Soul Eternal

by Kate Keir

  I rolled my eyes. “The sky, Sluag?”

  “It’s simple really, Flora. The time of eternal night in the Endwood is over. It is a new dawn where rogue souls will be reborn into a world of my creation instead of coming here to die.”

  I barked laughter. “Or it’s a new dawn because I’m going to destroy you, and everything about the Endwood will change for the better.”

  He raised a sparse brow and grinned. “You mean after you put me in to your little box?”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew about the Síorraidh box.

  “You’re right to be worried about it,” I countered.

  “Ha. You mistake me, Flora. I am not worried. I am entertained by your predicament.”

  So, he knew about the visions Eric had told me of.

  “Of course, I know. I have my own little seer, remember, Flora?”

  I scowled at his mention of Leah. “How is the traitor doing?”

  “Serving her purpose until I no longer need her alive.” He spoke so casually of killing Leah, it made me feel sick.

  Suddenly, he stopped grinning and gripped the arms of his throne tightly with the long and bony fingers of both hands. Leaning forward, he focussed his oil-slick eyes on me.

  “Tell me, why don’t you put an end to your traitor in order to save the life of the one you claim to love, Little Dreamer?”

  I snarled. “That’s not up for discussion, Sluag.”

  He smiled, enjoying the burn from the nerve he’d hit. “Have you told Lyall that you’re sacrificing him so that Finlay can have a few more pathetic days in the mortal world?”

  “I’ve seen no proof that Finlay’s body is failing this time, Sluag, and I have no intention of letting Lyall die. I can protect them both.”

  He tapped a finger thoughtfully against his chin as he watched me shift uncomfortably from foot to foot.

  “If you’re so certain of that, then why haven’t you told your loyal followers the truth?”

  And there it was. The question that had been tormenting my mind since Eric first told me about our future.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. I hated how easy it was to be honest with Sluag, although I suspected it had something to do with being in his world and not my own.

  “You admit the truth to me because we are two halves of one whole, you and I, Flora. We need each other, just as light needs dark and dawn needs dusk. Love it or loathe it, we have a bond that overreaches even the one you have with Lyall, Little Dreamer.”

  I scrunched my face up in disgust. “We really don’t.”

  “You’ll see. If you somehow do manage to get me in that box, I believe you will mourn at the void I leave,” he said confidently.

  I huffed but didn’t say anything.

  “Anyway, truth be told, Flora, you can’t get rid of Finlay’s soul just yet,” he said in an exaggerated stage-whisper.

  “Why not?” He had my attention again now.

  He shrugged. “Oh, just a little rumour I heard. But be assured that you might do a lot of damage to your campaign to save the world if you do get rid of him.”

  I needed to move past this chit-chat and get to the part where I begged him for his blood—for all the good it would do me.

  “How so?” My voice was clipped and business like.

  Sluag pouted. “It’s no fun when you hide your emotions, Flora. But, I digress. Finlay is pivotal to your success in overthrowing my tyrannical plot to rule the world. Or at least, so I hear.”

  “Even if that was true, why would you tell me something that could help me defeat you?” I stood my ground.

  “What did I just tell you, Flora?” Sluag rolled his eyes in apparent frustration. “We are part of the same purpose. You struggle to conceal the truth from me, as I fight to still my treacherous tongue around you.”

  What he told me made perfect sense. Sluag and I had always told each other the truth, despite the fact that we were always going to be on opposing sides.

  If he was telling me the truth, then it was almost certain Lyall would die, and I would lose Finlay anyway.

  “I am sorry to be the bearer of such bad tidings, Little Dreamer, but both of the men you love are going to die, and there isn’t a thing you can do to stop it.” Sluag sat back comfortably against his throne.

  I couldn’t think about this right now. If I did, I would crumble, and I had a reason to stay strong for just a little while longer.

  I straightened my back and stared him down. “What would it take to make you give me your blood?”

  Without hesitation, Sluag stood from the throne and in three great strides was standing in front of me. He reached his bony fingers up to grab my chin, tightening his grip when I tried to yank my head back.

  Leaning into my face he hissed each word slowly. “Give. Me. Lyall.”

  “No,” I snarled.

  Then, just like that, he released my chin, letting me stumble backward, as the tug of my resistance was no longer balanced by his grip.

  “Then no deal, Flora Bast. No deal,” he roared to the sky.

  It was in moment that I finally allowed myself to feel the gut-wrenching acceptance that Pen would die, and I wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop it. All I could do now was wake myself up and go to say goodbye.

  “I suspect this is the last time that you and I shall meet in this way, Little Dreamer,” Sluag said sombrely as he resumed his seat on his throne.

  “The next time we meet I will put you in that box, Sluag. And once you’re in there, you are never, ever coming back out,” I swore.

  Sluag tapped his wrist as though pointing out an imaginary watch. “Tick, tock, Little Dreamer. She’ll be dead before you get there at this rate.”

  Fury ripped through me as I began to fade from the landscape, and in the last instant that I saw his face—smiling in delight—I vowed to myself that no matter what else happened I would give everything, including my own life, to see him caged for eternity.

  Chapter Twenty

  I sat up in bed, gasping with rage. My fingers tore blindly at the bedsheets around me.

  “Easy, love. You’re all right.” Lyall reached though the dim light of the room to lay a comforting hand against my cheek.

  Without thinking, I threw myself forward and into his arms. I wrapped my own arms around his neck and buried my face in the dip between his collarbone and his neck, inhaling his familiar scent.

  “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you all.”

  He looked surprised by my sudden clinginess but held me tightly nonetheless. “What happened with Eric, Flora? Tell me?” he asked softly.

  I pulled back from him and laid a gentle kiss against his cheek, before I started to climb out of bed. “I can’t, not until I speak to Pen.” I didn’t add that this was probably the last chance I would get to draw on the older woman’s wisdom.

  “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “No, I’ll be in the car the whole way. I’ll be fine.” Something told me I needed to hurry, and so I pulled on my tan boots, and with a quick glance back at Lyall, I left the room to get the car.

  Arriving at the hospital, I found Finlay asleep on a row of uninviting-looking chairs outside Pen’s room. I looked around until I found a storage room and ducked inside to poach a blanket.

  I returned to my best friend’s forty-year-old body and laid the blanket over him gently. He murmured in his sleep but didn’t wake. I breathed out a sigh of relief and pushed open the door to Pen’s room.

  Pen’s eyes were closed when I walked into the dimly lit room, but they flickered open as soon as she heard my entrance.

  “I thought you might be sleeping,” I whispered as I sat next to the bed.

  She smiled weakly. “No, I was waiting for you, Flora.”

  I closed my eyes in an attempt to hold back the tears that threatened to fall as I gently lifted Pen’s hand and pressed it to my cheek.

  “What am I going to do without you, Pen?”

&
nbsp; She squeezed my hand. “You’re going to put Sluag in that box and prevent the end of the world, I hope.”

  Laying Pen’s hand back down against the crisp, white hospital sheets, I sat up a little straighter.

  “Pen, Eric told me some stuff, and I’m scared I’m going to get it wrong.”

  Pen gave her head the slightest nod. “He told you to choose between losing Finlay or Lyall.”

  I gave her a crestfallen look. “He called you and told you?”

  “He did and I have to say I was upset with the way he told you, Flora. It’s not fair to ask you to decide between the boy who has loved you for your whole life long and the man who is your future.” Pen’s voice was sympathetic.

  “Sluag told me I can’t stop him without Finlay. If that’s true then Lyall will die. Does it really come down to sacrificing Lyall for the rest of the world? Because if it does, then I don’t know if I’m the right person for the job, Pen,” I confessed.

  Pen placed her hand gently over mine. “I’ve seen the manuscript, Flora. Somehow and in some way, Finlay will play a part in bringing Sluag down.”

  “Then Lyall will die?” My voice came out sounding small and childlike.

  “Perhaps not. Eric was right, these predictions are subject to change. One single decision that you make could change the course of events entirely.”

  “Perhaps isn’t enough, Pen,” I growled.

  “Is perhaps enough to unleash hell on every single soul in the world? On all of those whom you are sworn to protect, Flora?” She didn’t say it in an accusing way, but it still felt like a knife to my own soul.

  “I can’t let Lyall die.” I turned wide eyes on her.

  “You must talk to both Finlay and Lyall, Flora. Perhaps they should be given a chance to make their own decisions. We know you need Finlay to be there at the end, but perhaps we can keep Lyall away from the final battle with Sluag.”

  I shook my head sadly. “I know him, Pen. He won’t leave me to fight Sluag alone, and I’m pretty sure I can’t dislodge Sluag’s soul without Lyall’s help, at least to start with anyway.”

  “They still deserve to know the truth.” She reached out and grazed the back of her frail hand down my cheek, gently. “You’ve done so well since you found out who you were, Flora. Aiden was a truly outstanding Soul Keeper, but I think you will be a legendary one.”

  Tears pooled in my eyes. “I want to make the right choices, Pen, I really do.”

  “And you will, sweetheart but you must talk to your Dion. Otherwise they cannot help you.” Pen’s face twisted in pain, and I reached for the help button at the side of the bed.

  “No, Flora.” She stopped my hand in mid-air with her own.

  “They can help you,” I argued.

  “They can drug me, but I need to keep my wits about me for a little longer. I must ask a favour of you, Flora.” She spoke seriously.

  “Anything.”

  “My time is short and when it comes, I don’t want to live like Finlay—pushed from body to body. I’m asking you to let me go, Flora.” Pen hissed in a sharp breath as she finished speaking.

  “But, the Super Draugur body is working for Finlay. We could choose a body for you and you could stay. I need your guidance, Pen.” The fear was evident in my voice.

  Pen shook her head firmly. “Finlay would have you believe that his body is okay. But, I’ve been with him these last few weeks, Flora. It’s breaking apart, slower than the Draugur body but breaking apart nonetheless.”

  “Then Eric was telling the truth. There’s nowhere else for Finlay to go?” My mouth was dry.

  “No, sweetheart, there isn’t, and that’s why I can’t let you do the same thing to me. I don’t want that, Flora. I just want to be sent on to my new life like any other pure soul.” She looked me directly in my eyes. “Please, do it quickly?”

  Still reeling from the shock of knowing I would have to let Finlay go, I nodded to Pen and gently squeezed her hand. “I promise, I won’t make you stay.”

  “Thank you, Soul Keeper,” Pen said with quiet reverence.

  My mind was filled with thoughts of losing everyone who mattered to me when an awful thought suddenly struck me.

  “Pen?”

  “Mmm.” Her voice had started to soften and her eyes had taken on a faraway look.

  “If Finlay is already lost, am I supposed to stop the veil from being torn down by sending his soul on now?”

  Pen seemed to become lucid again, just long enough to say, “Flora, I cannot force you to decide either way. Everything that has happened has come down to this moment, and right or wrong it has fallen onto your young shoulders to make the decision for all of us.”

  “I’m afraid, Pen,” I confessed. “I don’t want to lose anyone.”

  “I trust you, Flora. You will make the right choices, and you will save us all. I love you, sweetheart.”

  I bowed my head. “Thank you, Pen. I love you too.”

  When she didn’t reply, I lifted my head, and the tears that had been threatening for so long, finally spilled over and onto my cheeks as I realised that Pen was no longer here.

  After an age, I stood up and gently kissed Pen’s forehead before slipping out of the room and closing the door behind me.

  I looked down at Finlay’s sleeping form, envying his blissful unawareness, when suddenly my eyes landed on a tiny patch of discoloured skin that peeked out from beneath the cuff of his long-sleeved top.

  I reached down and hooked the grey material with my index finger. As I pulled it gently back to reveal a large patch of skin that looked twisted and burnt, I bit my lip in horror.

  The Super’s body was rejecting him.

  “Hi, Flor.” He suddenly opened his unfamiliar eyes and stared up at me. That was when I really let myself fall apart.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Finlay and I sat in the hospital corridor and held each other for what felt like hours. I wasn’t entirely sure who took the most comfort from the other’s embrace. Pen had been like a mother to me, but she had been everything to my best friend.

  “She was my mentor, my mother, and my friend,” he whispered as we sat on the uncomfortable hospital chairs. We still hadn’t told the others, and I felt a stab of guilt.

  “We have to go back to the terminal, Finlay,” I murmured gently. “The other Dion need to know.”

  He stood up and tried to pull himself together. “I know. I just needed some time first.”

  I stood up alongside him and hugged him again, but he pulled back from me a little before speaking. “You saw it didn’t you?”

  I tried to act as though I had no idea what he meant. “Saw what?”

  He raised a brow at me. “I felt you pull my sleeve back before I opened my eyes, Flor. You know, don’t you?”

  I dropped my eyes to the floor, not ready to shed more tears. “I’m so sorry, Finlay.”

  “It’s all right, Flor. I’ve had some time to get used to it.” He tried to sound brave.

  We began walking along the corridor of the hospital. I felt a pang of guilt at leaving Pen all alone, but we couldn’t do anything until the hospital agreed to release her body for burial.

  Finlay glanced back over his shoulder. “We’ll be back for her soon, Flor.”

  “I know. I just hate leaving her by herself.”

  He twined his fingers through mine and reassuringly squeezed my hand as we walked out into the warm night air.

  “I’m sorry I hid it from you, Flor.”

  “You hid it because you know how much it hurts me to think of losing you.” I tried to sound stronger than I felt. My emotions were teetering on the brink of madness after everything that had happened.

  “I know this is a lot to ask, Flor, but you need to be strong now. The other Dion will look to you to lead the way against Sluag.” Finlay opened the car door and climbed into the driver seat as he spoke.

  “I know. We all have to sit down and talk about what happens next, Finlay.” I made my decision th
en. “But, I need to talk with you and Lyall alone first.”

  Arriving back at the terminal was one of the hardest moments of my life since finding out that my parents had died. I felt like an angel of death, bringing news that shattered the hearts of my Dion and tore down the last remaining hope they had that we could take Sluag down.

  When the things I wanted to say to reassure them just wouldn’t come and I thought they would fall apart in the same way as me, I was once again thankful for the one person on whom I could always rely.

  “Tonight, we will grieve. We will remember Pen and celebrate an incredible woman, who devoted her life to two Soul Keepers. Tomorrow, we will bury her with honour, and the day after we will carry on her legacy by laying our plans to destroy Sluag and save the goddamn world.”

  When Lyall finished speaking, I breathed out a sigh of relief. I had never met anyone stronger and braver and more suited to standing up to Sluag.

  Freya smiled through her tears. “She was an incredible woman.”

  Artair raised a glass of water he had been holding in trembling fingers. “To Penthesilea, one of the greatest Dion to ever live.”

  “To Pen,” Bear echoed him.

  Finlay had crossed the room until he was standing close enough behind me to whisper in my ear so no one else could hear. “If there was ever any doubt in my mind as to why you chose Lyall, he just one hundred percent proved it. He’s the best of all of us, Flor.”

  My lip quivered in shame as I wondered for the thousandth time, how I could let Lyall get closer to dying with every moment that passed without my intervention.

  I swallowed back my guilt and answered Finlay back. “There’s somewhere I have to be. Do you want to come?”

  He gave me a questioning look. “Where?”

  I started toward the door, and he followed me outside. “I have a promise to keep,” I said quietly.

  Realisation dawned in Finlay’s eyes as I started to fade into the Everwood. He followed after me quickly, and we both appeared beneath the Síorraidh trees.

  “Do you really need to do this now, Flor?” His voice was tense.

  A bright white light—almost identical to Finlay in soul form—floated through the trees and sedately hovered to a stop in front of my best friend.