When my eyes opened, I found Heather hovering over me, with Rayne close by her side.
“Sade, you’re awake,” Heather said, sounding worried. “Are you okay?”
I lifted my head off the table. We were still sitting outside the coffee shop on the patio.
“I’m okay, really.”
“I was so worried,” Heather went on. “Rayne wouldn’t tell me anything. He just kept saying that this is normal and you’d be fine. You totally passed out, out of nowhere. How can that be normal? Are you sick or something?”
I glanced up at Rayne, who was watching our conversation intently. He was obviously upset. I could feel the tension coming from inside him.
“Everything’s fine,” I said. “I’m not sick.”
Heather didn’t look convinced. “I called an ambulance. It should be here any minute to help that skateboarder. Maybe we should have them look at you too.”
I stood from the table. “No, that’s not a good idea. I promise I’ll explain, but right now we really just need to go, okay?”
Heather stared back at me, dumbfounded. Rayne stood from his chair, ready to leave.
I grabbed Heather’s arm. “Seriously, just trust me. We should go.”
Confusion came over Heather’s face, but she followed as Rayne and I hurried to the car.
“Are you okay to drive?” I asked her.
Heather blinked slowly and shook her head. “Um, yeah.” Then, she reached in her purse and pulled out her keys.
We drove back to Heather’s condo in quiet, but as soon as she parked, Heather seemed to come out of the trance.
“Someone needs to explain to me what just happened,” she announced. “I’m not getting out of this car until you explain to me what’s going on.”
I glanced back at Rayne with concern. His face clearly said, I told you so. I told you this was going to happen.
I swallowed, not sure what to say. I wanted to tell Heather so badly. I wanted to tell her everything.
I wanted to say, I moved to another planet with my parents. My father and Rayne are trained spies from another world and now I’m training to become an agent just like them. I took an oath not to tell anyone about this ever, but you’re Heather and you’re like a sister to me, so I have to tell you everything. The coolest part of all of this is that I can heal people. That’s what happened back at the coffee shop with that guy with the broken arm. We have this amazing stuff called Healing Water, but I don’t even need it. I healed him all on my own.
I looked back at Heather with longing eyes. If only I could tell her even just one of my secrets...
Then suddenly it occurred to me. I took an oath never to tell anyone about Ambrosia or the Healing Water or even the existence of Water Keepers, but I never promised anything about my own abilities to heal. That secret was mine; it had nothing to do with Ambrosia as a whole.
I turned to Rayne cautiously. “I’m going to tell her about me.”
His eyes went wide. “What? You can’t.”
I kept my voice calm. “I’m not breaking my oath. I’m not going to tell her anything that I agreed not to. I’m only going to tell her specifically about me, about what I can do. There’s no law anywhere that says I can’t share with a friend my own personal abilities.”
Rayne threw up one hand in frustration. “There’s no law about that specifically because you’re the only person in existence that it would apply to. I think we can safely assume that that part of the agreement was implied.”
“I won’t be putting anyone or anything at risk,” I insisted. “You can argue all you want, but nothing you say will change my mind.”
Suddenly, Rayne was out of the car. He slammed the door behind him. I watched as he circled around to the front passenger seat right outside my door, forcing it open.
“Come on,” he said firmly. “We’re leaving.”
“No,” I shot back.
“If I have to, I’ll reach in and grab you and carry you out on my shoulder. If that’s what it takes to save you from yourself and your own irrational need to sabotage everything you’ve been working towards.”
His words jabbed in just the wrong way. “Stop trying to tell me what to do. I’m not your assignment anymore. I’m not that little girl that needs your constant protection. Why don’t you get your own life, instead of always trying to control mine?”
Before the last words could even leave my lips, I could feel the stabbing pain wrench through Rayne’s heart.
His face went blank. His voice went tight. “I’ll be in the car,” he said, and then the door was closed beside me, and he was gone.
Heather stared back at me with eyes wide, full of confusion and disbelief.
“Sorry,” I said. “I know that was awkward.”
Heather still seemed in shock. “I’ve never seen the two of you fight like that, not ever. Seriously, what in the world is going on? What were you talking about, not being Rayne’s assignment?”
I sighed. “It’s a long story. I can’t really explain that part of things to you. But, I at least want to tell you what happened back at the coffee shop.”
Heather tilted her head with concern. “Look, sweetie, I don’t really get what’s going on between you two, but Rayne seemed pretty upset about you telling me, whatever it is. As much as I’m dying to know even the tiniest little bit of what’s going on with you, if it’s going to cause problems between you and Rayne, I’ll understand. You don’t have to tell me.”
“Thanks,” I said, “but I really want to. I’ll leave the important stuff out. I just need to talk to my best friend, you know? I haven’t talked to my mom in weeks and lately Rayne is getting harder and harder to talk about these things with. It’s just... something crazy has happened to me, and it’s driving me nuts.”
“You know I’m here for you, always,” Heather said. “If you feel this is what you need, than I’m ready to help, any way I can.”
I smiled with gratitude. “You’re such a good friend. I think I took you for granted back in high school. I can’t believe how much harder life is now.”
“That’s funny that you say that,” Heather replied. “I’ve been thinking the same thing about you. Now that you’re gone, I’ve realized more than ever how lucky I was to have you.”
“Me too,” I said.
We both smiled and Heather gave me a hug.
“Are you sure you want to tell me your secret?” she asked.
“I’m positive. I need to talk about it with someone I can trust.”
She nodded thoughtfully.
“So basically...” I began, “back at the coffee shop... I sort of... healed that guy who broke his arm. Actually, he broke more than his arm. He broke two ribs and punctured a lung.”
Heather squinted back at me. “You healed him? What do you mean?”
“Do you remember when your father had his heart attack?”
“Of course,” Heather said. “That night changed my life.”
“Well, I found this stone—a special crystal with healing powers. At least I think it was the stone, or at least part of it was. I’m not a hundred percent sure how it all really happened. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that I helped heal your father from his heart attack that night.”
Heather looked bewildered. “You’re saying you somehow helped heal my father?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I said. “And this might sound crazy, but I also got shot and almost died at one point back in senior year, and Rayne had to save my life, and then I found the stone and, well, ever since all that I’ve learned more and more that I have this amazing ability to heal. I don’t know why or how it works, it just does.”
Heather squinted back at me. “You’re saying you can heal people... with some kind of mystical crystal?”
“Well at first I thought it was the crystal, but I don’t have it anymore and I still can heal. I think it did something to me. Now I can do it all on my own.”
Heather shook her head. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, I think I believe you... I want to believe you... but, how is that even possible?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. But it’s the truth. I’ve tried it dozens of times. My own body can heal from pretty much anything. I’ve almost died, so many times. And I can use it to heal other people too. But when I do that, most of the time I end up passing out afterward. It’s like, the worse the illness or injury that I heal, the longer it takes for me to wake up.”
I stopped to wait, giving Heather a chance to process what I had shared.
A moment later, her brow pinched. “Wait, go back... Did you say you got shot senior year?”
I laughed once to myself. “Yeah,” I replied. “Twice actually.”
“You got shot twice?”
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” I went on. “If you want I can do something to show you how it works. Do you have some scissors or a knife or something? I can cut myself and let you watch it heal.”
Heather’s lip curled in horror. “No, don’t do that.”
“But I want to make sure you don’t think I’m crazy.”
“None of this makes sense,” Heather said. “But I don’t think you’re crazy.”
“You don’t?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “I just don’t understand how any of this is possible. I mean, you’re my best friend, so I definitely believe you, but wow, you can heal people? That’s pretty insane. I mean, it actually sounds really cool; I just can’t wrap my head around it. My mind is just... boggled. You said you’ve tried it lots of times?”
I grinned. “I know this is hard to believe, but I’ve healed over thirty people already. Anything from a knee injury to cancer to a gunshot wound.”
“Wow,” Heather said, “just... wow. So, is that what you’ve been doing all this time in training? Learning to heal people?”
I shifted in my seat. “Sort of, but it’s more complicated than that. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the details.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “I understand. If having the ability to heal people is the least of your secrets, then I can only imagine how crazy your other secrets must be.”
I laughed. “You have no idea.” I paused and took a breath. “It’s probably better that you don’t know. Sometimes I wish I could go back and unlearn all the things that have happened. It’s made my life way more complicated. Sometimes I wish I could just come back here to live with you and go to college, but this is my life now.”
Heather patted my arm. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that it’s been so hard, but if it makes you feel any better, I think it sounds kind of perfect for you, at least from what you’ve told me.”
“You do?”
“Sade, I’ve known you a long time. You love helping people. You’re like, the nicest most caring person I know. I can’t think of a better way for you to do that than with some amazing special ability to heal people.”
“Thanks, Heather. That does make me feel better.”
“Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me,” she said. “I promise I will never tell anyone your secret. I just wish I could do more.”
“Just talking to you has already helped a ton,” I assured her. “Thanks for understanding.”
She smiled. “What are friends for?”
I gave her another hug. As I glanced over her shoulder I noticed the clock on the car dashboard.
“Wow, it’s getting late,” I said. “I really have to go.”
“Do you know when you’re leaving town?” Heather asked. “Do you think we’d be able to see each other again before you go?”
I glanced down sadly. “Probably not. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get in major trouble as it is.”
“Okay,” she said. “But just one more thing before you leave...”
“What is it?”
Heather’s brow lifted. “You should make-up with Rayne. You know that boy adores you, right?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I know. I will. I adore him too.”