Souljacker (11 page)

“She’ll adore you, Luce.”

“Again, I’ll pass.”

She rolls her eyes and snorts at me. “What’re
you, chicken? Little Lucy Chickenpants? Afraid of a big bad
mom?”

I growl at her, the sound sounding foreign in
my throat after a week of jokes and laughter. “I don’t do parents.
Obviously, they don’t do me either, else I’d have been adopted by
now.” She snaps her jaw shut at that, her next words dying on her
lips. I shrug. “It doesn’t matter.”

Caddie ducks her head in an apologetic-puppy
way. “She knows what I am and she loves me anyway. She won’t care
that you’re different.”

“I don’t want her to even know about me! I
trust
you
, but there’s a difference. You’re just as freakish
as I am. She’s not.”

“I want you to meet her. As my best friend.
Seriously, girl? You’re the closest thing to a friend I’ve ever
had. Mom, she worries about me. She thinks I’m destined to spend my
life alone. I want to share you with her, Lucy. She doesn’t have to
know what can do if you don’t want her to, but…at least
meet
her.”

I want to tell her no, but she’s fixed me
with a stare so shiny that I feel my resistance cave. I groan and
rub my face with both hands, my elbows grinding on the table.
“Okay. Fine. I’ll meet her, but I won’t like it.”

“Oh, you will,” she says. “Mom will weasel
her way into your heart with baked goods. Closest way to a girl’s
heart is through her stomach, yanno.”

I roll my eyes and she waggles a finger at
me. “So head to my place after school. Portal’s always open.”

“I’ll walk.”

“Whatev, doesn’t matter. See ya then!” She
pushes her chair away from the table with a screech of metal on
tile and picks up our trays. I watch the way her hips sway as she
saunters through the cafeteria, bold, her confidence growing with
each step she takes.

Jale comes up behind her, resting a hand on
her shoulder. She turns and gives him a sassy grin and they walk
away together. I feel a flare of jealousy and fight it down. No.
Caddie deserves him—hell, it’s only because of her that Jale is
keeping whatever he thought happened between us a secret. But
Caddie
does
deserve to be happy.

Still, I can’t help but think about Iofiel,
the way his hand rested lightly on my leg, the way his tongue swept
the drips of ice cream away from the cone. His smile, the gleam of
happiness in his eye when I sank that hole in one. The way he held
me, if only for a moment. My throat tightens. Maybe it’s not
supposed to be mine. I grab my bag and books off the table and take
off before the bell has a chance to ring.

***

My stomach is a coil of snakes, writhing in
my gut with nerves as I knock on Caddie’s front door. Hope barks
mercilessly out back, high pitched and annoying. The door swings
open and Caddie grins at me. “Thought you’d gotten lost.”

“Had to check something first,” I admit with
a shrug. Color me OCD, but I had to see if maybe Iofiel was back.
If I could just…find him, then maybe…

I take a deep breath. “I’m not sure about
this.” I take a step back, feeling my heel teeter off the edge of
the porch step.

Caddie reaches out and snares my arm. “Dude,
chill. It’s just my mom. She’s awesome!” With a laugh, she drags me
inside and I’m surrounded by the smell of cinnamon and sugar, AC
billowing through the house. She tugs me down the hall, wallpapered
with country-style print and pictures of Caddie and her brother
lining the walls.

Her brother is blond and blue-eyed and
very…impish looking. Like he could have little devil horns
sprouting from his skull at any time.

“That’s Caleb,” she says, pointing at a
picture. “He’s a pain in my butt.”

“Looks like he could be Satan’s child.”

“Nah, that’s me.” Caddie smirks and a flicker
of fire dances across her fingertips. “He’s powerless. Which is a
good thing. He gets into too much trouble as a normal kid, let
alone a paranormal one.”

We walk into the kitchen and I’m hit with the
mouth-watering smell of cookies—buttery flour and cinnamon. Her
mom’s pulling a pan of snickerdoodles out of an ancient black oven,
the heat making her untamed mane of blonde curls even frizzier. She
sets the pan down on the counter on a couple of hot pads and turns
to us.

My stomach tightens as our eyes meet and lock
for the briefest of seconds, and then she’s looking me up and down.
I hunch my shoulders and glance to Caddie, who’s picking at a very
hot cookie.

“They just came out of the oven, Cads,” her
mom chides, her voice soft and flowery. Then she shoots me a
brilliant smile, warm enough to melt snow off a roof in the dead of
winter, and I feel myself relax a notch. She offers her hand. “I’m
Trista, Caddie’s mom, but you already knew that. Who else would I
be?” She chuckles.

I stare at her outstretched hand for a
moment, my knee-jerk reaction not to take it, just in case. Caddie
shoots me a look that says, “Hurry up, dummy! You’re normal,
remember?” and I remember that I’m full. I don’t need her soul, her
energy. I offer a tight smile and shake her hand but it’s only
after she releases me, untouched by my Need, that I relax. “I’m
Lucy.”

“I hope you like snickerdoodles. This is one
of my favorite recipes.”

Caddie grins around a mouthful of cookie.
“They’re great, Mom,” she says, spitting crumbs. Trista shoots her
a glare and Caddie swallows before she continues. “As always.”

“Thank you, Cads,” Trista says, ruffling her
daughter’s hair. “Feel free to make yourself at home—any friend of
Caddie’s is welcome here. It’s been too long, and…” She glances
between us, suddenly looking unsure of herself.

“Luce knows about my powers. It’s cool.”

I nod.

Trista wraps her arm around Caddie’s
shoulder, pulling her in close. “Good. Sometimes it’s good to have
someone to share your secrets with.”

“Moooom.”

I laugh as Caddie rolls her eyes, shrugging
out from under her mom’s arm. “Go do something. We’re gonna take a
plate of cookies to my room and shut the door and talk about girl
stuff.” With that, she piles about eight cookies on a paper plate,
grabs my arm with her free hand, and drags me down the hall.

“Nice meeting you!” Trista calls after
us.

Caddie shuts her bedroom door behind us. I
turn, taken aback at the amount of pink and purple and flowers in
Caddie’s room. Even her bed skirt is girly. “Don’t say a word,”
Caddie growls, setting the plate down on her bedside table. “Just
because I can control fire doesn’t mean I can’t like pink!”

“Nice.” I grin, and I mean it. I grab a
still-warm cookie off the plate and sink down to the floor,
crossing my legs at the ankle. “So…uh. Enlighten me. What are we
doing?”

“Girl stuff. Hanging out. Talking about boys.
That sort of thing.”

“Oh boy.” I groan, Iofiel pestering my mind
once again. “Let’s not and say we did.”

“Lucy, are you
blushing
?”

“No!” I yelp, but my face is already hot. I
cover it with my hands.

Caddie lets out a squeal of triumph and jerks
my hands back down. “Okay, so who’s the crush? You
have
to
have a crush. I knew you did! Oh my God, why didn’t you tell
me?”

“He’s nobody you’d know.”

“Ooh? Is he graduated already? Lucy likes
older men?”

“Something like that,” I mutter, stuffing my
mouth full of cookie so I don’t have to talk. “Holy crap, these are
good.” Now it’s my turn to spit crumbs.

She swats at me. “Don’t change the subject.
So. What’s his name?”

I hesitate. Would Caddie think I was insane
for crushing on a cyberhound? Did she have to know more than he’s
just a boy? “Iofiel. I met him at Cosmo a couple of weeks back.
He’s really…”

“Hunky? Gorgeous? Orgasmic?”

“Nice.”

“Just nice?”

“He’s…I don’t know. Sweet, funny. Adorable.”
I feel myself gushing a little, my smile so wide it hurts my
cheeks. I try and dampen it with a frown, but it just won’t work. I
shrug. “We went out and played mini golf. I totally kicked his
butt. But…”

I freaked out and ran away from him, then
figured out he was a freaking cyborg. “I was afraid I’d hurt him.
Every time I touched him, I felt this horrible Need, like I was
going to drain him dry. I just…I couldn’t do it. I haven’t seen him
since.”

“Ouch, that sucks. But you can totally date
him now, right? With my soul, you’re not hungry or whatever,
right?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Dude, let’s do it! Let’s get snazzed up and
go to Cosmo and see if he’s there!” She hops to her feet and
hurries over to her closet, swinging the door open. She starts
pulling out outfits. “One of these will have to fit you!”

“Caddie.”

“You like him a lot, right?” She spins to cut
me a look.

I nod, feeling my chest tighten. “Yeah…”

“Seriously. I’m not letting you let Prince
Charming just get away because you’re afraid of hurting him. So get
up off your sorry butt and help me pick out a sexy outfit for you
to wear. Don’t give me that look!”

She pulls out a totally gorgeous strappy red
dress with a slit up the thigh. I reach for it before I can stop
myself, my fingers stroking the silky material. “This is so totally
me.” Was that my voice, awestruck and girly? Oh slag. But…

“Try it on!” Caddie pushes me to her tiny
half-bath and I fumble out of my clothes. The fabric of the dress
stretches to hug my hips, showing just enough cleavage and just
enough leg that I could probably get any self-respecting boy to
look my way.

“Look good?” Caddie pops her head in the
bathroom and sees me and a grin lights up her face. “Holy crapola,
girl. You’re beautiful.”

Heat creeps up my neck, but I can’t help but
agree with her. “Will you do my hair?”

“So this means you’re in?”

“Yeah.”

She squeals and does a little dance.
“Awesome! Let’s do this!”

An hour later and all ‘snazzed’ up as Caddie
put it, we bid Trista goodbye and take to the street. My refusal to
go through a Portal twice in one day means I’ve talked Caddie into
walking to Cosmo with me. She bounces along at my side, wearing a
cute chained mini-skirt and lacy tank top, though why she’d want to
walk in four-inch heels is lost on me. She talks a mile a minute
and I find myself smiling as we reach Harvar Street. We get in line
and wait. I can’t believe I’ve gone so long without a friend. This
is nice.

She turns to me as it’s her turn to enter the
building, shooting me a grin. “See you there,” she says on a laugh,
then pushes through the door. It swings shut behind her and my
stomach does a flip of nerves. There’s a flash of light, then the
bouncer smiles and waves me in.

The Portal gleams at me, almost mockingly, as
I step forwards and pull down the hem of my dress. My fingers brush
the skin of my thigh and I blush and grin all at once. Damn, if
Iofiel’s there, he’s gonna shit a brick. I look
hot
.

Flipping bangs out of my face, I close my
eyes and step into the Portal. I float through nothingness, nausea
gripping me for a moment’s time, and then I’m surrounded by music
and laughter and coffee. I breathe in, open my eyes, and look
around.

Caddie waves to me, a cup already in her
hand, the steam rising. She gives a wink and I take note of two
guys from school—the guy with the lime green hair and his
buddy—ogle me. Tipping my chin up, I flash them a smirk and stride
over to Caddie. I’ll admit I sashay my hips a little. Just to make
them drool.

I glance across the room, hope making my
chest hurt.
Please, Iofiel, be here, just
… But he’s not and
my heart sinks. Caddie touches my arm. “Do you see him?” Her voice
is muffled by the band playing on the stage, the booming base and
the thudding pulse of drums. I shake my head and she gives me a
half-hug. “He’ll come! Don’t worry. Let’s just have fun.”

We settle down at one of the front tables, so
I can see anyone who comes through the Portal. My bag wiggles on
the seat beside me and I open it. Sync floats out, her antennae a
brilliant red.

Uh oh.

She turns away from me, staring at the stage,
and if she was human, she’d so totally have her arms crossed over
her chest in a petulant, little-kid-not-getting-her-way way.
“What’s wrong?”

“Besides being left in a stuffy bag for hours
on end?” Yep. Definitely miffed. How a robot her age can show such
emotion is beyond me, but she’s always done it. She wouldn’t be
Sync without it. “Are you outgrowing me, Luce?”

I blink at her, taken aback. “What?”

“Ever since you met Caddie, you’ve tossed me
by the wayside. I’m always stuck in your bag or forgotten at home
while you go to school! We used to be close, and now… You know,
just because I’m a robot doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. How do
you think I feel when you’re off parading with new friends and I’m
left alone?”

I feel a stab of guilt. She’s right. I’ve
been so caught up in the now that I really haven’t had time for
her. Or made time for her. And that’s wrong, since she’s been my
best friend since forever. The only friend I had for a long time. I
glance between Sync’s angry cat-eyes and Caddie, who’s frowning.
“I’m sorry, Sync…”

Sync sighs. “I’ve always been there for you.
Always, Luce.”

“I know. I didn’t realize. I’ve been so busy
that… God. I’m a jerk.” I put my head in my hands, mumbling through
my fingers, “I’ll make it up to you, Sync. Really.”

She softens, the glow lessening to a light
purple. “I know you will, Luce.” She floats up and nudges my face,
her anger replaced by a small smile. I reach out and clamp her to
my chest and she lets out a series of bleeps and zings away from
me. “So what are we doing here, girls? Give me the scoop.”

“We’re boy hunting,” Caddie says proudly, her
eyes gleaming like diamonds. “Apparently, Miss Lucy has a crush on
a certain someone and I told her she can’t let her disabilities get
in the way of love. So we’re hunting this guy down and Lucy’s gonna
proclaim her love to him.”