LITMIR.BIZ

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of spices wafted up from the meal: grilled chicken, rice, and vegetables.

      Ally’s stomach grumbled. “Thanks.”

      “Is there anything else I can get for you?” she asked.

      “I’m good, thanks,” I said, managing a smile.

      She left the room, leaving the door open.

      Well, I guess I couldn’t make any dinner conversation with Cooper. He stood at the window, staring outside with a strange expression. I peeked into the kitchen but Marie was still there. I’d have to save my questions for later.

      After I inhaled the food, barely tasting any of it, even though it could have very well been my last meal, I went up to Ally’s room. Cooper followed me there, taking the slow route. I sensed it was deliberate. He didn’t seem in any rush to speak with me.

      “So what did Felix have to say?” I asked, settling on the bed.

      Cooper swiped a hand over his face. “He’d like to speak with you in person.”

      “How is that possible?” I asked, knowing full well Caeleste couldn’t transport to the Living Realm.

      “He has ways,” Cooper said with finality.

      For an immortal soul, he sure looked weathered.

      “That took you a few hours to figure out?” I asked. Ally’s heart sank, he wasn’t telling me everything.

      His head snapped up as if woken from a trance. “We went over a few leads.”

      I sat up. “Anything good?”

      His eyebrows flattened to a straight line. “I didn’t think you were that interested.”

      “Of course I’m interested,” I said, confused. “Why would you think that?”

      He shrugged.

      Had Aaron said something to him? In the kitchen it hadn’t seemed like he had, since he would have probably been Recycled if Cooper knew anything about him letting me out of his sight. Cooper did have a direct line to Ally’s body; had he felt what happened earlier with Jackson?

      Cooper continued. “The Guard followed up on some of the locations that David had sent them in the past but they came up empty-handed. It’s almost as if they are waiting for something.”

      “Her transformation?” I suggested, forming a coherent idea. “Hear me out.”

      Now I had his full attention. Anything involving Ally had his full attention.

      “That seems to be a key point in all of this,” I said. “If the Shadowed are looking to influence her to their side, they have to wait for her birthday to do it.”

      “But why take her soul?” Cooper said as he started pacing. “Why not take her whole?”

      “You said the soul was weaker when it was taken before it was supposed to be. Maybe they are working on influencing her soul. They don’t need her body to do that, right?”

      “Right,” he said a little apprehensively.

      “What about the True Soul?” I asked. “Do you think a Shadowed was able to cross into the After?”

      “It’s not possible,” Cooper said. “The Shadowed aren’t capable of crossing into the After.”

      I scoffed. “You keep saying things are impossible. Open your mind a little bit. I never thought it was possible to be sucked inside of a human body.”

      “But that is something Felix knew was a possibility. The Shadowed tried for a long time to get there, with no success.”

      “Maybe they were waiting for the right moment? If they knew they could cross over, wouldn’t they want to keep that secret from the Caeleste until they could use it to their advantage? Like taking a Prognatum True Soul.”

      Cooper shook his head. “I don’t see that.”

      I crossed Ally’s arms. “You don’t or you can’t?”

      He shot me a glare.

      I picked at an errant thread in the duvet. “Fine, that theory is off the table.” For now.

      Ally’s mouth opened in a wide yawn. It was almost seven, yet the day had been full and quite exhausting.

      “You should get to bed.”

      “But we should talk through this,” I said, battling against another yawn.

      “Nothing will happen tonight anyway; tomorrow is another day.”

      “One more day closer to her birthday,” I murmured, padding across the room toward the closet. I changed into a T-shirt and baggy shorts and went into the bathroom to brush Ally’s teeth quickly before sliding into the bed. The whole day washed over me as I sunk deeper into the sheets.

      “Sleep well,” Cooper said.

      Anxiety settled deep in Ally’s stomach. I knew what would happen when I fell asleep but this time I was ready for it.

      Even though I was unconscious, I knew the visions I experienced while sleeping were not my own. My soul and Ally’s body created mixed visions that unfolded before me.

      I was back at Seth’s and, instead of walking away with Jackson, I had used the bat to pummel Seth and Krystal. Their blood splattered everywhere, soaking their clothes. When I was satisfied, I dropped the weapon, examining my hands that were covered in them as well. The arms weren’t Ally’s, they were my own. Images flickered as if they were on an old movie projector but they only showcased my arms. The image of my bloody arms superimposed over an image of my smooth bloodless arms but in one hand I held a smoking pistol. Blood. Pistol. Blood. Pistol. The images sped up until they became one. Then everything disappeared and a new vision came through.

      One that wasn’t mine.

      I tried to open my eyes but I couldn’t. It was as if something covered them. I moved my arms but I couldn’t feel them. I struggled against the binds that held me in a seated position.

      “If you stop struggling, I will take it off,” a voice said.

      I sat still for a few seconds. The weight against my eyes lifted. I was sitting on a small leather couch by a window in the same study I’d been in recently, I think. I looked down at my arms but they remained still at my sides, even though I tried to move them. My skin was paler than normal, almost translucent.

       “I can take away the wards, Ally,” he said. “But you have to promise to stay here.”

      I nodded, figuring that every time I complied with his requests he gave me a little more freedom. My arms were freed, yet I held my position, until that familiar tugging sensation moved me up and forward. I passed through objects in the room. A chair, then a desk, another couch.

      “No, no, Ally,” the voice chided.

      “Mumph,” I said. I hadn’t been able to speak since I’d arrived in this place. At least not coherently.

      I moved toward the door again, the sensation growing with each inch.

       “I said no,” he said forcefully. “You need to stay here.”

      “Muumph!” What was wrong with my mouth? I’d felt the same way when I’d gone to the dentist for a root canal, full of cotton and undecipherable. I wanted out of there. How much longer would I be in this room? I needed to go to whatever called for me. My body buzzed with the need.

      “Now, now,” he cooed.

      The pressure of his hand pulled me back toward the couch.

       “I brought you back here because you promised you’d be a good girl. If you keep leaving me, I will take you back there.”

      No

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