Page 4 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

When I finished her nails, I moved on to her hair.

What once was a lustrous, golden-blonde mane was now a pale straw color, brittle and frizzy like the bristles of a broom.

I wasn’t confident enough in my hair cutting abilities, but I knew a thing or two about hair products.

I uncapped a bottle and squirted some oil into my hand.

“I use this stuff on my own hair. Makes it baby soft. Sly said he likes the way it feels. Can you believe we’ve been dating for almost five years now? ”

At the mention of my boyfriend, a tightness rooted itself in my stomach.

Our schedules rarely matched up, given I was always working at the pizza joint or brewing up new spells, and he worked odd hours, usually getting up just as I would leave for work.

I was looking forward to spending time with him on our anniversary.

My mom twitched, a subtle gesture but one that caught my attention. When I looked out the window, I saw the ghost of a young man staring straight at me.

“There’s someone there,” I told my mom. “Can you sense them?” I knew she couldn’t see the dead, but most witches had an ability to connect with the earth, whether that be people, nature, or animals.

My mom’s ability as an empath sometimes seemed to cross over into the afterlife.

She couldn’t physically heal wounds, but as a psychologist, she had once been exceptional at closing the emotional ones.

“Should we go outside and get some fresh air? Say hello to our new friend?” I wheeled her down the hallway and out onto the terrace, a lovely stone patio alive with fall flowers and hearty bushes.

Upon approaching the young ghost, I realized he was crying. My mom’s breath hitched, probably sensing his emotional pain, and I squeezed her shoulder in support.

“Are you okay?” I asked the ghost. He stopped sobbing and looked up at me. My heart ached at the sight of the man. He could have been in his late teens, maybe early twenties, and was well dressed in a button-down shirt and khakis.

“You … you can see me!” He straightened his ethereal body, the sad expression on his faded features transforming into something happier.

“Uh, yeah. I can.” Magic energy pulsed from his hazy form as he whipped around me like a plastic bag caught in a gust of wind. “I’m Theo. What’s your name?”

“Lucas.” His mischievous glint emitted a faint glow, and unease chilled the air. “I hope you don’t mind, but I need to take over your body!”

“Wait, what—” A blur followed the disturbing feeling of the ghost slamming into my body and settling itself inside me.

The force knocked me off my feet as he wiggled his spirit down my throat.

Heat flared throughout my limbs as they flashed a glowing aura.

I was used to this, ghosts always trying to take over my body for a chance to “live” again. It didn’t mean that I enjoyed it.

My mother whimpered beside me, unable to do much but make unintelligible noises.

“I’m sorry ma’am.” Lucas, inhabiting my body, bowed toward my mom. “I mean him no harm, I promise. This won’t take long. I’ll return this man to you when I complete my business.”

He then left my mom behind, alone on the terrace and visibly shaking in her wheelchair.

What are you doing, Lucas? I had learned after several attempts, some successful, at being possessed, that trying to speak through someone else controlling my body never worked out well. We did, however, share the same consciousness.

“I told you.” He seemed like he knew exactly where he was going—straight to a particular room on the other side of the building. “I have unfinished business.”

Lucas, come on. Don’t make me do this. I didn’t think the man had ill intentions of any kind, but that didn’t mean I was willing to sacrifice my body for a ghostly romp through the hallways.

“Do what?” he asked as he suddenly forcefully slapped my hand to my stomach. “What … what are you doing?”

Magic boiled in my gut, mixing and emitting a noxious gas that was seriously upsetting my stomach. I’d pay for this later, but that was a problem for me two hours from now.

I’m forcing you out, dumbass.

Lucas stopped, hunching over as he heaved and gagged. The coughing fit was so aggressive that my face felt like it was on fire and I could feel acid burning as it traveled up my throat.

“S-stop!” My breakfast emptied itself into a nearby potted plant.

Lucas, still holding on to my body, made a run for it, stumbling down the rest of the hallway until he rushed into the last room on the right.

For about five seconds, he laid my eyes on the elderly woman watering her plants before whatever was left in my stomach splattered into a small trash bin, along with Lucas’s ghost.

“Jerk,” he snipped at me.

The wrinkles on the woman’s face deepened when her subtle smile turned back into a frown.

Despite her old age, her pristine skin hardly had a mark and her blue eyes were vibrant with life.

Along with her slightly pointed ears and the gentle thrum of her elegant magic pulsing through the room, I knew she had to be a fairy.

“Oh.” Her sweet voice was melodic even as she sighed. “When I heard that ruckus, I thought it might have been my grandson. He hasn’t visited me in three months. Are you okay, boy?”

I instantly knew what business Lucas had planned. He hovered beside me as he recounted his story.

“You know demons and fae are like … sworn enemies right? Fae have beautiful magic, demons always seem to have this dark, unsettling type. They hate each other. Well, my grandma actually fell madly in love with a demon and married him,” Lucas explained.

“But society rejected her love. Her family disowned her, and she spent her entire life suffering for apparently loving a monster . My grandfather has been gone for a few years now, and when I was old enough, I started to visit. I was on my way here one day when I got attacked by a group of thugs screaming at me that my magic was impure and needed to be eradicated from this world. I don’t think anyone told her I’m dead, and I worry she believes I abandoned her like the rest of her family did.

I just … wanted to say goodbye and let her know I love her. ”

Heaviness weighed down on me. Controlling death wasn’t a glamorous magic.

Those who didn’t know me chose to either avoid me completely, or assumed the worst, that I used my power to secretly raise the dead and run around the city on murder sprees.

But there was so much heartache and pain that came from conversing with ghosts and the loss they suffered.

Even worse was knowing there were people out there capable of ending a person’s life, simply because they didn’t like their magic.

The occurrence was more common than most thought, especially thanks to the news and people believing all kinds of rumors.

Lucas’s story hit a little too close to home for me.

No one physically died that night my family was attacked, and I may never know why it happened in the first place, but a part of each of us did perish.

My sister lost her hearing, my mother lost her mind, and me?

I lost my ability to just … live—to truly accept what had happened and to be happy with my life.

Every day was a continuous tidal wave of guilt that constantly gnawed away at the emptiness in my gut.

I’d often wonder what would have happened if the three of us had run out the back door instead.

What if my father had been home to defend us?

What if I hadn’t rushed out of that closet? What if … what if … what if …

It was why my magic took on the powers of death and destruction.

I was suspended between life and death, aching to keep going but unraveling with every step forward.

My high school friends were all frightened of my magic and eventually stopped talking to me.

I was so lonely that the only people I felt safe talking to, knowing I couldn’t harm them, were ghosts.

It ate away at me for about two years before I could eventually turn things around and do something good with my magic.

Most people knew me as the guy who could ease their medical problems with magic, although I still hid my true power from them, because if they found out how exactly these miracle substances worked, they’d never dare touch any of my products ever again.

“Okay, fine,” I told Lucas. “You get five minutes.”

This time, Lucas entered my body more gently. It still felt wrong, like fuzzy caterpillars crawling under my skin, but I didn’t push him out.

“Hey, Gran,” Lucas said through my lips. “It’s Lucas.”

“Oh … Oh, Lucas! Is that really you?” She approached me and clasped both my hands in hers. “It’s been so long.”

To my surprise, she didn’t freak out. The exceptional joy that lit up her eyes and stretched into a smile across her lips was stifling any doubt or fear she might have had about her dead grandson talking through the mouth of a stranger.

“I’m so sorry, Gran. I’m so sorry. But … something happened to me and I won’t be able to come visit anymore. I just wanted to let you know I love you and I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine, too, okay?”

Tears rolled from her glassy eyes. “I know, Lucas. You poor thing, I know. Thank you for letting me get to know you. I’m going to miss our gossip during our checkers games with Martha down the hall.”

Lucas sniffled, wiping the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand.

“I love you, Gran.” Lucas backed away, and I could feel the overwhelming love and compassion that swelled inside him, along with the agonizing need to hold on to her for just a bit longer, knowing he’d never be able to ever again.

“I love you too, sweet boy.” His grandma was shaking, trying her best to hold back the awful feeling of saying goodbye.

It’s time, Lucas. I internally nudged him.

Will you check in on her for me? Please? He forced himself to let go of her hands.

Of course. I’ll make sure she’s okay.

With that, I felt his magical energy gradually leave my body, like he wasn’t ready to let go but knew he had to.

The weight of him lightened, and the warmth slowly faded.

The magical life force that was once Lucas dispersed into the atmosphere.

Just before he was completely gone, he left me with his last words of gratitude.

“Thank you.”

No, controlling death certainly wasn't glamorous magic. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t find beauty in its stillness, purpose in its inevitability, or power in the way it brought clarity to life.