Blue Violet - By Abigail Owen Page 0,43

and poured his power into that area until the light turned white. Then he would move on to the next brightest spot. Over and over and over he did this, healing Ellie’s injuries one agonizing place at a time.

“Hugh?” Alex’s voice broke through Hugh’s concentration

“There’s a lot to fix, Alex. She’s still with us. Give me some time.”

*****

At Hugh’s words Alex fell silent. The tension in his voice told Alex and the others what they needed to know, that Ellie was in very bad shape. Helplessly he stared at the precious girl whose hand he still held. Alex leaned forward to whisper in her ear. He didn’t know half of what he said to her. He talked mostly about how she needed to fight, that she couldn’t leave him. Not now.

*****

Ellie gradually regained consciousness. At first, all she was aware of was a warm, tingling sensation coursing through her body. As the lovely heat seeped through her, she heard Griffin’s voice calling her name. Softly at first, and then louder and louder.

“Stop screaming at me, Griffin,” she finally thought. That was when she became aware that Griffin was beside her, holding her hand. She felt a great tension leave his body when he heard her voice in his head.

“Welcome back,” was his hushed response. For her reserved brother, the wealth of feeling in his voice said it all. Ellie still remained trapped in the warm darkness of semi-oblivion. She couldn’t open her eyes or talk. She frowned in concentration. Clearly Griffin had been worried about something.

“What happened? Why can’t I open my eyes?”

Griffin stayed silent so long that Ellie started to worry. A slight frown marred her brow. “Don’t force me to open my eyes and look at you, Griff,” she attempted to tease.

“I see your sense of humor has survived intact,” Griffin responded to his sister’s thoughts aloud this time. He was relieved to see the slight curve to her lips indicating her amusement. After watching for the past hour as his usually vital, vibrant sister looked like a corpse, Griffin could forgive her anything at this moment. Beside them, Alex’s head jerked up.

At the sound of Griffin’s voice, Ellie became aware that Alex was also there, holding her other hand, and that he’d been talking to her. And then she realized that she’d been listening to him talk for some time. Her frown deepened as she tried to remember his words. She had a feeling they were important.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked Griffin.

Ellie also became aware of the other voices in the room. They’d been there all along, but she only now realized that as they all went silent.

“I can hear her thoughts,” Griffin explained softly.

“Is she okay?” Adelaide asked.

Ellie waited impatiently for Griffin’s response, as curious as the rest of the room.

“Answer the girl, Griff,” Ellie finally prodded him. Not wanting to be rude to the others in the room, she managed to say her question aloud this time. She heard someone choke back a laugh.

“I guess that answers that,” Griffin murmured, amused, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Well, I’m glad you’re satisfied, but I still don’t know what’s going on. And my eyes still don’t want to open,” Ellie replied in a sleepy huff. Her speech was slightly slurred and it felt like cotton wool was stuffed in her mouth.

“Feisty little thing, isn’t she?” another voice in the room commented.

Just then, Ellie became aware that she could control the warmth flowing through her body. Concentrating on it, she forced it to become more intense. And then she felt the hands on either side of her face jerk and realized someone other than Griffin and Alex was touching her.

“What the heck was that?” asked a voice above her head. It was calm and the speaker didn’t take his hands away, but it was evident that he was slightly apprehensive.

“What?” Alex and Griffin asked in unison.

“A tingly feeling, similar to an electric shock, but sort of being pulled out of me,” answered the detached voice.

“Ah,” Griffin relaxed beside her. “She’s definitely healing if you’re feeling that,” he said to Hugh. “One of Ellie’s gifts is the ability to use other people’s powers when she’s touching them,” Griffin explained. “That tingly feeling is her accessing your powers.”

“Just helping you along a little,” Ellie piped up.

Ellie guessed the unfamiliar voice must belong to Hugh, Lila and Adelaide’s father. Based on the little she knew of him, and given the current situation, she had an idea that his power was the