Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,39

okay. I knew you were, but it’s good to see you,” Darren said.

Bennu flew to the rail at the end of the bed and perched before fluffing up his feathers. “So that was one of the bad guys. As bad guys go, he's pretty impressive. I expected...” Darren sighed. “I don't know what I expected.” He hadn't expected Bennu and Pochi to get their asses kicked.

Pochi blinked into existence, hovering between the IV stand and the deactivated heart rate monitor. Anger. Shame. An image of blood being washed away by torrents of water. It all slammed into Darren so hard that he gasped.

Bennu screamed in anger and threw his wings out to either side. Instead of controlling his emotions, Pochi doubled down on the guilt and anguish until the pressure made Darren's skin ache.

“Stop it!” Darren pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. “Stop it!” Bennu flapped his wings, and the emotions were brushed away like leaves in a fall breeze. When Darren opened his eyes, Bennu had morphed into his ancient form. He stood next to the hospital bed, his wings outstretched to shield Darren and his beak clicking as he tried to bite Pochi. Pochi used aerial acrobatics to evade him.

Darren rested his hand against Bennu’s fluffy butt. “Stop,” he ordered. Bennu fluttered his wings, but he stopped snapping.

Pochi continued to dart about the room. “Both of you, stop it!” Darren swung his legs around and sat on the edge of the bed. “Look, I know what makes Bennu feel guilty,” he told Pochi. “If you’re considering a purge, don’t. It didn't solve the problem last time. We have other solutions.”

Darren just couldn’t think of one now.

Pochi landed on the IV pole and puffed up his chest. Darren pushed Bennu to one side so he could see Pochi. “Can we agree that you guys are not great with plans? Kavon and I have gone up against a lot of criminals, so we might have a few insights on how to stop a bad guy.”

Bennu folded his wings and slowly shrank into his smaller form, and Pochi’s feathers smoothed out. Pochi’s debilitating waves of guilt vanished under a disconcerting sense of nothingness.

“Just give us time.” Darren had the uncomfortable feeling that he was arguing for the lives of every shaman and every adept, and maybe even every magic user on earth. The stress of it was giving him a massive headache. “If you guys had your own version of law enforcement, you would know that bad guys always have a weakness. We can research this guy and figure out who he is and what he wants.”

Pochi darted straight up into the air and blasted out a sense of incredulity. He was clearly questioning Darren's grip on reality. “I need to call Detective Johnson and tell him to calm his bird down.”

Bennu gave a soft cry and then vanished.

“Great,” Darren said. At least Kavon had healed him, and that meant it was time to get back to work. Darren headed for the closet, but instead of finding the grubby weekend clothes he’d been wearing during the accident, he found one of his suits on a hanger. Perfect. There was nothing Darren loved more than wearing a damn suit on his day off. Even better, Kavon had grabbed the bright teal suit Darren had bought during a fit of insanity. That had been back when Kavon had first started pushing Darren away, and like a peacock, Darren had tried a ridiculous display of color to catch Kavon’s attention. He didn’t have positive associations with it now.

Darren was straightening his tie when Kavon came into the room. “You’re up,” Kavon said.

“And feeling very healthy for someone who had an up close and personal encounter with a building,” Darren said. He finished his tie and buttoned his jacket. He was ready to get back to the investigation. “You have some mad healing skills.”

Kavon blushed so that Darren saw the color in the mirror. Darren turned around. “Kavon?”

Kavon didn’t meet Darren’s gaze. “We healed people one floor above and two below us. I think Bennu must have been providing too much energy.”

Darren could only stare at Kavon and blink. “Seriously?” he asked. It was a strange subject for a joke, but Darren couldn’t image the sort of power that would have taken.

Kavon shrugged. “The staff have asked that we not share energies at the Center in the future.”

“You’d think they’d thank us.” Darren picked up his keys and put them in his