“Perhaps there is a way…” Gabriel said hesitantly. “It is risky, though. And I cannot guarantee it will work. I have only tried it three times, with varying degrees of success. Yet it helped you some.” He seemed to be debating it out more with himself than explaining it me.

“What do you mean?” Then my mind flitted back to something Talbot had said to me last night, and I realized what he was referring to. “You and Talbot used your powers to help heal me—after I was attacked by those wolves in the warehouse. You did some sort of power transfer to help my body heal itself when I was unconscious and wasn’t able to do it myself?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said.

My memories surrounding the aftermath of what had happened in the warehouse were still fuzzy, so I’d never quite gotten the implications of that before now. Gabriel and Talbot had helped heal me. But I hadn’t known that was even possible—that healing other people was one of the many powers of the Urbat. Yes, they could heal themselves, but other people? I’d been the recipient of a power transfer before that day—when Daniel and I ran through the ravine in the woods after saving Baby James. I hadn’t had the ability to keep up with him until I felt a burst of energy travel through Daniel’s body into mine, tethering us together, making his power mine for a few moments. He’d shown me later that same night how he could heal himself, but he’d never mentioned that he could heal other people.

“Why didn’t Daniel tell me about this power?”

“He probably has no idea. It is a closely guarded secret. I did not know myself for hundreds of years. Not until Sirhan asked me to help him try it on his wife, Rachel. It did not work as well for her as it did for you. I believe that was the first and only time Sirhan had attempted it.” Gabriel scrubbed his hand over his bearded chin. “It is a remnant from the original Hounds of Heaven, the ones who were called by God and imbued with powers to help and protect the people of their clan. Legend has it that, in addition to being strong warriors, they were also great healers and teachers. They were like angels here on Earth, gifted with every power to help mankind. That is, until their power corrupted them, and they coveted their abilities for themselves. They succumbed to the same fate as the fallen angels of heaven, forsaking their duty and blessings to become as lowly as the devil’s demons. The power to heal others has been forgotten by most Urbat. They deal death now instead of life, and I am not sure the gift has been used on a normal human since those primitive times.”

“But you think it can be still?”

“I have never attempted it on a human before. It is extremely taxing, and dangerous if done wrong.” He studied Dad’s monitors like he understood what all the lines and numbers meant. “In your father’s condition, I think it is worth trying. If you will allow it.”

“Yes,” I said. “Please help him.”

“It takes two. I will need your help.” He gave me a soft, reassuring smile. He looked just like a priest consoling one of his parishioners. “You must have complete focus and clear your mind of negativity in order to be a conduit for your positive energy to pass into him. No negative thoughts or feelings. This must be a gift of love.”

I glanced over at Dad. A large brace supported his neck, and most of his swollen face was obscured by the oxygen mask. All I could really recognize of him were the creases of his closed eyes. He looked so utterly helpless. Why did he insist on going to the warehouse? Why did I let him go? What if I couldn’t do this? What if I wasn’t ready? What if I couldn’t open my mind?

Deep breaths.

Deep breaths.

I had to clear all those doubtful thoughts away.

“Show me what to do, then. I have to do something for him.” I held my hands out like the healing power was something tangible he could actually hand to me.

Gabriel pulled the hospital curtain partially closed over the glass observation window and door—I imagined to obscure an outsider’s view, but not draw too much attention by closing it completely. The nurses were letting me visit my dad’s room for only twenty minutes at a time, which meant we had less than ten minutes of privacy before someone returned to shoo us back into the waiting room. Gabriel took my hands in his and walked me over to my father’s bed. He placed my hands on my father’s shallow chest. The rise and fall of his breathing felt completely unnatural. Strained and thin.

“Your hands go here, over his heart. And mine go here.” He placed his hands softly over mine. “Clear your mind. Open a pathway for your positive energy to flow from your heart, through your hands, and into him. Negative emotions feed the wolf inside of you, but you must be able to push them completely away in order to do this. Deep breaths. Meditate. Clear your mind. Open your heart.”

I almost pulled my hands out from under Gabriel’s. “But what if I can’t do this?”

“I believe in you, Grace.” Gabriel had never said anything like that to me before. I’d started thinking of him as the world’s oldest skeptic. “You’re the girl who withstood the wolves. The Divine One, they say.”

“I don’t feel very divine.”

“You must try, for you father.”

I nodded. Gabriel pulled in a long breath and then let it out between his lips. I did the same. He closed his eyes. I did also.

“Concentrate on your love for him. Clear your mind of doubt, and imagine him becoming whole.”

Gabriel was still for a moment, but then his hands clasped tightly over mine. Heat swelled from his fingers and pulsed into my hands. I tried to picture my father well again, tried to call up memories of him from my life. The way he smiled. His patient voice. But as the heat swelled in my hands, growing with intensity, my memories flashed to the scene in the fiery corridor. The way my father looked, limp and lifeless in Talbot’s arms, when I found them. I couldn’t stop him from getting hurt, so what made me think I could actually help him now?

You’re too weak, my inner wolf snarled. You can’t help him. You can’t help anybody.

I winced. The heat radiating off of Gabriel’s hands was almost too much to bear. I gritted my teeth, trying to hold on. Dad needed my help. He went to that warehouse because of me.…

Images of the fire ripped through my mind. The sound of the explosion I heard over the phone. Words the nurses said. My father lying so still.