Lina 30
Telor was going to rub his wrist raw if he didn’t stop it. I shouldn’t have told him what I saw when I knew it would upset him. If these were the kinds of games Denny was going to play, we’d get answers elsewhere.
“What exactly was the point of that?” I asked angrily. “Or was that simply to see if you could rattle us?”
I expected him to respond to my anger with anger, but instead, he flashed a cocky smile.
“My intent was to point out a connection,” he said, taking a rocks glass from a tray. “Care for a little liquid courage before this conversation gets heavy?”
“Yes,” I said at the same time Telor said, “No.” He wasn’t looking at me, he was staring at the ceiling, and when the waiter handed me a glass of honey-colored liquid, I took a quick sniff. Southern Comfort, just my speed. I drank it all in one gulp.
“So, you pointed out a connection,” Telor said, coming back from his mind. “Is that it? Are those the only answers you have for us?”
“No. In case you haven’t noticed, darling Catalina here has basically put herself between us and looks as though she is going to rip my throat out. Simmer down, child.”
I hadn’t even realized that I had, indeed, scooted to the front of the couch, ready to strangle him if he kept it up. His use of the term child rubbed me the wrong way. While I knew he was much older than I was, he didn’t look it. He looked as though he’d stepped off the pages of a Pac Sun catalog, with his chin-length blond hair and tan skin in the middle of winter. Still shooting daggers at him, I relaxed into the crook of Telor’s arm.
“Make your point,” I ground out.
“So, if I’m correct in my thinking, which I usually am, you guys want to know why Catalina is here, instead of in the other world with Tori,” he said. When I nodded, he continued, “Do you know what my job is?”
“Um, to determine people’s lives?” I asked, looking to Telor for confirmation. He shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
“More or less. I take into account their previous lives and give them the opportunity to atone for their wrongdoings in the next. I also make sure that they have proper people in their lives to help them; I try to lead them down the right paths,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong: everyone ultimately makes their own choices, but I am there to nudge them in the right direction.”
“I thought the concept of fate was that everything was predetermined?”
“The future is an ever-changing novel. We write the outline, you write your own book,” he answered with a wisdom that didn’t fit his devil-may-care appearance.
“What does that have to do with me? I mean, am I going down the wrong path?” I asked. If that were the case, I couldn’t imagine what exactly I had been doing wrong.
“No, you were following your path relatively well, though you technically should be dead. This is all the result of years of careful and tedious planning on my part,” he announced triumphantly. My confusion must have shown on my face because he continued, “Are you familiar with the concept of Twin Flames?”
“No, I don’t believe I am,” I said, and Telor shook his head.
“In layman’s terms, it’s the concept of soul mates. They’re rare. People are always attracted to souls who complement their own—dark blue souls are attracted to light blue souls, etc.—but true Twin Flames are few and far between. I come across one or two pairs in a century. Usually, I am alerted to them before either soul is sent to earth so I can prepare from there to make sure that they are always on the same cycle. But, in this case, I have missed out for a long time; you have always been on a separate cycle from your soul mate,” he said, bouncing in his seat slightly with excitement, like a small boy who was just told he could have anything he wanted from the toy store.
“So…I survived because my soul mate is still alive and I need to find him?” I asked, still confused. Denny seemed to be telling us a lot and nothing at all. Maybe I was a little too dense to catch on to his meaning. Though, Telor appeared as puzzled as I was.
“Yes and no. You are alive because you have already found your soul mate. He, on the other hand, is not alive. Not really, at least…”
Comprehension seemed to dawn on Telor and me at the same time. We turned toward each other, both seeking some type of confirmation from the other. Gazing into his eyes, I knew that Denny was right. I felt like I could see my whole life there, and nothing else really mattered.
“So you see, Telor is your soul mate,” he said, a wide smile breaking across his face. “I’ve been trying to finagle your paths to cross for almost a century. I’ll admit that I exceeded my own expectations.”
“No offense, but wouldn’t it have been easier to let me die?” If he’d let me die, then we would be dead together.
“No, because Telor would be cycled back to earth—or at least, he is supposed to be—while you were in the review phase,” Denny explained, eager to reveal his master plan to us. “Trust me, I’ve been working on this for a long time. I’ve become desperate. There have been some…difficult factors to contend with. Not that I expect them to go away. Unfortunately.”
“But how will I stay here?” Telor asked. “Technically, both of our souls belong to Death; she won’t just roll over and let it be.”
“Semantics.” Denny waved his hand as if it was no big deal. “I didn’t get that far in my planning. The fact that you are indeed here speaks volumes for the power of your souls’ connection. Though, it has brought on other issues I did not foresee.”
“What issues?” We were getting more questions from this visit than answers. We should’ve left, before it was too late.
“Well, first of all, the balance between life and death is now slightly disturbed. I can’t find the Scale, so I don’t know how off. Only slightly, though. But enough to bring attention that you don’t want,” he said calmly.
“The Scale?” I asked.
“He’s a physical manifestation of the balance between Life and Death. Usually, he appears normal and healthy. If the balance were leading toward Life, he gets manic and full of energy. When the balance is in Death’s favor, he appears sickly,” Denny explained. “The other issue is, now that you are together, your souls are visible. They shine like suns wherever you go. In case you haven’t noticed, Lina has already attracted attention.”
I had? I hadn’t noticed anything. Telor, on the other hand, seemed uncomfortable and refused to meet my gaze. He gave Denny a hard look, his jaw clenching a little, his hand starting to worry the bracelet around his wrist again. The skin underneath was becoming red and irritated, causing his star tattoo to stand out against his red skin.
“Oh, I’ve noticed,” he said. “I had it under control for a while.”
“You didn’t so much control it as you did monitor it. However, do you agree with me that, at the moment, you do not have it under control?” Denny asked, both of them seeming to have forgotten that I was here.
“What is he talking about, Telor?” I turned his face so he had to look at me. Guilt was the flavor in the air.
“Guides have been…collecting around you. None of them get close enough for me to take action, but they do get close enough for me to worry,” he said, as if it hurt to admit it out loud. “I was on top of it for a while, but now they’re coming on so strong. I have a friend who has been helping me out.”
“Let me see the ring, Telor,” Denny asked, holding out his hand. Reluctantly, Telor pulled my ring from his pocket, broken chain and all. He had the decency to look apologetic about it, but that didn’t seem to quell my anger and the betrayal that rushed through me. He knew how much that ring meant to me, and he’d had it this whole time.
“You had it this whole time? I specifically asked you if you had it or saw it and you said no,” I said to Telor. “Why would you keep that from me?”
“Oh dear, Telor, you haven’t told her?” Denny tsked at him.
“It hasn’t come up,” Telor said to Denny between his teeth and turned to me. “The ring is mine or at least it was; I lost it three months before I died. My grandmother gave it to me the last time I saw her. She told me it would bring me luck.”
“Luck is for the stupid and ill-informed,” Denny said, sounding thoroughly disgusted.
“If Destiny exists, does Luck exist also?”
Life or Death, Chaos or Order. It would stand to reason that Destiny also had a counterpart.
“Unfortunately,” Denny answered dryly. “Let’s not sully the night with talk of she who will not be named. She has the habit of inviting herself where she isn’t wanted.”
My mind spun. Could I be angry about the ring? Yes, I could. The question was really, should I be angry about it? Instead of saying anything, I just crossed my arms and returned my attention to Denny. Angry or not, this was not the place to talk about it.
“Well, now,” he said. “This explains exactly what I thought it would.”
“Not a damn thing?” I asked. Again, rather than finding me rude, Denny seemed amused, which only added heat to my simmer.
“When Telor holds the ring, his soul doesn’t show.” He handed it to me. “And when you hold it, yours doesn’t show. It’s why the Guides are following you rather than him. Now hold hands.”
Telor reached out and threaded his fingers with mine.
“Amazing. When one of you has the ring and you touch, neither of your souls show.”
Telor and I wore identical looks of confusion. Neither of us could see what the ring had to do with anything.
“So normally souls aren’t visible?” I gave into my curiosity.
“When you’re close, they have a faint aura to them,” he said. “They aren’t beacons at a fifty-mile radius like yours.”
I wasn’t sure if I should have felt like a freak or like the chosen one.
“Unfortunately, I’ve no idea why the souls are following you in the first place, only why they’ve singled one of you out. It’s troubling, to say the least. Every Guide is a set of eyes for Tori.” Denny’s expression soured a little when he mentioned her name. “It’s possible that she’s sent them to gather information. If that’s the case, the bigger question is why she hasn’t done anything about it yet.”
“Where does the ring come into play?” I think I only took in every third word he said. This was too much information to follow in such a short timeframe.
“It’s an anchor,” Denny said. “Anchors are items that are significantly important to both parties. By serving as a link between you two, it brings the wearer the protection of the other. All soul mates have them, though they usually have a pair. One item originally belonging to the other party. With the two of you, I’m willing to bet that there is only one.”
Telor held his hand out for the ring and Denny pooled the chain in his hand, letting the ring fall on top, and then tucked it into the pocket of his shirt.
“But why are our souls showing if it’s not the norm?” I asked him.
“It’s the way your souls were introduced. One dead and one still technically alive, it caused some type of reaction. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the matter, but that’s my best guess.”
“So, what you’re saying is that we are sitting ducks until you can come up with something to help us?” Telor asked. He seemed to want to say more but stopped at that.
“Basically. Though, I’ll offer a suggestion to one of your issues, the issue of your souls belonging to Tori. I can only see of one way, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”
“What is it?” I asked, not containing my curiosity. I was willing to do a lot of things to keep him here. And me here.
“Well, if you could find a soul to replace yours, your timelines could easily be exchanged.” Denny shrugged. “One for Lina to replace her going into The Other, and one for Telor to replace his spot coming out of The Other.”
He wanted us to kill someone, and then trap another soul in the afterlife. I think I might have found something that I wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Telor, on the other hand, didn’t say a word. He just stared pensively at Denny.
“Can you actually be considering this?” I asked, incredulously.
“I’m finding it hard to dismiss something that could keep us together,” he said, sounding only mildly apologetic. “Forgive me for considering our only option so far.”
Denny’s eyes snapped up to the back of the balcony and went glassy. “You two need to leave. Out the back, now.” He stood abruptly and motioned for us to follow him. “Meddlers are in the club. It’s best to not let our connection be that obvious. I will be in touch, but in the meantime, I need you to do three things for me. One, act as though you know nothing. Continue the lovesick newlywed routine you were playing downstairs. Changing now will raise red flags and there are eyes everywhere. Two, both of you ignore the Guides. I don’t care what they are doing to you, pretend like you can’t see or feel them”—he looked pointedly at Telor—“And three, stay together as much as possible. Remember, the ring will shield you both as long as you’re touching. Keep that in mind at night.”
We reached the back door, and Denny practically shoved us out before shutting and locking it. We hurried down the stairs and around the building to the empty sidewalk. The cold February air bit against our skin as we ran. Finally, after a safe distance, we slowed to a walking pace.
Telor slipped his hand into his shirt pocket and pulled out the ring. “Here, keep this with you at all times.” I shoved it back at him. “No, you keep it.”
“Dammit, Cariad, please, take it,” he said, stopping and pulling me to a stop with him. “Humor me and let me give you the only protection I have to give you.”
“What about you? Why would I take the only protection you have for yourself?” I asked. He was insane if he thought I was taking that ring.
“There’s no me after you, Catalina!” he yelled. It was the first time I’d ever heard him raise his voice. “You are my purpose, and I will gladly tear this world apart looking for something that doesn’t exist if it will keep you safe and us together, but for now all I have is this. Please take it, and don’t fight me on it.”
“Do you really have so little faith?” I asked as tears threatened to fall. He didn’t meet my eyes, and I almost thought he wouldn’t. When he finally did look at me, I wished he hadn’t. All I saw was pain.
“I have all the faith in the world in you.” He left the rest of it unsaid. He didn’t believe our situation was fixable.
“I have faith in you, too.” But if he had already given up on a better ending for us, we didn’t have a chance.
“And for that, I am truly sorry,” he said, full of regret.