A Gathering of Souls Read online

Bree collapsed. Her emotional barricade shattered. Rage, grief, and loneliness rushed through her until she was too full of—loss. It was ripping her to shreds.

  Bree couldn’t catch her breath. Please. I can’t bear it. We must seal this away.

  I want them back!

  The other girl’s anger choked her. Please, Bree pleaded. This is killing me. Please.

  The floodgate closed. Bree gasped for air. The charm’s attack ceased.

  “Are you all right?” Ehre asked, helping Bree to her feet.

  All the people sat up in their beds. They touched their faces. They touched each other’s faces. They got up and walked. Some danced. Others ran.

  She had done this. No, they had done this, she and the girl.

  As if her thought had been said aloud, the people stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Their smiles filled the room. Their joy eased the near unbearable pain from a moment ago. A hoot went up from the back. Then they all joined in.

  All the people glowed gold. She waited for the light the fade, but as the seconds ticked by, they still shimmered.

  “To our light!”

  “To our star!”

  The chant filled Bree’s head, pounding against the barrier of her rebuilt defenses. She’d heard those words before from people who depended on her. They had looked to her to rescue them.

  Keep them safe. It had been her duty. But that was before. Before Stav, when she was in—

  Khrisk touched her arm. “It’s time to go.”

  The amber gem eked out a pathetic network of energy. Her power smashed the lattice before it reached her elbows.

  Her white safety suit was gone. So were all the others. “Where’d the suits go?”

  “Uh.” Khrisk looked at Ehre.

  “They must have evaporated when you healed all the people.” Ehre said it like that was normal.

  It was not normal. None of this was normal. “I’m leaving.”

  “That’s what I said.” Khrisk took her hand.

  Don’t let him take our hand.

  Why? His touch was reassuring.

  “Don’t touch me.” The girl stole Bree’s mouth again, shoving her aside, taking over Bree’s body completely.

  His eyes widened. “What?”

  “Release me.”

  He jumped back.

  Shane came forward. “My light?”

  Bree saw through the other girl’s eyes. He rightly called her light because she chased away the darkness. She knew this man. A golden handprint radiated on his chest through his black armored vest.

  “I’m leaving,” the other girl said.

  Shane grinned like someone had just told him he was king of the world.

  The other quad members and Thac jumped to detain her as Ehre spoke frantically in Seyh, louder than the chanting people.

  A smile stretched Bree’s lips. “That won’t work, Superior.” With a flick of her hand, Bree knocked the men against the wall. They didn’t move.

  Khrisk grabbed her shoulder and screamed. He shook his hand. It didn’t look burned, but he cradled it. “You can’t do this. Please, listen to me.”

  Her hand felt burned, so she cured it with a thought. “I told you not to touch me.” The girl was going out, taking Bree along.

  What are we doing? Bree asked.

  Leaving. I have to get us out of here.

  The huge door holding them inside the hospital melted. Bree glimpsed the idea. The girl was going to obliterate the entire thanum production plant. Bree tried to call a warning to Khrisk or Shane, but the girl held her in check.

  See. Her insides jumped happily. This was what she was made for. Destroying this offensive place was her only purpose.

  But all the people, Bree insisted. We can’t kill them!

  An alarm rang and she heard the people in the hospital scurry. “Stay back,” said the girl. They stopped. “You must remain here.”

  More guards than she could count swarmed her. Nothing would stop her. With a thought, she moved them inside the hospital wing, placing them next to a dumbfounded Khrisk and Ehre, and an overjoyed Shane. The door remolded, securing the hospital wing.

  Will they be safe? Bree asked.

  We aren’t murderers.

  Bree showed her the memories she had.

  Lies. We would never kill anyone.

  “Now for the workers.” She touched them with her mind and told them to flee. This place was going up in glorious flames. She counted. They would need time to climb that ridiculous staircase.

  She gave them an hour, and when the last man touched the blue soil, she sealed the stairwell. Bree resisted the urge to panic and failed. Her body wasn’t hers anymore, and the girl wasn’t explaining.

  As if sensing its end, the blackness swirling inside the tubes and funnels tried to flee, but she’d known it was a coward and had already shut the vents. It was weak and couldn’t do much on its own.

  See them for what they are, Bree.

  They’re a group. Bree recognized them now, all the little darkens. Pure evil. Pure darkness. The old enemies, blind devourers of living souls because they had lost their own.

  They were making all the people sick. They were creating the mutated animals.

  “Your time here is over,” said the girl.

  They gathered together into a gargantuan blob, rumbling their complaints.

  Why couldn’t they stay a little longer?

  Who was she, to cast them out of this delicious world?

  Her soul looked divine. They wanted to eat her.

  The blob rushed forward.

  Bree shrieked, and meant to move, but she couldn’t use her muscles.

  “You should know better,” said the other girl.

  The power inside Bree’s core unfurled. Blinding light filled the space.

  And that was it.

  The last devourer squealed its insults as her radiance banished it to its desolate home world.

  Bree blinked. She stood in the center of a crater, not an energy plant. Nothing remained but the sealed hospital wing and good, clean dirt beneath her boots.

  The door to the hospital glowed purple.

  Ehre is hard at work. The other girl thought of Nikki, Bree’s beautiful horse. Instantly, she arrived next to the horse, and stroked the mare’s mane. The blue circle had survived, but there were no guards, no workers. The stairway was gone.

  “Good,” the girl said.

  Wait! We can’t leave them. Bree itched for control again.

  Don’t worry. They’ll be fine.

  Mounting Nikki, she headed northwest.

  Why?

  The girl considered. North seems a good place to go.

  Nikki followed a path Bree couldn’t see.

  Look there.

  Bree looked at the ground. A path lit up like the shining sun. It wove through the forest, past streams, broken houses, people, and animals.

  To lead us home.

  She was going home, and it wasn’t Stav.

  Wind blew from behind, pushing Nikki faster. No mutated animals popped up from the grass to eat her like she had been warned a thousand times if she ever wandered from Zeir Bayan or her quad.

  Something tugged at her chest. She was forgetting something.

  Khrisk, behind her. Almost touching her.

  She swiveled in her seat. He wasn’t there but it felt like he was.

  The hills were about an hour or so away. If she could just make it there, he wouldn’t find her.

  Why don’t you want him to find us? Bree asked.

  He’s bad for us.

  Finally, at the hills, freedom sank in. She had made it.

  No turning back, the girl warned Bree.

  Her vision tunneled, fast-forwarded to the place she was headed.

  Tall pines and granite mountains with glistening waterfalls.

  A white city.

  A burning plain.

  A woman with brown locks and green eyes just like hers.

  A man waved. Her fathe
r. The woman, her mother.

  The same golden alhor lit the space around them.

  Our family.

  And five stood behind them. All the same, yet different.

  They’re like us, thought Bree.

  With happy smiles, their alhors started to fade and their skin grew ashen. They didn’t seem worried.

  She couldn’t get to them fast enough.

  They began to break apart. She was still too far away.

  Her hands touched piles of dust when she finally reached them.

  Her heart splintered, breaking into tiny pieces like the dust glistening in her hands. It wasn’t real, was it? Bree couldn’t tell the difference. The ache wasn’t something she or the other girl wanted to face.

  They can’t have gone. They wouldn’t leave me here alone. “You can’t leave me here! Come back!” The girl’s ache of pain overwhelmed Bree. Come back, come back, come back, come back.

  A pair of warm arms wrapped around her.

  Khrisk.

  At some point, she must have fallen off Nikki because they were on the ground. “They’re gone. We’re all alone.”

  “We thought so,” Khrisk’s voice was a gentle caress.

  “Gone.” The word repeated in her head. How could her family abandon her? Didn’t they know how difficult it would be for her? Her training wasn’t complete. She couldn’t survive here on her own. There was so much she didn’t know. She wasn’t ready. “How could they leave me?”

  “Listen.” He held her face in his hands. “We need you. I need you.”

  “Then why are you keeping my power from me? I’m the only one left who can help you.” Both girls asked this. They wanted to know.

  None of it made sense. She was in Rysa. Rysa, the tiny country to the south. Something about Osling tickled their brain. He had been in Anthea when the plains had burned. He had been invading her home.

  All of what she had seen in the visions, they were memories. How had she ended up here?

  Purple light encroached her gold alhor. Ehre. Ehre had been in Anthea too.

  Khrisk’s arms tightened. “Listen, you healed people today at the hospital. And we’re all so grateful. After the healing, you fainted.” His hand caressed her cheek. Tears filled his eyes. “Everything else doesn’t matter. You will forget your family. Forget Anthea. Rysa is your home. Your only home. We are your people.”

  Her heart wanted to forget. Khrisk was warm, alive, and most importantly, holding her together. He would never desert her.

  “Bree, listen carefully, you’re a Seyh that needs help. Let Ehre help you. Let me help you.” Khrisk kissed her forehead, her cheeks.

  “I’m the only one left,” said the girl. “I am the light that casts out the darkness.”

  “And we need you. I am your friend,” Khrisk said firmly.

  And he was a good friend. Bree remembered now.

  “Go to sleep.” He stroked her forehead. “You need to rest.”

  Her body and heart ached. Her eyelids grew heavy. She needed to rest. She was tired.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Every nerve in Bree’s body hated the hand prodding her shoulder, arms, cheeks, but she couldn’t ignore the voice calling her name.

  She wanted to see the face that belonged to the voice.

  Forcing her eyes open, she saw distorted smudges of yellow with shadows, until the domed ceiling of her bedroom came into focus. Where was Khrisk? Hadn’t he just touched her? She tilted her head when her eyeballs refused to move.

  He sat in the chair next to the balcony with his head in his palms.

  “Khrisk?” A hundred needles scratched her throat. Coughing, she reached for the glass of water on her side table. Her hand fell limp on the lace coverlet. None of her muscles responded to her requests to move.

  “You’re awake.” Khrisk took her hand and kissed her face all over, except her lips.

  She pointed to her throat. “Screaming?” The word croaked and grated. She pointed to the cup. “My bedroom?” How had she gotten back to the palace?

  Tosha’s head appeared next to Khrisk’s. “I’ll send for Ehre.” She disappeared.

  “Drink this.” Khrisk held a sweet-smelling liquid to her mouth. “All of it.”

  The syrupy beverage slid down her throat, for once not tasting like dirt, soothing away the soreness.

  Khrisk set the cup on the table. “You fainted in the hospital after healing all those people.” He gently stroked her face. “Ehre thinks you need time to adjust to your talents after having them lie dormant for so long. We thought it best to return to the palace.” His eyes alighted with amusement. “Bayan was here a few minutes ago.”

  Her body relaxed, and she felt better, happy even, like the world was right. “What was in the cup?” She sat up, pulling the covers under her arms, and touched Khrisk’s hand.

  He laced his fingers between hers. “Something Ehre cooked up with Gallie. You feel better?” He brought her hand to his mouth but didn’t kiss it. She wished he would.

  “I do.” She smiled.

  Sighing, Khrisk inspected her knuckles with his fingers. Her body perked up under his soft strokes. “Resh Osling is holding a banquet in your honor tonight. Everyone in the hospital is completely cured.”

  “Good.” She had succeeded. Osling was noticing her worth. He’d keep her. She’d been worried about failing rehab and now she wasn’t. Two of her talents were back. Soon she’d return to active duty and be able to better serve her country.

  “A banquet sounds like fun,” said Bree. The green gown Bayan designed hung in the doorway of her dressing room. “Bayan will like seeing me awake.” Something clanked in her head. Bayan didn’t make her happy.

  Khrisk scooted her over and sat on the bed, looping his arm around her shoulders. “The banquet will be fun. I’ll be there to dance with you.”

  Snuggling into his side, his comfort chased the weariness from her bones. “I don’t usually dance at the banquets or balls.” Her alhor covered him like he was a part of herself. “Hmm. You feel like home.”

  “You too.” He planted kisses on top of her head. “You’ll dance tonight and probably every other night now that you’re Bayan’s Honor.”

  She wanted to turn her face so the kisses would land on her lips, but it seemed he was trying to respect Bayan’s claim on her. Khrisk was a gentleman after all. He wouldn’t steal kisses like his cousin.

  Khrisk squeezed his arms around her. He kissed her head again. His mouth lingered on her hair and he breathed deep. “I have to go.”

  She wrapped her arms around his middle. She missed him already, but her heart didn’t ache. Her chest was light and carefree. “Will I meet Karra Elissa tonight?”

  Khrisk smirked and untangled himself from her grasp. “I’m sure you will. I promise, you’ll like her.” He bowed to Tosha, who stood in the doorframe of the dressing room. He gave Bree one last smile. “See you.”

  Bree smiled and waved as he left. She smiled at her maid too and breathed some deep, satisfying breaths. The world was finally set straight because it hadn’t been for some reason. It was fixed now, and she’d get to dance! “How long do I have to get ready?”

  Tosha seemed to glow, and coldness enveloped Bree. The aches returned. The barricade to her feelings creaked. All the bubbly happiness encasing Bree’s thoughts popped like a bubble. “Wait.” She was missing something. Something important. Khrisk knew about it. He had distracted her with a banquet and a promise to dance with her.

  “There you are. Returned to yourself, I see.” Tosha pulled back the curtains and opened the balcony doors. “It’s good to see you awake and talking. Nice chat with the Second Zeir?”

  “Were you there the whole time?” Bree’s cheeks flushed.

  “It didn’t take long to ask a guard to fetch that purple ogre.” Tosha sat on the bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “I was feeling really good. Happy even. I don’t want to think about it.” Bree’s prison of emotions was causing a ruckus in t
he back of head. She closed her eyes. Please, I can’t. I need to keep you away. The cage settled.

  Bree picked at the lace coverlet. “I guess I’m going to a banquet.”

  “Zeir Bayan and Rishi Fara sent you flowers.”

  Eight vases of spark lilies, each an assorted color, were settled in various parts of her room. A fresh vase of stargazers was on her nightstand.

  Tosha patted Bree’s hand. “It’ll be all right. You’ll see. Eventually.”

  “I hope so.”

  Tosha stood. “I washed you before we put you to bed. We still only have an hour to get you ready.” Tosha went to the dressing room and came back with a small, black box. “Rishi Fara sent this too.” She set it on Bree’s legs. “Let’s find out what it is.”

  “I lost her sash last night. How can I accept another gift?” Bree touched her stomach. The sash had been beautiful, something she would have chosen for herself.

  “She’ll understand. I think after saving her life, she’ll forgive you anything.” Tosha pushed the box closer. Her eyes sparkled. “Open it.”

  Bree lifted the lid, and her heart swelled. A gold necklace and bracelet, exactly like the ones she’d seen in the antiquities book, glistened against black velvet. “How did Rishi Fara know?” She touched them tentatively. The gold was warm. The circles on the pendants and inside the links spun just like they had on the page. She held them up for Tosha. “What do you think?”

  A satisfied smile crossed Tosha’s face. “I think they’re beautiful and much better than what Zeir Bayan sent.” She folded down the covers. “Can you get up?”

  Flexing her legs, Bree curled her toes and twisted her ankles. “I think so.” She stood, keeping a hand on the bed. “I may need a hand.”

  Tosha smiled and wrapped her arm around Bree’s waist. “Let’s get you ready.” She helped Bree to the stool in the dressing room. “I think I’ll put your hair up tonight.” Bree nodded, and Tosha started brushing. She hummed a song Bree hadn’t heard as she went about her work.

  The melody made Bree think of a glistening sea filled with colorful boats. With each stroke of the brush, a vivid picture took shape in her mind. She harmonized with Tosha and finished the song not realizing Tosha had stopped humming. “I guess I know that one. From before.”

  “You know more than you think.”