Page 56 of A Soul’s Awakening

“Increasing pulse interval by 0.2 seconds. We need to see when the phasing stabilizes under external control.” Beside her, a man crouched near the phantom’s side. He was lean and precise, wearing a dark lab coat that had seen better days, sleeves rolled to his elbows, hair slicked back, and sharp blue eyes constantly scanning monitors and the subject. Tiny probes glowed where they touched the phantom’s chains and flesh, measuring energy output, strain, shadow density, and phase stability.

Mandy extended her hand toward Lukas. The invisible threads of her mind control wrapped around her, bending the magic to her will. Every twitch, every convulsion, every flare of shadow was responding to her.

“Stop,” I pleaded, a pain in my chest throbbing. “Let him go. You’re hurting him.”

Mandy chuckled. “Does that ever work? Do people really just suddenly decide to stop what they’re doing to let someone go?”

Alistair strolled up beside me and scoffed. “Theo, these are phantoms we’re talking about. They’re already dead.”

“You keep saying that,” I shot back. “But it’s not true. The living part of them still feels pain. You can’t treat them like crumpled trash.”

Alistair humphed. “Perhaps normal phantoms are part living, but something happened to them when passing through the fractured veil. They’re not quite … whole. Their bodies might be solid flesh, but they aren’t living like Caspian was.”

I bristled at the mention of Caspian’s name, staring at Alistar with a confused expression. Did they even know what they were messing with? That this magic didn’t want to be controlled?

“When you returned the phantoms back to the underworld, your friend here unfortunately didn’t make the trip. He was being experimented on at the time, trapped inside his own barrier.” Alistair continued. “Notice anything different about him?”

I knelt down just outside the array, looking closely at Lukas. Sure enough, there was malice in those once gentle eyes. He gritted his teeth, snarling at me like a rabid dog. He no longer recognized me.

An ache throbbed in my chest. The phantoms I had fought definitely weren’t normal, but beneath the crazed magic a part of their old selves still lingered. I could feel the connection between them, between our shared magic. I knew some semblance of him was still there.

“The longer he stayed in this realm, the more the magic inside him became corrupted. Look at him now. He can’t even speak. But by studying this corrupted magic, we can learn more about it. Help those who fall victim to the same circumstances.”

The array around Lukas pulsed with an intensity that made the air hum and my veins ache. Sparks of energy leapt from the etched silver lines into the chains, and every time they did, his figure shimmered violently.

“He would have never become this in the first place if you let him return.” I reached out, my hands passing through the array.

“Theo, don’t—” But before Mandy could do anything about it, my bound hands were touching Lukas’ face. I could see the exhaustion etched in his wary eyes, the way his shoulders trembled beneath invisible weight, the faint quiver of his jaw, but still he endured. Faintly, his magic reacted to mine. A tug at the edges of my awareness. Recognition. Connection. My chains pulsed in response, buzzing against my wrists.

Alistair held out his hand to stop Mandy from interfering. The chains instantly dissolved from my wrists and my magic flowed back into me.

Lukas hadn’t asked for this, for this magic to manifest out of control. He’d never agreed to being poked and prodded at, having his magic manipulated … no, the Syndicate wasn’t helping one bit, they were making things much worse. I could feel Lukas’ magic reaching out to mine, begging and pleading for me to stop this madness.

“It’s okay.” I gently brushed a tear away from his cheek. “I can send you home. Isn’t that what you want?”

Lukas nodded.

The technician turned to face his desk of monitors. “Unbelievable. Look at this! I haven’t touched the amplification array, but the intensity is spiking, and it’s … stabilizing! How is he doing this? I need to document this!”

Ignoring the technician, I gently severed the ties of Mandy’s manipulative hold on Lukas. The mind-controller sensed it the moment it happened, stepping back as she stared in awe at her hand where the invisible thread had been cut.

“You’re free now. Go home.”

A warm, comforting magic wrapped around us as it calmed his chaotic magic. A sharp pain lanced behind my eyes as Mandy’s mind control magic tried to latch onto me in warning, but it was too late. The phantom before me opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words to say anything. Instead, his fading smile was all the thanks I needed as he dissolved before me and vanished.

There was a moment of silence as everyone stood in shock, staring at the miracle I had just performed. Then a hand came down on my shoulder, gripping it so tightly and pushing me down that I couldn’t get up from my crouched position. I looked up to see Alistair staring down at me with a maniacal grin on his face.

“Theo, my dear friend, Leon told me there was something strange that happened between you and Caspian, but I never expected this. Why didn’t you ever tell me you had his magic?”

25

A spike of panic shot through me, my pulse thundering in my ears.

We weren’t sure how much the Syndicate had figured out about the connection between me, Alex, and Caspian. They were piecing it together, and I had just completed the puzzle for them.

“Your magic so easily connected with Alex to break down the veil, and when Albert extracted one of Caspian’s memories from you, I knew we were missing something. He passed along his magic to you, didn’t he? And his knowledge? It’s just like the bastard to curse someone with his unfinished work.” Alistair gave a sinister chuckle.

“N-no, it’s not what you think!” I tried to plead, but Alistair seized my arm and dragged me to the center of the activation array, right where Lukas had knelt only moments ago. I lost my footing and hit my knees hard against the concrete.