Shattered Souls (16 page)
Authors: Mary Lindsey
“Shut up!” I gasped. “I thought you were an old man!”
“Old soul. Young man. Big difference. It’s okay, though; we’re just friends, remember?”
Man, did I ever.
The coffee shop smelled delicious. Coffee, chocolate, and cinnamon. A couple at a small table began waving the minute we walked in the door. Both of them looked like weight lifters. Neither was tall, but both were muscled. The boy stood. Alden gestured for me to lead. The girl in the pair ran up and hugged me with gusto.
“Rose! You look great! I’m so glad you’re back. Come on and join us.” The girl bounded back to her companion. “She looks great. Doesn’t she, Race?”
The short, redheaded boy stepped out from behind the table and kissed my cheek. “She has always looked great. It’s good to see you, Rose.”
Alden pulled out my chair. “She goes by Lenzi now.”
“Why?” the boy, Race, asked.
Alden leaned forward. “For the same reason you two go by Race and Maddi. She doesn’t like her real name.”
“Yeah, but Rose is a timeless name. Our names are dated,” the girl said.
“What are your real names?” I asked.
Both of them stared at me in astonishment.
Alden put his arm around me. “Okay, guys. I told you on the phone that I needed to tell you something. This is it. She has no memory of her past lives at all. None.”
Race and Maddi were studying me with a combination of pity and amazement. I felt like I was a science experiment gone wrong.
Alden stood. “Lenzi, I apologize for not introducing you properly. This is Maude Wilson and Horace McLain. Maude and Horace prefer to go by Maddi and Race. Both of them are Protectors, like me. Maddi and Race, this is Lenzi Anderson.”
Race stood. “I’m pleased to meet you, Lenzi.”
Maddi remained seated, studying me.
“Wow,” Race said. “This is weird. I’ve never heard of this happening before. Is it in the rule book, Alden?”
“No. I can’t find another case of past-life amnesia in any of the IC documents I’ve read. I don’t think the IC knows about it yet. And I hope if we become productive, they won’t care.” Alden slumped back into his chair.
“What do you mean, ‘become productive’? Can’t she intercede?” Race asked, not taking his eyes off me as he sat back down.
Alden took my hand. “She’s fine. She battled a Malevolent and resolved a juvenile Hindered.”
“A Malevolent,” Race repeated. “Was it—”
“No,” Alden cut him off. “It wasn’t. Not yet, anyway. Subject closed.”
“Got it.” Race gave Alden a conspiratorial wink.
To me, the only thing weirder than having past lives I didn’t remember was meeting people who knew things about me from those lives. I was intrigued and repelled at the same time.
Maddi and Race seemed nice enough, and though they seemed familiar to me somehow, I’d no definite recollection of ever meeting them before. In contrast to her muscular build and spiky short haircut, Maddi had a sweet, feminine face. She wore a floral western shirt with pearlized snaps down the front. Race had freckles that were set off perfectly by his thick red hair. Eyelashes in matching red framed his blue eyes. He had on a Rolling Stones T-shirt.
“How long ago did she emerge?” Maddi asked.
Alden squeezed my hand. “This is day five.”
Maddi and Race gave each other a sideways glance.
“Have you closed the cases yet?” Maddi asked Alden.
Alden shook his head.
“Nothing in five days? I’m surprised the IC hasn’t called a session. You’d better do something quick, Alden. It would be a shame to lose her.”
I shifted in my chair. “Do what quick? Lose who? Me?”
“
Inform,
Alden. Inform, protect, and serve,” Race scolded. “You’re in pretty deep if they call a session. You’d better get your act together and tell her what’s going on before it’s too late.”
Inform,
Alden. Inform, protect, and serve,” Race scolded. “You’re in pretty deep if they call a session. You’d better get your act together and tell her what’s going on before it’s too late.”
Alden gripped the edge of the tiny round table. “When was the last time you trained a Speaker from scratch, Race? How about you, Maddi? I’m doing the best I can. Both of you are much younger than your Speakers. Generations younger. They trained
you
. . . just like Rose trained me. I have no idea what I’m doing here. I need your help, not your condemnation.” He buried his face in his hands.
you
. . . just like Rose trained me. I have no idea what I’m doing here. I need your help, not your condemnation.” He buried his face in his hands.
I shifted my gaze from Race to Maddi to Alden in astonishment. Why hadn’t he told me there was some time limit? What in the world was a session?
“Alden, tell me what to do.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “Tell me how to help you.”
Race let out a whoop. “You’re right, Alden! She doesn’t remember a thing. The Rose I know would never ask you to tell her what to do!”
Maddi laughed. “Yeah, she was too busy telling
you
what to do!”
you
what to do!”
Both of them giggled and gave each other a high five.
Race reached across and patted his shoulder. “Why haven’t you finished the paperwork?”
“The first Hindered resolution only happened last night, and she was so upset by the Malevolent before that, I didn’t want to interview her yet. We’re going to close the first resolution file after I pick up my little sister, and then we’ll take on a Hindered that’s been hassling her today about retrieving some kind of stolen item.”
Maddi clapped her hands. “Ooooh. Restitution. Those are my favorites. Worth a lot of points. You’ll love it, Lenzi. It’s really exciting. Nothing better than a justifiably angry Hindered. Has it been haunting the perpetrator? Those are the best ones.”
“I have no idea.” I couldn’t believe anyone could be stoked about something so creepy.
Race jumped up. “I’ve got it! You work on the first resolution file, Alden, and I’ll interview Rose . . . Lenzi about the Malevolent. You’re up to it, aren’t you, Lenzi?”
Race’s enthusiasm was contagious. I nodded.
“Ha! See?” Race pulled out Maddi’s chair. “Maddi, darling, will you go get something wonderful for Lenzi so that we can fill her full of sugar and caffeine to get her ready for her busy schedule? We’re gonna make a significant dent in the Hindered population around here!”
Before long, I was at a separate table with Race, sipping on a mocha latte, answering questions about my encounter with the Malevolent in Kemah. Race entered my answers on his laptop into a document that looked like a standard form for a normal business, except it had strange questions. At the top of the form, I noticed a grading scale.
Alden and Maddi were at a table across from us. She was reading out information from a paper file while he entered the data on his own laptop. Occasionally, Alden would look over at me, causing my heart to beat a little faster.
“Done,” Race proclaimed right as Alden’s phone rang.
Alden’s face clouded as he inspected the caller ID screen. He turned the phone toward Race, Maddi, and me. “ICDC” appeared on the screen.
“Oh, no! We weren’t fast enough!” Maddi gasped.
“Wait!” Race said. He pushed Send on the form he had just completed, and his computer made a whooshing sound. “Okay. Go ahead.”
Alden gave me a significant look and answered the phone. “This is Protector 438.”
Maddi squeezed her eyes shut, and Race took my hand.
Alden stared straight ahead while he spoke. “Yes, sir, I understand. . . . No, everything is fine; I’m simply behind in my paperwork. . . . Yes, sir, I am at fault. . . . No, sir, I believe she is not at zero. I have just submitted a Malevolent with Negative Outcome Form. I’m holding a Standard Hindered Form. . . . Yes, sir. Completely my error. . . . Yes, I anticipate resolution of a Hindered seeking restitution before midnight—Tomorrow?” He shot me a frightened look. “Yes, sir. We would be available to meet with a representative tomorrow. . . . Noon in Galveston at the Seawall historical marker. Yes, sir, we’ll be there.” Alden ended the call and continued staring straight ahead.
“Is it a formal session?” Maddi asked, breaking the tense silence. “Will it be a hearing?”
Alden glanced over at me and then at Maddi. “No. They just want to talk to us.”
“That can’t be a good thing,” Race said.
“Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long.” Alden began packing up his laptop.
“What is ICDC?” I asked Race.
“Intercessor Council Disciplinary Committee.”
The name alone was scary. I put on my best game face in an attempt to appear unconcerned in front of Maddi and Race. But fear surged through me like ungrounded current. Maddi and Race stopped what they were doing and stared at me. Alden closed his eyes.
“Intense, isn’t it?” Alden remarked.
“Wow. How often does she do that?” Race asked.
“All the time.” Alden’s eyes were still closed.
Maddi laughed and punched him on the shoulder. “No wonder you haven’t finished your paperwork.”
“How often do I do
what
?” I asked.
what
?” I asked.
The three Protectors laughed. Alden zipped up his computer bag and glanced at his watch. “We’ve got to go. Thanks for helping us out. I’ll call you tomorrow after the meeting. They probably just want to see her and make sure she’s intact. It takes a formal session to sentence a Speaker to be discontinued.”
“Or a Protector, for that matter,” Race added. “Keep it together, Alden. Inform, protect, serve, no matter how much fear she throws at you.”
After hugs and handshakes, Maddi and Race got in a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck, leaving me alone with Alden, who was politely holding my car door open.
“You should have told me we were in trouble, Alden.”
After he pulled out onto the service road, he glanced over at me. “You weren’t ready. If I had told you about the ICDC, you would have taken off. I’m not one hundred percent sure you’re on board even now.”
“Well, I am on board, Alden. And if we’re going to be a team, you can’t keep secrets from me.”
“Deal,” he said as he pulled into a day-care facility. Not the average day care—a huge, elegant exclusive one. He parked under the covered pick-up area. Immediately, a woman escorted a little girl with bouncing blond curls out to the car. Alden got out and walked around the front of the car to meet them. The little girl ran into his arms as he opened the door. He picked her up and twirled her around before setting her in the booster seat in the back of his car.
Alden spoke with the woman briefly before turning his attention to the little girl, who was grinning hugely at me.
“Izzy, this is Lenzi. Lenzi, this is my little sister, Elizabeth.”
Alden got in the driver’s seat and waited patiently for Elizabeth to buckle her seat belt. “Do you want help, Izzy?”
“No! Charlotte says I’m a big girl and I don’t need boys to do stuff for me.”
Alden rolled his eyes. “Charlotte says a lot of things. Miss Mason told me that you’re upsetting the other kids by talking about Charlotte too much. You need to tone it down, Izzy.”
“Miss Mason is just jealous ’cause she doesn’t have a friend like Charlotte.”
Alden sighed. “Buckle up so we can go.”
“Who is Charlotte?” I asked.
“My bestest friend in the whoooole world,” Elizabeth volunteered from the backseat while she wrestled with the seat belt.
Alden reached back and helped her buckle up. “Charlotte is Izzy’s imaginary friend.”
“She’s not ’maginary. She’s real!”
Alden winked at me and started the car. “Izzy, you’re going to play with Miss Aurora until Dad gets home, okay?”
“I want to play with Lenzi!” she said, grinning.
“Yeah, well, so do I, so you can play with her tomorrow. Where’s Boo Bear?”
She dug through her backpack and produced a tattered pink bear. “Here!”
“Good afternoon, Boo Bear. How was your day?” Alden asked, glancing briefly in his rearview mirror.
“He doesn’t want to talk to you, Alden. He wants to talk to Lenzi.”
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