by K. D. Worth
I stepped closer to Kody and the surge in our strength made it hotter, warm air swirling around us. It was like we were suddenly inside a vortex of flames, one red and one blue. Silence reigned over the two of us as that powerful circuit of magic and holy spirit funneled throughout our bodies. I was no longer the source of the heat—never had been, I suddenly realized.
What I took, Kody refilled, and vice versa. There was no effort. It just flowed through us, within and around. Blue filled my vision, like I was looking through funny sunglasses. I studied Kody and saw him enveloped in a fluttering force, his energy red, the twin to mine.
Kody stood straighter and looked me in the eye. “I love you, Max.”
“I love you too, Kody,” I said, unusually calm despite the wild phenomenon happening around us, the horror on the quad.
“No one is listening to me.”
“So you said.”
“I think I can do this.”
The furnace-like air we created in our little bubble steamed the tears on my cheeks. I hadn’t even realized I was crying. Nor did I know how long we’d been standing there or when I understood and accepted what I knew he intended to do.
Then Kody smiled at me.
I wasn’t sure why he was smiling. All around us, the world suddenly become peaceful and quiet, despite my fellow reapers and the confused spirits still running from fleshly bullets that could no longer harm them.
Above us, the sky was a cloud of black with cracks of lightning as Slade and the team prevented the wraiths from getting too close to the bodies. Slade told us they needed almost immediate possession to reanimate them, so the longer the team kept the wraiths back, the more bodies we could protect.
“Max,” Kody said in my head. “I know what I need to do.”
Suddenly a sense of rightness and tranquility settled over me. As if we’d arrived in the moment we’d been destined for all our lives, both living and this one. My fear of losing Kody, the terror I’d suffered when I thought he was dead, all of it came back to me. Everything from that first moment I saw him standing on the bridge, to the special time we’d had at the pavilion Meegan made for us, and right up to last night when we’d made love.
I loved him so much. I wanted to be with him forever.
But I knew my job was to simply protect him.
The luminescent circle around us kept everything and everyone away from him. My power, the light within, effortlessly shielded Kody’s heart.
“I love you, Max,” Kody whispered again.
“I love you too.”
“You have to let me go.”
“Never,” I promised.
“It’s time, Max.” Kody smiled at me.
Slade’s words about losing Kody did not echo in my mind this time. Because, as I stared into those bright blue eyes, I knew Kody was the other half of my soul. We would be together no matter what.
It may not be today or may not be for years to come.
But I would never lose him.
“Pinky swear you’ll come back,” I said, coiling my little finger with his.
He gave it a shake and tears glistened on his lashes. “I pinky swear I’ll come back.”
“I’ll hold you to it.”
And then I let go.
From our first meeting, I had been unable to let go of Kody. I wouldn’t let him fall, and I wouldn’t let him do it alone. But it was finally time for him to fulfill his destiny.
I stepped out of the bubble.
Instantly the chaos on the quad assaulted my ears, the echoes of the human tragedy, the sirens, the screams, and the police shouting for order. The static sounds of words I couldn’t understand shouted from the loudspeakers.
One thing was clear: Slade and our team had managed to push back most of the wraiths. I saw no reanimated corpses, and my chest swelled with pride that we had accomplished that part of our task. But the rest of our team had no luck getting the dead students through the doors to heaven.
I absorbed it all with one heartbreaking glance.
We were not winning this battle.
Three dark shadows hovered in the sky, moving closer to the bubble around Kody. My hands sparked, and a hairsbreadth before I blasted them back, I heard Kody whisper to me, “Max, wait.”
I shot a look at Kody inside the umbrella of heat, light, and love I’d created for him. He began to glow white with little flecks of color. Slade had told us that Kody was an opal and he didn’t need the rings. And now he glowed luminescent, ethereal. My shield began to disappear, all that light filling Kody until he was almost blinding to look at.
He was like magic and light incarnate.
Suddenly, I could hear all of his thoughts and feelings as if they were my own….
Max’s protective barrier surrounded me, and the more I took from it, the more confident I became in my plan. God’s holy spirit filled me too, two rivers, one a mighty unfathomable source of strength, the other tributary equally important and vital to me. As Max’s light filled me completely, I could suddenly see everyone on the quad clearly. I heard the screaming, the chaos of the living, the confusion of the dead, and the pain of the evil things that did this.
But the evil was not mine to decide, to judge, or cast verdict.
This had always been in God’s hands.
I took a deep breath, and once again, let go and let God.
He did not let me fall.
Like a sucker punch, my life came flooding back to me.
Max pulling me from the bridge…. The truck hitting me…. The rush of power swept from me as I delivered the Touch…. The fear of the wraiths…. The loss of my sister…. Meegan’s kind sacrifice.
Then I saw the rest of them: Louie reuniting with Betty, Jeremy the drunk driver, the doctor who didn’t believe. Cindy. Brady’s large blue eyes looking at me. Chad’s charming smile. Then the soldier James, Laurence, the lost soul, and finally Mr. Jameson on his way to his daughter’s wedding.
All His children that I had returned to Him.
And I knew Max saw them all with me.
All the roads we’d traversed to get here, to this one moment. Every instant of our lives that we’d shared together flashed before our eyes and we both saw it as one.
Two hearts, one soul.
We had been together a short period of time, really, but it felt as if our entire lives had been lived in those moments. So many of our days had been filled with turmoil, some self-inflicted and others we had no control over. But we had never truly lived.
Not until we died.
Our afterlife together had been tumultuous, but it had brought us here. Together. No matter what came our way, we knew what we had to do.
Our eyes met and we both whispered….
“We’re ready,” I said along with Kody.
A stronger light began to emanate from Kody’s skin, bubbling on his hand. My hand burned hot in response as if I still held his. I pulled energy from deep inside me and funneled it all into Kody.
Our connection was foreordained, sanctioned by God Himself, soul-deep and unbreakable.
I felt Kody absorbing my light, but it did not hurt because it already belonged to him. There was more strength within him—God’s active force waiting, ready to save the lost souls. All of it channeled through Kody. The light inside me was a gift from God, a gift to keep us both safe as we returned His children to Him.
Kody raised his face and hands to the heavens.
The world around us had become a cloudy black-and-white blur. The only thing in real color was our team. From my eyes, the lost souls were cloudy like shades, but Kody saw them all for who they were, and in the end I did too. More black shadows and lightning bolts filled the sky—my friends keeping Kody safe while I fed him the strength he needed.
We were connected in that instant to heaven and to God.
It should have frightened me, but, like Kody, I knew this was our destiny.
And just like when Meegan gently sent the Victorian wraith woman to heaven to be
with her baby, slowly a whisper of wind fell upon us. I blinked once and the light Kody emanated was gone.
And suddenly there was silence.
I glanced at my surroundings. My friends Sarah, Tristen, Kelli, Heather, Jake, and Dan, once in the throes of a fight, all looking around in confusion.
That was all I saw.
No shades, no wraiths, no Slade.
And no Kody.
A faint pinging sound caught my ear, and I looked on the ground.
A silver opal ring.
“What happened?” Heather cried from across the quad. “Where did they go? Where’s Kody?”
“He took them all to be with God. It’s over.”
And then I collapsed.
MAX—Chapter 18
“YOU THINK he’s gonna wake up soon?” Heather whispered, her voice close yet sounding distant.
“I don’t know, he’s been out for a while,” a male voice replied… Tristen, maybe?
With a groan, I stirred, stretching out. Beneath my hands I felt a blanket, under my head a pillow…. I’m in a bed.
“Max?” Heather prompted, her voice urgent and closer. “Can you hear us?”
Yes, I could hear them, but I couldn’t open my eyes. Wouldn’t open them.
Because the second I did, it would all be real.
Kody’s gone.
My face scrunched up and my heart made a wailing sound until… there!
Though it was faint, I felt it—our light simmering inside me.
Relief melted through me. Kody had taken the spirits away and gone with them…. But our love was still warm and alive within me. I clung to that truth until the panic and fear threatening my mind faded away.
I might not see Kody again for a long time, but we were still connected.
We always would be.
Weary but clinging to that hope, I squinted my eyes open. Above me loomed the faces of my fellow reapers, all staring down at me, each countenance creased with worry.
“Are you okay?” Heather whispered.
When I pushed my arms up to sit, trying to get my bearings, she quickly fluffed my pillows behind me. I was in our bed… my bed?
I didn’t know the answer.
“I’m fine,” I managed, throat tight and voice hoarse. I waved for my friends to back up. “Give a guy some space to breathe.”
They all shared looks and stepped back, relieved chuckles coming from a few of them. They doubtless assumed if I was cantankerous, then I was all right.
But was I?
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Why are you all in our room?”
Dan shared a concerned look with Jake, and after a long pause he looked back at me and answered. “You passed out.”
I frowned, rubbing the back of my head, expecting to find a goose egg. “Yeah, I know that.”
Why had that happened? The instant Kody left, I’d felt a snap as our magical connection to heaven severed, weakening me totally. Just like it had done to Kody when he delivered Laurence.
Had Kody taken all of those souls to heaven? Even the wraiths?
“Where’s Slade?” I asked, wanting answers. Maybe he had Kody in purgatory again—
“He’s been gone since the attack on Union College,” Tristen explained.
I felt my frustration build. “Naturally.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Kelli warned, holding up a finger to stop my snark from catching steam. “This time he left a letter.”
My head jerked up. “He did?”
“Yup, there’s a note for each of us,” she said, materializing a sheet of paper in her hand. “You want me to read your part to you?”
“Did you guys already read it?” I demanded, hoping Slade hadn’t said anything to embarrass me.
They all looked around guiltily. “Well, yeah.”
“Then I wanna read the whole thing,” I said, holding out my hand. “If you read my note, then I wanna read yours.”
I snatched the paper and began to read.
I am so proud of each and every one of you. You really came together in a crisis and succeeded. I have to be gone for a little bit, but you guys know what to do now.
Dan, I hope I get to see you again. Be well and happy.
I looked up at him, and we shared an understanding nod. When everyone else looked at him, Dan squirmed. Jake placed a hand on his shoulder and they shared a quiet, private glance. Their relationship no longer intrigued me.
All my thoughts were on what Slade had left for us and if it had anything to do with Kody’s whereabouts. I didn’t question whether he was here, because I knew if he was, he’d be in this bed beside me.
I fixed my attention back onto the letter.
Tristen, patience and kindness are the keys to finding what you seek.
Kelli, don’t shut people out. No man or woman is an island.
Heather, be strong in your convictions.
Sarah, life can be fleeting, but not your purpose.
Jake, don’t stop studying. The team needs your knowledge.
Then I saw my name.
I took a shuddery breath and blinked before I read his words to me.
Max, have faith.
“That’s it?” I said aloud. “Have faith?” I flung the letter onto the bed.
“They’re all rather cryptic,” Kelli said, glancing around the room. “Then again, they aren’t.”
Her gaze fell to Dan, and we all knew then, at least in a way, what Slade had really said to each of us. I stopped glaring at the paper, emotions calming enough to think clearly.
Faith.
I concentrated on the warmth still inside me and sent a fervent prayer heavenward.
God,
I will have faith. I promise. Wherever Kody is, please keep him safe until I get there or until he comes back to me. Either way, God, just keep him safe, please.
Amen
“So what are we supposed to do now, Max?” Sarah asked, chewing her nail nervously.
“I… um?” I didn’t know what to say.
All eyes were on me. Had I become their de facto leader?
I guess I had.
Never would’ve seen that one coming.
“We reap souls for God,” I replied.
More unsure glances were exchanged.
“What about the shades?” Dan asked.
“With Kody not here, they’ll probably become scarce,” I said, my logical tone belying the pain in my heart.
My love simmered inside me.
He’s still with me….
“Where do you think Kody is?” Heather asked, wiping a tear from her pretty eyes. “Is he coming back?”
Then memory struck me hard.
“His ring!” I said, frantically grabbing at Heather’s arm. “Did you pick it up at the quad? Did you find it?”
“Yes.” Calmly but seeming confused, she walked over to the nightstand beside the bed and picked up a ring that had graced a hand so familiar to me. A hand that I’d held, one that touched me, brushed away my tears, and one I might not see again….
“We didn’t find his bracelet,” Jake said apologetically. “We assumed that it was probably pulverized from the force of Kody’s magic.”
I heard him with half an ear, my gaze locked on the terrifying object in Heather’s hand. Unable to reach for it, I squeezed my right hand into a fist, feeling the life of one stone and the icy cold deadness of another shivering through my body.
What would I do if Kody’s stone was cold?
I can’t do this again….
And then Heather’s hand was reaching out. My fist didn’t open, and she gently pulled on my fingers. For some reason, they obeyed.
She placed Kody’s ring in my hand, curling my fingers over it.
I held my breath.
That’s when I felt it.
“It’s warm!”
Everyone in the room jumped back at my outburst.
“Jeez, warn us when you’re gonna scream like that,” Kelli admonished. Jake had
his hand on his chest like I’d given him a heart attack.
I let out a hysterical-sounding laugh. “It’s warm!” I shouted again, squeezing it and holding it in my fist triumphantly.
They all looked confused.
“Don’t you see?” I cried as elation washed over me. I jumped out of the bed, not caring that I wore only pajama bottoms. I grabbed Dan by the shoulders and gave him a shake. “He’s not gone! It’s warm! He’s still here!”
Behind Dan, everyone looked uncomfortable, sharing glances that clearly said I’d gone nuts.
“Buddy,” Dan began, resting a hand on my shoulder. “It’s been eight days, and we haven’t seen Kody.”
I shook my head stubbornly. “No. His ring is warm. That means something.”
At my powerful conviction, heat flickered inside me. While I knew Kody was still with me—even if my friends didn’t—I didn’t entirely know what any of it meant. But Kody was still with me, dammit. He was the flip side of my coin, the twin to my flame.
The other half of my soul.
Kody might not be here physically, but I hadn’t lost him.
MAX—Chapter 19
“YOU GUYS ready to get back to work?” I asked, looking at the stack of manila folders on my desk.
“Oh yeah.”
“Sure.”
“Of course,” came the chorus of replies.
I noticed Heather and Dan watching me closely out of the corner of their eyes, but I didn’t have time for it. Kelli, Jake, and Sarah were huddled around the espresso machine, whispering more doubts, I was sure, though I didn’t try to listen in.
We had work to do. There were still souls who needed to get to heaven.
“The game plan is still the same?” Tristen clarified, picking up his folder from the top of the pile on my desk. He studied me through a long bang of brown hair. “No new info?”
“Status quo,” I quipped, having fallen easily into the role of Slade’s assistant manager. He still hadn’t returned in a month, his succinct letter the only communication. I didn’t call out to him this time or call him any names and curse him for not being here for me. I was trying my damnedest to show faith and wisdom.
It wasn’t easy.