The Pyramid Chronicles: Fortuna Guard (#2)

Chapter Seventeen: Healing and Breaking

It wasn't easy to inflict injuries on the other altered. Even though Raveena was sticking to paper cuts and mild bruises, she couldn't help but wince in sympathy every time she used her power on someone.

It wasn't easy, but she had to do it. It was the only way to get better.

The ferrokinetic she was training with today—a tall, fifteen-year-old girl named Elle—examined the small cut Raveena had opened on her palm. "It worked." Her long ponytail of light brown hair swung behind her as she looked up, a smile on her face despite the cut.

"I healed that one two days ago," Raveena said. "New record." Training had also involved healing every minor injury she could get her hands on.

Elle laughed. "That's good."

The advice Veronica had offered while they were in Oregon had been surprisingly helpful. Her suggestion that recent injuries were easier because they were fresh in Raveena's mind might have been a wild guess, but it had given Raveena a new way to approach training. Before, she'd been focused on recreating the injury, what it looked like. What she really needed to focus on was the sensation of healing.

It seemed counterproductive at first. But inflicting the injury was simply manipulating the body in the opposite direction as Raveena did when she healed. If she recalled what it had felt like to heal someone's wound, she could reverse the feeling and inflict it on someone else.

Even so, it had taken a lot of effort to start inflicting injuries that were even a day old. And there was still an aspect to it besides skill. It required energy. A mental endurance that Raveena suspected she'd have to build up over time.

Maybe with enough practice, she could give a person any injury, not just ones she'd healed in the past. Did she want to be able to do that? Even going this far was difficult. Sure, in a fight with someone who wanted to hurt her she'd be able to fight back. But how far was she willing to go?

"Here, let me heal that." Raveena reached out her hand, already imagining the sensation of the cut in Elle's skin closing up. A familiar warmth rushed to her fingertips.

Elle reached back but paused. Her hand hovered in the air between them. "It's healed."

Raveena frowned. "What? I didn't touch you."

"Huh." Elle examined her hand. "Guess you don't have to."

A smile spread across Raveena's face. Yeah, if the other altered could manipulate matter from a distance, why shouldn't she be able to? She flexed her hand, grateful for another sign of her improvement.

"Hey, I'm gonna take a break and go get lunch with those guys." Elle waved to a group of altered nearby who were wrapping up their training session. "Wanna come with?"

Raveena nearly said yes—she'd eaten with them plenty of times before, and they were welcoming enough—but she'd overheard Charles mention something to the other altered about a development in the bomb prototype earlier. He'd be meeting them out here on the deck soon.

"I think I'll hang out here a while longer," Raveena told Elle. "I'll see you later, though!"

"Sure thing." Elle offered a quick wave goodbye as she left to join the others.

Admittedly, Raveena had been keeping herself at a distance from the other altered. She wasn't entirely sure why. She wasn't used to all this. At Scorpion, she'd been isolated. Left out of training. And after that, she'd been completely alone.

Raveena picked up her water bottle and surveyed the deck as she took a sip. Eric was filming Summer with a phone while she struck down kickboxing dummies they'd pulled from the gym. Raveena found a place against the wall to sit down and watch the two from.