THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

She grabbed a fist of my shirt. “Stop that girl.”
    I yanked out of her grasp. “Gabby wouldn’t hurt a child. But I can’t do anything unless you get me inside.”
    Without another word, Callan grabbed my wrist then put his hand on the wall. Nothing happened. He slapped the wall and growled through clenched teeth. “What’s she doing to bar us from entering?”
    I didn’t know what made me do it, but I put my hand over the one Callan still pressed on the dome.
    He looked over at me with suspicion.
    I told him, “Try again. Both hands.”
    When he slapped his other palm on the wall, I covered both of his hands with mine and closed my eyes, searching inside myself for the swirling heat. My muscles tensed with the effort.
    I didn’t feel anything like the power that surged when I’d fought the croggles and the flower, but my chest heated with warmth similar to when we’d healed my wound.
    A second later, Callan said in a hushed voice flooded with surprise, “You did it. We’re in.”
    I opened my eyes to find we were inside a giant white bubble…and I still held his hands.
    I dropped them, suddenly embarrassed to be caught holding Callan’s hands. With a quick look around, I found the little boy stretched out on a puffy bed of air. His lips and fingers were a chilling color of blue.
    Jaxxson had one hand on the child’s head and the other around Gabby’s throat. Her eyes were rolled back in her head.
    I lunged at the healer, ripping his hand away from Gabby. She fell back and slumped on the floor. When I swung around to deal with Jaxxson, Callan shouted at me, “Don’t touch him!”
    Jaxxson turned on both of us and ground out his words through clenched teeth. “Silence everyone! This child’s barely alive.”
    I shook with the anger of finding Gabby being attacked. If not for holding a child’s life in his hands, this healer would be laid out flat. I’d been led to believe this guy would take care of Gabby. Dropping down on one knee, I checked her pulse and, lucky for the healer, I found one. I looked over my shoulder and demanded, “Why were you trying to kill her?”
    Callan broke in. “I told you–”
    I snarled, “ No! ” and speared the healer with the bulk of my fury.
    Jaxxson’s hand never left the child’s head. “Gabby helped me heal the little girl from this morning.”
    “Really?” Callan asked, sounding just as confused as I felt. “Then why were you choking her?”
    He can ask questions, but I can’t? I don’t think so.
    “I’ll explain later, Callan, but Gabby is truly a Hy’bridt. She has to be. Anyhow, she helped with that one, which was good, because I was drained from healing Gabby of the vine reaction.”
    It took me a minute to realize that the healer was using his voice to soothe tempers in the room. Even mine was dropping a notch, but I still noted that there was a limit to what this group could do with their powers at any one time. That might work in our favor when I found a chance to escape with Tony and Gabby. And we would, as soon as I convinced Callan and Mathias to release Tony.
    Turning halfway around, I took in the return of Gabby’s healthy color and that her arms were no longer swollen or streaked with infection. The healer had done some good. She stirred, lifting her hands to her neck.
    Not understanding any of what was happening, I turned back to Jaxxson, “Why’d you heal her then try to kill her?”
    Gabby coughed and sputtered, struggling to sit up at that point. “He wasn’t choking me. He had his finger on my carotid artery to slow the blood flow, which saved me from imploding mentally.” 
    I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, but she seemed fine now. I reached out a hand to help her up then pulled it back before I made contact.
    She smiled. “It’s okay. Jaxxson has been teaching me how to deal with casual contact. He believes I can help heal others, but when I touched this little boy he was screaming so loud inside his head and in such pain that I lost control and couldn’t disconnect from him.”
    Jaxxson finished explaining, his voice still calm and soothing sounding, not looking at anyone except the little boy he hovered over. “By staying attached mentally to the child when she went into distress, Gabby was actually harming him...and herself.”
    Gabby gulped. “I’m so sorry, Jaxxson.”
    “No, that was my mistake. I didn’t consider that a child in this much anguish would overwhelm you, but once I