“Aren’t you curious why I still wear this body?”
Well, duh. Of course I was, but I wasn’t about to admit it to him. With a shrug, I stepped ahead of him over a green hose stretched across a dirt path between the roses. Inhaling soft flowery scents mingled with damp earth, I pretended nonchalance as I reached out to brush my fingertip across a lavender petal.
“Who can resist a rose?” he said with a wry twist of his lips. “As D. H. Lawrence said, I am here myself; as though this heave of effort at starting other life, fulfilled my own: Rose-leaves that whirl in colour round a core of seed-specks kindled lately and softly blown.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“It’s about appreciation and living life to its fullest.” He sighed. “But no matter how many lives I live, I’ll never regain my own.”
He spoke in a voice raw with emotion; the dark hopelessness in his eyes made me feel as if I was staring into his soul. I could imagine his endless cycle — stealing a body every moon, decades passing in a whirl of wars and technology. Yet he’d chosen to live as an outcast.
“I should have already moved on. I need to find a suitable host to inhabit before the full moon next week.” He stared wistfully at the roses. “But I wasn’t ready yet.”
“Why not?” I asked quietly.
“Because of you.”
“Oh, please. You don’t even know me,” I pointed out. “Most of the time we were together, you thought I was someone else.”
“Appearances mean little. It’s your soul essence that sparked emotions in me I thought were long dead — curiosity, interest, and a longing to see you again. I stayed in this body so you’d know me when we met again.”
“That’s a dumb move. Aren’t you afraid the DD Team will find you?” I thought of Monkey Bag tossed casually on the floor of Alyce’s car, with the GEM zipped inside. All I had to do was get to the car, open the book, and report him to the DD Team.
“You were worth the risk,” he said simply.
“That’s crazy.”
“No crazier than discovering you’re a Temp Lifer — only one of the intriguing things about you. And the way you stood up to me, fearless. I’ve thought of nothing else but finding you since we last met.”
Had that only been a few days ago? I could hardly believe so little time had passed since the drama on his boat, where he’d barely escaped the Dark Disposal Team.
“You should never have found me,” I told him. “It’s my duty to turn you in again and I will, if I get the chance.”
“I know … and I find it strangely exciting. You probably have a GEM in the car. If you want to report me, go ahead. I won’t stop you.”
“Why not?” I asked suspiciously.
He arched a dark brow, studying me. “Perhaps I have more trust in your good nature than you have in my bad nature.”
“Doubtful.”
“Would you really turn me in?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it. Your car’s not far away.”
I turned to look at the car, then back at Gabe. I couldn’t figure out what sort of game he was playing. Was he trying to con me into believing he was a friend? I wasn’t that naive. Still, he could have hurt me and hadn’t … yet.
“First tell me why you’re here,” I said.
“Curious?” He smiled, amused.
“I’ll listen to what you have to say before turning you in.”
“Ah, being fair-minded. I’m grateful.”
“You’re mocking me,” I accused, irritated by his smug smirk. “You may not respect Temp Lifers but I do, and it’s important to me to do a good job.”
“It was important to me too … once upon a time.” His face tensed into hard lines, but otherwise he showed no expression. He just stood there, surrounded by blooms of new life which seemed like an ironic background for someone who stole lives and should have died naturally decades ago. I should have run to the car and grabbed my GEM. But I stood still, too.
“Aren’t you afraid of being captured?” I asked.
“The DD Team has been trying for over a century with no success,” he said wryly. “The only way they’ll catch me is if I let them.”
“They came close on the boat.”
“I was gone before they even touched Earth. I have powers far beyond the average Dark Lifer. Most of them think the only way to gain energy is to steal glowing light from someone who has recently contacted the other side. But powers mean little to me anymore. This existence is meaningless and boring.” His shoulders slumped and he stared down at his hands. “I’m tired of always running, only living borrowed lives. That’s why I’ve decided to change … if you’ll help me.”
“Why me? We’re not exactly friends! You threw me in the ocean and then tied me up with duct tape.”
“That’s all in the past.”
“Only a few days!” I argued.
“Mark Twain said, Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” He gestured to a small lavender rose bush that was past its bloom and hung heavy with withered pedals. “A purple flower represents forgiveness. I’d offer you a bouquet if you’d accept it.”
“Are you trying to apologize?”
“If I was, would you accept?”
“No. I doubt you went to all the trouble to track me down just to say you’re sorry.”
“It wasn’t that difficult to find you.” We turned down a row of miniature roses, most still full with buds and ready to bloom. I had to hurry to keep up with his long-legged stride. “Once I’ve met someone, I know not only their face but also their unique aura, which is like a soul fingerprint. When I found the imposter in your body, I knew she wasn’t you.”
“You met her!” My breath caught nervously. Grammy hadn’t said a word about meeting a Dark Lifer — especially one that was #1 on the Wanted, Dead and Alive list.
“I was suspicious at first to find a Temp Lifer in your body. I thought this might be a DD Team trap until it was obvious she believed I was a friend from your school — she didn’t recognize me. Her glow, though, was surprisingly bright, almost as sweet as yours. Who is the Temp Lifer in your body?”
I shook my head, determined not to give Grammy’s secrets away. “I don’t know. I only do what I’m told.”
“But you’re a living girl, so why leave your body? It doesn’t make any sense … unless this is an elaborate trap to catch me.”
“Not everything is all about you.”
“You’re avoiding the question,” he said, his eyes narrowing.
“If you must know, I’m doing this because I care about people — something you obviously know nothing about.”
“I know too much about people — most of it unpleasant.”
“Negativity equals a bad attitude. You aren’t the only one who knows quotes. That’s from a self-help book called Pollyanna’s Rules for Gladness. You could really learn from self-help books.”
“I’d rather learn from you.” He reached out, taking my hand, his touch sizzling hot, tingling dangerously.
“No!” I pulled back. “You promised not to touch.”
“Right,” he said. “I apologize and hope you’ll listen to what I have to say without judgment. You see me as a villain but once I was like you, a new Temp Lifer eager to do a good job and improve lives.”
“Improve by lying, being cruel, and betraying trust?” I scoffed, folding my arms across my chest.
“You made me realize I’ve made grave mistakes. That day on the boat, I wanted to stay and get to know you — the real you. I regretted having to leave so abruptly, before I could confide in you. I sensed you would never betray a trust.”
I knew he was referring to the great betrayal of his human life, back in the late 1800s, when he confessed to a crime he didn’t commit to save the woman he loved, but she left him to the gallows while she went off with another man. I felt sorry for him … but was wary.
“What do you want from me?” I asked softly.<
br />
“Only that you listen to me as you would a friend.” He frowned, staring beyond me out the window. As his gaze shifted back to me, I sensed tenderness. “I’ve been alive for over a century yet don’t have one true friend.”
“You must have had some friends.”
“Only sweethearts … and that always ends badly.”
“Your fault,” I said. I thought of girls like Eli’s sister, who had fallen in love with him only to have their hearts broken.
“If I’d met you sooner, things might be different.”
“I doubt that,” I said, leaning slightly toward him as I studied his sad face. His salty ocean scent stirred my sympathy. It was dumb to feel sorry for the guy who’d carjacked me. I didn’t let down my guard but nodded for him to continue.
“No one else has talked to me like you did that night in the boat,” he told me.
I tried to remember what I’d said. After we got past the whole kidnapping thing, he’d explained about his past and how he’d gone to the gallows for the girl he loved. I’d told him a few things about myself, too. I’d admitted to being a Temp Lifer but only because I wanted to convince him to let me go.
“You said some things that made me realize I’d been living my lives wrong. I wronged you, too, yet you didn’t hold a grudge and showed unusual compassion. That’s another reason why I sought you out.”
“I can’t do anything.” I shook my head. “I’m just a typical human girl.”
“Typical?” he asked with a hint of a smile. “I think not. You’ve changed the weather of my soul like a force of nature. You’re my only hope for forgiveness so I can end this half-life of stealing bodies.”
I gasped. “You want to end your life?”
“No — I want to begin it again, where I belong. I’m ready to go home.”
“You mean … to return to the other side?”
“Yes.” He bowed his head in a solemn nod.
“I don’t believe you. This is some kind of trick.”
“No, only the truth.”
I doubted him … yet he sounded so sincere, and I couldn’t think of any other reason why he’d risk coming here. “Well … that’s easy enough,” I said. “I’ll contact the DDT with my GEM and they’ll come ASAP.”
“No!” he protested with a shake of his head.
“But you just said you wanted to go back.”
“Not by force with the Dark Disposal Team. If they take me, my future will be hell. They’ll lock my soul away in such a dark pit of horror that I’ll never see light again. I won’t be able to prove that I’ve reformed and that I’m ready to make amends for my mistakes. You’re my only hope for a second chance.”
“Me?” I shook my head. “You can’t be serious.”
“But I am. Deadly serious.” He stared deeply into my eyes. “Amber, will you help save my soul?”
8
“I can’t help you,” I insisted.
Walking among rows of flowers, shrubs, and trees with a dead guy who spouted poetry and stole bodies was weird, but finding out that he wanted me to save his soul was weird squared to infinity.
“I beseech you, Amber, give me a chance.”
Gabe’s mix of old-styled and modern language, spoken in such a deep refined voice, made me feel like following him to the ends of the universe. He looked so vulnerable, like a lost child trying to find his way home, that my heart ached for him.
“I don’t have any special powers, and I don’t know how to help you.”
“Use your connections to the other side.”
Connections? This was a word that came up a lot whenever I researched becoming an entertainment agent. Knowing the right people in influential places was like an “open sesame” spell that magically unlocked doors. If Gabe had asked me to help him get into an audition or how to become a Hollywood star, I’d be right there offering advice. But this was beyond my knowledge — especially since my only “contacts” on the other side were my grandmother and my dead dog Cola.
“Sorry.” I shook my head. “You’re looking at the wrong Temp Lifer if you expect connections. I’m a newbie without any influence.”
“Your grandmother is head of the Temp Lifer program.”
“So?” I asked warily, wanting to kick myself for telling him about Grammy Greta’s job. It had slipped out when he’d trapped me on a boat and I’d been desperate to escape.
“I hope you’ll convince her to see me. If I can explain that I’m sorry and want to return, then I could go back without interference from the DD Team.”
“I can’t just pick up my cell and call her,” I lied.
“Leave a message through your GEM.” He rushed on before I could interrupt. “Don’t look so surprised that I know how GEMs work. Remember, I was a Temp Lifer.”
“Until you turned Dark,” I accused him, wondering if I was crazy for talking calmly to the most-wanted dead criminal alive.
“I had a good reason.” He glanced around as if to make sure no one was close, then gestured that we sit on a bench in the shadows of shade trees and roses. “Despite all the injustices in my Earth life, when I became a Temp Lifer I excelled at my job. I’d thought I’d found my purpose in death. Everything was going great — until they assigned me the body of a shy young gentleman.”
“How long ago was this?” I sat a safe distance from him on the bench so that he couldn’t touch me.
“Around the turn of the century.”
“Really? I thought it was much longer, like before I was born.”
“The twentieth century,” he clarified. “My Host Body lacked the courage to approach the girl he loved and was going to lose her to another suitor. I was prepared to woo her with sweet words and romantic bouquets. Flowers always win a young lady’s heart.” He gestured over to a garden of brilliant blossoms in red, yellow, pink, and lavender. “But when I met his young lady, everything changed.”
“Why? Did you fall in love with her?”
“Quite the opposite.” His eyes narrowed. “She was the daughter of the woman whose betrayal sent me to the gallows.”
“No way!”
“Unfortunately, it’s true. But I had no alternative but to perform my job. A Temp Lifer must always follow through on his Host Body’s plans,” he added with a bitter snort. “I recited Barrett and Lord Byron, and wrote a love sonnet for my host’s sweetheart. When I proposed marriage, she eagerly accepted. I gave her a ring — but I couldn’t go through with it. All I could think about was how her mother had destroyed my life. So I yanked the ring off her hand and told her she was a fool to believe in love.”
I gasped. “No!”
“It was the only way to toughen her foolish heart and to save my Host Soul from marrying into a murderous family.”
“You wanted revenge,” I said.
“Justice,” he insisted. “Afterwards, I knew no one would understand and I could never go back to being a Temp Lifer, so I switched into another body. It was amazingly easy. I quickly discovered there are more freedoms to being in a temporary body. No rules, and powers that you won’t find in your precious GEM.”
“What sort of powers?”
“Mind connecting, memory manipulation, and astral transporting. You’ve been told you can’t leave your Host Body until they decide to call you back — but that’s not true. You could leave that body any time.”
I shook my head. “I’ve tried and it didn’t work. The only way I can switch is when my assignment is over.”
“That’s what they want you to believe — but it’s not true. Help me meet with your grandmother, and I’ll teach you the secrets of tapping into your power.”
“I don’t want to learn your kind of secrets.”
“Not even how to mind-blend with your Host Soul? You could go to your friend right now and ask her anything. Don’t you have questions you’d like to ask?”
Of course I did — but I wasn’t about to admit that to him.
“It’s unfair how Temp Lifers must figure out
their missions with so little information,” he went on. “Especially since those who run the program are aware of these useful skills.”
“You mean my grandmother?”
“Of course. She’s privy to many secrets that she’ll never reveal. But I can show you, and you’d never have to rely on a GEM again.” His voice was so sultry, so tempting …
I didn’t want to believe him. Yet Grammy had joked about not using a GEM. She’d said they were annoying (which was true), but maybe she had another reason. Did she know how to pluck memories from her Host Body? Is that why she seemed so comfortable doing her job without the stresses I was going through? But wouldn’t it make more sense to arm me with more powers, too? It wasn’t fair to leave me stuck in confusion while I struggled to make sense of my assignment.
I thought back to the rare moments when I’d picked up memories from the bodies I’d temporarily inhabited. It had always happened randomly, without any warning. I’d assumed it was a gift from the other side to help my assignment. But if what Gabe was saying was true, I’d accidentally tapped into my own powers.
Still, if I was supposed to know these things, Grammy would have told me. I trusted her far more than I trusted a Dark Lifer.
“I’ll pass on the lessons,” I told him, running my hand idly over a rough edge of the bench. “I’d help you without any bribes, but there’s nothing I can do. You can’t meet with my grandmother.”
“Why not?”
“She’s not there.” I gestured to the sky as if the clouds floating overhead hid a portal to the other side. “Grammy’s away … on vacation.”
He knitted his brows, regarding me skeptically. “No one vacations from the other side.”
“I can’t contact her, but I can get a message through my GEM to the DD Team and ask them to give you a second chance.”
“No!” He jumped up from the bench, nearly tripping over another hose that snaked across the path. “If I go back, it will be on my terms — not captured pitifully by the DDT. They hate me.”
“Grammy says hate isn’t allowed where she lives now.”
“Neither are vacations, but as you said, she makes her own rules. And she’s not the only one. The DD Team can’t wait to toss me in a dark pit and doom me to eternal hell. I won’t get the chance to make up for my mistakes and see the light of auras again — unless your grandmother could talk to them first.”
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