Fantasy

33 - Abby

Jessica and I got spurts of sleep, but nothing more. We haven't had anything to eat, either, so we're tired and hungry, but it's daylight. Now that we can see maybe we'll find my sisters. My thoughts are interrupted when Jessica and I hear something rustling nearby. We freeze; is it more agents? My heart pounds in my chest. Jessica and I look at each other with wide eyes. All of a sudden something falls to the ground with a thud, and then an "Ow."

"Aaron! Are you okay?" a girl's voice shrieks. Sure enough, the boy on the ground is Aaron Shaw. I look up to see Levina sitting one fourth of the way up in the tall tree in front of us. She looks comfortable and natural in it; like she couldn't fall if she wanted to. She climbs the rest of the way down, glances at us, and then drops to Aaron's side.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"My foot slipped," Aaron groans, "and I fell."

"Did you break anything?"

"I don't know," Aaron answers. His voice is strained and he's clearly in a lot of pain. Levina notices too.

"What hurts?"

"My...my ankle." Levina rocks back to a squatting position and examines his ankles. One of them is bleeding. She gently tugs his sneaker and, now red, sock off and he winces. At the sight of the blood Jessica covers her mouth with her hand and turns away gaging. I feel a little queasy myself, but Levina doesn't flinch. She glances back at me and at Aaron who props himself up on his elbows to see the damage.

"It's okay; it's not as bad as it looks." She pulls a bottle of water out of her sweatshirt pocket and pours it over the wound, "See," she reassures us. She's right; now that the blood is washed away the gash looks a lot smaller, but still bigger than what you would get on a daily basis. Levina examines his ankle a little more before announcing her verdict.

"Well, you're lucky. It's not serious; you just scraped your skin. We can wrap a sweatshirt or something around it for the bleeding..."

"Is he on our side?" Jessica blurts.

"Yes," Levina answers firmly.

"My dad's insane. Honest, I'm with you guys," Aaron says with a strained voice.

"Um, maybe I can heal him," I say quietly. Levina turns to face me.

"You can?" I shrug. "Try it," she tells me. I kneel down beside her and gently touch my finger to Aaron's wound. The flesh reacts immediately by drawing together and sealing the cut.

"Ow!" Aaron gasps. I jerk my hand away.

"Sorry!" I exclaim.

"Aaron, it's okay. I think Abby healed your ankle," Levina says. In that second Aaron's face relaxes and then takes on a confused expression. "What is it?" Levina asks.

"The...the pain, it's gone. It was really bad a few seconds ago, but now it's gone. It just disappeared," he looks down at his leg, "and my ankle's healed. Whatever you did, thanks," Aaron says as he pulls his shoe back on.

"You're welcome," I reply shyly.

"So, where are you guys going?" Levina asks.

"We're headed to my dad's shop, the headquarters for the old World Defenders."

"How far away is that?"

"Just through the woods that way," I say, pointing opposite the CMRA.

"Cool, can we join you?"

"Sure," I answer Levina.

YvHI