by Russo, Jessa
“Yeah, well, I can relate.”
“Those guys you saw today?”
I’d only seen one, and really had only heard him, but I nodded so Toby would continue.
“Those guys work for the highest up on the ladder. Make sense?”
I nodded again, just to get him to proceed, even though no, this did not make sense. But I was sure that with a little more explanation, it would all eventually be clear.
I hoped.
“So those people, the higher ups, they’re relying on Ted to fix the mess his daughter created. But if Ari’s in Mexico, then Ted isn’t even keeping an eye on her. It doesn’t make much sense, but—”
“But that guy said I was your responsibility. Why?”
“Because I love you”—he said it so matter-of-factly that my breath caught in my throat—“and because by loving you, I brought you into this mess.”
I quickly turned my head to gaze out the window, feeling my cheeks do their usual thing. Hearing him tell me he still loved me sent a little thrill throughout my body. I was with Frankie, and loved Frankie, but knowing Toby still loved me…after all that had happened…well, that made me feel warm inside. Warm and loved. Any girl would have felt this way, right? Right.
“They can’t blame you for what Ariadne did, Toby. That’s not fair.”
“No. It’s not fair. And they don’t really blame me, but they do expect me to help clean up the mess. More importantly, keep you safe.”
And there it was again. The threat to my safety. His earlier words drifted through my mind again. I won’t let anyone hurt you.
“Why am I in danger?”
“Well, there are others—another group of soul collectors. If word has reached them…well. Then they’re the ones after you. They’ll want you because of what Ariadne has done.”
“What?”
He pulled over to the side of the deserted, dusty highway, and parked the car. Trepidation crept its way through my chest and down my arms until my hands trembled in my lap.
“Toby? What are you not telling me?”
He took my hands in his, and I didn’t pull them away. I needed the comfort his strength could bring me. What was I going to hear next?
“When Ariadne put a limit on your life, an expiration date so-to-speak, she branded you. For us—for soul collectors—your soul has more value now.”
“What?” It was the only thing I could muster.
“Your soul is worth more to people like me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Okay, I’ll explain, but I have to get back on the road. Please tell me if you need me to pull over.” He gently trailed his fingertips down my cheek and then turned back to the wheel.
Pulling back onto the road, he started talking again. I briefly wondered how I was going to get across the border if my passport was still in Cabo with Jessie.
“If Greg got the same phone call you did, are he and Jessie out of Mexico by now?”
“It’s safe to assume that, but when I called him earlier…well, he hasn’t responded to my texts yet, so they’re most likely still on this side of the border.”
I slumped in my seat. She must be so worried about me.
“Here.” He handed me his cell phone. “Try again.”
I searched through his phone contacts, my heart skipping a beat when I passed over my name and the number to my house. I don’t know why I was surprised to see it there, but I was. I briefly contemplated calling home, but thought better of it since I really had no idea what to tell Mom or Frankie yet.
I dialed Greg, finding his number two places underneath mine, only to hear that annoying beeping on the other end. Frustrated, I sent a text, addressing it to Jessie in hopes he was still with her. He had to be with her. If he wasn’t, then she was alone in Cabo, freaking out about my disappearance, and I was officially the biggest jerk ever. I should have never ditched them this morning.
“Nothing?”
“No. I sent another text.”
“It’s going to be okay, Ever. He’s with her, and I guarantee they’re not too far behind us. We’ll see them shortly.”
I nodded. I wanted to believe him.
“Okay. Back to the story. When we become soul collectors, we receive a list of assignments. A list of souls to collect.” He shot a sideways glance at me, and I nodded. Toby ran his hand through his shaggy golden hair and took a deep breath. “Depending on who you were, in your normal life, well…that indicates the kind of list you’ll have when you become a soul collector. Are you following me?”
“Yeah?”
He smiled, a half smile that barely reached his eyes. “You know, a yes with a question mark at the end sounds a lot like a no. The easiest way I can put it: if you were a relatively good person, you’ll have a short list. You’ll only have a few hundred souls to collect before you can move on.”
A few hundred?
“Move on?”
“Die. Like, to die for real.”
I swallowed the quickly forming lump in my throat as I remembered what Greg had said about dying—the first time. “Go on.”
“Now, on the other side of that coin, are the people who weren’t good in their lifetime. The people with the long lists. The more evil the person, the longer the list.”
“So, like, bank robbers and stuff?”
“Yeah, them. And then worse than them. Imagine if a normal person who hasn’t done much more than underage drinking, or the occasional gambling mishap has, say, two hundred assignments on his list. Then, there are worse offenders on the scale, like the bank robbers or the spousal abusers; they have longer lists. Right?”
I nodded. I followed along fine, but my skin began to crawl with the direction of this conversation. I could only guess what was coming next.
“Then you have your really bad people. Serial killers. Child molesters. Rapists. They’re at the top. Their list is the longest. They have the longest time to wait before they can finally pass on. Some of them don’t mind. Some of them want to be stuck here, collecting souls and bringing pain to the lost soul and the humans attached to their deceased-but-still-lingering loved ones. But others…”
“They want me.”
“Yes.”
“To speed up the process. Because my soul has more value.”
“Yes.”
“Because I’m branded?”
He nodded. “They want your soul because it’s worth more to them. So, when Ariadne put a time limit on your life, she did more than screw things up for you, for us. She branded you. So now, I’m guessing, there are a whole slew of collectors who want you. That want to turn you in themselves and claim the benefits of your Soul Brand.”
“Like…on my birthday like Ariadne promised, or…any time?” I looked at him expectantly, even though I already knew the answer. If I was being hunted right now, then they could collect on my soul any time they wanted to.
“Any time. Now. Tomorrow. Two weeks from now. Just as long as Ariadne doesn’t get to you first, they still have a chance.”
“And by Ariadne getting to me first?”
“Taking your soul.”
“So that’s why she’s in Mexico? To…to kill me?”
“I think so, yes.”
“Oh my God.”
“I won’t let that happen, Ever, I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you. But if Greg found you by following Ariadne down here, then that means anyone else could have done the same. Which means the people who grabbed you did the right thing, and even more so when they called me. Now I can get you home and figure out what to do next. Where to go next.”
“Go? What do you mean, like, leave my mom? My home?” I paused. The pained look in his eyes was all the answer I needed. “You’re making me leave Frankie?”
Toby pulled his gaze back to the road and didn’t make eye contact with me for a long time after that. We rode in suffocating silence, the burden of this news weighing heavily on my mind. My soul not only had a countdown on it, but it had road fl
ares and flashing lights directing every evil person from here to Baghdad straight to me. And for what? All so they could get bonus points on their soul collecting list? This was seriously messed up.
We drove another hour or so until we began seeing signs indicating the California border was fast approaching. Toby kept glancing at his phone and looking around for something unknown to me.
When we were a dozen or so miles away from Mexicali, he cursed quietly and pulled into a beat up old gas station. At least, I think it was a gas station. At some point in its life. Now it was just a hideous old half-a-building and some things sticking out of the ground that slightly resembled gas pumps.
“How are you getting me across?”
When he looked at me with that half-smile, I knew.
“Shit, Toby! You have no idea, do you?”
“No, I mean…I…no. I expected to hear from Greg by now. Or even Ted. I don’t know how to get you across yet.”
“Oh my God. And I’m supposed to trust you? Nice.”
Toby grabbed my face, his hands resting on my cheeks, and turned my head toward him. His dark blue gaze found mine, and he spoke his next words firmly and without an ounce of doubt. “Trust me to protect you, yes. I will never let anyone hurt you, Ever. I swear it.”
As if knowing I needed saving at that exact moment, or maybe just because we were so close to the states that the cellular service was suddenly ten times better, Toby’s phone rang. I sucked in a breath as his hands dropped from my face. His closeness, combined with his words, had been way too intense for me.
“It’s Greg,” he said, as he looked at the phone. Then, to the caller he said, “Finally! Have you gotten our texts?”
I heard Jessie’s screeching on the other side of the line, even though it was Greg who was on the phone with Toby. Toby cringed, and I smiled. Even hearing her freak out was better than nothing.
“Yes. She’s with me. Yes. She’s fine. Scared, but not hurt.” He reached out and squeezed my knee. I looked at his hand, eyes wide, waiting for it to remove itself from my leg. It didn’t. I continued staring as if an alien sat perched there instead of my ex-boyfriend’s fingers.
“No. Yeah, we’re here now. I pulled over to try to come up with”—long pause—“oh shit man, I owe you.” Another pause, then that familiar smirk inched its way up Toby’s face. “Yeah, I think you know where you can shove that favor, Greg. Alright, what hotel?”
I heard more screeching through the phone, and Toby had to pull it away from his ear a few inches.
I cringed and mouthed, “Sorry.”
“Yeah, hey Jessie, here she is.”
The string of rants began before I’d even put the phone to my ear.
“Ever Van Ruysdael! I have been worried sick! How could you just leave me like that? I was scared to death! What is wrong with you? Oh my God, I thought you were kidnapped! I—”
“I was.”
“—don’t get smart with me Ever! I was scared to death! I can’t even tell you what today has been like for me! Don’t ever do that again! Oh my God, are you okay? Are you hurt? What is Toby doing here? Oh my God, people want to hurt you, Ever! Hurt you! Can you believe it? I can’t! I’m freaking out! Where are you guys anyway? I just got off a private plane! Can you believe it? I mean, I always knew I’d ride in style someday, but I hoped it would be because I was rich or something, not this. And there were these creepy guys in suits that never said more than two words to me, and—”
“Jess.” I took a deep breath, feeling as though I was the one who had just been ranting in one long run-on sentence. “We’re near the border to California, I think. Close to a city called Mexicali. I just don’t know how we’re going to get across.”
“Oh, Ever. That’s easy-peasy.” Rambling, chaotic Jessie was gone, and sassy Jessie was back. I heard the smile in her voice. “We’ve got your passport, silly. And your toothbrush. Have you even brushed your teeth today? Gross.”
Leave it to Jessie to be more worried about my personal hygiene than the fact that I was running from people who wanted to kill me.
Shit. That was something I never thought I’d have to say. I wondered when I would be curling up in a ball. Obviously, shock was the only thing keeping me moving forward and holding me together. But when the shock finally faded…well, that would be a different story; I was sure of it.
“Okay, Ev, Greg’s telling me to hang up. Apparently we’re close by. I’ll see you soon! I love you!”
“I love you, too.”
The phone screen flickered back to the black home screen, and I closed my eyes. Not in time to keep the tears from falling, though.
Toby cleared his throat and started the car again. “They won’t be long. We’ll see her in under an hour, and then we’ll figure out what to do next. I have to charge my phone, but when we get to the hotel room…you can call Frankie if you want.”
Frankie.
What would Frankie say about all of this? What about him, and his soul?
“Is Frankie in danger too, Toby?” I didn’t open my eyes. Just waited with my head back on the headrest and my eyes closed. Waiting for the worst.
“No, Ev. Just you.”
There was more to it. His pause had been way too long. But I couldn’t ask just yet.
By the time we checked into the hotel room just outside of Mexicali, under a name I’d never heard of on an ID I’d never seen—an ID with Toby’s face but none of his actual information—it was well after dark, and I was exhausted. I’d been wearing my bikini for over twelve hours if my calculations were correct, hadn’t showered after the half-ass pool bathroom shower, and no, Jessie, I hadn’t brushed my teeth either.
“I really want a hot shower, but”—I looked around at our less-than-stellar hotel room—“do you think I’ll catch a disease or something?”
Toby laughed, one eyebrow raised. “No, probably not. But just to be on the safe side, maybe keep your flip-flops on. Just in case.”
Eew.
“They’ll be here any minute. Go ahead and get in. I’ll ask Jessie to bring some clean clothes in when she gets here with your stuff, okay?”
His phone beeped and he looked down to read a text. “See? They’re parking the car now. Go shower, babe.”
I ignored the fact that he’d called me babe, too tired to tell him I was no longer his babe, and turned to head to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I exhaled a long, deep breath.
“Shit.”
“Did you say something?”
Whoops. “Nope. Sorry.”
I turned on the water, shaking my head at everything. The dirty bathroom in desert-brown Mexicali, Mexico, when just yesterday I’d had a gorgeous timeshare overlooking the blue waters and white beaches of Cabo San Lucas. The fact that I was here, in this shithole town, with my ex-boyfriend, who still loved me, apparently, and I hadn’t even talked to my actual boyfriend in days. I turned off the water.
“Toby?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re charging your phone, right?”
Long pause. “Yeah. I am.”
Turning the water back on, as high as it would go, I stepped into the shower, wearing nothing but the shoes on my feet. Which was really weird. But the once-white porcelain shower was far from white now, and ugh…who knew what lurked in it. Yuck.
I closed my eyes under the hot water, letting it cascade down my body. The showerhead’s flow was remarkably strong, with remarkably hot water, and I could have stood there for days. I just wanted to wash everything away.
“Oh, Ever!”
The shower curtain whipped back suddenly as Jessie’s arms wrapped around me. Strangling me. Squeezing me harder than I think I’d ever been squeezed. The water continued to rain down, splashing off us and splattering around the room, but I hugged her back fiercely, nakedness and all.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re showering in here! Gross!”
And just like that, our best-friend bonding moment was over. Pulling the shower cu
rtain back in place, Jessie left the bathroom, and I sighed. My best friend was here, and she was safe, and I could get through this. I wouldn’t be curling up into a ball on the floor in this place anyway, even if I wanted to.
When I finally turned off the shower, reluctant to get out but worried I might get a sudden flash of ice-cold water or something else equally odd, I was happy to see my jeans and hoodie folded on the toilet. Over a towel that Jessie had laid down first. Frankly, that girl thought of everything. I pulled on clean underwear and my black tube bra, thankful to have something comfy to put on. Being in a bikini for over twenty-four hours wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but being in a bikini for twenty-four hours because you were kidnapped and on the run made it feel like putting these clean clothes on was a small step away from Heaven itself.
I exited the bathroom, and Greg’s huge arms flew around me instantly. For a moment, my feet left the ground as he held me tightly to him. Man, I loved this guy.
“I’m so sorry, Ever. I had no idea how bad it was. I should have gotten you out of there the second I found you. I just thought… I thought if I stayed close to you guys and kept an eye out…well, I thought that would be enough. I thought Ariadne was the one we had to worry about. I’m so sorry.”
I was still in his arms, suspended a few inches—feet?—off the ground. Very uncomfortably.
“It’s okay, Greg. Honest. I’m fine, see?”
He squeezed tighter. I thought my eyes would bulge out of my head. The big lug loved me, too.
“Greg! Oh my gosh, you’re going to kill her squeezing her like that! Put her down before I get jealous,” Jessie said with a wink.
Greg released me, looking slightly sheepish before glaring at Toby. Ugh. These two and their silly animosity.
“You guys mind if I shower next?” Toby asked, clearly unfazed by Greg’s scowl.
“Of course not, Toby. Have at it. We showered early this morning before we hit the road.” Jess winked at me and I realized what she meant when she said ‘we showered.’ Then she made a face and added, “Like I’d shower in there anyway, right?”
“It wasn’t that bad, Jess.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Toby disappeared into the bathroom, and I sagged onto one of the double beds. I hadn’t felt this drained in forever. I guess being on the run could do that to a person.