Free Burden to Bear by Amira Rain Page A

Sarah so that she could bandage Sarah’s chest.  When she was finished, she washed her hands thoroughly.
    Douglas was standing over Sarah’s cot, frantically willing her to heal.  The healer walked over to him, took his hands and stared disconcertingly into his eyes.  He flushed, but did not stop her.
    “Do you love her?” the healer asked.
    Douglas inhaled deeply.  “With all my heart,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes. “Is she going to die?” he asked, hesitatingly.
    “No,” the healer said simply.  “You saved her life.”
    “No?” Douglas could not believe that he had heard correctly.
    “She will not die,” the healer said.  “I know it sounds like an old fairy story, but the only real cure for depleted life force is true love.  If you truly love her, she will grow strong again and live.”
    The healer covered Sarah with an old crocheted blanket and motioned for both Douglas and his grandfather to follow her outside onto the porch.  “Sit,” she ordered, and poured a glass of iced herbal tea for both of them.
    Douglas accepted the tea and sat gratefully on one of the old wooden benches on the healer’s porch.  The last few hours had sucked away his energy.  The healer explained that Sarah would have to stay in her cottage for the next few days until the spell wore off.  Then she would need to rest for a few weeks in the big house.
    “I’ll have my housekeeper get a room ready for them both,” Grandfather said, nodding towards Douglas.  “I’ll expect you’ll want to stay here with her?”
    Douglas nodded.  He thought quickly.  “We’ll have to take a leave of absence from university.  And I’ll have to go back and grab some clothes and stuff from our apartments.”
    “Cats,” he suddenly remembered.  “She has two cats.  We’ll have to bring them here.”
    Grandfather grimaced.  Cats and supernatural beings never got along very well, no matter whether the supernatural being was good or evil.
    The healer spoke up.  “I’ll take care of the cats.  I know how you were-bears can be about felines.”  She chuckled.
    Grandfather looked relieved.  “Douglas, you get some rest for now.  I’ll get rid of that Ferrari, which I’m assuming belonged to the snake demon?”
    Douglas nodded.
    “You can go back to the city later this evening,” Grandfather said.  “You can take my truck.”
     
    ***
    Douglas sat in a chair by Sarah’s cot for the next two days, holding her hand, never leaving her side, except for his quick trip back to the city.  He made the trip as brief as he could, throwing together some clothes for the both of them and crating Chum-Chum and Noodle safely in the back of the truck.
    The cats instantly attached to the healer, and followed her around from room to room, meowing in adoration.  The healer was pleased with their attention.
    Douglas talked to Sarah frequently, although she did not respond back. The healer told him that talking was a good way to keep her bound to this world.  As long as she was listening to him speak, even in her unconscious state, she would remain bound to this world, and refrain from slipping into the next.
    Occasionally, Sarah called out to him, but when he answered, he knew she did not really see or hear him, although she was staring at him intently.
    Finally, on the evening of the second day, Sarah opened her eyes and called for him, and when he answered her, she spoke intelligently. “Where are we?” she asked.
    “We are staying with a friend of my grandfather, on my grandfather’s estate,” he explained.
    She smiled slightly.  Sarah had been visited the estate a few times in her childhood.
    Then she frowned.  “What’s wrong?” asked Douglas.
    “You were a bear,” Sarah mumbled. 
    Douglas panicked.  She remembered.  He had hoped and prayed that Sarah had been too drugged by Wilson’s magic to remember what he looked like in his shifted form.  He had hoped they could go back to living just like