Soul Remembered (Soul Series Book 2)

by Laura Winter

  “It’s not fair that guys get to wear flat shoes and we have to wear heels,” she groaned.

  I felt my jaw drop as she looked at me. Her purple hair was braided along the sides and wrapped into a flower braid at the back of her head while the rest of her curls hung down the open-backed dress. The purple of her hair complemented the maroon of her dress perfectly. She really loved her sleeves, the burgundy lace wrapping down her arms and tying around her fingers to hide her scar. Even better, she had my tie already fixed, hanging loosely around her neck.

  “Would you stop staring at me?” Clara said, picking up a loose curl to throw over her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, but Luci was right. It was worth the wait. You are completely breathtaking.” I smiled and reached out to hold her hand. “I want to ask you to marry me all over again.”

  She grinned and pulled me closer, holding her face just inches from mine. “Tell me, do you think this tie matches my eyes?”

  I winked. “I’m tempted to let you wear it all night.”

  Clara reached up and pulled it off her neck to slip over my head. “I learned how to tie it, but could only get it figured out when I was the one wearing it.”

  I laughed and helped adjust my collar back down. Clara took a step back but stumbled again in her shoes. I caught her and pulled her close, my hand sliding in the small of her back. I brushed her curls away from her face and kissed her cheek.

  “You are the greatest thing to ever happen to me,” I said, leaning back to take another look at the beautiful girl in front of me.

  “Likewise, my fellow insomniac,” Clara replied, sliding her arm through mine. “Now let’s hurry up and get to the car. I stashed some extra Converse in your trunk last week so my mom couldn’t take them all away from me.”

  14

  Clara

  The Forest Hills Museum must have been the only place big enough to hold events. We walked in and looked around at the decorations for the enchanted forest theme. I laughed at how unoriginal the idea was, but Luci and Glitch seemed to be thrilled. She dragged him onto the dance floor as Nate and I walked around the edges.

  They had a bunch of string lights hanging from fake trees along the sides of the ballroom. Nate held my hand as we sauntered along. Most everyone was busy dancing and listening to the band, so no one loitered around us.

  Nate ducked under a lower hanging branch as we continued on. “You know, the more I think about it, the more I wish I had waited to propose to you in some super romantic way.”

  “Well, you already know my answer so there’s no more pressure. I’d say yes a million times over again.”

  We walked out on the other side of the pathway and stood near the stage. I didn’t recognize the song they were playing, but I recognized someone I wish I hadn’t. I felt my heart drop as I yanked Nate back behind the cover of trees.

  “Uh, what are you doing?” Nate asked.

  “So remember when that guy was being a dick at the fair and I dunked him? He’s the bass player in the band,” I answered, poking my head around to see if the guy had seen me. He kept playing and looking forward, so I think I was in the clear.

  “Well, if he tries anything again, I’ll let you beat the shit out of him,” Nate grinned, pulling me back around the corner to kiss me.

  “That’s the second hottest thing you’ve ever said to me,” I laughed, kissing him again before I pulled him back the way we came.

  * * *

  The band stopped for a break, but the playlist wasn’t any better than what they had been playing earlier. Nate and I sat at a table, watching Glitch and Luci sway to a slow song in the middle of the dance floor.

  “Oh, don’t drink the punch anymore. Eliot just spiked it,” Nate laughed.

  “That’ll make things a bit more interesting around here,” I replied.

  He picked up my hand and stood up. “As much as I would love to see that, I think we are both ready to leave. We have sweats and a blanket fort waiting for us at the treehouse.”

  I sighed in relief. “You know me so well.” I kissed his cheek. “Let me go say bye to Luci.”

  Glitch smiled when I came over. “Oh, good. Take over for a minute so I can get a drink.”

  “Wait, don’t drink the punch!” I shouted after him. “Eliot spiked it…” My voice faded out because it was no use. He was already gone.

  “Wait, it’s spiked? I need some of that. I’m so nervous,” Luci mumbled, biting her lip.

  “Why are you nervous?” I asked, reaching up to slide one of her hair pins back into place.

  Her face got red. “Uh, you know what you and Nate are about to go do?”

  “Yeah. Put on sweats and make a blanket fort…” I shrugged.

  Luci frowned. “You know what I mean. Help me.”

  I smiled to help her relax. “You’ll be fine. Just be safe and talk about it. And be honest and open with him. You don’t have to do anything, you know.”

  She shook her head. “I still have no idea how you can be so calm about this.”

  I wrapped her into a hug. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re a beautiful, brilliant, badass. Rock it like you rock that dress.”

  Glitch walked back up as we pulled away from our hug. “Don’t drink the punch. Someone spiked it with some nasty ass alcohol,” he said, taking his place back from me.

  “Call me tomorrow, Luci!” I winked at her and left to find Nate.

  We walked arm in arm out to the car, passing the bench that we had sat on back in December when my dad threatened us. It was nice to not feel any panic building in my chest. Whatever I was doing now was working.

  As we got closer to the car, I started to get a strange feeling in my head as I picked up someone’s thoughts. Sure enough, I heard a familiar voice call out behind us.

  “You’re that purple-haired bitch who dunked me at the fair,” he snarled.

  Nate groaned, annoyed that the guy was of course provoking the worst person possible. He also regretted giving me permission to beat the shit out of him.

  “Nice to see you again,” I replied, trying to hide my excitement. “I take it you didn’t learn your lesson the first time?”

  “I’ll teach your boyfriend a lesson for not keeping you in line,” he said, rolling up his sleeves while glaring at Nate.

  “Excuse me, I’m her fiancé. And this one’s all hers. I think she’s quite capable of standing up for both of us,” Nate chuckled.

  The guy seemed confused. “I’m not fighting a girl,” he scoffed. “She’s outmatched.”

  Nate rolled his eyes. “Did you really have to say that? Look at her. Now she really is going to fight you.” Nate gestured over as I smiled wide, motioning for the guy to come fight me.

  He was still angry, and growing more impatient with our game. “This is a joke, right? You’re letting your girlfriend get punched by a guy and you’re just gonna watch?”

  I folded my arms. “I’m his fiancée. What part of that don’t you understand? And I thought you weren’t going to fight a girl? Are you afraid of me?”

  Nate laughed again. “I think he actually believes he’s going to beat you.”

  At this point, I had shifted close enough for the guy to be within arms reach and his anger finally got the best of him. He calculated his move to swing and punch me in the stomach, but he took too long. For a brief second, I thought about blocking the punch, but I decided I’d rather just end this quickly. Without loading, I surprised him with a left-handed jab straight in the nose. He stumbled back and dropped to the ground, clutching at his face as the blood ran down from his nose.

  I faked a look of confusion. “I’m sorry, you were going to teach me a lesson. What was it again?” I grinned and spun around to join Nate at the car.

  “You’re psychotic!” the guy yelled, scrambling to his feet as he backed away.

  “Are you just now figuring that out?” Nate asked, reaching around my hips to pull me into him, kissing me deeply. “That was so hot.”

>   “I know. Hurry up and take me home before I get the urge to beat up more assholes just to turn you on,” I said. I squished my nose into his, smiling, before running around to the passenger side.

  15

  Nate

  Clara and I snuck back into House easily without disturbing Ellie. Now that prom was over, I was starting to get nervous about telling our parents we were engaged, but Clara didn’t seem bothered. She went to grab food and coffee to bring back to her room while I went to shower.

  When I walked back into her room, Clara was pulling the last pin out of her hair from the previous night. She had made a pile of them on her desk as she ran her fingers easily through her curls. This was probably the last time she was ever going to brush it.

  “Remind me not to punch anyone again. My hand hurts,” she groaned, flexing the fingers on her left hand as she scrunched her nose.

  “Imagine how much more damage it would have done if you had a ring on that finger.”

  She laughed and picked up a stack of clothes to go shower, leaving her hair pins in a mess on her desk.

  I sat down at the desk chair to pull out my homework, but something caught my eye. Sitting on top of the desk was a small box with a gold ribbon tied around it.

  “Hey, C? What’s this box for?”

  She didn’t hear me, but I decided to look anyway. I slid the ribbon off and opened the lid to see a small, braided gold band framing a diamond. How did this get here?

  House made a soft, purring noise around me.

  “You did this?” I asked, looking around the room. The lights flickered quickly before settling again. I grinned wide. “Our parents are gonna kill us.”

  House groaned and I laughed. Clearly he didn’t care about that. I was just happy he really did like me.

  “I found three more pins in my hair while I was washing it,” Clara said, walking out of the bathroom while wringing out her hair. “Why are our parents going to kill us?”

  “Because House made you a ring,” I said, holding it out.

  Clara squealed and skipped over to me. “I told you House liked you.”

  “He has to look after you,” I said, lifting up the ring so she could look at it. “So, do I need to propose again?”

  My answer is always forever yes. Clara reached her right hand around my neck as she kissed me. I slid the ring on her finger, brushing my hand over it. Finally, I could show everyone what she meant to me.

  “So, my mom is awake now. I can hear her thoughts. Do we tell her and then your parents or tell them at the same time?”

  “Your smile is way too big to keep it a secret for long,” I smiled, matching the grin she had on her face.

  “You’re right,” she said, squishing her nose before she spun around. “Mom!”

  Clara ran out of the room to find her mom as I laughed. That was the girl I was crazy about. Somehow, I had convinced the most perfect girl in the world to marry me. I chased after her.

  Ellie was smiling and holding Clara’s hand by the time I made it to the kitchen.

  “I’m so happy for you, baby girl,” Ellie cheered, watching Clara bounce up and down. “Have you told Angie and Tom?”

  “Are they going to be as happy as you are?” I asked, leaning against the counter to watch them.

  “Of course they are. We knew this was going to happen eventually, even if we tried to get you to wait.” Ellie stood up from the table and walked over to hug me, whispering in my ear. “Thank you for looking out for Clara.”

  I squeezed her back.

  “So,” Clara started, her mouth full of second breakfast. “How do we tell Angie and Tom about this?”

  Ellie spun around to look at her. “Oh, you two better wait for me because I’m coming with you. I can’t wait to see the look on Angie’s face.”

  * * *

  Clara crossed her eyes at me from across the table, annoyed despite the smile on her face. Ellie and my mom were going back and forth on wedding dresses and how to plan everything. My dad and I just sat back and let them talk it out.

  He elbowed me in the side. “I’m surprised it took you this long.”

  “What do you mean?” I looked up at him, confused.

  “I knew you were hooked when I saw you looking at her at the work party last year. And I didn’t even know about the powers between you,” he smiled. “All you’ve been through since has brought you even closer.”

  “It’s kind of weird to think about how much our powers got us through those few months. We had to use each other a lot. Now that there isn’t something to fight against, it feels different to be normal. Not in a bad way, just different. Happy.” I shrugged.

  “Welcome to the real world,” he said, thinking for a second. “There’s still so much we don’t know about you two though. How you got your powers, how the Blue Soul works… but we’re working on it.”

  “Why would we need to know that?” I asked.

  He frowned. “If it can happen to you two, don’t you think it’s possible there are others out there that were born with powers? We still don’t know where or how Glitch got his powers either. There’s a lot of unknown.”

  I kept my eye on Clara, blocking my thoughts so she couldn’t tell what my dad were talking about. “Well, I think it’s best if we let C get some distance from some of that stuff, but I’ll help if you need me to. She’s been through too much, and I don’t want her to find triggers if we can help it. She deserves to be happy right now.”

  “You both do,” my dad corrected. “Be a teenager. You keep living the normal life and we’ll figure it out.” He patted me on the back and walked out of the kitchen.

  Clara smiled up at me when she caught me staring. I winked.

  We should check on our best friends.

  That sounds like a lot more fun than this. Clara leaned back in the chair, ignoring our moms chatting endlessly about wedding things.

  16

  Clara

  Glitch and Luci were still as cute as ever, making faces at each other while Nate and I just shoved our faces with food. It was funny how perfect each of our relationships were. It only took until the Friday after prom, but I think Luci was finally relaxed around us. Nothing really seemed to embarrass her or make her feel left out anymore.

  “We’re all going to the bonfire tonight, right?” she asked, looking directly at me knowing I would be the only one to object.

  “You already got me to go to prom. Why do I have to go to another social activity?” I groaned.

  “Technically we never got an invite so we don’t have to go,” Nate said, sliding his hand over my shoulders.

  Luci folded her arms. “Well, I did, which means I’m inviting all of you and we are definitely going.” She wasn’t going to let me off that easy.

  “Where is this thing even held?” Glitch asked.

  “You know that clearing in the middle of the forest? People think it’s cool now ever since they found that dead body out there.” Luci replied.

  The three of us froze.

  I could feel my heart plummet to my stomach, sending the rest of my body into complete numbness. I hadn’t been there since…

  Nate shot his free hand over mine to try to keep me from shaking but it was too late. My breath caught and I was having a hard time hiding it.

  Glitch saw me out of the corner of his eye and tried to distract Luci. “Yeah, I don’t think we can go tonight.”

  “Why not?” Luci asked, turning to look at Nate and I. The distraction didn’t work as Luci saw how pale I had become. “Oh my god, Clara. Are you okay?”

  “I don’t feel well,” I said, trying to will my body into standing up, but my legs wouldn’t respond. Nate dropped his arm around my waist to lift me, balancing me as he guided me out of the room. I felt terrible as Luci’s thoughts ran through confusion and guilt, but it was just making me more sick.

  We pushed through the cafeteria doors and Nate leaned me up against the lockers, wrapping his arms around me to steady my shaking.
I pressed my head against his chest and listened to his heart pounding.

  It’s okay, C. Just keep breathing. He leaned his cheek on top of my head as I started to loosen my grip around him. I hadn’t been ready for that. The world stopped spinning and I was able to focus.

  I’m okay. I’m good now. I don’t think he believed me because he didn’t release his grip.