Page 45 of A Soul's Curse
“I trusted you, Ren,” I said, my voice trembling with the weight of every word. “But there’s no place in my life for people who betray me. I thought you had my back, but all you ever wanted was to bury a knife in it.” My chest tightened, the pain sharp, the realization sinking deep.
“Theo—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Magic boiled to the surface of my skin and it surrounded Ren. “I’m done listening to you. I’m going todo this my way. I’m going to get Ellie back and I’m going to get out of this stupid deal with the Syndicate … consequences be damned.”
He collapsed onto his side, struggling to take in air.
“I read that grimoire too, you know. There are spells in there that can break my oath with the Syndicate. I’m going to find out where they’re keeping Ellie and take her back.Myway. I’ll do this on my own, without your help. I don’t need it.”
Gray’s magic squeezed tight around Ren. Blood sprayed out of his mouth as he coughed. He was convulsing, and every violent tremor that shook his body tore at something inside me. But I couldn’t let myself care. Not after everything. His pain was a consequence of his own choices, not mine.
“You need to leave, Ren.” I turned away like a coward, watching as Caspian gave the signal for Gray to remove Ren from my sight. Ren, too weak and disoriented to stand on his feet, was dragged carelessly through the back door of the ice cream shop and dumped out into the alley. Even as the door clicked shut and he disappeared from my sight, I couldn’t help but to wonder if he’d be okay.
Caspian ripped me from those pitiful thoughts.
“So youareworking with the Syndicate.” He patted the stool beside him. “But clearly against your will. Come sit, Theo. Tell me everything.”
I sank into the seat beside him, scooped up my ice cream, and let each bite numb my sorrows as I spilled everything.
18
“Sothereyouhaveit. I was tasked to bring you to the Syndicate so they can leverage your magic. They took my friend Ellie as a hostage, separating her body and magic. And this guy Leon used an Oathstone to force me into a deal, telling me I needed to steal your magic or convince you to work with the Syndicate, otherwise Ellie’s magic would never return to her body. I have a week left. He also said if I tried anything sneaky, that the person who cared about me the most would suffer. So, I’m begging you, Caspian. I’m out of options. You have to help me break that oath and find my friend. Please.”
It dawned on me that just telling Caspian this was likely causing someone extreme pain and suffering, and if I was going to do this—use Caspian to help me find Ellie, to trick the Syndicate—I needed to either find a way around that oath or accept the consequences.
Caspian sat on his stool, elbows on the table and his chin resting on his hands as he hummed his thoughts. It was an hourbefore midnight, and though exhaustion weighed on me, my body refused to rest, running on nothing but pure adrenaline.
“What did Leon tell you about my magic?” he asked.
“Not much. He said you can cleanse magic. It’s the perfect ability to eradicate all the powers they see as impure. Sounds like he thought of you as some kind of god … like you had the ability to ‘save’ all those people suffering with dark magic.”
Caspian’s laugh was light and airy. “Those idiots. No, Theo, my magic does notcleanse. I simply talk to it, ask it to do things. But I don’t havecontrol over it,ithas control over me. I died a premature death, but I wasn’t done with life and my magic wasn’t done with me. It stayed attached to my body, neither allowing me to stay anchored to the realm of the living or the dead. Now, a century later, I’m still trapped here and unable to move on.” His voice trailed off, his gaze distant.
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be.” For the first time tonight, something sincere sparkled in Caspian’s deep brown eyes. His hand twitched, like he wanted to put it on top of mine, but he placed it on his lap instead. “It was my decision, and I’m living with my choice. But what I’m trying to tell you, Theo, is that I can’t break that oath. An oath is more than just a spell, it’s a binding word, an agreement woven with your own magic. I wouldn’t even suggest you try to dissolve it yourself. If either of us tried to manipulate the oath, it wouldn’t just be altering that magic—it’d be unraveling a part of you. There’s no telling what might break in the process.”
“So there’s nothing you can do to help me?” My hope withered, sinking into a hollow pit of despair.
“I didn’t say that.” A smile tugged at the right side of his mouth. “Are you positive the words Leon said were correct? That the person who cared about you most would suffer if you tried anything sneaky? Because, by that definition, that would implythe person needs to be alive. His threat was not meant to kill anyone. With that in mind, I can help you find your friend, but you’ll have to accept the consequences of doing so. You’ll be breaking your oath, which means someone who cares about you is going to pay the price.”
“And what about you? If I don’t bring you to them, convince you to work with them, the oath isn’t fulfilled, anyway. Ellie might be safe, but I’ll still be forced to join their organization.”
A slippery smile crossed his pale face. “Ah. You let me worry about that part. So. Are you willing to accept those terms?”
Apprehension sizzled down my spine. The thought sat heavy in my chest. I would be the cause of their pain, and no matter how I turned it over in my mind, it didn’t feel right. But there was no plan B, and with Ren out of the picture, Caspian was the only person with the means to help me.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Fantastic.” The phantom clapped his hands together. “Let’s get started.”
“Really? Right now?” I could feel my heartbeat in my throat, every inch of me screaming to run, that I was probably going to regret this, but my feet stood grounded in place.
“Why not?” Caspian stood up from the stool, pushing up the sleeves of his turtleneck to expose his thin, boney arms. “Give me a few minutes to re-familiarize myself with the spell and gather a few things, then we can get started.”
He opened the grimoire, thumbing through the pages until he found the one he was looking for. “I feel compelled to explain the potential risks here. Your soul will be entering another person’s body unwelcomed. It will try to reject you, to push you out. If that happens, I can’t bring you back. This is a soultransfer, meaning, under normal circumstances, her soul would enter your body. However, given that her magic … isn’t fully part of her at the moment, that complicates things. Just like her spiritis experiencing pain, this process will be agonizingly unpleasant for you. And while I have the utmost confidence in my skills to manipulate magic, there is always a chance that something won’t go as planned.”
I gulped, my throat dry. “I understand, but … I have to do this. If there’s something I can do to help, I have to try.”
