The Soul Healer (13 page)

Mrs. Chen struck me hard across the face, and I stumbled backwards. I would have fallen, too, if Evan hadn’t caught me. My hand went to my throbbing cheek, shocked.

“Get her out of here, please,” Mr. Chen whispered, speaking for the first time.

Evan pulled me away, leading me
into the hallway. Surprisingly, Charles didn’t stop us, although he did lean over to murmur in my ear, “See how much pain you’re causing, Gabiella?”

I curled my hands into fists. God, I hated him.

No, not just him.

I hated
all
of Silver Moon.

Chapter Twenty

Wordlessly, Evan led me down the hallway, using his key to unlock the elevator. He ushered me inside once it arrived. I slumped against the wall, one hand still clutching my cheek, sliding down until my butt hit the floor. Evan punched the button for the roof
, and I wondered if he was going to push me off for not saving his girlfriend.

With the way I was feeling, maybe I’d do him a favor and throw myself off, no help needed. Mrs. Chen’s shrieks echoed in my ears, and I felt sick to my stomach with my uselessness. Charles was right; I was causing people pain. But what could I do? Why did they insist I was being selfish, cruel? I was telling the truth—I didn’t know what I was doing!

We reached the roof and the elevator doors opened, revealing a long and narrow hallway. At the end was a door that led outside. Bright sunshine spilled through the door’s window, making me squint. Evan headed for it, glancing over his shoulder when I didn’t move. “Come on, Gabi. Let’s talk.” He stuck his foot next to the elevator’s doors so they wouldn’t close.

“Where? Outside? Are you crazy?” I pointed to the win
dow. There was snow on the roof; I could see it from here. I was already feeling horribly miserable. Now he wanted me to stand outside without a jacket and freeze to death?

A ghost of a smile fli
tted across his lips. “I promise you won’t be cold.”

“And how do you plan—” I trailed off when I saw him summon one of his blue fireballs in the palm of his hand. Even from here, I could feel the heat radiating from it. “Fine.” I pulled myself up and followed him outside, regretting my decision as I was immediately assaulted by an icy blast of ar
ctic air. “
Evan!
”

“All right, all right,” he said, throwing blue fireballs in a semi-circle around me. Not surprisingly, they settled comfortably on the snow
-strewn ground without setting anything on fire. I didn’t know how he did that (I mean, besides the obvious “it’s magic!” answer), but I had to admit the effect was cool. Leaning against the wall, I watched the blue flames dance slightly in the wind as they kept the chill from seeping into my bones.

The sounds of Manhattan—cars honking, people talking and a dog barking in the distance—floated up to us on the roof, reminding me that the city was this living, breathing thing that never stopped, no matter what crap was going on in someone’s life. And my life at that moment
was
pretty crappy. I wished again that I was down on the pavement, holding hands with Rafe as we went Christmas shopping. It was such a normal, innocent dream, one that I knew I could never have.

Evan was leaning over the edge, staring down at the street as he smoked a cigarette, but I made no move to join him. No, I was comfortable right where I was, surrounded by my little blue heaters, the wall behind me all but holding me up. I let out a sigh; I was exhausted, and it was still only the morning.

Finishing his cigarette, Evan rejoined me, and I could smell the tobacco lingering on his clothes like the world’s most disgusting cologne. I made a show of waving my hand in front of my face to ward of the stench, and Evan laughed.

I stared at him. How could he laugh?

His shoulders slumped. “I know. God, Gabi, I know. I screwed up.”

“You think?” I was glad, despite everything, that my sarcasm was still intact. There was something about Evan that made it rise to the surface faster, sharper, but I didn’t know why. No, wait, I did. Because it was Evan, and he was annoying as hell.

But despite everything he had done to betray not only me, but Rafe, I still wanted to be his friend. Secretly, I was glad he had brought me out here (well, a warmer place would have been nicer) to talk. Maybe, maybe, he was finally going to fix this.

Evan was facing away from me, scanning the buildings as he said, “I’m sorry.”

Whoa, an apology. Okay, it was a start. I folded my arms over my chest and walked closer to him, so I could see his face. “And…?”

He winced
, but didn’t say anything.

“Evan.” When he didn’t respond, I picked up some snow and hurled it at him. It landed on his shoulder, but he didn’t even react. “‘I’m sorry’? That’s it? That’s all you can say?” I picked up more snow, angrily smashed it into a ball, and threw it at him, this time hitting him in the face. He sputtered, wiping the snow away from his eyes. “You jerk!” I continued. “You’re the one who told me to stay as far away from Silver Moon as possible, and then you turned around and told them all about me! How could you do that?”

“Because I was desperate,” he said. “Because I’ve spent the last two years missing Alex, even though she’s right there in front of me. Because I saw a way to bring her back, and I had to try. I had to, Gabi. I can’t—” His voice cracked. “I can’t keep doing this, living like this, without her. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same for someone you loved.” His gaze challenged me. “You would.”

I dragged my wet fingers down the sides of my jeans. “Not like this, Evan. You tore me away from my family, from Rafe and look—” My breath hitched and I closed my eyes, telling myself to calm down.
No more tears, Gabi.
“Look at how they’re treating me. Just like you said, all those months ago when we first met. They’re just as bad as you said—no, they’re worse and… Does this make you happy? Seeing me suffer?”

“Of course it doesn’t!” he snapped, running a hand through his hair. He grabbed a fistful of the blonde locks and tugged at them, hard. “That’s why I had to get you out of there, away from the Chens. I don’t know why Charles brought you there in the first place. It’s bad enough that he told them about you, made them think you could bring Alex back easily, but to bring you into that room, when he knows how unstable they are…” Evan shook his head and laughed bitterly. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. That’s exactly something Charles would do. Make you feel horrible in hopes that it’ll inspire you to work faster.”

“He keeps insisting I’m not trying hard enough,” I said. “He wants to motivate me, so he stabs people and animals and threatens me and gets even angrier when nothing works.” I lifted my hands in front of me, staring at them. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Evan. I didn’t know then, and I don’t know now. That’s why Rafe wanted to research my powers. He was going to help me figure it out. Slowly and carefully.”

Evan jolted at my words. “Research. Research!” He snapped his fingers. “That’s it, Gabi! We’ll check out the library, see if there’s anything there about healers, and figure this out.
Let’s go!”

“What, now?” I was a little taken aback by his enthusiasm.

“Yes, now,” he said, rolling his eyes. “No, tomorrow, after Charles and the Chens have yelled at you again.” He started pushing me toward the doorway. “Hurry up, Gabiiiiii.”

“Hold on a second!” I shoved him off. “Why should I go anywhere with you?” I shot him my best death glare
as I waved a finger in his face. “Give me one good reason why I should trust you, Evan!”

He paused, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he considered my question. “Look, I meant it when I said I didn’t plan for things to get this bad. I told Charles about you, but I never expected him to immediately alert the Chens. He got their hopes up, and they rushed their
daughter back to HQ, demanding that he bring the healer to Alex so she could be healed. That’s not how it was supposed to be. Yes, you were supposed to heal her, but I never wanted you here, in HQ.”

“Still waiting for you to get to the part where you convince me to trust you,” I sa
id, tapping my foot on the snow-covered ground.

“Things quickly spiraled out of control,” Evan continued, ignoring me
, which was weird, since I was the one usually ignoring him. “I’d forgotten what an absolute bastard Charles could be.” He ducked his head, his hair hiding his eyes. “I’m pretty sure Alex would kill me if she knew what I had done to you, to Rafe…” Now he looked up, and I saw a passion burning in his blue eyes. It was a gleam I only rarely saw; it appeared when Evan was serious, and Evan, well, he was never serious. “So I have to make it up to you, to both of you. Will you… Will you make a deal with me?”

I hesitated. A deal with Evan? That didn’t exactly sound like a smart thing to do. Even before he betrayed me, he was always doing stupid things that could land a person into a heaping pile of trouble. I’d have to be stupid to agree to anything with him. “What kind of deal?” I asked, because obviously my mouth had decided it didn’t want to listen to my brain today.

He smiled and I inwardly groaned.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
“You help Alex, and I get you out of here. Permanently.”

I opened my mouth, paused, and then closed it. It was a nice fantasy, but that’s all it was. How could Evan possibly get me out of here? Sure, he could help me escape, but what would stop Charles from chasing after me, hurting my family in the process? I wanted out, but not at the risk of Dad and Chloe’s lives. If I had to keep suffering to keep them safe, I would.

“Oh, please,” he said, watching my internal struggle. “You think that less of me? Have you forgotten what my magic can do?”

“What are you talking about?”

He waved a hand, creating another blue fireball with one flick of the wrist, making it disappear with another. “I’m talking about manipulating memories, Gabi.”

“
Ooookay,” I said, drawing out the word. “I get that you can make one person, like Chloe, forget being attacked by a demon, but everyone here knows what I can do. You’re going to wipe
all
of their memories?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. Shrugged! Like doing something like that wasn’t crazy, let alone impossible— “I can do it, no big deal.”

“You can’t.”

“Yes, I can.” Evan grinned. “Should I be insulted that you have that little faith in me and my abilities, Gabi?”

“But we’re talking about Charles, who can, like, wave a hand and zap his son—” I gasped. Philip! How could I stand around
talking
when he had been hurt? “Evan, before Charles, the ultimate bastard of the universe, brought me to Alex’s room, he attacked Phil with magic! We have to see if he’s okay!”

“But you didn’t agree to my deal—”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Fine! It’s a deal! I heal Alexandra, you get me out of here and keep my family safe, okay? Is that a good deal, Evan? Can you hold up your end of the bargain?”

“Yep. Don’t you worry, Gabi. When I get done messing with their memories, they’ll have no idea who you are, or what you can do.” He held out his hand and we shook on it.

I hoped he was telling the truth, that he could do such a thing, but something told me it would be foolish to get my hopes up. I mean, this was Evan we were talking about… Not exactly the most reliable person in the world. Should I trust him? I didn’t know. But I would go along with what he said for now, until a better option came my way.

If
a better option came my way. With the way things were going, I doubted that would even happen.

“No
more hanging out on the roof. Let’s go, go, go!” He opened the door and shooed me into the hallway as his blue fireballs vanished one after the other. “We’ll go help Phil first, then see if the library has any helpful books!”

“Don’t shove me!” I grumbled. “You’re the idiot who wanted to stand outside in the snow, not me. Why did you want to visit the roof, anyway?”

Hitting the button for the elevator, Evan smiled sadly at his reflection in the doors. “Because this is where I first met her.”

Chapter Twenty-one

As the elevator took us to the second floor, I tried to coax the story out of Evan, but he shook his head and turned away from me, a wistful expression on his face. I let it drop. I knew what it was like to hold a painful story inside of you with the fear that if you shared it, you
’d only make yourself feel worse. Rafe had been the first person I had told about my mom, Philip the second. It had hurt both times, and I had a feeling it would continue to hurt, no matter how many times I told it. If Evan didn’t want to share how he and Alexandra met, well, I could understand that.

But at least I knew why he had brought me up there.

When we reached the second floor, Evan stuck his head out. “All clear,” he said, indicating I should follow him. We jogged to Charles’s office, and again Evan checked it out before I entered.

Philip was still sprawled on the floor, out cold, and I ran to his side, shaking him. “Phil! Phil!” Over my shoulder, I told Evan, “See if Nina’s guinea pig is still alive!”

“Ugh, that stupid rat is here? Isn’t he called like, Mr. Snuggly or something dumb like that?” He wandered over to the desk and peered into the tank. “Uh, there’s nothing in here, Gabi.”