Final Truth

Chapter 25: Stars

Cassia's point of view:

After a flurry of events ranging from having to prop Cade against a wall, a happy reunion with Evelyn and her family, and a lot of explaining towards Susan and Kyle, I finally managed to get Cade away from everyone else into one of the farther off tunnels, but not too far from the main area where we usually stay.

With a few lighted torches hanging from the walls providing visibility, I work on Cade's head with my healing powers as he exhales heavily in his unconscious state.

He's got a nasty bruise forming on his right temple that travels all the way down to his jaw, and I can feel his skin throbbing under my touch.

It doesn't look as bad as it first did when I began work on it, but it's still not pretty.

I take a deep breath and put as much effort as I can into his healing, letting the blue light surge through my hands and illuminating the rather dim space.

Come on bruise, work with me here.

Afterward a few more minutes of this along with Cade's deep breathing, the bruise finally, finally begins to cooperate, the deep purple fading away until it's a barely noticeable yellow.

Satisfied, I shift my focus to his hands that are littered with scratches, silently wondering what in the world he was doing that gave him these injuries.

I take his hands in mine and heal those next, sighing with relief to know that this is much easier to fix and requires a lot less energy.

The scratches are gone in one minute.

I drop his hands and begin to look back up at his head, but I quickly jump back in surprise to find his clear eyes staring back at me with faint amusement.

"When did you wake up?" I demand, my voice laced with surprise.

"A few seconds ago," Cade mentions, his voice sounding clearer than I expected. He offers me a weak smile.

"How'd you get these injuries?" I ask, warily reaching my hand up to brush back a short lock of inky black hair out of his eyes.

He leans his face gently into my hand, and suddenly my fingertips feel like they're sparking with electricity under his skin.
My chest feels tight.

"Ran into a little dilemma trying to get Evelyn and her family down here...fell and hit my head. Didn't think about using my power," Cade mentions.

I want to ask him what sort of dilemma, but I quickly think better of it and decide to make a mental note to get the full story from him later.

"How do you feel?" I question him.

Cade raises one of his hands to his temple, but rather than wincing, he only furrows his eyebrows in very mild discomfort. "Much better now. I don't know why I passed out like that, but I think I'm ready to stand up."

I rise away from him and stand, offering my hand to him to help him up. He takes it gladly.

"Probably a side effect from hitting your head so hard, but you don't have a concussion. I fixed it," I assure him.

"Thank you," he sighs as he leans against me, trying to get his footing right. I gaze up at him, ignoring his statement as I feel gratitude of my own pang in my chest.