“But you think it can be still?”
“I have never attempted it on a human before. It is extremely taxing, and dangerous if done wrong.” He studied Dad’s monitors like he understood what all the lines and numbers meant. “In your father’s condition, I think it is worth trying. If you will allow it.”
“Yes,” I said. “Please help him.”
“It takes two. I will need your help.” He gave me a soft, reassuring smile. He looked just like a priest consoling one of his parishioners. “You must have complete focus and clear your mind of negativity in order to be a conduit for your positive energy to pass into him. No negative thoughts or feelings. This must be a gift of love.”
I glanced over at Dad. A large brace supported his neck, and most of his swollen face was obscured by the oxygen mask. All I could really recognize of him were the creases of his closed eyes. He looked so utterly helpless. Why did he insist on going to the warehouse? Why did I let him go? What if I couldn’t do this? What if I wasn’t ready? What if I couldn’t open my mind?
Deep breaths.
Deep breaths.
I had to clear all those doubtful thoughts away.
“Show me what to do, then. I have to do something for him.” I held my hands out like the healing power was something tangible he could actually hand to me.
Gabriel pulled the hospital curtain partially closed over the glass observation window and door—I imagined to obscure an outsider’s view, but not draw too much attention by closing it completely. The nurses were letting me visit my dad’s room for only twenty minutes at a time, which meant we had less than ten minutes of privacy before someone returned to shoo us back into the waiting room. Gabriel took my hands in his and walked me over to my father’s bed. He placed my hands on my father’s shallow chest. The rise and fall of his breathing felt completely unnatural. Strained and thin.
“Your hands go here, over his heart. And mine go here.” He placed his hands softly over mine. “Clear your mind. Open a pathway for your positive energy to flow from your heart, through your hands, and into him. Negative emotions feed the wolf inside of you, but you must be able to push them completely away in order to do this. Deep breaths. Meditate. Clear your mind. Open your heart.”
I almost pulled my hands out from under Gabriel’s. “But what if I can’t do this?”
“I believe in you, Grace.” Gabriel had never said anything like that to me before. I’d started thinking of him as the world’s oldest skeptic. “You’re the girl who withstood the wolves. The Divine One, they say.”
“I don’t feel very divine.”
“You must try, for you father.”
I nodded. Gabriel pulled in a long breath and then let it out between his lips. I did the same. He closed his eyes. I did also.
“Concentrate on your love for him. Clear your mind of doubt, and imagine him becoming whole.”
Gabriel was still for a moment, but then his hands clasped tightly over mine. Heat swelled from his fingers and pulsed into my hands. I tried to picture my father well again, tried to call up memories of him from my life. The way he smiled. His patient voice. But as the heat swelled in my hands, growing with intensity, my memories flashed to the scene in the fiery corridor. The way my father looked, limp and lifeless in Talbot’s arms, when I found them. I couldn’t stop him from getting hurt, so what made me think I could actually help him now?
You’re too weak, my inner wolf snarled. You can’t help him. You can’t help anybody.
I winced. The heat radiating off of Gabriel’s hands was almost too much to bear. I gritted my teeth, trying to hold on. Dad needed my help. He went to that warehouse because of me.…
Images of the fire ripped through my mind. The sound of the explosion I heard over the phone. Words the nurses said. My father lying so still.