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What does that mean?
It means no one will notice us. Trust me.
How are they not going to—But before I could finish, Barbas opens the door and strides inside.
Do you see anything out of the ordinary?he asks.
What? No! I’m trying not to look so we don’t get caught.I don’t have eyes to squeeze shut, but I choose not to focus on the scene that plays out as if through a long distance telescope before me.
Don’t be ridiculous, Lily. They can’t see us. We’re hardly in this plane.
I decided to play along.Ok, if we’re not on my plane and not on your plane, where the hell are we?
The soul plane. Now be quiet and pay attention. Look for any hint of what you saw with your mother’s soul.
Right. Look for this dying person’s soul.
If I had control of my body, I’d be chewing on my thumbnail.
I guess I hadn’t really thought about what helping Barbas and the rest collect souls truly meant.
I’d have to be around a lot of dying people.
Why do I need to look? You seem like you have it covered. I’ll just hang out back here and try not to look.Difficult, considering I can’t help but see what Barbas is gazing at, but if I focus on unfocusing my gaze, everything goes cloudy and distant.
Sort of like when I’d zone out during all those ridiculous statistics lessons. My eyes were open, but I didn’t see anything.
Barbas wraps my arms around me in an actual hug instead of filling me with warm emotion.Lily, I won’t force you to participate if you don’t wish to. But I have the feeling you’ll be spectacularly gifted with this.
Gifted? With soul collecting?
I’ve done a poor job explaining just how special your ability to house us all truly is. But what’s more remarkable is how you’ve gained some of our second-sight as well. You can see things all the time that we simply cannot. So, if you’re up for it, I’d like you to start honing your soul-seeing gaze. If I’m right, and I think I am, with enough practice, you’ll be able to help us find souls quicker than ever before.
As uncomfortable as death, laid out and gasping for breath before me, is, I’m not the kind of person to do things in half measures.
I said I would help you win the trial, and that’s what I intend to do.I would have taken a breath and tried to prepare myself, but without a body, all of that seems pointless.
I refocus my gaze on the man sitting before me. Yes, sitting in a type of reclined hospital chair, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. He’s unconscious and the quiet sniffles and whispers around us filter in as well.
“So tragic. I can’t believe life is so fleeting,” says a woman’s pained voice.
“When it’s your time, it’s your time,” someone soothes. “We don’t get much say.”
The man before me is far too young, too strong looking to be here, which I didn’t see at first because of all the tubes and the halo of pins holding his head stable.
Pressure stockings moaned in the background, pumping air into them to keep the blood from pooling in his legs.
I knew from my mom’s first surgery.
And the halo told me he’d had some kind of skull or neck surgery. Maybe even a traumatic brain injury.
You must detach yourself from this, Lily. This is part of the universe of existence. Everything must come to an end.
I know that.Easier said than done.
Focus on the soul energy. Do you see it?
We stare at the man’s chest, and at first, all I see is the hospital blanket.
