“We’re at a hospital.”
“I know that, genius, but which hospital?”
“Georgetown University Hospital, in New York City.”
“Why are we here?” I asked. Were we going to kill patients?
“There are a few patients here in a coma. I want you to help them, Eden.”
“Help them? Hang on, I thought we were here to help me control my trait and teach me how not to use it—not to use it.”
“This is your job, Eden.”
He was a seriously a sucky teacher. I didn’t want to kill people, even if my trait caused me to. I realised I had a choice. I could use my trait for good instead of bad. But I had one problem. And that problem was becoming a serious pain in my backside. I had to find out how to deceive Abraham and trick him into believing I am helping him, when really I am helping the person. If my theory were correct, I could save lives and everyone could have their loved ones returned to them. But it involved carrying soul spheres around. Luckily, I had Asher to help me.
My plan went like this: I would take a person’s soul who was near to death and harvest it like so. And then when back in the Realm of Death, I would give the soul sphere to Asher and he would hide it and keep it safe. Now the next part was a little tricky: I had to convince Jaz to open the Sacred Tree. The Sacred Tree showed us our fates, and if my theory were right, it could also change the fate of a person. Now all I had to do was figure out how to interfere with someone’s fate. If I could, then they wouldn’t have to die.
Before Abraham touched me, I looked at Asher, who was beside me as always, and met his eyes and he nodded. He knew what he had to do. Asher and I had discussed the plan quietly in my room back in the Realm of Death so Abraham wouldn’t be able to hear it. He disappeared to do his job, while I disappeared to do mine. We had separate lives and separate fates, but in the end I knew they would both intertwine and become one.
Abraham led me into a private room where a woman who must have been in her twenties, it was hard to tell, was laying on a bed attached to lots of tubes and wires. A breathing tube was all that was keeping her alive. This was one of the comatose patients. I wondered what had caused this woman to fall into a coma, what caused her fate to end here. But that was none of my concern right now. Now I had her life in my hands. I walked towards her and before I placed my hand on her forehead, I looked back at Abraham. He nodded reassuringly.
“Go on.”
I placed my palm flat against the woman’s forehead. It was cold and I waited for a sign. In just a few seconds the monitors began to beep wildly and then flat-lined. She was now dead in the earth realm, but not to me. Her spirit appeared to my left.
“Am I dead?” she asked me, staring at her own body. Nurses and Doctors came running and passed straight through us. I gasped. I would never get used to that feeling either.
“Yes.” I had to say to her. I wanted to tell her no and that she would return to her family soon, but I couldn’t tell her the truth in front of Abraham. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Eden; I’m the gatekeeper to the Realm of Death. I’m here to carry your soul on to your next life.”
“I can’t believe I’m dead. My fiancé…”
“Don’t worry. You will see him again soon.” That last part was the only truth I could give her. I took an empty soul sphere out of my pocket and held it up. The woman’s body began to flicker like a flame and then all her colours blurred together into a single colourful swirl. Her form began to shrink until it was no more than then size of an eyeball and flowed into the little crystal sphere. It was the most unusual thing to witness. As I hung the sphere around my neck, I glanced over at Abraham and he smiled.
“You’re a natural.”
“Thanks. Can we go now?” He nodded and led me out of the hospital. I took two more souls that afternoon, a young boy who was dying of leukaemia and a twenty-something football player who had suffered a bad concussion in a fall. He was another comatose patient. As I hung them around my neck, I thought of Asher and wondered if he had made it home.
Chapter Fifteen
Eden
When we arrived back in the death realm, a sudden horrific thought hit me like a splash of cold water, awakening me. I didn’t have Asher’s soul. And I had no idea where it was. It was obviously hidden somewhere inside the house and I made a pledge to myself, and to Asher, that I would find his soul and keep it on my person at all times, all the while keeping the fates of the three people I had rescued this afternoon, safe as well.
Dinner was lonely having to eat by myself. Abraham said he had to run an errand, and Asher had not yet returned from the earth realm. After dinner, I returned to my room. My heart fluttered and did somersaults nervously. I had no idea if he were safe or not. As soon as my bottom touched the bed, Asher appeared beside me. I almost fell off the edge in shock.
“Oh, My Goodness, you scared me!”
“Sorry.”
“You’re back.” I quickly righted myself and threw my arms around his neck. He smelled sweet and earthly, like mint and something else I couldn’t place. “Where were you?”
“I did what you asked. I talked to Jaz.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said she’d help us, well me. I don’t think she particularly likes you. I think she’s jealous.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. But she never had a chance with you.”
Asher chuckled. “She thought she did. Anyway, she was a little startled to see me, to say the least.” That made me smile.
“What did you do to her?”
“She was sitting in the garden reading near the Sacred Tree, and I just appeared next to her. Scared the living right out of her.”
I burst into laughter at Asher’s use of such a bad but clever pun. He laughed too and flopped down beside me.
“Something also scared me about her.”
That caught my attention. I stopped rolling about and turned to face him. Our faces were centimetres apart.
“What?” I whispered.
“There’s something… weird about her.”
“Well, she’s Jaz. She’s a bitch. Of course, she’s weird.”
“No, not that.”
“Then what?”
“I could sense something when I was around her. Something evil.”
“Evil?”
“She had this new power surrounding her. I don’t know if she had it before or if I can only feel it now that I’m dead. I could see it, too.”
“What do you mean, you could see it?”
“There was something… golden surrounding her. Looked like… pixie dust.”
I shoved him in the arm. “You’re such a dork. There is no such thing as pixie dust.”
“Then it’s not pixie dust. But something magical was surrounding her. I’m telling you, she’s changed and we’d better be careful.”
If what Asher was saying were true, then Jaz wasn’t human anymore, or never was human. Was she Nephilim? Or something else supernatural?
“Speaking of being careful, we need to find your soul.”
“My soul?”
“Yes. Abraham took it. I don’t know where it is. And if we do this, get you back to the earth realm, we’ll need to find your soul.”
“Do you know where Abraham keeps any of the souls? There must be a room full of them.”
I had never thought of that. “You’re a genius!” I placed a kiss full on his lips. He was a little taken aback, but soon returned it sweetly. As much as I wanted to stay here and make out with him, we had a job to do. I pulled away.
“Where are you going?” he tugged my hands back to his chest.
“To find your soul.”
“Can’t we just enjoy the moment?”
“We could… except, I will never be settled until your soul is in my hand.”
He gave me a beyond sexy smirk in return. This boy was just too much. “We can’t have that now, can we?�
�
I grinned wider and he leaned forward and calmed my fluttering heart by kissing me. I will never get out of this room!
“Before you take my breath away, can we please go?”
He sighed. “Since you asked nicely.”
Chapter Sixteen
Eden
We crept down the stairs, looking over our shoulders and behind us, looking for signs Abraham was still in the house. I couldn’t hear a sound so I nodded to Asher and we ran down the stairs the rest of the way.
The search for the soul room, if it were even called that, commenced every morning after Abraham left the house, which as I had calculated, was for about two hours each day. So Asher and I spent our time wisely. We searched the house’s numerous doors for one hour, and hour two was spent in bed wrapped in each other’s arms.
This house was huge, all the doors were the same, and I was beginning to think most of the doors led to nowhere. They were a façade. Faux doors to faux rooms. Which was even more frustrating for me. One day I decided to search the forbidden end of the house. Abraham had specifically told me to stay away from this part of the house. Which of course was code for ‘this part of the house contains the darkest and most intriguing secrets’. Which meant only one thing: the soul room was hidden behind one of the last three doors we had yet to explore. No one who entered the house would know these rooms existed because they were hidden behind a secret passageway in the library. But one night I had snuck out of bed and decided to spy on Abraham. After writing in his ledger with his big white quill, he had closed the worn cover and slipped it into a drawer in the desk, locking it with a skeleton key which he kept pinned inside his coat at all times. Then he rose from his chair and walked towards the far wall of the library. There was an inconsistency with this bookshelf. It soon became apparent it wasn’t a wall when Abraham placed his hand on a bronze statue of Lucifer and pushed it over so that Lucifer was lying facedown on the shelf. The bookshelf gave a groan and began opening inwards. The bookshelf door stopped when its frame was facing me, and through it, I could see another room. Abraham entered and the bookshelf closed behind him. I decided then I had to get into that room.
During our last hour alone one day, Asher and I walked into the library and I ran straight over to the Lucifer statue. Just as I placed my hand on it, a voice startled me from behind.
“Do you admire our fearless leader?” Crap. It was Abraham. He was back. Which meant our search was over for now. I turned and gave him a faux smile.
“Wasn’t Lucifer afraid of his brothers and his father?” I said, hoping he wouldn’t know what I was doing.
“No, he despised them. He wasn’t afraid of them. That’s why he rebelled against them.”
“I bet he was secretly jealous.”
“No, he despised them.” Abraham said as he sat behind his desk. He was definitely in denial. In a way, Lucifer’s story was not unlike my father’s story. I thought about him and his relationship with his younger brother, and realised I was yet to meet my uncle. I heard he was the good soul of the family, but a black sheep in my father’s eyes. When I get out of here, I will definitely track down my uncle.
“Is it time for my training?” I asked, slumping in one of the old chairs. Wanting more than anything for the day to be over so I can continue on my search for Asher’s soul.
“Yes.”
“Where are we going today?”
“Today, we are staying here.”
I grinned. “Okay.”
Abraham then stood up and walked around the desk to stand in front of me. “Stand.”
“Okay.” I do as he says and stand, but he motions for me to move into the centre of the room.
“What are we doing?”
“Today I’m going to teach you how to control your power.”
“Can it be done?”
“Of course it can, like anything.”
“So, what do I have to do?”
“I want you to focus on your power like it is a thing you can see.”
“As if it’s visible? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I am saying.”
“Okay…”
“When I first started, I was taught to envision my power as a ball of light or energy in my hand. So put your palm up and imagine you are holding your trait in your hand.”
I followed his instructions and put my hand out, palm facing up. And then I imagined a little ball of light sitting in my cupped hand. As I focused on my hand, I could feel it tingle. Then my hand began to glow.
“Very good.” I looked from my hand, up at Abraham’s face and back down at my hand again. Was I seeing things? Was my hand actually glowing?
“It’s glowing.”
“Yes, it is. Now focus harder.”
This time I focused so hard my head began to pound and a bead of sweat began to trickle down the side of my face. But it was working. I began to see my trait as a physical object. The glow began as a small white-golden light emanating from my skin, kind of like an angel’s Glory. Then the light became purple. As I focused all my will on the light, it changed and formed into a ball of light the size of my palm. I never before imagined my trait like this, that it could be a physical thing. But here I was staring down at a ball of purple light in my hand. I decided to play around with it. I bounced the ball up and down and then decided to try something else. I pulled my hand back and over my shoulder. Then I flung the ball towards Abraham.
I expected him to lose his temper as my father would, but he didn’t. Instead he just laughed.
“You read my mind. I was going to tell you to do that next.”
I was confused. “So did I pass the test?”
“Yes. Yes, you did. That’s the end of the lesson for today. Keep practising.”
“Wait, what’s the point of this? What were you trying to teach me?”
Abraham sighed. “Your trait is the touch of death, right? By teaching you to harness your trait into physical energy, you will therefore know how to control it. Now, since you can’t try anything on me as I’m immune, but tomorrow I’m going to take you out to test the theory.”
As Abraham left the room, I tried to wrap by head around what he had told me. If this were the physical representation of my trait, wouldn’t it be more potent? But he was the expert and I had to trust his knowledge. It was then I realised one thing: I was alone in the library.
Chapter Seventeen
Eden
I walked towards the hidden door in the library, keeping my thoughts neutral as not to catch Abraham’s attention, and reached for the Lucifer statue. Just as I was about to push it over, a voice made me jump.
“Eden, wait.”
“Geez, Asher. You know how to scare someone.”
“Sorry. But you can’t go in there.”
“And why not? The soul room is in there. I have to. We have to get your soul back.”
“There’s things in there you don’t want to see.”
“I don’t care. I’m tough. If your soul is in there, I’m going in there.” I pushed the statue over and the hidden door creaked and opened towards me.
“You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you?” he teased and I poked my tongue out at him. “At least let me come with you.”
“Aw. My knight in shining armour.”
“It is my pleasure, my lady.” He did a little bow to play along with his new role. I smiled wide and butterflies began doing funny things to my stomach. Damn, he really is bad for me. He made a sweeping gesture and bowed. “After you.” I curtsied and entered through the secret door. Asher wasn’t far behind.
As soon as we were on the other side of the bookshelf door, it closed with an audible bang behind us.
“No! What if we can’t open it again?” I ran to the wall and banged on it. On this side, there was no bookshelf. The door had disappeared into the wall.
“Hey, relax. How do you think Abraham gets back out of here?”
I let out a breath I didn’t kno
w I had been holding. “Maybe he has some magic key or it opens automatically for him?” he gave me a look. I sigh. “You’re right.”
I tried to calm my racing heart, pushing aside the nagging in the back of mind that I might not ever get out of here. I turn and take in what now lies in front of us: another library.
“What the…” No. This was not at all what I was expecting. Not another damn frickin’ library!
“I thought the soul room was meant to be behind here?” Asher asked the question I was asking myself.
“Yeah, I thought so too. But…” I stepped forward gazing at the kilometres of bookshelves and thousands, if not millions of dusty books.
“Why would Abraham keep this library hidden?” Again, Asher seemed to read my mind. He followed me so closely I could feel his breath on the back of my neck as we walked down the isles.
“Maybe this library contains all kinds of top secret books?”
I turned to him and smiled. “You really are a genius, you know that?” he began to get nervous and raked his fingers through his hair, looking at his shoes. I had the sudden urge to kiss him. Oh, screw it! I threw my arms around him and pressed my face against his. I caught him off guard and we crashed backwards into the bookshelf behind Asher. Dusty, heavy books rained down around us. But we didn’t care. Asher’s lips were so addictive. More than the most illicit drug or caffeine, and I didn’t want to come up for air. Neither did he by the feel of his hands at my waist pulling my body closer. Our hips were now flush with our bones touching. Toes touching. Every inch touching. I kissed him again and then pulled back sighing. I would have loved to stay here forever in his embrace, kissing him. But we had a mission to fulfil.
“That was…” he swallowed, obviously lost for words.
“Incredible? Amazing? Breath stealing?”
“All of the above.” He kissed me again, but I had to push him away. I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back against the shelving.
“I’d love to, but we have to find your soul, remember?”
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