Soul Mates

by Donald Hanley

  “I’m so sorry, Peter,” she whispered, her tears mixing with the rain. “I can’t hold him.”

  I turned just as Bellaxragor swept his hand around, sending the curse hurtling towards me. It struck me before I could even draw a breath to scream and I died before my body hit the ground.

  31

  People spend a lot of time predicting the future. Most of us aren’t very good at it but that doesn’t stop us from trying. Even meteorologists with supercomputers at their beck and call only get the weather forecast right about half the time, especially in Texas. It’s about the only job there is where you can screw up day after day and not get fired.

  The simplest – and least accurate – form of prediction is guessing, essentially rolling the dice and going with whatever option turns up. Pattern recognition is a big step up from that, remembering previous experiences and correlating those to their consequences: the last time X happened, Y was the result. The more complicated the situation, though, and the more variables involved, the less practical this approach becomes. Instead, scientists and mathematicians have to rely on complex models and simulations to simplify the problem and make it more manageable, which often leads to dubious results. At that point, we’re pretty much back to guessing again.

  There’s a whole spectrum of words people use to describe the future. I know X will happen implies absolute certainty in X, that any outcome other than X will call into question everything we know about the universe. I believe X will happen takes that certainty down a notch, acknowledging that there’s a chance X might not happen but the odds are definitely in X’s favor.

  I want X to happen states that X may or may not happen but it darn well better if it knows what’s good for it. I wish X will happen casts doubt on the likelihood of X but it would be nice if X came to be.

  I hope X will happen pretty much acknowledges that X isn’t happening but it really, really needs to. Sometimes hope is the only thing we have left when every prediction we make for the future turns out bleak.

  I stared down at my corpse, sprawled on the ground in a shapeless heap. My eyes were closed, thankfully, and it almost looked like I was sleeping, except for the thin trickle of blood dripping from the corner of my mouth.

  Everything was curiously muted, with dull colors and muffled sounds. Susie leaned over my body, shaking me and shouting something at me, and Melissa stood back with her hands over her mouth. Olivia knelt beside me with her hand over my heart. Mrs. Kendricks lay motionless on her side and Prescott crouched beside her, his wand pointed at Bellaxragor as the demon lord slowly lifted himself up from the pavement. Lilixandriel straightened her dress and swept her hair away from her face as she grinned delightedly at the scene laid out in front of her. She’d beaten us and she knew it.

  There was someone missing, though, and it took me a puzzled moment to remember who it was. I looked around and gasped as I spotted Daraxandriel running straight at Bellaxragor as he used his hammer to lever himself to his feet.

  “Thou hast slain Peter Simon Collins!” she shrieked, her face twisted in primal rage. “Die by my hand!” She leapt at him with her fingers bent into claws but he knocked her aside with his arm, sending her tumbling across the broken pavement.

  “Dara!” I shouted, running towards her, but she rolled into a low crouch, snarling as her tail whipped back and forth.

  “Worthless hellspawn,” Bellaxragor spat. A new trio of ragged scars crossed his cheek, oozing thick black blood. He rose to his full height and spread his wings, their clawed tips scraping the side of the building. “I shall smite thee into dust.”

  “Nay, my lord!” Lilixandriel told him. “Spare her life!”

  We all looked at her in shock, including Bellaxragor. “To what purpose?” he demanded. “Art thou overcome with sentiment for thy clutch-mate?”

  “Hardly,” she sneered. “But her swain is dead and her companions will soon join him. Let her wallow in the misery her defiance has caused.” Daraxandriel glared at her with pure hatred in her eyes. “Her Dread Lord will come to claim her anon and His punishment will be,” her smile spread slowly across her face, exposing her fangs, “merciless.”

  “Dara!” I reached out to her and stopped, staring at my hand. It was paper-white and almost transparent. I looked down and the rest of me was just the same. I’m really dead, I thought.

  “Thou art most cruel, Lilixandriel,” Bellaxragor told her with a smirk. “Thou shalt make a formidable queen.”

  “And thee a fearsome king,” she replied, strutting up to his side like she already wore a crown. “Slay them and let us quit this world.”

  Prescott staggered to his feet and Melissa stood beside him, looking desperately frightened. Even if they had the strength to muster up another attack, they couldn’t stop Bellaxragor from killing them and they knew it.

  “I’m so sorry,” I told them, even though none of them could hear me. “This is all my fault.” I looked around helplessly, wishing there was something I could do, but I was just a stupid kid who wanted to be a hero one more time.

  Something touched me then, like a ray of sunlight bursting through a stormcloud. I looked up but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. It beckoned me gently and I thought I heard someone calling my name from far away, urging me upwards. I felt warm and light and curiously calm as I drifted up slowly. The world started to fade away around me as the voice called again and then someone grabbed my hand and jerked me back down.

  “Peter!” Olivia hung on desperately, holding me in place. Her color was coming back and her blue-gray eyes were anguished. “Don’t leave me!”

  I shook my head. “I have to go.”

  “No!” she wailed. “You’re my only friend! You’re the only one who can see me!”

  That wasn’t exactly true but I supposed she didn’t consider Mrs. Phipps to be a friend. “Come with me, Olivia,” I told her. “It’s time.”

  “But what about everybody else? You have to help them!” Bellaxragor hefted his weapon, as if he was deciding how best to slaughter everyone with it.

  “I can’t do anything,” I told her sadly. “I’m dead.”

  “So am I but I’m not giving up! What about your Stone? Use that!”

  “The Stone?” I looked around. It was still lying there under my car. I sincerely doubted Bellaxragor had forgotten about it but he had all the time in the world to retrieve it now. “I’m dead. It’s not bound to me anymore.”

  “But I’m still bound to it!” she protested. “I don’t want to go to Hell! Do something!” She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me.

  “Stop that!” I said, fending her off. “I’m sorry, I really am, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m a ghost. I can’t even pick up the Stone, let alone make it do ... anything ...” My voice trailed off as we stared at each other. “Oh my God,” I breathed. “I’m dead. Someone else can bond with it now.”

  Olivia gasped in sudden hope. “I’ll get it!” She bounded across the pavement towards my car, just as Lilixandriel glanced that way. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully and I immediately realized what she was about to do. If I still had a heart, it would have jumped into my throat.

  “Lilith’s going to take it for herself! Hurry!”

  Bellaxragor stepped closer to where the others still huddled around my body, clearly savoring the fear and despair on their faces. Behind him, Lilixandriel sidled over towards the Mustang, keeping a careful eye on the demon lord. She crouched down and reached for the Philosopher’s Stone, just as Olivia snatched it up. Lilixandriel recoiled in surprise and then grabbed for it, her fingers just barely missing it.

  “My lord, the Stone!” she shouted. “Kill them now! They seek to steal the Stone from us!”

  Bellaxragor turned, scowling in confusion, and then he spotted the Stone floating in mid-air. He lunged for it and Olivia danced out of the way with a frightened squeak as his grasping fingers passed right through her body.

  “Give it to Mrs. Kendricks!” I told her. “She’l
l know what to do with it! Watch out!”

  Olivia screamed as Bellaxragor slammed his hammer down right on top of her with an echoing boom, punching a hole through the pavement and sending cracks out in all directions. He plucked it out again and gave a satisfied grunt to see the Stone embedded in the concrete. Olivia knelt in a huddled ball right on top of it with her hands covering her head, looking up at him as if she couldn’t believe she wasn’t deader than she already was.

  She scrabbled out of the way as Bellaxragor peeled the chain out of the pavement and held it up and then she jumped up and snatched it from his fingers. His startled shock at seeing the Stone fly out of his grasp all by itself gave her the few precious seconds she needed to reach Mrs. Kendricks’ side. She held it over her outstretched hand and then she pulled it back.

  “What are you doing?” I shouted, aghast, as Bellaxragor loomed over them like a rampaging dragon bent on reclaiming its hoard. “Give it to her! It’s their only chance!”

  “No,” she retorted stubbornly. “It’s not hers.” She spun around and touched the Stone to the blood on my corpse’s face as Bellaxragor reached down to reclaim it.

  I only had a moment to gasp in horror and dismay before my eyes snapped open and I screamed as something tore itself out of my body, ripping every nerve I had to shreds before setting them on fire. Bellaxragor howled in rage and lifted his hammer for the final blow and Susie threw herself across my body in a futile attempt to protect me. She rolled over onto her back and pointed her wand straight up.

  “Ventus fortis!” she shrieked and a blast of air harder than a wrecking ball slammed into the demon lord and tossed him up and back. He landed on top of the dumpster, crushing it like a tin can. Susie blinked at her wand. “Wow,” she said, “that worked better than I thought it would.”

  “Peter!” Melissa dropped at my side and clutched my hand. “You’re alive? How is that – oh my God!” She leaned back in alarm. “What’s wrong with the Stone!”

  “Wha–?” I could barely string two thoughts together and my body wasn’t quite listening to what my mind was telling it but I managed to prop myself up on my elbows. The Philosopher’s Stone slid off my face and dropped onto my chest, flaring with a painfully bright red-tinged light. “What happened?”

  “It’s bound to you again!” Olivia told me, leaning over Melissa’s shoulder. “Hurry, put it on! He’s coming back!”

  Metal screeched as Bellaxragor shoved the remains of the dumpster aside and staggered to his feet. “Miserable insects,” he spat, wiping black blood from his mouth. One of his wings hung askew and he limped as he came towards us. “Thy souls shall burn for all eternity!”

  “Get up!” Susie urged me, hauling on my arm. With her help and Melissa’s, I got to my feet, swaying unsteadily as I looped the Stone’s chain over my head. The three of us stood side-by-side, feeling Bellaxragor’s every step shuddering the ground beneath our feet. The Stone burned like a miniature sun against my chest as the two witches gripped my hands and raised their wands.

  “This would be a real good time for Sigfreund to show up,” I muttered. Melissa looked at me, startled, and then her lips twisted into a feral grin.

  “Sigfreund’s a wimp,” she said. “We need Melisandre.” She raised her wand over her head and took a deep breath. “Nigrum inanis!” she shouted and a black orb the size of a softball appeared at the tip of her wand.

  Susie’s eyebrows shot up and then she grinned. “Nigrum inanis,” she said, touching her wand to Melissa’s. The orb doubled in size, pulsing softly, and I felt it tugging at me.

  A heavy hand clapped me on my shoulder and Prescott leaned past me to bring his wand to theirs. “Nigrum inanis,” he said, looking grim. “Be very careful.” The orb was larger than a basketball now, sparkling with tiny pinpricks of light and distorting everything around it, and I had to grab the Philosopher’s Stone to keep it from being pulled over my head.

  Melissa gestured and the orb rose higher, almost invisible against the boiling cloud overhead, and Bellaxragor’s advance slowed. For the first time, I saw uncertainty on his rough-hewn features.

  “The curse!” Lilixandriel screamed in frustration. “Slay him again with the curse! Reclaim the Stone from his bloodied corpse!” She pointed frantically off to the side and I gaped at the writhing shape standing there not ten feet away.

  The Stone must have pushed it out of me, I thought bleakly. Oh my God, I’m going to die again.

  Everything happened at once. Melissa snapped her hand down and the black orb shot at Bellaxragor like a cannonball as he swept his hand around. The curse leapt at me and Susie threw some sort of spell at it that had absolutely no effect on it. Bellaxragor tried to shatter the orb with his hammer but his weapon disintegrated into dust the instant it touched. I ducked away from the curse as Olivia shouted “No!” and then screamed. Bellaxragor somehow dodged out of the orb’s path at the last moment but it immediately looped around to come at him again. He roared in pain and fury as it punched a hole through his wing and he stumbled to his knees.

  “Lilixandriel!” he bellowed, reaching out to her. The orb rose straight up over his head, swirling and crackling with black fire. “I am defeated. Open the shadowed paths and take us from here!”

  Lilixandriel’s lip curled in disgust. “Beaten by a human,” she sneered. “Thou art worthless, Bellaxragor Stormreaper. I shall find a more worthy champion.” She turned away and a shadowy gateway formed in front of her. Just before the darkness closed around her, she looked back with a glare of pure hatred. “Until we meet again, dear sister,” she spat, and then she was gone.

  “Lilixandriel!” Bellaxragor’s cry of anguish cut off when the orb slammed down and swallowed him whole, leaving only a fading echo of his voice behind. The orb sat there for a long moment and then it quickly shrank into the tiniest dot before blipping out of existence. Overhead, the cloud broke apart as the rain and wind faded away and in a few moments the sky was as clear and blue as it was before this entire nightmare started.

  Melissa lowered her wand as she stared at the spot where Bellaxragor had been. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Did I just kill a demon?” She started to shiver uncontrollably and I pulled her into my arms, holding her tight.

  “No,” I told her, “you just saved us all. You’re a hero, Melissa.”

  “I helped,” Susie grumbled. Her eyes were red and her mascara ran down the sides of her face like streaks of warpaint.

  “Were you crying?” I asked incredulously.

  “No!” she insisted vehemently, wiping at her cheeks and making an even bigger mess. “The rain got in my eyes.”

  “Of course it did.” I freed an arm and gathered her in. “Thanks,” I whispered. She shrugged in embarrassment but she didn’t pull away like she normally would.

  Behind us, Mrs. Kendricks made a sound and we hurried to her side as Prescott helped her sit up. She lifted a shaky hand to her forehead, wincing as she opened her eyes to the bright sunlight.

  “Are you all right, Arial?” Prescott asked anxiously.

  “I’m alive,” she assured him softly, “although I’m not sure why.” She looked up at me and the Philosopher’s Stone hanging around my neck. Its blinding glow had finally tapered off to its usual ruby gleam. “I suppose we have you to thank for that, Peter,” she smiled.

  “I didn’t do anything,” I said, shaking my head. “Melissa did all the work.”

  “And me!” Susie reminded me with a poke in my side. “And I guess he helped a bit too,” she added reluctantly, eyeing Prescott.

  “You didn’t need me,” he admitted ruefully. “My strongest spell could barely scratch that demon but you two – I only know one other witch with that much power. Did you teach them that?” he asked Mrs. Kendricks.

  “I wish I could take credit for it,” she laughed softly, “but no, they did this all on their own.” She retrieved her wands and raised her hands to let him carefully help her to her feet. “With a little boost from that, I suspect,”
she added, nodding at the Stone.

  “We couldn’t have done it without Peter,” Melissa insisted, tucking a dripping strand of hair behind her ear. “But I don’t understand what happened. You were dead!” she told me with a little catch in throat.

  “People aren’t supposed to come back to life,” Susie mused, eyeing me suspiciously. “You’re not a zombie, are you?”

  “No,” I told her, exasperated. “Olivia used the Stone to – wait! Where’s Olivia? Oh my God, where’s the curse?”

  Five wands suddenly snapped into position as we looked all around but the curse was nowhere to be seen. Daraxandriel, though, knelt off to the side with her back to us, leaning over a body sprawled on the ground.

  “Get back, demon!” Prescott ordered sharply. The tip of his wand flared again but Mrs. Kendricks reached over and pushed his hand down.

  “That’s enough of that, Ryan,” she said firmly. “Dara’s our friend.”

  “Are you serious, Arial? Those other two demons just tried to kill us!”

  “This one didn’t.” He blinked at her uncomprehendingly. “I’ll explain later,” she sighed. “For now, just put that away. Please, Ryan,” she added quietly. I let my breath out in relief when the glow finally faded and he dropped his hand to his side.

  I ran over to Dara and gaped at the body lying there. “Oh my God!” I breathed. “Is that Olivia?” It couldn’t possibly be. The girl had the same features and the same wavy brown hair but she was obviously solid, her pale skin smudged with mud and dampened from the rain. She was also completely and utterly naked. “What happened to her?”

  “My Dread Lord’s curse vanished ere it reached thee, Peter Simon Collins,” Daraxandriel told me, “and this girl fell to the ground in its place, just as you see her. Is this truly Olivia?”

  “It looks like her.” I knelt down and carefully reached out to touch her arm. She was definitely real, albeit a bit cold to the touch. “Is she alive?” I grimaced, but the rise and fall of her chest answered that for me.