“I think you put your finger on the pulse of it, Lucky. That’s the very nature of a soul trap. It’s a place in which somethingsoheartbreaking happened that it attracted all the souls affected by the heartbreak.”
“Wizards say the only way to get rid of them is to strip the place they’re in of magic,” Scout said. “It’s usually—” He glanced apologetically at Kayleigh. “—not great for the actual natural environment surrounding the trap either.”
“What happens if we just leave them be?” Lucky said, appalled. As sad—asheartbroken—as everyone seemed to be, he thought that they’d rather be sad than to not exist at all.
“That area will keep attracting more and more misfortune,” Helen told him. She smiled grimly. “That side of the island used to be much busier. I imagine that bench would have seen much more traffic and much more tragedy, but the Morgensterns built their monstrosity in the 1920s, and it pulled people away from that little memorial. Only those of us who live here and gather on the quieter beaches actually know it’s there at all.”
“But we can’t just… annihilate the place,” Lucky said, giving Scout an accusatory look. “And we certainly can’t call your old man in. He sounds like a fucking disaster.”
“He is, mostly,” Scout mumbled. “And I didn’t say that wasmyplan. I just said it’s what I was always told to do.” He gave a tentative smile. “I mean, Kayleigh and I aren’t exactly poster children for doing what we’re told.”
“Indeed you are not,” Marcus said with a faint smile.
“So what doyouwant to do?” Kayleigh asked.
Marcus and Helen exchanged glances. “Well, we always thought that soul traps were… well, they’re an opportunity to do some good,” Helen said after a moment. “But as for what kind of good, that depends on each soul. It would mean we’d have to do some research. Find out who Tom was, perhaps. Find out which spirits would be hanging out at the bench. And then, quite simply, talk to them, see what we can do to lay them to rest. Perhaps it’s simply moving their bones, or maybe it’s discovering a crime. The two of you saw four different mysteries on that bench—maybe more. If we could… could unravel each mystery, lay the souls to rest, perhaps the place would only be haunted by memories and not by souls anymore.”
Kayleigh’s mouth had formed a little moue of enchantment. “Really? So like solving a mystery? And casting spells and… like, taking all our power anddoingsomething with it? Can we do that?” She turned to Scout. “Can we? Can we?”
“Can Lucky help too?” Scout asked, and Lucky grinned at him, as enchanted as Kayleigh but by something else entirely. “Lucky, do you want to help? Do you want to do this? We could look up old spells and research families and—”
Marcus held up his hands. “Stop, my children. I need you to hear us out.”
Kayleigh and Scout subsided, but judging by the happy sideways glances Scout kept shooting him, Lucky thought fondly that his excitement had not fizzled out one iota.
Well, neither had Lucky’s.
“The problem is,” Marcus said softly, making the moment more intense, “for all we know, the soul trap is actually part of what’s making the island safe for you. The three of you sought sanctuary here, and your magic led you to this place, probably because it doesn’t seem to pop up on the map of the people who might wish you harm. Lucky, your coin would let you know if someone was looking for you. Scout, Kayleigh, you’ve got an entire coven looking out for you. This soul trap has been here for many, many years. You all need to think—and do it judgment free—about whether you want to risk the losing the protection of the island by setting these souls to rest.”
Scout and Kayleigh gave frustrated sighs on either side of Lucky, and then Scout spoke up.
“But… but maybe that’s not how it works,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe the island is protecting the soul trap because it’s protecting the souls inside. It doesn’t want them erased like Alistair would do any more than we do. Maybe if we get rid of the soul trap—and do it nicely—there will be more room here for… I don’t know. More magical flotsam, I guess. Like us.”
He smiled hopefully at Marcus and Helen, who had tilted their heads to regard him like other people might regard a very clever, very adorable puppy.
Helen was the one who broke their moment of awe by saying, “But we don’t know that for certain, Scout. We’re just saying, keep in mind that you might be destroying the thing that keeps you safe here. If nothing else, it deserves some more discussion.” She stuck her finger out and used it to scrape off the very last of the whipped cream. “And certainly more dessert.”
Scout gave an embarrassed shrug, and Lucky reached impulsively under the table to grab his hand. “It’s a good thought,” he said, voice gruff. “We should keep it in mind.”
Scout rewarded him with a radiant smile, and Lucky fought the sudden impulse to run far, far away from Scout Quintero. Any more smiles like that one—or any more kisses like the ones they’d shared before Kayleigh had gotten home—and he might find himself saying anything, doinganything, just to make Scout happy, without thought to his own skin or safety.
Scout Quintero was averydangerous young man to Lucky. Lucky should get the fuck out of there and not look back.
What he did instead was smile back, squeeze Scout’s long, strong fingers, and lose himself in those cobalt-blue eyes.
Walking Home
SCOUT VOLUNTEEREDto walk Helen and Lucky home, which was mostly across the quad, only to be met with an arch look from Marcus.
“Helen will be staying with me in the cottage tonight,” he said kindly. “But you may walk Lucky back to his flat if you like.”
Scout was pretty sure he blushed like a cartoon character. Cartoon characters were something he and Kayleigh hadn’t had much experience with—their television viewing had been limited to nature documentaries and the history channel—but the two of them had been making up for lost time since they’d arrived at the island.
“Kayleigh and I were going to watch cartoons tonight,” he told Lucky after Marcus and Helen left. He sent Kayleigh a hopeful look. “Do you want to stay a bit and join us?”
Lucky looked… surprised.
“Uhm… cartoons?”
