The Life After Trilogy: Soul Taken / Soul Possessed / Soul Betrayed - Katlyn Duncan

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into the crutches a little more. “Better?” I mumbled.

      Jamie turned to me. “Did you say something?”

      “Nope.” I sat on the bigger leather couch, keeping my leg covered.

      Jamie spread books and notebooks across the coffee table. “I, uh—” She started, her eyes darting around the room. “I thought we could start with the paper since it’s almost done. I wanted to see if you could read over what I wrote.”

      “Sure,” I said.

      Jamie cleared her throat, looking around the room again. I twisted around in my seat, scanning the room. Cooper sat at the small desk, watching us.

      “What?”

      Jamie shook her head furiously, a chunk of hair from her bun tumbling out of the elastic. She turned around and reached into her bag.

      Déjà vu settled over me.

      Jamie was in the hospital when you woke up.

      No, that wasn’t it. I thought back. Maybe I had Collected someone she was close with and I’d seen her in my past?

      Jamie pulled several sheets of paper from the bag and handed them to me. Great, now half this girl’s grade depended on me.

      “Can I use your bathroom?” she said, standing up.

      “Sure. It’s down the hall past the kitchen.” I was thankful for the reprieve. Maybe Cooper could read the paper for me, or I could just tell her it was fine. She seemed like a smart girl.

      On the way out of the room, she came next to me and pointed at the paper. “I was stuck on this part.”

      I looked up at her. “Okay.”

      Her eyes widened as if she was trying to communicate with me telepathically.

      Okay, she was smart, but also a bit strange.

      She nodded at me and continued out of the room.

      I turned to Cooper. “And you wanted me to let her in the house?”

      Cooper laughed. “She’s harmless.”

      I turned back around, in case she was quick in the bathroom and found the passage she had pointed out, but all I could focus on were the last few scrawled words: “You are in danger. Meet me in the bathroom.”

       Chapter Fourteen

      I read the sentence over and over, Ally’s heart pounding. “Cooper,” I breathed.

      He appeared at my side. “What’s wrong?”

      I shoved the paper at him. He quickly scanned it, his hands tightening on the sheet.

      “What does this mean?” I asked.

      “There’s only one way to find out,” he said.

      Cooper helped me up from the couch, and I dropped the cast act. This girl already knew enough; I didn’t want to be held back by a stupid piece of plaster if the Shadowed attacked.

      “Are the wards broken?” I asked Cooper, hobbling into the foyer toward the kitchen. “Is someone watching us?”

      “Doubt it,” he said. “David is very skilled. If anything, they sent her in here to do something. But instead she warned us.”

      We stood at the bathroom door, the water running inside. “Can you check them? I’ll talk to her.”

      Cooper nodded and disappeared.

      I knocked on the door and it opened before I could move my hand to knock a second time. Jamie’s small hand grabbed Ally’s arm and pulled me inside the room. She pushed past me and closed the door, locking it behind her, her back flat against it.

      “Sorry it took me so long,” Jamie said. “I’d requested to be your partner for the paper so that I’d be able to get you alone and warn you.”

      I blinked a few times. “Warn me about what?”

      Jamie leaned closer to me, her voice low. “There is a spirit that follows you everywhere you go. It’s a boy around our age. Do you know who he is? Is he a relative? The last spirit I saw was my cousin after he had died from a drug overdose. He looked better and everything but I didn’t want to stick around long enough to ask—”

      I held up Ally’s hands. “Wait a minute.” This girl could see us?

      Jamie cocked her head and something reflected on her face in the vanity light. I touched the paint spatter on her cheek and the déjà vu mystery clicked into place.

      I looked her up and down and found paint splatters on her clothing. I remembered that bun. “It was you!”

      Jamie stepped back. “What was me? I’m trying to help you here!”

      Cooper appeared in the room. Jamie screamed, making him jump.

      “The door was locked,” he said as if that was an explanation. “She can see me?”

      Jamie staggered back toward the door. “You can see him?” Her eyes welled up. “I thought I was the only freak around here.”

      Did she sound relieved?

      “Extraordinary,” Cooper said in awe. “I’ve heard about this. But I’ve never met anyone who could breach the Realms.”

      “But how?” I asked.

      He shrugged. “There are some things that just can’t be explained in this world. Paranormal phenomena happen every day. I guess the broadest term would be ‘magic’.”

      Jamie’s chattering teeth stopped our conversation; we looked at her. Her eyes moved back and forth between us. “I—” chatter chatter “get like this—” chatter chatter “around people—things like you…” chatter chatter.

      I leaned toward her, her hands springing to cover her face.

      “Relax,” I said. “I’m not going to hurt you.” I turned the knob to the door and pulled it open, wedging it past the shaking girl. Cooper disappeared into the hall. “Come on.” I reached out Ally’s hand towards her. “Let’s get you warmed up.”

      The three of us sat on the floor in Ally’s room. Cooper and I distanced ourselves from Jamie so she wouldn’t freeze to death. Cooper had given her a bulky sweatshirt from Ally’s closet with the high school’s mascot on the front and sleeve.

      “I’ve been this way since I can remember,” she said after Cooper asked about her ‘gift’. “As a kid I couldn’t tell the difference between your kind and the living people. My dad brought me to a doctor when I was younger.” She shook her head. “That is not something I’d like to repeat. Soon enough I just didn’t speak until I was sure the person I spoke with was alive. And the cold thing…” she held up her arms, gripping the sweatshirt “… would tip me off once I figured out I got this way around them.”

      “What about the paint—”

      Jamie shot me a pleading look.

      Huh, maybe she didn’t want Cooper to know about that. I changed direction. “What do you see when you look at me?” I asked.

      “After your accident, I saw someone else, like, inside you. That’s sort of why I came here today. I had to make sure she wasn’t still inside of you and when I didn’t see her any more, I thought I’d warn you that something was happening. Or see if you possibly had some answers?”

      Ally’s body stiffened and I met Cooper’s eye. She didn’t know Ally wasn’t there. I looked down at Ally’s arm and squinted, not seeing the outline of my soul.

      “What’s happening?” I looked quickly at Cooper.

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