Souled

by Diana Murdock

  He was sounding urgent now. “Go see if it worked!”

  Why was I hesitating? Because I was so afraid it hadn’t worked. So afraid of what I would find.

  Alyx’s eyes widened and I nodded at her.

  Mom glanced up and started to say something, but I waved her away. “Later, Mom.”

  I bolted from the cafeteria, Alyx on my heels. We ran through the halls and up the stairs in a full sprint. Skidding around the corner, we saw the door to Seth’s room swing shut. We shoved it open.

  Two nurses stood beside the bed, blocking my view of Seth. One was checking his chart, the other was holding a stethoscope to his chest.

  I felt sick all of a sudden. This didn’t look so good.

  “Go get Dr. Spencer,” said one of the nurses to the other, shaking her head.

  The other nurse turned around. I braced myself.

  Her mouth broke into a huge smile when she saw us. “He took a turn!”

  From the tone of her voice and her big smile, I knew it was a turn for the better.

  She brushed past me, in a hurry to get the doctor.

  I hurried to the bedside. Seth’s color had returned, his cheeks and lips touched with a hint of pink.

  “Would you mind stepping back please?”

  The doctor’s brusque voice startled me and I moved back. He flashed a light in Seth’s eyes, checked his pulse, and listened to his chest with the stethoscope.

  “It’s the damnedest thing,” he muttered under his breath. “Vitals are strong. Let’s do some repeat labs on him, culture the blood.”

  Mom and Marty ran in, out of breath.

  “Dani, when you ran out like that, you had us worried. Is Seth okay?” Mom took one look at Seth and the frown disappeared.

  “He bounced back,” the doctor said, shaking his head. “I still don’t understand it, but his body seems to have purged whatever made him so sick. We’re going to run a few more tests and do another CT. Then we’ll see how he is in the morning.”

  Relief like I had never known before made my knees weak. I sank down into the chair against the wall. I was ready to laugh and cry. I couldn’t wait for Seth to wake up. I wanted to talk to him, to hear his voice, and most of all, to look into his eyes and see him. I mean, really see his soul, Seth’s soul.

  Marty held Seth’s hand against his heart, closed his eyes, and moved his lips silently before pressing Seth’s palm against his cheek. A brilliant smile broke across Marty’s face. He turned quickly as the doctor walked away.

  “Hey, doc, I have some questions,” Seth’s dad trailed behind the doctor out the door.

  Alyx slid inside the room before the door closed.

  “I called Justin,” she said. “He’s on his way.”

  I nodded, too tired and overwhelmed to say anything. I gave her my seat so I could be at the bedside, holding Seth’s hand.

  Then we waited.

  And waited.

  And then it happened. A slight pressure around my fingers. I stared down at my hand, so small compared to his. My breath stuck in my throat.

  I was afraid to look up. Still afraid this wasn’t real. But when I finally did…

  I cried.

  Tears of relief. Tears of happiness. Tears of love.

  Seth was back.

  ALYX

  Do not wait for it, for the end never comes...

  ~ Maksim

  It’s funny how the universe throws unlikely people into unlikely situations with unlikely results. I never would have thought I’d be here right now, hanging out with Mr. and Ms. Popular. Dark, totally misunderstood, totally underestimated, misfit Alyx. But here I am.

  This whole dark sorcerer thing spiraled down from the cosmos, winding itself through time to land in our laps, tying us all together. I hate to admit it, but I actually think Seth and Dani are pretty cool.

  And then there was Justin. Another underestimated person. He tends to lay low, keeping pretty much to himself, but he’s a bundle of emotion, that guy. His eyes say everything his mouth won’t. He’s an easy person to read—that is, if you take the time to do it. He’d rather stand in the shadows, letting the other guy have the glory. That’s too bad, because I think he’s pretty cool. He’s someone you can depend on. Loyal to the end. Any girl would be lucky to have him as a boyfriend.

  Not that I’ve considered it. Well, not really. But I’m not blind. I can look past his good looks and his great body to see what makes him tick. He has already proven how deep his emotions go. He has a lot of layers to him. Now, if only he would end this infatuation he has with Dani. It’s the only obstacle between him and…

  Whatever. It’s not that I care or anything.

  So here we were, the four of us just hanging out at City Beach. It was like even the sun was afraid to come out while Maksim was around. But now it was sunny, and it felt good to be sitting out here.

  I had the place of honor—the hood of my car. Seth and Dani were sitting as close as two people could on a blanket Dani had spread out, and Justin was perched on a picnic table that he’d pulled over.

  “I still can’t believe you did that,” Dani was saying for the umpteenth time. “Buying that damn soul.”

  “I just wanted to give you more reasons to stay with me. I thought if I had more power…” Seth’s voice trailed away.

  Dani punched him in the arm. “You went and did something so insanely stupid to make sure I would want to stay with you? You put yourself and everyone in danger!”

  Personally, I was bored with the subject. And this devotion thing those two had going on was pushing Justin’s limits. He seemed to find the lake a lot more interesting than the conversation. I would have thought he would be ecstatic that he had his best friend back, but something was hurting him in a big way. Probably his feelings for Dani. It made me want to rush over there and ask him what was wrong. Honestly. I kind of wanted to hug him and make it all go away.

  But I don’t care that much about him, right?

  “You didn’t believe in me. You didn’t believe in us!” Dani said.

  I wondered when the girl was going to move the conversation on to something else.

  “I don’t know if I should kiss you or hit you,” she muttered.

  Ugh! I’d like to see her hit him.

  Seth laughed. “Do I get a say in that?”

  Dani glared at him for a second, then smiled. “You don’t need to worry, Seth. My love is for real.”

  It was kind of sweet to see Seth tuck her hair behind her ears and admire her earrings, ironically the gift that started this whole damn thing, before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, resting his forehead against hers. It looked like that whole conversation was done. Finally.

  The next few minutes of quiet were nice. Even Justin relaxed a little bit, though the pained look in his eyes didn’t go away. For a moment it looked like he wanted to ask me something. And he might have if Dani hadn’t let out a yelp before she jumped up and backed away from Seth.

  My body went on full alert.

  “It can’t be! It’s supposed to be gone! It was sold!” Her eyes were huge and scared. She pointed a finger at Seth. “You did that thing to me again! You made me feel all melted inside!”

  Seth laughed. “Relax. Maksim is gone, but some of the stuff he taught me stayed. It’s like it became a part of me.” He shrugged. “Only the good stuff. I promise.”

  It did seem to make sense, I thought. An attached soul like Maksim’s was bound to have left some psychic residue.

  Dani sat back down and let him hug her again.

  “It doesn’t have control over me,” he said. “I just remember how to do some stuff.”

  Dani shuddered. “I wonder who ended up with the soul. At first I didn’t care, but now I feel horrible for whoever it is.”

  Justin looked like he was trying to swallow a golf ball, but he said nothing.

  “I just wish that instead of dumping it,” Dani said, “we could have found a way to break the curse. Alyx?
” She turned to look at me. “Did you and your parents ever come up with anything?”

  I heard her voice, but the words didn’t register because I realized there was something really off about Justin. He was too tense, too serious. He didn’t seem… himself.

  The hair on the back of my neck slowly stood up. I reached for my amulet.

  “I gotta go,” Justin got up and fist bumped Seth.

  “Where are you going?” Seth asked.

  Justin shrugged. “Just have to do some stuff.”

  “Okay. See ya, man.”

  I watched him go. Just as he passed me, our eyes locked.

  “Alyx?” Dani was trying to get my attention.

  “Huh?” I asked, not looking away.

  “Did you find anything on how to break the curse?”

  I stared after Justin as he got into his car.

  “No…” I said, lost in my thoughts. “No. But I think I’ll start working on it. Just. In. Case.”

  Thank you so much for spending your time with Seth, Dani, Justin, Alyx, and Dirk. I truly hope you enjoyed reading Souled.

  I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to connect with me at any of the following sites:

  Website: dianamurdock.com

  Twitter: @Diana_Murdock

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/diana.murdock

  Pinterest: pinterest.com/dianadmurdock/

  Email: dianamurdockauthor@gmail.com

  Just for fun: http://esouled.com/

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