Chapter 22

"What was that about?" Brento looked at Clara and back at the door.

"Nothing to worry about. Elijah do whatever you need to for Avery. He won't feel it," Clara braced herself for the burning pain that came as Elijah inspected the wound.

"Clara let him feel it," Brento sat down in chair and suddenly there was a rushing in of everyone else.

"Out! You don't want to witness this," Clara gritted through her teeth.

"Not leaving Clara," Emmett walked over and took Clara's hand. She didn't squeeze his hand though but the rail.

"Clara let me feel the pain, it'll be fine." Avery was gasping a bit for air as he laid there.

"You have shallow breathing and wound that is very bad. You don't need to feel the pain, you need to rest. I'll be fine too" Clara was on her back and looked up at the ceiling.

"Elijah can you do something to make her stop taking on my pain? She's got almost the exact same wound as me because she healed me like an idiot!" Avery was really frustrated and for the last part she did release some of the pain which caused him to gasp.

"Still want it?"

"How aren't you screaming from the pain?" Avery turned his head to her. "That's a lot of pain plus your own."

"I'm screaming on the inside, be glad none of you can't hear it." Clara looked over at him and then back at the ceiling. "Okay I will give you the pain back but don't whine about it."

"Never dreamed about it," he laughed but it stopped once Clara let him have the pain. "This really hurts."

"No duh," Clara laughed a little before her own pain hit.

"Time to start on you Clara. Brento and Emmett out," Elijah basically pushed them out the door and pulled the curtain between Avery and Clara. "This won't be fun for you."

"Trust me I know," Clara stayed still as he got off her shirt, the wound wasn't that bad but it was the poison.

"How much of the poison did you actually take on Clara?" Elijah asked as soon as he noticed the blacken veins.

"A lot," was all Clara muttered.

"You know exactly how much you took. I thought it was a weaker poison but this stuff is extremely strong."

"Fine around seventy-five percent," she whispered it but Avery still heard.

"You took that much! I thought you said half Clara!" Avery let out kinda loud. "Sorry it hurts to talk."

"I lied. I wanted you to get treated first. You should have seen it on you, it was spider webbing. I was worried it had hit your heart so you needed it first," Clara spoke quickly but Elijah shook his head.

"It's gonna hit your heart worse. Clara you gotta be more careful with your healing for a bit. I should be able to reverse it before it hits your heart. You are lucky this is slow acting and has to hit your heart," Elijah covered her back up but left the curtain closed.

"Am I allowed to sleep now?" Clara asked as she yawned.

"Yes sleep, I can do the reverse while you are asleep anyways," Elijah called from the office area and Clara decided to fall asleep without another word.

Clara didn't know how much time had passed while she was sleeping but she woke up in normal clothes. When she looked the black veins had yet to start disappearing but that was okay. They couldn't be seen.

"Oh good you are awake. You have visitors again," Elijah had poked his head around the corner before walking over to the door. "Galor has stayed with your family and Sachell has been here with you."

"Okay thanks.. Whose here anyways?" Clara asked slightly confused.

"Oh the normal plus some others who I didn't realize you were friends with." Elijah smiled as he opened the door to about ten people and they all came rushing in.

"Oh you are finally awake!" Katryn came rushing over and almost pulled Clara into a hug before stopping. "A hug is a bad idea huh?"

Katryn was so casual but from the looks she hasn't slept much the last few days. "How long was I asleep for?"

"Just less than a week Clara. You will be sleeping a lot more though. By the time I got a decent cure for the poison good, it had reached your heart." Elijah explained careful and slowly for Clara.

"Oh okay, I'm alright though." Clara responded as she looked at everyone in the room and realized an odd face. "Mom? Why are you still here?"

"They wanted to make sure you saw all of us before we left so we'll be here for a little while. Your sister and dad are still healing up but doing alright," her adoptive mom stepped forward.

"Oh I'm glad I got to see you. I'll fix up sis and dad so there are no scars on them," Clara began to sit up but she let out a howl in pain just barely moving.

"Sweetie you were badly injured don't try moving." her adoptive mom went to her side practically pushing Katryn out of the way.

"Not her injuries!" Avery interjected and shot Clara the evil eye. "You could have spent this time with your family."

"Stop yelling at me for it already. I saved your life suck it up Avery," Clara shot back and shivered a little too.

"Are you cold?" Katryn and her adoptive mom asked at the same time. Oh the time this was gonna be for Clara.

"Yeah a little. It's fine though, probably just from waking up." She moved her hand to where her wound was. There was no blood but it was definitely still there. "When do I get to leave Elijah?"

"There's still poison in your system. Not strong but strong enough to do damage. The other three healers took a little bit that won't hurt them. They all think you are a noble idiot by the way," he added at the end and Clara rolled her eyes.

"Look I understand what I did wasn't smart but my abilities weren't working and how were we supposed to get home?" Clara moved her head a bit and looked at her adoptive mom. "Anyways why is everyone else here?"

"Because you almost died," Philip intervened and gave her a stare too. "You had everyone worried like crazy so of course we are going to be here to make sure you are okay."

"Yeah I guess so," Clara gasped a little, she tried to hide it. "I know I've slept a lot but it might be best if I sleep some more. I am sorry for worrying you all," she gave a small smile and squeezed her mom's hand.

"Okay we will be back later to check on you," Katryn said before grabbing Clara's adoptive mom by the arm.

They left and Clara looked at Elijah. "Some things wrong again. My breathing is hard and I'm so cold."

"Must be the poison. Time to give you a stronger cure," he walked to his office. When he came back he had an elixir that was basically black. "Drink up, don't hold it in your mouth."

"Okay," and she downed it. It was horrible she started coughing which opened her wound causing more issues. Once everything was fixed and settled, Clara was back asleep.

She was shaken awake, hard but not too hard to irritate her wound. "What Elijah?" Clara groaned without opening her eyes.

"You were asleep another two days. Your adoptive mom is here to see you again. I thought you'd want to talk to her," he kind of muttered it but it made Clara instantly open her eyes.

"Two days? ughhh!" she rolled her head back and moved a little. Avery was still there but he was sleeping as well. "Hey mom," Clara smiled at her.

"Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling?" She brushed Clara's hair back gently and smiled some.

"I feel alright but I don't wanna be held here any longer," Clara said outta spite to Elijah.

"Should have thought about that when you took so much of the poison. You'll be home in a day or so but no healing or any abilities. Something is going on with them but more about that later," Elijah said from his office and that was it.

"So what are your abilities?" Clara's adoptive mom asked.

"Well I'm a telepath which means I can hear what people are thinking, that's been going on since I was young. I am an inflictor which means any emotions I have or feel I can push it on to others. I can also heal people and I have an unknown ability. All my abilities are different than others with them. Councilman Brento, the one who got you here, he's an inflictor too but only bad emotions like anger and such. I can inflict happiness and love as well as those bad emotions, " Clara explained kinda of quickly.

"That's really cool. This is your school correct?" She asked as she sat in a chair next to the bed.

"Yeah but I've missed a lot of school and now I've missed semester exams so," Clara just gave a smile as she looked at her adoptive mom.

"Why have you missed a lot of school?" her adoptive mom asked.

"She can't keep herself out of trouble," Avery grumbled starting to wake up.

"I try. I didn't mean to send you flying into the gym wall. Not like I knew what I was doing. Didn't deserve that stupid ring," Clara muttered that last part.

"Ring?" her adoptive mom looked at Clara's hands and back.

"Not anymore. It was terrible. It was to try and help keep me under control since I accidentally hurt Avery. Caused more harm then good. I missed almost a month of school from it," Clara picked up her hand that had the ring and looked at the finger.

"That's horrible! Who forced you to wear it after so little time here?"

"The council. They decide all that stuff and there's really no stopping them," and just as Clara said that Brento walked in.

"Oh it's good to see you awake again Clara. I've missed having class with you and so I wanted to check up," he gave a head nod at Clara's adoptive mom.

"Thank you Brento. I appreciate you checking in but according to Elijah something weird is going on with my abilities but he won't say anything further. We might not be working together for a while," Clara was actually sad about that too. She had gotten to know Brento and enjoy spending that class with him and learning.

"I will send in some extra help for that. Anything to get you back and learning. Also don't worry about midterms you have been exempt from them, you too Avery." Brento walked out after that as well.

"So he's a councilman? He doesn't look very old," Clara's adoptive mom said and that got all of them laughing besides her. "What?"

"He's the oldest living one mom. He's over a thousand years old. We don't age and so far seem to be immortal," Clara explained some more and a gasp came from her adoptive mom.

"So does that mean I won't see you grow up after a certain age?" She was so confused.

"Mom you do realize you won't be remembering any of this right? For your safety they have to wipe the memories and replace them with others. They are allowing you to stay because I won't get to see you again and it's gonna be hard," Clara squeezed her adoptive mom's hand and watched as tears fell.

"I want to remember though Clara. I should have a say in this too!" she hugged Clara and did her best not to hit the wound.

"It's okay mom, you won't even realize you don't remember. It's too dangerous for you to remember," Clara hugged her mom back despite the pain of the wound.

"Maybe you can work something out with the council. Councilman Brento seems to really care about you Clara," her adoptive mom kissed her cheek before pulling back.

"I know mom and maybe but it might also be best if you forget. It's too dangerous and if someone takes you again it puts everyone in danger. It'll be painless," Clara had tears running down her eyes and she curled up facing her adoptive mom.

"You'll remember though won't you? Losing us all over again," her adoptive mom was brushing her hair back as she was talking to soothe Clara.

"Yeah I'll remember but that's okay. I am happy to have one more memory with you before it's all over," Clara faked a yawn as she laid there.

"I'll have Katryn take me back home so you can sleep. I'm gonna talk about keeping our memories and maybe you could visit so then this won't be the last," her adoptive mom kissed the top of her head.

"Okay mom. I will see you soon. I love you," Clara smiled and set her head down as her mom left.