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“I know, sweetheart. Sit,” Jo murmured.
Grey nodded and sat at one end.
Jo’s smile turned a little sad, and she seemed to hesitate for only a moment before she took the open cushion next to him. Clay held his breath as she took Grey’s hand in both of hers.
Grey sucked in a loud, harsh breath like a swimmer surfacing suddenly. His long body jerked and tensed once. He went perfectly still. Clay stood with Baer at his side, both of them ready to jump in to hold Grey so he could accept the power Jo gave him.
But it was all…different. He didn’t fight. He didn’t even breathe. It was like he was frozen.
And then a switch was flipped.
Grey blinked, but steely gray eyes didn’t stare back at Clay. It was all blackness, trying to suck Clay and his soul down into the absolute nothingness. He flinched, and even Baer took a step away.
A low keening sound rose in the room, and it took Clay a second to realize the sound was coming from Grey. It stopped and Grey blinked again. Fat tears rolled down Grey’s too-pale cheeks, and normal eyes snapped over to Jo. Pained sobs broke from Grey’s throat like his soul was being shredded, and he started to crumple in on himself. Jo quickly scooted as close as she possibly could, pulling his larger body against her own as if she could fit him in her lap. She murmured reassuring comments that Clay couldn’t quite make out in Grey’s ear over and over again while rubbing his shoulders in small circles.
Clay glanced over at Baer, who only shrugged at him. This was not what either of them had experienced when they received their powers. Had something gone wrong?
“It’s always been different for the Soul Weaver,” Jo said a little louder.
Clay wanted to ask what she meant by that, but there was a pained, shaking whisper from Grey. “Please. I don’t want it.”
Jo rubbed her hand over his hair and cooed to him again. “I know, sweetheart. I know. It’ll get better. I promise.”
Grey quieted again, and Jo whispered soothing words to him. Grey continued to cry and plead brokenly for another twenty minutes. Clay had no idea what the man saw or felt, but his heart went out to him. He’d been struck by the man’s rather stoic reserve at the breakfast table, and for him to crumble like this, it couldn’t be good.
When Grey seemed through the worst of it, Jo instructed Baer to take Grey up to his room and let him get some sleep. Clay started to offer his own room, which was closer, but Jo gave a shake of her head, stopping the words on his tongue.
Grey stood with some help from Baer and leaned on him as they walked slowly to the stairs. The man looked drained of life, little more than a shell of what he once was. Clay remained silent until they were out of the room and then looked at Jo, who appeared sad but otherwise unchanged.
“Is he going to be okay?” Clay demanded.
Jo nodded. “Getting his powers tends to take a lot out of him.”
“And that was normal?” Clay pointed at where they’d last seen Grey. “He’s got his power now?”
“Yes, and it was normal for him. But if you want information about it, you’ll have to get Grey to tell you.”
Clay nodded. That was fair. He didn’t particularly want to talk about getting his powers with anyone, and he’d been lucky enough to have no one else there to see it besides Flo and Jo.
Jo rose and walked over to him. She placed her hand on one of the arms folded across his chest and smiled up at him. “He’ll be fine in a few hours. Let him rest. Baer will watch over him.”
Clay grunted. “Are there any others close?”
Jo’s smile disappeared and she shook her head. “Flo is hounding her last one, but he’s not close. Willie…I’m going to help with Willie’s Weavers. I could be gone for a bit.”
“Thanks, Jo.” He was getting used to the disappearances of Flo and Jo, but he was still curious as to what Willie was like. She had yet to make her appearance. “We’ll fill Grey in as best as we can.”
“I know you will.” She walked off toward a pair of French doors lining the wall of the living room. She stepped out onto the rear porch and then started across the backyard, her arms stretched up above her head toward the bright sunlight. But she disappeared before she reached the tree line. Clay wasn’t even sure of what he saw. One second she was there, and the next she was not.
With a shake of his head, Clay turned toward the kitchen. He’d fill a travel mug of coffee and then make a grocery run to replenish their supplies. While Jo could use her magic to whip up an amazing breakfast, he and Baer had to do it the old-fashioned way. Maybe by the time all that was done, Grey would be on his feet again so they could check out his powers. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what soul powers were like.
