Revolting
Chapter 51 -

Chapter Thirteen - The Healer Hannah

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, but I didn't understand what was happening. The forest was silent around us, as though even the birds and the insects and the squirrels were waiting on the child. It was so strangely quiet that I could hear my own heart beat pulsing in my ears.

Then I saw, by slow degrees, some changes come over my brother. His chest began to lift in fuller, deeper breaths. The blue tinge left his lips, and the gray faded from his skin. The wound on his shoulder began to ooze, and the smell was so unbearable I covered my nose. First it was whitish-yellowish pus, but then I realized something else was coming out, something greenish, like bile.

"She's pushing out the poisons," Daisy whispered.

The baby was doing that?

I've heard of people with healing abilities... but I didn't expect it to be like this. Wasn't it supposed to be beautiful? Wasn't there supposed to be glowing, golden light? This was gruesome. The smell was making even the Luna gag. I'm not sure how the baby could stand to have her face that close to the wound.

And then Heath gasped, and his neck arched back, and clean blood started flowing out of the wound.

The baby nodded, apparently satisfied with her work. She patted Heath on the head as though he were a dog, and then pushed herself back up on her chubby little legs and toddled off to play in my pile of dishes. My mouth sagged as my eyes followed her.

The Luna snapped open the first aide kit she brought, a worried frown between her eyebrows. "I didn't think..." she took a shuddering breath. "Well, I thought this would be too much for her." Daisy knelt beside her and put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. "She's okay Nina."

Nina chuckled, but the laugh was dry and humorless, "Yes she's always okay. It is mom who is not. Good goddess this stinks to high heaven." She took out a bottle of peroxide and dumped it over the wound. It bubbled and fizzed and Heath flinched, his eyes popping open.

"Heath!" I was so glad to see his deep brown eyes. I thought I would never see them again. Yet here he was, glaring at the Luna, his eyes clear and bright, alert and aware for the first time in weeks. I crowded around to his other side so I could grasp the hand of his good arm. "Heath, how do you feel? Are you okay?"

"It burns." he growled and swore, "Jeezus woman, what are you doing to me?"

"Just cleaning you up." The Luna said cheerfully. "You've had a terrible infection."

Heath rolls his eyes back to me. "Who are these people?" he hissed.

"They're... they are friends." I glanced up at Daisy, who smiled and nodded at me in encouragement. Were they really friends? They had saved my brother, that was all that mattered to me. I would kiss their feet for the rest of my natural life.

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"We don't have friends!" Heath barked.

I was a little appalled at him. These women... well, more specifically that little girl who was playing a pretend tea-party with my assortment of broken, cast off dishes, had just saved his life. And he was being prickly and ungrateful. I set my jaw stubbornly. "Things change."

The Luna finished taping the gauze over the wound. "There now. You rest a bit, and then we'll replace someone to help you back to the pack house."

"I'm not going to the pack house." Heath growled. "I'm not part of your pack."

The Luna looked at him mildly, lifting her brows. "I never said you were. But you need medical attention. We are offering you our hospitality, at least until you recover fully."

He turned his head away from her. "I don't want it."

Nina huffed a sigh and pushed herself back up to her feet. "Suit yourself then. If you change your mind, I'm sure you know where to replace us."

I stood up and scrambled over Heath to catch ahold of the Luna's hand. "Thank you... thank you so much."

She smiled at me kindly, and grasped my hand in both of ours. "You are a good girl, Hannah. Take care of your brother. I'm sure we'll see you again."

And with that, she scooped up the baby into her arms, and started to walk out of the camp. Over her shoulder, the baby smiled at me and gave me a little wave. "Bye-bye!" she sing-songed.

I didn't know what to do, so I just waved back at her. Daisy picked up the basket, which was now empty. "I'll take this back with me," she said softly. "You will replace it again... in the same place." She cast a worried look at my brother, who was glaring daggers at all of us. "Take care of yourself, Hannah." She smiled at me, that wide, beautiful smile, and then turned to trot after her Luna.

I turned back to my brother, put my hands on my hips and glared at him. "Those people saved your life," I snapped. "The least you could do is show a little gratitude."

"I'd rather die than take help from a pack!" he grumbled back, rubbing a at his shoulder with his good hand. "What the hell have you been doing while I was sleeping?"

I kicked a plastic tub angrily, sending it tumbling across the camp. "I've been taking care of you, day in and day out, trying to keep you alive. I've been doing everything I could just to survive. You almost DIED Heath. Then what? Will you leave me alone in the world?" I burst into tears and turned my back on him.

I never heard him get up. I can't believe he had the strength. But he pulled himself up off the skins and came to me, his arms circled me from behind, his head resting heavily on the top of mine. "I'm sorry Hannah. I'll never leave you on purpose, you know that." I turned in his arms and hugged him hard, crushing his ribs in my embrace. He was my big brother, my only family, all I had in the world. But I would not forget that it was the kindness of the Rebel Moon pack that had brought him back to me.