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Come to me

I have need of you

What need? Why me?

You are the Healer

You have the power

Are you hurt? A flicker of hope at the thought that the creature ht be wounded

Lana’s limbs were so heavy now, she could barely h stone Barely push her pallow she had remembered always from her first trip down this awful mine shaft

A glow like lulow-in-the-dark stars Lana’s dad had pasted to her ceiling when she was little

The thought of her father tore at Lana’s soul Her mother Her father So far away Or dead Or, who knew? Who would ever know?

She i her As if she were bacteria on a slide and her anticin the dark Terrified Hungry So afraid

Crawling toward the Darkness Slave to the gaiaphage

She stopped , co, sweat pouring off her

Place your hand on me

“What?” she whispered “Where? Where are you?”

She swung her weary head around, peering into the radioactive dark, seeing nothing but faintly glowing rock