Chapter 25
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Saber
I keep the chuckle at bay that wants to escape when I realize that Foxy has buried herself deep in the recesses of her mind. It’s always been her coping mechanism from as far back as I can remember. That, and she hates redundant conversations. She’s heard me explain about Wrecker and myself one too many times in her estimation.
“So, what does that mean for me?” Canyon asks, his entire body sitting still as if he’s been frozen in time.
“You took after me, I’m afraid. This gene is very dominant. Every man and woman I know who was born with a specialty has passed that down to their children, and you aren’t an exception to that rule.”
“I am a freak,” Canyon mumbles, finally moving from his statuesque position and slouching into the chair, lifting his hand and chewing on his cuticle. “I did hurt them, didn’t I? The accident was my fault, this just confirms that.”
I can tell from Roxy’s face that his words are breaking her heart right now. Not gonna lie, they’re killing me too. I know I felt the same way as he did when mine manifested itself, but thankfully, like Dragon told me, we’re surrounded by men and women who can help him navigate the changes and learn to harness his ability.
“Not necessarily, Canyon. You could’ve astroprojected when you felt the car either veer off the road or felt the impact with the tree. We don’t know the exact moment your powers showed up, just that it was around the same time as the accident.”
“Accident.” My boy snorts. “It’s murder, Saber. Call it what it is.”
“It is not,” Foxy snaps. “Did you purposefully set out to cause that accident, Canyon?”
“No,” he whispers, unshed tears clogging his throat. “I would never do that.”
“The first time I lost a patient, I blamed myself. I misdiagnosed something and it ended up costing my patient her life. I hated myself until one of my mentors sat me down and explained to me that I’m human, and as such, I can make mistakes. The problem being, some symptoms have various ailments, and sometimes, we have to make an estimated guess when someone is coding. There are times that the guess is right, and there are times when it’s wrong.” Roxy’s relating to how he’s feeling in the only way she knows how, by comparing how she reacted the first time a patient coded and was unable to be revived. Knowing how that feels myself, it’s a damn good comparison.
“What’s that got to do with this?” Canyon asks, his volume louder and more strained than I’d like it to be when he’s speaking to his mother.
Foxy reaches out for me, knowing that I’m fixing to give our boy a tongue lashing for speaking to her as if she’s no better than the dirt he walks on. I’m protective of my woman, and nobody, not even her own flesh and blood will speak to her with anything other than respect. I may not have been there for his first words, his first steps, or the first day of school, but I can damn well teach our son how to properly treat a woman. Not just one he’s in love with either—he needs to be respectful to every female who crosses his path as far as I’m concerned. I know he’s still grieving, which is understandable that he’d be a bit sullen and cross, but I need to start the way I intend to finish when it concerns teaching my boy those important things.
I grab her hand and take the seat beside her, but my eyes stay laser focused on Canyon. He begins to fidget which means I made my point without having to utter a single syllable. “I want you to think about why she made that comparison, son. Once you’ve thought it out and decided you can speak to her with a tone that is more respectable, then we’ll continue this conversation.”
“It’s okay, Weston. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute. He’s not only discovered he has an aptitude for supernatural tendencies, but he’s also dealing with the aftereffects of grief. He’s having to relive that moment to try and comprehend whether or not his ‘awakening’ and manifestation caused such a tragic chain of events.”
I vehemently shake my head, but before I get a chance at a rebuttal, Canyon opens his mouth and cuts me off before I get a single thought out of my mouth.
“No, he’s right.” Canyon emphatically shakes his head in denial. “I took it out on you and that wasn’t right. I do get what you were trying to say to me. I just felt like it was different for you because you didn’t know that person and I loved my parents. They were everything to me. And if I did cause their death, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.”
“You didn’t cause their death,” Wrecker says, materializing out of thin air causing all three of us to jump. I swear to God he seems to have the instinct to know when he’s needed, even though I never felt him in my head. Granted, he can rifle through memories and thoughts without us knowing, but he usually lets us know. Thank fuck for that too, because I don’t want him sorting through my life all willy-nilly.
“How the fuck did you do that, brother? That’s new,” I grumble, giving him the side eye as I stand up and check the door. Sure enough, it’s still locked.
“I was in the bathroom, asshole,” Wrecker chuckles. “The women took the kids for a potty break before y’all came this way. Out of respect, I tried to stay out of the way and let you work this out amongst you. But like everything that comes with you, you suck at explanations.”
Roxy covers her mouth with her hand, however with her shoulders shaking, I know she’s laughing at the way Wrecker just scared about twenty years off of my life. Wench.
“Go fuck yourself,” I rumble, retaking my seat. As I’ve heard some of the younger patients state to their family when they’ve been scared, at least I know my heart’s in working order. Now if it could get back to a normal rate, I’ll be just fine.
“Could y’all not do this please?” Foxy asks, giving us the stink eye. “It’s neither the time nor the place for you to squabble.”
“I don’t squabble,” I mumble. “I still have my man card, Foxy. If I squabbled, I’d have to turn that motherfucker in.” And… there’s my Foxy Roxy, who’s now rolling her eyes at me as if I’ve just spouted off the most ridiculous shit in the world.
“Maybe not, but you do whine like a little bitch,” Wrecker accuses, peering down at me as he dries his hands on his shirt. “You’re out of paper towels; you need to restock that shit.”
“I don’t usually have guests so it wasn’t on the top of my priority list,” I argue. “If you plan on making yourself at home in my office, restock the shelves yourself.”
“Fuck that, I’ll get the prospect to do it,” Wrecker states.
“I’m sure your brother will be happy to be your whipping dog. Don’t be lazy, Wrecker,” I barb.
“Enough you two,” Foxy snaps. “Explain to Canyon what you meant when you told him he wasn’t responsible for his parents' deaths, Wrecker.”
Wrecker crouches down to where he’s eye level with Canyon and explains. “It’s like your dad said before. You didn’t project yourself from the car until it went over the guardrail. If they’d done an autopsy on your dad they would’ve found out he had a heart attack, and kid, it wasn’t a mild one. He wouldn’t have survived it. You did nothing wrong and there wasn’t anything you could’ve done to prevent it either.” Canyon gulps, turning his head away from us to where we can’t see the myriad of devastated expressions clouding his face. But when he lifts his shoulder and wipes his cheeks, I know he’s crying and it makes me wish there was something I could say or do to ease this sorrow for him.
Tears well up in Roxy’s eyes while I choke back my own emotion. We’ve both responded to traumas in the emergency room where a patient was in cardiac arrest, get them revived, only to have whoever’s working in cardiology take them up for a heart catheterization to find out that the patient’s attack caused massive damage. Then there are the ones who don’t survive and when the autopsies are uploaded to their chart, we see that they had what is called a Widowmaker heart attack, where the largest artery is fully blocked. While some who have one of those do survive, the percentage rate is under fifteen percent, which is dismal considering how advanced we are in medicine these days.
“However,” Wrecker says, picking up his explanation where he left off. “With you being a time traveler, your powers can be deadly to yourself and others. You’re going to have to train and learn to keep yourself grounded. While your folks are away for the weekend, Butcher and I are going to spend some time with you, helping you learn how to do that. You need to learn to meditate and block. When Roxy gets back, Harper is going to work with her.”
“Me? Why does she have to work with me?” Roxy asks, confused.
“Because, babe. You’re his anchor. You’re who will keep him from getting lost anytime he travels through space,” I interpret. “Harper will have to clarify what that means because I have no idea how she does what she does. Jericho is the one who taught her how to keep Wrecker anchored to this plane when he dreamwalks.”
“Who’s Jericho? I haven’t met him,” she deduces.
“Jericho is her spiritual adviser. He’s a pain in my ass,” Wrecker bitches.
“That’s only because he gives you a taste of your own medicine when he invades your sleep,” I laugh. “He’s saved your ass a time or two so you should be thankful he gives a damn. If it were me, I’d let you sit in your own shit.”
Canyon barks out a laugh, his shoulders shaking as the first smile I’ve seen on him all day lights up his face. “You two are worse than me and Egypt when we fight.”
“That’s because we don’t fight,” I counter. “We just don’t sugar coat shit for each other.”
Foxy gasps before saying, “Liar. You better be careful or you’ll be struck by lightning.”
“I didn’t kill them,” Canyon whispers to himself.
“You didn’t,” Wrecker agrees, reaching out and patting Canyon on his knee. “You’re going to be alright, kiddo. It was their time, and unfortunately when fate steps in, there’s not anything we can do to prevent the reaper from coming for someone’s soul.”
“And I know you’re going to have a lot of questions, but for now, you need to digest what we told you, and Butcher as well as Wrecker will be around if you need any answers before we return,” I tell him.
“I’m good. I’ll be fine until you get back but I am ready to start my training before somebody accidentally gets hurt because I don’t have any control over my abilities,” Canyon acknowledges.
“We’ll start bright and early in the morning,” Wrecker informs him.
“Not too early though, right? I’m a growing boy, I need my sleep,” Canyon contends. Foxy and I stand up and head out while they argue over the pros and cons of an early start, barely holding back our laughter.
“He really will be okay, won’t he, Weston?”
“Yeah, baby. He will,” I guarantee. “We won’t accept anything less.”