My Tethered Soul: Volume 2 (Reaper's Rite) (8 page)

“I’m sorry,” Naomi said. “I didn’t wake up right away.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Dimwit here had earphones in.”

“But at least I realized something was wrong. As soon as I did, I got Mara and we came looking for you.”

“The door was wide open.” Mara looked over her shoulder. “I’m so glad we spotted you.”

Naomi wrung her hands. “Where do you think you were headed?”

My throat burned as I swallowed. “I don’t know.”

My phone vibrated as I entered my house. Naomi’s message lit up the screen. She’d call me after dinner. I sighed, threw my bag down near the door, and walked into the kitchen. I was starving and had to find something to eat. It had been a long school day, and I had worked my butt off in Vila training. But it was Friday, so I let myself relax and allowed my mind to go blank for a while.

When I flicked the light on, the bulb above me popped, and I jumped. Cursing myself for letting something as stupid as a popped bulb get to me, I clicked on the light above the stove.

Calm down, Zadie.

I yanked open the fridge and took out some defrosted ground beef. After putting a pot of water on to boil noodles, I started frying up the meat, occasionally glancing out the window. The evening sky was streaked with shades of purple, a beautiful contrast to the dark silhouettes of trees in my back yard.

As I bent down to dig the strainer out of the cabinet, something moved out of the corner of my eye. Instinct made me stand straight and freeze. Did something or someone just move past the window? I grabbed the nearest thing that would qualify as a weapon—a butcher knife—and slowly approached the window. I made a note to start carrying the switchblade from Chase in my pocket. Just in case. My eyes flitted left and right, searching the backyard for some sign of movement. Past the trees, closer to the house, behind the rose bushes Mom had planted. But nothing moved. Maybe it was just a bird. I hoped that was all it was. I took a deep breath and set down the knife.

The front door flew open. My hand went straight for my heart, and I let out a huge sigh of relief when Mara walked in.

She dropped her purse on the floor by the table and ran her hands through her hair. “Sorry I took so long. I had to talk to Felix Underwood. About prom.”

I scrunched up my nose. Felix Underwood was nowhere near Mara’s type. He was as skinny as a pole and had an annoying habit of pushing his glasses up a million times when he talked. But I supposed he could be cute without the glasses. And the lisp. “Really? That’s who you’re going with?”

“It is now. Every hot guy in school already has a prom date. Even the moderately good-looking ones are taken—unless I ask a freshman, and that is
so
not going to happen. And since I can’t use magic for personal gain, I’m stuck. I can’t
not
go with someone now that I went on about it to Hunter.”

“You think Hunter even cares who you go to prom with?”

She looked confused, as if I’d spoken in a foreign language. Opening a bag of noodles, she pouted and shrugged. “I don’t really care.”

Sure, you don’t.

“So what did he say?”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you think he said?”

Why did I even ask? There’s no way he could turn down my beautiful sister. I suspected she could even steal away one of the hot guys from their dates if she wanted. But Mara wasn’t like that.

Dinner was finished cooking just as Dad came home. We fell into our usual routine of summarizing our days, then after a moment when no one spoke, I noticed Dad’s expression changed.

“Tomorrow’s our visit with Mom, okay?” He said it to me, but he glanced at Mara.

Mara twirled her noodles and shifted in her chair, avoiding his eyes.

“Yeah,” I answered. “I remember.”

“It, uh, would be great if you joined us, Mara.” Dad held his breath after he said it.

I could barely breathe myself.

“No, I can’t. I…hmm…have lots to do.”

The clink of Dad’s fork hitting his plate made me jump. Wrinkles attacked his forehead as he glared at Mara. “Why won’t you just come? It’s been almost a year since you’ve visited her. She would love to see you before you graduate.”

“I don’t think so. She never even looks at me.”

Dad leaned toward her. “But she knows you’re there. She can hear you. She just can’t communicate with you. It’s the sedatives.”

Mara scoffed.

“What?”

Mara shot a glance my way. “Nothing.”

“Mara, I think you should come with us.” Dad tried to take her hand, but she pulled back. His mouth hung open for a second, and he blinked in confusion. “At least come along for the ride. If we get there and you’re still uncomfortable, you can hang out in the waiting room.”

For a moment, Mara was silent. And then: “No. I’m not going.”

Mara’s chair slid back noisily, and she charged up the stairs.

Dad and I locked eyes. I knew the look he was giving me. It was a look full of questions:
Why won’t she come? What is she afraid of? How can I convince her?

The only question I had the answer for was what Mara was afraid of. But there was no way I could even begin to tell Dad.

We were quiet as we cleared the table and cleaned the kitchen. Dad’s sighs lay heavy on my heart. If we found a way to take down Mom’s Reaper, would she be sane again? Would we be able to bring her home? Would Mara feel safe then? The questions circled around in my head, making me dizzy.

“You’re tired,” Dad said, probably noticing how beat-down I looked. “Go on to bed. I’m headed up too. It’s been a long week.”

I could tell he forced his smile as he flicked under my chin. Pretending everything was fine, I nodded and headed upstairs.

Mara’s door was closed. I decided not to knock. It was better to give her time to cool down. I didn’t have the energy to dodge her fire when she was upset like this anyway. Besides, she was probably just as exhausted as I was. She’d been working hard at her Vila training, mastering manipulating water and fire. Chase had even started training her with throwing daggers. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had already passed out on her bed.

I hoped she would hear me if I got up in the middle of the night. Chase’s potion wasn’t ready yet, and Naomi couldn’t spend the night because her grandparents were visiting. I considered tying bells to my toes so I’d wake Mara up if I left my room, but that would be annoying.

After getting ready for bed, I grabbed a book from my nightstand and told myself to escape for a while. Reading the same paragraph three times, I realized the book wasn’t exactly an escape. I set it back down and pressed my cheek against my pillow, staring at the wall.

I heard a tap on the window and sat straight up in bed. It was as if a tree branch hit it. Only there were no trees directly outside my window. Instinctively, I whipped my head around, searching my room for shadows.

Another tap at the window, and I jumped to my feet. Swallowing back my anxiousness, I slowly moved forward, craning my neck to see if I could spot whomever—or whatever—was outside.

Wide eyes stared back at me.

I couldn’t get a scream past the lump in my throat. Luckily, I focused on the face through the window and was glad I had kept quiet. Biting my lip, I rushed forward and threw open the window.

“Gavin? What the hell? You freakin’ scared me to death!”

He scooted forward on the portico roof and stuck his head into my room. “Sorry.”

“What are you doing here? If my dad catches you…”

“Then lower your voice.” He held his hand out to me, and I helped him inside. “I need to keep an eye on you. I’m worried. Naomi can’t stay over, so just think of this as my turn.”

He dusted off his pants, and I stepped back. My eyes searched my room, taking a quick survey of its state. Thank goodness I didn’t have any dirty laundry on the floor. Gavin had caught my room in its rare clean phase.

Then it hit me: Gavin and I were alone in my room. And I was in a T-shirt barely long enough to cover my underwear. Red-hot fire scorched my cheeks. I turned away from him, then sprinted to my door to lock it. It was bad enough to worry about a Reaper unleashing his fury; I didn’t want to have to deal with Dad’s wrath if he caught Gavin in my room.

“So.” I stood with my back pressed against the door, feeling silly while he looked around at my things. The Hello Kitty alarm clock Naomi gave me as a joke was particularly embarrassing. “What’s the plan? You, um, sleeping here?”

Was I imagining things, or did the same blush that slapped me moments ago claim territory on Gavin’s face?

“Well, I’ll stay up as much as I can. I just had two cups of coffee, though, so that should help me out.” With a self-assured gait that made my heart flutter, he closed the distance between us. The soft touch of his hand caressing my cheek made my skin grow hot. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Zadie.”

I put my hand over his. “And I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, either.”

The side of his mouth inched up, and suddenly I had a strong desire to put my lips there. But before I could even move, he pulled me toward my desk.

“I, uh, got you something.”

“You got me something? After I pulled the biggest no-no as a girlfriend?”

The smile left his face and he seemed not to be breathing. “What do you mean?”

“I sort of…lost the bracelet you gave me.”

“You lost it?”

“More like, I can’t find it. I wore it to bed that first night when I wandered in my sleep. When I woke up, it wasn’t on my wrist anymore.” My eyes darted over his features, waiting for a response.

He let out a small breath, as if relieved. “That’s not your fault.”

“You’re not mad?”

His hand came up to cup my cheek. “Under the circumstances, you’re forgiven.”

I offered him a thankful smile. “Okay. What did you get me?” I searched my desk, wondering if he placed something on it when he stepped through the window, but I didn’t see anything that wasn’t there before.

“It’s in here.” He tapped on the closet door next to my desk.

What could he have gotten me, and how did he get it into my closet? Curiosity nagged me. I pulled the closet door open. Inside, a white garment bag hung, wrapped in clear plastic.

“What is that?”

He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and elbowed me. “Check it out.”

Hesitating because of his mischievous smile, I reached for the garment bag. I laid it out on my bed and pulled the plastic away. Gavin hovered over me, watching what I was doing from over my shoulder. When I unzipped the garment bag, my hands flew to my mouth. The beautiful dark blue dress I’d tried on during my shopping trip with Naomi was inside, the silky material shiny in my bedroom lighting.

“H-how did you know?” I turned to face him.

He shrugged, wearing an expression that boasted of cleverness. “Naomi told me you tried it on and looked great in it.”

Naomi. Of course. I really did love my best friend.

“But how did you pay for it?”

“Hey, don’t start asking me about my financial status. I might think you’re a gold digger or something.”

I shoved him lightly. “Shut up.”

Letting out a small laugh, he jerked his head to get the hair out of his eyes. “Naomi showed me the dress, I bought it, and then we gave it to Mara to sneak into your closet.”

I covered my cheeks with my hands. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that.”

“You don’t like it?”

“What, are you kidding me? I love it! I’m just, I’m in shock. Thank you so much!”

I twirled and gaped at the dress again. This was unbelievable.

“Wait, so that’s a yes on going to prom with me?”

I pulled him close, holding him on both sides of his face. A warm sensation flooded me, elation at having such an awesome boyfriend. “Yes. Of course I will.”

“Good, because Naomi called dibs on the dress if you said no.”

I laughed. But only for a second. His eyes held me prisoner. I’d heard that people only really fell in love once. But that couldn’t be true, because every time I looked at him, I fell in love over and over again.

He leaned down, his hands finding my hips, and gently pressed his lips against mine.

“Sorry I lost your bracelet,” I said, pulling back just a couple centimeters from his mouth.

“Don’t worry about it.” He pushed my hair away from my face and came closer again, his mouth caressing mine in a slow, soothing rhythm. The kiss grew deeper, hypnotizing and dizzying, and I never wanted it to end.

My bedroom door suddenly clicked open. I covered my tingling lips with my hand and gawked at Mara. Her eyes flitted between Gavin and me, then she grinned and shook her head.

“Hi, Mara,” Gavin said. I could tell he was holding back a laugh.

“How did you open the door?” I asked. “I locked it.”

She looked at me like I was stupid. “You’re not the only Vila in the house.”

“Oh, right.”

Checking over her shoulder, she stepped into the room. “I heard a strange noise, and I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you. Guess
your
eyes aren’t the only things on her, huh, Gavin?”

I picked up a small decorative pillow from my bed and threw it at her. “Shut up, Mara.”

“Yeah, well. If you’re on duty, then I guess I can get some sleep.”

“Goodnight, Mara,” Gavin said.

“Mm-hm.” Her eyes went to my bed as she backed out the door. “Nice dress.”

“Thank you. Goodnight.” I couldn’t help but smile.

Gavin tugged me toward him and pecked me on my temple. “You should get sleep too. Aren’t you going to visit your mom tomorrow?”

I sighed and reluctantly left his arms. “Yeah. I have a feeling it’s going to be a stressful visit.” Admiring my gift, I zipped up the garment bag and took it to the closet.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

When I turned around, Gavin was lying on top of my covers. He beckoned me to come and lie beside him. I felt like I needed to fan myself. I went straight to the door and locked it again, giving myself time to fight off the intense heat coursing through me. It wasn’t like anything was going to happen between us. Just sleeping. Or was I naïve for thinking that? I counted to five in my head before I faced him, reminding myself that he was here to watch over me. That this was purely a safety sleepover, not a date.