My Tethered Soul: Volume 2 (Reaper's Rite) (4 page)

“May I see the journal?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

Mara slid a bookmark between the pages she was reading and closed the book. As she held it out to hand to Hunter, it slipped from her fingers. Just as a gasp escaped her lips, the book stopped mid-fall, about a foot off the floor.

No one moved. I looked from Mara to Lilura. The old woman’s brow wrinkled.

I swallowed. “Lilura, are you doing that?”

She shook her head.

“No,” Mara said. “I think…I think I am.”

I smiled as Gavin ran up to me on the sidewalk, his pocket watch chain swinging wildly with each stride. Mara didn’t seem to notice him, her forehead wrinkled and eyes unfocused.

“Hey.” Gavin held my arm and kissed my cheek before joining us on our walk home. “Sorry I’m late. I had to pick something up from home.”

“No problem,” I said.

“How’s it going, Mara?” he asked, tilting his head to look past me.

Mara blinked and slowly turned her head toward him. “What?”

“Everything all right?”

I grabbed his hand. “We just had a bit of a surprise at Lilura’s. She’s still processing.”

He ran his thumb in a circle over my hand. “What kind of surprise?”

“She, uh, stopped a book from falling. Mid-air.”

Gavin’s eyes widened, and he gaped at Mara. “You’ve got your powers back?”

Mara looked between us then straight ahead. “I guess. I don’t know. That’s what Lilura said.”

We walked in silence for a while, Gavin and Mara undoubtedly thinking the same thing I was:
What does this mean?

The sun dipped behind the trees as we reached my house. A warm wind enveloped me, tugging at the ends of my hair. Summer was coming. I squeezed Gavin’s hand, looking forward to all the time we’d be able to spend together when school was finally out.

“I’ll see you inside, Zadie,” Mara said as she made her way up the porch steps.

For the second our eyes met, I could tell she wanted to talk about what happened at Lilura’s. “All right,” I said. “I’ll be right in.”

Mara lifted her hand for a quick wave. “Bye, Gavin.”

“See you, Mara.”

As soon as the door closed, Gavin sat on the porch step and pulled me down beside him. He released my hand and put his arm around me, urging me closer. I snuggled into his side, my forehead nuzzled by his cheek. He tilted my chin up with gentle fingers and pressed his lips against mine. I smiled against his mouth, happy for this moment, the moment I’d been looking forward to all day.

He inched his head back, his eyes flitting over my face. “So are you ready for your present?”

“You mean that wasn’t it?”

“If that’s all it takes to keep you happy, I’m going to save a lot of money in this relationship.”

I gasped and hit him in the arm.

He pulled me closer and laughed. “Only kidding.”

“You’re supposed to be nice to me today,” I teased.

“Okay. How about this?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, flat box.

A smile played on my lips as I took it from him. I flipped the top open to find a gold chain bracelet. Every few centimeters along the chain sat a gold heart. I bit my lip and looked up at Gavin. He took the bracelet from the box and fastened it to my wrist.

“Happy birthday.”

I stared at the bracelet a moment longer, then looked up into Gavin’s beautiful blue eyes. “Thank you. I love it.”

He tucked back a strand of my hair, closing the distance between our mouths. His lips moved against mine tenderly, and my body grew warm at his touch. Just as the kiss intensified, something crashed inside the house, followed by Mara cursing.

I pulled back from Gavin with apologetic eyes.

He smirked. “You might want to check on that.”

“I guess.” Reluctantly, I pushed myself up from the porch step. “But I’ll text you later.”

He stood and snuck a quick kiss. “Talk to you later, then.”

I waved and then rushed into the house. Mara stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning back against the refrigerator. When she glanced my way, she rolled her eyes. On the floor was a broken glass.

“What happened?”

She let out a deep sigh and uncrossed her arms. After sidestepping the bits of glass, she dropped herself into a kitchen chair and ran a hand through her hair. “I had a glass of water, and after I drank it, I set the glass on the counter. I kept thinking about my powers. And wondering. So, I tried to lift it off the counter.”

My eyes darted to the broken glass and back to Mara. “Didn’t work?”

“It did at first. But then…I don’t know. It’s just frustrating. It used to come so easily to me. You saw that book. I stopped it mid-air without even thinking about it. I mean, what the hell?”

“I guess it’s kind of like after you stop using a certain muscle for a while? Atrophy?”

She scoffed. “Magical atrophy?”

I smiled. “Probably. I’m still kind of new to this whole thing, you know.”

“Figures. I’m almost done with school, but I’ve got to retrain my powers. Great.”

“You’ve already got a great teacher.”

Mara raised her brow, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Lilura will train you,” I said. “It’s safer to do it her way anyway. Besides, I don’t think anyone will mind too much if her things break.”

Both our heads turned toward the door as Dad walked in. I immediately fetched the broom to clean up the glass.

“Hey, Dad,” Mara said. She didn’t look back at me, probably so she wouldn’t draw attention to me. But her intentions didn’t pay off.

“What happened?” He set his briefcase and a full plastic bag on the table, looking between us.

“I’m just feeling clumsy today,” I said. “Knocked the glass off the counter.”

Mara got to her feet and came over to me. “I’ll help you, Zadie.”

She grabbed the dustpan and gave me a thankful smile.

“Feeling clumsy on your birthday?” Dad asked. “You know what that means: you’ll be clumsy all year.”

“Oh, great. Why couldn’t I feel smart or, I don’t know, rich?”

Mara dumped the broken glass in the garbage. “What’s in the bag, Dad?”

Dad smiled. “Zadie’s birthday dinner. I picked up Chinese on the way home.”

“Aw, cool.” I gave Dad a hug, and he placed a kiss on the top of my head.

“Got you a present too.”

I smiled up at him as he handed me a wrapped gift that he’d hidden behind the bag of Chinese food. It was heavier than I expected. I tore the flowered paper away, exposing a mahogany and copper jewelry box.

“Wow. It’s beautiful.”

Dad sat down, looking relieved. “You like it? I found it in Vancouver. It plays music when it’s opened.”

I pushed back the lid to find a twirling ballerina inside. She danced on her tiptoe to the tinny sound of a classical tune.

“I know it’s not exactly something a teenager would want.” Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just that, you had one when you were little. Do you remember? You loved that thing. Constantly played the song, over and over. Drove your mother and me cr—… Well, anyway. I saw this and thought of you right away. Mostly because I can’t stand the thought of you growing up so fast.”

“Aw, Dad,” Mara and I said at the same time.

I leaned down and gave him another hug. “I love it. Thanks.”

We dived right into dinner, failing miserably at using chopsticks, and Mara and I indulged in answering questions Dad threw at us about school. Soon, our bellies were full and darkness filled the windows. Mara cleared the table while I slipped my phone into my jeans pocket so I could text Gavin when I got to my room.

“I’m gonna turn in, Dad.” I picked up the music box and gave it a hug. “Thanks again for my present.”

“Goodnight, Zadie.”

After a quick kiss on the cheek, I ran upstairs, kicked off my jeans, and threw on an oversized T-shirt to sleep in. Not knowing what to do with the switchblade Chase gave me, I slid it under my pillow. Probably not the best place for a sharp weapon, but it would have to do until I figured out a better—and safer—hiding place.

I had just sent a text off to Gavin when Mara came into my room and closed the door. I sat up in bed, worried about the expression on her face. She sat down beside me and put her hand on mine.

“Zadie, do you think I’m still safe?”

I opened my mouth, ready to give her words of encouragement, then pressed my lips together. There was no way I could lie to her.

“First of all, just because your Reaper is gone doesn’t make you immortal. You can still die like a normal person does. But if we’ve gone and broken rules, who’s to say another Reaper won’t come after you?”
Maybe mine
, I thought. Or maybe Mom’s. The way I understood it, once a Reaper set its sights on a Vila, that Reaper was tethered to the person’s soul, staking claim to her. But that was before I broke the Reaper’s Rite. Before I defeated a Reaper in the In-Between—the Reaper realm. Now, who was to say a Reaper wouldn’t come after both of us? Maybe Mom’s Reaper wanted to take from us what he couldn’t get from our mother.

Mara shook her head, letting out a sigh of defeat. “Not the reassuring words I was looking for.”

Instead of apologizing, I pulled her into my arms. There was nothing I could say. We were both scared of what could happen. And we both knew that the only way to beat our fear was to beat whatever Reaper came our way.

Mara squeezed me tightly before getting up and leaving my room. I rested my head on my pillow. The bracelet Gavin gave me caught the light, and I found myself running my finger along it for a long while. Things would be all right. They had to be. I’d defeated a Reaper before. And I was even better at controlling my magic now. Smarter. Sharper. Quicker. It would be all right. Somehow.

I took the jewelry box Dad gave me off my nightstand and set it on my stomach. I flipped the lid open and watched the tiny ballerina spin. The music echoed softly in my room. Now that I listened to it, the tune sounded familiar. But I couldn’t quite place it. As if in a trance, I let my eyes drift closed.

***

My body shook, knocking my teeth together. Why was the bed rocking?

“Zadie, wake up.”

My eyes were slits as I pushed Mara away. I was entirely too tired to get up yet. “Five more minutes.”

“Zadie, come on.”

“What do you want?”

“There’s mud all over the floor. Footprints.”

I scrunched my forehead up, my eyes still not all the way open. “What? What are you talking about?”

“There were muddy footprints all over the floor. I wiped the ones up in the hall so Dad wouldn’t see, but there are more here in your room.”

My eyes widened. I sat up and focused on my bedroom floor. Sure enough, a trail of mud led up to my bed. Panic jump-started my heart as I realized someone could have been in my room while I slept. But the footprints only led up to my bed, not away from it.

I grabbed my sheet and ripped it off of my body. “Oh my God.”

Mud caked my feet entirely. Splotches of dirt stuck to my ankles and legs. I lifted them from the bed, as if to keep the mud off the linen. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. But was it just mud I had to worry about?

“Ugh, disgusting,” I whispered, climbing out of bed. The mud was mostly dry, feeling crumbly under my feet and between my toes when I stood. I pulled my covers from the bed and threw them in a pile near the door.

“Where were you last night?” Mara grabbed the fitted sheet from the mattress and balled it up. “Midnight rendezvous with Gavin?”

I shook my head. Shock left me speechless for a moment. There were bits of dried mud in a trail from my bed to my door. In the hall, I could see some that Mara must have missed.

“I don’t…I don’t know. Sleepwalking?” Oh no. I was sleepwalking again. Like I had the night before. Twice in two nights, whereas I’d never sleepwalked before—at least, not that I ever recalled. I was thankful that I somehow made it safely back home from wherever I was, but where had I been? And what had lured me out of my bed? A shudder ran through me.

“Sleepwalking around the house is one thing, but sleepwalking outside? That’s not exactly good.” Mara stepped over a patch of mud by my door. “Maybe Chase has some kind of anti-sleepwalking remedy in that alchemist kit of his.”

I felt filthy. I had to get into the shower. “Maybe.”

After grabbing some clothes from my drawer, I walked on mud-caked tiptoes to the bathroom. Making a note to clean up all the muck once I washed myself, I slipped into the hot shower. Grimy streams of brown washed off of me and swirled down the drain. I scrubbed my skin twice just to be sure I got all the dirt off. I had been concentrating so much on my legs and feet that I didn’t notice the scratches on my arms until I was almost done with my shower.

The cuts weren’t deep. More like I had been walking through a thick forest or doing extreme garden work with thorny rose bushes. But where did they come from?

I quickly got dressed and ran to Mara’s room. She was laying out two different outfits on her bed, staring at them as if trying to decide which to wear. As soon as I stepped through her doorway, she turned to me.

“Mara.” I didn’t say another word, but simply showed her the scratches.

She lowered her brows and then closed in on me. I felt a little like a rag doll as she grabbed my arms and twisted them around to examine the cuts.

“What the —?”

My breath shuddered. “Let’s go to Lilura’s. Maybe she can help.”

“I have a final today.” Mara’s eyes look apologetic. “I can’t skip.”

“After?” My voice was a pleading whisper.

Mara held my cheek in her hand. “Of course.”

I put my hand over hers and nodded in thanks. I turned to get ready for school, but Mara grabbed my arm.

“Zadie, do you think it’s somehow connected?”

“What?”

“My powers coming back and your sleepwalking episodes?”

I swallowed back the dryness that crept into my throat. “Do you mean, Reaper-wise? You think there’s a Reaper near?”

She didn’t answer. We were both thinking the same thing. Bitter fear coated my tongue as we held each other tight.