Chapter 243 Blood and Time
Chapter 243 Blood and Time
Lily's POV
I woke up feeling completely different.
The crushing weakness that had plagued me since Gabriel's death was gone. I sat up in the hospital bed, testing my strength with disbelief.
Perfect.
My hand touched the soul flower behind my ear. It pulsed with warm, otherworldly energy I'd never felt before.
"Thank you, mother," I whispered to the moonlight streaming through the window. "I won't waste this gift."
I need Emma's lab immediately. Those hybrid flowers - they're the key to everything.
The hospital was quiet in the midnight hours. Perfect for slipping away unnoticed.
I quickly dressed and made my way through the empty corridors. Security was light. No one questioned a grieving Luna wandering the halls.
---
Twenty minutes later, I called Emma from outside the Wildson Mansion research wing.
"Lily? You woke up? When did you?" Emma's sleepy voice answered after several rings.
"Meet me at the lab right now," I said urgently. "I know how to save Gabriel."
"Lily... Gabriel is—"
"Dead, yes. But I can bring him back. I need those hybrid flowers."
I hung up before she could argue.
---
Emma arrived fifteen minutes later, looking worried in her lab coat thrown over pajamas.
"You disappeared from the hospital. What's going on?"
"I met the Moon Goddess. She claimed to be my mother," I said simply. "She told me how to save Gabriel."
Emma's eyes widened. "What?"
"Those hybrid flowers can create a resurrection fruit," I continued desperately. "But they need my blood. My life force."
Emma's expression shifted to alarm. "Your life force? Lily, that sounds—"
"Just show me the flowers," I interrupted. "Let me prove it to you."
After studying my face carefully, Emma sighed and led me to a large containment unit in the corner. "I had to isolate them after they started showing abnormal growth patterns."
She opened the unit, revealing dozens of strange hybrid flowers. Soul flower white mixed with blood bat flower crimson, creating something entirely unnatural. They seemed to pulse with their own inner rhythm.
I pulled a knife from my jacket pocket.
"Lily, what are you doing with that?" Emma grabbed my wrist frantically.
"Proving that miracles are real."
Before she could stop me, I drew the sharp blade across my palm. Pain flared, but it felt insignificant compared to losing Gabriel.
Blood welled up immediately.
I held my bleeding hand directly over the nearest hybrid flower.
The reaction was immediate and terrifying.
The flower began to glow with brilliant inner light. The petals opened impossibly wide, expanding beyond their natural size. The white and crimson colors swirled together like liquid mercury.
"Holy shit," Emma whispered, backing away instinctively.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
The plant began to move.
Tendrils shot out from the main stem, writhing like living snakes. They wrapped around my wrist with hungry desperation, pulling my hand closer to the flower's center.
I could feel them drinking deeply, drawing not just blood but something much deeper. Something essential - pieces of my very soul being pulled away.
The hybrid flower was growing at an impossible rate. The stem thickened visibly. New buds sprouted along its length. Roots burst through the bottom of the container, spreading across the lab floor.
"It's working," I gasped as weakness flooded through my body. "Emma, it's actually working!"
Emma grabbed heavy-duty garden shears from the equipment rack. "This is insane! Completely insane!"
She began frantically hacking at the tendrils wrapped around my arm. The plant let out a sound like a scream - high-pitched and otherworldly.
Green fluid spurted from the severed tendrils. The moment they were cut away, I collapsed onto the lab floor.
Everything went black.
---
When I opened my eyes, I was back in my hospital bed.
How did I get here?
Martha was sitting in the chair beside me, gently rocking my sleeping son in her arms. Her face was filled with concern and relief.
Emma stood near the window, holding a tray from the hospital cafeteria.
"Thank the goddess you're awake," Martha said softly. "Emma brought you back here last night. You were unconscious and bleeding."
Last night? I struggled to sit up, my head spinning.
"What time is it now?"
"Almost nine," Emma said quietly, setting the breakfast tray on my bedside table. "I brought you some food from the cafeteria, but Lily... what happened in that lab defies every law of biology I know."
Martha's expression grew more serious. "Lily, I need to tell you something important. The funeral arrangements are finalized."
My heart stopped. "When?"
"Nine o'clock this morning," Martha said gently. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know it feels too soon, but the pack elders insisted we couldn't delay any longer."
Nine o'clock. Less than one hour.
I looked desperately at Emma. "The flowers - are they still growing?"
Emma nodded slowly. "They're definitely bigger and more vibrant than before, but Lily... they're still just flowers. There's no fruit yet."
No fruit. Panic clawed at my chest.
"They need more time to absorb and transform," I said frantically. "But the funeral can't be delayed."
Martha looked confused. "Sweetheart, what are you talking about?"
I met Emma's eyes. She understood. She'd seen the impossible happen.
"Emma," I said urgently, "the flowers responded to my blood. They grew. They changed. If I give them more - much more - they might bloom in time."
Emma's face went pale. "Lily, you almost died from that small amount of blood. If you try to force them to bloom faster by giving more..."
"Then I'll die bringing back the love of my life," I interrupted fiercely. "That's a trade I'm willing to make every single time."
Martha's eyes widened in alarm. "What are you two talking about? Lily, you're scaring me."
Emma sat down heavily. "She's planning to do this at the funeral, Martha. She believes she can resurrect Gabriel using those hybrid flowers and her blood."
The room fell silent except for my son's soft breathing.
"The Moon Goddess told me it would work," I said with absolute conviction. "I just need to give the flowers enough blood to force them to bloom and create the resurrection fruit."
Martha stared at me. "Lily... that sounds like..."
"Like I've lost my mind?" I finished. "Maybe I have. But Emma saw what happened. The flowers responded to my blood in ways that shouldn't be possible."
Emma nodded reluctantly. "What she showed me was scientifically impossible. But it happened. I witnessed it with my own eyes."
Martha looked between us, her expression torn between concern and hope. "Even if this is real... even if it's possible... you're talking about bleeding yourself at Gabriel's funeral. In front of the entire pack."
"I'm talking about doing whatever it takes," I said, struggling to stand on shaky legs. "If there's even the smallest chance I can bring Gabriel back, I have to try."
Emma stood up slowly. "If you're determined to do this completely insane thing... you'll need help. Medical support to make sure you don't bleed out before the flowers can do whatever they're supposed to do."
Relief flooded through me. "You'll help?"
"I'll help you not die stupidly," Emma corrected grimly. "But Lily, if this doesn't work... if Gabriel doesn't come back..."
"Then at least I'll have tried everything," I said simply.
Emma moved toward the door. "We'll need to get those flowers to the funeral site. And a lot of medical supplies. And sharp knives."
Martha was still holding my son, her face pale. "This is madness."
"This is love," I corrected. "And if the Moon Goddess spoke true, it's going to work."
Gabriel's funeral was starting in less than one hour. But by the time it was over, if everything went according to plan, it wouldn't be a funeral at all.
It would be a resurrection.
And I was willing to trade half my life to make it happen.