The Soulkeepers Series, Part Two (Books 4-6)

by Ching, G. P.

  Questioning glances bounced between them. Samantha tapped the screen of her phone and the music stopped. Jacob approached his mom cautiously.

  “You mean Jacob, right? Not me,” Dane said on his behalf.

  Jacob nodded and turned hopeful eyes on Lillian.

  She shook her head. “Not this time. I need you, Dane.” With an empathetic glance in Jacob’s direction, she held the door open for Bonnie and Samantha. They exited hand in hand, Ghost fading out behind them. Hands on his hips, Ethan didn’t follow but glared at Lillian as if she was out of her mind. Paralyzed with uncertainty, Dane didn’t either. This had to be a mistake. Regardless of what Malini had said, he wasn’t ready.

  “Go ahead, Dane,” Jacob said. “Malini doesn’t make mistakes. Trust her judgment on this.”

  Lillian nodded her encouragement.

  “Okay,” Dane said, finally finding the nerve to cross the threshold.

  “No mistakes, my ass,” Ethan muttered to Jacob on his way out the door.

  “Ethan! Hold the commentary,” Lillian scolded.

  She led them into a small classroom next to the lecture hall, aptly named the blue room after its cerulean blue decor. The desks were the small kind with chairs attached. She turned one around and slid into the seat. The others jostled into position around her, Dane taking the desk between Lillian and Ethan.

  “There’s been an incident with the last Soulkeeper, Cheveyo. We have reason to believe Watchers are holding him hostage and need the five of you to go to Arizona to find and rescue him.”

  “Yes!” Bonnie said, pumping her fist. “Finally, a mission.”

  Lillian grimaced at her display of enthusiasm. “This isn’t a vacation, Bonnie. You need to know what you are dealing with.” She opened a manila folder and passed the contents around the circle of desks. Each Soulkeeper paled as he or she saw what was inside the file. Bonnie and Samantha reflexively reached for each other. Ghost faded. But when the information reached Ethan, he stared at Dane and slapped the folder shut as if he were protecting him from the contents.

  Dane grasped the manila file, attempting to extract it from Ethan’s white-knuckled fingers with an unswerving effort that ended in the quick release and subsequent rebound of Dane’s body into his chair. With a grunt, he opened his quarry and perused the picture within. The bloody scene inside made him nauseous. This wasn’t just a murder scene; it was a massacre. Dane didn’t even bother trying to count the bodies. It was impossible to tell which parts belonged to which human being. This was a rescue mission and finding Cheveyo would mean facing the Watchers. He pressed his eyes closed and passed the folder back to Lillian. An icy chill permeated the room.

  Samantha stared accusingly at Dane. “Why isn’t Jacob here?”

  “This team was chosen by the Healer,” Lillian said by way of explanation.

  “But—”

  Lillian held up her hand. “Please be packed and ready to leave by Friday morning. Dane, you’ll need to clear this with your parents. The Helpers can aid you in coming up with a suitable excuse to travel. Perhaps a college visit?”

  “By Friday?” Dane’s head started to spin. “One week?” Sure, he’d applied to several colleges and had a stack of other applications ready to mail. The story was viable. But after the conversation this morning with his mom when he’d promised he’d be around more, could he lie to her again? Disappear again? This wasn’t a dinner cruise. He could die. And what would happen to his family, then?

  “Dane? Are you with us?”

  “Yes,” he said. He couldn’t say no; Malini needed him. Besides, this might be his chance to become one of them. The right situation might trigger the change.

  Ethan was staring at him again. In fact, the guy seemed downright agitated, as if he was about to bust out of his seat. “I don’t like this. It doesn’t make sense. He’s human. They could eat him.”

  Lillian didn’t deny the conjecture. “We are all human. They could eat any of us.”

  “But we can defend ourselves. Dane will be a lamb to the slaughter out there. It’s too risky.” Ethan clung to the edge of his desk as if it were a life raft.

  “I can decide for myself what risks are worth taking, Ethan.” The venom in Dane’s voice surprised him. He hadn’t meant for his words to have the wallop they did, but Ethan recoiled against the back of his chair like he’d been pushed. He was just trying to help, maybe save him, but Dane couldn’t stand to be the helpless human any longer. The more he thought about it, the more he needed to do this. The challenge would make or break him. Either he’d become a Soulkeeper, or die trying.

  Without further verbal objection, the other Soulkeepers looked at him with a mix of emotions: pity like Ghost, or contempt like Bonnie and Sam, or pleading dread like Ethan. Dane ignored them. Instead, he focused on Lillian as she opened a different folder and told them everything the council knew about Cheveyo.

  Chapter 11

  Pride, Prejudice, and Soybeans

  In Paris, Illinois, it was universally acknowledged that a first-born son in possession of good farmland must want to farm. Despite this practical wisdom, Monday morning found Dane Michaels at the breakfast table inside the farmhouse his family had owned for over one hundred years, thinking it was time for a change. He’d put off telling his parents about his trip long enough. The letter from Michigan State, provided by Master Lee, weighed down the pocket of his shirt to the point of affecting his breathing.

  “You were out late last night,” his father said accusingly. He’d propped open the door of the fridge with his shoulder while he poured a tall glass of orange juice. No matter how many times his mom said it wasted the cold, his dad was always doing that.

  “I was home by curfew.” Dane accepted another pancake from his mom. He offered no further explanation. Thankfully, the long-sleeved shirt he wore covered the black and blue evidence of his evening training session with Lillian.

  “I don’t wanna hear about you sleeping in class again.”

  “Dad, that hasn’t happened since freshman year, and it had nothing to do with staying up too late. I had mono.”

  “Hmm.” His father gulped his juice, finally closing the fridge door.

  Dane swallowed another bite of pancake and folded his hands. “I need to talk to you two about something.”

  Just then, Jenny jogged down the stairs, backpack slung over her shoulder. “Gotta go to school early today. See you tonight.” Her long, brown ponytail bobbed past the table and blew out the door.

  “Bye, honey,” his mom called from the stove, where she was busy producing additional pancakes doomed to go uneaten.

  Dane turned in his chair and caught a glimpse of Jenny climbing into the passenger side of an unfamiliar silver Honda. “Mom, do you even know where she’s going?” he asked incredulously.

  “She said school. Didn’t you hear her?” His mom stared absently out the kitchen window at the retreating Honda.

  “It’s not even seven. Why does she have to be to school so early? And who was that picking her up?”

  “I don’t know. I bet it’s the Barger boy. They have a class together.” His mom flipped the pancake she was cooking.

  Flashbacks to his sophomore year tore through his brain, hanging out with Phillip Westcott in the woods behind the school, smoking dope and drinking. Phil used to call it “warming up for class.” And the fights—it was how he met Jacob and opened himself up to Auriel.

  “I think you should be more careful with her. She’s getting to a really impressionable age. Where’s Walter, anyway?” Dane asked.

  “Sleepover,” his dad replied.

  “What? You lecture me about staying out too late, and you’re letting Walter sleep over on a school night?”

  His mom abandoned the frying pan and sat down at the table. “What’s this all about, Dane? Jenny and Walter aren’t doing anything you didn’t do at their age.”

  “Have you ever considered you should have been stricter with me? Look what happened, Mom. I was
abducted. There’s a crazy person out there who bombed our school. They never found who did it. You’ve got to be more careful with them.” He tapped his fist on the table.

  Both her bony hands wrapped around his closed fingers. “The therapist says it’s natural to be paranoid after what happened, but it was a crazy, isolated incident. It’s not going to happen again.”

  “You don’t know that.” This wasn’t the conversation he’d wanted to have with them, but damn it, they needed to get their heads out of the sand. What if Lucifer tried to use one of them to get to him? How would he protect them?

  “Everything is fine now, son,” his dad chimed in, returning to his chair at the table. “It’s all over. We can’t live our lives in fear.”

  Dane extracted his hand from his mom’s and scrubbed his face. “You’re right,” he finally said. “I need to let it go, which is why this is as good a time as any for me to tell you I’m taking a trip.”

  “Trip? Where do you think you’re going?” his father asked.

  “Michigan State has invited me for a campus visit.” Dane pulled the envelope Master Lee had given him from his pocket and handed it to his mother. His father snatched the letter from her fingertips before she could even open the flap. “I guess my grades were good enough to attract some attention. I leave Friday.”

  “You can’t go,” his dad said. “No way am I letting you drive that far alone, and a plane ticket is much too expensive at this point.” Scowling, he pulled the folded paper from the envelope and made a show of reading it.

  “I’m driving, but I’m not going alone. My friend, Ethan, is coming with me. He’s been invited too.”

  “Ethan? The boy who helped you with the silo Saturday?” his mom questioned.

  Dane had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Ethan had been over more than a dozen times. How could they not remember who he was? “Yeah, he’s the one. So, I won’t be alone. We’ll take shifts driving. I leave Friday morning.”

  “Ethan.” His dad leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. “There’s something funny about that kid. I’m not sure I like you hanging around with his type.”

  “What’s wrong with Ethan?”

  “He puts off a certain vibe. Like he’s a little light in the loafers.” His dad made a rude gesture with his hand.

  Dane stood up, knocking his chair back from the table. “You mean it bothers you Ethan is homosexual. That’s the word for it. Yes, he’s gay. He’s also one of my best friends.” And maybe more.

  His father’s mouth fell open. “What’s gotten into you? Listen, boy, you don’t want people thinking you’re a faggot.”

  With a small gasp, his mother shot his father a piercing look.

  A sudden rage washed through Dane. He leaned forward, resting his fingertips on the table, until his face was close to his father’s. “I’d rather be a faggot than a bigot.”

  Bam. His cheek stung from his father’s slap, but not as severely as it might have. Either he was holding back, or whatever illness he had was weakening him. Judging by the expression on his face, it was the latter.

  Rubbing his jaw, Dane tossed his backpack over his shoulder and stormed out to the sound of his mother’s sobs. He didn’t care, he couldn’t. He slammed the door behind him and leapt into the cab of his black Dodge Ram. Good thing there wasn’t much traffic in Paris at that hour because Dane cruised to school on autopilot, trying his best to calm down. He turned a sharp corner into the parking lot.

  “Whoa!” Jacob’s muffled yell filtered through the windshield as he dodged the advancing vehicle.

  Dane slammed on the brakes and rolled down the window. “Crap! Sorry.”

  Jacob chuckled, although his face looked more annoyed than he was letting on. “Where’s the fire?”

  “My parents are giving me a hard time about Friday.”

  His friend’s face fell. “Do you think you’ll be able to convince them?”

  “I don’t know.” He rubbed his cheek where his dad had slapped him.

  “We really need you.”

  “That’s just it. I don’t think you do. But it doesn’t matter because I need to go. I need to get away from here, and I’m eighteen, so…” Dane shrugged.

  “So, you’re going whether they like it or not.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that? I can tell you from personal experience a solid family is hard to come by.”

  Staring straight ahead, Dane’s jaw tightened. “I can’t be who they want me to be.”

  Jacob shook his head. “Sorry, dude, I don’t open for identity crisis convos until nine. Want to park and get something to drink before class? The cafeteria has a coffee machine now.”

  “What are you doing here so early, anyway?”

  “Malini helps me with my homework since our evenings are pretty much shot and she knows everything.”

  Dane lifted a corner of his mouth. “Yeah. She does.”

  “Ahhh, those are loaded words. Are you going to tell me what your talk with her was about Friday night?”

  “Nope.”

  “She won’t tell me either.” Jacob backed up a few steps.

  Dane parked in the closest spot and climbed out from behind the wheel. Abruptly, he stopped in the middle of the parking lot to stare at a patch of concrete.

  “What’s going on? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “This was where Auriel beat the crap out of me, and you saved my life.” Dane tipped his face up. “Did I ever say thank you?”

  “Like a million times.”

  “Then, did I ever tell you I’m sorry? For putting you at risk by giving Auriel the information I did.”

  Jacob laughed. “Um, also like a thousand times.”

  With a deep sigh, he joined Jacob on the sidewalk and started toward the school. “Well, here’s one I don’t think I’ve told you. I’m sick of having everyone else save me. I’m sick of having nightmares every night and feeling powerless to defend myself against the evil I know could be lurking around every corner.” As they reached the door, Dane turned to look Jacob in the eye. “Do you know I can’t even look at an attractive girl anymore without thinking about Auriel and how she tortured me? How she drugged me?”

  For a moment, Jacob didn’t do or say anything, just stared at him with the wide-eyed look of someone who’d just been dumped on. Then, he yanked open the door and pointed into the hall. “See that?”

  “What?”

  “That is the hallway where you kicked my ass. And yes, I was already a Soulkeeper. If it weren’t for the water fountain and Principal Bailey, I’d probably be a smear on the tile.” He grabbed Dane’s shoulder and whirled him around to face the parking lot again. “This is not just where shit hit the fan with Auriel. It’s where you slayed, what? A half-dozen Watchers at prom?”

  “It wasn’t that many. Mostly, I just helped other people kill theirs.”

  “All I know is, Soulkeeper or not, you are one bad-ass human being. Don’t ever think you’re helpless. Malini wouldn’t be sending you to Arizona if she didn’t know for sure you could handle it.”

  Dane nodded his head and pulled the door back open. “You know what? You’re right. I could kick your ass.”

  With a whack on his shoulder, Jacob led the way inside. The halls were empty as they headed for the cafeteria to meet Malini. All Dane could hear, besides the echo of their footsteps, was the tiny voice at the back of his head that said he was a fraud and a liar. There was a time when he’d believed what he’d said to Jacob. Not anymore. He’d spent days in Hell, trapped on a brimstone slab, inside a ring of unholy fire. The pain had been unbearable, but the worst part was the isolation, the certainty he’d never be in the light again, or loved again. He’d spent what felt like an eternity at Lucifer’s mercy. He couldn’t go back there. Not for anything. Sure he could talk big, but it wasn’t true.

  He’d never be that brave again.

  Chapter 12

  From Here to There

&
nbsp; By Friday morning, the tension in the Michaels’s household had reached DEFCON 1. Jenny and Walter conveniently made themselves scarce to avoid the likely Armageddon while Dane finished packing. He was waiting in the kitchen for Ethan, who was supposed to pick him up and drive him to the rendezvous point. He still didn’t know how he was supposed to get to Flagstaff. As a human, he didn’t think he could travel by enchanted staff, or maybe he could. Who knew?

  “You can still change your mind,” his mother said. She’d slipped into the room without notice, her face tracked with old tears.

  “I don’t want to. I think Michigan would be a good choice for me. I want to see the campus.”

  She shook her head, lowered her voice, and checked over her shoulder. “We talked about this. You can’t go. You have to help with the farm. I told you about your father’s health.”

  Dane looked her straight in the eye. “And I told you, I’d help in the spring while you guys figured out what to do, but I’m going to college. I’m eighteen and I don’t expect you to pay for it. But this farm, this life, isn’t for me. I don’t know how to be clearer about that.”

  Tears flowed down his mother’s cheeks anew, triggering his heart to make a guilt-driven swan dive into his gut. He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her but wasn’t sure what to say. Any retraction would be a lie.

  “Seems like you’ve got it all figured out, boy,” his dad drawled from the door. Behind him, Ethan waited on the porch, jaw clenched against the tension the old man was putting off. “Get gone. Can’t stand looking at you, making your mother cry. Maybe some miles’ll snap your head on right. Otherwise, don’t bother coming back. If you don’t think you belong here, you don’t get to be here.”

  His mother gasped. This wasn’t a threat, but a promise. Dane grabbed his bag off the table and squeezed through the door his father propped open. His old man didn’t budge, and Dane was forced to brush against his chest to fit past him. At the contact, his dad narrowed his eyes and shot Ethan a dirty look. The screen door slammed as he disappeared inside.