Exaltation (Insight #11)(46)



“It is not one soul that will take you down. It’s two souls made of one. No one can break that bond, or so lore states.”

“Not a fever?” Rydell said with a smirk. He knew Britain had a similar issue. He had a thing for a girl who had tried to kill him more than once.

“A fever, a rush—that’s not the same as being made of one. They feel what we cannot.”

“Do they know who they are? The souls that are hunting you,” Rydell asked.

“The ones that are hunting all of us? No. Blind. That’s the only advantage. Half the time they’re looking for the one that completes them. If you can stop that you can slow it down. Donalt has been doing so for a solid eternity now.”

Donalt was the King of Fear, and a total ass when it came to most points.

“I’ll be sure to tell my sovereign that when I see him,” Rydell said, meaning never.

Britain smirked. “He has a hunting party out for you. He wants his boys home.” Britain tried to hide a grin. “Would be a shame for him to lose his First.” Under his breath Rydell thought he heard him say, “Jalle.”

Rydell knew he couldn’t have heard him right. Jalle meant ‘again.’ Rydell had only run from his sovereign once.

Britain glanced over Rydell. “I sense Revelin close, you might want to head back.”

Rydell furrowed his brow, wondering why it took him a second to feel it, then hoped it meant he really was breaking free from that ass.

He vanished.





Chapter Fourteen

By the time dawn had arrived Jamison was sure the girls, along with Soren, could hold their own in a battle. If it ever took a second to get to them like it had in the past.

They went back to Emery’s and crashed.

Raven was up by one. Knowing that if she didn’t get her sleeping patterns flipped back Monday was going to blow.

Once she was up and about and had taken a shower, she packed her bag. That was her Sunday routine. She had everything packed up before everyone came over to Emery’s for the cookout, and then she went home with her dad.

Raven breathed in, smelling Thelma Ray’s fried fish wafting through the house. She turned all the lights on and pulled the covers off the twins before she went downstairs. Sleeping was overrated—who could sit still that long? That was Raven’s view on the topic.

Downstairs she snuck up behind Miss Thelma Ray and gave her a bear hug only to hear her chuckle. “Child, you ain’t spooking me. Your vim thrashes into a room long before you do. Go on now, your daddy is waiting for you.”

Oh yeah. I have a date with death, Raven thought as a groan left her.

“Hush now, unless you want me to be sittin’ in your classes with you. You know I will.”

And she would. She ‘volunteered’ at the school where that girl teased Raven for months until the girl mysteriously transferred away.

Three grills were going out back—ribs, chicken, crawfish, you name it. Raven found Jamison in the mix of neighbors. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Which would be the only reason everyone else looked so calm. They feed off his vim.

“Ready?” Jamison asked when he saw her.

“We going to a graveyard or something?” Raven quipped.

“You want to?”

Raven loved and hated the graveyards. She liked the history, but hated seeing how close some of the dates were on the tombstones. Short lives back in the day.

“Don’t need a bummer, Dad.”

“Balcony,” he said, nodding for her follow him.

He put his hand on her back and led her upstairs, then out. “Is this going to be hard or easy peasey like The Realm?” she asked.

“Different kind of dead people.”

“Whatcha talking about?” Raven asked reverently. She saw no ghosts the night before.

“The Realm is made up of energy, energy that is so dwindled it cannot take form on its own. How did you think you were manifesting everything you did?”

“I didn’t think I was using dead people as clay!”

“Not dead people. Energy,” he said with a laugh. “Everything is energy.”

“And this is different because?”

“These people know they’re dead, that they existed.”

“Why are they hanging around then? Is it like a waiting room or something?”

Jamison pursed his lips before he spoke.

“Sometimes people want a time out and sometimes there are other reasons.”

“Like?”

“Like let’s take one lesson at a time, little one.”

Raven raised her chin. “All right then. How do I get in?”

“In old cities the Veil is thin. You have to merely adjust your eyes, see the division, and step in.”

Sure. Simple as that, Raven thought. “Just in the Quarter or can I do this everywhere around here?”

“You can do what I’m going to teach you now anywhere you normally roam. Other cities not so much. Now pay attention. When you went into The Realm that was your soul. This will be your entire form, that’s why I want you to grasp this. It will be easy to hide this way.”

“The bad guys can’t go in here?”

“They can. But the souls here will help you. It will be like you’re running through the neighborhood asking someone for help. They can read your emotions, feel what you’re going through. They’ll help you.”

Jamie Magee's Books