Chapter 47

Aria’s POV

“Isn’t there a television in here?” Carl asked. One of the other healers gestured to a boxy television in the opposite corner. “Turn that on. Let’s see what the news has to say about this.”

The other healer obliged. Moving to the television, he flicked it on. The first channel he found was already displaying a live feed of what was happening outside the hospital. A banner underneath read, Breaking News!

A reporter stood behind a police barricade, reporting. Occasionally, the cameraman would zoom in over her shoulder, but on the small television, we couldn’t really discern any figures beyond the front door.

“Alpha King Lucian and president of the World Healer Association Silas have now arrived at the hospital. The Alpha King’s personal guard have swooped inside first and seem to be handling the crowd. Many arrests are being doled out. We see many handcuffed individuals being removed from the vehicles.”

As the reporter said, some of the soldiers were bringing members of the mob out in handcuffs. Those arrested individuals were then placed into the vans that the soldiers had emerged from.

“The presence of Alpha King Lucian and President Silas seems to have calmed the mob here,” the reporter continued. “Members of the mob seem to be surrendering without issue. We heard from a protester earlier, that they simply wanted acknowledgement from pack leadership. Perhaps the presence of the Alpha King and President has been enough to soothe them.”

The reporter pressed her hand to her ear. “I’m being told that a press conference is being arranged. Yes, it seems as if Alpha King Lucian and President Silas intend to speak to the public.”

“It’s almost time,” Carl snickered at me. “Soon they’ll be taking you out in handcuffs as well, Dr. A. I wouldn’t want to be in the back of those police wagons with all those people who hate you.”

I ignored him, focusing on the television screen. The picture quality wasn’t great and the cameraman couldn’t seem to hold the camera steady enough, but that man talking to Lucian…

The president of the World Healer Association.

Silas.

He looked very familiar. But it couldn’t be. Could it?

I hadn’t seen my old mentor in years.

Suddenly, the door to the panic room hissed and opened. Ben, Lucian’s Beta, entered the panic room. He glanced around until his gaze landed on me.

“Dr. A,” he said. He smiled a little in kindness, but I knew him well enough as Aria to know that he was carrying tension in his shoulders. He could have been on guard from this entire situation.

Or, he was here to deliver me to my sad fate like guard leading a prisoner down to the gallows.

“Please come with me, Dr. A,” Ben said.

“Good riddance,” one of the old healers said.

“I’d say it was nice knowing you, Dr. A,” Carl said, “but that would be a lie.”

I stepped out of the panic room with Ben, surprised to see the old healers moving to following along. I guessed they wanted to see my humiliation first hand.

Heart heavy, I moved with Ben to the elevators.

“They stopped the elevators,” I said.

“The first floor has been cleared so we started them again,” Ben replied. “Don’t worry. No one will attack you.”

I wasn’t presently afraid of being attacked. Instead, I now worried about being exiled.

We entered the elevator, then stood side by side within it, neither of us saying a word. At the first floor, as the elevator doors opened, I was relieved to see the janitors hard at work cleaning the mess the protestors had made. The nurses and administrators were helping, collecting the more sensitive documents that had been spread all over the floor.

Soon, things would return to normal. Although likely, more security would be added for a while.

A crowd had quickly gathered outside of the hospital, of both reporters and regular people alike. All of them were gathering around were a series of microphones were being set up right in front of the doors.

Lucian and Silas were both standing there, far enough away from the microphones to speak lightly to each other without being overheard. As Ben brought me closer, they both looked up at me.

I knew at once. This was the same Silas. The President of the World Healer Association was my old mentor.”

Immediately, Silas stepped closer to me and offered me a calm, soft smile. “It’s been too long,” he said. Then, in front of everyone, he opened his arms and embraced me in a gentle hug.

Relief overwhelmed me so strongly that I had to blink back the tears from my eyes, not wanting to cry on camera.

“My apprentice,” Silas whispered. “What a mess you’ve found yourself in.”

“I’m sorry, Silas.”

“Don’t worry. You’ve been doing the right things. Now leave it to Lucian and me to fix this, yes?”

I nodded.

Slowly, he pulled away.

The crowd was stunned by his actions, watching with wide eyes. Even the reporters seemed at a loss for words.

Silas used this moment of shocked silence to approach the microphone. “Dr. A is my former apprentice, and as I have trained her myself, I have total faith in her abilities. Despite the misinformed accusations against her, I can assure you that Dr. A’s actions are legal and her medical skills are top-notch, some of the best in the world.”

Some hands went up in the crowd, but Silas ignored the questions for now, pressing onward.

“We are all aware of the current controversy, and given how well-regarded and well-loved Caleb is, I am not surprised to find so many spirited people want to help defend him, as he has defended us in the past. However, I know the man personally, and can attest that he would want to be able to make this choice for himself…”

Looking back at me, Silas gestured me closer. As I moved to his side, he placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Dr. A might be the only healer in the world with the ability to wake Caleb up again. She will do so, and we will hear, from Caleb’s own lips, whether or not he wishes to receive the life-extending medicine.”

At once, the crowd started talking again, their voices too loud and too many to be individually discerned. Many of them seemed upset, some confused. Some looked at me with suspicion, others with curiosity, and even others with a sense of wonder.

This time, Lucian gestured for Silas and me to step backwards. Then he himself stepped up to the microphones.

“Dr. A also has my full confidence, though, I will stay in the room to witness for myself Caleb’s awakening. I also insist that the other Healers join us, so that they might see Dr. A’s methods for themselves. The time for divisiveness has left us. Now, we will see action.”

One reporter’s voice shouted louder than the rest, “But Alpha King! What if Caleb doesn’t wake up?”

“He will,” Lucian said with certainty. He looked back at me. “Isn’t that right, Dr. A?”

Lucian and Silas were putting a lot of faith in me, placing their own reputations on the line to give me one more chance to treat Caleb.

No, I didn’t need to fully heal him. I just needed him lucid enough that he would awaken and give us a straight answer.

I knew the silver poison was what was causing his coma. But could I treat it fast enough to satisfy them?

I didn’t have much choice.

“I can do it,” I said, and prayed.