Satyr Play 03 Pt. 01

He felt Xiong withdrawing, and through the magic in him, he picked up snippets of a conversation Xiong was having with all of the other Glass People. The volume was a bit overwhelming as there were so many voices, and they were upset. They seemed to be talking about making him a Glass Person because of his injuries. To save him. Xiong was trying to tell them it wouldn't work as he'd already been subjected to the same energies, and he wasn't glass now.

Henry was beginning to get seriously worried. How badly was he hurt? He felt someone close by and reached out to the mind. It was one of the Silver People.

It physically touched him, and he linked minds with the young female. Concepts and perceptions were flowing through their link. She was sad. She'd heard he was the hero who'd saved all of the people on this planet and many on Earth. He imagined looking through her eyes at him, and she allowed it.

He saw his Human glamor, and he looked no worse for wear. That was a relief. He dropped the glamor.

It took every bit of willpower to contain his screams. He was a scorched thing, that if it weren't for the untouched ram's horns and hooves, he wouldn't have recognized as himself. His eyes were gone, and his ears were stubs. His face held a rictus grin as his lips had melted away. How was he even alive!

Some of his terror must have leaked out as Xiong returned immediately and sent the young silver being from the room.

"I'm sorry, Henry. We cannot heal you. We don't have the power to do it."

Henry pushed his mind until he could make himself understood. "You're wielders. I can pull in the healing power if you have a doctor amongst the Glass People who can use that power to heal me."

Xiong was stunned that Henry was able to make his brain communicate in his current state. His mind came through strong and clear though his body was burnt and melted so severely. "We have a doctor, but she indicates this is beyond her ability."

Henry croaked in frustration. All this power, and he had no mean to use it!

He faded, and darkness swallowed him.

Time passed.

He wasn't sure how much, as he was floating in utter silence and a black darker than he imagined space would be. Thinking about space made him realize he was thinking, and that had to be a good thing. He just needed to get back to his body... or what was left of it. He needed to go home!

"Not ready to die yet?"

The cold and ancient voice echoed out of the blackness. He immediately recognized it.

"Baba!"

"You could just give up. It would be so simple, and you would suffer no more pain. This life has given you so much of it. Just let go." Her tone was... wistful? He'd never heard her sound like that before, and he immediately became suspicious.

Henry paused. Why was she saying this? He allowed himself to believe she wanted him to do it for the briefest moment, but his mind rejected that violently.

"My Baba didn't raise a quitter," he growled.

There was a pause. "Then don't," she said before fading away.

He might have imagined it, but he was sure he heard pride in her words.

He needed to live. He had people out there depending on him, people he loved. He had... a child coming. A child he would not leave fatherless as he'd been.

To join his loved ones again, he needed to get out of this hole, to stop sinking. He reached out with his mind for contact and felt the lightest touch... that way!

Moving in the direction of the mind he'd touched took such a colossal effort when everything was telling him to just give in.

Baba's final words drove him onward.

She gave him the impression that she was confident that death was just another routine event, something easily circumvented. Maybe for her, it was. He didn't know what it must be like, living so long. All he could do was try to emulate her attitude and push onwards like it was nothing special. Just something to be beaten back, conquered, and set aside. He ignored the lethargy, the inertia, the weariness, and most significant, the pain. He would live because his will said he would.

The darkness began to lighten until all was white.

As he surfaced again, he felt two minds close by.

"He's back!" That was Xiong's astonished voice. Henry picked up relief in it as well. "Quickly, you must proceed while we have him!"

"I've never done this before. No one has!" a female voice argued.

"We owe him more than can be expressed. We almost lost him, and he will not survive much longer in this state. We must make an attempt."

Henry suddenly felt a fire in his mind and realized he couldn't move to avoid it.

"Xiong, hold the tear very still. I'm inserting the crystalline ganglion between the hemispheres."

Ice pierced the fire in his mind, and Henry screamed mentally.

"I'm almost at my end, Dr. Hiagawa," Xiong said as his voice faded.

Blindly, Henry forced a stiffened arm to press his blackened hand against Xiong's side. He pushed some of his excess energy into the glass being.

"AH," Xiong cried out mentally, immediately feeling replenished. Henry contained so much energy.

"The connections are made. He has the tools, but it will be up to him to learn how to use them," the doctor stated as she pulled back then immediately left. Xiong allowed the microtear to seal.

"Henry, we've given you the means to control the magic with your will. It's from one of the Glass People from Kuwait who didn't make it. We harvested a section of his brain that we now know controls the use of magic for us. We've never implanted such an organ into another being. While it should work, this is something new to us. Please try."

Henry desperately reached for the healing power, but he was on the wrong planet.

"Earth!" he gasped and flashed an image of the northern lights to Xiong. The glass being, powered by Henry, opened a tear in the sky in Earth's northern hemisphere. Henry reached for his daughter and found only a wisp of her but drew on it until he felt her sleeping presence. In his mind, he kissed her cheek and pulled on the healing magic. It flooded into the room over Xiong and bathed Henry's body in its soothing green light.

Henry was terrified by what he was going to do next. He wasn't a doctor by any stretch of the imagination. He was going to have to replace all the burnt tissue by peeling it away and building new. Not only from his surface but internally, as his tongue, throat, and lungs were damaged, as well. His old nerves were gone, but he had no idea how much this would hurt when the growth began. He wasn't a wielder, but he knew he had the required willpower. That wouldn't help him if he was unconscious. Thinking about it some more, he realized that while he wasn't a wielder, he was a programmer. Couldn't a program be a kind of spell?

He wrote code in his mind to purge the dead tissues and grow new cells. Everything damaged would be replaced. His body already knew how to do that, but he was going to accelerate the process. Then he wrapped the core instructions with a self-powered instruction set to maintain the spell until he was healed. He linked the finished code-spell to the healing magic and powered the program with the energy contained in his healthy, magic-saturated cells. Finally, he embedded it with his will to make it run independently of his conscious mind. The final construct felt like a living thing, eager to act. Its final commands would release the healing magic and feed Xiong some of his unused energy. He was ready. He turned his mind outwards to his caregiver.

"Xiong, when this is over, whatever my state, please put me back in Washington. Someplace they can find me."

"Yes, my friend. Good luck."

Henry activated his program and immediately choked in agony as the green light covering him flared and his crispy blackened skin came off all at once. He coughed as his body purged chunks of his tongue, the scorched lung tissue, and the burns in his chest and throat.

The burnt surfaces of his muscles came off next. Henry had no eyes to roll back as his consciousness fled, but they soon began to regrow as well. He missed witnessing the muscle tissue growing new cells. Blood vessels, nerves, tendons, ligaments, anything damaged in the blast of current was removed and regrown.

His skin grew back smooth and unblemished, his hair returned, including his lashes and eyebrows. His lower half was no longer naked as his fur returned, dense and curly. The green light covering Henry's body glowed brighter and brighter until it popped in a flash, and the glow went out.

Xiong felt a surge of energy as he watched Henry in shock. The man was breathing. He didn't understand how he could come back from such life-threatening injuries, but he was glad he had. Still, he'd never seen anything like that, and... it frightened him.

He called out for assistance. As he did, Henry's glamor reset, and he looked human once more, but his clothes were missing.

"We have no clothes to give him," one from the arriving group said as she felt Xiong's concern.

Xiong had no choice but to send Henry back as he was. He opened a small tear and looked for a suitable place where agents weren't currently searching. He spotted a cluster of bushes a short distance from the Capitol Building. The assisting Glass People lifted and moved Henry from the spot where the burnt skin and hair remained. Xiong pointed to a clear spot on the floor. "I will drop him through here." They set him down.

Keeping the destination drop zone in his mind, he opened the tear, and Henry fell through to drop three feet to the grass below. The back of his head landed on the small brass commemorative plate bolted to the stone next to the bushes. Xiong winced but quickly closed the tear as he saw the beam of a flashlight approaching.

He hoped their friend was okay as they'd asked so much from him. He looked back to the pile of charred remains. Something shiny caught his attention. It was up where Henry's head had been. Xiong reached down and lifted the crystal ganglion from the ground. His body must have rejected it after he was healed.

Xiong couldn't inform Henry that he no longer had their transplanted capacity to wield magic. He also had no idea how Henry got it out yet completed his spell.

He looked to the others. "We will bury these remains in the forest glade to honor our friend, Henry."

A feeling of joy and love washed through him from the others. The Glass People loved the idea, as they loved Henry.

-=-

Mahati was driven to a local hospital when she received word that Henry had finally been found. She rushed inside when they arrived, and Wallace Granger and Stephen Dawes were both waiting for her.

"Where's Henry? Please take me to him!" she insisted. The men nodded to her and gestured for her to follow them. They shared an annoyed look at each other as they walked down the hall.

Wallace spoke first. "My team found him next to some bushes, on a park lawn across the street, east of the Capitol Building. He was unconscious and bleeding from a small wound on the back of his head."

"He's injured?" Mahati gasped.

Not to be outdone by his NSA counterpart, Stephen butt in to explain. "There is no way to know what happened to him as all cameras and lights in the area were knocked out by the storm. The doctors have run tests to see the extent of his injuries. They're also running a rape kit. We're waiting on the results."

Wallace jumped back in with a scowl for the other director. "The reason for the rape kit is because he was naked when he was discovered—no clothes, wallet, keys, or cell phone. It might have been a robbery. I'll arrange to get him some new clothes to wear tomorrow."

"Thank you! Can I see him?" Mahati asked as she struggled to keep the tears from her eyes.

They reached a hospital room with two agents standing on either side of the door, one from each agency. The door opened, and a doctor stepped out to see the gathering. She ignored the two men and immediately locked eyes with the distraught woman. "You. What relation are you to the patient?"

"I-I work with him, his legal counsel. I'm also his neighbor and friend," Mahati managed.

"Good enough. You two wait outside." She gestured for Mahati to enter the room with her.

They walked to the side of the bed where Henry was sleeping. There was a wrinkle of concern or pain between his brows. Mahati instinctively reached over and ran her thumb over the skin there to smooth it out. He sighed in his sleep, and the crease smoothed out as his features relaxed. Mahati smiled, pulled back her hand, and looked to the doctor in embarrassment.

She just smiled knowingly. "The bump on the back of his head wasn't too bad. The cut was small and didn't require stitches. There's no sign of any significant damage anywhere. The rape kit turned up negative." She admired his skin as she ran her fingers over his arm. "I'd kill for skin like his. Baby smooth and soft, like he's a newborn. How is that fair?"

Mahati shook her head as she smiled at the doctor.

"He appears to be in a state of exhaustion. Whatever happened to him tonight, it took a lot out of him. I'll sign him out in the morning." They looked out the window as lights began to come on outside. The city's power grid was coming back online. "That's a good sign."

"Could I stay with him?" Mahati asked.

The doctor smiled and nodded. "But you didn't hear it from me."

Mahati thanked her and pulled a chair closer to the bed, with her back to the window and facing the door. As the doctor stepped outside, Mahati saw her address the two men who looked frustrated. She was shaking her head. Mahati smiled as the door closed.

She pulled out her cell and was delighted to see she had a connection. She dialed Camila, and the woman picked up the phone immediately.

"Mahati! Speak to us," the CEO gasped, and the sound indicated she had it on speakerphone.

"I'm with Henry. He's in a hospital with a bump on the back of his head, and he's missing his clothes. He's unconscious at the moment, but the doctor tells me he's just exhausted. I'll stay with him tonight and bring him home in the morning."

"Oh my god, that's good news, Mahati! Thank you for being there for him!" Camila said, but she could hear others making relieved sounds.

"Along with no clothes, he has no wallet, keys, travel documents, or cell phone. Director Granger will get him some clothes for his flight home tomorrow," Mahati informed them.

"I'll arrange for new documentation, wallet, credit card, and keys," Sigrid offered.

"I'll get him a new cell," Roy said.

Mahati cleared her throat. "I'll be taking him home—to his home in the morning. He won't be coming into the office."

"Of course. Whatever you feel is in his best interests. Thank you, Mahati," Camila said, giving Mahati a boost of confidence.

She took a deep breath. "I will speak to you tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night."

She disconnected and leaned back in the chair to watch Henry sleep. He must have been dreaming as his eyes moved under his eyelids, and his little frown was back.

Mahati moved her chair closer to the bed and took his hand in hers.

The doctor was right! She was surprised by how soft his skin was. When she finished admiring that, she looked up to his face and saw his brow had smoothed and he was sleeping peacefully. Her cheeks warmed, but she was secretly pleased she could help him sleep. She settled back in her chair with her arm resting on the bed, his hand in hers.

Sleep had almost taken her when she realized this was as close as she'd ever come to sleeping with someone. A thrill shot through her, and she admired Henry's innocent expression before she let herself drift off.

Chapter 23

Camila woke early Friday morning and lay in bed looking at her ceiling, going over in her head the events of the night before, beginning with Mahati's frantic call to inform her that Henry had gone missing.

She recalled the momentary sensation of her stomach dropping out from under her when she heard that. It was only Mahati's impending breakdown that kept Camila from losing it as well. She'd instinctively stepped back from her emotions to calm the other woman. As she'd said on the call, she needed the woman's eyes on the scene to ensure Henry would be safe once found. Once she'd hung up, her emotions came crashing back, and it took a few moments of fighting for control to steady herself enough to reach for the phone again to call Roy.

She hadn't finished pressing his extension when the man charged into her office with Sigrid and Marisa at his heels. Apparently, he'd been following the news of the events in Washington and grabbed Sigrid on his way to her office. Marisa tagged along as they rushed past Henry's office.

Camila told them of Mahati's call then all they could do was wait. They ordered dinner and kept watch on the news reports. The power failure was due to several power substations being knocked out by the storm's intense lightning blasts. Crews were immediately dispatched to replace fried components. The outage lasted a few hours.

When Mahati called to let them know Henry was safe, that sensation of her stomach flipping returned only this time she felt a wave of relief afterward.

This morning she examined that odd reaction. She'd never really felt the same way for any of her previous lovers. Some had perished in tragic circumstances, and the most she'd felt then was a sad disappointment and a period of melancholy. There hadn't been any of this emotional upheaval or loss of equilibrium.

Camila took her shower and got ready for work as her brain struggled to grasp the significance of the change.

After a small breakfast, she met her driver at the door and got a lift to work. She took the elevator up to her floor, and she still hadn't worked out a satisfactory explanation for it.

"Good morning, Camila," Felix remarked as she entered her waiting area.

"Good morning, Felix."

"You'll be having a special visitor this morning. Nuru Onwudiwe's assistant contacted me to let me know the woman is coming in to speak with you at nine," he said with a serious expression. He was obviously aware of the significance of this meeting.

Camila nodded as she was early today. That was fortunate. "Please call Sigrid and have her join me," she said, and he picked up his phone as she entered her office.

She sat, turned on her terminal, and smiled as it came on instantly, the custom dashboard Henry designed displaying all of the pertinent data she needed to start her day. At a glance, she could see all was well. That wasn't really a surprise as if something had required her attention, she would have received an alert on her cell. That was another improvement Henry added for her. She felt that lift in spirits again as she thought of him and puzzled over the feeling until Sigrid knocked on her door jamb.

"Good morning, Sigrid. Please come in and close the door," she said.

"Good morning to you. What's making you smile?" Sigrid asked.

Camila just waved the question away as she pulled her thoughts together. "I'm going to have a visit today from the head of the Succubi Association, Nuru Onwudiwe. She'll have her attendants with her. On the off chance she challenges me, I'd like to have you by my side to deal with her spear fighters."

Sigrid's smile threatened to light up the room. "Certainly!"

"How are your energy levels?" Camila asked.

"I'm not at my peak, but I can certainly deal with her two attendants," the tall blonde grinned.

Camila nodded. "I'm hoping this can be resolved without conflict. However, she might still be under the impression that I'm challenging her for her position. She might have used the two days between our last meeting to charge herself and her attendants."

Sigrid looked at Camila questioningly. "How's your energy level?"