I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 222: She took a deep draw of water and set the water bottle back down.
She took a deep draw of water and set the water bottle back down. Knowing if she delayed too long, Penelope would talk herself out of it, she focused on her arm. The break was clean and well set, she saw glowing lights appear above the cast and then sink through the plaster. She felt them when they touched her skin, their warmth as familiar as her own breath. With the cast in the way she couldn’t see anything with her eyes so she closed them.
She could feel the lights sinking though the skin and reaching the bone. Penelope took slow and steady breaths as she encouraged the bone to reknit. There was a soft ache as they worked, but she realized almost immediately that it was the ache of the healing. It felt natural, if not comfortable. She remembered Emily’s grimace as she worked on her own skin and felt a kinship to her as she pushed through her own pain to heal.
It took longer than the plants, longer than the small cut but Penelope could feel the bone knitting itself back together, healing and growing stronger. When the bone was healed there was almost a click in her mind to let her know it was done.
Penelope leaned back in her chair and opened her eyes. Her face was sweaty and she could feel her hair sticking to her skin. Her mouth felt like she filled it with sand. She reached for her water bottle, drained it and reached for the second. When it was nearly drained, she began to feel better. Her sweating had stopped and she no longer felt like a desiccated husk. She was however still curious about the other anomaly she found. Penelope looked at the cast she still had on her arm.
Part of her wanted to cut it off. She knew her arm was healed. She could move it around with no problem. There was still a slight twinge, but it came from the place where she saw the anomaly. Penelope realized that if she cut off the cast it would show her arm was no longer broken. Since everyone believed healing her broken arm with magic was impossible, she thought suddenly being without her cast might throw up some red flags.
Wondering if she could use her abilities to locate and fix the anomaly. Penelope set the water bottle down again and closed her eyes. She used her magic to look at the spot. It was easy to locate. She could feel a small cut on her skin, slightly scabbed over. It was just above the anomaly. As she studied it, Penelope realized the anomaly wasn’t organic material. It was like a bit of sand in her shoe. Something under her skin that shouldn’t be there.
Penelope concentrated on it and thought about lifting it from the skin. Of reversion the process by which it was inserted and removing it. She winced as the movement stung like a swarm of bees and she bit her lip when she felt it push through the scab covering the insertion cut. She could feel it floating to the top of her arm but concentrated instead on healing the damage its movement caused her. She felt her skin heal and the small cut close, the scabbed over bit, healing completely so the cut itself was no more.
Penelope pulled her magic back. She knew her arm was healed and that the anomaly was sitting on her skin rather than imbedded in it. Penelope wanted to reach for her water bottle.
‘Not yet,’ she told her dry mouth even as she licked her lips. He slipped fingers under the cast and felt around for the thing she took out. She saw a little bit of blood staining the inside of the cast but ignored it. She found the anomaly and extracted it.
Ten til Midnight 