by Ching, G. P.
The old wooden boat reminded Dane of a story he read about Charon, the figure in Greek mythology who ushered the newly dead across the river Styx. Age aside, the architecture seemed held together by magic or faith alone. Warwick Laudner created this portal hundreds of years ago. Now that he was dead, how long would the boat last? Dane took a seat at the stern. The wood creaked under his weight. Great. Ethan slid in next to him on the bench, seemingly unconcerned with the way the wood protested. The twins and Ghost sat near the bow, and Jacob and Malini took their usual spots on either side of the mast.
“We can make room,” Dane said to Lillian, sliding away from Ethan.
“No need. I have to stay to close up the shop. I’ll meet you tomorrow morning, bright and early. We’ll get a lesson in before you have to go home.”
Hesitantly, Dane nodded.
“Should we wait for Grace?” Jacob asked.
“No,” Malini said. “She popped back to Flagstaff to double-check that we made a clean departure.”
Can’t leave any fingerprints. Dane remembered how Ethan had looked standing in the wreckage of the motel room and was thankful for Grace’s help. With how fast everything had happened, a mistake was possible. The last thing they needed was the Flagstaff PD looking for Ethan.
Lillian retreated to the stairwell as Jacob raised the sail, and a spectacular ball of fire barreled through the cavern. Dane braced himself as they rocketed through the cave wall and then slowed to drift toward the burning swords of the cherubim. The ride didn’t scare him anymore, not after what he’d been through.
Beneath the eternal flames, the familiar sifting started, his body tested by the magic protecting Eden. Only Soulkeepers, those pure of heart and intention, could enter this place. Usually, the uncomfortable pressure only lasted a moment.
Snap! Something was different. His head pounded as if someone were taking a sledgehammer to the inside of his skull. A scream broke his lips. He sandwiched his splitting head between his hands. It didn’t help. Heat blasted from his skin, and poured out his eyes and ears, a sudden and severe fever that racked his body with pain.
“Dane! What’s going on?” Malini cried.
Soon, everyone on board understood what was happening. Cheveyo’s soul unfolded from Dane’s body. Opaque, and with a tortured grimace, the Hopi boy hugged his middle with his ghostly arms. Apparently, the cherubim were weighing his soul on its own merits.
The other Soulkeepers gaped as the boat broke through the invisible membrane, and Cheveyo melded back into Dane, who shivered and heaved onto the floor of the boat.
Ethan caught him as he toppled off the bench. “Are you okay? Dane?”
Lying across Ethan’s lap, he blinked at the blue sky above him and the lush green jungle of Eden. By the time the boat docked, he’d caught his breath and righted himself, despite a desperate, primal urge to stay right where he was.
“Yeah. Okay, that’s a lot harder with someone else in your head,” Dane said, scooting down the bench.
Somewhere deep inside his brain, Cheveyo groaned. Dane slammed the steel door. It was too hard to share the mental space with the other Soulkeeper right now.
Malini breathed an audible sigh of relief.
“So that was him. That was Cheveyo,” Jacob stated.
“Yeah,” Dane said.
Bonnie piped up from the front of the boat. “The good news is I think we can trust him. If the cherubim let him in, then he’s got to be on our side.”
Malini nodded.
Ghost blinked out of the boat and onto the dock, then reached over to help Samantha out. “Do I need to remind any of you that there are no classes today? And, I believe, the dining room is still decorated for a party.”
To the sound of cheers, Dane exited the boat, positioning himself in the crowd as far away from Ethan as he could get.
* * * * *
Samantha plugged her phone into the speakers at the front of the dining hall, and soon the rafters boomed with Bruno Mars’s Locked Out of Heaven. Malini yanked Jacob by the arm to the center of the room and started jumping to the beat. It was all the encouragement any of them needed. Dane reached for the ceiling and joined the circle of his friends, gyrating in time. He’d almost forgotten how fun dancing could be, to let loose and not worry about anything.
As the music changed to On The floor, Bonnie danced closer, knees bent, hips swaying to the beat, red hair framing her face. Breathtakingly beautiful and totally free, Bonnie came with no complications, no pesky emotions to get in the way. She was a simple recipe: one part fun, one part warrior, one part teenage girl, and she did absolutely nothing for him physically, at the moment a definite plus.
He moved behind her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and fitted his hips into her backside. She placed her hand over his, knitting their fingers, and stretched her other hand up to tangle in the back of his hair. Within the circle of his arms, she turned around, straddling one of his legs and laughing as her whole body kept the rhythm. A sheen of sweat broke out across her skin, glistening in the candlelight.
Dane let himself go, moving with her. He wrapped an arm around her, took her hand, and rolled her away from him. She spun out, and then stepped back in. He placed a hand in her lower back, leading her around the floor, passing Samantha with Ghost, Malini with Jacob. And just like that, he noticed Ethan was gone.
Well, he wouldn’t go after him. This was how it should be. Dane would probably die doing this thing he’d have to do, sacrificing himself. It was better this way. His feelings for Ethan were dangerous. What would his mother say if she found out that all of the songs on the radio and all of the stories he’d ever heard about love, wanting, or needing someone, all made sense when he thought about Ethan? He could guess the words his father would use: immoral, unnatural, wrong.
He didn’t believe those things about Ethan, of course. Everything about Ethan was right and good. He was who he was. Dane didn’t come from the same place, and from where he began there was no place to go. He danced with Bonnie like there was no tomorrow, because the hollow inside his chest made him hope tomorrow wouldn’t come. Besides, pushing Ethan away made him brave; he had nothing to lose.
“Come on,” Bonnie said, threading her fingers into his. He followed her to the snack table, which had been replenished by one of the gnomes while they were dancing. She poured a glass of blue punch for him, then poured one for herself.
“Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome. Where’d you learn to dance like that?” Her cheeks were still flushed with exertion.
He chuckled. “My sister, Jenny. From the time she could walk, she wanted to dance, and I was always her partner of choice.”
“Awww. Cute.”
“Well, what kind of big brother would I be if I didn’t pirouette on command?”
She giggled, raising her eyebrows.
“Anyway, now that we’re both older, she has her own dance partners.”
Bonnie’s mouth curled into a flirtatious grin. “And so do you.”
He looked down into his glass and cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, wrapping the end of the wayward lock around her finger. An awkward silence cut between them. “I haven’t had a chance to say thank you for saving me in the cave today. Ghost told me what you did.”
“Ah, I’d say it was nothing, but it hurt like hell, so … you owe me,” he teased.
She punched his shoulder. “There. That’s what I owe you.” She laughed playfully. “No, I suppose I do.”
“I’m just kidding, Bonnie. I was happy to do it.”
The awkward silence crept back in, and he drank deeply of the blue punch.
“So, what’s it like to have another soul inside of you?” she finally asked.
“Weird,” he answered truthfully, glad for the distraction of the question. “It’s like I have him trapped inside my head, behind a heavy steel door.”
“What happens if you can’t get him out?”
Dane shrugged. Should he be a downer and remind her he’d probably die? Another wave of awkward washed over them.
After two long minutes had crawled by, Bonnie’s face lit up. “Hey, did you know he’s not the first Hopi Soulkeeper?”
“No.” Dane flashed her a half smile over his cup. “Wait, how would you know he’s not?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
Bonnie led him out of the dining hall and through the atrium to the east wing of the school. Glancing over her shoulder, she searched the hallway with a guilty look on her face.
“What are you looking for?” Dane asked.
“Just making sure we’re alone. Strictly speaking, I’m not supposed to be in this wing. East is the boy’s wing. Us girls sleep in the west wing.”
“Then how have you been here before?”
“Ghost showed me when he showed Sam,” she whispered. She pulled the door to the stairwell open. “All clear. Come on.”
He followed her over the threshold and was instantly stunned by the colors and textures that surrounded them in the stairwell. “What is this?”
“Murals,” she said. “By past Soulkeepers.”
At the base, the wall was covered in drawings that looked like cave paintings. The art progressed through various time periods and mediums, ending in neon-colored hearts, peace signs, and flowers at the top. Dane gawked at the portrait of an African teen painted in pointillism halfway up the wall. A jagged scar marred the boy’s face. Framed by flames composed of red, orange, and yellow dots, the boy’s eyes seemed to cut right through him. Who had he been? When had he lived?
“Look here,” Bonnie said, pointing to a mural of a Native American boy riding on the back of a spotted pony. Behind him, pueblos topped a red mesa. The boy was depicted shooting light out of his palm at a gathering of Watchers.
“Wow. He’s not the first. I need to show this to Cheveyo.” With some effort, Dane opened the steel door at the back of his mind. “Cheveyo? Are you there? You’ve got to see this!”
The other Soulkeeper stirred. I’m here, Cheveyo said, after a long pause. You’ve got to stop closing the door. Every time you lock me out, it’s harder to come back.
“Wake up. You’ve got to see this!”
The moment Cheveyo saw the mural, relief and acceptance flowed through Dane’s body. Those weren’t his emotions. When Cheveyo was loose inside his head, his memories, his thoughts seemed almost as real as Dane’s. Now, his fingers stretched toward the drawing, under Cheveyo’s control, and the Hopi boy’s desire to connect with this place warmed his blood.
“I’m not sure you should touch it,” Dane said. “You don’t want to damage it.”
I’m not the first. How old do you think this is, Dane?
“I have no idea.”
“No idea about what?” Bonnie asked.
“Oh, I’m talking to Cheveyo. He was wondering how old this is?”
“I’m not sure. At least a thousand years.”
“One thousand years?” Dane turned to face Bonnie on the landing, and hell if Cheveyo didn’t see her too. For the first time, Dane was embarrassingly aware of how her jeans rode low on her hip, and he appreciated her snug T-shirt in an entirely new way. These had to be Cheveyo’s feelings. Dane had no attraction to Bonnie other than friendship. The allure felt real, though, and familiar. His body reacted to Bonnie the way it always reacted to Ethan, a reflexive comparison that nagged at him like something he’d forgotten to do.
“You’re so hot,” Cheveyo mumbled through Dane’s lips. Luckily, the words came out rushed and hopefully indistinguishable.
“What?” Bonnie asked.
“Nothing,” Dane said.
She smiled and took a small step toward him, and didn’t that just set Cheveyo off. Dane pinned his hands behind his back on the stair rail to keep from acting on Cheveyo’s impulses. He wanted to touch her, and he wanted it desperately.
“Because it sounded like you said I was hot,” Bonnie whispered.
Dane shook his head. “Cheveyo— He thinks you’re hot.”
Another step closer, Bonnie placed her hands on the railing on either side of his hips. Her breath warmed his face. “Thank you, Cheveyo,” she said with a lopsided grin.
And then, she kissed him. The slant of her mouth came down hard on his, surprising Dane right out of his head. But that was okay because Cheveyo was there to take over. One hand found the small of her back, and the other fisted into her hair. Dane had a few seconds of experiencing how much Cheveyo was enjoying the kiss before he regained enough control to know he wasn’t. In fact, the absolute wrongness of what was happening made his stomach turn. She was too soft and smelled like his grandma. He wrestled Cheveyo for control, trying his best to shut the steel door again. Only Cheveyo refused to go willingly. The mutual attraction between the two was giving the Soulkeeper exceptional strength.
Dane upped his efforts. Planting his hands on Bonnie’s hips, he pushed her away. She stumbled back.
Oh, come on! Cheveyo’s severe disappointment rattled through Dane’s limbic system. He closed his eyes and slammed the steel door. When he opened them again, Ethan was watching from the top of the staircase. How long had he been there? He edged past Bonnie, taking the stairs two at a time.
“Hey!” Bonnie yelled.
Dane ignored her. “Ethan, wait!”
Ethan’s black T-shirt disappeared through the door to the second floor. Dane didn’t have time to think about the consequences. Free of Cheveyo’s thoughts, everything inside compelled him to follow.
Chapter 20
Zap!
“Ethan, stop!” Dane called. “Let me explain!”
Ethan paused in front of the door to his room, staring at the panel of wood as if he could disappear into the grain. “I’ve stopped. What is it you’d like to say to me?”
“What you think you saw just now, between Bonnie and me, wasn’t what it looked like.”
He pivoted, brown eyes darkening to almost black when he met Dane’s stare. “Really? Because clearly, you were making out with Bonnie.”
With a deep sigh, Dane put his hands on his hips. “It wasn’t me.”
Swaying dramatically, Ethan shook his head. “That’s right, your evil twin broke into Eden and shoved his tongue down Bonnie’s throat.”
“No, listen…” Dane rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “It was me, okay, but it was Cheveyo who wanted to do it. I’d given him control.”
Ethan groaned and approached his door again. He didn’t turn the knob.
“So, ah, are we okay?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Ethan kept his eyes on the doorknob. “I told you, it’s okay for you to be who you are, whatever that is. I’ll be your friend no matter what.”
A huff of breath broke from Dane’s lips. “Yeah, you said that, but your body language says something else. You’re acting pissed, Ethan. I want to fix this. Talk to me.”
Ethan’s shoulders slumped. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I wasn’t completely honest.”
“Yeah?” Dane leaned against the wall, hugging his chest. Suddenly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to poke this rattlesnake. This was dangerous territory.
“Yeah.” Ethan turned and paced toward him until the smallest of spaces remained between them. Dane pressed into the wall, heart heading for track practice again. “From the first time I saw you lying in that hospital bed … the way you looked at me as if I could make everything better … you’ve made me want to be better. I’ve spent countless hours in Lillian’s dojo getting stronger, and when I’m tired and think I can’t fight her off one more time, I think of you, and somehow I do. I have feelings for you. More than friendship. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d be your friend no matter what. But it’s hard, Dane, because I am jealous. I’m jealous as hell.”
God, his eyes were stormy, almost feral. Dane swallowed hard, trembling from the intensity of the moment.
Ethan slammed his hand into the wall. “Damn it! I�
�m sorry. I told myself I wouldn’t do this. I didn’t want to put you in this position. Forget I ever said anything.” He turned on his heel and strode back to his room, this time throwing the door open.
“Ethan,” Dane called.
He paused in his doorframe. “Yeah.”
“I didn’t like kissing her,” Dane whispered. “Not at all.”
Ethan poked his head back into the hall and raised his eyebrows. “Not at all?”
Dane shook his head slowly. A thick electrical charge pulsed between them. The air seemed to crackle, and for the first time, Dane wasn’t afraid of what that might mean.
Just then, the door to the stairwell flew open and Gideon stepped into the hallway, a blanket and pillow in his arms. “Oh good, I was looking for you, Dane. We’ve got a room for you right down here. Come on, I’ll get you set up.”
“Okay.” Dane’s feet wouldn’t move, and his eyes were glued on Ethan.
“Ah, this way,” Gideon said again.
And just like that, the moment was gone. Dane blinked. “Okay. Um, goodnight, Ethan.” He followed Gideon to the last room on the left.
“Goodnight.” Ethan’s door clicked shut behind him.
* * * * *
“Come on, sleepyhead. Time to train.” Lillian’s voice was almost as annoying as the way she shook his shoulder hard enough to knock him out of bed.
“What time is it?” Dane blinked his eyes, noting the dim light outside his window.
“Sunrise. Around six-thirty I think. If we start now, we can get an hour in before breakfast.”
Dane groaned, remembering the night before, kissing Bonnie, and opening up to Ethan. He wasn’t ready to face them again. He plastered his face into his pillow.
“Up, warrior,” Lillian scolded. “I want you dressed and in my dojo in ten minutes.”
Before Dane could protest, the pillow was yanked from under his head and his blanket from his body.”
“Hey!” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“Ten minutes, Dane, or I’ll show you no mercy.” She left the room, slamming the door behind her. The sound pounded through his brain.
