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.Jimmie Youngblood was dying.His friend was dying.And there was nothing he could do about it.Bardic magic could work wonders.It could summon the power to allow creatures of magic such as theSidhe to heal themselves.It could hasten the healing process for something that was going to healanyway.But Jimmie wasn t going to heal.If he listened, Eric could hear the song of her life slowlyslipping out of key, growing slower and more distorted by the minute, with nothing he could do to draw itback in tune.And if he could hear it, the Guardians certainly could, too.But Kayla s a Healer! She can fix it! he thought desperately.As if he d summoned her with his thoughts, Eric heard a disturbance in the hall, and then felt a cold washof Power soothing it ruthlessly away.Ria.The door opened, and Kayla walked in alone.Her black lace and glitter was even more jarringly out ofplace in the harsh dull light of the hospital room than it had been in his apartment. She s a Healer, Eric said, as the others turned toward this new intruder. Can you help her? Toni asked Kayla.Eric heard the naked pleading in her voice, and knew what itcost Toni Hernandez to beg. I can try, Kayla said.Her face was pale and still beneath the mask of makeup, and the neon-brightstreaks in her hair looked flat and unreal.She walked over to the bed slowly, as if moving through deep water.No matter how good her shieldswere, a hospital was no place for an Empath.She hesitated at the side of the bed, looking from Hosea toToni. I have to touch her. I reckon you d best do what you can. It was Hosea who answered. You can t hurt her any worsethan she s been hurt. What s her name? Jimmie? If Kayla had other questions, she didn t ask them.Ultimately, they weren t important.Jimmie.Dumb name for a girl.Go on, stupid.You can do it.Kayla spoke loudly in her own head tocover her own fear and Jimmie s pain.She could feel it even without touching her, even through themorphine, agony radiating like waves of heat from the summer streets.Damage, slow and deep.Traumathat the body couldn t handle.Pain, whether emotional or physical, was a cry for help always.Elizabethad taught her that.Her hand was shaking in anticipation of pain to come.Kayla forced herself to reach out slowly, gently,until her fingertips barely touched the bandages on Jimmie s forehead.Contact! Blue light crackled overher hand, like a spark jumping a gap.Like heat lightning fire.Fire!It filled Jimmie s body-memory: fire, its first chill wash, then pain, building on itself, melting Kevlar,searing her body as the metal she wore turned molten and sank into burning flesh, burning, burning.Everywhere Kayla looked there was ruin fluids seeping into tissues, running over bared muscle wherethe skin was cooked away, veins and arteries ripped open by boiling blood, tendons heated andshriveled, nerves blackened and twisted, or screaming endlessly for help that never came.Every time shefixed something, something somewhere else broke.There was no way she could be everywhere at once,no way she could give this ruined body what it needed, no matter how much of herself she spent.She feltherself sinking, dissolving into the fire, but somehow she was cold, so cold.Suddenly the link dissolved.Kayla felt someone grab her, wrenching her away.She fought for a fewseconds -desperate to help, to healHosea slapped her.Not hard, but it made her open her eyes and draw a deep breath, safe behind her shields once more.Shestared up at him, for a moment too stunned to realize what had just happened.Tears welled up in hereyes and spilled down her face, though she had no sense that she was crying, and she was shudderingwith cold.Worse than any of that was the knowledge that she d failed.There was nothing she could doto heal Jimmie she could spend her entire life-force, drain herself to death, and she could not saveJimmie Youngblood.She stood in Hosea s arms, panting as if she d run for miles. Kayla.? Eric asked.She shook her head, closing her eyes. It will take weeks, she mumbled, barely aware of what she wassaying. Weeks of pain.And she ll die anyway. Think, you stupid cow! There s always something you can do.To comfort the dying. Then there s nothing you can do, Toni said, grief in her voice. No.There s something I can do. Kayla pushed herself away from Hosea and took a deep breath.Shehesitated, as if to say what she would say next would make it more real than it already was, create asingle defined future from a fan of other outcomes.But there was no other outcome. There s something I can do, she repeated. I can make it quick.I can block the pain.I can let her gonow, while she s still Jimmie, Kayla said.She was able to look at them now that the worst had been said.Eric looked shocked, still not quite ableto believe that Jimmie was hurt.Hosea looked sad but determined.Of the other three, whose names shedidn t even know, the woman looked angry, as if Death were something you could hit.The two menlooked stunned, so closed off their auras were impo-ssible for her to read. You can kill her, you mean, the woman said harshly. I can give her the choice.Hey, chica, it s more than you can do for her, isn t it? Kayla snapped.Sheblinked, and felt more tears slide down her cheeks.Ruined my makeup, dammit, she thoughtdistractedly.The woman lunged for her, but Hosea stepped between them. No, was all he said. You said something about a choice, Kayla, is it? I m Paul Kern, and these are my associates, Toni andJos.I only wish we d met under happier circumstances. I wish we d never met at all, Kayla thought mutinously.She gave Paul points for not offering to shakehands, though.He must have met people like her before. And I think Jimmie would like to have the choice you re offering her.What would you have to do? I need to block what she s feeling, so that she can wake up.I can t do something like this without herconsent.That d be murder. Kayla ran her hands through her hair. Can any of you tell me anything thatwill help? she asked, her voice quivering slightly. Jimmie.she s not normal, is she? Of the three of them, it was Paul who understood the question Kayla asked. If she can do anything to aid you, she will; Jimmie is no stranger to magic.She is a formidable magicianin her own right, A Guardian, as we are, so perhaps in that sense she is not normal. She, like us, issworn to defend ordinary humanity from magical assaults. Only this wasn t magical
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