Soul Catcher

by G. P. Ching

  “Your secret is safe with me, Dane, but please continue. It’s important.”

  “She asked me if I’d like a drink and offered me the web sack. I was disgusted, you know, because I thought it was a bug or something, but I was so weak and thirsty. I nodded my head, and she raised the side to my lips.” Dane’s voice broke and his breath caught. He was remarkably close to crying. “It tasted good, Malini. I don’t know what she gave me. It could have been some half-masticated bug for all I know. I drank it. I think she saved my life.”

  “Oh, Dane.” She pulled him forward by the hand and wrapped her arms around him as the tears began to flow.

  How could he tell her how scary the dream was? No words could describe his helplessness, or the horror of imagining himself entombed in a spiders web. “I wish I could forget, just forget the whole thing. Do you know how hard it is to go to counseling once a week to ‘work through my abduction’ and not be able to talk about what really happened? I don’t want to waste my parents’ money, but I can’t possibly tell the truth. I’m probably crazy.”

  “You’re not crazy.” Malini clasped his the shoulders. “I know the spider.”

  “What?”

  “I think Fatima—er, Fate paid you a visit. She’ll never admit to it, of course. But I suspect the water she gave you to drink came from the river outside of Eden. The water is blessed. All Soulkeepers are descended from someone who saw and drank that water. Only those who truly have a heart to rid the world of evil can see or drink it. Abigail and Gideon are the only exceptions. God knew the choice they would make to sacrifice themselves for all of us, and when He made them human, He gave them the ability to enter here as a reward for their self sacrifice. But I think Fate helped you drink the water, Dane, and now you are here.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Malini tilted her face toward the moon. She sighed. “I think the water changed you. I think you might have the Soulkeeper gene now.”

  Dane had to catch himself against the trunk of a tree. A lump formed in his throat. Did she just say what he thought she did?

  “Either you are the only exception the cherubim have ever made or...”

  “Or I have a latent Soulkeeper gene inside of me?”

  “Yes.”

  “So how do we find out?”

  “We don’t.” Malini squeezed his hand.

  “But I have to know.”

  “Believe me, you will know if the gene switches on.”

  Dane pulled his hand out of hers. “You don’t understand, Malini. This whole time—I thought you were going to say I didn’t belong here. And now, to learn I might be one of you! I have to know who I am.”

  “You do belong here, Dane. God let you through the gate for a reason, Soulkeeper or not. You are human now, and you might always be human but, no matter what, you belong here.”

  He shook his head and turned back toward the path to the school. He couldn’t put his feelings into words. In one way, this was more than he’d ever hoped for but, in another, to be this close and not know for sure was frustrating.

  “Dane,” Malini said softly.

  He turned around to face her. “Yeah?”

  “I want you to take this.” A leather strap dangled from her fingertips, a red stone at the end of it. He’d seen the stone before. Jacob used to wear it, and then Malini. The chain was different. “I had it reset for you. I want you to wear it until we figure this out.”

  “Why?”

  “This stone is connected to me. Not physically but metaphysically.”

  “Huh?”

  “If you need me, hold it up to the light and clear your mind. I’ll help you.”

  “Okay.” Tentatively, he reached out and hooked his fingers in the strap, pulling it over his head.

  “No matter what, it’s okay to be what you are,” Malini said. “It’s okay to be who you are. The people who love you will love you no matter what. All you’ve got to do is be true to yourself.”

  “Yeah,” Dane said absently.

  Just then, a violent rustling heralded Archibald’s arrival on the path. “Ms. Malini!” he called. “You have to come. Something’s happened. Ms. Abigail needs to talk with you, right away.”

  She took off toward the school at Soulkeeper speed, leaving Dane alone in the jungle with the garden gnome.

  “Uh, Archibald, I know it’s your night off and everything, but would you mind showing me the way back to the school?”

  “Oh yes,” the little guy said. “On the way you can tell me all about the exotic city of Paris, Illinois.”

  Dane grinned in the darkness but didn’t deny him. He followed the gnome through the garden, telling stories about his everyday life while trying his best to process what Malini had told him. A new truth. A truth that could change everything.

  Chapter 9

  Calling Card

  Malini burst into the conference room where The Soulkeepers’ council had already assembled. At the head of the table, Abigail wrung her hands, while Gideon and Lillian flanked her with equal unease. Backs to the entryway, Master Lee and Grace huddled together, staffs leaning against the table. When had they returned? The news must be urgent if they came in person instead of using the stone again. Maybe they’d found Cheveyo?

  “What’s going on?” Malini rounded the table to an empty chair positioned between the two groups. She didn’t sit. The despair radiating from the two Helpers froze her in place.

  “We found something,” Grace said, her voice shaking. She pushed a folded newspaper across the table, the Arizona Gazette. The headline read: 12 DEAD IN BAR MASSACRE.

  Malini scanned the article, noting the mutilation of the bodies. Master Lee cleared his throat.

  “Definitely Watchers. The flesh was stripped off while they were still breathing.” He shook his head. “And there was something else.”

  Abigail passed a large photograph around the table to her. The first thing she noticed as she accepted the picture from Gideon was the blood. On the mirror behind a dark, blood-soaked bar, words were scrawled across the glass in dripping, sticky red. He is ours.

  “God help us, they’ve taken Cheveyo,” Malini said.

  Abigail rose from her chair and paced toward the window. “I’m suspicious. Obviously, the Watchers left this message for us to find. Why are they taunting us? What do they want if they already have him?”

  “We searched everywhere,” Grace whimpered, meeting Malini’s eyes. “But we didn’t know what we were looking for, not exactly. After interviewing everyone this kid knew in Sedona, the description we put together was frustratingly vague. He moved around a lot, and he looked like half the population of Arizona.” She clasped her shaking hands on the table.

  “Every Soulkeeper I’ve ever encountered has left a trail,” Lee interrupted. “Helpers learn to see the signs, detect their aura. It’s how Bell originally found Mara. But Cheveyo left almost nothing. When we left Sedona, we searched Flagstaff again and again. We’d been in that bar. Nothing.”

  Rubbing her chin, Malini stared at the photo, discouraged. Her own abilities hadn’t been much help. She’d searched her threads in the In Between for any hint of where to find Cheveyo, but every lead had turned up empty.

  Gideon reached for the photo, and Malini gladly handed it over. Glancing from Abigail to the picture, his mouth pulled into a straight line. “Abigail, when you conjured the list, what did you know about the Soulkeepers on it? Obviously, all those with the gene were not included, or the list would have been much longer.”

  “Yes, the gene had to be active. A true Soulkeeper,” Abigail said.

  “Lee, last week you mentioned Cheveyo might be in transition because he left such a faint trace in the apartment. Is it probable Cheveyo has an active Soulkeeper gene but has never used his gifts?” Gideon asked.

  Lillian’s eyebrows shot toward the ceiling. “When I came into power, I walked into Master Lee’s dojo. He didn’t find me, I found him.”

  Lee nodded. “Exactly. Thi
s is what I suspect. If the Soulkeeper gene has been triggered, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to use his abilities, he’ll be more difficult for us to detect. I suspect that’s what we are dealing with.”

  Abigail drummed her fingers on the table, her face taking on an icy quality reminiscent of her days as a Watcher. “Here’s what we know. Cheveyo is in transition, which means he probably doesn’t understand who he is. Unfortunately, the Watchers are not as ignorant, and they have him. They want us to come. They are using him as bait. But how did Lucifer get to him first?”

  The council members exchanged glances, then all eyes settled on Malini. She was just shy of her eighteenth birthday, but she was their Healer, expected and responsible for directing the course of action for the greatest good. She knew what must be done, just like she knew they weren’t going to like it. The path they must take was clear to her, although the outcome wasn’t. “We need to send a team of Soulkeepers to look for him.”

  “Didn’t you hear what Abigail said? We’ll be playing into their hands,” Grace said. “Besides, we’ve already been there.”

  “It’s not you they want,” Malini said. “We need to send Ethan, the twins, Jesse and Dane.”

  Grace gasped and worked her jaw like a fish out of water. “You are not sending my daughters to slaughter!” she yelled, shoving back her chair and standing. “Did you see what they did to those people? And Dane? Preposterous! He’s human. They’ll eat him alive.”

  “It’s what has to be,” Malini said, lowering her chin. She should have broken the news more gently. She should have foreseen Grace would react like this.

  “You should send Jacob,” Grace seethed. “He’s got the most experience.”

  Malini cringed.

  “Grace,” Abigail said. “Malini has put Jacob in harms way again and again. She wouldn’t put the twins in danger if it weren’t the only way.”

  “It is the only way,” Malini said solemnly. “If any of the Soulkeepers would do, I would send Jacob. Or I would go myself. But what I’ve seen on the other side indicates the best course of action is to send these five. They need this experience, and we need them.”

  Grace harrumphed loudly. When a quick glance around the table found her supporters lacking, she stormed from the room, flashing Malini an accusing look that cut her to the bone. Malini shook the exchange off and turned toward the other council members.

  Abigail stood. “All those in favor of following Malini’s plan and sending Jesse, Dane, Ethan, Bonnie, and Samantha to Arizona to look for Cheveyo say, aye.”

  Gideon was the first to speak up, “Aye!”

  Lillian followed suit, “Aye.”

  Lee hesitated, sizing up Malini with a guarded expression. “Aye,” he finally said, but he didn’t seem happy about it. He rose and excused himself from the room. Unlike Grace, he didn’t glare at Malini on his way out. In fact, he didn’t make eye contact at all.

  “Then the decision is made. Let’s pull together the team and make a plan of attack,” Abigail said. “Lillian, would you mind briefing the five? I think it should be done tonight.”

  Lillian nodded and gathered the folder of evidence into her arms along with the notebook and pen she was using. With long strides, she left the room. Abigail closed the door behind her.

  “Are you sure about this, Malini?” Gideon asked from his place at the table. As an angel, he’d doubted Malini’s abilities, but as a man, he was her staunchest supporter. He would never question her if anyone other than Abigail was present.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Why Dane? We don’t even know if he has the gene. It doesn’t make any sense.” Abigail spread her hands. It wasn’t a challenge. It was a plea for understanding.

  Malini ran her fingers along the wood grain of the conference table, then walked to the window. “There are some things I can’t share with you.”

  “I know,” Abigail whispered.

  “What I can say is this. I have seen a future where Dane is the key to Lucifer’s undoing. He’s not just one of the five; he’s the most important of the five.” A deep hush came over her, even the jungle seemed in on it, and she could hear her heart beating. She had to be careful. The future was a delicate thing, easily upset by careless words. Easily open to misinterpretation.

  “Well then, maybe he’ll have better luck finding Cheveyo than Grace and Lee,” Gideon said.

  Malini pivoted slowly to face him. “He doesn’t have to find Cheveyo.”

  Swallowing hard, Gideon licked his lips, seeming almost afraid to ask what was on his mind. “What do you mean?”

  “All he has to do is let the Watchers find him.”

  Abigail placed her hand on Gideon’s shoulder and sighed heavily. “So, he’s the bait.”

  “He survived Hell,” Malini said. “Don’t underestimate him. In this case, the rat might eat the snake.” A whisper of a smile crossed her face.

  After a moment of awkward silence as Gideon and Abigail exchanged glances, letting Malini’s words sink in, Gideon jostled out of his chair. “Since that’s settled, on to door number two.” He lifted a manila folder from the top of a credenza against the far wall. “I have the information you asked for on Harrington Enterprises.”

  Malini brightened, taking the research from his hands. “Their water processing plant is relatively new and based in Chicago. There’s only one bottling plant, but they distribute all over the country.”

  “Great,” Malini deadpanned, wondering how many tainted bottles might be circulating.

  Tightly muscled arms crossed over his chest, Gideon leaned a hip on the credenza, overtaking the substantial piece of furniture with his presence. He might not have been an angel anymore, but even as a human, he was larger than life. “There’s more.”

  “What?”

  “They only distribute large bottles, the type used for office water coolers. And all of their orders go to major corporations and government offices.” His green eyes flashed with indignation.

  Abigail inhaled sharply. “So Lucifer is trying to gain control of the most powerful people in the nation.”

  Gideon nodded. “This is bigger than Harrington or Bakewell. Hundreds of companies, thousands of people. We’ve been chasing his right hand while his left has been priming Earth for invasion.”

  Malini flipped through the folder. “But how can they influence this many people? There can’t be this many Watchers topside. We’d know.”

  With the enigmatic twist of her lip evocative of her days as a fallen angel, Abigail ran her hand across the backs of the chairs, pacing around the conference room. Part of her, the memories left behind, would always remember how to think like a Watcher.

  “He’s not concerned with influencing them all right now,” Abigail murmured. “Lucifer simply wants them to be vulnerable. Senator Bakewell is the exception. A Watcher is here for him and to taint the water. But if I know Lucifer, and I do, it’s just the beginning. This smacks of a set up. He’s positioning his pawns.”

  Nodding, Malini leaned against the windowsill to get a better view of the full moon. “Which begs the question, how is he positioning his queen? We need to anticipate his next move. If we don’t, we’ll be playing into his hands.”

  Chapter 10

  Mission

  Heavy with the implications of Malini’s conjecture, Dane said goodbye to Archibald at the entrance to the school and paused before going in. What did it all mean? He might be a Soulkeeper, or not. Didn’t she understand his presumed future was a life toiling over corn and soybeans? This was his one chance to be something important, to have a bigger life than Paris, Illinois. Being a Soulkeeper would mean everything to him.

  For some reason, Ethan popped into his head just then. He took a deep breath. If anyone could help him make sense of this, it would be Ethan. But how much should he share? Malini hadn’t said it was a secret, per se, but then again, if she was wrong or his powers never came to fruition, he’d feel worse having told his friends. No, best to keep t
he revelation to himself, at least for now.

  Back inside the dining hall, he found Ethan slow dancing with an overly ecstatic Bonnie while Jacob and Samantha engaged in a lively discussion next to the snacks. For his part, Ethan barely moved and looked like he’d rather be on the receiving end of a root canal than holding Bonnie in his arms. Dane chuckled.

  “So, should I ask how the talk went?” Ghost asked, the words out before he fully formed at Dane’s side.

  “Gah! Stop doing that. Can’t you just walk up to someone in a normal way?” Dane placed a hand over his thumping heart.

  “Not half as fun as watching you jump. So, out with it. What did the Healer have to say to you?”

  “Malini and I have been friends for years. What makes you think it wasn’t a friendly conversation?”

  Ghost raised an eyebrow over one mischievous purple eye and shook his head.

  “I don’t think I’m supposed to tell anyone,” Dane said, taking an unnatural interest in his work boots. “There’s nothing to tell anyway. It was a strange conversation.”

  “You don’t say.” Ghost peered at him expectantly.

  The song ended and Ethan wasted no time freeing himself from Bonnie’s clutches. He stalked toward them. “So what did she say?” he demanded, placing a hand on Dane’s shoulder. Dark clouds gathered in his eyes. “They can’t make you stop coming here. You made it through the gate.”

  “She didn’t say I couldn’t come here. In fact, she said the opposite; I’m always welcome here.” Dane shrugged. He was about the same size as Ethan, but somehow, just then, his friend seemed bigger, intensity billowing his presence to twice its natural size.

  “Well, good.” Ethan took a step back, removing his hand deliberately from Dane’s shoulder and stuffing it in his pocket. “Because that would be completely unfair.”

  For a few painfully awkward moments, Dane shifted from foot to foot under Ethan’s penetrating stare. What had just happened? Ethan was being so...protective.

  He didn’t have a chance to broach the subject. Lillian charged into the room, snapping up everyone’s attention. “I need to see Jesse, Ethan, Samantha, Bonnie, and you too, Dane. Blue room, now.”