Читать книгу The Life After Trilogy: Soul Taken / Soul Possessed / Soul Betrayed - Katlyn Duncan - Страница 19

At the house, Henry assisted me inside and then bid me goodnight. I watched him walk back to the car with a little skip in his step and smiled. This was probably the earliest he’d been off work since he’d driven for Ally.

“I’ll meet you upstairs,” Cooper snipped.

Before I could ask what his deal was—although I had a pretty good idea—he disappeared.

The stairs loomed before me. I craned Ally’s neck toward the kitchen to make sure Marie wasn’t around to see me lose the crutch act. I started toward the stairs, holding them at my side, but a slip slip sound stopped me in my tracks.

“Ms. Ally?” Marie said, standing in the parlor doorway in a matching bathrobe and slipper set. “Are you okay?”

I guess this girl was a partier.

I tucked the crutches back under Ally’s arms. “Yeah, just tired.”

She cocked her head. “Did you eat anything?”

I could have lied, but at the thought of food Ally’s stomach responded with a low grumble, probably audible from two towns over.

Marie smiled. “I know you don’t like to cheat on your skinny girl diets, but I made your favorite. Come, follow me.”

Cooper stood at the top of the stairs. I shrugged and followed Marie into the kitchen.

I sat at the white marble island that nearly took up half the room. I smoothed my hands over the hard, slick surface, but stopped when I thought of Cooper’s warning not to feel things too much.

Marie shuffled over to me with a heaped slice of chocolate cake, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My mouth watered. “I can’t eat this whole thing.”

“Sure you can,” Marie said, revealing two forks from her pocket. “You’re going to have some help.”

The small woman hopped up on the stool next to mine. “We haven’t done this in a long time, Ms. Ally.”

A memory bubbled forward through Ally. Actually, several memories from her childhood. She and Marie had been close ever since Ally’s mother passed away when she was five. They had their chocolate cake “talks” frequently when David was away. Mostly things that only mothers would hear from daughters, yet Ally seemed to have no guidance besides her housekeeper.

Why had Ally been so cruel to Marie? And Marie continued to do nice things for the girl! It was Marie’s job, but it was as thankless as they came.

I reached out and touched a hand to Marie’s, hoping she could feel my gratitude. “Thank you.”

I pierced the cake with the fork, bringing it to my lips. The warm, moist texture flooded Ally’s taste buds, sending waves of pleasure down to my soul. I scooped some ice cream with the cake for my next bite, not thinking the taste could get any better.

Boy, was I wrong.

It took a lot of restraint not to plow through the rest of the dessert before Marie could have more, but I succeeded. Barely.

“It’s quite a miracle that you’ve recovered so quickly from your accident.”

I stretched Ally’s “bad” leg out and feigned a wince.

Marie squinted at me. “I’ll be sure to refill your prescription tomorrow.”

I scooped up the last bit of cake and licked the fork clean.

“Beginning to rethink the diet?” Marie beamed.

I nodded, my mouth too busy dying in ecstasy.

Marie slid off the chair, stretching her arms over her head. “Oie, I’m tired. Do you need anything else, Ms. Ally?”

I lifted the plate and forks before Marie could grab them. “Nope, have a good night. And thanks again for the cake.”

“Two thanks in one night,” Marie crossed her arms. “How hard did you hit your head?”

I grinned, offering a tiny laugh.

Marie squealed with laughter. “There’s my Ally,” she said. “Don’t lose her again.”

And, with that, she left the kitchen, still laughing.

“What was that?” Cooper asked.

The plate fell from my hands and, before it crashed to the ground, Cooper snatched it up, not a crumb of cake on the floor.

“Nice reflexes,” I snipped. “But a little lacking on the entrance.”

He walked to the sink, rinsing the plate and forks before placing them in the dishwasher. He closed the dishwasher door and leaned against the counter. “I think we should have a talk.”

“Okay,” I said, having an idea what he wanted to talk about.

He looked in the direction Marie had gone. “Not here.” He brushed past me and opened the sliding door to the porch, indicating for me to go first.

I hobbled to the door and nearly fell as the cast caught on the threshold. Cooper’s hand gripped me and whirled me around until we were almost nose to nose.

Ally’s heart raced, but I wasn’t sure if it was her almost-fall or the way Cooper’s gray eyes penetrated my soul.

“Like you said,” he whispered, as his fingers moved against Ally’s skin. “Good reflexes.”

“Show-off,” I grumbled.

He steadied me with two hands and shut the sliding door behind us. He paced the length of the stone patio a few times before stopping a few feet in front of me. “Can you sit? I’d feel better if you sat.”

I raised an eyebrow, but settled into one of the chairs at his request.

He stopped pacing, yet his hands were closed in tight fists. “I’m sorry about tonight. I was reckless with you. You shouldn’t— he shouldn’t have—”

He hesitated.

“Shouldn’t have what?” I willed him not to stop. I needed answers. Answers about Jackson and how my soul reacted to him. All the questions I had since the party burst out of me. “Who is Jackson? Is he a Guard? Does he have anything to do with Ally’s soul-napping? Why did he tell me he knew me in my human life? I thought all souls were stripped of their memories at Gate Seven?”

Cooper held up a hand and I stopped, slightly out of breath. “Jackson used to be a Guard, but was turned to the Shadowed.”

He sat down in the chair next to mine. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Jackson was a Guard for nearly three hundred years. He protected Ally’s ancestors through many transformations. When I crossed over fifty years ago, he was my trainer.”

“He trained?” I repeated, leaning back in my chair. “Why wasn’t he with the family?”

Cooper’s gaze flicked to mine, eliciting a fluttering sensation in Ally’s belly. “He’d failed his last mission. It’s something that no one talks about, it was that bad. Felix took him away from duty and made him a Guard trainer. Needless to say, he wasn’t pleased.”

“So how did you get the job?” I asked.

“Felix saw my potential and recruited me for Ally’s birth. When I was chosen for Ally, Jackson didn’t take it well. He didn’t think anyone was good enough for this family.”

I leaned forward in my chair, but Cooper jumped up as if something stung him.

He punched one fist into his open palm, bringing his hands to his mouth. “He spent years threatening to take my job, but I thought it was just jealousy, not intent.”

I had a bad feeling about where this was going.

Cooper closed his eyes and shook his head. “He constantly tested my will and before I could approach Felix about him, he acted.”

“How?” I breathed, Ally’s damp hands clasped in a tight knot.

“One night, when Ally was six, I felt another presence on the property. Another Guard. I thought it might have been Calliope or another friend, but when I investigated the feeling that brought me into the back yard, he attacked me.”

I flinched, tearing my gaze away from Cooper and onto the dark sprawling lawn in front of me.

He continued. “The swords that the Guard carry have a unique energy, one that the Caeleste bestow upon us. It’s only used for our protection against the Shadowed, but it has harmful effects for us as well.”

“He used his sword on you?” I asked.

“No, he used mine,” Cooper said softly. “The energy in the sword is our own life force; a part of the True Soul is embedded inside of it. When used on the Shadowed it destroys them, but when used on us—”

I wanted to stand up, grab him in my arms and replace his frown with a smile, somehow. But I didn’t dare move. I needed to hear the rest of his story.

“The energy inside the sword is connected to a place. A place I never wish to visit ever again. It’s almost as if the world imploded into a bright white nothingness. After what seemed like days, a Caeleste retrieved me. It turned out I had only been missing for a few hours. I immediately went to Ally and found her playing with her stuffed animals on the floor of her bedroom. It was the happiest moment I’d ever experienced. She had no idea.”

“What happened to Jackson?”

Cooper grimaced and his knuckles flexed. “He was there, just watching her as if he was in a trance.” Cooper shook his head, his eyes glazed over as if the scene played out before his eyes. “He snapped out of it when I approached him. And right before he disappeared he said, “Told you.”’

“Told you what?”

“That he was the better Guard for her. I didn’t think much about it at the time. But each day after that I was on high alert for him, I became obsessed. Felix assigned Calliope to train with me every night until I knew I could beat him if it came down to it.”

Cooper’s shoulders relaxed as if the weight of the story had been released from his body.

“Tonight was the first night I’d seen him since then,” Cooper said.

I thought of Jackson’s eyes on mine. How could that tender gaze belong to someone who would do that?

“We should go inside,” Cooper said.

“No.” I grabbed his arm as he tried to walk past me.

He stiffened. His gray eyes met mine and I swallowed hard. I tried to move Ally’s arm away, but he held it lightly in his grasp. He stroked it lightly with his thumb, his gaze not wavering, making the tiny blonde hairs on her arm straighten. Her stomach flip-flopped and her heart raced. Cooper’s eyes touched every part of my face. His hands radiated a warmth not unlike Seth’s, but this time the reaction was all me.

“Ally,” he breathed.

I flinched, and stepped back. How could I have been so blind? Cooper had been with Ally for so long, of course he’d fall for her. I hobbled into the house. Ally’s skin prickled.

“Maggie,” he said, appearing next to me as I briskly walked through the kitchen toward the stairs.

“Ah, you remembered my name,” I said softly, ascending the stairs.

He appeared at the top of the steps; I brushed past him. “I didn’t mean—it’s just—”

“Oh, I get it,” I said. I opened the door to Ally’s bedroom and homed in on her bathroom. Only a few more steps…

“Maggie,” Cooper said.

I reached the bathroom first, shutting the door in his face. Ally’s back pressed against the door as I slid down to the floor, wrapping her arms around her bent knees.

Cooper’s shadow darkened the doorway, I watched his movements from under the door. “Please come out. I want to explain.”

I sighed. “There’s nothing to explain. You miss her.” You love her. “I get it. So why don’t you do something about it?” I rested her chin on the top of her knees.

“That’s not—” He stopped. The door moved against me and I heard a sliding sound against it. Cooper’s voice was closer, as if he sat in the same position on the other side. “Yes, I miss her. You caught me off guard. We’ve never had direct contact… before. I wanted to see her.”

I knocked Ally’s head against the door. “Well, her body is still technically here.”

“No,” he said. “Your soul faded somewhat since the accident. I lost myself for a moment when I looked in her eyes as if she never left.”

I vaulted off the floor and flipped on the lights above the vanity. Ally’s face squinted in the sudden brightness. I leaned forward, trying to make out the outline of my soul.

There it was!

What was Cooper talking about? I could plainly see— well, he was right, somewhat. I wasn’t as defined but I was still in there. I rested against the vanity, staring at the girl whose body I inhabited. It had only been a few days, but it felt as if I’d been human for a lot longer than that.

I stalled in the bathroom, brushing Ally’s teeth. The toothpaste didn’t mix with the chocolate cake and I scrubbed it away. I closed my eyes, thinking of the conversation with Cooper. The Jackson I’d met hadn’t seemed capable of the betrayal that Cooper described, but then again our meetings were short and the inexplicable desire to be near him seemed to be clouding my judgment. I really didn’t know him that well.

You don’t know Cooper either, a small voice inside of me argued.

But at least he wasn’t a Shadowed.

The questions that had prompted the talk of Jackson were foggy, yet the most important one came to mind.

How does Jackson know me?