Unnatural Souls

by Linda Foster

  I reached into myself and mentally pulled my powers to the surface, imagining the location I wanted. I thought I knew where he might be, and I needed to find him—now. When the warmth of the angelic magic surrounded me, answering my call, I gave it the coordinates: the bathroom of the local pizza joint … where all the kids went to hang out.

  I didn’t even take the time to pray that Ash was there. He had to be. He had to be.

  I SHOVED THROUGH the dingy, green, graffiti-covered stall door, which slammed against the wall. But I didn’t care about the noise; I was already to the exit, and then running quickly through the back of the restaurant, knowing time was ticking away. I knocked into a bus boy and mumbled an apology, but didn’t slow down, and didn’t stop until I was in the middle of the dining area, scanning the room wildly. It was a packed house, and I had to stand on my tiptoes to see over the crowd.

  But neither Ash—nor Jason—was there.

  I hurried past the tables, my hips knocking into them as I went, and heard drinks spilling behind me. Someone shouted out, but it was all background noise. Where was Ash? I ran through the front door, hoping they were waiting out there for an open table, but once I was in the street, my heart sank.

  There were only a few people outside: five girls and two guys from our school. They weren’t Ash or Jason.

  Maybe they hadn’t gotten there yet? I could still hope for that, though I seriously doubted it was the case. Nevertheless, I had to check before I started searching all over town.

  I pulled my phone out and dialed Jason, Ash’s best friend. Even if Ash wasn’t with him, he had most likely been the last person to see Ash. Maybe he could tell me where he’d gone.

  “Hey Jason,” I greeted quickly when he picked up.

  “Hey Gra—” he started.

  I didn’t wait for a response.

  “Do you know where Ash is?” I asked, unable to keep the concern from my voice.

  “Last I saw, he was at school,” Jason replied. “He was going toward his car, though. I figured he was going home.”

  “Thanks,” I replied, and hung up the phone. I could apologize for my rudeness later. Ash had been heading for his car—but he hadn’t come home. He’d obviously lied to me about what he was doing, and he hadn’t told Jason anything useful.

  This was not good. Without knowing where he’d gone, I would spend all night searching for him, and I didn’t have that kind of time on my hands. I needed help if I was going to have any chance of tracking him down.

  I ran around the side of the building, made sure there were no witnesses, and then reached within myself again, wrapped my powers around my body. Before I left, I dialed another number, my heart racing.

  “Kali,” I said when she picked up. “I need your help. It’s my brother.”

  I teleported back to my living room before I even hung up.

  KALI WAS STANDING in my living room when I appeared, her arms crossed and a glare plastered on her face. “Yes?” she asked, no longer holding the phone.

  “He’s in trouble,” I told her. “I can’t explain everything right now, but we need to find him. Please, there’s a demon hunting him. Ash sold his soul to save me a year ago, and the demon is coming to collect on it. Like, today. Right now. Michael gave me a talisman to save him, but I need your help finding him.”

  “Why should I?” she began, but I cut her off, desperation rushing through my veins like cold water.

  “Please,” I begged. My voice cracked and tears began running down my cheeks when I glanced at my watch. Only one hour and two minutes left, and I couldn’t sit here all night. “Ash could be any number of places. You’re the only one who can teleport as quickly as I can. The two of us could cover twice the amount of ground. He barely has an hour left. Alone, there’s a very good chance I won’t find him in time. You know what it’s like to try to do the right thing and end up going to Hell for it. Please don’t let that be my brother.”

  Her hands had been relaxed at her sides, but by the end of my speech they were in fists. I’d obviously hit a nerve. I just had to hope I’d given her enough reason to agree. I needed to get moving—figure out where Ash was, and get there in time to put this stupid talisman around his neck. Then pray like hell that it would be an immediate process, and not something that took too long to finish.

  Either Kali agreed now, or I left on my own and took my chances with being able to find him—and fight the demon—by myself. I didn’t know how I was going to do that, but I’d worry about it after I had Kali’s answer.

  Honestly, I was expecting her usual snarky comments about it not being her problem, and nothing to do with her. So I was surprised when she furrowed her brow at me. I swear she actually looked concerned. At any other time, I would have laughed.

  “What can I do?” she asked seriously.

  The panic in my heart didn’t ebb away, but I felt the tiniest bit of release. At least I wasn’t alone, and if Kali ran into the demon first, she could distract it. Maybe kill it. If we could find them. If we could find Ash before that demon did.

  “Check my school. The whole school. You’ve followed me home before, so you know where it is, and how we get home from there. If he isn’t at school, check the road I take to get here,” I said.

  Jason had said Ash was leaving, but he didn’t say he saw him drive off. And the school would be deserted by this time. It would be a good place to be alone … and a great place to keep the demon away from any friends and family, who might get hurt if Ash went elsewhere.

  I could also think of one or two other spots he might go to be alone. Maybe he and I had the same thought about ending this torturous experience where it started, and he was in the clearing where he’d made the deal. It was the first place I would go, if I wasn’t coming home. It made the most sense to me.

  “If he’s in danger, protect him until I get there.”

  Hell, she could kill the demon if that’s what it took. She was capable. But I’d still need to get Ash the talisman, because without it, according to Michael, he was doomed. Even if we killed the demon, the charm in my hand was the only thing that would keep him safe for the rest of his life—and guarantee him entry into Heaven when he died. Unless I got this around his neck, another demon might come to claim him.

  “Wait for me before you do anything to the other demon,” I snapped, my mind moving quickly through the possibilities.

  “Okay,” Kali replied. A second later, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

  I scoffed. It was such a Kali trick, and I hadn’t learned how to do it. But I didn’t have time to worry about that right now. I glanced at my watch again, my heart hammering. One hour exactly.

  I didn’t waste any time reaching quickly down to the source of my power, and focusing on a place in my head as I gathered it. Then, without a second thought, I jumped to the first location on my list—the forest where I had met Michael only minutes earlier. I prayed that Ash would be there. If I was lucky, he’d arrived after I left, and was there, waiting for his fate.

  If I was lucky. I never had been before, but there was a first time for everything, right? I just had to pray that today was the day when luck finally found me.

  I CAME OUT of the jump screaming.

  “Ash!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Birds flew out of the trees around me, scared by the noise I was making, and I spun in a circle. The dense forest surrounded me on all sides. The clearing was nothing more than a large spot of weeds and wildflowers, but there were two trails—one to the north, which headed to a road near the hospital, and one that led deeper into the woods.

  It was quiet, aside from the intermittent sounds of wildlife. A few calls from birds, movement of a small animal in the bushes somewhere in the distance. The sound of the breeze drifting through the forest, making the leaves rustle.

  But no response to my calls.

  I glanced at my watch. Think, Grace, think! Where was Ash? I could name only three spots that made sense. I was certain he would go som
ewhere deserted, but surely he would go to a place where he felt a connection. These were his last few minutes on Earth, after all. But where would it be? Here, the place it all started? The school, where he spent most of his time? Or the cove, where we’d spent many days and nights during the summer? He loved it there, and the beach stretched for miles. Plenty of spots where he could be alone.

  Kali had the school covered, which meant I would have to split my time searching the other two.

  Oh God, I realized suddenly; I was right near the lake, too. That was where that second path went. And he could also be there. We’d gone there for hikes all the time as kids, and it was always deserted. I renumbered my list, thinking quickly through the locations—the road at the end of one path, the lake at the end of the other. The clearing, where I already stood. And then the beaches of the cove on the other side of town. I could teleport there easily, but that was a lot of ground to cover, and I didn’t have any time to waste.

  I had about an hour left. I’d give myself half an hour to search the paths and the lake, and then I’d have to teleport to the beaches of the cove—or pray Kali had found him.

  I started down the path that led to the parking lot first, hoping he was closer to the road. Braches hit me in the face, legs, arms, everywhere as I ran, and stung like hell, but I didn’t slow down. He had to be here. He had to be. Suddenly, though, I wondered if he’d picked some random spot in the forest that surrounded our town. After all, theoretically speaking, the demon would find him, right?

  I wouldn’t, though. I needed him to be in a place I could easily locate.

  Then I skidded to a halt. What if he’d left town completely, hoping to outrun his fate?

  It would never work. I knew that much—but I didn’t know if he did. After all, the only demon he’d ever met was the one he’d sold his soul to, and he had only seen him the one time, as far as I knew. He’d have no idea that a demon could track him wherever he went—even if he left the area where he and the demon had made their deal.

  And if he’d skipped town, I had no prayer of finding him in the next hour.

  I tore down the path again, hoping desperately that he hadn’t done anything so stupid. When I finally made it to the street I glanced around, but saw no sign of him or his car. We were still close enough to the school and house that he could have walked, though, so I quickly pulled at my powers and teleported back to the clearing.

  Fifty-eight minutes. I’d check the lake, and after that I would have to go to the cove.

  Damn it. Why hadn’t he just told me the truth? Why hadn’t he just gone home? Why had I taken so long to master my power? What if Michael hadn’t taken so freaking long to get to me?

  I turned and sprinted along the second path—the one that led deeper into the forest, to the lake. It took me only two minutes, and surviving the numerous scratches from the overgrowth biting into my skin as I ran. Then the dense trees thinned, and the serene pool of water appeared before me. I glanced around the edges of the lake, searching every shadow and crevice, but he wasn’t there either. Damn it.

  I only had one location left on my list. The cove. It was the most popular beach in town. Plenty of places to be alone, but what if I was wrong about that spot as well? I wouldn’t have a lot of time to go anywhere else—not if it wasn’t a guarantee, because I couldn’t afford any more failures. I’d be done… But it was still the best shot I had, and the only other place I could think of. I didn’t like that I was guessing, but I didn’t know what else to do.

  I closed my eyes and reached down for my power, trying to control my breathing and thoughts at the same time. Be still, Grace. Breathe. Concentrate. I bit my lip, scrunched my face up, and thought of the cove, sending out a prayer as I got ready to jump.

  That was when my phone rang.

  I fished it out of my pocket with great effort, my hands shaking so badly that I almost dropped it. My heart swelled when I saw the name.

  “Kali?’ I almost screamed into the phone. My knees felt weak, and I was a little dizzy from the running and the constant state of fear I’d been in, but if Kali had found him... “Do you have him?”

  “He’s at the school,” she replied sounding bored. “Just him.”

  “Thank you,” I breathed out, feeling the relief coursing through me. I still had a little over fifty minutes, but that was plenty, thanks to my power. Just had to get there, throw this stupid necklace over his head, and hope he kept it on long enough for it to do its work.

  “Keep your eye on him until I get there. Please.”

  I hung up, breathed out, and closed my eyes.

  MY HEART WAS speeding like a hummingbird when I stumbled back to my feet in the school parking lot. An off-yellow streetlight was flickering, and trash and leaves blew across the near-empty space as the wind around me increased. My heart skipped in my chest when I saw that there were two cars left … and one was Ash’s beat-up Chevy. Kali had found him. Thank goodness.

  I glanced at my watch; it was 5:22. Only fifty-six minutes until my official time of death—and the moment the demon would show up to take Ash’s soul.

  Suddenly I saw a shadow moving rapidly along the outside of the building. It couldn’t be human, it traveled far too quickly. It wasn’t the right shape, either, and seemed to be constantly changing form, warping from the figure of a person one second into a shapeless blob moving in and out of the darkness the next.

  It had to be a demon. And it wasn’t Kali. She was with Ash.

  Fear spiked in my heart, and before I knew what I was doing, I was running after the shadow. Ahead of me, the outside door to the gym entrance opened and the darkened figure slipping through the doorway. I sprinted after him, ripped the door open once I reached it … and then froze. The door closed behind me with a thud … but I could see well enough to know there was no movement inside the gym. It was empty. Still, I was chasing a shadow—a shadow that could easily hide in the dark corners of the dimly lit area.

  It could still be here.

  I quieted my breathing and listened, but it was silent. Holding my breath, I slowly made my way through the gym … and cringed when my shoes started squeaking on the floor. Keeping my eyes wide open, though, I searching every corner. The dark creature could be anywhere. If it was the demon after my brother, I didn’t want to lose him—or let him beat me to Ash.

  When I got to the other side of the gym, I pushed through the double doors that led out into the largest hallway, which stretched the entire length of the school. Four smaller corridors broke off from this one, two on each side of the gym. The problem was, I didn’t know which direction the shadow man had gone … or where exactly Ash was.

  I took a step into the main hall, glanced left toward the cafeteria, arts wing, and science halls, and stared hard for a moment, looking for any movements in the shadows. Then I turned to the right, in the direction of the locker rooms, auditorium, and junior lockers. Where was he? Where was Ash? Kali hadn’t told me—she’d just said he was at the school—and now I realized that I should have asked for details.

  This place was enormous. How was I going to find them in time?

  That was when I spotted Kali on the second-story balcony that looked down onto the first floor. She was partly obscured by the shadows, but I could tell she was staring over the ledge, her head tilted downwards. The low lighting made her difficult to see, however her figure and posture were unmistakable, and I quickly followed her line of sight. The windows along the halls let in the slowly disappearing sunlight, making it just bright enough for me to see what she was looking at. Or rather, what she was directly above.

  IT WAS ASH. He was standing in front of his locker, and he was safe—for the moment. Kali was watching him—just like I’d asked. Seeing him safe, and alive, made me want to burst into tears, but I blinked them away.

  Now that I was here, I could see what he was doing. He was putting all his things in his locker, and I watched him pull an envelope from his pocket, hesitate for a moment, and then
place that in the opening as well. He set his car keys in there, too, and it didn’t take a genius to realize that he knew he wasn’t going home again. He was cleaning up, putting all his stuff in a place where we’d be able to find it.

  I had never thought about what his actual death would be like if the demon succeeded. Would the monster make it look like an accident? Would it seem like his heart had just stopped? Or would it appear that he’d been murdered? He was leaving what would surely look to everyone else like a suicide box of some sort. All of his belongings in one spot, probably a letter to us. That would give my parents some form a closure—last words, so to speak. And my heart broke into pieces at the thought of him writing a note like that, knowing he’d never see us again. What would it say? How would he have explained it?

  But I’d made it, I remembered suddenly. And with that thought, my heart started beating again, hammering against my ribs. I’d beaten the demon. I had the talisman that would save Ash’s life. And I had fifty minutes to spare. Still too freaking close. I pulled the charm from my pocket, rubbing my thumb across the rough surface and holding it tightly in my hand. I could feel a familiar warmth coming from it that I hadn’t noticed at first—a warmth similar to my powers—and the feeling strengthened me.

  I took a step forward, but a movement to my right made me stop. When I turned in that direction, I saw the flicker of another person out of the corner of my eye … but couldn’t see anything else. At first.

  Then the dark, shifting figure I’d seen outside the school appeared. I only caught glimpses of it, as it kept morphing between its human form and an unreadable shape, appearing for only seconds before disappearing back into the darkness. It slithered in and out of the shadows, moving quickly down the hallway on my right—and making its way right past me, toward Ash.