The Soulkeepers Box Set

by G. P. Ching

  Jacob blinked. Was she serious? “So, you can travel anywhere in the world through the tree?”

  “Well, to anywhere there are trees. They are connected … spiritually.”

  He didn’t really understand but nodded his head anyway.

  “But, Jacob, that’s not the most important thing I have to tell you.”

  At that moment, Gideon rushed across the room and jumped into the chair next to him. A growl escaped his throat. Jacob rubbed the bite mark on his wrist. He was beginning to think the cat was downright moody.

  “Oh, Gideon, it’s time he knew. How long do you expect me to wait?”

  Jacob interrupted. “There’s something you have to tell me that’s more shocking than the news that you’ve buried your dead husband in the garden and his body has grown a magical tree?” Saying it out loud sounded even more ridiculous than hearing it.

  “Yes. It’s about you, Jacob. About who you are and who you are becoming.”

  “Me?”

  “You. See, my garden, the other garden, is enchanted. Only a spiritual being can find Oswald. Spirit finds spirit. A normal human being would wander aimlessly, if they ever managed to get through the gate at all.”

  “But that’s me, normal human being.” He waved his fingers, just to make the point.

  “Really? Nothing has ever happened to you to make you think you might be something more?” Dr. Silva raised an eyebrow.

  Jacob looked into his glass. The fight with Dane at the grocery store came to mind, but he didn’t answer.

  Dr. Silva’s eyes bore into him.

  “Admit it or not, your genealogy is written in records that are not of this world.”

  “Huh.”

  “Here, look at this.” Dr. Silva poured a drop of water from her glass onto her saucer. “What do you see here?”

  “A drop of water.”

  “And what do you know about water.”

  “You drink it.”

  “No, no. That’s not what I mean. How do I start? I guess I should just say it. Water is alive, Jacob.” She touched the water with her finger and watched it roll down her hand to her wrist. “In every drop of water live over one hundred thousand microbes, so, it is quite literally alive. It is the universal solvent, required for all life. It is the beginning of all things. Water is strong enough to wear down mountains but agile enough to move through the tiniest crevice. Your body is two-thirds water and every cell in it responds to that water.”

  “Yeah, uhm, it’s amazing,” Jacob said. He reached for his glass and gulped down half of it, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and belched.

  Dr. Silva’s mouth pulled into a straight line.

  “A long time ago, there were two people, a man and a woman, the first two people who ever walked the Earth. I think you know them as Adam and Eve.”

  “Uh, yeah, I’ve heard of Adam and Eve.”

  “Then you know that the serpent persuaded them to eat the fruit and as their punishment God cast them out of the Garden of Eden.”

  “So?”

  “God knew they would need help resisting the temptations of the Serpent, of the evil that existed on the Earth. He allowed some of the water from Eden to run out of the garden, down to where Adam settled. The water was made to be undetectable to all but those who had a sincere desire to devote themselves to ridding the world of evil. When the pure of heart drank the water, it changed the drinker. That water infused into the person’s cells, changing their DNA, changing their blood. It gave them gifts, power they could use to defend themselves against evil.”

  “Uhuh. Right. Gosh, I gotta go.” Jacob looked at his watch, and then pushed his chair back from the table.

  “They spread out across the globe, Jacob, doing the will of God.” Her voice was frantic now, anxious. She stood and was behind him in the blink of an eye. Her hands pressed into his shoulders, keeping him in his seat. “They kept the balance between good and evil in favor of good. But they married and had children and, as they did, the water became more and more diluted and the children became more and more human, their gifts diminished.”

  “Damn, the bad luck,” he said and tried to stand, but her nails dug into his flesh.

  “Hope found a way. When a descendant of a brother and a descendant of a sister married and had children the two halves became whole again. The water became more pure. The power returned. And now, today, there are among us the descendants of those the water changed, charged with carrying on the work of God. You are one of those descendants, Jacob. You are a Soulkeeper and you have the power to combat darkness. The power to fight evil.”

  “What power?” he laughed nervously.

  “Every Soulkeeper has power as individual as a fingerprint but each is an integral player in the battle between heaven and hell. You’ve probably heard of people with the gene for a certain type of disease. The gene is always there but the person may or may not get the disease. Something happens, a stressor, and the gene flips on. This is the same. People like you carry the gene. You’ve always had it, since you were born. But it takes something big to turn it on: something like losing your parents or being attacked in a parking lot.”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “It’s a small town. Word travels fast.”

  “But nobody saw but Malini.”

  “I didn’t have to see, Jacob. Not in the way you do. Why don’t you tell me what happened and we can get started?”

  “Started with what?”

  “I am your Helper. I’ve been assigned to help you discover your gifts. I can help you discover your true purpose.”

  “You’re crazy.” Jacob squirmed from her grasp, knocking the chair to the floor. Pain shot through his knee as he stood. “This is nuts. Why are you saying these things to me? I don’t even believe in God.”

  “Don’t believe in God?” Dr. Silva’s face twisted into a scowl. “Do you believe in the atom? In the air you breathe? How can you deny the very fabric of who you are?” She shook her head. “Believe or not, Jacob, I am your Helper. You are my assignment and I will help you discover what you were sent here to do.”

  “I don’t believe any of this,” he said in a whisper, shaking his head and backing toward the door.

  “The memory you told me about last Saturday, the vivid one, did it ever occur to you that it wasn’t entirely normal? Awfully odd how close to real life it played out, isn’t it?”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “You told me. And, what about that black eye, Jacob? It’s already happening.” She grinned. “Just like osmosis, the goodness in you will always attract evil. Have you ever wondered why trouble always seems to find you? You are discovering your power. Now all you need to do is allow me to help you figure out how to use it.” Her voice was breathy, almost hypnotic. She walked over to Jacob and reached for his hand.

  He jerked away, mind reeling. None of this made sense. All he wanted to do was get out of this house and never come back. Continuing toward the door, he saw alarm sweep across her perfectly carved features.

  “Don’t go,” she said, and the edge was back in her voice. The smell of fresh baked cookies washed over him like a fog, and his skin tingled.

  “What are you? What are you doing to me?” He forced himself to keep backing up even though the electric sensation, the attraction, hit him full force. He turned toward the door and reached for the knob.

  “Your mother! I can help you find your mother.” Dr. Silva’s voice was high pitched and quick.

  Jacob wanted to leave. He wanted to never come back. Dr. Silva scared him and he thought she was crazy. But months ago he’d made a choice to not give up on his mom no matter what. He couldn’t let this go, no matter how unlikely it was to be true.

  “Can you? Can you find her? Can the tree … take me to her?” He turned from the door and met her icy stare. The temptation was too great. If there was any hope, any hope at all…

  “Oh, it doesn’t work that way. You have to know
exactly where you want to go and then concentrate on the longitude and latitude. Date and time have an effect. It’s not like boarding an airplane. It’s taken me decades to master.”

  “Decades?” Jacob looked at the woman in front of him. She looked to be in her late twenties but clearly after all she had told him she must be much older. “How old are you?”

  “Another time, Jacob. I’ll explain everything in time. There is much to learn. But right now, what you want is to find your mother. And what I want is for you to work with me, to allow me to be your Helper.”

  “Will you take me to Oahu then, to look for her?”

  “Jacob, where would you stay? Where would you even begin to look? Who’s to say she’s even there? She could be dead.”

  Jacob rubbed his temples. He didn’t know the answer to her questions and was feeling awfully tired. Gideon weaved between his ankles. The soft fur was oddly comforting and his shoulders relaxed a little. Still, he couldn’t find his voice.

  “We could visit the medicine woman,” she offered. Her hand reached toward him, cautious, nervous, as if her life depended on his answer. “You could come with me and we could ask her. Maybe, she could tell us where your mom is. If you agree to train with me, I will take you to her and we will find out.”

  Jacob dropped his fingers from his temples and looked Dr. Silva in the eye. “Okay. I still don’t believe what you’re telling me, but if you help me find my mom, I’ll do it.”

  “It’s a deal!” she said. A smile crossed her face, like she’d just won the lottery.

  As she pumped his hand, up and down, up and down, he wondered what she had in store for him. His gut instinct was to run and never look back.

  Jacob regretted the agreement, even as he made it.

  Chapter 16

  Oswald’s Rules

  While the hope of finding his mother comforted Jacob, he was disappointed to learn he’d have to be patient for his journey to meet the medicine woman. Dr. Silva explained certain locations were possible only on certain dates. The next time the tree was connected to the South American Amazon was June 10th, the day after Jacob’s sixteenth birthday, and two months away.

  Later that night, he lay on the pink bed thinking about what Dr. Silva had told him about his blood. There was no way Jacob believed it. It didn’t make any sense. Still, he was sure that what happened with the tree was not a hallucination. The hardest part would be keeping it all from Malini. Ever since the incident with Dane, she had desperately jumped at any clue to what had happened that day. He cared deeply for her but he knew if he told her what Dr. Silva had said, she would believe every word. The last thing Jacob wanted was any more pressure to believe the impossible.

  Plunk

  Something skimmed across his window. He glanced at the clock: 11:30 PM. He cringed when he thought of Dr. Silva visiting his window weeks ago and hoped it wasn’t her.

  Cachink

  A stone skipped across the glass and he decided it was more human than anything he’d expect from Dr. Silva. It was, after all, a stone and not the glowing skull of a dead husband. He stood up and looked out into the front yard. Malini was waving from the lawn, her hand full of rocks. Jacob opened the window.

  “I need to talk to you,” she whispered.

  He pointed to the rose lattice on the side of the house. She scaled it with ease and he reached out to help her inside.

  “Nice room,” she said with a grin.

  Jacob had never hated the pink room more.

  “Long story.” He closed the window behind her. “How did you get here?”

  “Drove.” She held up a set of keys. “I know I won’t be legal until September but all those driving lessons should count for something. I had to see you.”

  “It’s great to see you too, but what’s going on?”

  She leaned against the floral wingback. A sigh escaped her lips. “I just needed to talk to someone.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “We were sitting at home tonight. I was just watching TV, you know; it’s not like there’s a ton to do in Paris on a weeknight.”

  “Right.”

  “Well, the doorbell rang and my dad answered it. It was a deliveryman from Paris Pizza. Jacob, they sent ten pizzas to my house.”

  “Who?”

  “I can only guess it was Amy or Jessica.”

  Amy was Dane’s girlfriend and Jacob suspected the reason for the prank. Although his lip and eye had healed, the animosity had not. None of them ever talked about what actually happened that day at Westcott’s grocery, but everyone at school knew there was something. Only, somehow, all of the speculation had Dane coming out on top.

  “Dane. Dane was behind this,” Jacob said.

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “I just know. Tell me what happened next.”

  “My dad just shook his head and said we didn’t order any pizzas. The driver said that Malini Gupta ordered them. So, my dad calls me to the door, right in front of this man, and asks me why I ordered the pizza. I tell him that I didn’t. But my dad keeps asking me over and over, ‘Why are there ten pizzas here?’ Meanwhile, the driver is looking for his money. He says we owe like a hundred dollars. My dad is having a fit and finally, I say to him, ‘Dad, I think this is a prank, the girls from school, again.’”

  “So what did he do?”

  “It was the weirdest thing, Jacob. He reached into his wallet and paid the man. After the driver had delivered all ten pizzas to our kitchen counter, my dad turned to me, looked me straight in the eye, and said, ‘Tomorrow, you tell the girls thank you for the pizza. You all laugh and try to be friends.’”

  “What?”

  “He just doesn’t get it. He thinks this is all normal hazing, that it will somehow get better once people get to know me. We’ve been here two years. They hate me. They will always hate me.” Malini’s warm chocolate eyes glistened wet in the moonlight.

  Jacob moved in close and kissed the top of her head. “Bastards.” He took her hand and led her to sit on the edge of the bed.

  “You’re the only one who understands, Jake. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  He swallowed hard and looked at the floor.

  “What was that? What were you thinking about just then?” Malini asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “You’re keeping something from me.”

  “I…” He searched for the right words. “Malini, if I could figure out a way to get us out of here—out of this town—would you come with me?”

  “You mean, like, permanently?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s it, then. That’s what you’ve been hiding. You’re thinking of running away.”

  He nodded. It wasn’t really a lie. He was just leaving out some information about using a tree that grew out of a dead guy to get there.

  “You can’t go.” Malini’s arms crossed over her chest. “I can’t go. We’re fifteen, Jake. How would we survive? I mean, believe me I know, I want to go as much as you do, but this is temporary. We just need to graduate from high school first and then we can go to some college somewhere and leave this town in our dust. It’s the only way that makes sense.”

  Her hand was so small in his. He rubbed her knuckle with his thumb and thought about leaving without her. Could life get any harder than this? And then, as if in answer to his question, her lips were on his, her fingers were in his hair, and he was falling back on the pink comforter, her full weight stretched out on top of him.

  “Don’t leave me,” she whispered into his ear.

  Jacob kissed her cheek, breathing in the clean smell of her skin. Then he met her lips again.

  She was the only girl he’d ever kissed, and the experience was still new. He didn’t think he would ever grow tired of the softness of her lips or the way her hair fell against his face. Before he could really think about what he was saying, he replied, “I won’t.”

  “Good,” she said and crawled off the bed. He grabbed
her thigh and looked up into her eyes, the moon reflecting yellow circles in the brown.

  “So that was it? All you wanted from me was a promise to not leave you in Paris by yourself?”

  “No,” she said, a smile creeping impishly across her face. “I also wanted the kiss.”

  “Lucky me.”

  “I better get back.” She walked toward the window and then suddenly turned toward the box that sat on his desk.

  “What’s that?”

  “A jewelry box. It used to belong to my mom. I haven’t been able to get it open though. It’s locked.”

  Her fingers found her hair and pulled out the bobby pin that was holding her bangs back. She reached for the box as a chunk of hair fell over her right eye.

  “You don’t have to do that,” he began, but before he finished his sentence the box was open. Without looking under the lid, she handed it back to him.

  “You should do the honors,” she said.

  He took the box and peeked inside. The blood rushed from his face and Jacob felt his hands grow cold. The box snapped shut between his fingers.

  “This must be hard for you,” she said. “You miss your mom. Do you want me to leave you to your thoughts?”

  He nodded. Jacob set the box down and moved with Malini toward the window. With his hand under her elbow, he helped her climb out.

  “McNulty’s tomorrow after school?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  She was down the lattice and smiling back at him from the yard in a few lithe moves. He waved as she moved toward her car.

  When she was out of sight, he returned to the box on the bed and lifted the lid. It was not a jewelry box at all. Inside there were three indentations in blue velvet. The first two were filled with knives. Double-sided blades with polished bone hilts glinted ominously in the moonlight.

  The last indentation was empty.

  Chapter 17

  The Fight

  “LAU,” Dane Michaels barked from the end of the row of mustard-yellow lockers.

  Jacob turned but did not respond. He was waiting for Malini to finish talking to Mrs. Jacques about a job working in the Biology lab. It was the end of the day, and the hall was empty.