Radiance (Riley Bloom #1)(10)
I concentrated on my shoes again, shaking my head as I pledged a strict vow of silence from that point on. Pledging that no matter what happened next, I wouldn’t say another word—wouldn’t try to defend a single thing that I’d done. My life as I knew it was over, and there was no taking it back. No do-overs allowed. Which meant there was really no point to any of this. It was tortuous, and mean, and completely unfair, and no way was I giving them any more ammo to use against me than they already had.
I continued to sit there, firmly committed to maintaining my silence and waiting it out for as long as it took, when Aurora finally looked at me and said, “I know you may not understand it just yet, but in time you will. It’ll all make perfect sense, I promise you that. But for now, just know that everything works out in the way it’s supposed to. There is no punishment, no harsh judgment, and no accidents of any kind. All is as it should be. We’re just trying to understand things from your point of view, to study your life with compassion, not discrimination. All of us realize just how hard it is to find one’s way in the earth plane—there are so many distractions, so many directions in which to turn. We don’t condemn a single one of your acts, Riley, so there’s no reason to be fearful or angry. We’re merely attempting to understand you better, that’s all.”
My gaze met hers, and yes she was kind, and nice, and oh so glowy and angelic, but I needed something more. I refused to be brushed off so easily.
“And so, it’s my destiny to be dead?” I said, immediately breaking my vow of silence and wondering if my tendency toward mouthiness, as my mom calls it, would get me in as much trouble Here as it did there.
But Aurora just smiled as the rest of the group took a moment to chuckle among themselves, which, truth be told, did not make me feel even the slightest bit better since it’s not like I was trying to be funny.
“It’ll all make sense in due time,” Claude with the long, scraggly beard piped in, propping his bare feet on the seat just before him as he added, “but for now, do you have anything to say on your behalf? Any comments about what you just saw up on the screen?”
My shoulders drooped. All of me drooped. I was done with words and out of excuses. I just wanted it to end. To learn my place, and move on.
They gazed at each other, communicating in a way that was completely blocked from me, finally coming to some sort of mutual agreement when they nodded toward Celia, who turned to me and said, “Based on your accumulated history and your strong attachment to the earth plane, you will train as a Catcher. Any questions?”
Train as a—what? A question that was soon followed by a gazillion others just like it.
“A Soul Catcher,” Samson said, pushing his long silver hair off his face and settling his violet eyes right on mine. Adding, “A catcher of souls.” As if that made any more sense.
And I was just about to ask the obvious, when Aurora cut in with her soft, soothing voice that made every word sound like the most perfectly chosen lyric to a beautiful song, and said, “Riley, your situation is not as unique as you think. There are plenty of souls who resist the call to come Here. Many of whom are still wandering the earth plane, unwilling to cross the bridge and move on. Some resist for centuries, ignoring any and all attempts to lure them Here, while some only linger for a short time. And while each individual soul is granted free will, every now and then we find they require a little extra . . . push, if you will. A little reminder that they have choices, better choices, than those that they’ve chosen. And that’s where you come in.”
My eyes darted between them, and even though I was brimming with questions, lots and lots of questions, it’s like I had so many I had no idea where to begin. All I knew for sure is that I was going back.
Back to the earth plane.
The glorious earth plane!
And as far as I was concerned, I couldn’t leave soon enough.
“We’ve no doubt that carefully guided and given the proper training, you’ll be a very successful Soul Catcher for us,” Royce said, granting me a smile that was made for spotlights, movie screens, and magazine covers as the others nodded their agreement.
“So, when do I leave?” I jumped to my feet, suddenly brimming with an abundance of energy that was lacking just a few moments earlier. “When do I get my old life back?” I asked, picturing myself moving right back into the old neighborhood and enrolling in my old school, not quite sure how all the logistics would work. You know, how they would go about fixing the fact of my being dead one day, and, well, pretty much undead the next. Then dismissing it just as quickly, figuring that to be their problem, not mine.
Me, I was fulfilling a mission.
A very exciting mission.
But my excitement barely had a chance to take hold when Aurora looked at me, her brown/red/black/silver/blond hair swirling around her in a whirl of waves and rivulets as she said, “You will return in spirit form only. Invisible to all but your fellow spirits, and the gifted few who are able to sense us.”
My eyelids grew heavy, my shoulders sank, and I sighed. Deflated, disappointed, disillusioned—not one of those words even begins to describe how I felt. And yet, I was still going back. There was no changing that. If the Council saw fit to send me packing, well, who was I to fight it, no matter what form I’d be in?
And from what I’d seen so far of this school, with the assembly and the singing and the glowing, and all the other accumulated weirdness, well, I figured I wouldn’t really miss it.