252 Brayden 3

"I can see by your face that you are feeling the same feeling that I have felt since you were born. When they came out and told us that you were stillborn none of us could accept it. We saw your angelic face and it was my undoing. It was the first time I regretted losing my gift. It was also the first time I had prayed in a long time. At that time your uncle John was not a Godly man either but we were the first ones to drop to our knees and began to pray. Your great grandfather refused to believe that God  would take you. He said that you were the gift that would keep the family together. So he anointed you with oil and that room filled with an electrical current heavy with faith and cries out to God. My mom held you to her chest and cried out for you to breathe. Before the prayer was over you were crying louder than any child before. The moment you breathed the very air changed. It was the first time I felt the elders presence. I thought my gift had returned. Your birth saved both John and me. We were on a path of destruction until you came. We adored you from that moment on . I have always felt pride in who you are,and now you feel that in the children we now have. I know Debra sometimes feels left out because her children do not have any of the gifts. Though I think Sam is relieved. Sam told me that just him being alive is gift enough since his father told him of my sacrifice to save him. That is a good man your sister got." Aisling knows he is telling her all this to keep her from worrying about what is happening in both DC and Tennessee. She smiles at him and tells him. 

"I love you so much, you know you have always been my hero and my compass. For that I am forever grateful, thank you for always being there for me." 

The boys stir as they arrive at the hospital, Aisling smiles as they pull up because her husband is there waiting. 

"Why are you here, did something happen with your mom?" She asks as she wraps her arms around him. 

"I left her with Yona , Moll helped me get here because the Doctor in charge is Winona's brother and Brayden needs surgery. He asked me to perform it since I helped develop the procedure. So here I am waiting for my love. " Astila grins at his wife the boys make gagging sounds and Alex rolls his eyes. 

"Look we have important things to do so you supposed grownups need to act accordingly please. You can get a empty room once Brayden is ok." Alex tugs at his uncles shirt to make him move along to Brayden's room. 

Steve just chuckles at them these kids are so cute when they give the grownups a hard time. HeJin just smiles and follows behind. 

Astila tells them what has been happening since he arrived. 

"Don't worry she is fine no one can see her in the Dream walk , she is trying to find out if it was just an accident or on purpose. That is why she is touching him while she sleeps. That way she can stay hidden in the dream. I sense that she  is getting angry though which means it must have been done on purpose. Opal and Noah are at the track with their Dad once Crystal knows something she will tell them where to look. Uncle since uncle Dude is at the track you will need to block the pain of everyone but Brayden for us till he arrives . " William looks at Astila with panic in his face , the hospital environment is already getting to them. Astila nods and they stop for a second he takes both boys hands and concentrates. An invisible field is around the three of them as they walk to Brayden's room. Astila notices that Aisling has her silk pouch he tells her

"the oils and crystals will be allowed but nothing can be burned. If you burn anything it will set off the fire alarm. We don't need to panic anyone." Aisling nods ok as they get off the elevator. Winona smiles when she sees Aisling , going over to hug her she can no longer contain her tears. Aisling just holds her friend as she cries. She looks inside the room and sees the two children sleeping wondering what Crystal is finding out. 

Crystal is watching Brayden feed the horses, when she sees a strange man going through the stalls. Following him she watches as he looks at a picture. It's a picture of Marshal and Brayden together after one of Brayden's games. The man goes into the stall of the horse Brayden will be riding and puts a powder in with his feed. Hearing a noise he throws the bag behind a bail of hay and runs out of the stall. Crystal closes her eyes and thinks of Opal. 

"Opal behind the bail of hay there is a bag , be careful the mans fingerprints are on it. Also the feed he put something in it. Have uncle take both for analysis. Make sure to not touch the bag with you fingers use something else and place it in a different bag to protect it. " sending Opal the telepathic message she followed the man seeing him get into a car with another man in the back seat. Slipping into the car she sees Grove with a mean looking older man. They are talking about the show they are about to see.

"Once the adrenaline begins to work the horse will go crazy. If the boy gets hurt then Marshal will be to worried to be able to think. We can kill him when his gaurd is down and then my Eve will be next. By the time they figure out it could possibly be us we will be long gone. " Grove smiles as he talks about killing people.

Crystal wakes herself up she knows her Evie is in danger since Grove is out. When she opens her eyes she jumps and looks like a wild doe frightened. Aisling seeing this goes to her. 

"Aisling we have to call my Evie the men who hurt Brayden are Grove and some older man. They put something in the Horses feed knowing Brayden would be riding him. The man had a picture of Brayden and uncle Marshal together. They targeted him, I think they want uncle Marshal to come after them so they can hurt him. We cannot let him go alone we have to get my Dad to come help him. They know Brayden is hurt and here. They were counting on it. They watched while he was being trampled and laughed. What can we do to stop them, I told Opal where the bag that the man threw away was it has his fingerprints on it . I also told her to have her Dad get the feed analyzed. We need to stop Uncle Marshal from doing anything before my dad gets here." The fear in her voice is suffocating and her emotions is charging the air. Aisling holds her to calm her. Remi hearing her daughter gets on the phone to Yona while Steve and HeJin just grin. 

"Have you forgotten that you have two elite fighters standing in front of you. We may be older but we can still kick butt. Especially that pansy Grove, he won't know what hit him. We also will have the element of surprise on our side. Grove has never met HeJin and the last time he saw me my hair was at my waist and I was currently a junkie at the time. Not to mention your uncle Dude is an elite marksman. We did not teach you all the art of hunting just to hunt  game . We taught you so that you can protect yourself at all times. " Steve informs Crystal. Aisling and Remi begin to giggle at the memories of their uncles in their druggy days . Winona's eyes grow large with shock thinking of Steve in long hair. Astila agrees with Steve that whatever is going to happen it's a family affair and they all will be involved. Alex and William go inside the room with Brayden . They each take a side and hold his hand. William calls for Astila. 

"Uncle come here please." Astila walks beside the boys. 

"Brayden has a clot in his brain that is keeping him asleep, he also has a piece of metal in his back. It is at the T3 vertebrae it is what is causing the swelling . It is a bullet because of the trampling no one looked, it is a small piece so the hole may not be big. Since he had so much blood from being trampled it easily was missed,or was not reported. You need to ask his Uncle who saw him when he arrived. If they are in the mobsters payroll they could have been hoping he would die in order to break uncle marshal. As soon as Opal and Noah sensed Uncle Marshals distress and knew about Brayden. They started sending healing to him keeping him alive till we arrived. We can clear the clot and repair the bones and tissue but you will need to remove the bullet. " the sadness in the boys words is heartbreaking to those around them. They need to have a family meeting to decide what is to be done.to do it without revenge but with caring, love and to allow the police to extract justice. That is going to be hard because these people messed with our kids and our kids do not take kindly to being messed with.