by G. P. Ching
Wendy tugged at her hair and shivered. “Finn has been captured by Lucifer. Who knows what he’s doing to him? We have to do something.” Her voice cracked. “We have to get him back!”
Averting her eyes, Hope rubbed her chest to ease the heaviness that had formed there and cleared the thickness from her throat. She could think of no way to get Finn back that wouldn’t endanger them all. As it was, Lucifer would probably try to use Finn to blackmail them to hand over the Healer. The Soulkeepers had to keep the Healer safe even if it meant losing Finn. It broke her heart to think that, but she knew it was true. The world as they knew it was at stake.
She turned to Ms. D and whispered, “We have to tell Mike.”
Ms. D folded her hands, her mouth pulling into a tight line. “I need a few minutes with Theodor, alone.”
19
The Deal
Finn hung from a pair of shackles in a dark room. He had no idea how long he’d been there, but it was long enough for him to wet himself multiple times and for his arms to feel like they’d never be the same. Whatever spell lined the chains that bound him, also stopped him from using his power, although he had the slightest sense that he still had his magic. Although he shivered, naked and alone in the darkness, something was feeding him, some tiny string of magic that Lucifer’s chains could not cut off. His stomach panged with hunger and his head spun from lack of food or water, but he was still alive. He should be dead. By now he should be rotting.
Blink.
In the distance, a flicker of light cut the darkness. He must be hallucinating; the light was too far away to be real. Whatever it was, it was drawing closer. A candle and a girl. A familiar-looking girl. He couldn’t quite place her. Could barely make her out.
Blink.
She was right in front of him. Her heart-shaped face framed by perfectly shaped dark curls. Her clothes were strange. Dressed in a long skirt, blouse, and cardigan, something about her looked old-fashioned, like she’d walked off a movie set.
“You mustn’t die,” she whispered. “The monsters win if you die.”
He laughed, longer and harder through his dry throat than he had intended. “They’ve already won,” he mumbled.
“Shhh.” She raised a small cup to his lips. “Here, drink this.” Sweet water ran into his mouth and down his throat.
Blink.
“I know you. Of you. Your picture is on my dad’s desk. I borrowed your trunk.” His words slurred. Was he speaking out loud or was this all in his head? He remembered her. His great-grandma Mimi. She was a Soulkeeper during WWII, but her history was controversial. There were stories in his family, stories about her not doing the right thing. Stories about her potentially helping the enemy.
“Shhh.” She looked over her shoulder. “You must listen to me. The most important thing is to survive. Dead men have no choices. Do not be the hero. There will be time for that, but not now. Now, you must do what he tells you to do. You must convince him to trust you.”
“You want me to make a deal with the Devil?”
She brought her face closer to his and he could smell the wool of her sweater. “I want you to survive.” She blew out the candle. Total darkness swallowed him again. Her voice came to him one last time. “You have something he needs.”
He must have fallen asleep because the next time a light filled the room, he felt like his spine from his neck to his middle back had been wrenched out of alignment. His arm sockets were the source of so much pain, he couldn’t breathe properly. This time, he wasn’t so lucky as to have a visit from Great-grandma Mimi. It was Ravenguard and he was smiling.
“Still alive, Wager?” Ravenguard passed the candle under his bicep until it burned, but Finn was too weak to do much more than moan. The hunter snorted. “I don’t know how you’re still alive, but I’ll finish you off if you beg me.”
“Lu…ci…fer,” Finn rasped.
“Excuse me? Are you asking for the Devil?”
Finn used all of his strength to nod.
Ravenguard moved in closer, sniffing a bit of blood that had dribbled from Finn’s nose. “I think not. The Lord of Darkness has better things to do than kill the likes of you. I think I’ll finish you off myself.” He opened his mouth, and Finn had an extreme close-up of his fangs dropping.
“Leave us.” Lucifer appeared beside them, his hand blocking Ravenguard’s bite. The former admissions counselor gave Finn a bitter look before retreating from the room.
“You mentioned you wanted to see me?” Lucifer said. He raised a finger and poked Finn in the soft tissue on the inside of his arm. Pain like he’d never felt before instantly shot through his body.
Finn cried out. “D-deal.”
The pain stopped. Lucifer’s hand cupped Finn’s chin and wrenched his head up. Finn’s vision wavered as he tried to focus on the monster in front of him: dark hair, dark eyes, black Technothrob T-shirt. This close he could see all of his rock star tattoos. Oh…
“Symbols.” Delirious, Finn wasn’t sure he’d said it out loud.
“Do you think you’re the only one who knows how to store magic in his skin? Now, what did you say about a deal?”
“H-elp you,” Finn said.
Lucifer snapped his fingers and Finn’s wrists were released. His body slapped the floor, a new level of pain raging through him as blood flowed back into his shoulders.
“Do you know how I was able to capture you, Mr. Wager? You must have thought about it while you were languishing here.”
Finn didn’t answer. He was having enough trouble staying conscious.
“I knew eventually one of the Soulkeepers would come for the dagger. My enchantment would only allow a seeker through the gate if they were alone. Soulkeepers are predictable in that way, always trying to be the hero, always willing to sacrifice themselves. I waited for one to come alone and my plan was to follow, to kill, and to take. The obsidian dagger would be mine. But you, Finn, you sprang my trap in the strangest of ways. I could sense that someone had entered the gate, but I couldn’t detect you anywhere. You were indistinguishable from one of us.” He pointed at himself. “I admit that baffled me at first. After all, Kirsa, Ravenguard, and I were accounted for. I sent out Kirsa to search for the ghost who had opened the gate, and I did something else. I commanded the hellfire smoke to bring the dagger to me. As soon as you broke the spell protecting it, I sensed the obsidian. I didn’t think it would work, of course. The smoke has no power over Soulkeepers. Imagine my surprise when it brought you here, still gripping it. Things have changed, haven’t they? You’re not a Soulkeeper anymore.”
Footsteps passed in front of him, but he couldn’t lift his cheek off the floor.
“When you disseminated, you came here, to this place, because the stuff you are made of is closer to us than to them. Like attracts like. I suspected the symbols in your flesh at first. Some of them are quite dark, but they aren’t strong enough to do the damage that’s been done to you. Far more likely that you injured your soul reopening the portal to Nod. I applaud you for that. It took power to undo the blessing around this place. You corrupted a tree growing on hallowed ground. You’ve gone dark, Wager. Far darker than you know.”
Blood oozed from Finn’s nose and dripped over his lip. He was dying. Probably going to Hell when he did. He closed his eyes.
“I can fix you, all of you. All you need to do is sign over your soul to me.” Something cold and metallic was forced into his hand. He blinked. A pen. The Love Kills Slowly book slid in front of his hand. “Sign, Wager. Join me.”
The Devil positioned the nib of the pen on the line. With the book so close to his nose, the lines on the page blurred as he mustered the strength to sign his name. Finn rolled his gaze up to see Lucifer grinning, his hand balling into a fist with his excitement. And then Finn’s mind played a trick on him. He thought he saw Kirsa through the space between the Devil’s feet, standing in the doorway. She was shaking her head. Her eyes were pleading, her mouth forming a silent no. Strange that h
is brain would produce such a thing. The real Kirsa would never discourage him from joining Lucifer. She’d signed her soul away months ago.
As Finn slowly scrawled his name on the line, he thought of his great-grandma Mimi, and then of his mother. He wasn’t proud of what he’d become, but there was no turning back. Not from this.
The book slid out from under his hand. “You’ve made the right choice, Wager.” He watched Lucifer’s sneakers retreat toward the door. The last thing he heard before slipping into unconsciousness was, “Clean him up and find him a room.”
20
Things Left Unsaid
“You’ve stepped in it this time, Theodor. You’ve ruined that boy’s life.” From the head of the conference table, Ms. D scowled at the magician.
“I know.” Complexion ashen, Theodor slumped in his chair. “I didn’t mean to. I told him to use the cards, but he felt he wouldn’t be powerful enough without binding the spells to his flesh. I should have foreseen he would take things too far. I should have been more cautious with the spell we performed with the tree. I’ve made a terrible mistake, Victoria. Please, forgive me.”
“It’s not my forgiveness you need. It’s Finn’s. You have to get him back. You have to undo this mess you’ve made.”
He circled one hand. “As they say, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I’m dying, Victoria. I don’t have much time.”
“You’re aging.”
“Yes.” His brow furrowed. “So is Finn.”
“What?”
“He’s taken on too much power too fast. He is dying too. Not as fast as me, but I believe he knew his time was short. Finn knew he’d either have to give up the symbols or give up his life using them. I believe he acted now because he understood that whether he allowed me to strip the symbols from his flesh or he allowed the symbols to kill him, he was at an impasse.”
She chewed her lip. “Fuse, Orelon, and Amuke stopped growing older as soon as the island was transformed into the new Eden. We think being a Soulkeeper slows the aging process.”
“You look beautiful. I’d forgotten before. At Revelations, before the incident, I should have known the clone wasn’t you. I think I knew on some level.”
“The others said they suspected as well. But what could any of you have done? We were duped for decades. None of us understood the true nature of the place, other than Ravenguard and Applegate.”
“And Damien. Damien must have known before he was redeemed.”
Victoria sighed. “Yes. The angel is an enigma. It is no wonder Hope is torn apart by her feelings for him.”
“She has feelings… for the angel?”
“Not that she’ll admit.” Victoria laughed.
Theodor took a labored breath. “Now that I have you alone, I think it’s well past time for me to make my own admission. I love you. I have always loved you. I think you are what I will miss most after I die.”
Victoria stood and walked around the table, taking a seat in the chair beside him. “You always did have a flair for the dramatic.” She rolled her eyes. Reaching around her neck, she removed the star amulet Damien had made for her, the one that had once saved her life.
“What is that?” he asked.
She took his hand in hers. “You’ve always thought you could control everything. I think it is part of your personality to want to predict the future and set your sails toward calm waters. For you, magic is a tool meant to prevent hardship for the people you love. You’ve tried to save everyone but yourself from the very beginning. But none of us can always be in control. Sometimes we have to have faith.”
“I was never any good at believing in things I can’t see.”
“I know. For what it’s worth, I forgive you, Teddy. But I won’t let you off the hook. Death is too easy for you. I need you to fix what you’ve broken.”
He laughed. “If only I had a choice.”
She flashed him a lopsided grin and looped the amulet over his head, sliding the star down the neck of his shirt where it glowed amongst the soft curls of hair on his chest.
Theodor’s eyes widened. “What is this?”
“It’s a piece of the star. The only one in existence.”
“But don’t you need this?”
“No. I’m a Soulkeeper. I’ve been on the island, and like Fuse, Orelon, and Amuke, I don’t need it anymore.”
Theodor placed a hand over the bump in his shirt that was the star and closed his eyes. “I can feel it working. It feels warm, radiant. I remember this. I can remember when this was normal.” He opened his eyes again and looked up at her with reverence.
She grinned. “That amulet doesn’t come for free. From now on, you are on our team. You owe us your allegiance. If we’re going to find Finn, we need your help and your power.”
He leaned toward her until she could feel his breath on her face. “Thank you.”
“I’m not ready for you to leave me,” she said. A rush swept through Victoria at the way he looked at her. She’d forgotten what it was like to be this close to Teddy.
“Victoria…” he said softly. She tipped her head, her gaze drifting to his mouth.
The door flew open, sending the two adults scrambling apart.
Hope appeared in the doorway, stopping short and narrowing her eyes on the two of them. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing,” Victoria said quickly.
“Comparing notes,” Theodor said.
Hope’s brow furrowed before she seemed to remember something important. “Both of you need to come quickly. You’ll never believe who is here.”
Victoria glanced toward Theodor and then followed Hope toward the front of the bus. “Perhaps Wager has found his way back home after all,” she whispered. But when they reached the booths where the other Soulkeepers had gathered, it wasn’t Finn who was waiting for her.
“Hi Ms. D,” Michael said. “How would you feel about adding a Healer to your team?”
Michael scanned the other Soulkeepers, wondering what they must be thinking. He hadn’t expected a warm welcome, necessarily. He’d left on shaky terms. But the stunned silence that met him was hard to deal with. Were they angry? Did they hate him?
Hope spoke up first. “Does this mean you passed the initiation?”
“Like a boss.” He smiled. “Gabriel flew me down here after I said goodbye to my aunt and packed a bag.” He kicked the Samsonite behind him.
“But I thought you were abdicating? You said you hated this and were going to tell Gabriel to shove it,” Hope said.
Mike shrugged. “That proved not as easy as it sounds.” He ran his tongue along his teeth. “You bitches want to see what I can do? Turns out becoming the Healer comes with some dope perks.”
The others nodded excitedly. Jayden folded his arms across his chest and gave Mike a smug grin. “Let’s see it.”
Mike flipped his hand and pointed the resulting fan of silver webbing at Jayden. The guy’s life came into focus along more than a dozen interlocking strands. Mike focused in on one. Jayden was eight, screaming because his mom turned the lights out and he was afraid of the dark. A pang of guilt rippled through him. This was like reading his most personal diary entries. Mike almost abandoned the demonstration. Almost. Until he took another look at Jayden’s smug expression.
He plucked the string.
Jayden’s smile turned to horror, and his hands reached out to grab the booth behind him. “No. Nooo. Mommy!” he yelled. All the blood drained from his face.
Jenny grabbed his shoulders and shook. “Jayden, what’s happening?”
Jayden started to sob.
Mike turned his wrist over, feeling genuinely bad for the dude now. “It should go away in a minute or two. That’s how long it lasted before.”
“What did you do to him?” Hope asked.
“I made him believe he was eight years old again and alone in a dark room.”
Jenny shot him a disapproving look. But Ms. D looked fascinated. “How does it work?”
/>
“It was a gift from Fate. The power she gave me allows me to see the fabric of a person’s life, all of their major experiences. I saw Jayden was once afraid of the dark, so I plucked that string, sent him back to that experience. It’s a very effective way to neutralize someone for a few minutes.”
Jayden shook his head and gave Michael a dirty look. “You will never use that on me again.”
Mike nodded. “Fair enough.”
Theodor placed his hands on Victoria’s shoulders. “That is a strange and powerful gift.”
Mike had a moment to digest that both Theodor and Wendy were there. “Where’s Finn?”
Victoria glanced at each of the others and then seemed to take it upon herself to break the news. “It gives me no pleasure to share this with you, but as the new Healer, you should know.” She approached him, rubbing her hands together. “Of his own free will, Finn broke into the cemetery where Lucifer has taken up residence. He was trying to retrieve the obsidian dagger. He never came back out. We think he may have been captured.”
“Lucifer has the dagger, doesn’t he?”
“You are in grave danger, Michael,” she said.
“And Finn?”
Victoria frowned. “Finn is missing.”
21
Free Lunch
Finn came awake in a cozy cabin room with a fireplace and a handmade quilt. He was sore, but it didn’t feel like anything was broken anymore. He felt surprisingly good for a guy who’d been tortured the last few days. A delicious smell filled his senses and he turned his head to find a club sandwich and a bowl of soup on his nightstand. Sitting up, he palmed the sandwich and shoved it into his mouth like an animal. He was so hungry, he didn’t even stop to consider the food might be poisoned or could further bind him to the Devil. He just ate.
