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Johnny knew that she was there in the Holy Forest and coming to him long before she arrived. His awareness had been increasing since arriving at Goth Mountain. Now he could feel all the life around him, the trees, the forest creatures, and even the living soil. He had experienced hints of this throughout his life, but now the ability was magnified many-fold.
With his eyes closed, he could visualize the forest around him, a many-dimensional universe teeming with life. What he sensed was similar to what he saw using normal eyesight but also very different. Colors and shapes were different. Plants and animals were of a different substance and texture. Images of trees and other plant life were steady and well defined, though translucent, while animals pulsed stronger, but with less distinct boundaries, as though their life forces were centered in their bodies, but not strictly confined to them. The soil was teeming sea of tiny entities, uncountable in number. Even the air was alive, a thin, swirling broth of living dust.
Most strongly of all he could sense the sentient presence of other humans; their minds shone like beacons. The human approaching him now blazed unusually strong with life force.
“Hello Mother,” he pathed when she arrived, without opening his eyes. He felt that he could sense her even better with his eyes closed.
“Greetings, White Wolf,” she pathed in return.
“Ann Goth!” exclaimed White Dove aloud. She had been resting on a cot, but when she saw Ann enter the hollow tree sanctuary she stood and rushed to hug her.
Her hugs were returned in kind. “Mary, my Tribe Sister, I have missed you so much!”
“I am so relieved that you are here!” gushed White Dove. “I didn’t dare hope it, but here you are! Johnny, our prayers are answered!”
“How bad is he?” Ann asked. “Never mind, it’s quicker if I see for myself,” she added, as she knelt next to Two Bears. “And don’t act surprised Johnny. I’ve kept you and I healthy over the years, haven’t I?”
“Your mother is the best healer the Tribe ever had,” added Mary.
Johnny was surprised, but as he reflected on it, many things began to fall into place. His mother had trained as a nurse before she met Mark Goth, and she still worked as a nurse back in Ohio. “That’s why you let me keep the watch, isn’t it Mother,” he pathed. “The watch helped you with your powers as well as mine.”
“Yes, in part. It has helped me to save many lives over the years,” she replied. “Quiet now, let me focus.”
For several minutes Ann examined Two Bears. Johnny could feel her strong presence moving deep within the ailing shaman, particularly in heart and spine areas. “You haven’t tried to help Mary with her healing?”
“No. I’ve been afraid that I’d be clumsy and overwhelm her control.”
“Sensible, but I think you could safely help me. We can combine your strength with my control.”
“I’m new at this.”
“That’s my fault. I was so afraid for you that I tried to keep you totally away from this place and from using your powers.”
“I love you Mother, but I’ll never again leave this place. I was meant to be here; I knew that as soon as I returned. There is so much I still don’t understand, but I understand that much already.”
“We’ll talk about that later. You’re learning very fast. Now together we can help Two Bears rebuild himself. I’ll begin and you’ll slowly join in. Do what I do, and I’ll guide you every step of the way.”
The time for word-based communication was past, as Johnny watched his mother accelerate the healing that Mary had started. Nourished by side-streams of blood, cells by the billions divided, building more cells, building blocks of several types that gradually reformed muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and other components.
Johnny didn’t know the details of the desired structures, but his mother evidently did. Tentatively at first, he followed her lead, helping her stimulate and nourish cell division, building the raw materials for her intricate sculpturing.
The shaping of heart muscles, chambers, blood vessels, and nerves had to be done with the end product always in mind. Muscles and valves would all have to work together in a complex and efficient manner, requiring careful structuring of all of the components.
As the great heart took shape, refilling the torn cavity, circulating blood through it became more and more complex. The route of the surging blood had to be changed almost constantly by Johnny.
Mary White Dove joined in, actively addressing clotting and other problems throughout the rest of the body and observing with awe the heart-building efforts of the Goths. What they were accomplishing together each minute would have taken her many hours to duplicate.
At last, an hour after they started, the entire heart had taken form, though the muscles were still much less than full strength. Johnny moved blood through the open valves.
“A little more mass to the heart muscles and we can try it out,” pathed Ann.
“No reason to hurry on my account,” replied Johnny, who sensed that she was beginning to tire.
“There is, Johnny; we have to get Two Bears to the point where you can leave us. I can’t circulate his blood, so the heart has to be well enough to function at a low level.”
With that, they returned to healing, adding layer after layer of heart muscle. After twenty minutes more, enough had been rebuilt for it to function. The neural pathway to the brain was opened, and the heart began to slowly beat! The next few minutes were the most hectic of all, as Ann made delicate adjustments and corrections and Johnny very gently still helped to circulate blood.
Finally, Johnny withdrew altogether, followed by Ann. As a smiling Mary White Dove closely monitored Two Bears, Johnny and his mother stepped away from their patient and embraced warmly.
“White Hope, that was amazing,” said Johnny, using his Mother’s Indian name for the first time in fourteen years.
“I’m very proud of you also, Johnny. Mary and I should be able to take care of him now. In two or three hours he should be able to help himself also. With luck he’ll be up and around by tomorrow. Meanwhile, you have other things to do.”
“What new disaster am I needed for?”
Ann told her son about Dooley. “I don’t think you should try to take on Dark yourself, Johnny. I think he’s similar to the People, only evil, or maybe he’s even an elemental, like Pru. The tribe has old legends about such a creature, and I think this is him.”
Johnny nodded his head and took out his father’s watch. Pru was the name of the unicorn that most often visited the Mountain, he remembered, a creature of power whose likeness adorned the watch. The black eyes of the unicorn on the watch almost seemed to be alive. “How can we tell the People that we need their help?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps you can do it using your watch. Your father or Mort or Two Bears would probably know, and Ned would certainly know. Where is Ned? He fetched you from California, didn’t he?”
Johnny’s jaw dropped. “Ned was with Dooley. If Dark has done something with Dooley, he must have also done something with Ned, or we would have heard from him before now. We have no time or means to summon any other help. I must go after them myself.” He gave his Mother a quick hug and exited the hollow log.
Ann followed him outside. ”Johnny, if Dark is who I fear he is, he’ll have great powers: more than your own, I fear. Avoid him if you can, and remember that your own powers are greatest near Goth Mountain, near the Source.”
“Sometime soon someone should explain to me what the Source is, Mother,” he replied and then he disappeared down the trail.
Ann, shaking her head, returned to administering healing to Two Bears. There was so much Johnny had yet to learn. “One more thing Johnny,” she pathed. “Dooley’s father and Angela Welborne are at the cabin with Elizabeth.”
“Fudge,” replied Johnny, but as he ran through the forest he quickly dismissed further thought on that matter. He had to focus on rescuing Dooley and Ned - or avengin
g them.
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