Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) (24 page)

“You’re a necromancer?” I asked.

“You sleep with dead people?” Henry asked
incredulously.

“No, that’s necrophilia,” Darwin corrected.

“So you’ve never slept with a dead person?” Henry
pushed.

Dr. Martin paled. “Well… death is subjective. I mean,
you’re mortal, so you are a little less alive every day. One or more of you
could die in the next minute. Since you don’t know your expiration date, you
might as well be dead already.”

“And you’re not dead because you’re immortal?” I
asked.

He scoffed. “Of course not. I know the exact date I
will die and it isn’t tomorrow. I don’t know
how
I will die, as that
would take the surprise out of it. I’m alive because I know when I’ll be dead.”

“So if someone stabbed you in the chest tomorrow, you
wouldn’t die?”

“No. Either they would miss or it wouldn’t be a fatal
wound.”

“So you have, or you haven’t slept with a dead
person?” Henry asked again.

Instead of answering, Dr. Martin motioned with his
hands and the candles lit. The other light in the room instantly went out.
Instead of slowly melting like normal, it was as if the candles were bleeding.
Red blood poured over the sides of the candles and pooled on the floor. Even as
the blood became about an inch deep, it didn’t cross the circle of roots and
herbs.

“Are we really doing this?” Darwin asked. “I feel
like I’m gonna get in trouble with my dad.”

“Only if your dad is Hades,” I said. “Bring out that
soap-stealing, wild side of you we heard so much about.”

He blushed. “For the record, when something goes
wrong, it’s not my bloody fault this time.”

Dr. Martin was obviously ignoring us as he focused
intently on his task. His eyes were closed and his hands were spread in a
gesture of offering. When the candles started emitting smoke that flowed upward
and towards the center, my instincts warned me of danger. Darwin took a few
steps backward until he was standing between Henry and me.

The smoke formed into what looked like a ghost. It
wasn’t until it started to form color and facial details that I recognized the
woman. With her long, straight, gold hair and slim figure, she looked so much
like Heather. I almost overlooked the fact that she was wearing a blood-soaked
t-shirt that reached her mid-thighs, until I realized all the blood was coming
from her neckline. It was way too similar to Heather’s death for my comfort.

Her eyes were closed and her form, though solid,
swayed slightly. “Miranda Anne, open your eyes.” Her big, light brown eyes were
vacant. “Ask your questions. The link is very weak.”

“Miranda, where is Keigan Langril’s heart?” Vincent
asked.

She didn’t react to his question at all. “She doesn’t
know,” Dr. Martin said. “She knows you’re asking about his heart, but she
doesn’t know where it is. He’s done something to her memory.”

“Can I try to see into her mind? Maybe there’s
something he missed.”

“You can try.”

“You have a mental link to her, right?”

“Yes, because I’m summoning her soul here.”

“Then I can do it.”

“Devon, I don’t think you should be looking into the
mind of a dead person,” Darwin warned.”

“I know I shouldn’t be, but I don’t see too many
options. Where’s my ring?” He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me
hesitantly. He was wearing his gloves, so I didn’t worry about touching his
skin. “I’ll try really hard to only see the part about the heart and not the
place she’s at now.”

When I unleashed my magic into the room, I felt the
minds of my roommates and the closed off minds of Vincent and Dr. Martin.
Although I couldn’t read Dr. Martin’s mind and I couldn’t feel Miranda on her
own, I was able to sense her presence through the doctor/necromancer.

Not allowing for a moment of doubt, I honed in on
that presence and slipped on my ring. I felt like I was being pulled under
water. I tried to open my eyes, stop my magic, and take off my ring, but none
of it worked. Even though I could breathe, I felt like I shouldn’t.

I realized right then why both the shadow walkers and
the people with the key to the tower could disappear into shadows; they were
both using the shadow pass. Although Dothra wizards couldn’t open one of the
doors of the tower without a key, the shadow pass was some kind of neutral
space between life and death, and somehow, Dothra wizards could instinctively
use that.

The sensation faded a little and light flooded my
mind. It took a minute to realize I was staring up at the sky. I was seeing
through Miranda’s eyes in the back seat of a car. Her thoughts were pretty much
what I expected a little girl’s mind would be like; chaotic. She was excited,
afraid, and tired, all at once. She daydreamed about things like winning money,
getting all kinds of exotic animals, and living at an amusement park. When she
glanced up at the front seat, I saw the woman who was driving.

Miranda looked away when her mother met her eyes in
the review mirror. There was tension there, but Miranda didn’t want to think
about it. “Things are going to be better now,” her mother said quietly.

I doubt it
, she thought, nodding anyway. I
didn’t need to wonder what would get better; I knew that promise well.

*          *          *

The vision changed to Miranda hiding in her closet.
The door opened to show her mother with a bloody lip. “Why did they hurt you?”

“Because they aren’t nice people. Don’t worry, baby,
they don’t know about you. Come on out now.”

Miranda shook her head. “They always come back.”

“I know what can help. I told you my brother is a
priest, right?” she asked, sitting down in the closet doorway.

I saw the efficiency apartment past her mother. There
were two mattresses on the floor, a chipped coffee table, and a kitchenette to
the right. I assumed the bathroom was on the same wall as the closet, so I
didn’t see it.

Miranda nodded. “Well, right before we were separated
as kids, he gave me this ball.” She pulled the familiar red foam ball out of
her pocket. “This ball led me back to him when I was eighteen.”

“I thought you found him because of me,” Miranda
said.

“I needed his help to take care of you, but I used
this ball to find him.”

“How?”

“It’s magic. Whenever the strangers come over, hold
this ball and pray, just like you’re making a wish. An angel will protect you.”

“Why doesn’t it protect you?”

“Angels don’t like me anymore, baby. You know I have
to do some bad things so that we can have a home and food.” She ran her fingers
through Miranda’s hair. “That’s why the strangers come over. Someday, we’ll
have a huge house with a big backyard and a dog. Don’t worry about me.”

Miranda took the ball.

*          *          *

The scene changed. Once again, Miranda was hiding in
the closet. I heard her mother being slapped and hitting the ground. Miranda
wanted to scream and cry, but instead she closed her eyes, cupped her hands
around the ball, and prayed. When she opened her eyes, she was in a dark
alleyway, and the only other person was Langril.

Of course, she didn’t know who he was or where she
was, only that her mother said the ball would draw angels to help her. This is
what she told herself. Her mother said the ball would save her, and now she
wasn’t hiding in that closet.

She ducked behind a bush when she saw shadows move on
the ground around him. She didn’t know what it was, but it made her skin crawl.
Part of the alley was becoming overgrown, which Miranda didn’t consider odd.

I did. There was no sunlight, so why were plants
growing so well?

After a few moments, Miranda’s curiosity overcame her
fear and she took a step forward. Langril turned to her and grinned. “Come on
out, Miranda.”

She did, hesitantly, and whispered, “How do you know
my name?”

I knew there was no reason for my instincts to warn
me of danger since this was someone else’s memory, but I was still surprised to
feel no sense of danger at all, as if he would never hurt Miranda.

“Oh, you are so far from home, Miranda Anne. You must
have accidentally followed me back here. Would you like me to take you home?”
She really didn’t want to go, but she was afraid of getting in trouble if her
mother found her missing. She nodded hesitantly and he reached for her hand.

*          *          *         

I felt that a few years had passed. Miranda was still
a little girl, not yet in her teens, and hiding in the closet again. This time,
she pressed the ball to her chest and wished for it to stop. She didn’t care if
it meant she would never see her mother again, as long as she didn’t have to
hear her mother screaming every other night.

But this night was different, and when it fell
silent, she didn’t feel relief. The door was thrown open and a large man stood
over her. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up. She started screaming,
so he smacked her across the face. Burning pain stunned her, as she had never
been struck like that before.

“Shut up, you little shit!” he demanded. Miranda
didn’t get a good look at the man before he turned her to face her mother, who
was lying on the floor with a busted lip. “If you ever want to see your kid
again, you’ll bring the money tomorrow night.”

Miranda’s mother cried and reached for her daughter,
but the man threw Miranda over his shoulder and stomped out of the house. After
throwing her harshly into his pickup, he blindfolded her. The trip was rough as
every bump tossed her around. My first instinct was to map out left and right
turns, road conditions, and stops. My second instinct was to use my magic to
control the man’s mind. Then I remembered that this was a memory and the man
was probably long-since dead.

She was dragged out of the truck and into the
basement, where she was left alone in the dark. At some point, she had sprained
her ankle, so walking was agony. Miranda cried for hours before there was
nothing left in her. She had cried so much in fear for her mother because her
mother never cried for herself.

Miranda pulled the red ball out of her pocket,
pressed it to her chest, and prayed. When she felt a presence in the room, she
cried again, both in pain and relief. A ball of fire appeared in the middle of
the basement, illuminating Langril’s confused face.

“This is not where I meant to end up. What did you
do?”

“I need help,” Miranda whimpered.

The confusion vanished so fast I almost doubted it
was ever there. “I see. Your mother is involved with some bad people, and now
they’ve got you. I can help you. I can make sure you and your mother live a
very happy life.”

“How?”

“Magic. But I will warn you that all magic comes at a
price.”

“I’ll pay it, whatever it is. Please help me.”

“What are you offering?” he asked.

She held up the red foam ball. “You can have this.”

He smirked as if amused. “That’s just a ball.”

“This is the most important ball in the world. It
keeps me safe. Mom said that every time someone wanted to hurt me, I just had
to hold this and make a wish. She said an angel would hear my wish and protect
me. I’ve seen it work.”

“You have, have you? If it worked so well, why do you
need my help?”

“It brought you to me. You’re the only one who can
help me now.”

His expression honestly softened. He knelt to look
her in the eyes and cupped his hand over hers with the ball between them.
“You’re right. That is a pretty important and magical item. I’ll tell you what.
Keep it. I will do this for you and protect you from every monster. In a few
years, when you’re all grown up and you’ve forgotten this, you’ll look into a
mirror, see me, and remember everything. And you’ll remember that you owe me
something. The next day, I’ll return and ask you to do something for me. I’ll
ask you, not demand it, but you’ll do it anyway no matter what it is. Right?”

She nodded. “I’ll do anything.”

He grinned cruelly, snapped his fingers, and
vanished. Suddenly, she heard the sound of police sirens.

*          *          *

Many years passed. I didn’t see this progression
myself, thankfully, because that would have been a really long vision. Instead,
I saw the change in her thoughts. From that day, everything in her life turned
around. She was rescued and returned to her mother, she got counseling, and her
mother got a real job. Every time something horrible was about to happen, from
car accidents to financial struggles, something else would prevent it. Her
mother said she had a guardian angel looking after her. She believed it.

Miranda was twenty and living a happy life as a
teacher in a very small Georgia town. She was getting ready for work one
morning, shut the medicine cabinet, and saw Langril in the mirror. Instead of
being surprised, she smiled. “I never forgot.” She turned, but he was gone.

All day long, Langril was the only thing she could
think of. She was finally going to see her angel again. She really looked
forward to giving him what he wanted. Whatever it was, she believed that it
would be worth the life he gave her.

Then she woke in the morning filled with excitement…
and waited all day. By the time she went to sleep, she had convinced herself
she hadn’t seen him. She was miserable, but not for long. She woke in the
middle of the night to his lips on hers. “I’m glad you never forgot me,” he
said quietly.

“You were there for me every day of my life.”

“Then you are satisfied that I held up my end of the
deal?”

“Yes. A thousand times over, yes. What is it you want
from me?”

“I need something very special from you, something
you can only give once, and it has to be of your own volition.”