Page 42 of Deep Within Me
She regarded Maria. The woman’s chest rose and fell with her labored breathing while the rest of her body had absolutely no muscle tone. “Before Ernez finishes Maria off for good, I think there’s a way you can use her to get Liz back.”
Having joined Liz and Jacob at their table, Zeke had encouraged Liz to eat.
“You need to keep up your strength,” he said.
“I’ve had enough, really.” She pushed her barely touched plate aside.
He brought it right back. “We don’t waste food here. We’ve stored a lot, but we still need to send our men out for provisions at times. They’re always risking an ambush from Carreon’s men just to make certain everyone here is well fed.”
Zeke’s heavy dose of guilt worked. Liz finally finished everything on her plate.
He and Jacob escorted her from the dining hall. No one watched them depart, not even Kele. She’d left the kitchen minutes before. On the way to Dr. Munez’s room, Zeke, Jacob, and Liz happened upon the women who’d voted for them to leave. Each of those ladies avoided eye contact and conversation, ducking into whatever rooms happened to be available, closing and locking those doors as they passed.
Jacob pretended not to notice the lingering resentment. Zeke did the same. Liz sighed repeatedly.
At the door to her father’s room, Zeke spoke to his brother. “Don’t leave. This will only take a minute; then I want to see the prisoners.”
“Do they need to be healed?” Liz asked.
Zeke was about to exchange a glance with Jacob but thought better of it, not wanting Liz to see and interpret it as something bad. That would come soon enough. “No. Your father’s alreadyseen to everyone. We have something we’d like to talk to you about.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “What?”
“Let’s go inside.”
He gestured her into the room. Jacob watched Liz with that same yearning expression he’d worn in the dining hall. Zeke’s chest ached with sorrow rather than jealousy. He loved them both and wished this hadn’t gotten so complicated, but it had. However, right now all that mattered was Liz’s continuing survival.
“Don’t leave,” he murmured to Jacob.
His brother screwed up his face. “I’m not, all right?”
“Make certain Kele doesn’t come anywhere near here.”
“Why would she?” Jacob seemed surprised at Zeke’s worry. He spoke quietly as Liz and her father embraced. “Kele knows she’s lucky you let her stay with the clan. I don’t think anyone could be more ashamed. It’s my guess she’d risk her life to protect Liz and her father as she did with us last night.”
Deep down, Zeke believed the same, until the disturbing images from his vision returned. That hand around a knife. Blood on the blade. The thumbnail polished a deep red or black.
He went into the room, closed the door, and spoke to Liz’s father. “Do you want to start this or should I?”
“Start what?” she asked.
“You can’t heal anymore,” Dr. Munez said.
Liz regarded the man then Zeke, her lack of emotion saying she’d suspected this intervention. “Why not?” she argued with her dad. “You can’t possibly mean I’ve lost the ability to do so. That’s not true.” She gestured to his leg. “I healed your ankle.”
“Then you passed out in the Jeep,” Zeke said.
She frowned. “I did not.”
“Yes, you did,” her father said. “You don’t recall it, but I saw. Zeke shouted your name several times. You didn’t respond, notuntil I laid my hand on your shoulder and poured more of my healing gift into you.”
Even though she kept shaking her head to deny her father’s words, blood continued to drain from her face.
Zeke went to her. “You better sit down.”
Liz pushed his hands away and stepped back. “What does my healing have to do with any of this?”
“Each time you pour your gift into anyone,” Zeke said, “you drain yourself. That never happened before the reanimation, but it’s doing so now.”