Soul Mates

by Donald Hanley

  “Peter, stop looking at her!” Melissa jumped in front of me to block my view. “We need to cover her up!”

  Prescott was the only one of us with any spare clothing on hand. He removed his jacket, draping it over Olivia’s body, and she stirred at the touch of the damp fabric. Her blue-gray eyes fluttered open and she looked around in confusion until her gaze settled on my face.

  “Peter!” she smiled. “You’re alive! Did we win? Did we beat them?” She pushed herself upright and then frowned at the dirt and bits of gravel stuck to her hand. “What’s going on? Why am I dirty and where did this come from?” She lifted up Prescott’s jacket curiously and her shocked gasp nearly sucked up all the oxygen in the area. “Where are my clothes?” she squeaked and then she vanished.

  At least that’s what everyone else saw, judging from their reactions as the jacket flopped to the ground. To me, Olivia was still there, once again clad in her nightgown and desperately trying to cover herself up with her hands and knees.

  “She’s still here!” I assured them hastily. “She’s a ghost again. What’s going on?” I asked her. “You were alive just a second ago.”

  “I – I don’t know.” She finally realized she was covered up again and cautiously lowered her hands. “I just remember that – that thing running into me and then everything went blank. It’s gone, right?” she asked hopefully.

  “It’s gone,” I confirmed, “but I think it’s inside you.”

  “What?” She pulled the neckline of her nightgown open and looked down inside, as if the curse was clinging to her stomach. “Oh my God, get it out of me!”

  “I don’t know how.” Everyone else was looking at me with varying degrees of uncertainty. “I think the curse turned Olivia human again,” I explained.

  “Then why is she invisible?” Susie asked pointedly.

  “Well –” That was an excellent question. I looked at Daraxandriel for help but she shook her head.

  “I do not ken the workings of my Dread Lord’s curse,” she shrugged. “Mayhap its grip upon the dead is tenuous.”

  “What does that mean?” Olivia asked doubtfully. “Am I dead or alive?”

  “I have no idea,” I confessed. “Maybe you’re both. Can you control it? I mean, you were alive for a little while just now, right? Try being that way again.”

  “How?” I just spread my hands helplessly. “You’re a lot of help,” she groused. She squeezed her eyes tight, grimacing in concentration. After a few seconds, she checked herself, huffed in frustration, and tried again. I was about to suggest she give up when her nightgown abruptly vanished and everyone else jerked back in surprise. Olivia’s eyes popped open and she held up her definitely solid hands.

  “I did it!” she gasped in delight and then she noticed the rest of her. “Oh my God!” She lunged for the jacket but she vanished again before she reached it.

  “Perhaps she should just stay as a ghost for now,” Mrs. Prescott suggested, “until she gets the hang of it.” Olivia nodded her frantic agreement as she clutched her nightgown with both hands, as if she was trying to keep it from disappearing again. Prescott silently retrieved his jacket, shaking it out and draping it over his arm.

  “So what happens now?” Melissa asked uncertainly. “Is it over?”

  In the distance, the tornado sirens finally wound down into silence, but there were plenty of others wailing in their place as the police and fire departments swung into action. I surveyed the alley with an uneasy lump twisting in my stomach. The pavement was broken and cracked, glass shards from the windows littered the ground, and the dumpster was a twisted ruin. To my astonishment and intense relief, though, the Mustang appeared to be completely unscathed.

  “This is going to be hard to explain,” I noted glumly. “I don’t think the Hellburn Police Department has a code for Rampaging Demon Lord.”

  “Nonsense,” Susie insisted. “A freak tornado would totally do this.”

  “Since when do tornados punch square holes through driveways?” I could still see the impression the Stone left in the concrete.

  “Since when do demon lords attack in the middle of the day?” she countered. “Which story do you think people going to believe?”

  “I think it best if we said nothing to the police,” Prescott told us seriously. “It would be even better if we weren’t here at all when someone comes to check on the damage.”

  “An excellent point,” Mrs. Kendricks nodded. She looked up at the library with a sigh. “It’s going to take a while to straighten all this out.”

  “But it’s over, right?” Melissa persisted. “We’re safe now?” No one answered her and one by one we all turned to look at Daraxandriel. She hunched her shoulders as she twisted her tail in her hand.

  “A demon lord has been slain,” she told us. “There will be retribution.”

  “How soon?” Prescott pressed her. Daraxandriel just shook her head helplessly. “I’m going to have to call this in,” he said grimly.

  “You can’t be serious, Ryan,” Mrs. Kendricks protested. “What can the FBI do about something like this?” She waved her hand at the devastation around us.

  “You’d be surprised,” he said with a wry smile. “My boss is the other witch I was talking about.” A querulous meow sounded around his ankles and a black cat with a collar rubbed its head against his leg. “Merlin! There you are, you little coward.” He picked it up and cradled it in his arm as he scratched its head.

  “Merlin?” Susie rolled her eyes. “No imagination.” Merlin growled at her but subsided with a resentful glare when she raised her wand.

  “We can’t get the children involved in this,” Mrs. Kendricks argued. “They’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “They’re already involved,” he pointed out. She just looked at him and he shook his head with a sigh. “I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thank you,” she said, her features softening into a smile. “You’d better get out of here,” she told us. “I need to make sure everyone’s all right inside so let’s regroup at my house tonight. Until then, stay out of sight and out of trouble,” she warned.

  “What about her?” Prescott asked with a frown, nodding at Daraxandriel. “We can’t just leave her wandering around on her own.”

  “She’s fine,” Mrs. Kendricks insisted.

  “But –”

  “You and I need to have a little talk,” she said firmly, “in private.” She grabbed his sleeve, pulling him toward the side door, but then she paused and looked back at us. “You did well, all of you,” she said somberly. “I’m very proud of you.”

  She and Prescott disappeared inside as we all looked at each other. Olivia was the only one of us who didn’t look like a drowned rat. “So,” I said, clearing my throat, “who needs a lift?” I dug my key fob out of my pocket.

  “I don’t think we’re all going to fit,” Melissa said doubtfully as the Mustang’s lights flashed.

  “Dibs on the front seat!” Susie called, hurrying over to claim it. “Olivia can ride in the trunk.”

  “It’s okay, my car’s at the office. I’ll just walk back over there.” Melissa shook her head with a resigned sigh.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Mr. Franklin’s going to kill me. We were right in the middle of a client meeting when I felt that magic – cloud – thing – whatever it was and ran over here.” She plucked her sodden blouse away from her skin. She looked like the winner of a corporate wet t-shirt contest. “This is just great,” she muttered. “I am so fired.”

  “Just tell him you had an emergency,” I suggested. “That’s even true.”

  “Right,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He’ll totally go for that. Sorry, Mr. Franklin, I had to cast a Dark Void spell on a demon lord before he killed my boyfriend. My ex-boyfriend,” she corrected herself hastily. She suddenly couldn’t look in my direction. “Where are my shoes?” she asked no one in particular, tucking another hank of wet hair behind her ear.

  I cleared my
throat awkwardly. “Well, um, good luck. Let us know how it goes. Dara, Olivia? Are you ready?” Olivia followed me to the car but when I opened the door for her I realized that Daraxandriel hadn’t moved at all. “Dara?”

  “I cannot go with thee, Peter Simon Collins,” she said sadly.

  “It’ll be cozy,” I admitted, “but it’ll just be for a few minutes.”

  “Nay, thou dost not ken my meaning. I needs must depart.”

  “Depart?” I blinked at her. “You’re leaving?”

  “Thy very lives are at risk elsewise. My Dread Lord dispatched Bellaxragor to deliver me unto Him and we have slain His messenger. He will seek vengeance for my defiance and His wrath is legendary and limitless.” She looked up at the sky, as if expecting it to turn black again at any moment. “And we have thwarted Lilixandriel’s schemes. She will do all in her power to make us suffer for it. My proximity to thee and thine will spell thy doom.” She turned away and started walking as the shadows gathered around her. “Fare thee well, Peter Simon Collins.”

  “You’re wrong,” I told her. Daraxandriel’s pace slowed and she looked back at me uncertainly. “You didn’t kill Bellack – Bellagh – that demon, we did. Your Dread Lord’s going to come looking for us, not you.”

  Melissa looked at me worriedly, balancing on one shoe as she shook the water out of the other. “Peter,” she said carefully, “that’s not actually a good thing.”

  “And you didn’t keep the Philosopher’s Stone out of Lilith’s hands, we did,” I went on heedlessly.

  “She’s pretty upset with us about that, Peter,” Olivia reminded me nervously.

  “The point is, we’re in desperate trouble no matter where you go.”

  “Wow,” Susie observed, “this is the worst motivational speech ever.”

  “But we need you here with us if we’re going to have any chance to get through this,” I pressed on. “You know how Lilith thinks and you’re the only one of us who knows anything about demons first-hand. We need your help come up with a plan to defeat whoever comes after us. Stay with us.” I held out my hand to her. “Please.”

  Daraxandriel hesitated, looking at each one of us in turn, except for Olivia who was still invisible, and one by one we all nodded to her.

  “We are all surely doomed,” she predicted, but a hint of a shy smile crossed her lips and the shadows faded away behind her as she walked back towards me.

  “But at least we’re all doomed together,” I told her. “Come on, let’s get out of here before Dad shows up with the entire police department and wonders what we’ve been doing back here.” I pulled the driver’s seat forward to let her climb into the back.

  “Just tell him there was a freak tornado,” Susie insisted.

  “You tell him,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m going to claim I’ve been home this entire time. Olivia?”

  Olivia inspected the narrow confines of my back seat doubtfully. “Maybe I should ride in the trunk.”

  “Just get in. Make some room for her, Dara.” Daraxandriel shifted over, pulling her tail into her lap, and Olivia eased in beside her.

  “Wait!” Melissa called, hopping towards us on one foot while she tried to get her other shoe on. “I’m coming with you.”

  “I thought you had to get back to work.”

  “Mr. Franklin can’t fire me if I’m not there.”

  “Just tell him there was a freak tornado,” Susie told her.

  “Look, Peter,” Melissa said, planting herself in front of me. “I almost lost you today. I’m not letting you out of my sight until this is finally over.”

  “You dumped me today, remember?” I pointed out.

  “Well, we’re still alive because of you so now you’re un-dumped.” She hiked her skirt just high enough to remind me what she was – or wasn’t – wearing underneath and squeezed into the back seat. “We’re going to have a long talk about your sleeping arrangements, though,” she added ominously. She and Daraxandriel eyed each other.

  Olivia hugged herself as tightly as she could and she still had body parts sticking into her. “Maybe I should ride in the trunk,” she said plaintively.

  “Maybe I should,” I muttered. “All right, everyone, buckle up,” I said out loud, sliding my seat back and getting in. “Let’s get ready for the Apocalypse.”