My Soul to Take
Page 48
You want me to pick you up for the memorial?
His eyes narrowed in confusion over my abrupt subject change. Then he inhaled deeply, slowed the churning in his eyes, and settled against the car next to me. What about your dad?
He can drive himself.
Nash rolled his eyes. I didnt think youd want to go, with your dad in town.
Im going. And Im going to drag my dad and uncle along too.
He arched his brows, sliding one arm around my waist. Why?
Because if some vigilante reaper is after teenage girls, I figure hell find an auditorium full of us pretty hard to resist. And the more bean sidhes that are present, the greater the chance one of us will get a look at him, right?
In theory. Nash frowned down at me, and I could feel a but coming. But, Kaylee I grinned, mildly amused at having predicted something other than death itnot going to happen again. Not this soon. Not in the same place.
Its happened for the past three days in a row, Nash, and its always happened where there are large groups of teenagers. The memorial will have the highest concentration of us in one room since graduation last year. Theres just as much chance hell pick someone there as anywhere else.
So what if he does? What are you going to do? Nash demanded in a harsh whisper. He glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one had appeared on the porch, then met my eyes again, and I realized that behind his sudden anger lay true fear.
I knew I should have been scared too, and in truth, I was. The very concept of reapers running around harvesting their metaphysical crop from empty human husks made my stomach pitch and my chest tighten. And the idea of actually looking for one of those reapersWell, that was crazy.
But not as crazy as letting another innocent girl die. Not if we could stop it.
I watched Nash, letting my intent show on my face. Letting determination churn slowly in my eyes.
No! He looked toward the house again, then back at me, his irises roiling. You heard what Tod said, he whispered fiercely. Any reaper willing to steal unauthorized souls wont hesitate to take one of ours instead.
We cant just let him kill someone else, I hissed, just as urgently. I resisted the urge to step back, half-afraid that any physical space I put between us during an argument would translate into an emotional distance.
We dont have any choice, he said. I started to argue, but he cut me off, running one hand through his chunky brown hair. Okay, look, I didnt want to have to go into this right nowI figured finding out youre not human was enough to deal with in oneday. But theres a lot you still dont understand, and your uncles probably going to explain all this soon, anyway. He sighed and leaned back against the car, his eyes closed as if he were gathering his thoughts. And when he met my gaze again, I saw that his determination now matched my own.
What we can do together? He gestured back and forth between us with one hand. Restoring a soul? Its more complicated than it sounds, and there are risks beyond the exchange rate.
What risks? Wasnt the exchange rate bad enough? A new thread of unease wound its way up my spine, and I leaned against the car beside him, watching light from the porch illuminate one half of his face while rendering the other side a shadowy compilation of vague, strong features. I was pretty sure that if whatever he was about to say was as weird as finding out I was a bean sidhe, Id need Carters car at my back to hold me up.
Nashs gaze captured mine, his eyes churning in what could only be fear. Bean sidhes and reapers arent the only ones out there, Kaylee. There are other things. Things I dont have names for. Things that you dont ever want to see, much less be seen by.
My skin crawled at his phrasing. Well, thats more than a little scary. Yet incredibly vague. Okay, so where are these phantom creepies?
Most of them are in the Netherworld.
And where is that? I crossed my arms over my chest, and my elbow bumped Carters side-view mirror. Because it sounds like a Peter Pan ride. Yet my sarcasm was a thin veil for the icy fingers of unease now crawling inside my flesh. It might have been easy to dismiss claims of this other world as horror movie fodderif I hadnt just discovered I wasnt human.
This isnt funny, Kaylee. The Netherworld is here with us, but not really here. Its anchored to our world, but deeper than humans can see. If that makes sense.
Not much, I said, but with the skepticism gone, my voice sounded thin and felt empty. How do we know this Netherworld and itsNether-people are there, if we cant see them?
Nash frowned. We can see themwere not human. Like I needed another reminder of that. But only when youre singing for someones soul. And thats the only time they can see you.
And suddenly I remembered. The dark thing scuttling in the alley when I was keening for Heidi Anderson. The movement on the edge of my vision when Merediths soul song threatened to leak out. I had seen something, even without actually giving in to the wail.
Thats why Uncle Brendon had told me to hold it in. He was afraid I would see too much.
His eyes narrowed in confusion over my abrupt subject change. Then he inhaled deeply, slowed the churning in his eyes, and settled against the car next to me. What about your dad?
He can drive himself.
Nash rolled his eyes. I didnt think youd want to go, with your dad in town.
Im going. And Im going to drag my dad and uncle along too.
He arched his brows, sliding one arm around my waist. Why?
Because if some vigilante reaper is after teenage girls, I figure hell find an auditorium full of us pretty hard to resist. And the more bean sidhes that are present, the greater the chance one of us will get a look at him, right?
In theory. Nash frowned down at me, and I could feel a but coming. But, Kaylee I grinned, mildly amused at having predicted something other than death itnot going to happen again. Not this soon. Not in the same place.
Its happened for the past three days in a row, Nash, and its always happened where there are large groups of teenagers. The memorial will have the highest concentration of us in one room since graduation last year. Theres just as much chance hell pick someone there as anywhere else.
So what if he does? What are you going to do? Nash demanded in a harsh whisper. He glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one had appeared on the porch, then met my eyes again, and I realized that behind his sudden anger lay true fear.
I knew I should have been scared too, and in truth, I was. The very concept of reapers running around harvesting their metaphysical crop from empty human husks made my stomach pitch and my chest tighten. And the idea of actually looking for one of those reapersWell, that was crazy.
But not as crazy as letting another innocent girl die. Not if we could stop it.
I watched Nash, letting my intent show on my face. Letting determination churn slowly in my eyes.
No! He looked toward the house again, then back at me, his irises roiling. You heard what Tod said, he whispered fiercely. Any reaper willing to steal unauthorized souls wont hesitate to take one of ours instead.
We cant just let him kill someone else, I hissed, just as urgently. I resisted the urge to step back, half-afraid that any physical space I put between us during an argument would translate into an emotional distance.
We dont have any choice, he said. I started to argue, but he cut me off, running one hand through his chunky brown hair. Okay, look, I didnt want to have to go into this right nowI figured finding out youre not human was enough to deal with in oneday. But theres a lot you still dont understand, and your uncles probably going to explain all this soon, anyway. He sighed and leaned back against the car, his eyes closed as if he were gathering his thoughts. And when he met my gaze again, I saw that his determination now matched my own.
What we can do together? He gestured back and forth between us with one hand. Restoring a soul? Its more complicated than it sounds, and there are risks beyond the exchange rate.
What risks? Wasnt the exchange rate bad enough? A new thread of unease wound its way up my spine, and I leaned against the car beside him, watching light from the porch illuminate one half of his face while rendering the other side a shadowy compilation of vague, strong features. I was pretty sure that if whatever he was about to say was as weird as finding out I was a bean sidhe, Id need Carters car at my back to hold me up.
Nashs gaze captured mine, his eyes churning in what could only be fear. Bean sidhes and reapers arent the only ones out there, Kaylee. There are other things. Things I dont have names for. Things that you dont ever want to see, much less be seen by.
My skin crawled at his phrasing. Well, thats more than a little scary. Yet incredibly vague. Okay, so where are these phantom creepies?
Most of them are in the Netherworld.
And where is that? I crossed my arms over my chest, and my elbow bumped Carters side-view mirror. Because it sounds like a Peter Pan ride. Yet my sarcasm was a thin veil for the icy fingers of unease now crawling inside my flesh. It might have been easy to dismiss claims of this other world as horror movie fodderif I hadnt just discovered I wasnt human.
This isnt funny, Kaylee. The Netherworld is here with us, but not really here. Its anchored to our world, but deeper than humans can see. If that makes sense.
Not much, I said, but with the skepticism gone, my voice sounded thin and felt empty. How do we know this Netherworld and itsNether-people are there, if we cant see them?
Nash frowned. We can see themwere not human. Like I needed another reminder of that. But only when youre singing for someones soul. And thats the only time they can see you.
And suddenly I remembered. The dark thing scuttling in the alley when I was keening for Heidi Anderson. The movement on the edge of my vision when Merediths soul song threatened to leak out. I had seen something, even without actually giving in to the wail.
Thats why Uncle Brendon had told me to hold it in. He was afraid I would see too much.
