Page 127 of The Souls Harvest
“My frog.”
“Right,” Kris jumps in, looping his arm around Mack’s shoulders. “Let’s go save Rary from thescary lady.”
Chapter 45 - For Rary
July
The atmosphere inside the house is worse than expected. Internal alarms must have gone off simultaneously when the stranger approached the barriers, their deafening echo whistling louder the closer we get to a door with no handle or lock.
But when Mack presses his thumb on a spot on the sleek metal, at his heart level, the doorpurrslike a kitten happy to see its owner back, and slides open inside the wall.
“Where is Tabitha? Why didn’t you go straight to her?” Kris pants as we rush down the stairs towards a subterranean wing of the building.
“I couldn’t find her anywhere, you silly,” Mack argues, waving a hand in the air, marching a few steps ahead of us. “Maybe she just needed some time away from all of us after the awful trick Roden played on her. I still can’t believe…”
“Mack, one thing at a time. Don’t let your mind go after every single thought you have in there.” Kris stops him, landing a hand on his shoulder.
We come to a halt in front of another locked door.
Mack speaks to us without turning, “She’s gone after Merya told her Galen would survive. What if Roden broke her? What if she couldn’t take it anymore and decided to leave us for good?”
“Mack?” I step in front of him, searching for his eyes. “Would you like to show me how this wonderful door works? I bet this is one of your creations as well.”
His face lights up with a large smile. “I know what you’re trying to do. Distracting me to put me back on the right track.”
“Is it working?” I smirk.
“Of course it is,Itaught you what to do when my mind goes on a trip of its own.”
Kris clears his throat, but I don’t have time to investigate his reaction because I’m suddenly trapped inside Mack’s hug. My feet lift a few inches off the floor, and something sparks in my mind.
Mack and I are sitting next to each other in a tunnel, his arm covering my head. He whispers that everything is going to be fine. A whistle grows louder in the background before turning into the roaring sound of an explosion.
I gulp in some air, and Mack puts me down gingerly.
He stumbles back while Kris’ face fills in the space where Mack was until a second ago.
“Another memory?” he asks, leaning in to brush my cheekbone as if it’s the most natural thing.
I nod, still catching my breath. “I…I think so. An explosion outside a tunnel similar to the one we used to come here.” I slide my eyes to Mack, who’s staring at me agape. “You were there with me.”
“Mack, what is happening? That memory doesn’t even belong to her.” There is urgency and worry in Kris’ voice.
“It’s your soul, Kris. What’s left of it,” Mack replies after a moment. “I’ve been thinking about this since your last visit.” He glances at the metal door, then tilts his head to address me. “July’s mind had to adapt to bits of your soul being hosted inside her, to make space. We don’t know what memories the Deleteri took from her, and we don’t even know if they could distinguish between what belonged to her and what were, instead, traces of your own life.”
I pinch my lower lip, nodding as everything begins to make sense. “Perhaps, some of my memories simply went to sleep, and the Deleteri couldn’t take them because they weren’t even available for me.”
“Correct!” Mack snaps his fingers. “But that means that your mind is probably nearly over maximum capacity and is pushing out all the memories you unconsciously laid to sleep. Tabitha probably knew as well, and that’s why she wanted you to retrieve your past lives as soon as possible, to avoid some sort of mental explosion.” Mack mimics the image of a bomb going off, clenching his fists above his head, then spreading his fingers wide in the air.
Kris starts pacing back and forth, nodding at some internal mind-dialogue. Then he comes to a halt, snaps his head at Mack and marches towards him. “My friend, you’re a genius!” he exclaims, smacking a kiss on Mack’s forehead before moving his attention to me.
“Let’s see what that trespasser wants from Tabitha first, before they attract too much attention.” He’s next to me in one step, so close, yet not enough. “Then, wewilldiscuss our next move. And if Tabs is half as clever as I think she is, I probably know where she’s gone. If I’m right, you won’t need to harvest the last of my soul, but you will need to retrieve what’s in those caves.” He smiles, losing his gaze into mine.
“Ah, the caves—” Mack blinks like a child who’s just discovered his voice.
Before he can add anything else, I open my arms, scrunching my face to hide the guilt of - most likely - the biggest elephant in the room. “I may have hidden bits of Kris’ soul in the caves under The Mother…”
I wait for Mack to snap, to tell me I acted irresponsibly, abandoning his friend’s soul so close to enemy territory.
