Page 46 of A Soul's Curse
“Very well.” He stared at Gray, a knowing gaze that had the guard scampering toward the shelves and selecting a few things from the racks. He returned, holding out a green leafy herb in my face.
“Chew on this,” Gray encouraged. “The oils will help soothe your mind and magic during the transfer.”
I sniffed it, a crisp, fresh scent with a cool, sharp edge. “Mint,” I concluded.
“Of the magical variety, yes,” Caspian confirmed. I picked off a few leaves and started munching, while Caspian and Gray moved aside the stainless steel prep table to place a thick tablecloth on the floor.
“Lay down,” Caspian pointed to the tablecloth. “The longer the spell is active, the more difficult it is to reverse. I’m giving you five minutes. After that, I’m forcing you back. Your presence should not affect Ellie’s body but as I mentioned, the lack of return magic could affect yours.”
I sat down on the tablecloth, a cheap, plastic thing with a checkered pattern on it. I inhaled a deep breath, the mint failing to calm my nerves.
“Let’s begin.” Caspian left the grimoire on the table, muttering something in a foreign language he’d apparently memorized in the last two minutes. Gray held a cup of—chocolate syrup? It glowed with an intense aura, radiating a strange, almost otherworldly energy that made the air around it shimmer. He dipped his finger into the sugary liquid and started drawing something on the floor—runes that glowed with magic.
Magic exploded from the runes, a heat that rushed outward like a shockwave, searing the air and rattling the ground beneath me. The force of it came from every direction, warping the atmosphere with an eerie, shimmering haze.
A tingle crawled over my skin like static before sinking deeper, turning sharp and relentless. The pain was a burning sensation that coiled around my bones, spreading like wildfire through my veins, seizing every muscle in its grip. My breath hitched as the agony grew, twisting, tearing. My teeth gnashed together, and I bit back the scream on the tip of my tongue as the world around me went dark.
The next thing I knew I was laying down in some kind of metal box, my head feeling like it was splitting into two. I bit down on my lip, swallowing the pain. The dark box was cold, the smell of bleach suffocating. Was I in some kind of medical facility? I felt around the walls, looking for any clue Ellie might have left behind. But Ellie’s body had been unconscious when Leon took her, and there was nothing there for me … except the bright glow of some kind of rune on her left wrist, the only light shining through the darkness. Curious, I ran a finger over it. A sharp pain radiated from my skull, my pulse throbbing in my ears. Even though most of Ellie’s magic had been separated from her body, enough of it remained behind to keep her alive, and it slammed into me, recovering a memory from her past.
“She’s doomed either way, Markus.” The words came from a pretty woman with light-blonde hair and pigtails. She seemed young, full of energy. She was standing over Ellie’s body, which was laid flat on a metal examination table.
A pressure started building in my chest, like a vicious case of heartburn, tightening, squeezing, stealing my breath with every second. I pressed my lips together, tightening my hands into fists to keep myself focused on the conversation and not on the fact Ellie’s body was rejecting my soul.
Markus responded, “Yeah, I know. Even if he finds Caspian, no one said Leon had to return this womanalive. I just thought … I could at least make her death peaceful, you know? Why does the rune have to be a vicious poison? She’ll suffer for hours until she actually dies.”
The female snorted. “Because that’s just how the world works. Did your cousin get a chance to die peacefully when a demon set him on fire and burned his bones to ash? Besides, the Syndicate isn’t going to let Theo just walk away, even if he finds Caspian. He has too much potential. His friend’s death is only a glimpse of what we’re capable of. He won’t walk away from us so easily knowing we’ll keep doing this to everyone he knows if he doesn’t continue to do what we ask.”
Markus sighed. “Helen, didn’t you say this demon’s magic can relive memories? Instead of killing her, maybe we can use her. If she’s friends with this Theo guy, maybe she has information we can use against him.”
A sudden pain lanced through my chest, like a knife had been stabbed right through it. The memory was fading. The bones beneath my skin feel too rigid, the muscles too tense. Five minutes. I had five minutes. How long had it actually been?
Helen leaned over the table and smacked Markus across the head. “You idiot. Don’t let Leon catch you questioning the Syndicate’s actions or you’re in for a real beating. Think about what you’re saying. She might have information on Theo, but now she has information onus. She might not be awake, but her magic is. And if we realigned her magic with her body, and she escaped here, imagine the consequences. Her magic knows our faces, Markus. She has seen this office building, this morgue, probably knows all about the operation we’re running here and all the other people we’re keeping in stasis. She could lead them right to us.”
I held my breath, clutching my chest. I bet Helen never expected someone taking over Ellie’s body and retrieving that information directly through her magic. I had two names—Helen and Markus. Stella had been on the right track when she mentioned Ellie was likely being kept in an office park somewhere, one that also housed some kind of morgue. And Ellie wasn’t the only person being kept there. How many other innocent victims were they keeping? How many other families had fallen victim to the Syndicate’s manipulation?
Unfortunately, that was all the information I was going to get. I was out of time. My vision blurred, the edges of reality flickering like a fading light. The pain surged, sharp and searing, as the magic unraveled around me. It was like being torn apart from the inside, every fiber of my being stretched thin, as if the very fabric of my soul was being shredded. Ellie’s memory dissolved completely, Caspian’s spell breaking hold. My soul was yanked away from Ellie’s body as everything became a blur.
19
Forafleetingmoment,I convinced myself none of this was real—that it was all just a terrible nightmare. Any second now, I’d wake up in a warm bed. Ren would be lying beside me, tangled limbs wrapped securely around me. We were safe and far away from the Syndicate. Later in the evening, I’d go to work at Carson’s Pizza. Vic would give me that tired smile when I walked in, and Ellie would teach me about history when I delivered her favorite pepperoni pizza to the museum.
But then a sharp, stabbing pain pierced through my chest and the illusion shattered like fragile glass. The warmth of my hopes slipped through my fingers, replaced by the harsh bite of reality. Ren had lied to me, betrayed my trust and hurt my family. The Syndicate had their eyes set on me and weren’t planning to let me go. They had taken my best friend, and while I now had clues where the Syndicate was holding her, they had no intention of keeping her alive.
I gasped, my eyes shooting wide open. I clutched my chest as if I could rip the pain away. The ache sank deep, raw and unrelenting as my soul reentered my body. The ice cream shop blinked into focus, Ellie’s ghost hovering over me.
“Theo! Wake up!” Ellie cried and attempted to slap me. The fizzle of her magic tingled my skin.
“Your friend is quite vocal,” Caspian commented. As part ghost, he’d be able to see and communicate with her.
“What?” I sat up, rubbing my forehead and trying to collect my thoughts. “Wait, how did you get here, Ellie?”
“When Caspian triggered his spell, my ghost was pulled here. Why, Theo? Why would you do that, you idiot! That was so reckless! What if you got trapped in my body or something?” Worry flashed through Ellie’s fading orange eyes. It was a good thing she couldn’t physically touch me, because I was pretty sure she’d murder me with an ice cream scoop.
I shrugged, wiping away the exhaustion from my eyes as I laid back down on the tablecloth. “I guess I’d have to get used to having boobs then.”
Caspian snorted. Ellie didn’t find the joke amusing.
“Did you find out anything useful about where she’s being kept?” Caspian asked, a curious note to his voice.
