Worlds Collide (Alimentria, #1) [ON HOLD]

Chapter Twelve: Homeward

"It's working!" Estelle cried as the door flew open and the king and Mera rushed in. Seeing what was happening, they stopped, standing dead still.

There was silence for a long, long time, until Mera whispered, "Brianna, what...?"

"Allow me to explain," Estelle said from her place between Brianna and Gildson. Gildson's head still rested on her lap, as Brianna saw no need to remove it from its comfortable placement.

Looking baffled, the king seemed to gain some small composure as he blinked his eyes rapidly—his first movement since he walked into the room—and said, "M-Mera... are you seeing what I see?"

"If you're seeing a glowing stable boy in the lap of a girl back from the dead, then yes. But I'm more inclined to believe I've gone mad," Mera replied, moving nothing but her mouth, and looking pretty comical with her wide eyes, if Brianna was being honest with herself. Though, she was a bit preoccupied, so she didn't linger on it long.

When no one said another word, Estelle proceeded to explain what was happening as the king and doctor listened from the doorway in stunned silence. By the time her older sister was done, Brianna felt the tingling sensation leave her, and Gilson's glow subsided, to which everyone but Brianna looked unsettled.

"Gildson?" Estelle asked tenderly, quietly, stroking a bit of his soft-looking dark hair out of his eyes, which made his right eye twitch. Everyone jumped at this a bit. None of them (besides Estelle it seemed, for she'd stayed perfectly calm, save a smile spreading across her face that lit up the room beautifully) had actually expected it to work, she was sure, least of all Brianna.

But, just to be sure their joy wasn't in vain, Brianna looked at Estelle and said, "Ask him a question. Not too easy, not too hard," she clarified.

Estelle thought for a second that felt like forever to poor, anxious Brianna, when she finally said, "Gildson, can you tell me today's date?"

"Too hard," Brianna mumbled.

"Fine," Estelle said, rolling her eyes, clearly stating that she didn't think it was all that hard. But she complied, and tried something different.

"Gildson," Estelle started again, "can you please tell me..."

She trailed off, a strange look on her face, then whispered something in his ear. Brianna only caught a small snippet: "How many... have we..."

"Six times," Gildson said, a blissful smile forming across his face as if reliving a beautiful memory. Brianna so desperately wished she knew what it was.

"Right!" Estelle exclaimed happily, leaning down and hugging him tightly, but with noticeable care. "He's alright, everyone. It worked!"

"Well, Mera will still need to make sure of that, won't you, Mera?" the king said, finally composing himself and motioning for the doctor to step forward and get to work as soon as possible.

"Ah, right," Mera agreed, snapping out of her daze as well an walking over to kneel beside the three, particularly, by Gildson's head.

Too many minutes later, Mera announced, "Both resurrected persons are perfectly healthy. I can't find a single thing wrong with them, in fact. They're probably better off than they've ever been, thanks to our lovely Princess Brianna here," she said, smiling kindly at Brianna, who tried to return the smile, but was currently in a state of confusion.

I couldn't possibly have done this, but all the facts point in that direction, she thought to herself, extremely puzzled. Only God can raise people from the dead... right?