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Seer holds my gaze for a few tentative seconds, then lets out a resigned sigh. “Okay. But can you have a proper conversation with a person’s soul?”
“It’s a bit tricky even for a soul searcher, but it’s possible. With you, I had to navigate your past memories when I couldn’t find your soul, but that was mostly because your body was unconscious. If the soul is one with the body, it’s easier to locate. For the soul involved, it’d be like a dream when they wake up. Most don’t even remember the details.”
“Still, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have you involved with Edward,” Seer says with a little hesitant shake of his head. “It’s not like Edward is someone you can persuade. And he has power, dark power.”
“Maybe I can tap into his recent memories and try to locate him then,” I say, throwing my hands up with a sigh. “It’s better than doing nothing, don’t you think?”
Seer considers that. “I’ll need to run the idea by Pocus first.”
“Naturally,” I say, grinning stupidly at him. “I’m ready when you are.”
* * *
Victoria slowly holds out the old winter jacket to me, shaking her head. “I don’t feel any connection to this. Do you have something else?”
It’s the jacket that I wore the day I left home thirteen years ago. I’d been in such a rush that I’d blindly snagged the jacket on my way out and shrugged it on, and it turned out to be Edward’s. I remember how well it fit. “Twins,” I think bitterly.
I take the jacket from Victoria and head for my closet. I try to rack my head for something else that belonged to Edward that I might have, but I come up with nothing.
We were only ever brothers in the literal sense of the word.
It’s been so long since we’ve drifted apart that it’s hard to believe we even are brothers. We used to be much closer when we were kids, but that feels like ages ago.
Looking back, it all changed the moment I started to get the visions. At first, I didn’t understand Edward’s withdrawal, I just understood to stay away from him. No one would believe that those perfectly random ‘accidents’ were not caused by my clumsiness but carefully orchestrated by my twin brother. I hate having to dredge up those horrible memories I thought were long dead and forgotten. And more than that, I hate this stupid feeling of dread. It reminds me of how I’d felt around Edward all those years ago, when I’d locked myself in the attic to keep him away from me.
“Why are we doing this at 2 in the morning, for fuck’s sake?” Hex asks, throwing his hand up in a dramatic gesture.
“Because it’s easier to find a person’s soul when they are asleep,” Victoria explains in a matter-of-fact tone.
It’s obvious she’d missed his sarcasm. I almost smiled at that.
She’s so cute.
Where’d that thought come from?
“And why am I here again?” Hex huffs, leaning back in the cozy rocking chair by my window with a grumpy sigh. “I should get my fucking beauty sleep.”
“I asked that you be in the room because I think we have a great synergy. Having you here will increase the energy flow.”
“Stop grumbling and fucking sit pretty, Hex,” Pocus snarls in an even grumpier tone. “The earlier you shut the fuck up and let her concentrate, the earlier we get this over and done with.”
“Sorry, Prez,” Hex mumbles contritely.
“Do you have something else that belonged to Edward?” Pocus asks, raising his eyebrows at me inquisitively.
I shrug a little, unconsciously fiddling with my seashell pendant. “I… I don’t know if this would work. Edward gave me this seashell when we were five. It was our first time at the beach, and he picked this up because of its shape. He saw I wanted it and gave it to me.”
Funny how I can remember that moment like it was yesterday.It’s a pleasant but bitter memory now.
I hung onto this shell for a long time, maybe more for what it represented than for the shell itself. I wished that someday I’d get a glimpse of that selfless little boy with a sweet smile.
“Let me have it,” Tory says, holding out her hand to me. “We want something with a strong emotional connection to the target. But it doesn’t hurt to try.”
I take the necklace off and hand it over to Tory. She closes her fist around it, slowly shuts her eyes, takes a deep breath, and goes perfectly still.
I don’t know how long we sat in a silence that seemed to engulf the entire room when she slipped into a trance.
It could have been just a few seconds–or a couple of hours.
