Leena walked in the front door only to be greeted by a crushing hug. Well, as crushing as a normal person could manage at any rate. She hugged her dad back and looked down at his worried face. He let her go and stepped back. “I don’t think we’re going to have much time,” he said.
Leena sighed and closed her eyes as she nodded. “I know, dad. Even if they aren’t already here they’re certainly on their way by now.” She wished she could do something about the lines of worry on his face, but that was something she couldn’t fix. Well, to be precise it was something he wouldn't let her fix.
Her dad let loose his own sigh and led her through the jungle of their house to the living room. And she meant jungle literally, the inside of their two-story house had more in common with a botanical garden than a living space. Her dad was a Class-3/3 Telepath and Class-4 Plant Elemental, and telepath/elemental was a damned rare combination. Unlike most Plant Elementals under Class-6, her dad’s unique combination actually made him able to “talk” to plants, which also made him quirky. There’s nothing like watching your dad bust a gut laughing because the ficus told him a joke.
As they walked into the living room several plants reached out to touch her father in sympathy, though they retracted to avoid her touch as she passed. She didn’t take it personally, it was self-preservation.
Her dad sat in his favorite dark brown recliner and she sat on the matching couch, setting her backpack down next to her. Normally she’d sprawl but she was too nervous not to sit up straight. “Your brother called,” her dad said. “He wanted to know what we were going to do. I told him there was nothing we could do.”
He sounded so sad, and Leena wished she could make him feel better, but she couldn’t. “We’ve known this was coming, dad, ever since I was five. Sooner or later someone was going to notice me, and then they’d come.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I just wish it had been later, much later.” Her dad looked old at that moment, though he wasn’t. At 42, Joseph Brightwater was one of the oldest superhumans alive, but he barely looked 30. Though you could only vaguely make out his Native American ancestry in his features he was still proud of his heritage. He always said he didn’t know if it was irony or fate that the descendant of a line of medicine men would turn out to be a Healer.
Healers were understandably coveted, but only one type was so desired that they were basically enslaved. Accelerators and Regenerators weren’t exactly common, but neither were they rare. As their powers were most useful for injuries they often worked as surgeons and EMTs. And nobody in their right mind would risk the wrath of a Bio-Elemental. With absolute control of living flesh, a pissed off Bio-Elemental is basically the definition of “a fate worse than death”. But “True” Healers, more properly named Energy Healers, were too valuable for their own good.
Very little but death was beyond the abilities of a powerful True Healer. There were some nasty “super” diseases out there that even Bio-Elementals couldn’t heal but wouldn’t stand up to a True Healer, though there were a couple of truly insidious ones that no known True Healer could handle either. Tests done with the “assistance” of the Healer Prime had shown that even decapitation was reversible if treated quickly enough. Only trauma that caused instantaneous death, with destruction of the brain or a significant amount of the body, would fell someone with access to the stronger True Healers.
Up until about 10 years ago True Healers were often kidnapped along with their whole families by criminals and the powerful, their families held hostage to the Healer’s cooperation. In some countries it was the State itself that did so. As such all of the True Healers that could went into hiding, refusing to use their abilities for fear of what would happen to them and their families.
Due to the world powers’ desperate desire for the services of True Healers, in 2058 the UN ratified the Healer Accords. Under this provision the kidnap and forced servitude of a True Healer was made a worldwide capital crime, without the need for a trial. The provisions were so strict, in fact, that someone could walk into a building and kill every person in it, and if they walked out with a True Healer that testified they were being held against their will not only wouldn’t the person be prosecuted, they’d likely be given a medal.
This encouraged some True Healers to come out of hiding, the optimists. But when it became apparent that, while True Healers were being protected, they were effectively being made wards of the State, the emergences stopped. No True Healer has willingly come forward in more than 8 years, anywhere.
The Healer Prime, until his death earlier in the day, had been Healer Prime for the last 27 years. He was discovered by government officials and taken into government custody when he was only 11 years old. Anyone who had seen a picture or video of the Healer Prime knew for a fact that he did not want his position. If he’d had any abilities that would have allowed him to resist the government and defend himself he would have done so.
Leena had no desire to fill his shoes, and their family gave thanks for the fact that between when Leena was born and they discovered she was a Healer that she’d never been more than 20 miles as the crow flies from the Healer Prime’s compound on the edge of New York. That meant unless a Sensor actually walked in between her and the Healer Prime’s location while actively searching for Healers she was unlikely to be found. This wouldn’t have been as much of a concern – since everyone knew that Sensors could only pick up the strongest signals at a distance – if Leena’s first act of healing hadn’t been something everyone considered impossible.
Most healers are identified as infants by their families, usually because they unconsciously heal injuries they receive. Because of Leena’s high armor rating she never suffered injuries to heal. When she was just 3 months old they pulled her unharmed from the mangled wreck in which her mother had died.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
But when Leena was 3 years old they got a kitten. He was an adorable little tabby that Leena named Tigger, for his tiger-like stripes and his tendency to jump all over everything. He was a cuddly cat, but like all cats would only cuddle on his own terms. In his case that was pretty much all the time, any time, even if it was inconvenient for you. She loved that cat, and he’d even curl up next to her at night to sleep. He was her best friend in the world, up until her first day of kindergarten.
Her father brought her home nearly in tears that day. She was the only “Almost” in her class and several the other kids made fun of her and called her names. Then when they opened the front door Tigger came streaking out of the house. He’d been trying to escape to the outside lately and they usually paid attention to prevent his breakouts, but that day they were both too preoccupied to stop him, and David wasn’t home since he had school for another two hours. Thus, as they turned to try and catch him, they were just in time to see him run into the street and get crushed by a car.
Leena remembered that moment vividly. There’s no way to shake watching half of your beloved pet practically explode as tires run over him. And the car never even slowed down. The accident was a 1 in a million chance, as they lived on a road that saw very little traffic, especially during midday. As Leena ran screaming for her cat, she already knew his life was gone.
And Leena knew that not because she understood the injury was too severe to survive, but because she actually saw his life leave. Her primary perception of the world was the life energy all around her, from microscopic life floating like fog in the air to plants, animals, and people. She never told anyone because, as a child, she assumed everyone perceived the world like she did.
She knew even then that there was no qualitative difference between the life energy of a person and the life energy of a bug, it was all the same stuff. The differences lay in quantity, containment, and flow. Bigger things tended to have more life and better containment, which kept the energy from leaking away as quickly. It would take her years to figure out what the flow meant, but she knew it was important, though most people and things had flows like a muddy creek.
So when she saw Tigger’s life energy dissipate in a flash she knew he was gone. But as she kneeled on the road next to him, glowing blue tears streaming down her face, she refused to accept it. As she put her hands on her cat, her best friend, she willed him to live, and in that moment forced life energy into him. And forced is the right word, she pushed enough life energy into her cat to account for an entire city. At the time she didn’t know where she got that much life from, and considering the results she hadn’t cared.
The back half of her cat’s body, which had been completely destroyed, began to regenerate so fast it was hard to see. In a few seconds her cat was whole and alive! But it didn’t stop there, he started to grow, first 2, then 3, then 4 times his original size. All the while he was wiggling on his back and purring up a storm. He appeared to be feeling way too good for a cat that had recently been deceased, and he glowed in Leena’s vision like a tiny sun. But she didn’t care, she had her Tigger back.
She picked him up and held him with his head on her shoulder, a feat only possible now because of her Brick strength. She turned to her father with a huge smile on her face and Tigger purring happily in her ear. What she saw made her smile dim. She saw the wonder on her father’s face, but also a dawning sense of horror. He looked up and down the street, seemed massively relieved that it appeared no one had seen anything, and quickly ushered her and their now massive cat into the house.
Leena watched her father spend the next couple hours trying not to have a panic attack and mumbling to himself how they could explain a cat nearly the size of a Doberman. When David got home his jaw dropped at the sight of an over-inflated Tigger lying across his sister’s lap. Their dad explained what happened, and then explained what it meant.
No Healer, anywhere, could raise the dead, it wasn’t believed to be possible. That meant Leena was the most powerful Healer out there, by far. And that meant people would want her, the government and bad people, not necessarily mutually exclusive groups. By the end David was sitting next to Leena holding her in a hug as they both tried not to freak out. A month later they moved into a new house less than 4 miles from the Healer Prime’s compound and spent the next 13 years praying no Sensor would ever notice her.
So now they sat, waiting for “someone” to show up, government or otherwise, because they knew it was only a matter of time. Tigger chose to break Leena’s musings by jumping on the couch and resting his giant head on her thigh. He still glowed like a tiny sun to her, and he hadn’t aged a day since she healed him. In fact, Leena guessed old age for Tigger was probably many thousands of years away now, at least. She’d since learned to finesse her ability, but the side effects of Tigger’s uncontrolled healing were highly evident.
Aside from his increase in size, Tigger had come out of his healing stronger, faster, and more resilient. If he were measured in human terms he’d probably be a Brick-2. He was also smarter, at least as smart as a human, even if he couldn’t talk. But he understood English just fine and could even read, having learned right alongside Leena. That had come as something of a surprise. He had his own ebook collection, mostly space opera and sci-fi. He wanted to travel the universe someday.
Of course he was still a cat, and that meant if he placed his head on your lap he expected you to scratch his ears. Leena did so, and his body relaxed as he started purring. Leena had to smirk at a cat that was smart enough he could do calculus and be addicted to cheesy sci-fi movies but still got absurd levels of enjoyment from having his ears scratched and chasing a tennis ball around the house. Then again, that lift to the mood had probably been Tigger’s intention.
She looked over to see her father with a small smile on his lips. “You are a wonder, my angel. No matter what comes, remember that.” She felt like she should say something, but Tigger jerked her leg. When she looked down at him he stared into her eyes and nodded once, to say he agreed with her father. Then he closed his eyes and went back to purring. Leena wanted to cry, but she willed herself not to.
The doorbell rang. They looked at each other, and then her dad stood. He walked over and placed his hands to either side of her face and kissed her brow. He pulled back and gave her another smile. She could tell by the gleam in his eyes that he was trying not to cry. “We’ll be alright, angel. No matter what lies ahead, we’ll make it through.” And with that he turned and walked off to answer the door. Leena’s whole world was about to change, and she didn’t think it would be for the better.