Unnatural Souls (12 page)

He scoffed as if it didn’t
matter. As if it
didn’t
matter
. “I don’t answer to you. You had
three months. It’s
your
fault it took until the last day—not mine,” he
told me, his eyes narrowing.

I was too mad to be scared
of him … but I also still needed him, and couldn’t afford to piss
him off. Yet.

“Kali
said you mastered your
abilities
.”

“Yes,” I
replied. I closed my eyes and pulled at
my powers
in demonstration,
envisioning the blades. The next moment, I felt them materialize in
my hands. I lifted my lids to see the glowing blue weapons there,
then glanced up at Michael, who looked … pleased. Thank God. Taking
a deep breath, I released the weapons, which disappeared into thin
air.

“So we save Ash. Please,”
I said firmly, adding the ‘please’ only to be polite. I’d proven
that I’d mastered my powers. Now it was his turn.

Michael nodded, then
pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me. It was a
talisman,
just like the one Kali wore
around her neck—a heavy chain with a silver pendant shaped like a
key. On one side it looked like a simple old skeleton key. On the
other side, though, there was writing on it, unlike any human
language I had ever seen. It was otherworldly. Angelic.

“What is this?” I snapped,
shoving it back toward him. “How is this going to save
Ash?”

“You’ve seen something
like it before,” Michael told me. “Kali has one. It’s what she will
wear until she repays her debt to me. The Archangels made it for
her, to keep her soul safe from Adrian, who isn’t able to break its
magic. Each one is uniquely crafted for the owner—and this was made
for your brother, a gift to you for helping me in my cause. It will
save him, as I’ve promised. Save his soul, destroy its path to
Hell, and allow him into Heaven when his time comes. The demon
after him won’t be able to collect his debt.”

A talisman that held a
soul. So it
was
Kali’s soul I’d seen in her aura during the fight. It lived
inside the talisman, the blue that showed through the red of her
demonic aura. Her pure soul.

But that had nothing to do
with my situation.

“What do I do with it?” I
asked quickly, my mind already moving ahead of me to the next
phase.

“Put it on your brother,”
Michael instructed, his voice now moving as quickly as mine. “When
you do, his soul will be drawn into it. The talisman will protect
his spirit until his natural time on Earth is up, and it will keep
Adrian from being able collect. It will ensure that he takes the
right path. Essentially, it is a free ticket to Heaven when his
time comes—and protection until it does.”

“I just
have to get him to put it on?” I asked, eyeing the pendant. It
seemed too good to be
true
… too easy. I wanted to be thrilled, and I was at
some level, but I held back.

If what Michael said
was
correct
, I
couldn’t be at ease until it was
on
him, and he was officially safe. For
good.

“Yes,”
he replied, crossing his arms. “Now as you said, you need to
hurry.”

He didn’t have to tell me
twice. “Thank you,” I said sharply.

Then I closed my eyes and
teleported to my room.

WHEN I
APPEARED
, I looked down at the talisman
and smiled. Ash was going to be safe. I just had to get this around
his neck, and he’d be free and clear to live his entire
life—protected by honest-to-God angelic magic.

Just get it around his
neck. No problem. I ran to my door and yanked it open.

“Ash!” I
shouted.

No response. I looked at
my watch and saw that I only had an hour and ten minutes left, but
surely that was enough. Classes had let out half an hour ago, and
Ash should be home at any moment—it didn’t take that long to get
back from school. And I knew it was better to wait for him in the
house. It was the obvious choice. My only other choice was to
appear in his car, which wouldn’t work. I’d never attempted to
teleport into a moving object, and even if I succeeded, I might
just give him a heart attack doing it.

Besides, I had waited
three months; what was five more minutes? I had the talisman I
needed, and it would save Ash the moment I got it over his head.
Everything was going to be okay, I thought, another thrill of
excitement running through me. The second he walked in I was going
to tackle him to the ground and latch it around his neck. I leapt
downstairs, taking the steps two at a time, and threw myself onto
the couch to watch the door. All I had to do now was wait for Ash
to get home.

I sat there for five
minutes, then started to worry again.

Pulling my phone out, I
sent him a quick message:
Where are you?
Have some news.

Thankfully, his reply came
within seconds:
Be home late.
Grabbing pizza with Jason. Phone about to die.
Goodbye. I love you.

I chewed on my bottom lip,
my anxiety suddenly taking a firmer hold on my stomach. The first
two sentences sounded like Ash. Normal, forgetful of plugging a
phone in. The usual. The last two, though … I couldn’t stop
re-reading them. Why would he say goodbye? No one said that in a
text message when they planned to see the other person shortly. And
the last sentence… Again, not completely out of the ordinary, but
combined with the other, it was obvious that there was something
going on.

Then I realized what it
was. He knew his year was up. I’d assumed he would be home, praying
it just didn’t happen, or thinking that he was safer here. It was
what I would have done. Right? Instead, he was going out with his
friend? That didn’t make sense—and it didn’t help me. I needed him
to be where I could find him, rather than hiding. I needed to be
able to get to him … or he was going to lose his chance at
salvation.

I reached into myself and
mentally pulled my powers to the surface, imagining the location I
wanted. I thought I knew where he might be, and I needed to find
him—now. When the warmth of the angelic magic surrounded me,
answering my call, I gave it the coordinates: the bathroom of the
local pizza joint … where all the kids went to hang out.

I didn’t even take the
time to pray that Ash was there. He had to be. He
had
to be.

I SHOVED THROUGH
the dingy, green, graffiti-covered stall door,
which slammed against the wall. But I didn’t care about the noise;
I was already to the exit, and then running quickly through the
back of the restaurant, knowing time was ticking away. I knocked
into a bus boy and mumbled an apology, but didn’t slow down, and
didn’t stop until I was in the middle of the dining area, scanning
the room wildly. It was a packed house, and I had to stand on my
tiptoes to see over the crowd.

But neither Ash—nor
Jason—was there.

I hurried past the tables,
my hips knocking into them as I went, and heard drinks spilling
behind me. Someone shouted out, but it was all background noise.
Where was Ash? I ran
through
the front door, hoping they were waiting
out
there for an open
table, but once I was in the street, my heart sank.

There were only a few
people outside: five girls and two guys from our school. They
weren’t Ash or Jason.

Maybe they hadn’t gotten
there yet? I could still hope for that,
though
I seriously doubted it was
the case. Nevertheless, I had to check before I started searching
all over town.

I pulled my phone out and
dialed Jason, Ash’s best friend. Even if Ash wasn’t with him, he
had most likely been the last person to see
Ash
. Maybe he could tell me where
he’d gone.

“Hey
Jason,” I greeted quickly when he picked up.

“Hey
Gra—” he started.

I didn’t wait for a
response.

“Do you know where Ash
is?” I asked, unable to keep the concern from my voice.

“Last I
saw, he was at school,” Jason replied. “He was
going
toward his
car, though. I figured he was going home.”

“Thanks,” I replied, and hung up the phone. I could apologize
for my rudeness later. Ash had been
heading
for his car—but he hadn’t
come home. He’d obviously lied to me about what he was doing, and
he hadn’t told Jason anything useful.

This was not good. Without
knowing where he’d gone, I would spend all night searching for him,
and I didn’t have that kind of time on my hands. I needed help if I
was going to have any chance of tracking him down.

I ran around the side of
the building, made sure there were no witnesses, and then reached
within myself again, wrapped my powers around my body. Before I
left, I dialed another number, my heart racing.

“Kali,”
I said when she picked up. “I need your help. It’s my
brother.”

I teleported back to my
living room before I even hung up.

KALI WAS STANDING
in my living room when I appeared, her arms
crossed and a glare plastered on her face. “Yes?” she asked, no
longer holding the phone.

“
He’s in trouble,” I told
her. “I can’t explain everything right now, but we need to find
him. Please, there’s a demon hunting him. Ash sold his soul to save
me a year ago, and the demon is coming to collect on it. Like,
today. Right now. Michael gave me a talisman to save him, but I
need your help finding him.”

“
Why should I?” she began,
but I cut her off, desperation rushing through my veins like cold
water.

“
Please,” I begged. My
voice cracked and tears began running down my cheeks when I glanced
at my watch. Only one hour and two minutes left, and I couldn’t sit
here all night. “Ash could be any number of places. You’re the only
one who can teleport as quickly as I can. The two of us could cover
twice the amount of ground. He barely has an hour left. Alone,
there’s a very good chance I won’t find him in time. You know what
it’s like to try to do the right thing and end up going to Hell for
it. Please don’t let that be my brother.”

Her hands had been relaxed at her
sides, but by the end of my speech they were in fists. I’d
obviously hit a nerve. I just had to hope I’d given her enough
reason to agree. I needed to get moving—figure out where Ash was,
and get there in time to put this stupid talisman around his neck.
Then pray like hell that it would be an immediate process, and not
something that took too long to finish.

Either Kali agreed now, or I left on
my own and took my chances with being able to find him—and fight
the demon—by myself. I didn’t know how I was going to do that, but
I’d worry about it after I had Kali’s answer.

Honestly, I was expecting her usual
snarky comments about it not being her problem, and nothing to do
with her. So I was surprised when she furrowed her brow at me. I
swear she actually looked concerned. At any other time, I would
have laughed.

“
What can I do?” she asked
seriously.

The panic in my heart didn’t ebb away,
but I felt the tiniest bit of release. At least I wasn’t alone, and
if Kali ran into the demon first, she could distract it. Maybe kill
it. If we could find them. If we could find Ash before that demon
did.

“
Check my school. The
whole school. You’ve followed me home before, so you know where it
is, and how we get home from there. If he isn’t at school, check
the road I take to get here,” I said.

Jason had said Ash was leaving, but he
didn’t say he saw him drive off. And the school would be deserted
by this time. It would be a good place to be alone … and a great
place to keep the demon away from any friends and family, who might
get hurt if Ash went elsewhere.