The Spirit Keeper (32 page)

“Just feel,” Imogene said, exhaling a sigh of relief. “Explore your connection with Adrian.”

Then she and Shyla each bent low to Adrian’s head and began whispering words in tones too soft for any of us to hear clearly, and I wondered if they were offering up some sort of prayer. I decided it couldn’t hurt anything to pray to whoever might be listening. I didn’t believe in God, at least not the same God Priscilla prayed to on the rare occasion she went to mass. I hadn’t been raised to feel an affinity toward any particular spirit or being at all. But considering I was, and had always been in some way, linked to the Katori tribe, I supposed it was my right to call upon the very spirit that had saved my own life. I could be the Spirit Keeper.

I
was
the Spirit Keeper.

I closed my eyes and tuned out everyone and everything around me, focusing only on my hand against the warm blood oozing from Adrian’s lifeless body.
Just feel
, Imogene had said.

Slowly, a sense of peace began to settle over me, smelling sweet like wildflowers. The peace was almost tangible, like I could pluck it from the air and hold on to it. It felt as strong as a spider’s gossamer thread as it weaved through and around my body, swirling through my hands and fingers, binding my spirit to Adrian’s.

I felt the slow, almost painful tug of his spirit against mine as it began to feed off my life force to sustain and fortify what little of his was left. Then there was the familiar warmth in my chest. I grasped on to the feeling, willing it to take root and spread. I imagined the heat as a fluid river, and that river had healing powers. It surged through my arm and down into the tips of my fingers and palm until the place where my skin touched his hand burned with magic and the healing power of my body.

The draw of Adrian’s spirit against my own began to recede until I became aware, once again, of the hard dirt floor beneath my knees, and of my own labored breathing. I was completely spent and more in love with the boy before me than I ever thought possible. It was a raw and powerful feeling, and the most exhilarating thing I’d ever felt in my entire life.

I opened my eyes to find everyone staring at me with varying degrees of anticipation and reverence as Adrian’s life was, quite literally, in the palm of my hand. The warm feeling now was nothing more than a glowing ember, and Adrian’s skin no longer felt like cold death under my hand.

I bent low to Adrian’s head and whispered his name. “Adrian. Come back to me.”

His eyelids fluttered once, then twice, and then once more before opening for good. There was an audible sigh of relief from the others at his awakening, followed at once by the thud of Priscilla’s body hitting the ground.

“Shoot,” Meg said, hustling off to tend to her.

Adrian looked up at me, unblinking. Then he raised his hand to my face. “You’re alive.”

“Of course I am.” My words came out in a rush of relief, and I laughed and swiped the back of my hand against my teary eyes. “And so are you.”

With minimal effort, Adrian propped himself on his elbows and ran his hand through my hair. Then he turned his head to look at his sister, his forehead creasing.

“What the heck happened to you?” he said, regarding Shyla’s bruised cheek and eye with morbid curiosity.

Shyla choked on her own tears and laughed in spite of herself. “Aren’t you the least bit interested in what happened to
you
? You almost died!”

At first Adrian looked confused, and then he stiffened as the memory of the fight came back to him. “Where is he?”

“We don’t know,” David answered.

“What happened?” Adrian said.

Shyla and I took turns telling him the story, filling in the parts the other left out or couldn’t account for. But it was Shyla who concluded, “Sarah saved your life.”

Adrian looked down at his chest, but the wound had completely healed. There was no puckered scar or welt, or even a trace that he had been hurt at all, with the exception of his ruined shirt. I turned over my hand and stared at the place where David had made a gash with the knife, but that wound had healed, too. My back no longer ached, and I reached my non-bloodied hand behind my right shoulder. I expected to find an angry mess, but the flesh was completely smooth.

“Saving my life definitely makes you the best girlfriend ever,” Adrian said. “Not that there was ever any question.”

I shook my head and smiled in awe. “I don’t understand how I did it.”

Imogene had been quiet the entire time, and I looked to her, more for support than an answer. The natural indentation between her brows was deeper than usual.

“Magic that young isn’t supposed to be so powerful,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anything like it. Usually it takes years to control.”

Wondering, I reached my hand to Shyla and motioned for her to come closer. She hesitated only a moment, seeming to understand what I was thinking, before leaning into my open palm. I closed my eyes and called the warmth forward one more time. And before everyone’s eyes, the swelling on Shyla’s cheek began to subside, and the bruising faded until she looked exactly like herself again.

“Whether you are ready for it or not,” Shyla said, smiling at me, “this is your new life.”

I swallowed hard, not entirely sure I was ready for what was in store. My eyes fell to Adrian, and a surge of pleasure thrilled through my body as he grasped my hand and squeezed my fingers.

The blood of my beating heart had, by some miracle, healed him. However my life was about to change, the one thing that would remain constant was the love I felt for him. We were bound to each other because of a promise and sacrifice made to save my life, a bond that was further strengthened when I brought him back from the brink.

“Surprise! Happy birthday!”

I stumbled back, stepping on Priscilla’s foot in the process. She didn’t seem to notice, but rather shoved me hard in the back to propel me forward, all the while laughing very loudly in my ear and squeezing my shoulder until I thought she’d tweak it right off.

Everyone in the world I loved had jumped out from behind doors and furniture and was now singing a loud, very off-key rendition of the
Happy Birthday
song.

From outside in the driveway, Laura Beth honked the car’s horn in an annoying spatter of Morse-code-like beeps, effectively letting me know that she, too, had been in on the conspiracy.

 “I can’t believe you kept this secret from me,” I said, turning to Priscilla once they had finally finished.

“I told you I can keep my mouth shut when it counts,” Priscilla said with a wink.

Because of what Priscilla had witnessed that day in the woods, I had been forced to confide everything to her sooner than I would have liked. I had been terrified of how she might react, though it turned out my fears had been unwarranted. She’d simply stared at me for a moment, as if trying to compartmentalize this new facet of our friendship, before a slow smile spread across her face.

“Awesome,” she had said. “Totally weird, but awesome.”

And now, it was as if I’d always had these strange powers.

“I can’t believe this,” I said with a laugh, taking in the sight of everyone gathered to celebrate my special day. “But I thought I said no parties?”

“And miss a reason for cake?” Adrian said, fixing a paper hat on top of my head.

Helium balloons, in various shades of the rainbow, floated up from the backs of chairs and tables. Crepe-paper streamers draped in decorative scallops from doorways and windows, and confetti littered every flat surface. The dining-room table was covered with a yellow linen cloth, one end adorned with plates of finger foods and an oversized bowl of carbonated fruit punch. At the other end sat a white-frosted cake topped with sugared strawberries and blueberries, fresh from the garden. A small stack of presents lay neatly arranged in the middle.

“That’s some spread,” I said, genuinely impressed, but also a little embarrassed.

“Nothing too fancy,” Meg said, underscoring just how elegant and festive it really was. “I know you didn’t want us to make a big fuss about your birthday, but we couldn’t let it go unnoticed.” She gestured to the small crowd. “Especially not when you have so many people who love you and want to celebrate you.”

My cheeks hurt from smiling, and I wrapped my arms around my aunt, feeling tears spring to my eyes against my will. “It’s perfect, Meg. Really. Thank you.”

I let her go and turned an accusatory eye on Adrian. “I thought you guys were going to be gone this weekend?”

Shyla sidled up next to him and draped her arm over his shoulder. “We
were
gone. We just didn’t stay gone as long as we told you we would. Honestly, Sarah, did you really think we’d miss your birthday?”

I looked down at my painted toes peeking out from my sandals, too ashamed to admit I thought they’d forgotten about my birthday altogether.

When Adrian had told me they were taking off to tour a few area colleges and universities, I’d spent the better part of our time apart moping around the house and gardens. Adrian hadn’t said one word about my birthday, and I was too proud to bring it up. And in all honesty, I was a little miffed they hadn’t invited me along. Adrian and I had talked about going to the same college, wherever that turned out to be.

But I’d refused to let on just how disappointed I was that he’d apparently forgotten. Of course, he hadn’t. None of them had. Adrian, Shyla, and Imogene—they were part of my family now.

Nearly a month and a half had passed since Victor’s attack on us in the woods, but no one had seen or heard from him since. After the first week and still no sign of his return, Imogene insisted that Adrian pack the rest of his things and move in permanently with her and Shyla. Now Victor’s house was just a dark, empty shell of a place that made me sad whenever I looked at it. I hated that Adrian was on the other side of the lake now, even if it really wasn’t so far away. We still saw each other almost every day, whether he was just stopping by to say hi while I was working, or to spend time together at the creek.

Shyla and I had grown much closer, too. I’d once been afraid of her, but she had never been the one to fear. She’d been stripped of her powers, having given them freely in order to save my life. She’d embraced that change and seen it as a blessing.

“I never wanted that power,” Shyla said one night as we were lying under the stars. “I didn’t know what to do with it. But now I’m just . . .
me
. I feel free now. I might not be able to completely sever my ties with the tribe, but I can have a regular life.”

It took a few minutes before I found the nerve to say what was on my mind, there under the stars and moon. I’d been reluctant to speak about any of the changes I’d undergone, afraid of making Shyla feel guilty for burdening me with a magic that had so complicated her life.

I turned to her and said simply, “I’m scared.”

Shyla only continued to stare at the sky, but her hand found mine in the darkness. “I know.”

“I’m scared because I don’t know what to expect. I’ve never been anyone who matters.”

“That’s not true,” Shyla said, meeting my gaze then. The whites of her eyes were luminous against the dark. “You matter to more people than you realize.”

I nodded in silent concession, if only for the sake of argument. “I have this feeling, deep inside, that something is expected of me, but I don’t know what. I can’t see the possibilities.”

But Shyla didn’t respond. She only turned away and went back to staring at the sky. She couldn’t see the possibilities either, other than what had been revealed to us with the Conditional Blessing.

And so I had mentally marked down the days, practically counting the hours until that unknown date when the Council would summon me. While I didn’t think they would just show up on my doorstep and whisk me away in the middle of the night, I dreaded their intrusion into my life. And the fact we hadn’t heard from them yet had me more on edge with each passing day.