Soul Screamers, Volume 1

Nash’s face hardened, but he remained silent.

“My contract keeps me bubble wrapped, but if I get my soul back, not only will they strip the padding, they’ll start throwing knives at me. They’ll twist every decision I make and hurl it back at me. Every drink I take will be a public binge. Every relationship I get into will be a disaster played out in full color on newsstands all over the world. Exes will sell stories and pictures to magazines.” She was pacing now, words falling from her lips almost faster than I could understand them. “The paparazzi will get shots of my mom all strung out. Hell, she’ll probably go to prison for buying narcotics online, or something like that. My dad’s DUIs will catch up with him, and without me to bail him out when he gets in over his head, his creditors will eat him alive. And I don’t even want to know what’ll happen to Regan. She just scored a role in a new tween drama. Her career will be over before it begins.”

Addison fell into the chair again and practically melted into the upholstery. “They’ll drive me crazy, and that will only fuel the media frenzy.”

I leaned back, trying to absorb it all. Trying to imagine my own life under the microscope, my every indiscretion on display. “Okay, yes, it sounds bad. But your parents dug their own holes, and you can’t hold yourself responsible when they fall in.” I popped open my own can and took a sip, still thinking. “Are poverty and embarrassment really worse than eternal torture?”

Addy shook her head halfheartedly. “No, and I know I probably deserve whatever I get. But Regan doesn’t, and neither does anyone else I wind up hurting.” She met my gaze, her pale blue eyes swimming in tears again. “Remember last year, when Thad Evans flipped his car? He killed two people and messed up his own face for good when he went through the windshield. Then he lost nearly everything he owned in lawsuits from the dead kids’ parents, and the rest of it to crooked accountants and lawyers. And what about—”

“Whoa, wait a minute.” I rubbed my temples with both hands, fighting off a headache from information overload as everything she’d told us finally began to sink in. “Are you saying that all the Dekker stars with wholesome images and squeaky-clean backgrounds are actually soulless human husks, and Hollywood’s bad boys and girls are really the good guys, because they got their souls back?”

She stared down into her can. “I wouldn’t exactly call them good guys for taking the out-clause.”

“What does that mean?” Nash pulled a throw pillow from behind his back, then dropped it on the floor beside the couch.

Addison glanced at Tod instead of answering. The reaper sighed and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and his focus shifted from Nash to me, then back to Nash. “There’s a little complication with the out-clause.”

My stomach churned. Something told me his definition of a “little complication” and mine wouldn’t have much in common.

“Addy doesn’t actually have a copy of her contract....”

“I was barely sixteen,” Addison interrupted, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment. “It never occurred to me to ask for a copy to keep.”

Nash scowled at her, hazel eyes swirling rapidly with mounting anger. “Or to actually read the damned thing before you signed it, I’m guessing.”

“Wait, isn’t sixteen too young to sign a contract without your mom’s permission?” I asked, hoping I’d just discovered a brilliant legal loophole.

Tod’s blue-eyed gaze seemed to darken. “The Netherworld considers humans adult once they hit puberty.”

I frowned. “That’s messed up.”

He shrugged. “It’s the Netherworld. And she had no idea she was entitled to a copy of her contract, and hellions aren’t known for explaining your rights up front.” He deliberately shifted his focus to me. “Anyway, I asked around a little bit today…”

The sick look on his face told me I didn’t want to know who he’d spoken to, or what he’d had to do for the information.

“…and if Addy’s contract reads like all the rest of them do—and I’m sure it does—her out-clause requires an exchange.”

“What?” I blinked, hoping I’d heard him wrong, or was misunderstanding something. “An exchange like my mom made? A life for a life?” The horror crawling through me had no equal. I rubbed my arms, trying to keep goose bumps at bay, but they rose, anyway.

“A soul for a soul,” Tod corrected, staring at the floor for a second before meeting my gaze again. “But basically, yes. Addy can only get her soul back by trading it for another one.”

“Wait…” Nash rubbed his forehead, like that might help the new information sink in. “Souls can’t be stolen. They can only be taken when someone dies, or given up freely by their owner.”