Hunter's Moon

Chapter 21

        She was exhausted. She'd been at this for nearly two and a half hours. She had a migraine, her entire body ached and somewhere near the first hour Matthew had sat her down in a chair. Tony's mother had come back and Mei had turned her away, she was very convincing in the nurse's uniform.

            Juli had just cleared away the second to last connection between Tony and the parasitic cancer. She was about to take the final step in freeing Tony when she suddenly stopped. This last thread was more than just a thread. It looked more like a rope or a cable. It wasn't wrapped around Tony, rather it was digging into him like some sort of drill bit.

            Probably the first. Where it initially hit him. Can't use this to get rid of it. The seam rippers evaporated from existence.

            What to do, what to do . . . Mei? Do you have any suggestions?

            Mei's voice sounded in her mind, Jian feng zhuang duo.

            Uh, yeah . . .exactly.

            It means look at your obstacle from a different perspective. You have done exceeding well. I know you will find a way to remove this completely. If I did not, I would not have let you attempt. You are much more skilled then I was when I was new to the craft.

            Pride and happiness swelled from within Juli. Yes, she was tired, she was sore. But as new as she was to this whole magic thing, apparently she was getting it right. The sensation of this emotion spilled out in front of her, and the rage cancer shrunk away from it.

            Oh! Why, look at that.

            She took hold of the positive emotion and much like she had formed the tweezers and other tools, she began to shape something new. Rather than just forming the tool from nothingness, she concentrated on using the happiness. The result was best described as a spear with a sharpened point. She moved it close to Tony's aura-self. The rage seemed to quiver as the spear tip got closer.

            When she touched the tip to the rage, it sizzled as if the spear were white hot from a blacksmith's fire. She pushed the spear into the mass and there was a shuddering, a withering, and then . . . it shrunk to the point it no longer had proper purchase upon Tony's soul. Whatever barbs or hooks that the mass had lost the strength to keep hanging on. Juli pulled the mass away from Tony, and then watched as it hung on the spear tip, dissolving and fading away, no longer having anything to feed on.

            Good. Mei's voice said, Now for the hard part.

            Juli's consciousness snapped back to her regular senses. “Now for the hard part?! You've got to be kidding me. I feel like I could go home and sleep for days. I am exhausted.”

            “Not yet, my student,” Mei said apologetically. “First you must talk to this boy. Explain to him what happened to him and apologize.”

            All the joy and pride that Juli had felt suddenly deflated out of her. It was the right thing to do and too often the right thing to do was also the hardest. “Okay, you're right. I need to talk to him.”

            Mei nodded, undid the restraints, then touched Tony on the forehead with two fingers. Juli could sense the energy transfer between Mei and Tony during her touch. Some type of spell to restore consciousness. He shifted slightly in his sleep and then slowly opened his eyes. Wow, that was quick. He doesn't even seem groggy.