And that was what she really wanted to know. How did God choose someone? Had he ever? She had wanted to ask if any stories about that were true, but suspected she wouldn’t get a straight answer, just something about having faith. Or seeing that this guy believed it. That just reminded her why she had always been so cynical about religion. If it was real, you didn’t tell people to just believe like it wasn’t. Faith in something that had no proof was not the ultimate test of whether you were worthy. It just sounded manipulative.
She sighed, not wanting to rehash all the reasons for her atheism. She had accepted the gods on other worlds were real. She had heard reports of people healing others on Earth. And of course, Eriana had just healed her. An energy she knew to be the touch of a god had coursed through her. There could be no denying that He was real, but what concerned her now was what was true and what was not. Because it seemed like until that first quest from Stonehenge, it was all baloney. Why was God suddenly back? And how did Eriana reach out to him? She wanted to ask but would have to wait.
She had met with a different priest before, the first time Jack had fetched one. She had hoped for better answers from this, but no luck. Healing herself was certainly on her mind, but she needed to get out of here so she could heal her friends and undo what she had done to them. The fate of Heather, who had died, hung on her mind because she seriously doubted ever having the power to raise someone from the dead. She was no Aeron, the Lord of Fear necromancer. It seemed that even he could not raise his dead wife in satisfactory condition. Despite all the extraordinary things that had turned out to be real, even that one was pure bullshit. Raise the dead and they were still dead. Unless they were Jesus Christ? That was something to think about. But if he had been real, he still wasn’t like the rest of people, being half god.
Her mind drifted often to her girlfriends and what had become of them. The grief loomed o large that she sometimes didn’t feel it, but the drugs might have contributed to that. She should have known better than to drive—the source of her guilt. And she imagined her friends thought the same. Blaming questions likely awaited her when they met again, for those still alive. Would they even agree to see her? She felt a renewed interest in learning to heal so she could undo as much as she could, and this thought helped motivate her to not fall apart in tears. She had a solution, if she could only achieve it.
As she lay there pondering, a tingling in her belly made her catch her breath in anticipation. Never had she felt excited by a possible summoning, as they filled her with dread. But if everyone was right, a Quest Ring was about to fully heal her. As the room disappeared around her, the now familiar of vortex of swirling light and sound replacing it, she began to smile.
Ryan, Matt, and Eric were now before her in their usual positions. And she was facing them, standing in a hospital gown. She looked down and saw her bare feet. She was never really sure what she felt beneath them while being summoned, but she felt something solid. And that was all that mattered because she hadn’t felt her feet in days. She wiggled her toes, the gown suddenly vanishing. With a yelp, she covered herself and started laughing that she could, and a moment later the now familiar robe of Eriana, the Lady Hope, draped from her shoulders, down to her white-booted feet. She looked at the others, similarly attired in their adventuring gear of golden armor, black leather, and a dark robe. All smiling eyes were on her as the commotion stopped. She was so taken with her miraculous healing that she forgot to immediately scan for danger. Anna was quietly giggling, tears springing to her eyes and one hand reaching absently for the nearest of them, which was Eric, because he had stepped closer.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes!” she whispered, more because her voice was choked with emotion than because she was trying to be quiet.
“My Lords,” began Ryan in his knightly voice, addressing the summoners, “thank you so much for inviting us. We are honored to be here. We would appreciate just a moment to confer among ourselves before giving you our full attention.”
“Certainly, Lord Korrin,” said someone.
Then her friends were all before her, asking how she felt and hardly letting her answer. That they were so genuinely concerned touched her and she felt grateful for them, suddenly realizing how desperately she had missed them when she most needed them, trapped in a hospital. Trapped in her own body. She threw her arms around each, not caring who was watching, though a quick glance past them showed a wide castle hall, the Quest Ring around them off to one side in an alcove. Scores of nobles, guards, and attendants waited, but the place was nearly empty, as if no one had expected them to appear, or few people were caught up in the possibility. Maybe there wasn’t much riding on their success. That would be a welcome change.
She assured her friends that she felt fine, could feel her entire body. Indeed, as always happened
