in the corner, eying her every move with eyes like saucers. Whatever she’d done, it had certainly impressed him.
“Well, it’s just after noon,” her aunt said, “but I think you meant to ask what day it is.”
Gina stared at her aunt. “Why?” she asked slowly. “Tell me, how long have I been in bed?”
“You’ve been out cold for three days since the attack, making it nearly a week since you came to us.”
Gina was about to ask what attack the woman meant, but her mind was starting to work again and it all came back to her in a jumbled mess. The only thing she didn’t remember was hitting her head. “What did I do to my head?”
“I told you that already,” her aunt explained. “You hit it after you passed out. Are you sure you’re feeling alright? Maybe I should let you go back to bed.”
“I’m feeling fine,” Gina insisted. “When did I pass out?”
“After you, um, caught on fire. You did something I couldn’t make out, standing over Daniel, and then you toppled over. My husband claims you healed my son.”
Gina yelped and sat up so fast she nearly fell out of bed. “I caught on fire?” she yelled. Abruptly, she could remember healing Daniel, and succeeding apparently, from the looks of him, but she thought she would have noticed if she had actually caught on fire. She looked down at her arms, the only part of her not buried in the mountain of blankets and comforters strewn across the bed, and sighed in relief. She’d been ready to find them covered in burns or worse, but there wasn’t a mark on them, not even a scratch. There wasn’t any blood, either. Someone had cleaned her before putting her to bed.
“Careful, you’ll open your wound,” her aunt cautioned her. She tried to make Gina lay back down, but Gina fought her way out of the covers and launched to her feet. She’d already lost three days, and she didn’t want to make it a fourth. Her mother had been kidnapped, and she needed to find a way to get her back.
“I think I want to take a shower now and get the rest of the blood out of my hair,” she announced. Her stomach grumbled loudly and she made a face at it. The last real meal she’d eaten had been breakfast the day of the attack.
“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Her aunt sounded skeptical, but Gina was getting better at reading what her body was telling her, and what her body was telling her was that she was on the mend. She peeled the bandage off and handed it to her aunt. She didn’t have to feel her head to know the wound was gone. Just like the bruises that had been on her arms and legs. It really was possible to get used to anything, she decided.
“You can check if you like, but there’s nothing there.”
Her aunt made her sit on the bed while her fingers pored over Gina’s scalp. “I suppose you’re right,” she said doubtfully. “Is there anything you actually need me to do?”
“Well, I am kind of hungry,” Gina admitted.
Her aunt laughed, probably remembering how loudly Gina’s stomach had complained just now. “Then I’ll go make you something to eat. If you need anything, anything at all, you let me know.” She tugged at Daniel’s hand and pulled him with her, closing the door behind them.
Gina looked around more carefully. By the looks of it, this was probably her aunt and uncle’s bedroom. There was a shower stall waiting in the adjacent bathroom, along with a pile of clean towels and a change of clothes. The sight cheered her greatly. Such ordinary things were a treat in these hectic times.
She turned the faucet as far as it would go and waited for the water to heat up. When it was good and hot, she stepped into it and stood there, just letting it wash over her. Her last aches and pains were fading, and the heat from the shower did wonders to help ease sore muscles. She gently eased her fingers through her tangled hair, loosening up knots between her fingers and massaging the shampoo into her scalp until the mats of blood dissolved. She had new reasons to be grateful that she’d cut her hair so short that summer. When dry, it hung loose just below her ears. Attempts to grow it long had ended in disaster since it had a nasty habit of steadily transforming itself into a bird’s nest once it passed below her shoulders.
Her shower done, she combed out the worst of the tangles and left it alone to dry. Then she slipped on the clothes her aunt had left her and followed her nose into the kitchen where her aunt was serving a late breakfast. Everyone was there waiting for her, and she felt strangely shy as she slipped through the door. They’d left an empty spot at the head of the table for her mother, she realized, but she was swiftly directed to take a seat in the middle, surrounded by friendly faces. It was a welcome surprise, as she’d expected everyone to be about their business elsewhere around the grounds. The noise and the clamor was quite a change from the grim seriousness that had pervaded the room
“I’m so glad you’re up and about,” her uncle said kindly. “We were so worried about you.”
“Thanks for saving my life,” Daniel said. He’d arranged it so that he was sitting next to her, and he leaned over as he spoke to give her a fierce hug. She returned the gesture and smiled down at him, and for a moment at least, they remained glued to each other’s side.
“Of course, it was nothing, no trouble at all,” she told him. She gave him an extra squeeze before disentangling herself.
“That’s not the first time something like that happened,” her uncle said. “You knew what you were doing.”
“They slit my mother’s throat when they attacked us in New York,” she admitted.
“I suspected something like that must have happened. Not that she had her throat slit, obviously, but you were too quiet about the whole thing, and it seemed unlikely that both of you would have escaped completely unscathed.” He touched his head to gesture at where her bandage had been. “You’re all right now? You gave us quite a scare, especially when your heart and lungs apparently decided to up and quit on you.”
“He kept pounding away on your chest like a madman until you started breathing again.” The sudden small voice in her ear startled her, but it was just her aunt, bending over her to set a place at the table. Funny how her aunt had left out that part. She touched her chest by instinct, feeling for the bruise that should be there. It was gone of course, along with any evidence of its passing.
“Yes. Once I woke up, everything sorted itself out rather quick.” She shuddered at the memory. The tingling sensation that she was starting to associate with healing wasn’t a pleasant one. If she were pressed, the best she could do would be to describe it as a sensation of bugs crawling across her skin. “I’m still getting used to the idea. I’ve gotten hurt plenty of times over the years. I even broke my arm in the sixth grade. But I’ve never had anything like this ever happen to me. It’s almost as if it was tucked away out of reach and then suddenly got blasted wide open.” She shrugged and slouched a little further down in her seat. She’d said more than she’d intended to about the subject, but judging from what little they’d said about the gift of Heart over the past week, they didn’t understand it much better than she did now.
Her aunt was putting out food now, plates stacked high with sausages, bacon, eggs, and toast. There was a pot of marmalade already making the rounds and two large teapots on the way. Definitely a step up from the cereal her aunt had served last time.
“What’s the occasion?” Gina asked.
“It’s our usual Sunday feast,” her aunt explained. “I tried to make you pancakes, since I know you used to like them, but I’m afraid they didn’t come out too well.”
“This is more than enough,” Gina reassured her. She took a cautious sniff. Hidden beneath the delicious smells wafting up in front of her, she thought she could detect the slightest hint of burnt…something. Her mother had told her once that the pancake god was a cruel master, and the memory of it made her smile. No doubt her mother had meant it to reassure her daughter, but it hadn’t seemed very funny at the time, not when most of Gina’s cooking experiments throughout the years had ended up in smoke or worse. No one she’d met had ever made the mistake of eating her cooking twice.
Her aunt, it seemed, was far more competent in the kitchen. Pancake disaster aside, there was plenty of food to choose from, so Gina piled her plate high and dug in with relish. The first bite was heaven, the second was even better, and the conversation trailed off while everyone ate their fill in near silence. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who’d brought their appetite. The food went fast, but just when she thought she might burst at the seams, her aunt produced a tray of scones and danishes that she’d been hiding under a tea towel. Everyone groaned aloud and complained that they were stuffed, but there wasn’t a person at the table who didn’t grab at least one.
“Dad, what’s the sworn soul of the covenant?” Daniel asked. Gina gave him a sharp look, but he was busy pushing around what was left of his eggs with a piece of toast.
“Where did you hear that?” his father replied. His voice was casual, but his shoulders had tensed.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I asked you about it three times now, but you keep putting me off. You said I had to wait until Georgina was awake. Well, she’s awake now and I really want to know. It was all the dragon that attacked me would talk about. He took Georgina’s mum hostage right away, but he kept mumbling about it or something like it under his breath. I didn’t really understand all of it, because most of it was in Latin, but that’s not the point. What is it?”
Gina had a feeling that nothing bothered Daniel so much as an unanswered question or an unexplained mystery. He’d been the one spending all his free time trying to decipher the artifacts the dragons had left behind, after all. Poor kid. She hoped he’d have a chance to continue his education further than his brothers had. A glance at her uncle confirmed her suspicions that he was going to try and deflect the question again. Well, she wasn’t about to let him get away with that, but maybe he needed a little coaxing first. Something a little easier, perhaps.
“I have a question too,” Georgina announced. “If the dragons can cast all this horrible magic, why weren’t they using any of it last night? I’m not counting the spell the survivor used to escape. He could have left at any time, but he obviously wanted to give me a message first.”
“I’ll answer Georgina’s question first,” her uncle told Daniel. “Unless you want to do the honors.”
“That’s easy. Dragons can only cast spells with a lot of preparation or by making direct physical contact,” Daniel explained.
“And?” her uncle prompted.
Daniel stared blankly at his dad. “And what?”
“You’re missing the other part.”
“Umm, oh yeah! Most of their spells are illusion based, so the gift of Sight makes us immune to them. It’s possible they had already cast some spells on themselves before they came, but we didn’t notice.”
“Good,” her uncle said. “That’s the gist of it.”
“What about my question?” Daniel complained. If Uncle Charles thought he’d distract his son that easily, he didn’t know him very well.
“It sounds familiar, like I’ve read it or heard it somewhere, but I can’t place it exactly,” her uncle admitted. “Did he say anything else about it? Was there any context?”
“Well, he did mention something about the knight reborn,” her aunt chimed in. “I overheard him too.”
Gina looked up at her in surprise. “He told me that I was the knight reborn. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.”
“When was that?” her uncle asked.
“That’s what he was babbling about when he came out of the house. That was right about when he walked up to me, dragging my mother with him, and fed me some more nonsense about remembering my name for all of time. Honestly, I’m not sure that I would take anything he said very seriously. He didn’t seem quite right in the head.” She had to fight to keep her voice steady.
“Unfortunately, most of them are like that all the time,” her uncle said, “So we can’t assume that the level of his enthusiasm will determine whether he said anything useful.” He glanced over at his son and smiled apologetically. “Daniel, I want you to know that I didn’t just sit on this. I brushed you off because I wasn’t ready to give you an answer, and I was hoping Georgina could give us some more clues. I checked what’s left of the family records. No mention of any ‘sworn souls’ and I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anything in there about the ‘Knight Reborn’ either. Harold, Diane, do you know anything about it?”
Gina looked over at her grandparents. They hadn’t said much at all to her since she’d come down, just sat there quietly and passed her the butter when she asked for it. Now they looked worried. Her grandfather shook his head firmly, but Nanna looked thoughtful. She put a finger to her lips andrested it there
“It’s got a familiar ring, but I can’t place it,” the woman admitted. She looked at Charles and smiled sadly. “It was something your brother told me when I asked him why the dragons were suddenly trying to make peace. Apparently there was some dragon prophesy that insisted they make peace with the Knight or perish. They were a little light on the details, but they apparently thought Gregory was the Knight. I guess they weren’t in agreement on it, or they wouldn’t have made that attack.”
“Or maybe they thought it would be easier to make peace with a dead man,” a voice muttered. Gina barely glanced at the source. Her grandfather was apparently back to his usual dour mood. She doubted the man remembered how to smile.
“I have a few books on draconic traditions and history, most very old and rather cryptic,” Nanna told Gina. “I’ll try to see what I can find out for you, but I make no promises.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Gina said. “I mean, if this knight reborn business is really meant to be me, then I guess I need to find out everything I can and fast. I understand the part about three times blessed, assuming the three blessings are the three gifts you keep trying to convince me I have, but what does it mean to be a slave to the hand of fate?”
“He said that too?” her uncle asked.
“Yeah. Sorry if I left that out, but like I said, it came out sounding like a bunch of nonsense.” She would have said more, but the sight of her mother’s face, filled with dread, flashed before her eyes and her voice caught in her throat. What if her mother was already dead?
“Are you ready to talk about the rest of what happened?” her aunt asked gently.
Gina’s face fell. She’d talked around it every which way, trying to avoid the most important piece of all. Her mother was gone, kidnapped by some inhuman creature, and she’d let the bastard get away. “He was six inches from my face, half a foot, and I let him get away. I just stood there and let it happen. I should have stopped him.”
“And risk your mother’s life? You know how fast they can move. Even with this healing gift of yours, he could have found a way to make sure she wouldn’t come back, and I doubt that even you could heal death.” Her uncle was frustratingly matter of fact, as always. His level headed advice and reassurances would have been welcome under most circumstances, but this was too raw for her to deal with just now.
“He was mocking me! He could have vanished without a trace at any time, but he waited until he could nearly whisper in my ear before he did so.”
“Apparently, it’s not as much fun if they can’t get a rise out of you,” someone said. Maybe it was her. She was too distracted to tell.
“It’s a little stuffy in here,” Gina announced. “I think I’d like to take a walk.” It was a lame attempt to change the subject, and the sympathetic looks and the pity were a little overwhelming, but if she didn’t get out of here soon, she’d be an emotional puddle. She hadn’t made up her mind whether to feel angry, guilty, or depressed yet. Maybe all three.
“We can talk about it later, then,” her aunt reassured her. “But take Tristan with you. He can give you a tour of the grounds and take your mind off things for a bit. You could use the fresh air.”
Tristan had been sitting quietly with the twins, probably hoping to fade into the background lest his parents shoo him out of the room like they had the first day Gina had arrived. He perked up when he heard his name called and flashed Gina a smile. “Sure, I’d be happy to help.” His face said it all. He’d been waiting for such an excuse to prove himself. She couldn’t really turn down the offer, not when he looked so eager. If she turned him down, he might even take it personally.
“Well, all right then,” Gina muttered. “Tristan can come.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll expect the two of you for dinner and not a moment sooner.”