Thayde rested his helmet on the seat and turned to me. “What in God’s name are you doing?” He held his arms out as he shouted above the traffic.
Throwing open my door, I sprinted around the front of my car and shouted back. “How could you just leave like that? Without telling me? You just left!”
“There are some things I can’t tell you.”
“Really? I thought we weren’t going to keep things from each other! I could read your mind you know!”
“You won’t.”
“Want a bet? If you’re going to start keeping things from me, I will.” I shouted and watched Thayde’s face settle into a granite stare before he stepped onto the freeway. One, two, three steps were completed before the bright red car hit him.
He must have seen it coming from the corner of his eye because at the last second, he dropped to his left knee, hunched his shoulder down, ducked his head and took the impact of the car on his side. The car crumpled around him, lifted up into the air and smacked down on top of its roof on the other side.
A ringing in my ears, the pull of utter dread on my heart, the slow of time as Flynn and Gavran dropped the bike and ran to Thayde’s side. The tilt of the world as the asphalt plowed into the side of my face.
I wanted to pass out, but didn’t. Instead, I watched as someone ran up to me and pulled off their helmet. Oh goodie, it was Flynn, the last person in the world who would want to help me. He placed his fingers against my throat and closed his eyes. When he opened them, his lips drew back involuntarily and he bit them closed. Turning his head away, his chest moved as if he were shouting. Moments later, Thayde pushed himself up off the road and walked to me.
Thayde had always said he ‘didn’t break’ and I never fully understood what he meant. Now I knew; literally nothing could shatter his bones.
Kneeling, he took my shaking hand in his.
I’m fine. Come on, sit up.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Flynn asked, leaning his hands on his knees. His pale eyes stared doubtfully under their hoods.
“Yes,” Thayde’s voice was resolute. Sliding his hand up my arm, he pulled me into a sitting position. “Take a deep breath.” He ordered and I obeyed. When I found my voice, it faltered.
“I thought you were crushed,”
Thayde breathed in deep, making what he said obvious it was the last time he was going to say it. “I don’t break.” Reaching to my cheek, he wiped blood away. “You need to heal yourself.” He motioned to the car. “The person driving that car needs to be healed and have their memory erased.” He pointed to the cars approaching. “We need to hurry. The quicker we do this, the fewer people will be involved.”
He pulled me to my feet, making sure I was steady before handing me off to Flynn. Flynn uneasily held my hands.
“You smell like iron.” I said, unable to stop myself.
“You smell like seaweed,” he shot back, “you all do.”
My head pounded like a jackhammer.
“You better hurry up.” His voice rose in urgency as he motioned to the nearing traffic.
Blenald.
It was an instant rush and I was good as new. Flynn actually smiled. Releasing his hands, I ran to Thayde’s side and drew back in horror. The person upside down in the car was unconscious – their body barely clinging to life. A scan revealed severe abdominal trauma, a broken back, crushed legs and a massive brain bleed inside his crushed head.
Thayde looked disgusted with himself, swallowing his words. “Please fix him as soon as possible.”
Stepping back, I cupped the crumpled car in the view between my hands. Stretching my hands slowly at first, I felt the energy build until I threw my arms apart.
“Fetil!” I cried, and the car rippled like water in a bowl, righting itself until a brand new car was parked on the freeway. The blood from the person in the front seat dripped from the door, spilling onto the black pavement like pomegranate juice. Erasing his memory of the crash and disintegrating the blood took mere milliseconds.
Laying my hand on the concave forehead of the passenger, I merely thought the healing word and just as the cars on the freeway pulled to a stop, his eyelids blinked open. Thayde breathed a sigh of relief and leaned into the window.
“Thank you for stopping,” he exclaimed, “but honestly, we are fine. We just ran out of gas and my wife brought us some.”
The man looked around, confused. I took Thayde’s cue.
“It was very kind of you to stop.”
Flynn and Gavran began to direct traffic around the bright red car.
“We’d better be on our way now.” Offering a friendly wave, Thayde nodded to the man. Oblivious as to what had occurred, he blankly pulled away.