Chapter 6: Her Healing Powers

Ella's Point Of View.

I spent the rest of that night and the next morning pacing my room. It was late morning now, and the windows were open to tempt in a breeze. All it did was push in more sunlight, heating the room and the occupant of the bed up.

Henry was on the bed, still unconscious. His skin was exuding more sweat than I'd seen on a single person, ever. His eyes were tightly shut, but his eyelids were papery thin and sporting thin, green veins. His eyeballs were moving rapidly underneath his eyelids, as though he was in a lucid dream.

He was shirtless; I'd managed to get his shirt off him the night before. His hair, long and dark, lie around his face in limp curtains. That and his chalk-white face reminded me of Snow White in her glass casket.

An eerie version, albeit.

I paused and bit my nails in contemplation. Should I wake him? Should I alert the College Clinic to tell them about his condition?

No, I thought. Perhaps this was a werewolf thing, and the clinical people would only be confused and perhaps diagnose him wrongly.

Finally, I groaned in frustration and began to pace the room again. Then, a voice pierced through my train of thoughts like a needle through paper.

"Ella...."

I stopped abruptly in my tracks and turned towards my bed so fast that I thought my knees would give in. Henry, still on the bed, was already moving slightly. His eyes were fluttering open.

"Henry!" I exclaimed and rushed towards the bed. I sat down beside him and stretched out my hand to touch his forehead, then withdrew it almost immediately.

"Oh, no. You're burning with a fever!" I noted.

Henry smiled slightly, his eyes still closed. "Oh, I feel worse."

I sighed and sat still, waiting for him to open his eyes. Finally, he did, and I stared into the brightest pair of blue eyes I'd ever seen.

For a moment, all I did was stare into their depths. They looked like clear-cut pieces of sapphire, catching my gaze and holding them in. I felt as though my soul was drawn to his, as though our destinies were entwined in a way that I never knew before.

Then Henry blinked, and the connection was broken.

I pulled my gaze away and cleared my throat nervously, feeling an embarrassed blush creep up my cheeks. "I'm glad you're awake."

"I'm glad I am too," he replied with a hoarse voice.

"Let me get you some water." I said, already standing at my feet. However, Henry's hand shot out, gripping my own with a strength that was unusual for someone who appeared sick.

"No. Stay here, Ella. There's something we need to talk about."

I waved my hand flippantly. "Oh, if this is about my uncle, I am fine, Henry. I really am—"

"No, you're not." His hand reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from my cheek. I flinched almost instinctively as his fingers grazed on my cheek.

"You're sore and red here," he whispered. "That man hit you, didn't he?"

My eyes moved down to my feet in sorrow. "He did."

"Well, he won't anymore." Henry growled, and my head shot up. My bed was backing the window, and so I couldn't see much of his face, but the little I could see was so fierce that I could see the werewolf part of him very clearly.

"But there's something else I want to tell you." He continued. Placing a hand on his chest, he iterated. "You know I'm a werewolf, right?"

"Yes, I know." I nodded. His real identity was something I couldn't stop thinking about, after I saw him change to a beast only yesterday.

"And you know we have a goddess: the Moon Goddess—"

"I know werewolf lore, Henry." I chimed in, interrupting him.

Henry nodded curtly. "Well, I have been having some pretty vivid dreams and visions of our goddess. She....well, let's say she wants to help me recover my heritage as an Alpha back."

Confusion gnawed at my insides. "I don't.... you're an Alpha?!"

He nodded. "I am."

That was understandable enough, I thought. I knew about Alphas and Omegas and Betas and packs from reading a lot of books on werewolf lore. However, the look of desperation in his eyes made me think that there was something more.

Something he wasn't telling me.

"What is it, Henry?" I asked. "There's something on your mind."

"I don't know how you'd take this, but...." He paused, swallowed hard and continued. "You're a witch, Ella."

********

My first instinct was to laugh, and laugh I did.

I stood on the bed, walking from one end of my room and back as I laughed my lungs out. Henry watched me calmly as I cackled, his eyes never leaving me.

"You're kidding," I said, in between my laughter. "Just because you're a mystical creature doesn't mean other people are."

"But you are!" He insisted. With several grunts, he sat up on my bed, staring at me eagerly. "You're a witch, the same as I am a werewolf. I know it as well as I know you, because the Moon Goddess told me in a vision."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you and your Goddess, Henry, but I don't have a cauldron and a wand hidden somewhere in my lodge. I am not a witch." I ended, laughing again.

"Ella, this is not funny!" Henry snapped, and my laughter fizzled to a stop. I stared at the man on my bed, damp hair sticking to his shoulders, and I knew that he was serious.

He was dead serious about this. I could see it in his eyes.

"Come back here," he ordered me. As though my legs were slaves under his command, they moved forward against my will.

I sat on the bed beside him. "What now?"

"Bring your hand here." Henry commanded.

I stretched out my hand and placed it in his larger, rougher one. Then slowly, Henry guided my hand to his chest, just above his heart.

My mouth suddenly went dry. I could feel his heart thundering away, much faster than any human heart I've ever heard.

"Close your eyes, Ella."

I did.

"Now, think of one word: heal. Just think about it, nothing else."

Heal, I thought.

As though by magic, I felt something tangible, yet unseen, flow from my body into Henry's. Opening my eyes in alarm, I stared at Henry in surprise.

I glanced down to see a thin, fibrous cord of what looked like light curling around my arm. It moved from my shoulder, and straight into Henry's heart.

As I watched in surprise, the sweat on Henry's body vanished instantly. His fever receded, and color came back into his pale skin.

He breathed a sigh of relief and let go of my hand. "There! I feel much better."

I stared at my hand in wonder. I'm a witch, I'm a witch!.

Red at my hands in wonder. I was a witch. I was a witch!