Part 2 (1/2)
”And there's going to be a hole in his chest with no bullet in it.”
Another shrug. ”I can't explain that. That's the coroner's job.”
”You really think everyone's just going to let it go at that?”
John's grin grew wider. ”Leah, this is a small town, not New York City. A guy tried to rob the place. He fired at a cop. He got shot. He's dead. End of story. The blood will never be tested for DNA. That would be a waste of money. The witnesses won't get called in for more questioning because there won't be a trial. I'll get a medal and some time off, the department will get some great press, and the coroner, who happens to be the police chief's brother-in-law, will hardly glance twice at the autopsy results because everyone will want the case closed and done with.”
”So no one's going to be questioning me about what I did?” She couldn't believe she'd be so lucky.
He shook his head. ”I seriously doubt it. The guy was a repeat offender with no immediate family. No one's going to call for an investigation.”
Leah sat back in her chair and allowed herself a sigh. All of the tension she'd been feeling seemed to drain away, leaving her as limp as if she'd just gotten a ma.s.sage.
”You can't imagine how good that is to hear.”
One of John's eyebrows went up. She was beginning to realize he was a man of many facial expressions and body movements. His hands were always in motion, adding emphasis to his words. And his face was a neon sign for his feelings, switching from anxious to happy to confused as he spoke.
”As good as it was to hear that I wasn't hurt by a bullet to the chest?”
She took the hint. ”Okay, my turn.” She took a deep breath and blurted out the words she'd never said before, not even to her parents. ”I did heal you. I can do that.”
His eyes grew wide. ”Holy s.h.i.+t. For real?”
”Yes. I've been able to do it since I was a child. The first time it happened, I was nine. I was in the woods behind my house and I found this bird. It was hurt. Just lying on the ground, gasping for air. I picked it up and...it was like getting struck by lightning. The bird flew away, leaving me with a weird feeling all the way up my arms. I went home, but I didn't tell anyone what happened. I started to feel sick later that night, so my parents called the doctor. I was on the couch, and my cat, Mrs. Puff, jumped onto me. I put my hands on her and there was another shock, and then I felt all better.”
Leah paused and took a breath. Even after so many years-twenty-seven, to be exact-thinking about Mrs. Puff still had the power to bring tears.
”That's fantastic.”
”No, it's not. The next day, Mrs. Puff died.”
”What?” John's eyes grew wide.
”The vet said it was old age. But she was only twelve. That's not old for a cat.”
John shook his head. ”I'm not sure I under-”
Leah spoke over him, continuing her story. She knew if she didn't get it all out now, she might never have the courage to do it.
”I forgot all about the incident, the way little kids will. A year later, my mom...my mother had a cancer scare. A lump in her breast. They did an x-ray, and when the report came back the doctor told her she had to come in for a biopsy. I was still just a kid, so I didn't understand. But she was scared. I could see that. My parents arranged for me to spend the weekend at a friend's house. Right before we left, I went to hug my mom and there was this glow, a weird green glow, around the left side of her chest. It made me feel sick and afraid just to look at it. I don't know why, but I reached out and put my hand on her breast.”
”And got a shock,” John said.
”Yes. But it was worse for my mother. It's always worse for the...for whoever I touch. Everyone was in a hurry, though, so my dad got us in the car and we left. They dropped me off at my friend's and went to the hospital.”
”What happened then?”
Leah looked away. She didn't want to see his eyes when he figured it out. ”My friend's dog died of cancer and my mom was fine.”
John frowned. ”I don't understand.”
”I played with the dog while I was there. A day later, it was dead.” She watched his eyes, but the relevance of her statement didn't register in them.
You've been able to do this since you were nine and no one's ever found out? How'd you keep it a secret?”
Leah shrugged. ”If I'd known what was happening then, I probably wouldn't have. It's only looking back I've realized that's when weird things started happening. The first time I actually knew I'd Cured someone was when I was sixteen. My dad cut his arm really bad in the garage. On the way to the hospital my mom asked me to hold the bandage on it while she drove.”
Leah paused, the memories of that day rus.h.i.+ng back as if it had only been weeks ago instead of twenty years. ”There was that same nasty green glow, and then that same electric shock. By the time we got to the hospital, my dad's arm was healed, but we didn't know it until later, when the ER nurse removed the bandage and there was nothing there but a thin cut.”
John reached out and took her hands. ”That's the most amazing thing I've ever heard. You're like a miracle worker.”
She pulled away, shaking her head. ”No I'm not. I'm more like a death bringer.”
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. ”What do you mean?”
This was the part she'd been dreading, trying to explain the dark side of her Power. ”You haven't been listening. The dead cat. The dead dog. I didn't realize it then, either. We were still in the emergency room. The nurse was mad at my father for not being as badly hurt as he'd said he was. She made him fill out all these papers. While I was waiting, my arm started to ache. A little at first, and then really bad. I pulled my sleeve up and there was a red line running from my elbow to my wrist.”
”The same place your father had been cut?”
Leah nodded. He was finally getting it. ”I was going to say something, but just then the man sitting next to me started yelling at his kid to sit still, really chewing the kid out. It made me angry, and suddenly I had this feeling, this compulsion, to touch him. So I did. And all my pain went away.”
”Leah, don't tell me...” John's face registered his fear of where the story was going.
”He screamed and grabbed his arm. Luckily, no one had seen me touch him. His skin split open and blood started gus.h.i.+ng all over the place. He fell off his chair. People were shouting; nurses came running to help him. In the confusion no one, not even him, realized that I had anything to do with it.”
”But you knew.”
”Everything hit me all at once, one of those light bulbs that just goes off sometimes and you have perfect understanding. I could Cure people, but I had to pa.s.s the sickness on to someone else or suffer it myself.”
John sat there for a moment, not saying anything, just staring at her with his chocolate-colored eyes. She tried to read his expression. Fear? Sympathy? Or maybe just trying to process the information?
Finally, he spoke. ”So, when the gunman fell down, it was because you...?”
”I touched him when he grabbed me. I pa.s.sed your fatal wound to him.”
There was another moment of silence before John spoke again. ”What happened with your father?”
It took Leah a moment to adjust to the change in topic. ”Um...my parents were confused, but they didn't say anything. After that, I saw them looking at me funny a few times, and more than once over the years it seemed like they stopped talking when I came into the room, but they never asked me about it. And I made sure I never Cured anyone or anything around them or anyone else again.”
”Why? Wouldn't they have understood?”
”I don't know. Maybe. But no sixteen-year-old girl wants to be different. It's hard enough having braces or wearing the wrong style clothes. Can you imagine people knowing I could heal with a touch? I'd have been the cla.s.s freak. Maybe even gotten locked away in some government lab. So I practiced on my own whenever I could, on injured wild animals. I learned how to control the Power, rather than just have it happen every time I touched someone or something.”
John got up and walked across the aisle. Taking one of her hands in both his own, he looked straight into her eyes. ”You realize you were the real hero yesterday, don't you?”
”What?” His words caught her by surprise.