Page 24 of A Soul's Curse
My doppelgänger pushed through the door, greeting Mr. Carson and a customer waiting at the counter. Not a second later, my twin pulled something out from inside his hoodie and chucked it at Vic.
Ren jumped in front of me as the explosion erupted, an invisible shield forming around us. Although dampened by his magic, the force still knocked me back. I landed hard on the asphalt as the powerful blast rippled through the parking lot. Heat singed my skin, aggravating the burns already on my chest. Shards of glass and debris rained down like deadly confetti. Myears rang, muffling the surrounding chaos—panicked screams, the crunch of crumbling brick, and the crackle of fire.
“Ren? Ren! Are you okay?” Ren had disappeared, as well as the protective shield, and that eerie feeling tickled my skin. “Oh, you bastard. You didnotjust go invisible on me right now!”
“Sorry,” came an apology to my left. “I can’t be seen here like this.”
“Coward,” I scoffed, forgetting him to focus my attention on the burning building, along with Mr. Carson and the customer he was helping who were still inside. Heat blasted against my face and smoke billowed out the opening of what used to be the front window. A demon woman stumbled through the hanging front door, coughing and clutching her chest.
“Are you okay?” I reached a hand for her shoulder and she immediately screamed, swiping at me and landing a weak slap to the side of my face.
“You … you get away from me!” She coughed again, glass falling from her sooty brown hair. “It was him … he did this!”
I turned around to see the mechanics from the auto shop had run across the street to inspect the scene, a few people from the park were lingering by the sidewalk, and someone who was driving by had pulled over, jumping out of his car and was racing over to see if he could help.
“Theo, this doesn’t look good.” Ellie hovered beside me, taking in the situation. “Someone is clearly framing you.”
“What? No … I didn’t do—” A secondary explosion startled me, the fire quickly consuming the building. My twin, not surprisingly, had mysteriously vanished.
Mr. Carson came limping out after the demon woman, a large gash on his cheek from where a piece of glass had sliced him. A heavy stream of blood matted his dark hair and was dripping down his face.
“Mr. Carson!” I swung around my backpack. “Come here. Sit down. I need to stop the bleeding—”
“How could you, Theo?” The painful words acknowledging my betrayal hurt him more than his actual injuries.
“I didn’t do it, Vic, I swear! That wasn’t me. You know I’d never do something like that!”
It had to have been a man glamoured as me, and whatever magic he had unleashed, within a matter of minutes had flames licking up the side of the brick building and completely consuming it.
Mr. Carson’s beloved pizzeria, the cornerstone of his life, was quickly becoming a shell of twisted metal and crumbled brick, his livelihood reduced to smoldering embers, and he thoughtIwas the one who did it.
“Run.” Ren’s command felt hot against my ear but I hesitated, my heart pounding inside my chest. Running would only make me appear guilty but sticking around would mean getting arrested, and if the Syndicate was behind this, which I highly suspected they were, they’d have me trapped in a prison cell with no hope of saving Ellie until I gave in to their demands to join them.
Sirens wailed in the distance. I had maybe a few minutes to decide.
“You can’t stay here, Theo.” Ellie tried to tug at my arm, and I was met with a static shock.
“Don’t let him out of your sight!” A mechanic in an oil-stained t-shirt had a wrench clenched in his hand.
He lunged at me, but I was too quick. I turned and bolted around the side of the building and toward the back. If I could get to Scootie Pie—
“Going somewhere?” Magic sizzled over me, like a very staticky sweater coming right from the dryer. I was suddenly face-to-face with two men—one with scars on his hands and face,the other with styled earthy-blond hair and dressed smartly in slacks and a vest.
I turned around, expecting the stampede of people chasing me to tackle me to the ground, but they had suddenly stopped, looking around utterly confused at where I had gone even though I was right in front of them hidden by magic.
“It seems like you’re in a bit of a predicament … but I think I can help with that.” Leon shook his head. “I warned you, Theo. You brought this upon yourself when you rejected my generous offer the other night. Things will only get worse from here. So, what do you say? Care to join the Syndicate now?” The gaunt man shifted his weight, his boot crunching on some glass underneath. James, who I now knew was Ren, stood beside him with his hands in hiss pockets. If I had the balls, I’d smack the smirk right off his face, but I also knew it was his magic currently protecting me from the angry mob of pedestrians trying to beat me up.
“What do you want from me?” I growled. This was what Ren told me to avoid … being cornered into a position where I had no other choice but to agree to their demands.
Leon continued, disgust curling around his words. “While your magic is … filthy and impure, and we would normally eradicate you on the spot, we can’t ignore the light that’s shining within the darkness. The Syndicate requires your assistance with something. We will allow you to live, as well as your friend, but in exchange we need you to find a ghost.”
“A ghost?” I asked, somewhat relieved but confused. Not that I wanted to help them with anything, but finding a ghost, all things considered, seemed like an easy way out. There had to be some kind of catch.
“Something’s not right,” Ellie’s transparent hand scratched her chin. I had to agree with her. This was too easy of a task.
“This ghost goes by the name of Caspian Vale. He was an extraordinary witch, long ago, with the ability to … cleanse magic. Not only could he break curses and stabilize deadly illnesses that corrupted magic, but he could completely absorb and erase magic at his will. There are rumors he hangs out in Salem, but without the ability to see or speak to him, alas, no one within the Syndicate can find or approach him. That’s where you come in.”
I snorted. “If he’s a ghost, he no longer has his magic power. All that’s left of him is the remnants of his magical aura that forms his ghostly body. There’s nothing he can do. NothingIcan do.”
