by Mary Lindsey
I unlocked the door and walked to the sink. “Alden is the one who says we need to have a business-only relationship.”
“Because he’s as scared as you are. You’re the Speaker. You have to lead. Get your act together.” Maddi left the bathroom without a backward glance.
When I joined the others, they had moved to the small attic dining room located at the top of the stairs just inside the patio. We were the only ones in this section of the restaurant.
“It was too cold outside,” Alden said as he pulled the chair out for me. “I thought Race was going to cry like a baby.”
Race laughed. “You’re the one who was whining about the wind,” he teased.
“Being male, I’m surprised either one of you had the good sense to come in out of the cold,” Maddi said, pouring a tiny paper cup of ketchup on her hamburger.
I stared at my hamburger, appetite completely gone. The memory from Maddi had thrown me off balance. Did Alden know about Rose’s wish? Had she really gone to the Council elders? I studied the black and white checkered vinyl tablecloth. “She was just like my Rose,” Alden had said out on the seawall after the ICDC rep had left. It was Rose he really wanted, not me.
“Are you okay, Lenzi?” Alden whispered.
Stupid soul-feeling crap. I nodded and took a bite of my burger to ease his mind. The room made me uncomfortable. Because it was the attic of a house, the ceiling was triangular. The space was dark and tight. Graffiti drawn by restaurant patrons covered the exposed wood of the walls and rafters. There were names and dates written all over the place in Sharpie marker. “Kiely was here,” “George and Samantha, Spring Break 2011.”
“Are you going to eat those?” Race asked, indicating my fries.
“No, you can have them.”
Race grabbed several fries from across the table. Maddi glared at him. “That’s why you’re not built like Alden. French fries.”
Race laughed. “I’d love to look like Alden. Hot female Speakers would be falling all over themselves to be paired up with me, just like they did with Alden, when Rose . . . Lenzi was gone. You should’ve seen it, Lenzi. It was hilarious.”
My insides gave a jealous churn.
“Ha!” Race grinned. “I can feel that things have changed between you two!”
“Stay out of it,” Alden admonished him.
Race clapped Alden on the shoulder. “Hey, man, I’m happy for you. It’s about time you got a little action.”
Alden’s eyes narrowed. His voice was almost a growl. “I said, stay out of it!”
“Whoa, Alden. If this is about three cycles ago, I only did what any normal guy would have done—”
Alden slammed his fist on the table. “That’s enough!”
Spook jumped up from her spot under the table and growled. Alden immediately turned to me. Spook became so agitated, Alden had to put her out on the porch. He returned to his seat facing me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Nothing yet, evidently, if you don’t hear anything,” Alden said, studying my face. “But Spook felt something.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I sensed movement across the room. “There!” I pointed at the wall. The three Protectors turned in unison. Words appeared on the wall in red.
You have returned.
“What does that mean?” I asked, gripping the edge of the table.
Alden put his arm around me and transferred some of that calming energy, but it didn’t work. My terror made it hard to even breathe. He gave my trembling shoulder a squeeze. “Shhh. I’m here. Ask what it wants.”
I managed to gulp enough air to speak. “What do you want?”
Blood-red letters appeared on the rafter over my head.
Revenge.
This whole thing had a bizarre déjà-vu feeling to it. Struggling to not scream, I stared at the letters, fighting to access the memories just out of my reach. Dammit! If I only knew what Rose knew.
“Do you think it’s Smith?” Race asked.
“Undoubtedly,” Maddi said.
I scanned the room for movement. “Who is Smith?”
“You didn’t tell her about Smith?” Maddi asked.
I will have vengeance appeared on the rafter.
Alden tightened his grip on me. “No, I didn’t tell her. I didn’t want to scare her off. She can’t possibly resolve him.”
He knew this thing was out there, and he didn’t tell me? My breathing came in rapid gulps of air. He would never had done this to Rose. “Way to believe in me, Alden.”
He leaned close to my ear. “You need to drive him off, Lenzi. He’s too strong for you right now. Send him away.”
I stood and shouted at the rafter. “I do not deal in vengeance. I deal in resolution. Demon, begone!”
Maddi gasped.
History repeats itself appeared on the tablecloth.
“Demon, begone!” I shouted.
Excruciating pain shot down my arm. I screamed and pulled back my sleeve. I will kill you again was carved across the flesh on the inside of my forearm. The terror left a copper taste on my tongue. “Out with you! Begone!”
Alden pressed a napkin to my arm to stop the bleeding. He nodded to Race.
“We can’t let him have you. Lenzi, may I come in?” Race asked, grabbing my shoulders from across the table.
“Yes,” I managed to say.
I clenched my teeth as Race entered. The scorching pain was horrible this time.
You’re safe, now, Lenzi. I’ll keep him out. Alden is going to get you out of here, okay? Just hang in there.
I screamed as my body was lifted from the chair by an invisible force. It didn’t feel like hands held me. It was as if I were on top of a wave of energy. The energy snapped off, and I was dropped to the floor with a thud. Alden immediately picked me up and ran down the stairs. He bolted out the door and sprinted to his car. He set me down just long enough to pull out his keys, never letting go of me. He locked me in the car with Race still sharing the vessel.
“What now? What’s going on?” I asked. The feeling of helplessness was maddening.
It’s okay, Lenzi. Smith was trying to enter the vessel, Race explained. I was keeping him out. That’s why he threw you. I’ve never seen one quite this strong. He’s been trying to kill you since the 1860s. The IC tried to resolve him several times in your absence. They should have known that if you couldn’t do it, no one could.
“Oh, God. It’s trying to kill me? Why?”
You should really ask Alden that.
I wanted to pound my fists on the dash. “Clearly, he doesn’t think I can handle it. I’m asking you, Race. I just need to know what I’m up against. Who is Smith?”
A bad, bad guy, he told me.
In the rearview mirror, I watched Alden stuff Race’s body in Maddi’s truck. “That’s super helpful, Race. How about some details now?”
Let’s wait for Alden, he said.
This was so irritating. “Let’s not. I need information, or I can’t do my job. Tell me everything you know about Smith.” In the mirror, I watched Alden help Maddi buckle Race into the passenger seat. “Now, Race.”
He sighed. In 1863, Nicaragua Smith was court-martialed by the Confederate Army stationed on Galveston Island. They loaded him on a wagon with his coffin and took him to the cemetery for his execution. He stood next to his pre-dug grave and tapped his foot on his coffin, grinning like it was a party while he waited to be shot by a firing squad. He vowed revenge from the grave and refused a blindfold, saying he wanted to look at his killers’ faces as he died.
I shuddered. “That’s creepy.”
He asked to be buried facedown, facing Hell. They granted his wish. Evidently he hasn’t made it there yet.
I jumped when the door locks popped open. To my relief, it wasn’t Smith messing with us, but Alden, who had unlocked the doors with his key chain remote.
Spook jumped onto my lap when Alden opened the driver’s door.
He looked into my eyes
for a moment before starting the car.
My hands balled into fists in my lap. “You knew that this thing was hunting me! You knew and you didn’t tell me! You broke the rules, Alden.”
Hey, let’s calm down kids, okay? Race chimed in.
“Be quiet, Race. Stay out of it. Mr. Rule Follower broke the rules! That’s a bit hypocritical, Alden, don’t you think? You can’t kiss me, but you can neglect to tell me about a big, badass bogeyman who’s been trying to kill me since . . . oh, yeah! The Civil War! Just a minor detail that slipped your mind. Huh, Alden?”
Um, maybe you guys could take this up later, when you have more privacy.
Alden gripped the wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. “The reason we can’t have a physical relationship and the reason I didn’t tell you about Smith are completely unrelated.”
Okay, you two should really discuss physical relationship stuff when you’re alone.
“Shut up!” I yelled.
“That was entirely uncalled for, Lenzi,” Alden shouted.
“Not you. I was talking to Race.”
“Oh.” Alden exhaled through his clenched teeth. “Please, Lenzi, just wait for a moment and collect your thoughts. We’re both too agitated to talk rationally. We need time to reflect.”
Good boy, Alden, that’s right from page eighty-two of the rule book.
“Good boy, Alden, that’s right from page eighty-two of the rule book,” I parroted.
“Shut up, Race!” Alden admonished.
Race laughed. You guys are great together.
“Keep your opinions to yourself,” I grumbled.
Alden’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. “Hey, Maddi . . . yeah, Clear Lake will work. He’s never gone further north than Dickinson. He’s probably too weak after that stunt to even make it off of the island. . . . Mm-hm, it was very impressive. Tremendous power. I bet we could take him with another team in the mix. Kind of like soul tag or something. We’ll propose it to the Council. . . .” He looked over at me. “Yeah, they seem to be getting along fine. Race still hasn’t learned to keep his big mouth shut, though. See you in a few minutes. Bye.”
You need to talk to Alden about your feelings for him, Race said.
“You don’t know anything about it. Mind your own business, Race.”
You love him. I know. I’m in here. I feel your soul, Rose.
I was going to protest being called Rose, but didn’t. Somehow the lines were getting blurry—either that, or it just didn’t matter anymore. What did matter was what Race had said. Bogeymen or not, I was in love with Alden Thomas, regardless of what name I went by or what demon wanted me dead.
TWENTY-FOUR
“Did you hear her?” Maddi asked Alden as she met up with us in the gas station parking lot. “She said the same words and everything!”
I stepped out when Alden opened my door. “What words?”
“The stuff you said to Smith. You repeated yourself from over a hundred years ago,” Maddi said.
“Weird coincidence,” I muttered as I followed Spook to a patch of grass near the station store. Spook sniffed around in the unmowed weeds. Why had I said that? The words were odd, but somehow I knew what to say.
It’s not coincidental, Race remarked from inside my head.
I jumped. I’d forgotten he was still there. “Stay out of it, Race,” I said while Spook finished her business.
Let me show you. I was there.
Spook sat in the grass and sniffed the air.
Seeing Rose again was too tempting to resist. “Okay, go ahead.”
Images flooded my brain. Race was with Rose in the same room I’d seen in Maddi’s memory. There were people talking in a room behind them,
“The meal was perfect, Rose. You outdid yourself,” Race said, standing close to Rose, who was pinching the brown tips off of the slender leaves of a parlor palm. He was wearing a suit and was slim. The shoes Rose had on made her taller than Race. I couldn’t see the shoes, though, because Rose’s indigo dress almost touched the floor. I wondered how she could breathe with her waist drawn in that tight.
“Flattery is nothing but attention without intention,” Rose replied without looking at him.
“I have made my intentions perfectly clear, Rose. My Speaker has given me liberty. There is no obstacle to our relationship progressing to something more . . . familiar.” He ran his fingers down her bare arms. She moved away, gown rustling as she crossed to the window.
“I am married to Alden, Horace.” She fiddled with the black medallion tied around her neck with a black velvet ribbon.
He laughed. “It is a charade, and we both know it.”
“My answer is no. It always shall be. I cannot allow myself to be distracted.”
Race’s response was interrupted by the entrance of Alden and Maddi, who were dressed similarly to Rose and Race.
Alden looked from Rose to Race and back again. He shut his eyes. After a moment, he laughed. “She refused you again, Horace! Ah, well. Perseverance may pay off one day, old friend.” He clapped Race on the back.
Rose flattened against the window. She appeared shaken. “Begone,” she whispered. All three Protectors moved closer to her. She was listening to someone.
“I do not deal in vengeance. I deal in resolution. Demon, begone!” Rose shouted. “Alden, now!”
The memory stopped.
See? Exactly the same words.
“Yeah, weird.”
Hey, Lenzi . . . my offer from a century ago still stands. If Alden doesn’t treat you right, I’m here for you in any capacity, if you know what I mean.
Surely he was kidding. “Very funny, Race. Come on, Spook, let’s go back.” Knowing Race could feel my soul, I tried to suppress any and all emotion as I tromped back to the car.
“Let me see your arm, please, Lenzi,” Alden requested after Spook leapt onto the front passenger seat.
I held it out, and he pushed up the sleeve of my sweater. He winced. “That’s a lot of threat to fit on one tiny arm. Good thing Smith writes small.”
“If that’s a joke, it’s not funny. Tell me it doesn’t need stitches.” I groaned.
“Nope. Just antiseptic, holy water, and time to heal.”
Maddi looked over Alden’s shoulder. “Aw, that’s nothing. Remember the time he—”
Alden cut her off with a glare.
“Nice weather we’re having,” Maddi said as she strode to her truck.
After Race had returned to his body and my arm had been treated, there was debate over whether or not Race should ride with us in case someone needed to enter the vessel. Alden couldn’t drive and protect me at the same time, but they decided that the danger had passed for now and Race could ride with Maddi. Smith had used up a lot of energy communicating, so he shouldn’t resurface for weeks, even if he had expanded his territory.
Once we were on the highway, I turned Alden’s iPod off. We needed to talk and clear some of this up. “Why did you have Race soul-share instead of doing it yourself?”
“It was the best tactic. There are several reasons; none of them are your concern.”
“Oh, right. I thought we were a team.”
He glanced at me and shook his head. “You’re safe. It was the best way.”
“Reasons?”
Alden sighed and switched lanes to get around a tanker truck. “Lenzi, if I had been in the vessel, he would’ve had to drive my car. This was easier.”
He was hiding something. “That’s not it. You let me drive your car, and I don’t even know how to drive.”
Alden accelerated and turned the iPod back on. I switched it off the moment he set it down.
“You’ve been keeping things from me, Alden. You say we’re a team, but you only tell me what you want me to know. You show me bits and pieces of memories and give me half-truths. You wouldn’t do that if I were Rose, would you?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Can we talk about it later?”
“No.”
&n
bsp; He took a deep breath through his nose. “Okay. I don’t want Horace touching you. I would rather have him soul-share than have to watch him touch you. I trust him with your life—not your body.”
“I thought you guys were friends.”
“We are friends. There’s no one I trust in a dangerous situation more than Race. He and I are in agreement on this. It’s best I be the external Protector if both of us are needed.”
“Well, I’ll tell you, Alden, I wish you’d change your mind on that. It really hurt when he entered and exited.”
He almost smiled. “Some souls are more compatible than others. I’m sorry it hurt.”
I decided not to tell him about Race’s offer at the gas station. I patted Spook, who grunted and shifted positions on my legs. “I need you to tell me about Smith. If I’m going to be haunted by this ghoul, I want to know what he is and why he’s out to get me.”
He brushed the hair out of his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him. In retrospect, it was a mistake.”
I examined the threat carved into my arm. “So, why does he hate me so much? I didn’t execute him.”
“No, you didn’t.” Alden reached over and brushed my hair behind my shoulder. “Smith is out to get you because he believes Rose betrayed him. My experience with him in life was very limited, and unfortunately, my memory about it isn’t reliable because I was in jail when most of it was going on. Plus, I’ve been through two cycles of memories since then. I know that Smith set me up for a crime he committed. I know Rose got me out of jail by leading him on until he confided in her, which exonerated me. Basically, Rose set him up by seducing him, and he fell for it . . . and her.”
“Ew. She had an affair with a demon?” I shuddered. “She must have really wanted you cleared of that crime. What was the crime?”
“Stealing a Confederate boat in Galveston Harbor. He wasn’t a demon at the time, just a despicable crook. He was totally in love with her and didn’t see her betrayal coming. Then, after he was executed, he approached her as a Malevolent, and she wouldn’t let him use her body to exact revenge on the members of the firing squad. Insult to injury, I guess. He lay low until the next cycle, which was the one in which you . . . she was killed in the storm.”