Page 35 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

“So there you have it. I was tasked to bring you to the Syndicate so they can leverage your magic. They took my friend Ellie as a hostage, separating her body and magic. And this guy Leon used an Oathstone to force me into a deal, telling me I needed to steal your magic or convince you to work with the Syndicate, otherwise Ellie’s magic would never return to her body.

I have a week left. He also said if I tried anything sneaky, that the person who cared about me the most would suffer.

So, I’m begging you, Caspian. I’m out of options.

You have to help me break that oath and find my friend. Please.”

It dawned on me that just telling Caspian this was likely causing someone extreme pain and suffering, and if I was going to do this—use Caspian to help me find Ellie, to trick the Syndicate—I needed to either find a way around that oath or accept the consequences.

Caspian sat on his stool, elbows on the table and his chin resting on his hands as he hummed his thoughts. It was an hour before midnight, and though exhaustion weighed on me, my body refused to rest, running on nothing but pure adrenaline.

“What did Leon tell you about my magic?” he asked.

“Not much. He said you can cleanse magic. It’s the perfect ability to eradicate all the powers they see as impure. Sounds like he thought of you as some kind of god … like you had the ability to ‘save’ all those people suffering with dark magic.”

Caspian’s laugh was light and airy. “Those idiots. No, Theo, my magic does not cleanse . I simply talk to it, ask it to do things. But I don’t have control over it, it has control over me.

I died a premature death, but I wasn’t done with life and my magic wasn’t done with me.

It stayed attached to my body, neither allowing me to stay anchored to the realm of the living or the dead.

Now, a century later, I’m still trapped here and unable to move on.

” His voice trailed off, his gaze distant.

“I didn’t know. I’m sorry—”

“Don’t be.” For the first time tonight, something sincere sparkled in Caspian’s deep brown eyes.

His hand twitched, like he wanted to put it on top of mine, but he placed it on his lap instead.

“It was my decision, and I’m living with my choice.

But what I’m trying to tell you, Theo, is that I can’t break that oath.

An oath is more than just a spell, it’s a binding word, an agreement woven with your own magic.

I wouldn’t even suggest you try to dissolve it yourself.

If either of us tried to manipulate the oath, it wouldn’t just be altering that magic—it’d be unraveling a part of you.

There’s no telling what might break in the process. ”

“So there’s nothing you can do to help me?” My hope withered, sinking into a hollow pit of despair.

“I didn’t say that.” A smile tugged at the right side of his mouth.

“Are you positive the words Leon said were correct? That the person who cared about you most would suffer if you tried anything sneaky? Because, by that definition, that would imply the person needs to be alive. His threat was not meant to kill anyone. With that in mind, I can help you find your friend, but you’ll have to accept the consequences of doing so.

You’ll be breaking your oath, which means someone who cares about you is going to pay the price. ”

“And what about you? If I don’t bring you to them, convince you to work with them, the oath isn’t fulfilled, anyway. Ellie might be safe, but I’ll still be forced to join their organization.”

A slippery smile crossed his pale face. “Ah. You let me worry about that part. So. Are you willing to accept those terms?”

Apprehension sizzled down my spine. The thought sat heavy in my chest. I would be the cause of their pain, and no matter how I turned it over in my mind, it didn’t feel right. But there was no plan B, and with Ren out of the picture, Caspian was the only person with the means to help me.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

“Fantastic.” The phantom clapped his hands together. “Let’s get started.”

“Really? Right now?” I could feel my heartbeat in my throat, every inch of me screaming to run, that I was probably going to regret this, but my feet stood grounded in place.

“Why not?” Caspian stood up from the stool, pushing up the sleeves of his turtleneck to expose his thin, boney arms. “Give me a few minutes to re-familiarize myself with the spell and gather a few things, then we can get started.”

He opened the grimoire, thumbing through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

“I feel compelled to explain the potential risks here. Your soul will be entering another person’s body unwelcomed.

It will try to reject you, to push you out.

If that happens, I can’t bring you back.

This is a soul transfer , meaning, under normal circumstances, her soul would enter your body.

However, given that her magic … isn’t fully part of her at the moment, that complicates things.

Just like her spirit is experiencing pain, this process will be agonizingly unpleasant for you.

And while I have the utmost confidence in my skills to manipulate magic, there is always a chance that something won’t go as planned. ”

I gulped, my throat dry. “I understand, but … I have to do this. If there’s something I can do to help, I have to try.”

“Very well.” He stared at Gray, a knowing gaze that had the guard scampering toward the shelves and selecting a few things from the racks. He returned, holding out a green leafy herb in my face.

“Chew on this,” Gray encouraged. “The oils will help soothe your mind and magic during the transfer.”

I sniffed it, a crisp, fresh scent with a cool, sharp edge. “Mint,” I concluded.

“Of the magical variety, yes,” Caspian confirmed. I picked off a few leaves and started munching, while Caspian and Gray moved aside the stainless steel prep table to place a thick tablecloth on the floor.

“Lay down,” Caspian pointed to the tablecloth. “The longer the spell is active, the more difficult it is to reverse. I’m giving you five minutes. After that, I’m forcing you back. Your presence should not affect Ellie’s body but as I mentioned, the lack of return magic could affect yours.”

I sat down on the tablecloth, a cheap, plastic thing with a checkered pattern on it. I inhaled a deep breath, the mint failing to calm my nerves.

“Let’s begin.” Caspian left the grimoire on the table, muttering something in a foreign language he’d apparently memorized in the last two minutes.

Gray held a cup of—chocolate syrup? It glowed with an intense aura, radiating a strange, almost otherworldly energy that made the air around it shimmer.

He dipped his finger into the sugary liquid and started drawing something on the floor—runes that glowed with magic.

Magic exploded from the runes, a heat that rushed outward like a shockwave, searing the air and rattling the ground beneath me. The force of it came from every direction, warping the atmosphere with an eerie, shimmering haze.

A tingle crawled over my skin like static before sinking deeper, turning sharp and relentless.

The pain was a burning sensation that coiled around my bones, spreading like wildfire through my veins, seizing every muscle in its grip.

My breath hitched as the agony grew, twisting, tearing.

My teeth gnashed together, and I bit back the scream on the tip of my tongue as the world around me went dark.

The next thing I knew I was laying down in some kind of metal box, my head feeling like it was splitting into two.

I bit down on my lip, swallowing the pain.

The dark box was cold, the smell of bleach suffocating.

Was I in some kind of medical facility? I felt around the walls, looking for any clue Ellie might have left behind.

But Ellie’s body had been unconscious when Leon took her, and there was nothing there for me …

except the bright glow of some kind of rune on her left wrist, the only light shining through the darkness.

Curious, I ran a finger over it. A sharp pain radiated from my skull, my pulse throbbing in my ears.

Even though most of Ellie’s magic had been separated from her body, enough of it remained behind to keep her alive, and it slammed into me, recovering a memory from her past.

“She’s doomed either way, Markus.” The words came from a pretty woman with light-blonde hair and pigtails. She seemed young, full of energy. She was standing over Ellie’s body, which was laid flat on a metal examination table.

A pressure started building in my chest, like a vicious case of heartburn, tightening, squeezing, stealing my breath with every second. I pressed my lips together, tightening my hands into fists to keep myself focused on the conversation and not on the fact Ellie’s body was rejecting my soul.

Markus responded, “Yeah, I know. Even if he finds Caspian, no one said Leon had to return this woman alive . I just thought … I could at least make her death peaceful, you know? Why does the rune have to be a vicious poison? She’ll suffer for hours until she actually dies.”

The female snorted. “Because that’s just how the world works.

Did your cousin get a chance to die peacefully when a demon set him on fire and burned his bones to ash?

Besides, the Syndicate isn’t going to let Theo just walk away, even if he finds Caspian.

He has too much potential. His friend’s death is only a glimpse of what we’re capable of.

He won’t walk away from us so easily knowing we’ll keep doing this to everyone he knows if he doesn’t continue to do what we ask. ”

Markus sighed. “Helen, didn’t you say this demon’s magic can relive memories? Instead of killing her, maybe we can use her. If she’s friends with this Theo guy, maybe she has information we can use against him.”

A sudden pain lanced through my chest, like a knife had been stabbed right through it. The memory was fading. The bones beneath my skin feel too rigid, the muscles too tense. Five minutes. I had five minutes. How long had it actually been?

Helen leaned over the table and smacked Markus across the head.

“You idiot. Don’t let Leon catch you questioning the Syndicate’s actions or you’re in for a real beating.

Think about what you’re saying. She might have information on Theo, but now she has information on us .

She might not be awake, but her magic is.

And if we realigned her magic with her body, and she escaped here, imagine the consequences.

Her magic knows our faces, Markus. She has seen this office building, this morgue, probably knows all about the operation we’re running here and all the other people we’re keeping in stasis. She could lead them right to us.”

I held my breath, clutching my chest. I bet Helen never expected someone taking over Ellie’s body and retrieving that information directly through her magic.

I had two names—Helen and Markus. Stella had been on the right track when she mentioned Ellie was likely being kept in an office park somewhere, one that also housed some kind of morgue.

And Ellie wasn’t the only person being kept there.

How many other innocent victims were they keeping?

How many other families had fallen victim to the Syndicate’s manipulation?

Unfortunately, that was all the information I was going to get.

I was out of time. My vision blurred, the edges of reality flickering like a fading light.

The pain surged, sharp and searing, as the magic unraveled around me.

It was like being torn apart from the inside, every fiber of my being stretched thin, as if the very fabric of my soul was being shredded.

Ellie’s memory dissolved completely, Caspian’s spell breaking hold.

My soul was yanked away from Ellie’s body as everything became a blur.