Soul Thief Read online

  The doctor would probably forbid me getting out of bed without any help, but she hadn’t expressly mentioned it, so at least she couldn’t scold me for doing so. Besides, a walk would probably help clear my head, and anything was better than lying here and reliving fragments of the accident over and over again without being able to change the outcome.

  I stumbled out of the room, holding on to walls, closets and my bed not to fall over. This ranked as very high on the list of ‘terribly bad ideas’, but my stubbornness defeated my rationality once again. I pushed open the door to the hallway and was immediately greeted by a cacophony of voices and footsteps.

  The clock on the wall opposite my room revealed it was eight o’clock in the evening, and the hospital was still bristling with activity. Nurses ran up and down the hallway and all of them seemed to be in a hurry. Patients wobbled through the hall at a much slower pace, all dressed in pajamas or hospital gowns. My own pink-with-bunnies pajamas didn’t look out of place at all. At least it was better than the hospital gown I’d woken up in and I was glad Mom had helped me put them on earlier.

  I limped through the hallway, careful not to walk too fast because jerky movements made me dizzy. The longer I walked, the better I felt. Sure, it drained my energy but at least it cheered me up.

  Then I stopped dead in my tracks and my jaw dropped to the floor.

  The red-haired girl from the accident stood at the end of the hallway staring right at me, her green eyes boring into mine. She motioned for me to come closer. Then she turned around and started walking away.

  I followed her as fast as I could, forgetting all about my broken body and bruises. I half-stumbled, half-tumbled through the hallway and went around the corner to the corridor she’d disappeared into.

  She stood near a door at the end of this next hallway, tapping her foot on the ground and glancing at her watch. She rolled her eyes when she saw me and then vanished into the room.

  My heart stopped beating and my stomach twisted, and this time around it wasn’t from the hospital food. The girl had literally vanished through the door without opening it. Like a ghost.

  You’re hallucinating, Riley. People don’t just walk through doors. Ghosts aren’t real.

  I leaned onto the wall for support, and my mind jumped back and forth between what I was going to do now. Go in and check it out? See if this girl was some kind of spirit after all? Or run back to my room, blame this all on hallucinations and my concussion and hope I’d never see her again?

  Like I would ever do that. As usual, stubbornness and curiosity got the better of me. I took a deep breath and continued down the hallway as fast as I could. My legs dragged behind me, each weighing about a ton. I drew rapid, ragged breaths, but eventually I made it to the door.

  All right, Riley. This is it. Now or never.

  I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

  Whatever I expected, it wasn’t this.

  The girl leaned against the wall, chewing bubblegum as if she had no care in the world. The majority of the room however, was dominated by a hospital bed. An old woman with snow-white hair and parchment-colored skin lay unconscious in the bed, attached to a dozen machines beeping monotonously.

  The redhead had her arms crossed. Her black boots with chains were in stark contrast to her jeans and plaid shirt, like she’d wanted to combine the bad-ass look with something more casual. “About time you showed up,” she said with a hint of annoyance.

  “Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows. “Who the hell are you, and what do you want?” My posture must’ve looked anything but threatening, with me wearing my pink pajamas and all, but I didn’t care. I put my hands on my hips and stared her up and down.

  “I’m Diane,” she said. The name didn’t suit her at all; it was like calling a dog a cat. I’d expected something gothic or mysterious, like Raven or Felicity. “And trust me when I tell you, I didn’t want this at all.”

  “Want what?”

  “To meet you. You’ve complicated my day, my week, heck, probably my whole month.” She pushed away from the wall and turned to me. “You’ll have to come with me.”

  “Come with you?” I backed away. “Like hell I will. You owe me an explanation. Why were you at the accident? Why did no one else see you? Why are you here? How come you can walk through doors?” My tone got increasingly higher as I spoke.

  “Chill out, will you? Someone could hear you.” Diane rolled her eyes at me. “Humans are so annoying with all their questions. Fine, you want answers, I’ll give you some.” She sighed and pursed her lips. “I’m an Angel of Death, and I was at the accident to collect people’s souls. People can’t see me unless it’s their time to go. Or unless they’re an Angel of Death themselves.”

  “So it’s…” I choked on the words. Tears got stuck in my throat. “It’s my time to go?”

  “No. Don’t be so melodramatic.”

  “Then how can I see you?”

  Diane threw her hands in the air. “I just told you. You can see me because you’re an Angel of Death. Like me.”

  “You’re joking.” I replaced my tears with anger. “If this is some twisted joke, then it’s not funny. People died in the accident and…”

  “Do you see me laughing?” She paused and clicked her tongue. “I’m telling you the truth. Believe it or not, but I don’t have time to convince you. The important thing is that you need to come with me.”

  Diane reached for me, but I pulled my arm back just in time to escape her grip. “Come with you where?”

  “To the Council. They’ll know what to do about you.”

  “Right, well, that doesn’t sound comforting at all.” I looked for a way out, but she was blocking the sole exit, the door. If I had some of her cool superpowers I could’ve walked through the wall, but since I was pretty much human, that was a no-go. “No offense, Diane, but I have zero interest in going with you to see your ‘Council’. I…”

  A smirk crept up Diane’s lips. “Did I say you had a choice?” Then, faster than I’d ever seen anyone move, she came at me. She grabbed my arm in an iron grip. “Close your eyes.”

  Instinctively, I did what she said. And then the floor disappeared underneath my feet.

  Chapter 3

  WE FLEW THROUGH SPACE and time, or at least that’s what it felt like, as if someone took all my molecules apart and my molecules and atoms were flying through the universe. Dozens of emotions flashed through my mind, from amazement to fear and then back to fascination. Light flashed all around me and then it was over. My molecules snapped together and I was back to being a human being.

  Dizziness overwhelmed me and I shut my eyes. I fell on my knees and willed the hospital food to stay in my stomach.

  After a while, the spinning stopped and I risked opening one eye. Then another.

  Where the heck am I?

  I knelt in the middle of a room tall enough to be a church building. The ground formed a chess board, with black and white tiles scattered in a crisscross pattern. Black marble walls with white and grey lines meandering from top to bottom surrounded us. A dozen or more white thrones, in various sizes, heights, and designs, rose all around the room. They all stood on marble pillars­ — the smallest was probably seven feet tall, and the highest over twenty-five feet. One of the thrones was a monstrosity made entirely out of swords and metal. Another looked rather Roman with minimal decorations, and yet another looked very feminine, with flowers carved in the arms and headrest.

  I turned around slowly until I stood face to face with Diane. “Where are we?”

  “Look up.” For the first time since we met she sounded friendly, and her eyes were warm. She smiled at me and nodded.

  The moment I looked up, my mouth dropped to the floor. “Oh my…” My voice couldn’t reach beyond a whisper.

  The ceiling was an image of the night sky, of every star, planet, and
galaxy. Bright stars shone within the black mass. The night sky moved as if it was real instead of just a ceiling. A comet flashed through the air.

  “Now, enough chit chat,” Diane said. “I will call the Council in just a minute. Here are some useful tips. Take them or leave them, your call.”

  I nodded, waiting for her to continue, my gaze still glued to the ceiling.

  “Don’t argue, don’t talk to them unless they ask you something directly, be humble, do not challenge them, give them no reason whatsoever to doubt your intentions.”

  I frowned and turned to her. “They don’t sound like a friendly bunch.”

  “They’re not. They’re the Council,” she said, like that would explain everything. “Now, step away.”

  I did as she told me to.

  She waited until I’d backed away, and then she fell on one knee. “Members of the Council,” she said, but her voice sounded completely different than before. It echoed off the walls, deep and loud, as if she were talking through a loudspeaker. “I call forth a meeting of the Council.” She touched the floor with her hand. Light spread from the spot she touched, crawling across the floor, faster and faster, until the entire floor glowed in an ethereal light.

  Wings flapped in the distance. I whirled toward the sound, gaze fixed at the sky where the noise came from. When I looked back down, my heart jumped out of my chest.

  All the seats were taken.

  Men and women, clad in black robes from head to toe, occupied the thrones. They towered over us, larger than life. Their faces were hidden in their hoods, covered in shadows.

  “Why do you call for us, Diane?” A man’s voice boomed through the room.

  I spun into the direction of the sound. The man who had spoken was seated on the highest throne. He was nothing more than a mass of darkness from down here.

  “And who is she?” This voice belonged to a woman. She sat on the other side of the room. Silver-gray hair escaped from under her hood.

  “She is one of us,” Diane replied. “An Angel of Death.”

  Silence cloaked the room, the kind of palpable silence right before a storm, as if the world itself was holding its breath for what would happen next.

  “Not possible.” The man’s voice shattered the silence. “She can’t be one of us. All Angels live in Heaven.”

  I tried to make myself as small as possible. This reminded me of why I never wanted to get in trouble in school — I hated being the center of negative attention. And this was a thousand times worse than being called to the principal’s office.

  Part of me still believed this was a hallucination or a vivid dream caused by the concussion. Another part of me thought that maybe I’d never really woken up from the accident. Maybe I’d died and this was some twisted version of Heaven. Or maybe this was really happening, but either way, it was too big, too weird, to fully comprehend.

  “She’s a Halfling,” Diane said.

  Now this caused a wave of mumbling through the entire Council. If they’d been convinced I couldn’t be one of them, somehow being a Halfling was even worse.

  The man who’d spoken first rose from his throne. He floated down, as if invisible hands carried him to the floor. From up close, he was gigantic. His shoulders were as broad as a boxer’s and he was tall enough to be a basketball player. He had a strong, masculine jaw and a straight nose. He kind of looked like those pumped-up bodybuilders in magazines. Once he reached the checkered floor, he glided toward us, not once moving his legs. Enormous wings spread from his back, completely black. The man stopped right in front of me, his chest inches away from my face. “Who are you?”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin at the loudness of his voice. “Um… I’m Riley Scott.”

  “Are you a Halfling?”

  “To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t think so…” I looked to Diane for support, but she kept her gaze fixed on the silver-haired woman who’d spoken earlier, as if she was waiting for her approval.

  “Hm. We shall see.” The man lifted his hands and put them on each side of my head, as if wanting to crush my head between his hands.

  Suddenly, an immense pain spread through my head, starting from the spots where he touched me. Memories I thought I’d long forgotten resurfaced in my mind. Images of me as a toddler playing with a doll house, as a middle grader doing homework. Then, me as a baby, crying in my crib. Then, more recent memories of my friends and I hanging out at the local sports bar… of Cassie and I finger-painting… of the accident….

  He made me relive it all, while a searing, flaming pain engulfed my entire body. My blood was on fire, the air boiled in my lungs. My heart beat in my ears, and for a moment, there was nothing but pain. No past, no future, not even a present. Just pain.

  Then the pain vanished as he lifted his hands from my head. He took a step back and looked me up and down.

  I grabbed my forehead and groaned. What the hell was that?

  “She saw Diane,” the man said, more to the other Council members than to me. “She has powers. She’s one of us.”

  I had no idea if that was a good or a bad thing, but it caused a murmur to erupt from the entire Council. Everyone started talking all at once, and my headache flared to new heights.

  One of the Council members stood up and pointed at me. “Blasphemy!” he yelled.

  “Sit down.” The silver-haired woman made the request without even raising her voice, but there was so much authority in her tone that I had to resist the urge to sit down, even though the command obviously wasn’t aimed at me. Her eyes were hidden in her hood, but her gaze burned into mine. “Did you know about your heritage?”

  “No,” I blurted out. “I had absolutely no idea.”

  “We can’t let her live!” someone shouted from across the room. “Have you forgotten about Darius?”

  My knees wobbled. They can’t let me live?

  “I assure you,” the woman replied, “none of us have forgotten about Darius. But before that we had plenty of Halflings among us, and none of them ever did anything wrong. We can’t blame one man’s mistakes on his entire species.”

  “Hundreds of us died.” The speaker sat on one of the lowest thrones, and was one of the few angels whose sharp, narrow face actually showed from beneath the hood. Both of his eyes had a thin veil over them as if he was blind. “And now you want us to allow another Halfling in our midst?”

  “She knows nothing about us. What kind of threat can she pose?” The silver-haired woman shrugged. “How old are you, child?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “So you suggest we kill a child then, Marcus?” she asked, addressing the blind man.

  He grunted. “If it is for the good of all…”

  “We may be Angels of Death, but we are no murderers.”

  They went on like that for a while, bickering back and forth, babbling about the greater good, some guy named Darius, and basically deciding my fate without involving me. It reminded me of my parents when they decided to enroll me in music class, even though I had zero interest in music and wanted to join the book club. Except now my life was at stake, so it was a lot more serious.

  It didn’t feel that way though. The painkillers I’d taken at the hospital were still numbing my emotions, and combined with the shock of what was happening, the severity of the situation only dawned on me toward the end of their argument.

  “Let’s vote,” the man who’d touched me proposed. “Who is in favor of executing the Halfling?”

  That was the moment when it actually fully hit me. They might execute me. Kill me. My knees gave way and if Diane hadn’t grabbed my arm just then, I would’ve fallen. “Stand up straight,” she hissed at me. “You’re an Angel, not a coward.”

  So I did, even though exhaustion swept over me as if I’d worked for seven days in a row without any sleep. Sweat dripped down my forehead and a fever
wrapped itself around me.

  A lot of Council members raised their hands at the giant’s question.

  I started hyperventilating. “That’s more than half.” I gripped Diane’s arm with all my strength. If I hurt her, she didn’t let it show. A light blush rose on her cheeks though and she bit her lip as if she felt guilty but wanted to act tough.

  “It has been decided,” the leader-guy said. “She shall be executed.”

  Before I had time to faint, scream, or do something else dramatic, the silver-haired woman rose from her seat. Her hood slipped off, and my breath got stuck in my throat.

  She had the kind of face painters would dream to eternalize on canvas. From the color of her hair, I’d anticipated her being old, but she appeared in her twenties. Large, silver eyes stared at me. Her skin was the color of porcelain, without any blemish, as if she was made of wax. “I, Seraphyn,” she said, “call in my veto.”

  Loud screams erupted from all around us. “This is an outrage!” the man who’d been my worst opponent yelled. He stood up and disappeared in the blink of an eye, wrapping his black cloak around him as he vanished. Several others vanished too, crying out their anger before they left.

  “Are you certain?” the giant asked.

  “I am.”

  “Very well. She will be your responsibility.” With those words, he left as well. One by one the angels vanished, until Seraphyn, Diane, and I were the only ones left.

  Seraphyn descended from her throne. Beautiful, black wings covered her back. She smiled at me. I could hug her, but all I did was smile back. Since nobody told me if it was okay to hug an angel or not, I decided smiling would be the safest route. “I’m taking a risk on you, Riley Scott. Do not disappoint me.”

  “I won’t.” I shook my head, as if that would further convince her of my sincerity. It all still felt so surreal, the Council members, the votes for my execution, then this woman stepping up and rescuing me. At some point, I’d have to wake up from this nightmare.