Chapter 20 ~Healing Touch~
Xander's POV
I clenched my jaw in silent anger as I drove to the packhouse.
Yara stepped down from the car, fidgeting with her fingers before she waved Fiona bye.
I zoomed off afterwards, to get there on time. The moon's light was glistening on the tarmac.
On the way, Fiona kept throwing curious glances at me.
When she finally could not hold it in, she blurted. “So you're just not going to speak to me?”
I sighed, my fingers clenching tightly against the steering wheel.
“Don't you think I'm tense enough for you to give me cold shoulders?” She looked close to tears.
How did this happen, you ask?
I'll tell you.
I tucked Fiona into bed myself earlier tonight. Although I was wondering why she had gloss on and her hair was all done. But, I thought nothing of it since she was in pyjamas.
“Good night.” I kissed her forehead.
“Night.” She said, yawning.
She looked so sleepy… or so I thought.
I went into my bed, and in a couple of minutes - because of stress and famish- I was asleep too.
I woke up to my phone ringing by 11, groggily I picked up the phone when the caller wouldn't stop. I looked at the name. ‘Fiona?’. Instantly, I rushed to her room, seeing her asleep, but how?
Upon closer inspection, I found out that it wasn't Fiona in the bed - no- it was a couple of propped up pillows made to look like a person covered with duvet.
Alarmed, I rushed back to my room. “Fiona?” I said, as I picked the call.
“Xander, something terrible has happened. I need you to drive me to my mom's.” She sounded teary.
“Wh- where are you?” By now, all traces of sleep had cleared from my eyes.
“I'm at a party at Jasmin's.”
Who The Fuck is Jasmin. “Sorry?”
“Jasmin- from school…”
Yup, and that's how we got here.
My knuckles were almost white from how tightly I was clutching the steering wheel.
“Xander..”
“What.” I snapped.
“I'm.. I'm sorry for waking you up by this time. You know I don't have any other person to call.” She whined.
If only it was about that. “How did you even get to be friends with ‘those girls’, and why did you think it was such a brilliant idea to go to a party by this time without informing me?”
She kept quiet.
“Anything could have happened and I'll be at home thinking… ah, Fiona is safely tucked in the bed.” I swiveled on a rough turn on the road.
“I'm sorry, I won't do it again. Can we just focus on getting to my mom's, so I know what's wrong?”
And did I mention Fiona didn't tell me anything about her mother being in a coma? Yes, I was just finding out tonight.
We pulled into the building. Barely stopping before Fiona came down from the car.
Her dad was standing by the patio with two mugs of hot cocoa. He handed it over to us when we got there.
“Dad, what happened? Where's mom?” Fiona asked, barely acknowledging the mug.
Her stepdad looked tense already. “Come on in. You too, Xander.”
When we got in, he walked us into a large room that looked more like a hospital ward. It had feeding tubes, IVs and smelt sterile.
And that was when I saw Fiona's mother, the spitting image of her. Only pale and without the red hair.
She lay comatose on the bed.
Fiona's dad turned to us. “Earlier, I was refilling some injections when I noticed her moving slightly and mumbling incoherently. Now, this isn't unusual. She does that occasionally. Fiona too knows,”
Fiona nodded. “So, what happened?”
“Her temperature started rising, and I tried using the damp towel thingy. I even called Dr. Yang. Despite that, there were no improvements and now…” He moved to where Fiona’s mother was and removed the blankets, revealing swollen feet. “This."
It looked pretty bad, and overall, she looked in terrible shape.
Fiona was almost hyperventilating by now. She sat on the bed, burying her face in her mother's hair. I wasn't sure if she was crying or not.
“Come on.” Her dad tapped me, and we walked out to give her space.
We walked to the dining, and I sat down. I was still short of words about how this was even possible. How did one go straight into a coma for almost two decades? I had a lot of questions.
But I sat still, drinking from the hot cocoa.
Her dad took off his glasses, his eyes were already hooded with eye bags.
“Unrelated,” He started out of nowhere. “But Fiona, she looks pretty good. I hate to admit it, Xander, but you seem to take good care of her.”
I nodded, internally proud of myself.
I asked him the question that had been bugging my mind since I got here. “How did all this happen? Fiona's mom?”
He laughed bitterly. For a minute, I thought he would not answer, but he finally did.
“You know, I've not even told Fiona anything about this but… her mother and I were close, right from high school, or maybe even preschool. But we finally got married when I was financially stable.”
I nodded, listening as he continued.
“It wasn't up to- maybe eight months after our marriage, she came home bleeding. She was a fitness instructor, and she did this nightly jog thing that I always told her I was against. But unfortunately, that day she was taken advantage of.”
“Oh.” I muttered, saddened.
“She was bleeding, and I tried to get more information about the man, but for some reason, amnesia or something, she couldn't remember anything.”
“It was one of the worst moments in our lives, the pregnancy. During the term, she was in tremors, hallucinating, breaking into cold sweats. The baby was late term and after 12 months, she gave birth to Fiona. The labour took over 2 days, but after the baby was out, she went comatose.”
“Maybe it was the trauma, you know, but that was it. She just went.”
I didn't know what to say. I just looked dumbfounded. “I've never heard of anything like that before.”
He was saying something when Fiona mindlinked me.
Xander, I think I've got an idea.
We both walked to the room to see what was happening.
“Rhia said I can use my healing ability to help.” Fiona said.
“Who's Rhia?” Her dad asked, confused.
“My wolf.” She said, already putting her hands on her mother's chest and closing her eyes.
We watched in anticipation as she winced. Tiny light sparks flew from her hands.
I could see the internal struggle, but then, it was working.
Her mother's legs were slowly shrinking to their normal size and color was returning to her cheeks.
By the time Fiona came to, her mom was pretty much good. Still in a coma, but good.
“It worked!” She beamed, her chest swelling. “It worked.”
I smiled, and her dad looked surprised and proud.