He led her to the door, ignoring the tears in her eyes. Lily went out and Ryland closed the door on her. Jonas handed Camellia a bottle of water. He didn’t know what to say. Apparently, no one else did either. There was a long silence. Ryland paced back and forth like a wild animal in the small confines of the room. Jonas hadn’t noticed that the room was all that small until Ryland began to act like a caged tiger.
Gator stepped all the way to the back of the room, his eyes meeting Jonas’s in the shadows. There was pain there. Jonas felt it too. No one wanted to see Ryland and Lily at odds, especially now, when everything was going to hell fast.
“Do you really think you can get the bullet, Camellia?” Tansy asked, her voice hushed, even in the silence of the room.
Camellia leaned her head against the wall and took a drink of water. “It’s in a very difficult spot. I can see why the doctor was reluctant to attempt surgery. I do think it might be possible to float it out of there. Once I do, I would have to break it up into small enough pieces for his body to get rid of it. Or find a way to break the bullet down altogether. That might be possible as well. I won’t know until I study it.”
“Are you a psychic surgeon?” Kaden asked bluntly.
“I don’t even know what that is, exactly,” Camellia admitted. “I know when I’m near someone ill, I feel as if I have to help them. I didn’t have the ability when I was in the labs with Whitney. It may have been just developing, but it wasn’t strong, not like now. I had no idea it had gotten so strong. I’ve been alone so much, avoiding people so he couldn’t track me, that I really haven’t had much experience healing humans. Animals, yes. Humans, no.”
“Kaden,” Tansy whispered, her voice a protest.
“I’m not going to wait for death, Tansy.”
“If we wait, you have time for a psychic surgeon to get here.”
“Not anymore. There’s a battle coming, or have you forgotten? I trust her, baby. She got rid of the poison in me when no one else could have done that,” Kaden said.
“I couldn’t read anything on the silverware, Kaden,” Tansy whispered. “Nothing at all. That makes no sense and I don’t like it.”
Jonas heard. They all heard. He exchanged a smile with Camellia.
How did you manage that?
You don’t leave prints or impressions behind either, do you? she countered.
He was careful not to; that’s why he didn’t. He didn’t leave tracks. He wore thin gloves in order not to leave behind fingerprints. He looked down at his hands. His hands were rough. Scarred. Unlike Camellia, his body was a road map, and that included his palms. He looked closer, turning his hands over. Was there a thin film over his skin? Barely there? Barely noticeable. It was unseen to the human eye. He looked at it with a bird’s vision. His palms and the pads of his fingers appeared to be shiny, definitely covered in a very thin film.
Jonas rubbed his hands on his thighs. He’d never noticed the phenomenon before. When he looked at the material along his thigh, it was dry. His palms still appeared shiny. What is it? Is this something from the mycelium network that I don’t know about?
Camellia smiled up at him and took another sip of water. She shook her head slowly. You always look annoyed when you discover the tremendous gifts you’ve been given, Jonas.
He raised an eyebrow at her. Do I? He knew he did. This was something new. Something good, but another something new.
You know you do. I’m really tired. Let’s finish this. We can talk when we’re alone.
“We still have to talk to Crawley,” Jonas said to remind her he would still have to finish interrogating the prisoner after they finished with Kaden. “Camellia, are you ready to try this?”
She nodded and took his hand. “Don’t worry, Tansy. If I don’t think it can be done, I won’t even attempt it. I don’t want to be the one to cause him harm.”
She avoided looking at Tansy. Jonas knew why. She might say she understood why Tansy sat across the table from her, smiling and offering friendship while planning to uncover every secret Camellia had the entire time. That hurt whether Camellia wanted to admit it or not. He just wanted to catch his woman up and take her out of there. Ryland’s hurt was raw and unrelenting, and it was bleeding into all of them, including the sadness that pervaded the room.
Jonas tightened his hand around Camellia’s. Already he could feel their connection. It felt as if they even shared the same blood rushing through their veins. Hot. Alive. He looked down at the top of her head. All that silky hair. Thick. Wild. So Camellia. She tilted her head back so that her eyes met his just for a moment, and he could see the mischief there. That look was for him alone, and his heart clenched.