The Soul Healer (12 page)

Before I could push her any farther, the doors d
inged open and we stepped out. I felt a rush of relief when I saw Philip waiting outside one of the doorways, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Hurrying to his side, I gave him a small smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Philip looked surprised. “Of course I’m going to be here. No one should face the royal asshole on their own, you know?”

Nina made a disapproving noise in the back of her throat, and Philip and I rolled our eyes at one another. She pushed past us, knocking on the door and waiting for Charles to answer before opening it. “I brought the Soul Healer, Director Adler!”

“Thank you, Nina.” Charles didn’t bother looking up from the note he was scribbling at his desk, just waved us forward. “You’re dismissed. You too, Philip.”

Ignoring him, Philip plopped down in a chair and crossed his legs. After a moment’s hesitation, I sat down in the other chair, a wooden, uncomfortable thing that creaked whenever I moved. Nina called out a cheerful goodbye and shut the door behind her.

The office was smaller than I expected for the head of the New York branch of Silver Moon. My bedroom back home was bigger,
and
it had an attached bath! The office barely had enough room for Charles’s desk and chairs. Already, I was starting to feel claustrophobic. Especially considering there were no windows, just wrap-around bookshelves on all four walls.

Books, so many books. No wonder Rafe was convinced he could find out something about my powers here!

Charles finished his note and sighed when he saw Philip was still there. “Philip—”

“Nope,” he interrupted. “Not leaving you alone with her. Not after this morning.” He gestured with his hand. “So go ahead and say whatever it is you needed to tell her. I’ll try to stay quiet and just listen.” Philip grinned. “No promises, of course.”

I was so, so grateful for Philip at that moment. Because the truth was, I was a little bit (okay, a lot) terrified of being in the same room as Charles. At first I had thought he wanted to keep me safe, alive, so I could do my magic and heal people, but after this morning, I saw just how dangerous he really was. Did that mean I was going to keep my mouth shut and stop egging him on?

No way.

But maybe, maybe today I could listen, too, and maybe learn something about me and my powers. I mean, ever since that first night, when I had healed Rafe, I’d had so many questions. Who was I, really? Where did my powers come from? Were they connected to my Sight somehow? Was there anyone else like me?

Was I really a Soul Healer?
Could
I bring back the dead?

“Hmm, I see you’re finally showing some interest in you powers,” Charles said to me, being all creepy and watching the warring emotions play across my face, correctly interpreting them somehow.

I kicked at the floor with the new pair of sneakers Nina had bought me. “Maybe.”

“And why shouldn’t you be?” he asked as if I hadn’t spoken. “If I were you, I would have raced to Silver Moon’s headquarters the day after I healed for the first time, asking them to explain things to me.”

I gave him a dirty look. “I was told to stay the hell away from you, actually. And now I know why.” Great, I had managed to hold in the snark for a full two minutes. A new record for me. “And you haven’t explained anything to me anyway. Just stabbed someone and
minutes. New record for me.
preting o my Sight, somehow? Was there a
threatened me a lot. Very enlightening.”

He settled back in his chair, unperturbed by my remarks. “I feel the best way to learn is not by teaching, but by showing. I had hoped you would have healed Jonathan, but now I see that was impossible. You had no reason to heal him, so you didn’t. It was simple as that. But I wonder…” Charles leaned over and picked up a box covered in a blanket. “I wonder if your powers will show if your feelings are different.” He pulled the blanket off the box to reveal the same tank I had seen in
Nina’s room. Her rodent-pet was still inside, but its coat was no longer a pristine white.

No, it was soaked in blood, no doubt coming from the severe wound on its side.

I yelped, standing so quickly my chair nearly toppled over. Next to me, Philip cursed, standing as well. “Dad, what did you do?”

“What I had to,” he said simply, still watching me.

I felt the blood drain from my face, and I was moments from puking my breakfast all over Charles’s desk. What he
had
to do? Give me a break!
Philip curled his hands into fists. “That’s Nina’s guinea pig, isn’t it? Does she know you used it for your sick experiment?” The poor thing was stretched out on its side, its eyes squeezed shut and its breathing labored. The blood coating its fur was bright red, and there was so much of it… My heart was shattering into tiny little shards as I watched it suffer.

“She gratefully handed him over,” he said. “She will do anything to help Silver Moon
. As should you, Philip.”

“Screw Silver Moon,” I snapped, my voice shaking with anger. “Screw Silver Moon
and screw you. You sick bastard. You
enjoy
hurting things, don’t you?”

“I told you, Gabiella, I did it to help you.” He waved me over, but I didn’t move, my feet frozen to the floor. “Y
ou feel angry, yes? Helpless, maybe? What about your powers? Do you feel them?”

“The only thing I feel is an intense desire to kill you.” I turned to Philip. “We have to help it! Do you know a vet?” I was sure he did; Rafe said demons liked to play with helpless victims,
which included small animals. He had known exactly where to take Bo the kitten when Fishface had attacked it.

“No!” Charles said. He slammed a fist on the table, making the tank rattle. The guinea pig didn’t even move. “No vets! Heal it or it dies, Gabiella!”

“I can’t!”

“You’re not even trying!” His face was flushed, his eyes bright and wide as he grew increasingly agitated. “Try to heal it!”

“I can’t!” I said again. Tears pricked my eyes; I didn’t want to show weakness in front of him, but I was telling the truth. I couldn’t heal the guinea pig. I was too scared, too sick, too angry to see straight, let alone summon my powers. Not that I knew how to summon them. It just happened. Why couldn’t Charles understand that? Why did he insist I do something when I kept telling him I didn’t know how?

“You are nothing but a fraud,” Charles said, coming around the desk and grabbing me by the arm before either Philip or I could react. He squeezed hard enough to cause me to cry out in pain and began dragging me
toward the door. “You won’t even try. Do you even know how many people are suffering because of your stubbornness?”

“Dad, let her go!” Philip launched himself at us, only to crash hard into an invisible wall. It flashed a brilliant blue-white, sending Philip flying across the room and into a bookshelf. He slumped to the floor, books raining around his motionless body.

Icy fear struck me deep in my stomach. “Philip!” I screamed as I pounded my fists against Charles’s shoulders. “What did you do to him?”
“He’ll be fine,” he answered as we stumbled into the hallway, heading to the elevator. “He’s just weaker than most people when it comes to magic. He’ll wake up in an hour or two with a bad headache, nothing more.”

I hated how calm he sounded, like attacking his son was as normal as talking about the weather or what you ate for dinner last night. It was frightening, this lack of emotion. Charles had no qualms about stabbing people, hurting animals, or knocking out his son.

Which meant he had no problem doing whatever it was he was about to do to me.

The elevator doors opened, and he threw me inside.

Chapter Nineteen

I fought him, of course. Inside the elevator, I raged at him, kicked and punched him, and finally collapsed on the floor, utterly spent. Charles, for his part, didn’t react to any of it—not the insults, nor the physical attacks. He just stood there, watching the floor numbers count up.

I wondered if he was taking me to the top floor so he could chuck me off the roof.

The elevator came to a stop at the eighth floor. Charles hauled me to my feet, and I was too exhausted to fight him. “Where are you taking me?” I whispered, tears running down my cheeks. I no longer cared about appearing weak in front of him. I knew it—I
was
weak. I had told Rafe I could take care of myself, and look at what a great job I was doing. Philip had been hurt, Nina’s poor guinea pig was probably dead, and now Charles was going to do who knows what to me for not cooperating.

Yeah, I sucked at taking care of myself.

“I want you to see, firsthand, what sort of pain you’re inflicting on others due to your selfishness.” He yanked me hard down a corner, nearly wrenching my arm out its socket, and I pressed my lips together to prevent a scream from leaking out. “Maybe then you’ll start doing what I ask.”

“I told you, I don’t know how I do it!” I pushed against him, suddenly filled with an intense desire to get the hell away from wherever it was he was taking me. I didn’t want to see any more horrors—not today, not ever. I dug in my feet, my shoes squeaking against the granite floor.

Charles was having none of that, however, practically carrying me the rest of the way and throwing me into a room with so much force that I collided with the bed in the middle of the room. The occupants jumped to their feet, and I heard Evan exclaim, “Gabi?”

Oh no. No, no, no. If Evan was here, that could only mean…

I slowly climbed to my feet, avoiding looking at the person lying in the bed. Evan wisely kept his distance, probably afraid I would slap him again if he tried to help me up (I absolutely would, too), but concern was clearly etched across his features as he watched me. “What’s going on?” he asked, directing his question to Charles.

Before he could answer, a middle-aged Asian woman rushed
toward me, throwing her arms around me. “You’re her, aren’t you?” she asked, smelling strongly of some type of floral perfume that made my eyes water. She was dressed in an expensive-looking business suit, and jewelry sparkled from her fingers, wrists, neck, and ears. Behind her, a man hovered, his face drawn tightly as he watched the woman squeeze the life out of me. “You’re the one who’s going to save our baby?”

I kne
w exactly who these people were: Alexandra’s parents.

I wanted to glare at Charles for bringing me here and doing this to me, but Mrs. Chen had me angled in the opposite direction so that the only person I could glare at was Mr. Chen. But I didn’t want to. He looked like he was torn between crying or smiling, and his dark eyes were alit with a fiery hope as he waited for me to fix everything.

“I can’t,” I half-sobbed into Mrs. Chen’s shoulder, my tears probably ruining her suit (that I’m sure cost more than two years’ worth of wages at the Corral) in the process. “Please, I can’t—”

“No.” She pulled away slightly, still gripping me tightly as she searched my face, looking for what I couldn’t give her. We stood eye-to-eye; she wasn’t a tall woman, her heels giving her an extra inch on me, but she was strong and I couldn’t break free. I had to remi
nd myself that this was a former hunter—before her son was murdered, she faced and fought demons. If she wanted to hold on to one helpless teenage girl, she would.

Mrs. Chen was striking more than beautiful, all sharp angles and lines. Her black hair was cut short, with bangs sweeping sideways across her forehead, and her dark brown eyes were sunken and glazed, like she hadn’t slept since she had first lost her son and then her daughter. But even despite that, she wielded so much power that she commanded everyone in the room to pay attention only to her. In comparison, her husband seemed so small (despite being taller), so meek, so timid. He stood there, watching us, saying nothing, diverting his eyes whenever he caught me glancing at him.

“Don’t say no,” Mrs. Chen said, pulling me to the bed, next to where Evan stood. He stayed silent, but I could feel his eyes looking, searching, pleading with me to help them. To help Alexandra.

God, I wanted to, if it meant this nightmare would be over. But as Mrs. Chen all but threw me on top of her daughter, grabbing my wrists and holding them out over Alexandra’s prone body, nothing happened.

Nothing.

“I can’t, please, I can’t,” I said, still crying. I could feel the desperation pouring off of Mrs. Chen, and she shook me harder still.

“Try, please, try! Look at her, look at what she’s like! She’s been like this for two years. Don’t you want to help her?”

Still, I tried to avoid glancing at Alexandra. I knew what she looked like—I had seen her the night Davenport had kidnapped my sister. The image of her, so small, so helpless, was seared into my brain forever.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I can’t.”

Mrs. Chen let out a wail. “Why won’t you help
her? Why won’t you save my baby!” She shook me so hard my teeth clacked together. I tried shoving her away, but it was no use. Her eyes, which had looked dead to me only moments ago, were blazing now with anger. “You stupid, useless girl! They said you would help!”

“I CAN’T
!” I screamed as loudly as I could, my voice finally shutting her up. “I can’t, okay! I want to, but I don’t know what I’m doing! That time I healed Rafe? And Evan? Those were accidents! And I don’t remember anything from either time, so I’m sorry, but you screaming and pushing and hurting me isn’t going to make my powers work, so just stop it—”