“Of course, you don’t have to,” Echo said and pressed his lips against mine. It was a featherlight kiss, filled with love and patience, which made me feel terrible. Echo loved me, yet I couldn’t agree to a simple request out of fear. He would protect me.
I created space between us. For Echo, I would face anything and anyone.
“Yes, the place has been your home for hundreds of years, so yes, I’d love to visit if she’s okay with it.”
This time, he crushed my lips with his, letting his passion show. He was volatile and unpredictable, but he felt things deeply. Having me with him meant everything to him, but would his boss think so, too? Grinning, he closed the door and moved around the hood, his leather trench coat flying behind him.
“I’m happy you agreed,” Dev said from the car radio. He sounded serious, which was unusual. “I could feel his soul shrivel with every second you stayed silent. If you’d like, I can come with you and watch your back.”
I chuckled. “If you can, why not? Just remember, there’s nothing you can do that Echo can’t.”
“I’m a soul, doll-face. I could slip in and out of places he could only dream about.”
Echo caught the last part of Dev’s sentence when he opened the car door. “Out of my stereo,” he barked.
“What did I do this time?” Dev asked, sounding bewildered.
“Out. Now.”
Dev slithered out, sat on the hood of the car, arms and legs crossed like a genie, and neatly blocked Echo’s view.
“He thinks he’s funny. That’s the last time you try to seduce my girl behind my back, you bodiless smog.”
Oh brother. I placed my hand on Echo’s arm. “We were talking about visiting Hel’s Hall. He offered to come with me and keep an eye on things. I told him there was nothing he can do that you can’t do.”
“Damn straight.” He peered at Dev. “What you don’t know, Casanova, is that in Helheim, you will become solid and Goddess Hel knows everything that goes on there, including the presence of unwelcomed visitors. And who said you can go with us?”
Dev pointed at me with two fingers and smirked. He was such a goofball.
“He can come, right?”
“No, he can’t. You are Earth-bound, Dev. Get out of here. I need a moment with my girl without you butting in.”
Dev lay across the hood as though he planned to stay there forever and gave Echo the finger. I laughed.
Echo cursed. “Fine,” he snarled. “Go to the cottage and find something to do there.”
Dev grinned. He loved the place. It was spacious with a lot of land and very few neighbors. He could sing along with the radio without starting a neighborhood riot. There was something about hearing his own voice that kept him sane, he’d told me. We also had a smart TV with enough online movie channels to keep him busy.
“Behave while there, or you will be uninvited indefinitely,” Echo added.
Dev floated upward until he was standing on the hood and saluted Echo. Funny how dark and formless he’d looked when we first met. Now I could see his features, and the smoke clinging to his form was growing thinner with each person he helped. He had a long way to go, but I was determined to see him redeem himself.
“I’ll come get you when it’s time to go to the hospital.” He nodded and floated away. Echo smirked. I didn’t understand his relationship with Dev. He cared about him, but he was always being mean to him, which Dev ignored or responded with a finger. “Why can’t you try to be nice to him?”
“That was me being nice.” Echo nudged me closer until my head rested on his shoulder. He started the car and eased out of the parking lot. The smile disappeared from his face. “He can never go to Hel, Cora. The portal is one directional for souls.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.” I sighed. “Dev needs a purpose, Echo.”
“Once Mystic Academy begins, he’ll be okay.”
Dev wanted to teach there, but how could he without a body? He’d have to use electronics. “He needs a body, but that’s impossible.”
Echo laughed. “Actually, it’s possible. I knew Druids who could bring the dead back to life if a body was still fresh and the soul hadn’t moved on.”
“Really? That’s awesome. So we need to find a fresh body for Dev?”
“No, we don’t. Rhys kept his body and preserved it using magic. All we need is someone with the ability to anchor a soul to a body.”
“Can my runes work? Medium runes make it easy for souls to possess a body.”
“And that’s because you have a life force, which souls borrow. That’s why you always feel drained after a possession. A dead body has zero life force. We need a healer, a life force manipulator. Unfortunately, I haven’t met a Witch with ergokinetic abilities in the last several centuries. And even if they have it, they wouldn’t tell anyone. It is a powerful and rare gift, which can be exploited by both magical and non-magical people. Those who have it guard it and keep it a secret.” He sighed. “At least one good thing will come out of starting Mystic Academy. We’ll know who has what powers. We might get lucky and find someone who can help him.”
I wanted to go to that school so badly I could taste it. I hoped there would be people like me who weren’t born with abilities, but were willing to acquire them through runes. I’d love to mentor future mediums. I had to talk to my parents. Today. I also wanted to go to Hel for Echo, no matter how scared I was.
“I’ll talk to my parents before I go to the hospital, and you should talk to the goddess about us. No more secrets. What do you think?”
“I’m on board.” He glanced at me and grinned. “Distract me.”
I kissed his neck and slipped a hand under his shirt to caress his chest.
“You can do better than that,” he challenged.
I could and did. He veered off the road and almost crashed through the fence into the Melbecks’ vineyard. Luckily, we were closer to the farm and traffic was low. I was still laughing when we parked outside our house. Mom’s truck was parked beside Dad’s SUV and my Elantra, which meant they were both home.
“Well?” I teased.
He kissed me. “You are an evil woman.”
“You issued a challenge, and I accepted it. What did I get in return? You almost crashed the car.”
He laughed. “I’m crazy about you, Cora-mia.”
“Good, because I’m crazy about you, too.” God, I hoped my parents would be okay with what he was.
“What is it?” Echo asked.
“I’m still worried about Mom. Something is off with her.” Her erratic behavior had started on Saturday, the day of our high school prom. She’d looked like she’d been crying while I’d slept off an energy drain from a possession. Then she’d burst into tears the second she’d seen me. Mom was not the crying type. Dad had to take our prom pictures instead of her, and he kind of sucked at it.
“Have you tried talking to her?”
“Several times, but she keeps saying she’s okay. Do you think she knows about my abilities? I’ve caught her staring at me with a weird expression.”
“I don’t know, Cora-mia, but if you want me there while you talk to them, I can come inside.”
“No, I’ll be fine. If they need further proof of your world, I’ll show them. I mean, I can do everything you do.”
He scoffed at the idea.
“Hey.” I smacked his arm. “I can move fast now that I have speed runes, become invisible, open portals, and talk to a soul better than you. You yell and threaten them, while I just stand there like a saint. No, like an angel, and they flock to me. I might not have a size-changing runic scythe, but my body is a magnet for souls, so we are even.”
Laughing, he leaned in and stole a kiss. “I have almost a thousand years on you, sweet cheeks. Now get your lovely ass out of my car before I open a portal to my bedroom and show you who can do things better.”
“You have a one-track mind.”
“Yet you still love me.”
“Like I said, I’m a saint.”
He laughed. “Sweetheart, you may have the face of an angel, but sainthood is not for you.”
“And who corrupted me?” I got out of the car. “A certain reaper who won’t be getting any.”