Page 25 of A Soul's Curse
Ren seemed agitated, looking over my shoulder as he struggled to maintain whatever barrier he had placed over us. If his magic truly was mediocre, then he wouldn’t be able to hold on to this shield for long.
Leon sighed, his ruin-clad knife now twirling in his hand. He could slice through Ren’s barrier at any second and I’d be exposed. “Under normal circumstances, that might be true. But Caspian is unique. From what I'm told, the greedy bastard overloaded himself on magic before he died and when he finally perished, the cleansed magic was left behind to preserve his body. He’s not so much a ghost now as he is a phantom—so as a half human, he still has his powers and the Syndicate needs it to cleanse all the impure magic in this world. Either get him to take an oath to join us, or get him to trust you so that we can steal his magic from him.”
I gulped, my mouth going dry. “And if I do this, everything goes back to the way it was? You’ll return Ellie’s magic to her body and clear my name of this shit you're accusing me of? You’ll leave me alone? Forever?”
Leon scoffed. “That’s what we have our stellar reporter here for. People will believe anything he says. Now, you have maybethirty seconds left before I dissolve this barrier myself or James here passes out. Looks like the firefighters have things under control. The police just arrived, and there’s quite the crowd forming. What choice will you make, Theo Kingston?”
I briefly glanced at Ren, who offered a stoic expression and a lack of answers. I thought about it for three whole seconds before I made my decision. Even though Ren would do anything to protect his cover as James, I convinced myself that if he thought I was in any real danger, he would have stepped in. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“Fantastic. I’ll have someone—”
“I’ll watch him,” Ren cut in.
Leon pressed his lips into a thin line, his gaze sharp and assessing, lingering on who he thought was James. “You already let him get away once. I think it’s someone else’s turn to babysit.”
Ren narrowed his gaze at Leon. “I admit I wasn’t prepared for what happened the first time around. But I won’t make that same mistake twice. I’ll place a binding rune on him to—”
Leon held up his hand to stop James from talking. He then sheathed his knife in its holster at his hip and dug out something from the inside pocket of his canvas jacket. He pinched a shiny black stone between his thumb and forefinger. “I have a better idea. This is an Oathstone, a special magical artifact capable of recording and enforcing the details of our deal. It will dissolve when we both complete the required terms. Don’t, and, well, there will be consequences, obviously. Deal?”
He held out his bony hand, the black stone in his palm.
Ellie drifted between me and Leon. “I don’t like this, Theo. Don’t do it. There’s gotta be another way.”
“Your time is running out.” I heard the strain in James’s voice. It wasn’t meant as a threat, but a warning to get this over with quickly.
“Fine.” I clasped my hand in Leon’s, and the stone flared with a flash of white magic. “I, Theodore Kingston, will find the phantom who goes by the name of Caspian Vale and either convince him to use his magic to help the Syndicate or steal it from him.”
Leon gripped my hand with surprising strength. I knew the moment he cackled that Ellie was right … he set me up. “And upon successfully completing this mission, Ellie Thorson’s magic will be returned to her body. You have two weeks.”
“Wait a minute—”
Leon kept going, speaking over me. “Failing this mission means you, Theodore Kingston, will not only lose your friend, but will relinquish the rest of your life and your magic to the Syndicate. In addition, as reassurance you won’t try anything clever to get out of this contract, if you try anything sneaky, pain and suffering will come to the person who cares about you the most.” He winked at me. Not the personIcared about most, but the person who most cared aboutme.
“No, that’s not … you can’t do this!” Heat radiated from the stone, there was another flash of white light, and the oath was sealed. The black color leached from the stone, traveling up the veins of my arm like a poison, tendrils spreading with an intensity that burned and numbed at the same time. As I bit down my scream, the protection barrier dropped and suddenly I was exposed to a police officer managing crowd control.
“There he is!” someone cried out.
“Theo, Run!” There was nothing Ellie could do but watch in horror as the angry mob rushed toward me.
The officer turned around, grabbed his gun, and sprang in my direction.
“Good luck, Theo!” Leon and James disappeared into the Nether, while I was left to fend for myself. I dug out the key frommy pocket and dashed for Scootie Pie, zipping out of there as fast as the little scooter could go.
11
Withamaximumspeedof about thirty miles per hour, I had to get creative with my escape. I slipped through the park and crowded side streets, and when I was sure I was no longer being chased, I ended up at Emberheart Place. It was the safest place I could think of to go, and the New Jersey Devil was someone I knew I could trust.
I was furious about what just happened, angry at Ren since he clearly knew what was going to happen once we got there. The heat of my rage burned under my skin, but I was also scared about what this meant for what came next. The weight of uncertainty pressed heavily on my chest. Anxiety clawed at the edges of my thoughts, but underneath it all, a grim determination took root, sharp and unrelenting.
Several people glared at me as I made a ruckus and stormed through the hallway toward Nick’s office. No one greeted me like they usually did. Instead, when I met their gaze, they backed away and kept walking. Ellie hadn’t followed me here,but I assumed she was staying behind to monitor things at the restaurant.
“Nick!” By the time I reached Nick’s office, I was out of breath and shaking with a volatile mix of anger and fear, the adrenaline coursing through me like wildfire. Nick’s office was small but welcoming, with a rustic wooden desk centered in front of a colorful stained glass window that glowed with light from the streetlamp outside. The walls were lined with crammed bookshelves, dotted with potted plants and small trinkets from those he’s helped.
“Theo! You’re okay.” It wasn’t Pastor Nick who responded, but a voice that grated on my nerves and ignited the barely contained rage fuming inside me.
“You really did it this time …” Magic seeped out of my pores, an icy cold burning my fingertips. “You knew what Leon was gonna do. Is that why you wanted to come with me? And then conveniently disappeared when I needed you?”
Like a serpent around Ren's neck, I couldn’t stop as my magic tightened with each pulse of my anger, unrelenting and suffocating.
