Page 4 of A Soul’s Awakening

“Fuck,” Jacob groaned, dazed—but already pushing himself up. “Not cool, bro!”

The creature didn’t give him time to recover. It lunged at him again, and I flicked out two fingers. The magic imbued in the sign caused the creature to slip, but didn’t stop it from charging forward.

It reached Jacob, sinking its vicious teeth into his arm. He wailed out in pain, and while ghosts didn’t have blood, a stream of deep red smoke seeped out of the wound.

I reacted on instinct, gathering magic into my palm. It was sluggish and heavy, nothing at all like what it would be in the living world. My necrotic energy drew on life, and in a room like this so full of death, I was the only one feeding it.

A wave of dizziness hit me as I released it. The weak bolt struck the creature’s flank, but it barely reacted. Silver runes lit across its body—bright, jagged lines of light crawling beneath its skin, illuminating the office in a fractured glow. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a normal animal. It was bound. Controlled.

What the hell was this thing?

Its jaws parted slightly. Saliva stretched between sharp teeth as it stalked forward. I took a step back. Then another. Until I could hear the sinister chuckle of Leo behind me. Cold air swallowed the back of my legs as I realized how close I was to the black void.

“Alive,” Leo commanded, calm and certain. “Orren, this one remains alive.”

Jacob looked up sharply. “Theo—!” He moved again to reach me, the creature abandoning me to block Jacob from getting any closer. But at the last second, Jacob flashed in and out of existence, transporting right around the creature. Jacob was so close, his fingers inches away from mine as I reached out to touch him.

My breath caught instantly as I was yanked backwards. Leo’s slender fingers locked around my neck with effortless precision, holding me just short of the portal’s edge. My vision tightened at the corners, not from pressure alone, but from recognition crawling up my spine like ice.

I realized then I knew those hands. I’d watched them wrap around a blue dagger that pressed against my friend’s throat. I’d shaken that same hand to make a deal to find Caspian and to save Ellie from her brutal fate.

The scars, the icy coldness, it all made sense now. This wasn’t a random person named Leo. It was Leon.

Panic shot through me like a lightning bolt, and I reached one last time for Jacob but I never made it.

“Theo, I’m sorry. She knows something’s wrong. She’s calling me back.”

In a puff of white smoke, Jacob vanished as Ivy picked up on his distress and summoned him away.

Glowing silver chains shot from the ring on Leon’s finger, coiling out of the hand wrapped around my neck. The moment they touched my skin, everything inside me went dead silent. My magic cut off instantly. It wasn’t fading. It was severed, yet I could still feel it fighting to be set free.

A crushing heaviness flooded my limbs, like my body had been encased in concrete. Even Caspian’s magic flared beneath the surface, sharp and furious at being stuffed away, but its attempt was forced down, writhing uselessly beneath the chains like something trapped and choking.

My breath hitched as the world narrowed.

Leon’s grip didn’t loosen. If anything, it steadied.

“I’ve been waiting months for this moment, Theo,” he said, voice low and almost satisfied. “I’ve finally found you.”

3

“Stop squirming!” The chains binding me tightened. Leon yanked on them like a leash, reminding me of my predicament.

“Fuck you,” I spat at him.

“You know, I’m disappointed you didn’t recognize me sooner.” Leon pouted as if he was offended.

“How could I?” A nervous chuckle escaped me. “Your face looks like a squished tomato. What happened to you when you entered the underworld, anyway, huh? Did you fall into a vat of acid? Or maybe … Did Ren do this to you? Oh, please tell me he did this.”

The chains squeezed so tight I could feel my shoulder joints popping out of their sockets.

“The bastard killed me the moment my feet hit solid ground, but then that shithead ran off like a coward. He had been following me for a while, but I haven’t seen him. I’d like to think he’s dead, but that cockroach seems to refuse to die.”

Leon began walking, dragging me like a dog behind him. My heart sank when he said that. Ren was still missing, and not only was I back to square one with no leads, I had to go get myself captured by this vengeful ghost.

Everything had happened so fast, I wasn’t exactly sure what happened. I remembered Leon’s hand around my neck, the force of his grip dragging me into that black void of nothingness. The pressure shifted, and for a brief moment, I felt the air hum. The darkness twisted around me, then a burst of light surged outward in a blinding wave, swallowing the shadows whole, and spit us out the other side like gumballs.

“Where are we?” I choked out. The crowded streets of Salem had vanished. In its place was a sprawling open-air market that stretched before me with dirt paths and dry grass cutting unevenly through rows of dilapidated stalls with sagging, patchwork canopies and hanging lights that swayed in the gentle wind. Tables overflowed with magical trinkets, jars etched in unfamiliar symbols and relics that hummed with a low, unsettling pulse. The sky above was scattered with stars, bright against the darkness.