My Soul to Save (Soul Keeper) (17 page)

All week long I keep looking over my shoulder. I swear that I see Elijah in every shadow and glimpse him in every crowd. It’s driving me crazy. I know he's out there, I can feel him. Maybe Jesson was right after all about the soul mate bull he was feeding me. The more I think about it the more I'm realizing that these feelings I have are real, and they're not going anywhere. Elijah can't stay away from me, anymore than I'll be able to once I see him. After my classes, I meet Jesson at a local ice cream parlor.

“Thanks for meeting me here,” I say as he opens the door for me.

“I like to give you a hard time, but you know I’m really here for you anytime you need an unbiased ear.” He shoots a glare to Elena. She huffs and stands her post outside the place with Inara scoping out the perimeter.

I order a scoop of double chocolate mocha, Jesson gets green tea.

“Have you heard anything?”

“Nehemiah says that Elijah worked his freedom out, but he doesn’t know the details. But here’s what I’m thinking." He leans in over the table and I do the same. "Elijah knows that with Nehemiah returned, you would eventually get your memories back.”

“Yes, in hindsight, I guess I’m glad to have them back, even though now I’m torn between loving two people again.”

“Yes, but how would Malphas benefit from you having your memories returned?”

“Other than being scared to death of him, I don’t know.”

Jesson stares into me with his crystalline eyes, trying to will my brain to function I suppose.

“No, think about it.
Now
you remember how much you love Elijah. Naturally, when he comes back, you’ll run straight to him. You’ll trust him, I mean you probably can’t help but trust him-- and that’s the one thing he told you not to do.” My stomach flips over at this realization.

I may need a whole pint of this stuff. I down another spoonful of heaven in a cup.

“What choice do I have really?”

“Let me talk to him first, before you.” 

“Fair enough. I think I keep seeing him, but I don’t know if it’s just my over active imagination or what.”

“No, I'll bet he’s here. I’ll look for him, he trusts me.” Jesson grips my hand to comfort me.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“I’d do anything for you Brennen, you need only ask.”

Jesson holds the door open for me, and I walk out to rejoin Elena. I spot Elijah across the busy street and so does she. Elena takes my arm and just like that, were gone. Damn it.

“You sure do like malls.”

“Stay away from him. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, you’ve made it abundantly clear the first five hundred times you said it. You won’t let me near him.”

“How about I buy you something to wear to your first college party?” So she aims to distract me with clothes. But this could be a good thing.

“You’re still letting me go?”

“I can’t very well keep you locked in an ivory tower forever.”

Perfect, I think. Somehow, Elijah will be there. Now, how can I get away from Elena and Inara long enough to talk to him? This will be a Hurculean effort, she can time travel. My thoughts drift into problem solving mode while Elena shoves arm loads of clothes my way.

Elena choses to outfit me in a red-orange flowing halter with black lace shorts and wedges in a matching shade of red. I’ve given up on dressing myself this year. Since we arrived in Cambridge, she has this whole obsession with my image, and who am I to stop a woman on a mission. I don’t dare admit to her I actually like her choices. Lexi raids my closet on a daily basis.

After our shopping spree
, Elena blips me back to Grays Hall where she reconvenes with Inara. I honestly don’t see the point of having two guardians. I hope to God some poor girl isn’t knocking her front teeth out just so I can have bonus protection.

Jesson texts me.
Talked to Elijah today. Call me when you get the chance.
I go to dial his number but Sam sends a text as well.    

Sam ~ I'm so ready to hop on a plane and come see you. It's been three months since I've kissed your perfect lips.

Me~ I miss you too. Have you been to any parties yet? Lexi is forcing me out tonight.

Sam~ My dad says if I drink a drop, he's shipping me off to West Point. So no, I haven't been to any parties and I probably won't. People are already tired of asking me
, when all I ever say is no.

Me~ Same here. I don't know if I can make it much longer without you."

Sam~ Yeah, I
should
have listened to you. I think I'll send an application over to Yale for the Spring.

Me ~ Really??? 8-D

Sam~ Yes,
really.
I'm useless without you.
 

Me~ You just
made
this year a whole lot more bearable. I love you.

Sam~ Love you
too
.

I reluctantly arrive at the party with my two Keepers ushering me inside, invisible to everyone but me. The crowd of undergrads fill the house of Sigma
 Alpha Epsilon, their bodies pumping to the rhythm of some urban vibe. 
Make some friends,
Elena urged
. Live your life without looking over your shoulder every second Brennen.

Easy for them to say, they can’t technically die. Lexi, waves me over to the bar, slipping a bottle of beer in my hand after she pops the top. As much as my body aches to see Elijah again, part of
me is scared that all of the warnings they've pounded into my head are for a very good reason.
If Elijah wanted you dead, the three of us would be no match for him. He was an Elite for a reason.

“Glad you came. Come on, there are some friends of mine I want you to meet.” She grabs my hand and hauls me off into the sea of bodies. I spot his unmistakable deep cobalt eyes in the crowd and I whip my head around to see where he went.

My heart automatically bottoms out in my chest. I’m left unable to breath for a moment. I scan face after face looking for his hair, black as obsidian, the signature way he moves in a crowd, but he’s gone. Elena and Inara shake their heads at me. I know I saw him this time.

On the way over, Inara fills me in on what went down after Elena blipped me to the Mall of the Mainland. She said Elijah disappeared on a bus just out of her reach. I still haven’t talked to Jesson, and I’m anxious to know what he found out.

Elijah’s waiting for me, biding his time until the second I’m alone, always on the peripheral. I want to know what he wants. I want to confront him. Elena will blip me from the location the moment she sees him. The turmoil playing inside of me, has me writhing with anxiety.

How can he redeem himself if they never allow him near me in the first place? He’s been gone a while this time. It’s been months since he’s been spotted. What if they’ve changed him, finally exhausted every inkling of purity from his heart and replaced it with their venom. I’ve got to know if I can still save him. I have to give these two the slip somehow, but they’ve been suffocating me with their presence all summer long.

While they have their heads turned away, I slip Lexi a note and whisper, “Read it in five minutes,” into her ear. She smiles knowingly up at me and I pray it works this time.

I slip away into the crowd, cringing as though Elena’s breath were hot on my neck. I down the beer and head up to the bar and order a rum and coke.

“A girl after my own heart,” the overly preppy guy next to me uses as a lame pick up line. He tips his red solo cup toward me like he wants to toast.

He’s well groomed and I can tell he’s abundantly confident of his self-worth.

“Right, would you happen to know the where the ladies room is?” I ask. He scowls and points upstairs.

“Thanks.”
 I head off back into the sea of bodies. I don’t see Lexi anywhere. I spot a few girls from my writing class talking in the living room, and I go over to them.

“Brennen right?” a petite Polynesian looking girl asks. I nod. I can’t say I remember one of their names.
 Luckily she reads my look of guilt.

“Kalani, but my friends call me Kal.” The others follow suit, and soon I’m learning all about them. Just the time filler I need.

I do this for a couple of hours, getting to know as many of my classmates as I can. This is what they expect of me anyway right? I’m to finagle my way into the elite, impress the masses with my wit and charm so that one day in the far off future they can all play a part in electing me. Simply being near Elena seems to put me in a mood lately. The party is waning here and I'm ready to call it a night. Elena looks as if she's ready to stab someone in the neck if she hears one more person yell YOLO.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I know it’s time. I pretend to act queasy and saunter my way upstairs to find the restroom. Lexi is inside already, and I motion for her to stay quiet. Getting Elena and Inara off my trail will be akin to preventing a heat seeking missile from hitting a volcano. They can hear heartbeats, so they may be onto me already. But if they’re not listening closely then maybe this will work.

I make vomiting sounds and dump my cup into the toilet. I take off my hoodie and she puts it on. I pull the hood up over her head and she hangs her head down low as she slips out of the bathroom. If they are where I think they are, the Keepers won’t be able to see her face clearly.  I told Lexi that Elena and Inara would be following her and they had to think I went home and went straight to bed. If they try and talk to her, she's to flip them off. Hopefully it won't come to that.

If my plan works, Elena won’t be able to go back in time and stop me. Elena’s a tracker, if she finds out Lexi isn’t me then she’ll locate me in seconds. I stay in the bathroom for several more minutes just to make sure they’re long gone. Someone starts banging on the door like they’re about to lose it, so I slip out, taking a moment to check for them.

I blink into the other realm just to be sure, but I don’t see them anywhere.

It worked. I’m finally alone. I want to scream and shout and do kart wheels in the kitchen. Ever since Nehemiah escaped from Hell, they’ve been stuck to me like glue. I frantically search the house for Elijah. I know I saw him. I wasn’t imagining him.

He’s nowhere to be found. I walk outside to look.  The frat house is a few minutes from campus down a quiet but well lit street. I wonder if he saw when the Keepers escorted the imposter home. If I know Elijah, he probably knew it wasn’t me just from the cadence of her heartbeat. He’s memorized everything about me over the eighteen years he’s been in my life.

“Elijah?” I call out hoping he’s nearby. Instead of walking back towards school, I head into town. Alone and unguarded, my heart begins to pound out in fear. My memories of Elijah give me a false sense of security. I know I need to be cautious around him. I know I shouldn’t be risking it all like this, after all, it’s been drilled into my head for months how deadly a rogue angel can be.

A loud crash between buildings causes me to jump out of my skin. My nails dig into the brick like I could scale the wall if need be. But it’s just a stray cat knocking over a trash can. Breathe.

He knows I saw him and that there’d be a chance I’d try to find him. He knows me better than I know myself right? The streets are far from empty. He’d want me to be alone before he would take the risk.

I head into the park, not too far in, only enough to blend into the night. I lean against the trunk of a white oak and I wait for what feels like hours. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe my mind wants to see him so badly it's hallucentating. I should go, this is stupid. I'm risking my life out here with no protection.

His scent wafts into my nose drawing me around the trunk as if he had a lure on a string. I find him leaning against the other side.
 

My heart sinks into my stomach, he’s beautiful. Our hands reach out for each other as if they were magnetized and would break the laws of physics if they didn’t automatically meld together.

My whole body follows and before I can err on the better side of judgment, I’m wrapped around him. “Elijah, I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

Tears roll down his cheeks and he pulls me in as if I were his life preserver. He pours a kiss over me, hard and desperately needy, slowly coming down to a steaming cauldron of love potion. I could love him like this for days. He could nourish my body with his kisses alone.

His hands move to my back and my hair, as though he were making sure all of my body parts were accounted for, confirming all together that I’m really here and in his arms at last. It feels so right to be in his arms again.

“God Brennen, I’ve waited so long for you to remember.”

“I’ve been so worried about you. You have to stay close this time. I can’t bear to think of you down there. Have they hurt you?” I ask.

He tips my chin up with his soft fingers and studies my face. He still looks like my angel, although he’s dressed in navy slacks and a tie more suitable for Wall Street.

“I don’t want to talk about that. I just want to hold you in my arms and savor this moment.” His voice is broken and sad. I bury my nose in my favorite spot between his pectoral muscles and drink him in. He smells so enticing I could live off of his scent alone.