Kissing the Devil Goodbye

Magical Gifts

Athena slowly opens her eyes. For a moment her vision is blurry until her eyes adapt to the light. Is she in heaven? Everything is white. She can't still move and shunting pains are all over her limbs. The last event that she remembers is hitting the ground to welcome death. Is she dead yet? It's impossible for her to survive the fall. Her skull could have been fractured and her spine shattered.

The door opens, Meg enters the room with Marybeth behind her. Smiling at her niece whose vision starts to recognize the surrounding, she holds her hand saying, "Thank Heavens, you're now awake! You're in Good Shepherd Hospital. You fell down from the roof of the Arriens. Your spine is severely damage. Mark will be here in a moment to discuss it".

Flashbacks of the event come through her mind. "Yes, I remember. The Arriens were trying to kill me. Who brought me here?"

Marybeth checking her cousin's chart at the foot of the bed replies, " I saw you hitting the ground and I was late to catch you. Mark did the first aid so you can make it to the hospital. We flew away from Mtskheta. We needed to get out of there very quickly. Rumor has it from the magical grapevine that the village is the den of Dark Witches and Warlocks".

Seeing her niece's confusing look. Meg thoroughly explains that Marybeth has the Gift of the Wind. She can fly and holds the Force Field in vanishing demons. As descendants of Kassandra Wykes, Shepherd-Peterson clan is a family of white witches and wizard. Marybeth summoned Meg through mental telepathy once they were safe in hospital ground.

Meg has the Gift of Time & Knowledge. She can teleport, freeze time, make it slow or fast and has the ability to know events that transpired by touching. Discovering how Athena saved herself from the Arriens, implies that the 18 year old has the Gifts of Powerful Mind and Command. She can do whatever her mind wishes and command things, humans even nature.

She warns her injured niece. "Our powers will not work by selfish gains. The gifts are with us to save ourselves and for the common good. I know this is too much to absorb...."

"Alas! we can all go home later." Mark smiles with triumph as he cuts off Meg when he steps inside the room holding plates of X-ray.

Go home? "But I cannot move my arms and legs yet?" Athena voices out.

"True. You're suffering from spinal trauma from that deadly fall. Normally, as your neurosurgeon we need to perform decompression surgery or laminectomy. But we can do this at home when nobody's present but the family."

"Will you operate me at home or postpone it for later date? Can I still walk and move my limbs? I cannot even move my neck now and my new job is waiting for me!" Athena asks in dismay, almost to the point of crying.

"No worries, cuz. Mark has the Gift of Healing which extends to having a bullet proof body." You'll be as good as new. " Marybeth winks at Athena.

Meg agrees. "Yes. Your cousins only brought you here to see the extent of your injury from the fall so Mark can thoroughly heal you from bruises, fracture and pains. He did brain surgery already because of your fractured skull causing massive bleeding."

"So I cannot go to work tomorrow...it's Monday." Athena mutters in disappointment to which all three look at each other.

"It's already Friday sweetie. You'd been in the hospital bed for almost a week." Meg replies before her phone rings. She accepts the call and leaves the room for a better signal.

Athena is astounded. She slept all week? Well, at least it's better than being dead.

Mark supplies the information to his patient while removing the bandage around Athena's head.

"You're in a coma since you fell. We did Craniotomy with open surgery. I remove a portion of your skull and conducts open surgery to drain the hematoma and repair the ruptured blood vessel. Your cerebrum isn't functioning well. Whether you're conscious or not, we all agreed to bring you home today so I can do the special healing intervention with my bare hands for your full recovery." He adds, "Perhaps, your employer would understand the situation with a medical certificate once you report to work. That would give you more time to practice your gift after healing. Your first time of using it left a massive destruction not only to yourself...I heard the Arriens were impaled having their house repaired especially the roof and the dining room.

"I just thought of those things and they happened. Even if I was in utter shock I must go on to save myself."

"You did good." Trashing the bandage, Mark smirks, "....well, excluding the grave injury that you suffered. You could have thought of commanding nature to bring you to the Manor or somewhere else safe before hitting the dirt."

"I wish I knew that I can do all those. Everything just came through like a revolting mechanisms from me....Ohh, my head is throbbing." She complains as she remembers all the things that happened.

Marybeth presses her cousin's hand. "Don't think too much yet. Let us give you all the pieces of the puzzle."

Marybeth discloses that it was her who blew the note to Athena's basement door. The family wanted to warn her. It's the only thing that they could do at the moment because they can't enter the village.

"The Arriens and the likes of them can smell our skin. Unlike you, being a virgin in everything. Nobody will know unless they stare at your eyes."

The trauma doctor also mentioned that nobody in the village roams in the morning because most residents are dazzled by sunlight which they cannot stand for long. At night, everyone is out to snare their prey. They either bathe in human blood or drink it as fountain of youth so they can retain their strength based on the age of their victim. The remaining humans in the village fight against the dark inhabitants by garlic, chili and fumigation before midninght to shield their house from danger.

The old woman that warned her about the devil's lair might be Lucille Arrien. She might had cast a dark spell on her words so Hera can hear it in English but Athena can't. The old woman wanted to scare her to know her gifts since magical powers of witches emerge when frightened or in dangerous situation.

"How about the faceless me in the mirror and the oozing blood on my hands in the dining hall? It's not just my imagination right?" Athena probes more.

"You're right." Meg reenters the room. " My bad of not telling you since we first met about all these. I was afraid that you'll runaway like Artemis. He's frightened about his gift aside from being so distraught of our father's death."

Meg reiterated that the black scarf hid Athena away from the eyes of the dark soul who was hunting the virgin heiress of Artemis's unused gift. Anyone wearing the black scarf cannot also see herself in the mirror due to its spell.

Artemis could have been a wizard but he declined by leaving the Manor. The gift must be exercised at 18 years old. His gift remained dormant til he chose the recipient before his death.

"I thought it could be Apollo being the only son or Venus as the eldest. But when you opened the door for me, your eyes sparked. So I knew that Artemis had your name in mind before he died . There was a glint in your pupils that only witches could see. That gave way for Lucille Arrien to notice that you're not an ordinary human so they tried to know you better. That's all for now. We need to get you out of here. This information is already too much to digest all at once." She paused then remembered the call.

"By the way, that was from KGP HR again. Ella was asking about you everyday. You listed my number as emergency contact. KGP is giving you a month to recuperate."