I'm With Cupid (4 page)

Someone was on top of him, yelling words he couldn't understand.

Marcus's head swam, and it was hard to focus. He vaguely registered that he'd fallen onto the grass and that he must have hit his head pretty hard. But why was some crazy person pinning him to the ground?

Finally, his eyes cleared, and he recognized her. Lena Perris.

He had to be seeing things. Why would Lena be here? And why would she be sitting on top of him and screaming?

“Marcus!” she was shouting, her words coming to him through a fog. The voice really did sound like Lena's. Maybe it
was
her. “Did you touch her? Did you?”

He didn't know what she was talking about. For some reason, all he could think about was the book his grandpa had given him.
Always
pay
the
girl
a
compliment
, it said.

“You look nice today,” he told her.

Lena let out a cry of frustration. Then she jumped up, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

As Marcus finally pulled himself together and sat up on the grass, he remembered Olivia. He'd missed his window to zap her! Or had he? He'd felt at least some of the energy leave his fingers before Lena had knocked him over.

When he looked toward the bench, Lena was leaning over someone else who was on the ground. Was she going around tackling
everyone
?

As Marcus got to his feet, his head pounding, he realized that it was Olivia who was spread out on the grass by the bench. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving.

“You!” Lena cried, pointing to a redheaded man who was jogging by. “Call 911!”

The man stopped and stared down at Olivia. Then he nodded urgently, pulled out his phone, and started dialing.

That's when it finally clicked for Marcus that something was wrong. He ran over and knelt beside Olivia. She was breathing, but her breaths seemed small and shallow.

Lena was checking the woman's airways and pulse like they'd learned during first aid last year. Since she didn't start CPR, he thought maybe that was a good sign.

“Is she okay? What happened to her?” he asked.

“You almost killed her,” Lena said softly.

Marcus couldn't help it. He laughed. “What are you talking about?”

Lena shook her head. “I'm not sure why, but somehow things got mixed up.” She glanced at the people gathering around to see if the woman was okay. The redheaded guy was hovering over them, still holding his phone. “I shouldn't be talking about this here. I shouldn't be talking about this at all!”

“Talking about what?” Marcus asked, but at that moment, the ambulance pulled up. After that, everything was a blur of flashing lights and stretchers and IVs. It made Marcus think of his grandpa. Is this what things had been like after he'd collapsed at home a few weeks ago?

“Marcus?” he heard Lena say.

He blinked, realizing that the ambulance was pulling away. No one had asked him what had happened. Lena must have done all the talking.

“I still don't understand what's going on,” he said.

“Come on,” Lena said as she led him to a nearby bench. “I have to tell you something. This is going to sound crazy, and it's against the rules for me to even
think
about telling you this, but you need to know or you might hurt someone else.” She peered down at her sneakers, as if she were trying to find the right words in her shoelaces. “The thing is, I'm a soul collector. And I think somehow you got my powers. When we, you know…when we kissed last night.”

Marcus stared at her. “A soul collector?”

“I know what you're thinking, but I'm not the grim reaper or anything like that. See? No hood or pointy gardening tool. And I don't kill anyone, but I do have the power to draw souls out of people's bodies and send them to…wherever they go. Only I think you have my power now. Or at least part of it.”

All he could do was stare at her, oddly focused on her slightly crooked front teeth.

“When I realized something was wrong,” she went on, “I stopped by your house, and your sister said you were here. I rode my bike over as fast as I could, but I don't know if it was in time. You…you almost pulled that woman's soul out of her body.”

He should have been shocked at the idea of someone being able to take souls, especially someone like Lena. But if he could make people fall in love with a bolt of energy, then why couldn't those other things be true? Still…people didn't just swap powers. He'd memorized the manual Eddie had given him, and nowhere did it even hint at anything like that being possible.

He wanted to tell Lena all this, but instead he found himself saying, “It's a scythe.”

She blinked. “What?”

“The scary pointy tool. It's called a scythe. And it's for farming, not gardening. I read about it in a book on the history of—”

“You're not getting the point. You almost killed someone!” Lena cried, nostrils flaring. “I'm not saying it's your fault, but didn't you notice that something was wrong? Didn't you think it was kind of weird that your fingers were glowing?”

“Not exactly—” Marcus began, but she wasn't listening.

“Whatever is going on, I need to figure out how to fix it.” Lena pulled out her phone. “I'll try sending Eddie another message. Why is he ignoring me when I told him it was an emergency?”

“Eddie?” Marcus repeated.

“Yes,” she said, furiously typing on her phone. “He's my boss.”

“Wait. Eddie's your boss?” Marcus couldn't believe it. Was there a staffing shortage or something? “Eddie's my boss too.”

She didn't look up. “That's nice.”

“No, you don't get it. Eduardo? Grayish hair, dark beard? Sounds like he lived in Spain a million years ago? Loves gadgets?”

Lena looked up, her eyes suddenly suspicious. “How do you know all that?”

“I'm telling you. He's my boss too. You're a soul collector? Well, I'm a matchmaker. Like Cupid but without the diaper.”

Before she could answer, someone behind them let out a loud whistle. An instant later, Eddie sped around the corner on a Segway. He was exactly as Marcus had described him.

“Well, shoot,” Eddie said when he'd pulled up in front of them. “So you two really did swap powers. How are we going to fix that?”

Lena's brain felt like it was about to explode. Marcus was some kind of supernatural matchmaker? If she didn't have Eddie standing two feet away, confirming the fact that it was true, she would have laughed right in his face. Being a soul collector was one thing. Death was a normal part of life. But love? Love was a total lie invented by the people who made romantic comedies and heart-shaped candy. Just ask her dad about that.

“This is crazy,” she said, jumping to her feet. “How is it possible to switch powers?”

Eddie shook his head, still perched on his Segway, his red helmet gleaming in the sun. “It should not be, but somehow it has happened. At least, that is the message I got. And my boss is
not
happy. So give me the details.”

“Wait, what about Olivia?” Marcus asked. “Is she going to be okay?”

Lena figured that had to be the woman he'd zapped.

Eddie waved his hand dismissively, sending his Segway wobbling. “Don't worry about that right now. Just tell me when you first knew something was wrong.”

“It was during my collection,” Lena said. “I zapped Mrs. Katz like I was supposed to, but instead of dying, she got all weird and started giggling with the mailman.”

“The mailman?” Marcus let out a weak laugh. “Maybe he'll send her love letters.” Clearly, the whole situation was too much for him to handle.

“Wait,” Lena said, her brain finally starting to process what Marcus had told her. “That happened because of
your
powers, didn't it? I made those old people think they're in love.”

Marcus stared at her. “They don't just think it. They
are
in love. At least for now. Once it starts to fade, they'll have to—”

“Back up,” Eddie broke in. “Do you have any idea what caused this?”

“I'm pretty sure it was the kiss,” Lena said. She glanced at Marcus to see if he agreed and saw his cheeks go pink. Was he seriously going to get embarrassed about their kiss when he'd almost killed someone?

“We were at a party last night,” she went on, “and Connie Reynolds dared us to kiss. So we did it, and then today, everything's all messed up.”

“A kiss?” Eddie asked, scratching his short beard. “What did it feel like, exactly?”

Lena thought back, replaying the moment in her mind. “Electric, I guess. It was…”

“It was amazing,” Marcus chimed in. Then his cheeks grew an even darker shade of pink, like two wads of cotton candy.

“Electricity?” Eddie asked thoughtfully. “That might have something to do with it. I mean, your powers are both fueled by energy. It makes sense that when that energy meets, it would spark. Like wires accidently getting crossed.”

“So what do we do to uncross them?” asked Lena.

Eddie smiled, looking relieved. “Well, kid, that's pretty obvious, isn't it? You two need to kiss again. That should fix everything.”

Lena glanced at Marcus, who seemed like he might pass out. “Here?” she asked. The crowd had drifted away after the ambulance had left, but she didn't exactly want to kiss a boy in the middle of a park with her boss watching. She was pretty sure that particular “teen first” wasn't listed in any of the magazines she'd read.

“Come on, kids,” said Eddie. “The faster we undo this, the better. I cannot be on probation again.”

“Probation?” Lena asked, but Eddie was clapping his hands insistently like they didn't have another second to lose. “Fine.” She jumped up, eager to get this over with. She'd given up on running lines with Abigail today, but at least she could go back home and look over the audition piece after this whole crazy thing was fixed.

Marcus got to his feet and took a few cautious steps toward her. Finally, they were face-to-face again. This was nothing like the closet last night. For one thing, they hadn't had someone staring right at them last time.

“Um, Eddie?” Lena said. “Can you look away or something?”

He shrugged and spun his wheels around so his back was turned.

“Okay,” she said. “On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

They both rushed their faces forward and—
thunk!
—bumped foreheads.

“Ow!” Marcus cried, rubbing his temples.

“Sorry!” said Lena. “Are you okay?”

“Sounds like you're doing it wrong,” Eddie called over his shoulder.

Lena sighed and took a step forward. “Let's try it slower this time.” She focused on his eyes and realized, suddenly, what an unusual shade of brown they were. In the sunlight, they almost looked like the pieces of amber in a necklace her mom had once had.

“What?” Marcus asked.

Lena blinked. “Um, nothing. It's…your eyes.” For some reason, her face started to feel hot.

“Well?” Eddie called to them.

“We're trying!” Marcus said. Then he gave Lena a determined look and started to inch his face toward hers. When he was only a whisper away, Lena closed her eyes. Finally, their lips met and…

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She might as well have been kissing a watermelon.

She pulled away, studying Marcus's expression for any sign that he'd felt something, but his cheeks were the same shade of pink as before.

“Well?” Eddie called again.

“You can turn around now,” Lena said.

“Good,” he said, cruising over. “Now, let's see if that worked. Call up your energy, both of you.”

Lena took a deep breath and summoned her energy. It took more effort than normal, but finally her fingers started to glow. She sighed as she saw they were still the wrong color. Meanwhile, Marcus's were the exact shade of purple that hers should have been.

“Still nothing,” Eddie said, and Lena couldn't help noticing how worried he sounded.

“Should we…should we kiss again?” Marcus asked.

But Eddie was shaking his head. “This doesn't make sense. The kiss should have fixed it. Are you sure you did everything the same way?”

“Well, there was the party and everything,” said Lena. “And we were in a closet.”

“A closet?” Eddie seemed to think this over. “Okay, follow me.” He zipped across the park to a tiny shack where the bathrooms were. On the side of the building was a door that looked like it led to a storage room. He hopped off the Segway and tried to open the door, but the handle wouldn't budge. Eddie started whistling tunelessly to himself as he took out some kind of gadget that looked like an oversized Swiss army knife. He inserted one end into the lock and—
click!
—it opened.

He turned and gave Lena and Marcus a devilish grin. “Shh, you never saw me with this,” he said, tucking the contraption back into his pocket. “Okay, in you go.”

Lena peered into the tiny room full of cleaning supplies and dented trash barrels. “In there?”

“You wanted a closet? I found you a closet. Now, let's go. The boss lady will be calling me any minute, and I want to be able to tell her the crisis is over.”

“Come on,” Marcus said, heading inside. “Let's give it a try.”

Lena sighed and followed him. If this was how disastrous her rites of passage were going to be, she wasn't sure she wanted to do them anymore.

When Lena and Marcus were inside, half-choked by the smells of dirt and bleach, Eddie slammed the door shut, and they were alone in the darkness.

“This is pretty crazy, huh?” Marcus said after a minute.

“That's a total understatement. Let's get this over with.” Lena heard him suck in a breath and realized how harsh her words must have sounded. “Sorry,” she added more softly. “This is just all so crazy. I woke up really happy this morning and now…”

“I know,” he said. “But it'll be okay. We'll fix it.”

She let out a long breath and took a step forward. This time, even though the light was dim, their lips managed to find each other right away. Maybe they were getting better at this whole kissing thing.

Lena closed her eyes and waited for the
zing
to charge through her body again.

Nothing.

Marcus pulled away first this time. “I don't get it. I mean…it was nice.” He let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Really nice. But it's not the same.”

“I know!” She focused on her fingers, and a moment later, they sparked red again. “It didn't work.”

Just then, Eddie threw open the door. “Well, how was it?” he asked, sounding eerily like Connie Reynolds.

The two of them shook their heads, and Eddie's face fell. “Shoot,” he said. “This is not good. It should have worked!”

Lena had never heard Eddie sound so stressed out before, and judging by the frown on Marcus's face, he hadn't either. “Um, Eddie?” she asked. “You
can
fix this, can't you?”

“I am doing the best I can!” he barked. Then he cleared his throat and gave her a forced smile. “Okay. You two just sit tight until I can find the answer.”

“Sit tight?” Lena cried. “I'm a
cupi
d
!”

“Matchmaker,” Marcus corrected.

“Whatever you call it, this is insane! I can't deal with this stuff when I have an audition tomorrow.”

“Give me a day, and I will straighten this out,” Eddie told her. “I'll make sure you won't get any assignments until things are back to normal.”

Lena shook her head. “But what about Mrs. Katz? She's supposed to be dead!”

“The love boost must have given her soul a little more energy, but it is temporary. It'll all sort itself out.”

“What if I hurt someone again like I did with that woman?” Marcus's voice wobbled. “I almost killed her.”

“She will be fine,” Eddie said, but he didn't sound very convincing. “That should have never happened. Your power is designed to work only on the person it's intended for, and it can only be transferred when you are focused on your target. What happened today was a fluke.”

“If it happened once, can't it happen again?” Lena asked.

“Kid, I will fix this,” Eddie said flatly. “Give me a day.” Then he hopped on his Segway and sped off, almost like he couldn't wait to get away.