Lora returned and lathered her palm with a foul-smelling, sticky, thick liquid. Tara offered her two brown pills from the coveted stash of the futures medicine. Fin turned on his heels and left the room.

Chapter Five

Liz picked at her food with her good hand, thankful that Tara had insisted that they eat with utensils. Managing the lamb on her plate would be much harder if she had to eat it with her fingers.

“What’s this?” Todd waved the paper in the air to no one in general.

“Looks like a bad science book to me,” Simon replied.

“More like microbiology.” Tara glanced at it sideways. “I had nightmares for weeks after that class. Anytime someone sneezed I thought for sure I was going to die of some exotic illness.”

“Who drew it?”

“I did,” Cian spoke from the far end of the dinner table. “Tara suggested I sketch what I see when I try to draw my power. This is what I see.”

Tara raised her hand to Todd. “Can I?’

Todd handed her the picture.

“What do you see, lass?” Duncan asked at her side. “Cells. See here…” She pushed her plate aside and spread the paper out in front of her. “These lines look like veins or maybe arteries. Here are the cells.

Oh, man, if I’m not mistaken, these are mitochondria, a nucleus, everything.”

“What do you think it means?”

“Can you tell if it’s a human cell or animal?”

Todd asked.

“I hated micro. There isn’t much that actually stuck after the final. I know it’s a cell. Because of the shape I’d say human, but I wouldn’t bet money on it.” “What do you think it means?”

Liz glanced over to Ian. “You said our heritage and gifts stem from nature. Earth, fire, water, and wind. Yet Simon is experiencing telepathy with animals, maybe even changing shape into one.

Amber’s empathic powers aren’t exactly any of the elements, neither are Lora’s premonitions.

“True. But all Druids have some ability over the elements. The others draw from a deeper connection with the Ancients, with the energy surrounding us.”

“Didn’t some scientist say that humans only use ten percent of their brain?” Todd asked.

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t it safe to assume your ancestry has learned to tap into the other ninety percent?”

“I think Todd’s right.”

Liz glanced at her aching hand. “Lora, was there a time when anyone of you have been really sick?”

“Of course. Duncan and Fin both fell ill after the two of them decided to catch fish from the stream in the middle of winter. Had they used traps, they wouldn’t have had a problem, but they thought it would be better to catch the fish with their hands.”

Duncan raised a brow to Fin who shrugged.

“What about Cian? When was the last time he was sick?”

Lora tilted her head to the side in thought.

“Well, he… No, that was Fin.” She spoke almost to herself. “I don’t recall a time where Cian was ill. Do you remember anything, Ian?”

He shook his head. “Nay, my boys were always healthy growing up.”

“Why do you ask?” Fin asked.

Instead of answering, Liz asked another question. “What about injuries?”

“Well, there is an entirely different story. Cian fell from his horse and hit a fallen tree. His shoulder sustained a deep cut. We worried for days about infection.”

“But he didn’t develop an infection, did he?”

“Nay.”

“What about a scar? Do you have any evidence of your fall, Cian?”

Cian’s gaze drifted to his left shoulder. “Nay.

I’ve nothing to remind me of that time in my life.”

Liz pushed back her chair and walked around the table. She removed the layers of bandages from her palm.

“What are you doing?”

“Humor me.” The idea formed in her head about the meaning of the cells Cian saw. Fin stood and gave her his chair beside his brother.

Cian sent her a worried stare. “What is it you want me to do?”

“Close your eyes.” Liz took his hands and held them in the air. She placed her non-injured palm under his without it touching. “Think of those cells, those images you see when you draw from your power.”

Cian shifted in his chair, his face bunched up.

After a couple deep breaths, the worried lines on his face softened. His breathing evened out. “I see the circles and lines.”

“Are they moving?”

“Aye. In an even pattern.”

“Like a pulse?”

“Mayhap.”

Liz lowered her good hand and brought her scorched one under his open palms. Neither touched him during the transition.

The expression on Cian’s face changed. His brows came together. “The color of the image is darker now. Black and gray.”

“What was the color before?”

“Red, no pink.”

Liz glanced at Fin standing over them.

“Try and remove the dark image from your mind and replace it with the one you had before.”

“How?”

“Just try,” Fin encouraged. “Concentrate only on the color you see.”

Liz nodded to Fin. He knew what she was trying to have Cian do.

Silence settled over them as they watched Cian’s expressions. Liz closed her eyes and concentrated on the discomfort of her palm, searching for any change. She took several deep breaths and imagined her body healing itself, imagined Cian’s energy flowing into her palm.

“Oh my God,” Tara gasped.

Liz’s eyes sprung open, as did Cian’s.

A blue, glowing, pulsating light surrounded Cian’s hands. For a split second, the pain in her hand completely disappeared but when Cian’s concentration severed, the pain returned and the light faded.

Fin’s hand rested on her shoulder. “Did you feel anything?”

Liz’s face beamed, her eyes lit up. “The pain went away. For a minute it felt completely normal.”

“What does this mean?”

“It means that you are a healer, Cian.”

“How can that be? Women are healers, not men.” He didn’t seem nearly as excited as she was.

“Oh, don’t you go getting all sexist on us. Men can be healers, doctors. In fact, in our century there are more male doctors then women. Surgeons, people that save lives on a daily basis.”

Cian settled in his chair deep in thought. He glanced to his father, searching for approval.