Soul Forgotten (Blue Star Series Book 1)

by Laura Winter

  Clara hesitated, looking nervously between him and I before grabbing my wrist and dragging me down the hallway. When we were out of earshot, I stopped walking and tugged her back toward me.

  “What was that about?”

  Her cheeks flushed. “Um, don’t be mad but I heard his thoughts. Apparently I flirted with him and stole his keys so I could sneak into the library at night. He got in a lot of trouble.”

  For a moment, I think I might have been jealous but then I found myself laughing. “Trying to seduce someone so you can get into the library after hours? Sounds familiar. At least you didn’t actually like him… right?” Now I wasn’t laughing.

  She rolled her eyes. “I was clearly using him. Besides, he’s not my type.”

  “Really? And what is your type?” I asked.

  Clara grinned. “Shut up.” She leaned up to kiss me but we were interrupted.

  “Finnley dear?”

  A small, wiry-gray haired woman poked her head out of the door behind Clara. She looked every bit like the stereotypical librarian; small glasses on a chain around her neck, a long-sleeved dress that floated just above her ankles, and a bony body that looked like it would snap if she picked up a book.

  Clara turned around and the woman smiled big, jumping forward to hug her. In a stunning move, she picked Clara up with ease and swung her around as Clara winced. When the woman finally set her down, Clara grunted and wrapped her arm over her stomach.

  “This is awkward, but I don’t remember you,” Clara said, trying to catch her breath.

  The woman didn’t seem bothered. “Of course you don’t. The Cold Soul took your memories, but… something changed. You shouldn’t be here.” The woman frowned before making eye contact with me, another smile growing on her face. “Nate!”

  Now it was my turn to get squished in a hug far too strong for such a small woman. I lifted off the ground just slightly before she set me back down.

  “Uh,” I mumbled, straightening my sweatshirt. “I don’t think we’ve met, ma’am.”

  She held her finger up at me. “Now don’t you go calling me ‘ma’am’ or I’ll go around calling you Nathaniel. I’m Jeanie, and no, we haven’t met.”

  Clara and I exchanged looks of confusion as Jeanie grabbed our hands and pulled us into the library behind her. “I know a lot about you two, and I’m so happy you are still together, but it looks like we have a whole new future on our hands.”

  50

  Clara

  Nate and I froze as soon as Jeanie pulled us through the doors to the library. It was an exact replica of the library in House, only bigger. Or, more appropriately, mine was just a smaller scale version of this one. There were more desks around the lower level and rooms between each bookcase. And, obviously, this place was much cleaner than mine.

  “I assume you go by Clara now?”

  Jeanie’s voice startled me. She stood only a few feet away and craned her neck to look up at me, her eyes sparkling with her smile.

  “Yes… how did you—“

  “My power is knowing,” she replied.

  “You can read minds?” Nate blurted. My surprise reaction was similar.

  Jeanie laughed. “No, dear. I believe that power is exclusively Clara’s… wait, you have it too, now that the Blue Soul has connected you. Very dangerous. You shouldn’t have done that.” She wagged her finger and frowned at Nate.

  I shook my head. Why would I have told a librarian, not my own mother, about my plans to run away? “How can you know about us? Did Finnley tell you about her dream?” I asked.

  “You didn’t have to. You trusted me because I read people, not minds. Past, present, and future, I know. You came looking for answers in the middle of the night, but that’s how you met me. I delivered your punishment for breaking in after hours, though really we just talked. I knew about the two powers that were stuck inside you, the Blue and Cold Soul, but it wasn’t my place to tell you. You had to find out on your own, but I gave a few nudges in the right direction. I’m afraid I got a little attached and might have… made some mistakes,” she said, patting my cheek.

  “You might be the only one who likes me around here,” I grumbled.

  “Wait,” Nate interrupted, his tone harsh. “You knew she was going to die?”

  Jeanie nodded her head slowly. “Just because I knew didn’t mean I wanted it to happen. Her future was set, but she didn’t have to die alone. I set up House, as you like to call him, and helped give her a life to run to. That’s four more months, and true love, otherwise you two never would have met. But I can see that was a mistake… I can’t read Clara’s future, nor yours.”

  I scrunched my nose. “I have a good idea as to why.”

  Nate glanced at me nervously. “I can think of two.”

  Jeanie ushered us into her office and pulled out a wooden chair for me while Nate sank into the soft couch. It took a moment to sit but I finally found a comfortable enough spot as Nate filled her in about the Cold Souls escaping. My thoughts filled the empty space in my head, and with no real thoughts to think, they turned back toward my death. I died. This morning. There was a giant stab wound in my stomach from where I bled out. And I was still sitting here.

  Nate’s hand slid under mine as he turned his wrist under my fingers. Heartbeats. He offered a sad smile as Jeanie pulled out a book from her desk drawer. She scribbled something onto a notepad and stuck the sheet into the pages of the book.

  “I should have seen this coming. I made all of this worse,” she sighed and handed the book to Nate. “Under no circumstances do you tell anyone about this book or what I’m about to tell you.”

  He frowned and glanced back at me to see what I thought. Really, I had no idea what to think with all this space in my head. This woman, whom neither of us really knew, had changed our futures by pushing me in Nate’s direction. The Cold Souls never would have escaped and we wouldn’t be in this situation. Then again, I would be dead if she hadn’t, and now we were on our way toward answers. Nate looked back at her and nodded.

  Jeanie clasped her hands together and pointed at the book. “This is the only book about the Original Complex. An account of its history and its destruction. All I can see is that I’m supposed to send you there. You can find the address for a cabin on that paper as a safe house. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going and learn what you can.”

  My fingers gripped into Nate’s arm and the chair underneath me as my voice raised. “That’s it? You can’t tell us anything more?”

  Jeanie lowered her head. “I’m so sorry, but that’s for you to find out. I can’t intervene any more than I already have. This is my role.” She got up and opened the door. “Nate, your parents are looking for you.”

  He got up and tucked the book under his sweatshirt before heading out the door. I stood up gingerly, prepared to follow, but Jeanie stopped me.

  “Clara, I really do want to help. I’m giving you as much information as I can… but please know I never wanted you to die.”

  I sighed. “I’m sorry. I know you were trying, it’s just…” I felt the tears building as Jeanie slid her hand into mine.

  “It’s just you can’t remember life here,” she replied, squeezing my hand. “Your mother wouldn’t like you dwelling on the past. She would be so happy for the life you get to live. Now, I broke all the laws to get you and Nate together, so don’t you dare hide those panic attacks from him. He can help you.”

  I chewed my lip for a moment before gently leaning over to hug her. “Thank you for Nate. I promise we will find a way to stop the Cold Souls.”

  “I know you will, dear. And again, I am so sorry.” Jeanie pulled away and rested her hand over my stomach, frowning. “Take care of yourself, and protect that boy. He needs you too.”

  I wanted to pull her into another hug but I could hear Nate calling for me. Jeanie smiled again and nudged me out of her office. I could have sworn I saw tears in her eyes before she shut the door behind me.

  51
/>   Nate

  The Assembly room felt like a giant conference room, complete with dull white walls and a white floor. A long table stretched down the middle, with seating on either side. Dad walked behind us, guiding us to the head. Fifteen middle-aged and older men and women lined the table, my parents taking seats at the farthest end of us.

  I shifted my grip in my sweatshirt pocket to help hold the book up. It was big enough to sit tightly in the waistband of my jeans but I was still nervous someone would notice the block shape underneath my clothes.

  For a third time, we recounted the events of this morning. My parents had filled them in on our past already, and Clara did her best to explain what we had discovered from her notes and visions. Then, of course, it came time to explain what happened in the four months after she disappeared. The worst was when they forced her to recount every detail of this morning. I tried to help, but they demanded it from her perspective.

  Mom had warned us not to interact with each other. They were already concerned about the two teenagers who were born with their powers, but now we had an additional power source shared between us. No one had ever been born with powers and no one had ever contained so much power and survived. It was no wonder they looked frightened of us, despite trying to remain stoic.

  Clara’s breath came out in harsh bursts. I could see her struggling and all I wanted to do was reach out and calm her.

  “The first thing I remember was hearing Nate in my head, trying to pull me away from the Ruby’s hold. Everything in my mind was empty, but I could see all of it happening. I could see what Richard was doing.” Someone in the middle of the table shifted as she said Richard’s name. “As he held out his hand, so did I, without question. I tried to fight against it, but when he tried to kill Nate, I shifted my focus to protect him. That’s when…”

  As she stopped talking, I felt her mind flash through the back of my head. She was picturing the scene, and I could see everything from her perspective. The knife, the fog around her vision, the shift in emotion as she fought to protect me instead of herself…

  “I died,” she said after a moment. “Somehow the Blue Soul connected us and I woke up. But then the Cold Souls escaped. They looked like us, but with green eyes and black blood.” Clara shut her eyes and I felt her again in my head. Please be done. Please be done.

  “They didn’t say anything else about the Blue Star before disappearing?” the oldest woman asked, folding her hands on the table in front of her. Her outfit and posture made me think of a snooty rich woman, the pale pink coat highlighting the massive pearls she wore.

  “No ma’am,” I replied, trying to hurry the conversation along for Clara’s sake. “They just called it the Blue Soul, not Star. We think it was two separate powers inside the source.”

  The man next to my dad leaned forward. “You two are a very peculiar case. So much power for two people, not to mention from a source that was unresponsive to everyone else.”

  Several others nodded before a woman my mom’s age spoke. “Finn— pardon, Clara. Despite your previous record, under these new circumstances we have decided not to punish you for your actions. We do ask that you both report to the doctor immediately so we can understand a little more about your powers and the Blue St—Soul. This could help understand the Cold Soul as well.”

  “Until they are stopped, you are required to stay here at The Complex,” the oldest woman said.

  “What are we doing about the Cold Souls?” I asked.

  My mom flinched in the background as I bit my tongue. That was definitely not the right thing to say.

  “That is for us to take care of,” the man at the end said, standing up. “You’ve done enough here.”

  My parents walked us out as the guard frowned. He must have thought she wouldn’t be coming out without punishment or shackles or something. Normally, I would brush it off, but then I remembered all of the glares we got walking in. The Complex people would be just as frustrated to see her walk free if they didn’t know the truth. How much of our story would be shared with them?

  Luckily, we slid out a side door and moved around the backs of buildings before we ducked inside one. The same trick as House and the Assembly building was being used inside the hospital. On the inside, it felt like we were in a normal doctor’s office. Why did that make me uneasy? Were we about to get handed off like lab rats?

  My parents walked up to the counter and spoke with a younger lady in a hushed tone. Clara shifted closer and I gave up trying to hide us from sight. I pulled my arm out of my pocket and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her closer.

  “Nate, I don’t like this,” she whispered.

  “I don’t either.”

  My dad turned around and walked back to us, a sad smile on his face. “I know this isn’t ideal, but your mother and I don’t have a choice in this. I’m sorry.” He paused, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Because of our decision to hide you two, we were forced to step down from The Assembly.”

  “What does that mean?” I blurted, squeezing Clara tighter.

  “Nothing, you’re going to be fine. They just want to understand what makes you two different. Look, this is something we wanted to protect you from, but we had to make a deal. If we step down, they don’t ask any more of you two.”

  My mom walked up, the doctor following closely. The woman was the same height as my mom but with short black hair. She smiled softly.

  “I promise you will be fine. Come back with me,” she said. The four of us started to follow her but she hesitated. “I’m sorry, only Nate and Fi— Clara.”

  Mom wanted to protest but Dad spun her around and returned to the waiting room. We followed the doctor as she wove us around hallways before finally stopping at the last room.

  She glanced between us, still holding onto. “Who would like to go first?”

  Clara tensed and I shook my head. “Nope. Together or not at all.”

  The doctor thought about it for a second before letting us both walk in the room, closing the door behind her. She fiddled around the drawers for a minute as I helped lower Clara into the chair.

  “I just need to take a blood sample, nothing more. Please don’t hold this against me, these are just my orders.”

  Clara let out an audible growl. “Oh, so if you were ordered to make us lab rats, you’d do that too?”

  The doctor frowned. “Honey, I do have a code. I would never do such a thing.”

  She held out the needle, waiting for one of us to volunteer. I wasn’t happy about it, but I stuck out my left arm. She waited for a second, thinking I would roll up my sleeve, but I couldn’t do that without letting go of the book I was hiding. Eventually she caved and did it herself.

  I watched her carefully as she pricked my arm, seeing the shock on her face when my blood came out blue. Clara grumbled and held her right arm out, refusing to lift her sleeve either. Now the doctor looked fascinated by the strange blood.

  She labeled the samples and put them in a dark, strongly sealed container before pulling off her gloves. She spun her chair to look at us.

  “Okay, my orders are done. Off the record, Clara, do you feel okay?”

  I looked down at Clara who was still glaring at the doctor. She hugged her arms tighter into her stomach.

  “None of your business.”

  The doctor let out a soft laugh. “Ah, same personality. You used to come to me about the headaches. I just thought you were cranky.” She sighed. “I am being serious, though. As a concerned friend of your mother’s, is there something I can help with? I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through.”

  Clara hesitated, flashing me a look before lowering her head. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m in a constant panic attack and I can’t eat. Everything tastes… wrong.”

  “What?” I blurted. “C, you haven’t eaten anything?” If my always-hungry-for-junk-food girlfriend wasn’t eating, something was wrong. How could I have not been thinking about that? I should have been better for
her.

  She shook her head. “It’s only been since this morning. I’m fine.”

  The doctor leaned forward and placed her hand on Clara’s knee. A bold move considering Clara wanted to bite her head off thirty seconds ago.

  “Listen, I know what happened. Can I check to make sure there isn’t any more damage?”

  Clara pinched her lips together and stood up slowly without arguing. She removed her key necklace and lifted her sweatshirt just enough for the doctor to pull off the bandage. This morning when I had wrapped it, there was just a large gash. Now, purple and blue bruises splotched her stomach and the cut. It looked significantly worse than the back of her neck had.

  The doctor pressed around the wound and Clara’s hand shot out to steady herself on me, groaning.