Saving Koda Read online

  Chapter Six

  Emily looked around the cabin and grinned as she pressed her hands deep into her lower back. She was bone deep tired and sore in every imaginable place, but she felt really good about what they had accomplished working together.

  The weaker spirits hadn’t been able to help with the heavy task of the sled, but they’d been amazing inside the cabin with the blankets, curtains, medical supplies, and organization. It hadn’t taken too long for her, Koda, and Elmer to get his body laid out on the mattress they’d pulled from Joey’s cubby.

  Still, his foot and calf were on the floor, and his upper body hung a little off the sides. But there really hadn’t been another option. There was no way they would have been able to get him into the cubby where Joey slept; he was far too large, and with his injuries so severe, no one thought it would be a good idea to move him around any more than they had to.

  She smiled as Tom and a few of the others tried to interact with Joey, and she swore her sister was actually hearing them because she’d smile when one of them would make a funny noise.

  “Koda, come outside with me, and maybe we can get some fresh water,” Elmer said, his eyes staring hard at Koda, warning him not to argue.

  “Yeah, sure.” Koda stepped outside, glad to be away from the too-crowded cabin.

  He followed Elmer to the small hand pump on the side of the cabin and moved to the hand crank as Elmer set the bucket under the spout.

  “Yeah, for someone who isn’t actually drawing breath, it sure as hell feels stifling in there. How the hell does that work?” Koda grunted as he used his dwindling energy to crank the handle up and down.

  Elmer chuckled, appearing not the least bit out of breath or tired except for the slowness of his movements and reflexes.

  “It takes a long time and a lot of anger and pain to get this good. Do yourself a favor, Koda. If she can’t save you, move on. This,” Elmer said as he gestured around them, “and your memories are all you’ll have left here, and trust me—nothing is worse than the judgement you heap upon yourself.”

  Koda stopped cranking the handle and stared at Elmer for a minute as the bucket filled.

  “Would you want to stay and fight if that was your body in there?” Koda asked.

  “I think you’d be one lucky son of a bitch to wake up to a woman like that trying to save your life,” Elmer admitted. “And if you’re telling the truth and know so many other people that are like her, then you should fight like hell so you can get her and that baby out of here. This is no place for them.”

  Koda nodded his head in agreement. That was definitely the only thing keeping him from trying to will his energy to die. He felt like he had to make sure that Grai came for Emily and Joey. He didn’t like that they were out here hiding from people that meant them harm.

  He also had no doubt she was a hybrid, and because of his crash, she was now closer than she’d probably ever been to being potentially found and captured by the military. She wouldn’t have a clue why because she had no idea she was a hybrid.

  Koda ran his hands over his face as he looked at the obvious trail the sled had made directly from the crash site to the cabin.

  “I will stay and fight until my brother finds her. Then, I will leave it in the hands of the gods to determine my fate,” Koda said wearily, realizing just how much danger Emily and Joey were now in because of him.

  Elmer chuckled and slapped Koda on the shoulder.

  “I knew you weren’t as bad as you tried to pretend to be!”

  Koda winced at the words like they were like a dagger to his heart.

  If he only knew, Koda thought before he concentrated his energy and picked up the bucket, carrying it into the cabin.

  He ignored Emily and the spirits hovering over his body as he put some of the water into the kettle above the fire. He added more wood and stoked it as he heard Emily chattering about where the needle and thread were.

  Although he had no intention of getting a better look at the mangled body he no longer recognized, he couldn’t help but notice how the other spirits had turned to prevent him from looking.

  Can’t look much worse in the dim cabin light as it did in the dim forest, he thought with a snort.

  He looked around the room for Joey and was concerned that she may have snuck outside during all the commotion. He checked the little cubby and smiled when he moved the sheet and saw her cuddled up in a huge pink mass of soft blankets. Her little fist clutched the ears of a stuffed bunny.

  Koda moved the sheet back as quietly as he could and stepped back into the main room of the cabin. He was relieved when Elmer motioned him from the doorway and he headed outside.

  “We’re the heavy weights; those are the ninnies she needs inside right now,” Elmer said with a grin as he disappeared around the side of the house.

  Koda shook his head at the gruff man and followed to see what he was up to now. He stopped short when he turned the corner in time to see the ax fall so strongly that the wood pieces flew around the stump.

  “You’re really good with using energy,” Koda said, seriously impressed the spirit had it in him after the trek through the forest pushing the sled.

  “I been around a while, and when you had as much anger as I did, you learn real fast that you can use it to be . . . more aggressive than the others. The weather is changing; she’s going to need the wood, and I doubt she’s going to have time to chop any,” Elmer admitted as he drove the ax into another piece of wood.

  Koda nodded, and the two men set about chopping as much of the wood that they could for Emily.

  *****

  Emily tried really hard to listen to Gran and her mother and not think too much about the extent of the horrific injuries that affected every major part of Koda’s body. Every time she looked too hard or thought too long, she ended up fighting the swarm of tears that flooded her eyes and clouded her vision.

  Koda doesn’t have time for me to act like a scared child, she thought as she straightened her spine and listened closely to the two women trying to help her save Koda’s life.

  “Honey, ignore the amputated leg right now, it appears to have been cauterized somehow, and it’s not bleeding. We can deal with that later,” Gran said softly as she nervously studied every inch of Koda’s body.

  “He’s got broken ribs,” Sally confirmed, looking at the swollen and malformed side of Koda’s chest. “They will have to be bound. Remember how I showed you when Jedidiah came to us in the bayou?”

  Emily nodded her head and got up to get the sheet she used for sleeping. It was the only thing she had that was long enough to wrap around his large chest.

  She cut it into wide strips while the spirits watched her every move. She was grateful when they combined their energy to help her lift him up enough to bind his ribs. She’d had to brace her feet against the floor just to get them tight enough to set the ribs correctly and she leaned her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

  “You have to take care of his head now. Do you have anything to shave his hair with?” Gran asked as she looked around the small cabin.

  Emily moved to the fireplace and pulled a small box from the mantle where Joey couldn’t reach it. Opening the box, she pulled out the straight razor that had belonged to her father and grabbed the bar of baby soap she used for Joey.

  She tried her best to keep her stomach from heaving as she shaved around the large, jagged wound that exposed Koda’s cracked skull beneath. She was grateful that no one said anything to her about the tears that fell silently down her cheeks.

  She cleaned the dried blood, debris and insects from the wound as gently as she could, but the wound was so large it immediately began bleeding and she had to hurry through it. With a sense of urgency to prevent more blood loss, Emily hurriedly threaded the needle and began making small, precise stitches.

  “You have beautiful stitches, honey. When his hair grows back in, no one will ever see the scar,” Gran said with a smile of encouragement.

/>   Emily didn’t respond, her total concentration was focused on keeping her hands from shaking and the blood soaked needle from slipping from her fingers as she closed the gaping skin over his exposed skull.

  When she was done, she poured another splash of whiskey over the stitched area and took a sip from the bottle before turning to the next injury.

  “You need to do the same to his arm, but you’re going to need to fix the tear in his muscle before you close the skin. I’ll talk you through it,” Gran said, rushing to assure the ghostly pale Emily that she’d been there for her.

  Emily nodded and stood woodenly as she cleaned her hands and the needle in a basin of water.

  “You’re doing an amazing job, baby,” her mother assured her as Emily rethreaded the needle and sterilized it.

  Emily kneeled back down next to Koda’s injured arm and focused only on the gentle sound of Gran’s voice as she talked her through the task of pulling the muscle back together and sewing it.

  She had no idea how long it had taken to finish with the wound that ran from his shoulder to below his elbow, and the one on his beautiful face that ran from his scalp to his chin, but by the time she sat back the sun was rising, and her back felt like it was on fire.

  “I need to feed Joey soon. What else needs to be done immediately?” she asked woodenly, her body and mind numb from exhaustion and fear for Koda.

  Sally and Gran looked at one another and both shook their heads.

  “Take care of Joey for now, but we will need to deal with that leg soon,” Gran said softly, wishing there was more she could do for the brave and exhausted girl.

  Emily nodded and stood without another look at Koda and set about making oatmeal for Joey before she woke up.

  “Eat something too; you need it,” her mother warned.

  “She needs some sleep. When is the last time she slept?” Tom whispered even though Emily could hear him.

  Emily ignored them as she mixed Joey’s oatmeal and stirred in the last of the wild blackberries she’d found a few days ago. Even though she hadn’t seen Koda since he’d left the cabin with Elmer, she knew he was still around and wondered what he was doing.

  After seeing nothing but blood and horror over his poor battered body, she had an overwhelming need to see him as he was before he’d been so terribly hurt. She turned when she heard the small thump that signaled Joey coming down from her bed and watched the baby toddle across the floor to where Koda lay.

  Emily was ready to run across the room and catch her sister before she could fall on Koda when Joey sat carefully beside his chest. The small girl reached out her left hand and laid it on his chest while her right danced wildly in the air.

  “What is she doing?” Sally asked, knowing something wasn’t right when she felt an electric charge begin to build in the small space.

  Gran hissed and reached out to Joey as if to stop her but was slammed backwards by an invisible barrier.

  “No, baby! Joey! No!” Gran yelled as she slammed her fists against the invisible wall that seemed to surround Joey and Koda.

  “What is she doing?” Emily asked, her voice rising as her fear for her sister grew.

  Suddenly Emily dropped to her knees, grabbing her arm and chest as a fiery pain ripped through her. She raised her eyes to her sister and she swore she could see a shimmering golden light surrounding Koda and Joey before another pain ripped through her arm and shoulder and she collapsed back to the floor.

  “Joey, stop!” Gran screamed in vain as Joey’s rapid hand movements only increased.

  “What’s going on?” Koda roared in fear as he yanked the door open and skidded into the small room with Elmer on his heels.

  “What is she doing?” Elmer asked in surprise as he stepped closer to the now visible golden wall shimmering around Joey and Koda.

  Only Emily could see Gran pounding on the golden wall and hear her screams for Joey to stop, but she couldn’t speak through the pain flowing through her body in violent waves to find out what was happening.

  Koda saw Emily writhing on the floor in agony and knelt beside her, forcing his energy to the surface so he could touch her and find out what had happened to her.

  “Emily, what happened? Where are you hurt?” he asked, trying to make her move out of the fetal position so he could see where she was injured.

  Moments later the pain lessened enough for Emily to gulp in air, and she turned to Joey in time to see her sister cry out in pain before she burst into tears and collapsed on Koda’s chest. She scrambled across the floor to her sister just as the golden barrier fell and Gran ran to them.

  “Oh, baby, why? Why did you do that?” Gran cried as she knelt next to the unconscious baby.

  “What did she do?” Emily cried in anger and fear as she grabbed Joey to her chest, rolling her over to see if she could see an injury anywhere.

  “Emily . . . I never meant . . . I didn’t know,” Gran muttered, tears tracking down her spectral cheeks.

  “What did you do?” Emily roared at the woman in fear as she tried to gently shake her sister awake. “Joey? Come on, baby, wake up for Em.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Koda demanded, looking around the room at the scared spirits.

  “Joey touched . . . your body,” Tom replied. “then Emily screamed, then Joey screamed . . . I don’t know.”

  “Emily,” Koda said gently as he knelt beside her and the unconscious child. “Tell me what happened.”

  Emily glared up at Gran, ignoring Koda so she could find out what happened to her baby sister from the only person who knew.

  “Tell me what you did to Joey, or I’m going to do a lot of things you will regret,” Emily threatened, uncaring about anything at that moment but her baby sister.

  “Who are you talking to?” Koda asked.

  “Probably Gran . . . she’s not usually this mad at her mom,” Tom whispered.

  Gran turned sorrow filled eyes to Emily and nodded her head. She knew she had to tell Emily what had happened.

  “Joey is very special. More than you know,” Gran began. “She knows things we do not, and she determined it was necessary to tie your life force and her own . . . to Koda. The two of you are now helping to keep him alive.”

  “What?” Emily roared and tried to stand but her right leg wouldn’t seem to hold her weight, and she slipped back to the floor with Joey in her arms.

  Gran knelt beside Emily and laid her hand on Joey’s brow.

  “Just rest a moment,” Gran said gently. “Your body and Joey’s is taking on some of the trauma in Koda’s. Joey didn’t know how much to share and gave you both too much, but the energy is equalizing between you. You should be able to move soon.”

  “What the hell does this mean? Is Joey going to be OK?” Emily screamed in frustration, uncaring about anything but the cool, still baby in her arms.

  “What’s going on? Talk to me, Emily,” Koda pleaded, scared for the unmoving child and a visibly shaken Emily.

  “Emily, you need to listen to Gran now more than ever. Please, honey,” her mother pleaded.

  Emily couldn’t take any more of the voices and her own fear for her sister. Holding Joey close to her chest, she forced herself to stand and screamed.

  “Shut up! All of you! Shut up!”

  Then Joey’s hand moved. Just a small twitch at first, but it was enough to draw Emily’s attention, and she stared down at her sister, praying that she’d be all right. Suddenly, Joey’s hand popped up and started moving in the air, drawing symbols as her eyes opened, and she turned away from Emily’s gaze and kicked her feet to get down.

  Emily dropped to her knees and held her struggling sister as her tears streamed down her face.

  “Don’t you ever,” Emily whispered to Joey. “Scare me like that again. You’re all I have; you can’t leave me.”

  Joey grunted and pushed until Emily finally gave in and set her on the floor. She immediately crawled over to Koda and sat beside him, one hand on his chest as the othe
r moved through the air.

  Emily turned blazing eyes to Gran.

  “If anything happens to her because of you, I will not rest until I destroy everything you love. That includes your son!” Emily threatened as she glanced at Koda’s body.

  “Emily . . .” Gran began when Koda interrupted.

  “What are you talking about? Whose son?” Koda asked looking around the room to see whose mother she could be talking to.

  Emily turned her accusing gaze to Koda.

  “How can you not know? It was her who came here days ago and warned me you were coming and that I had to help you. I call her Gran because I refuse to call a grown woman after a cereal bar. Who the hell names their kid Granola?” she said in frustration and anger.

  Koda’s mind was reeling, trying to understand what she was talking about when suddenly it dawned on him, and he stared at Emily in shock and horror.

  “Granala? Your Gran is my mother? I thought that was your grandmother,” he whispered, afraid to know the answer.

  Emily shoved herself to her feet and glared at him.

  “Granala, Granola . . . same damn thing. It’s Gran, and she’s the bitch who did this!” she yelled as the other spirits hissed in shock.

  “Emily . . .” Gran began.

  Emily whipped around to face her.

  “You shut the hell up! The only thing I want to hear from you is how to fix this!”

  “I can’t. Only Joey can fix this now. Or Tristan,” Gran admitted sadly, her heart breaking for Emily and Joey.

  Emily turned back to Koda, her fists clenched in anger. She was getting damn tired of no one giving her a way to fix this.

  “Your bitch mom says the only ones who can fix this are Joey or Tristan. How do we find Tristan?” Emily demanded.

  Koda was looking where Emily had screamed at Granala hoping for a glimpse of his mother but was terrified of what the look on her face would be.

  “Tristan is my nephew. Grai’s son. If he knows he is needed, he will find us once Grai has taken me back,” Koda said, his eyes imploring her. “How is my mother here? What is happening that has you so angry?”

  Emily sat down in the chair, suddenly more exhausted than she’d ever been, emotionally and physically.