by Laura Winter
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. The other half of you, the Blue Soul, is still in there, but she can’t take all of your power.”
“No, she cannot. I am too much power and I would erase her completely.”
“Then what else can you do to help her? The voices are killing her. If she can’t take the rest of you in, how can we save her?”
“I wrote the poem,” the Blue Soul replied in the same gentle tone.
“That’s not an answer,” I groaned.
The Blue Soul smiled again and pointed to my feet. I followed her gaze to see my shadow creeping along the floor, stretching out of me like an elongated person. I watched it crawl forward, reaching its arm toward Richard who held the Ruby in his hand. He didn’t notice the black arm lift from the ground as it wrapped around his ankle. In a swift move, the shadow sank back to the ground, pulling Richard into the darkness underneath.
“Clara!” I shouted, frantically looking around at an empty room. “Clara!”
I shouted louder, my voice echoing through House. He creaked and whined in response. Shit.
I threw my shoes on and ran around House, checking every place she might have been, but I knew the truth. She wasn’t here.
Then I saw it. Hanging on the front door and held by a knife, a small sheet of paper fluttered against House’s panic.
Blue Star. Clearing.
You’re running out of time, Nate.
-R
It was Clara’s handwriting, but clearly Richard was in control now.
But I was ready. I understood what I had to do.
I didn’t have to look for the Blue Star, or Soul… whatever it was called. My mom might have taken it, but I knew it would find its way back. It had a different agenda. I knew why it kept coming back to Clara.
I patted my pocket, feeling the cold pinch of the marble, and ran out the door.
46
Nate
The morning light highlighted the trees and illuminated the clearing as shadows swayed along the ground. I burst through the tree line, skidding to a stop as I made eye contact with Richard, an evil grin on his face as his fingers dug into Clara’s shoulder. She swayed slightly, her face blank. She was still in the oversized shirt and shorts she had worn to bed. At least she couldn’t register the cold anymore because it was below freezing outside.
“Clara!” I shouted, my breath clouding the air.
Richard laughed as she didn’t register my voice. “You think she can hear you? Oh, boy, you have so much to learn about us.”
“About who? The Complex?”
“Of course, idiot. Where do you think you got your powers? Every once in a while, someone is bound to come in contact with a source we didn’t know about. I’m still trying to figure out where yours came from. You’re too stupid to have gotten into The Complex yourself.”
Well, at least he didn’t know who I really was. I could use it to buy time. I still had to figure out what exactly the Blue Soul wanted me to learn after that dream, but the priority was trying to use the new power it had showed me.
“What do you want, Richard?”
A bolt of lightning slammed down behind him, sending sparks and fire into the trees. Shit. If I wasn’t careful, the next bolt would come down on top of me. I had no way to protect myself from that.
“You already know what I want,” Richard snarled. “I assume you brought it? You wouldn’t risk your darling Clara’s life.”
His hand lifted, brushing her cheek as he slowly trailed his fingers down her left arm. Clara didn’t flinch, standing unrealistically still with dull and pale skin. Even in the yellow light she looked lifeless.
Clara, you have to fight back. I dont’ know how yet, but the Blue Star can save you.
“So, what happens when I give you the Blue Star?” I asked, closing my fist so he couldn’t see my palm. I needed a longer distraction while I focused on calling Clara and extending my shadow. I needed to know the Blue Soul wasn’t lying about saving her.
“I’ll use her to steal the Blue Star’s power. She’ll direct it into me and then you two can live happily ever after.”
Clara, fight it, please. I’m trying to save you. “You’re lying. What are you going to do with that power? Why do you need it?” Damn it, Clara! Wake up!
Hope surged in my chest as Clara’s finger twitched. It was nearly indiscernable until I saw the single drop of blue blood fall from her hand. She was fighting back.
That energy ran through me and down my feet as my shadow grew underneath me, creeping slowly toward Richard. The Blue Soul wasn’t lying. I could help her. And then I would help her defeat the Cold Soul.
Richard grunted. “Of course I’m lying, but I’m not spilling my plans to you. It’s a waste of time. Tell you what. If you hand over the Blue Star without a fight, I’ll kill you first so you don’t have to watch me kill your sweet love. I’ll promise you both a merciful death.”
My shadow was only half way to him and moving too slow. I couldn’t risk him seeing it coming toward him, especially because Clara’s fingers were twitching more often. More blood splashed to the ground, her scar starting to shine as the lightning mark opened up. But she was fighting, and I needed to give her more time.
“I can’t give it to you,” I replied, trying to hide the effort it took to speak and use more power than I ever had before. C, fight. Just a little longer, please.
Richard laughed and raised his right hand up, the Ruby glowing through his fingers. Clara’s right hand obeyed and lifted in front of her body, a knife gripped in her fingers just like our nightmare. But this time her grip was shaking.
“Want to try that again?” Richard asked, his smile curling again.
My shadow was still a few feet away but I was out of time. I had to make my move.
“Tell me, do you think this scar matches my outfit?”
“What?”
Just a few more inches, come on, hurry up. I held up my right hand, showing off the scar on my palm.
Richard’s nostrils flared as his face contorted into pure rage. “That’s not possible. You’re going to suffer for that.”
I heard the crack of lightning and shut my eyes. I hadn’t been close enough to grab him. I had failed, and here was my punishment.
The trees behind me exploded, the force pushing me closer to Richard and Clara. Fire rolled through the branches before burning out into the sky. I turned back to Richard who was just as shocked as I was. He grunted again, a deafening crack piercing my ears from overhead. Light ripped from the sky but bounced away from me, just like before.
Clara.
Richard realized it at the same time I did. He looked over her shoulder to see her hand shaking, trying with every ounce of effort to release the knife. Richard turned back to me, his face hardened.
“You’re too late.”
But I had been thrown closer and my shadow was finally underneath him. I shoved into the ground with my energy, curling the shadow around Richard’s leg. I yanked.
But I was too late. He pulled the Ruby into his stomach as I dragged him into the dark shadow and released my grip.
Clara’s body jolted as she lowered her gaze, her hands clutching at the knife sticking out of her abdomen. Tears ran down her cheeks as she looked back up at me. She slid the knife out and dropped it to the ground, holding her hands over her stomach as the blood ran through her fingers.
“No!” I screamed.
I sprinted forward as she collapsed onto the ground, sliding forward in the last few feet to scoop her into my lap. I shook as I held her head up with one arm, my other hand pressing into her stomach to stop the bleeding. Her fingers twitched under my shaking hands. She opened her mouth to speak, but barely a wisp of breath escaped.
Nate, I’m sorry. I tried to fight it. I tried.
Please keep fighting the Blue Star isn’t what it seems. It’s a soul. It can save you.
I’m too tired, Nate. I don’t want to hear those voices anymore. I can’t do it.
I’m sorry.
No, keep fighting, you don’t understa—
I just want the voices to go away. I love you, always forever.
Clara stopped thinking but still held on as I pressed my forehead into hers. I couldn’t keep the tears from falling with hers as she threaded her fingers through mine. She tapped the back of my hand, trying to stay with me longer.
Please, C. I love you. Don’t leave me.
The last tap was weak as it hung on my hand, but her body sank into me as she fell limp.
Clara, you can’t leave. Please don’t leave.
I felt my body grow cold with hers. She couldn’t be gone. The Blue Soul promised that it would save her from the cold.
I shot up, pulling the marble from my pocket. Light swirled and spun in my hand, banging on the edges of the marble as it tried to get out. I held it in my right palm and placed Clara’s left hand over mine, squeezing my eyes shut.
Come on. You said you’d protect her. Tell me what to do.
Emptiness hung in the air, swallowing my hope and crushing my chest. But a bitter cold breeze lifted my chin. I opened my eyes to see the swirling blue energy again. Waves ripped around me… around Clara. She stood at the edge of the space with her back to me, her hair whipping with the wind and waves.
Clara!
She didn’t answer. Her left hand lifted as her fingers slid into the waves.
No!
I dove forward and yanked her away from the edge before she could be sucked in. She frowned, blinking her bright blue eyes in confusion as I stepped away from her. The scar on her left arm had grown to her shoulder, blue blood trickling down her arm and dripping from her fingers. The wound on her stomach was worse, a river of blue flowing down and staining her shorts and legs.
If I could have gasped inside this place, I would have. You’re the Blue Soul now. She took all the power.
Do you understand the poem now? She cocked her head.
I nodded. You’re more than just power. You’re the soul. Called into Cold. That means called into Clara.
She nodded. She had the cold, yes. And now?
And now you’re called into me. Darkness.
A smile grew on her face as she lifted her right hand to my face. It is time for me to do what I’ve been trying to do for years. The Cold Soul has to be destroyed. Take in the other half of me and destroy the source.
What happens after that? I asked.
My soul is split, but the Cold Soul will never be used again.
She took her hand away from my face and motioned for me to lift my right hand. I opened my palm to reveal the black marble as she rested her left hand in mine. Energy rushed up my arm, digging into my veins. Icy cold power carved into my skin as the scar on Clara’s arm receded and grew along my forearm. Blue light glowed as it traced lightning along my skin, illuminating the darkness that was surrounding us now. Everything around us emptied into blackness, like it had after we had stopped Aidan. Pain disappeared as the scar reached my elbow, but I could feel the marble shaking in our grip. Pressure built in our palms, rattling and shaking until it exploded into black dust.
I sucked in a breath and pulled my forehead away from Clara’s.
“C?”
She didn’t move in my arms.
47
Clara
“Clara?”
I rolled off something and hit the ground, pain rippling through my body with each cough as I struggled to breathe. My head felt like it was going to explode.
Clara! “Clara!” Nate continued to yell, his voice and thoughts echoing in my head.
“Stop… shouting… my… head…” I grunted each word.
He rolled me over and kissed me but I shoved him away, gasping for breath and wincing in pain at the same time. It felt like I had just taken a truck to my abdomen.
Holy shit.
I grasped at my stomach. No knife. No gushing wound. Just a raised scab where there should have been a knife. I picked at the hole in my shirt that was stained with sticky blood. Too much blood. Enough to kill someone.
“Nate, I died,” I whispered, focusing on my breath. Why was my chest tightening so much?
“You’re okay. You’re back with me.”
As his hands reached over to turn me around, blue caught my eye. I snatched his right hand away from me and studied the blue scar that traced up his palm and to his elbow. A lightning scar, freshly cut and dripping blue blood just like mine.
“Nate, what did you do?” I asked. I turned to face him but pain shot through my body and I shut my eyes to keep from passing out.
“The Blue Soul,” he replied. “Do you remember anything?”
Waves. My arm. Nate.
It all came rushing back and I leaned over, nauseous. “Yup. Yeah, I remember. Lots of calling into things. You’re the Darkness, I’m the Cold, and the Blue Star is really a Soul.”
It may have come out as a jumbled mess, but I knew what it really meant. The Blue Soul had saved me. Nate had saved me. He risked everything to protect me.
I blinked, the boy I loved coming into focus. But something was wrong.
“Nate, your eyes are blue.”
“Really?”
He made an attempt to look at his own eyes but ended up going crosseyed. I tried to stifle a laugh but the pain shot through me again. Nate slid closer as I lifted his right arm, tracing the scar that was identical to mine.
“Thank you for saving me,” I sighed.
“You saved me first,” he replied. “The lightning from your dad? You were protecting me somehow. That’s why you couldn’t fight the Ruby. That’s why you…”
“Why I died,” I said, finishing the thought for him.
“Do you remember that part?”
I didn’t really want to tell him the truth, but I was too weak to hold back. “Yes, kind of. I remember standing there, completely empty. But then I felt you growing in my head. It was either focus on you or the Ruby. I watched all of it, I felt all of it, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. You faded… and then the voices and energy waves and you know the rest.”
“The Cold Soul voices?” he asked.
I nodded slightly. “Trying one last time. A final plea, I guess. But now they’re gone.”
“Are you sure about that?
A pair of familiar voices spoke in unison, startling us both. Nate shot up with ease while I struggled to push myself up. Across from us, a black energy cloud was growing, spinning and swirling without a breeze. From within the dust and smoke, two figures walked out.
Us.
Well, sort of us. They were wearing the same clothes as we were, but everything was wrong. The version of me had the same tear in her shirt, but the blood around it was black. In fact, both of their arms were dripping the same black blood from lightning scars that matched ours. Their green eyes narrowed on us as they smiled.
“What?” Nate asked, sliding his arm around my back as he helped me stand. I lifted my hands carefully, ready to fight if needed.
“Oh, honey,” the weird version of me said as she rolled her eyes. “You really believed us in your dreams? Pathetic.”
“Now, dear, love is blind,” the black-blooded Nate replied.
“What the hell are you?” I asked, leaning closer to Nate.
“Darling Clara, you poor thing,” the green-eyed me mocked. “You were so close to defeating us, but your idiot pet pulled you away and saved us.”
Nate stiffened next to me. My Nate. “You’re the Cold Soul.”
“Souls,” she corrected. “You made two Blue Souls so we became two Cold Souls. We tricked you into taking the rest of the Blue Soul, leaving our cage unprotected. If Clara had kept going, we wouldn’t exist, though, neither was she. That’s why it was so easy to make you believe you were talking to the Blue Soul. Anything to save your precious girlfriend.”
“You became us? But…” I lost my balance slightly, Nate flinching as he steadied me.
The other me snarled. “I didn’t become you
. I’m what should have existed in the first place. Clara isn’t real, but Finnley is. That’s the girl I lived inside for eighteen years. The Cold Soul has been stealing every evil thing from anyone who tried to take in the Blue Soul’s power. Then little baby Finnley came along and that Blue Soul became so obsessed. I used the chance to sneak part of me into you, waiting for years until you were strong enough to take me in. But you kicked me out the night of your Trials and the Blue Soul replaced me to protect you.
