Unnatural Souls (17 page)

I SUCKED PAINFUL
breath into lungs that felt like they had caught
fire, and my hand automatically went to my chest.

There was a sticky
substance where the demon had stabbed me, but something was
missing. My shirt was wet and tacky for a reason, and I remembered
being covered in blood…
My
blood. I felt a hole in my shirt and I pushed my
fingers through it, but the skin was soft, warm, and unbroken. My
brain was still foggy, and part of me suddenly wondered if I had
been dreaming. I vividly recalled being run through by the
monster’s blade, though, and couldn’t believe that I’d imagined
that. He had stabbed me, right? There was so much blood, and the
pain had been intense. There was no way I could have imagined that
… or survived such a wound.

Even if I had, the hole in my chest
wouldn’t have disappeared. That didn’t make any sort of
sense.

Was I dead? I wasn’t even
sure I was
able
to die, not the way most humans did. I was already stuck on
Earth. But I wasn’t in pain anymore. I only remembered feeling that
way one other time—and that was the night I
had
died. Could that mean I was a
ghost … again?

I shot straight up and the
world jerked to the side, a wave of dizziness overtaking me. It
made me nauseous but I fought it, trying to blink away the
blurriness of the world around me. I hadn’t felt
that
way last time I was
a ghost, and I wasn’t an expert, but I thought that ruled out being
dead as well. That was a reaction from my body, because I’d moved
too quickly. And my body sending signals to my brain meant I was
still alive. Somehow.

What had happened after I passed out?
Where was everyone? Did Kali kill the demon? Did she save my
brother? I turned my eyes toward the only light in the room, where
the stage should be, but I couldn’t see clearly. Everything looked
like blobs and colors—nothing distinguishable. I felt like I had
been run over by a train. I took a few deep, painful breaths to try
to fight off the dizziness, and my eyes went to the stage
again…

Where my brother was laying, still and
lifeless. Everything went sideways once more, and I tried not to
fall over. His chest wasn’t moving at all, and his skin was even
paler than I remembered from before I passed out. Was he dead? The
pain that flooded through me at that thought was like nothing I had
ever felt before. If my brother was laying there, dead, it was my
fault. I’d had the chance to save him. I’d had an entire year to
figure out how to do it.

And in the end, I’d still been too
late.

Then everything came into focus so
that I could actually see him. The glowing light that had looked
exactly like my brother—his soul—still hovered above his body, but
it was losing its shape. It no longer looked so much like my
brother, and was beginning to lift further away from him. My heart
ached so deeply that I thought it would just stop
beating.

I slowly dragged my legs until they
were underneath me, and tried to stand. I wanted to go to him, to
be by his side, to hold him. I didn’t want him to be alone. But my
knees gave out before I had even gotten an inch off the ground, and
I collapsed. I couldn’t catch my breath, but I reached up, wrapped
my arms around the top of one of the auditorium chairs, and yanked
myself to my knees again, then pushed myself to my feet, using the
chair as support. Leaning against it, I grabbed for the next,
trying to move up to the next row. I had to get to that stage. I
had to hold Ash before he was gone.

I made it two steps before collapsing
again, and looked back to the stage, about to call to Kali to help
me.

Then I stopped entirely.
Kali was staring at Ash’s body on the ground, but her long hair
cascaded down, covering her face so that I couldn’t see her
expression. She reached out her hand and touched Ash’s hovering
soul—and I froze. His soul had moved when she came into contact
with it. What was she
doing
?

I was about to scream at her to leave
him alone when I noticed her talisman. I could see the blue aura of
her soul taking her shape, a perfect clone of her, its transparent
hand also reaching out to the red of Ash’s. What exactly was it
attempting to do? It looked like her soul was trying to get to his.
It stretched a few inches away from the talisman, but seemed to
only be able to go so far. Still, though its torso stayed put, its
arms stretched out and its fingers splayed toward my brother’s
soul. It was struggling to reach him … as if it desperately wanted
to get to him.

Why was her soul attempting to get to
his? What could it do?

Could Kali’s soul save Ash’s, even
without the talisman I’d lost?

A small seed of hope began
to form in my mind. It was a desperate and likely impossible idea,
and I knew it wasn’t
supposed
to work, but what if Kali’s talisman could hold
two souls instead of one? I understood that each talisman was
unique, made specifically for the person it was supposed to save,
but Ash’s had vanished. And with the demon gone—most likely killed
by Kali after I passed out—I had no idea where to look for it … if
it even still existed.

I might be able to call to Michael and
get him to make another one, but my brother could be long gone by
time the angel showed up with it. His soul was hanging on by a
thread as it was.

If I could get his soul
into
Kali’s
talisman, even for a short time, though … could it protect
him? Was there a chance? I knew it probably wouldn’t save his life,
but it might at least protect his soul until I could get another
one from Michael. And it was the only plan I had.

I had to try.

The question was how to do it. Could I
use my powers to help? In theory, it would just be like moving any
other object, right? Manipulating it using my powers, and forcing
it into the talisman. Same principal, right? I would just have to
take hold of his soul and move it to where I wanted it to go. I had
no idea if it would stay there once I forced it inside—or if the
talisman could hold it.

But it was worth a try.

I concentrated on the talisman around
Kali’s neck as she continued to study Ash’s soul, reaching down to
my power and pulling every bit of it to the surface. I used the
same technique I’d used to move any other object, and grasped hold
of it with my mind. Then I willed his soul toward her talisman,
staring at the stage in desperation.

It didn’t budge. Maybe I couldn’t
force a soul the way I did regular objects? No, I had to believe
this could work. It was my last shot—because based on what Kali was
doing, I didn’t think she knew how to save his soul,
either.

I let out a sigh and
steeled myself to try again, pulling all of my power to the
surface. This
had
to work.

Because I wouldn’t be able to try a
third time. Whatever my power had done to save me, it had wiped me
almost completely bare. I didn’t have much left to use. So I put my
heart into it, sending every bit of my power in their direction,
and, using my mind to grasp his soul as tightly as I could, I took
the same hold on Kali’s talisman … and yanked them toward each
other with every fiber of my being. In my mind I envisioned the two
becoming one and prayed, begged, and pleaded for the pendant to
allow his soul inside. I could feel and see Kali’s soul—its
hand—struggling harder now to reach Ash’s as I manipulated her
talisman, and hope sparked in my heart, the warmth of my power
intensifying to an almost unbearable heat. Her talisman—or at least
her soul—could feel my intentions. And it was trying to
help.

I just had to close the distance
between his soul and the talisman. I pushed one more time, feeling
the warmth of my power pouring out of my body in their direction,
and this time his soul responded as well, moving slowing toward
Kali and her soul.

Kali—the real one—seemed
to notice the movement, and paused. Ash’s soul was growing nearer,
though, her soul’s hand now within inches of his. It was working, I
thought with excitement. I was manipulating them with my
telekinesis. Now I just had to get his soul into the talisman and
pray that this crazy plan had a chance of working. I began to feel
dizzy again, like I might faint at any moment, but I pushed on.
This had to work, it
was
working. I felt the pulse of energy wrapping
tightly around my chest, the blue light of my own power glowing
outside of my body again, the ball of blue light growing larger by
the second. And then I felt the familiar snap of my power bursting
from inside of me, exactly the way it had felt the first time I
called my weapons. The way it had felt before I blacked out and
should have died. My entire body was charged with electricity, and
I took that in hand and willed the two souls to close the distance.
The wave of power shot out of my chest, like a blue comet rushing
across the auditorium, and collided with them.

The bright light surrounded Ash, Kali,
and both of their souls, and for a moment I couldn’t see them past
the glow of my power. When it began to fade, Kali was reaching for
the talisman. But just as her fingers would have touched it, the
pendant vanished.

I gasped. The pendants weren’t
supposed to vanish like that. Where had it gone? Had my plan
backfired? Had I somehow damaged Kali’s talisman by attempting to
force my brother’s soul inside?

Had I doomed them both by trying to do
too much?

I held my breath in panic, horrified,
but a second later Kali’s talisman materialized—around Ash’s neck.
I knew it was hers because Kali’s soul—still outside the charm—took
hold of Ash’s, smiling. The moment it did, both were sucked into of
the talisman. The pendant blazed brighter than ever, but after a
moment the light faded, turning into a soft glow that alternated
between red and blue.

I stared at it, utterly
astonished … and overwhelmed with joy. Because Ash’s soul had gone
into the charm. I’d seen it. And it was still glowing within—that
was the only explanation for the red glow attached to Kali’s usual
blue. I knew it shouldn’t have been possible, but I had done it. I
had
done
it.
Which meant his soul would be safe from Hell, and any other demon
that came to call, because the creatures of Hell couldn’t break the
talismans the angels created. I’d done what I’d set out to
do.

But what about Ash? The real one.
Could he live now that his soul was protected?

I turned my eyes and
stared at my brother, unable to let out the breath I was holding as
I waited for a sign.
Breathe, Ash,
breathe,
I prayed. I knew his soul was
safe—and surely it wouldn’t still be around if he’d died—but he
wasn’t moving yet, and I didn’t know what that meant.

Suddenly something
shifted. It was a small movement at first—one of his fingers
twitching—and my heart jumped into my throat.
Then
Ash’s chest began to rise and
fall, the breathing so slight that I wasn’t sure I was truly seeing
it. But he abruptly sucked in a large gasp, his back arching off
the ground, and the color began to return to his skin. He moved his
fingers, his legs, his arms, and I let out a gasp to match his,
warmth flooding my own skin, my heart pounding.

He was alive! The talisman had saved
him—and I had helped. I cried silently at that, thanking the angels
above for having made the talisman, putting it the right spot, and
giving me the power to do what I’d done. Now I had to get to him. I
pushed myself up from the ground, my legs slightly more stable this
time, and stood, wobbling a little, but balancing by leaning on the
chair at the end of the aisle. With a deep breath, I started to
move forward, ready to run to Ash and wrap him up in my arms … but
then I stopped.

Kali was pacing the stage,
mumbling to herself, and she looked very angry. I didn’t know what
was wrong with her, but she was obviously furious at something. And
it didn’t take a genius to guess that that something might
be
me
.

After all, I’d just taken her talisman
and given it to Ash. Basically.

“
What the hell?” she
shouted, followed by a number of expletives. “No, no, no. This
can’t be happening. He’s breathing?”

I rolled my eyes. Here I was,
overjoyed that I’d saved him, and she was throwing a tantrum. She
had a right to, with what had just happened—but watching her, I
began to doubt that she actually knew who was responsible. She
didn’t seem to realize it was my fault, though I didn’t know how
she could have missed my powers lighting up the auditorium like the
fourth of July.

But if she’d known it was me, she
would have been screaming at me, demanding answers for what I’d
done. Whatever it was—and I was going to have to ask Michael
later—she wasn’t too pleased about it.

Which made me think I
might still die right then and there if she
did
realize I was the one who’d done
it.

“
What happened?” Ash
suddenly asked, his speech slurred.