by Russo, Jessa
“Have you changed the collector’s mind?”
I shook my head.
“Then I must collect your soul, my dear. I made a promise—”
“Wait.”
“Yes?” he asked, leaning toward the front seat.
“What if you made your deal with me instead?”
“A little girl? What could you possibly give me?”
“I don’t know yet. But if you’ll just give me more—”
“Time?” he asked, a smile curling the corners of his mouth.
“Yes,” I snapped, feeling indignant. “Give me more time. I’ll figure something out. Just please don’t take me yet.”
He tilted his head to the side, analyzing me.
“Oh, I do like you, Eleanor,” he said, nodding. “I very much do.”
And then he was gone again.
“Babe?” Toby shook my shoulder, pulling me out of a deep sleep. “Wake up. We’re almost there.”
“Hmm?” I opened my eyes, trying to get my bearings, but everything seemed sideways. As I focused, I remembered I lay with my head in Toby’s lap, so I sat up, my surroundings righting themselves again. “Where are we?”
“North Seattle. This isn’t where Trey and I are from, exactly; our house was closer to Downtown.”
“Well, that’s great, seeing as I have no idea where we are in regards to downtown.”
“Easy there, sassy pants. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? We’re about twenty minutes north of downtown.”
Toby maneuvered the car down a few streets, until the road eventually narrowed into two tight lanes. Trees surrounded us on every side, shielding most of the houses, though I occasionally caught glimpses of porch lights or decks that stretched along the exterior of the homes. We stopped before a small one story with what looked like gray wood siding and a blue single car garage door that matched the blue entry door. He pulled the Mustang in front of the garage, parallel parking between Ted’s SUV and another car I didn’t recognize along the front length of the house.
“Guess our little stop-over in Ariadne town gave my mom and Ted a bit of time to get here, huh?”
I tried to sound cool with it, but my stomach currently lingered at about knee level. My mom and Ted. I didn’t think I’d ever wrap my mind around what they may have meant to each other once upon a time.
Or worse, what they might mean to each other still.
“You okay with this? I mean, being here, with them?”
I turned to face Toby. “Do I have a choice?”
He smiled sadly. “No. I’m sorry.” He leaned over, taking my face in his hands. “But hey, at least you have me to lean on, right?” He winked as his lips quirked into a smirk, and that arrogant Toby I’d grown to know so well held my gaze, the look in his dark eyes daring me to kiss him.
I shook my head, then leaned forward, stopping just centimeters away from his mouth. I raised an eyebrow and licked my lips, daring him right back.
“Bro. Let me out of the car before you mack on your chick.”
I pulled back, turning to Trey in the backseat. “Sorry, Trey.”
He shrugged. I pushed the door open, slid out, then pulled the seat forward and stepped aside so Trey could climb out. By way of thanks, he may have grunted. Couldn’t be sure though.
“Let’s get this shit-show started,” he murmured, then he pulled his ear buds out of his ears and shoved them and his iPod into his jeans pocket.
Toby met me on my side of the car, our bags in his hands. I’d clearly been sent on this trip with way more than he’d brought along. That’s what you get when Jessie and Mom pack for you. Not that any of us even knew what to pack, or where I was headed.
“Do I get that kiss now?”
I glanced behind me to see if Trey was waiting, but he appeared to have gone inside already.
“Quickly,” Toby whispered. “Your mom will be running out here to see you in five, four, three—”
I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck, then pressed my lips to his in a quick peck. His eyes narrowed a bit, but I smiled and winked, turning around just as my mom sailed out the front door.
“Two, one,” I whispered.
“Baby!”
“Hey, Mom,” I called, running to meet her.
She threw her arms around me, squeezing me half to death. After a good long hug, she pulled back, gripping my shoulders and holding me at arms’ length. “Are you okay? I know you’ve seen Seekers, and—”
“Just one.”
“Just one what? One Seeker?”
“Yeah. The same one keeps showing up.”
“And he lets you go every time?”
“Yeah, he wants—”
“What I want…” he purred in his gravelly voice, as his ethereal form manifested beside us. “Is to cut a deal. It’s as simple as that.”
Mom and I snapped our heads to the side, suddenly face to face with my creepy old Seeker.
“He’s not going to strike a deal with you.” I stated as strongly as possible, playing up my adamancy so he’d know not to let my mom know I’d offered to be the one making the deal.
The Seeker’s eyebrows rose. I hoped my mom didn’t catch the movement.
I glanced over my shoulder, wondering where Toby had disappeared to. He must have gone inside while my mom was hugging me to death.
“Teddy!”
I looked up at my mom when she yelled for Ted, her eyes wide. She reached for me without taking her gaze from the Seeker, then pulled me to her side.
“Mom,” I tried to say in my most comforting voice. “He’s not going to hurt us.”
“He’s here to collect your soul, Ever.”
“On the contrary,” the Seeker drawled in his familiar, raspy voice. “I’d like nothing more than to strike a deal so that I don’t have to collect her soul, Madame.” He bent slightly at the waist, actually bowing before my mom.
I raised my eyebrows. A polite ghoul, huh? Who knew?
Toby and Ted flew through the front door, flanked by a mid-forties couple I didn’t recognize. The man had short dark hair, salt and pepper along the sides and down into his beard. The woman’s fiery hair hung in long ringlets down her back, and her green eyes narrowed in on me as she approached. She winked, then turned her attention to the Seeker.
“Stand back, Samuel,” the woman said as she approached the Seeker.
Ted stood beside my mom, partly in front of her—a protective stance I recognized all too well. A stance Toby currently mimicked.
Ugh. I pushed past Toby, standing between the Seeker—Samuel, apparently—and my mom, Ted, Toby and the two people I had yet to meet. I faced them, my back to the Seeker.
“Ah, Cora Williams, my old friend. The years have treated you well, dear.”
“Time for you to go, Samuel. You know you can’t stay here. This is a safe house—you won’t be collecting any souls here tonight.”
“Look guys,” I spoke up. “He’s not here to collect my soul. If he was, he would have done so already. Back when he found us the first time. In Mexico”—my mom’s eyes widened—“or the time after that. Or the time after that. He’s had plenty of opportunities to take me, and he hasn’t”—I shrugged—“I’m not what he’s after.”
The adults ignored me, all sets of eyes locked on the Seeker behind me.
“Name your price, Samuel,” Ted demanded. “As you and I both know you haven’t come without a proposition.”
I turned to face the Seeker, annoyed that no one listened to me. I smiled a weak smile and shrugged. There wasn’t much more I could say or do at this moment.
“The branded one knows what I want.”
His chilling voice remained, icy tendrils on the breeze, long after his form disappeared.
“Let’s go inside,” Ted said, placing a hand on my back and one on my mother’s, assuming the role of leader.
I didn’t like him, and I definitely didn’t like him touching me. I feigned needing to tie my chucks in order to be
nd down and allow him to pass, but when I glanced up at him, he smirked at me as he led my mom inside.
“Ev, come on, honey. I don’t want you staying out here in case that…thing comes back.”
“He can find me inside, too, Mom.”
“Actually,” Cora said. “Not in this house, honey.” She grinned, then strode back inside.
“Just come on. Humor your poor mom, will ya?”
When we were alone again, I turned to Toby. “How have you been able to work with that guy for so long? Ted gives me the creeps.”
“That’s an extra-special talent of his.”
“Well, he’s good at it. No denying that.”
“What did the Seeker mean when he specifically said you’d know what he wants? That was weird, right? I mean, he should have said me, right? I’m the one who knows what he wants.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, totally weird.”
“Come on”—Toby pulled me forward, a large smile pulling at his lips—“I want to show you something.”
Toby led me through the front door, then the living room and kitchen, down a set of interior stairs, barely giving me time to glance around at the interior or stop to officially meet the owners of the home.
“Where are you taking me, the basement?”
“Shh, you’ll see.”
“You know this is how horror movies start, right?”
He laughed, which didn’t make me feel better. We continued through another family area with a large flat screen television on one wall, and a pool table in the middle of the room. An oversized L-shaped couch lined one corner and wall, and pub-style artwork hung from various spots in the room.
Toby slid the sliding glass doors open, then pulled me outside—
“Wow,” I gasped, suddenly breathless.
Moonlight shone down on a massive body of water—the ocean?—the silvery light dancing and shimmering off the crest of each tiny ripple of a wave. Toby squeezed my hand, then led me down the grass yard and onto a wooden deck overlooking the water. I glanced up behind me, realizing with awe that the small, unassuming one-story we’d arrived at was actually a sprawling two-story home. The main floor was upstairs where we’d entered, and a large deck hung off the back, complete with patio set and chaises and large floor-to-ceiling windows. The lower floor, where we were now had two sets of sliding glass doors, a massive barbeque setup and bar, and this large grass area that led straight to a private dock.
I focused on the dock and water before us, then looked up at Toby whose eyes were wide, waiting for my reaction.
“Wow,” I whispered. “This place is amazing.”
“I thought you’d like it.” He waved his arm out at the water. “This is Pontiac Bay, part of Lake Washington. It’s cold as hell during the winter, but for a few months of the summertime—okay, maybe not a few months—it gets just warm enough to swim in without dying of hypothermia.”
“Did you grow up coming here?”
“Yeah. Our dad used to bring us when we were young, but then it became mostly just Trey and me visiting our friends’ families.”
“How do you know the people that live here? Through Ted?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know anyone who lived on the water like this when I was a kid. I mean, Bill Gates, but that doesn’t—”
“You know Bill Gates?” I asked, unable to hide my shock.
“Nah, I was just kidding. But he does live here. Or did.”
“Ass.”
Toby turned to pull me into his arms, his dark gaze on mine. “In a perfect world, we’d be vacationing here, so I could take you boating and swimming at Alki Beach and show you the best parts of Seattle.”
“In a perfect world”—I sighed—“so, what’s next? Why are we here?”
“The people who live here, that other couple you saw outside? They’re Originals like Ted.”
“Both of them?”
“Yeah. It’s not usually something they do—get together with other Originals—but as far as I know, Louis and Cora have been around since the beginning of time, and together even longer than that.”
“Well,” Cora called from the balcony above us. “I’m not quite that old, Tobias James.”
Toby squeezed his eyes shut, then looked up at the fire-haired woman standing above us. “Sorry, Cora, that’s not what I meant, I mean, you don’t look old or—”
“Stop right there before you say something to offend me,” she said, her voice light. I could barely make out her smile in the moonlight. “Why don’t you bring our special guest upstairs so we can properly introduce ourselves and start discussing our options?”
“Be right up.”
Toby leaned down to kiss me, his lips pressing gently into mine, as his arms tightened around me.
“Good grief, this again?” Trey asked.
I jumped away from Toby and turned in the direction of Trey’s voice. I hadn’t seen him before, but there he was, sitting on the dock with his legs hanging over the side.
“Can’t you get a room, bro?”
“This wouldn’t be an issue if you weren’t a shady lurker over there, Trey. And, what the hell, how cold is that water, anyway?”
“Cold enough.”
I glanced up to Toby, who shrugged, then turned to head inside, leading me along beside him.
“So…what’s she like? Cora, I mean. She seems nice enough.”
“Oh, yeah, they’re nothing like Ted,” Toby whispered, leaning down close to my ear. “Though don’t let him know I said so.”
I made the motion of zipping my lips.
“Ah, there you two are,” Ted called as we made it back upstairs to the main level of the house. “We have some things to discuss.”
“Actually, Ted, we were about to go speak with Cora.”
“Perfect. We all need to be in on developing a plan to save Ev—”
“Excuse me for interrupting,” I said, stopping in the doorway of the kitchen and turning back around to face Ted where he still sat on the couch in the front room. “But do you really have to be involved? I mean, no offense, but it was your daughter who branded my soul, then followed me to Mexico, and more recently…kidnapped me.”
“What?” my mom shrieked, jumping up from the couch. “You were kidnapped again?”
“Yes,” I said, cringing. “Sorry, Mom.” Damn, I really need to think before I speak.
“And, it was…are you sure it was Estelle? I mean, Ariadne?”
My stomach churned at the sound of my dead sister’s name. Somehow, I still hadn’t rectified that Ariadne and Estelle were one in the same. It was near impossible to do so when I’d spent my entire life imagining my dead sister as some sparkly, kind-hearted princess with nothing but kindness and love to bestow upon the world.
Clearly, I watched too much television.
“Yes, Mrs. Van Ruysdael,” Toby answered for me. “Ariadne had her boyfriend and his merry band of losers kidnap Ever and stuff me in my trunk—”
“Oh my God,” my mom gasped. “She was supposed to help you guys.”
I glanced to Ted, gauging his reaction. His expression was dark and unreadable, but his eyes narrowed, and a muscle worked in his jaw.
“Luckily for us,” Toby continued. “I’d already sent someone to keep an eye on Ariadne, so the second he could do so, he got me out of the trunk and we went after Ever.”
My mom shook her head from side to side, her eyes wide. “I don’t believe it…” It was more a statement of disbelief than an accusation. “She was supposed to find you guys and help you. We thought you’d be able to work together. I just can’t believe this.”
“Well, believe it, Mom. My sister is a total asshole.”
“Eleanor!”
“Sorry, Mom.” I glanced up to Toby, pleading with my eyes. “Can we get down to business, please? I’d love to know what they have in mind.” Not that it matters.
“Yeah, me, too. Let’s figure out what to do next, since clearly Ari’s misdeeds are in the past, and we need to plan f
or the future.”
Cora and Louis entered the room, carrying trays of food and glasses of what looked like iced tea, then made their way to the large sitting area in the center.
“Come,” Cora said. “Have a seat and eat something. Where’s your brother, Tobias?”
“He’s not involved in this.”
Cora glanced up, one eyebrow raised. “Suit yourself. I’ll set some food aside for him later.”
After everyone took their seats around the oversized coffee table, drinks in hand and mouths full of crackers and blue cheese, preserves and various nuts, Cora set her glass down and cleared her throat.
“Ever, honey, I’m not sure how much you know about me, but I know a lot about you. Much more than you realize.”
I stopped chewing the walnuts. Oh?
“I’ve known about your family since the day Ted found out Annabelle was pregnant with your sister, and I’ve been involved ever since.”
“What?” my mom asked.
Cora smiled apologetically. “Yes, Annabelle, Ted called us that day—his elation was laced with such heady distress—we couldn’t help but get involved. We did what we could to assist Ted in leaving you when that seemed, unfortunately, like the only viable option. Then, years later, we did what we could to help him and your late husband with transferring your daughter to Ted’s care.”
My mom didn’t say anything…I wondered what she even could say. She rubbed her lips together, as though she had just applied lip gloss, then sniffed and nodded.
“Now, here we are again, not even twenty years later, finding one of our own in need of help once more.”
“One of your own?” I asked.
“Yes, Ever. See, you’re no ordinary girl. Your soul isn’t just branded, it is the only Soul Brand we’ve seen in hundreds of years.”
“You’re how old?” I asked, shocked at the words as they left my mouth, and apparently ignoring the gravity of what she’d actually said.
My mom gasped. Cora tilted her head. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.
“I’m sorry, I…”
“No, honey, its fine. We look great for our age”—she winked—“but what’s important is you, and we not only need to prevent your soul from desperate collectors and their hired ghouls, but we must figure out why you’ve been able to bear the brand, and what it means to our people.”
