Soul Remembered (Soul Series Book 2) Read online

  SOUL REMEMBERED

  Laura Winter

  Copyright © year Laura Winter

  All rights reserved.

  Hi mom! I wrote another book.

  1

  Nate

  “Shit,” Glitch gasped, trying to catch his breath as he rested his back against the wood pallets. He leaned over and lowered his voice. “Do we have eyes on her?”

  I’m going to find you, Clara growled, her voice echoing through my head. You can’t hide forever.

  I ignored her, pushing her out of my head. She knew where we were, she was just messing with us at this point. “No, but she clearly has the high ground. There’s no way she should have found our last position,” I replied, adjusting my hands on my gun. I looked around for a few seconds, trying to come up with a plan. “I have a dumb idea.”

  Glitch’s eyes got wide. “You’re not going out there… she’s psycho!”

  “I heard that!” Clara shouted. I could almost hear the smile in her voice. She was nearly on top of us.

  “We gotta go,” I said, planting my feet underneath me. “Now.”

  I leapt forward and ran into the opening as Glitch took off in the opposite direction. There weren’t many places left to hide, but I couldn’t stay exposed like this, especially because I heard the gun fire. I dove forward through the dirt, barely avoiding her shot, and scrambled up against the pile of old tires. My heart pounded hard in my throat as I searched for Glitch.

  I finally found his black shirt wedged between two stacks of wood pallets. He was breathing just as hard as I was, his shirt covered in dirt and sweat. But if I could see him from this angle, that meant…

  There was no time to shout before I saw the red splatter the rotting wood. Glitch crumpled to the ground as Clara’s maniacal laugh sent a shiver down my spine.

  One down, one to go. This is almost too easy.

  How could you do this? I asked, trying to slow my breathing. Clara was never good at sneaking quietly, so I might be able to pick up on other cues to find her. I also needed to keep her distracted. I thought we were friends.

  Friends? She scoffed. We were a lot more than friends. You’ve seen me naked.

  My heart fluttered with the thought of her. Or was she putting that image in my mind? I shook it off.

  Trying to distract me? That’s a low blow.

  I heard the shuffle to my left and swung around just in time to fire. Clara didn’t have time to react as she took the shot straight to the chest.

  “Dammit!” Clara huffed, smearing the green paint with her hand in frustration.

  I pumped my fist. “Hell yeah, I win! Paintball champion.”

  Clara rolled her eyes. “You got lucky,” she said, annoyed by my continued celebration. She lifted her gun and shot me in the shoulder, right between the pads.

  “Ow, shit!” I groaned, shaking my arm out. I thought I was going to get out of this round unscathed.

  Glitch howled with laughter as he walked up. “I regret pushing you two together. I should have found Nate a girlfriend who wasn’t so competitive.”

  “You’re just jealous you aren’t the only one who can beat up on him anymore,” Clara said, sticking out her tongue.

  “Wait,” I interrupted. “I won. Why are you guys always ganging up on me?”

  Clara and Glitch exchanged a glance before they both turned and shot me again, directly in the chest. It knocked the wind out of me for a second. “Ow, you are psycho.”

  Somehow her grin widened. “I know, wanna make out?” She winked as she slid up in front of me. My head started to spin as she pressed her body into mine and kissed me hard.

  “Gross,” Glitch groaned as he turned away. “Why do you always do this in front of me?”

  He headed off to return his gear as Clara and I continued to smear the paint on our clothes.

  * * *

  “Sometimes I wish you two weren’t so damn adorable,” Glitch said as he stole another fry off my plate. I was distracted trying to get the green paint remnants out of Clara’s hair.

  “We just need to get you a girlfriend so we can all go on double dates,” I replied.

  I was just about to give up on the stubborn dried paint when Clara pulled away from me and raised her eyebrow.

  “Our first date better not be a double date,” she groaned, squishing her nose.

  I heard Glitch’s fork drop.

  “Time out,” he said. “You two still haven’t gone on an official date? What have you been doing for eight months?” Glitch looked at me, annoyed, until his eyes widened. “Wait, don’t answer that.”

  Clara just laughed. “Let’s see… kissing, breaking up, more kissing, dying, and then preventing a massive black hole from blowing shit up and stealing everyone’s powers,” she shrugged back into my side. “And more kissing.”

  I reached around Clara’s shoulders to pull her closer. She often joked about her death, but that coping method only got her so far. The panic attacks were still haunting her, and we were constantly watching for any sort of trigger that might set her off, though most often it happened while she was sleeping. She acted like she was annoyed that we were always on guard, but I was lucky enough to hear her thoughts. She was thankful we were around to help, even if she pretended everything was fine.

  “Why would I take you out on a date when you hate people and dressing up?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “I’m only in it for the food,” Clara replied, reaching out to smack Glitch’s hand away from my plate before stealing the fry he was going for.

  Glitch rolled his eyes. “You two have crazy powers, and that ridiculous connection makes you even more adorable together, but at some point you’re gonna have to act like regular people. You’ve already saved the world, or something small like that. Isn’t it time to go on a date like normal couples do?”

  “Fine,” I said, shifting Clara so she was looking at me. “Clara, will you go on a date with me?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Can I wear sweats?”

  “Jeans and Converse are acceptable attire,” I replied. She still wasn’t convinced, so I conceded, groaning in my displeasure. “And I won’t make you brush your hair.”

  Of course her eyes lit up at that. “Deal.” She reached forward and shook my hand.

  “Wow,” Glitch said, unimpressed. “I feel like I just watched the most awkward business contract of all time. Is this how he asked you to prom?”

  His last words faded as I tried to shut him up, but it was too late. I hadn’t gotten to the prom part yet, because every time I thought about it, I came up with a million reasons why she would say no. Mostly, if she hated people and dressing up, why would she want to go to a school dance? It was the first time I’d get to take anyone to a dance, and she was the only reason I wanted to go in the first place, but she would probably hate it.

  Clara looked up at me, confused. “You were going to ask me to prom?”

  I didn’t have a chance to answer or listen in to her thoughts as the waitress came up to our table.

  “Hi, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I overheard you talking about prom. I know we go to the same school, but I’ve never really had a reason to start a conversation with you guys,” she said, tugging on one of her braids before turning to Clara and I. “And this might be awkward, but I also wanted to say that you two are really cute together.”

  “Thanks for the compliment, I set them up,” Glitch said, leaning back in the booth. He relished every chance to take credit for our relationship. “It’s Luci, right? We have the same college math class.”

  Luci’s face turned a little pink. “Yeah, I sit up front… with Emma.” She flashed a glance at Clara. “I know I
played volleyball with her, but please don’t hold that against me.”

  Clara just smiled and responded cheerfully. “Don’t worry, I’ve already gotten my revenge on QB. I guess you know me, this is Nate, and your fellow smart kid is Glitch.”

  Clara was being remarkably well behaved, especially by not introducing Glitch with a jab.

  You hate people… why are you all of a sudden being so nice? I asked.

  Clara responded to me with a not-so-subtle elbow to the ribs.

  Luci gave us a side glance, but shook it off. “Nice to meet you guys… officially. I should get back to work, but I just wanted to say hello.” Luci smiled and turned to help another table.

  I looked over at Glitch who was still watching her walk away.

  “Dude, she’s smart, athletic, and cute. How have you not already asked her out?”

  I was shocked. My best friend, who was unafraid of anything, hadn’t at least made some sort of move to hang out with her.

  “Are you serious?” Clara asked, shocked. “You haven’t picked up on why we’ve come to this restaurant every weekend for the last few months? It’s not their burgers. Glitch has a crush.”

  “I haven’t asked her out,” Glitch said, rolling his eyes at Clara, “because when I hang out with you, my social status is essentially in the negative.”

  Clara shrugged. “Well, she thinks you’re cute, so I don’t know what you’re waiting for.”

  She stole another fry off my plate as Glitch and I stared at her, stunned. That explained the elbow I got, but not why she took so long to tell Glitch that his crush also had a crush on him. She rolled her eyes as she looked between us. “What? I don’t know why it always surprises you guys when I listen to other people’s thoughts. I was trying not to interfere, but clearly neither of them figured it out fast enough. Glitch has been thinking about her since paintball started.”

  “Get out of my head,” Glitch groaned as he peered over his shoulder at Luci. His mood lifted as he leaned back over the table. “Wait, she really thinks I’m cute?”

  Clara laughed and leaned in front of his face. “Really. She also doesn’t have a date to prom. Go talk to her.”

  Glitch’s face lit up as he slid out of the booth to chase after Luci. Clara leaned back into me as we watched Glitch pull all of his moves to impress the waitress.

  “Do you want to go to prom?” she asked, reminding me of the conversation we had started earlier.

  “C, we don’t have to go. I know that’s probably not high on your list of fun things to do.”

  She pulled away to look at me. “Be honest with me. You want to go to prom, yes?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  Clara cut me off by throwing her hand over my mouth. “No buts. If you want to go, I’ll go, and I’ll even brush my hair. You’re worth it.” She pulled her hand away from my mouth and leaned back into me.

  I sighed, resting my head on hers. “You are the greatest thing to ever happen to me.”

  “I know I am. Now shush so I can eavesdrop on our best friend. He’s a better flirt than you. Why didn’t you use any of his advice with me?”

  “I think I did just fine with you,” I said, rolling my eyes even though she couldn’t see them.

  Glitch strolled back over, waving a piece of paper in front of us as he sat down. “I knew I kept you around for something, C,” he cheered. “Double date at the fair on Friday.”

  He was no longer paying attention to us as he punched Luci’s number into his phone.

  “Yeah,” Clara sighed, squeezing me. “I’m not brushing my hair for that one.”

  2

  Clara

  His hands pressed harder, fingers wrapping around my throat. I was thrashing under the pressure, but it was no use. My arms and legs flailed, clawing at the hands that kept me from breathing.

  I launched up from the bed, my hands ripping the collar of my shirt as I gasped for air. My heart pounded in my ears as the room continued to spin, but it slowly returned to stillness as I found Nate’s arm next to me.

  In the three months after defeating the Cold Souls, he had somehow learned to sleep through my night terrors. I thought having the Cold Soul power out of my head would finally rid me of these nightmares. Turns out you could still be haunted by memories of your dad’s failed murder attempts against you.

  I peeled my right hand away from the collar of my shirt, sweat staining the gray fabric. At least when I was in the same bed as Nate I didn’t damage any furniture with my powers. It’s why I had snuck into his room last night. My desk at House was currently in splintered fragments on the other side of my room. I’m not sure why House continued to keep anything in there while I slept, though maybe it was to keep me from destroying him instead.

  The bed was hot and damp as I leaned back to try to relax, still slightly out of breath. I almost missed feeling cold all the time so I wouldn’t have to wake up in a sweaty mess every morning.

  Nate still didn’t move as I rolled over to watch him sleep next to me. He probably had no idea I was here. His parents had still been awake when I got here last night, so I climbed in through his window without disturbing him. I couldn’t stand to be away, and his powers helped minimize my destructive nightmares and panic attacks, but I hated waking him up every night when I couldn’t sleep.

  I’m not sure what drove me more crazy, the panic attacks or my spinning thoughts. Without the Cold Soul voices in my head, I was more afraid of the silence. With all that empty space, I felt like I was losing my mind more without the voices to distract me from myself. When the voices were always screaming at me, I was forced to keep track of everything going on. I was used to differentiating between my voice and the ones lying to me. Now that my thoughts ran around in empty space, I couldn’t keep up.

  I picked at the tear in my shirt, stretching it along my collarbone and neck to mop up some of the leftover sweat. I had thirty minutes to waste before Nate’s alarm would go off for school, so I just watched his chest rise and fall, trying to make sense of my head.

  The first thought that finally made sense was about the destroyed Complex. Well, our destroyed Complex. After the Cold Souls, Angie, Tom, and my mom worked to bring anything they could salvage back to House. Even with the extra rooms House had made, including a bedroom for my mom, I felt like I was being crowded out of my space. I was thankful to have my mom back in my life, but I didn’t like being surrounded by the things from The Complex. It was a past I still couldn’t remember, and it continually sparked panic attacks about Richard and the Cold Souls.

  That thought was gone in an instant as a new one popped up. Prom. Somehow I had gotten roped into dress shopping with Angie and my mom. I was hoping to just let House make me something to wear, but he didn’t seem too excited to do that. After all, I had ruined the last dress after Tom’s retirement party. Great, another flashback about my dad coming in to make my life hell.

  Luckily I was distracted from that memory as Nate rolled over and draped his arm over my side. His thoughts were incoherent, and the noise he made was more of a growl, so it was clear he wasn’t fully awake. I realized he was going to see my ripped shirt if I stayed facing him so I tried to roll over. He felt me move and pulled me closer, thwarting my avoidance plan.

  When did you get here? His eyes were still closed as he groaned again.

  Last night. I held my collar together with my left hand as I leaned forward to kiss his forehead.

  Wait, did I wake up or say something? I can’t remember you coming in. Nate finally opened his eyes and blinked, trying to focus. I turned over quickly, scooting back into him to make it look like I wasn’t avoiding something and just wanted to cuddle.

  No, I didn’t wake you up. I didn’t want to bother you. I found his hand and wrapped my fingers through his.

  “Why are you so sweaty?” he asked, reaching up with our hands to pull some damp hair off my neck. “Did you have another nightmare?”

  “Yeah,” I sighed as he gripped me tighter. An
other thought passed, this one of Jeanie. Before she died, she had made sure I promised to tell Nate whenever I had a panic attack. I figured I owed her to at least tell him the truth if he asked, even when I didn’t let him see the destruction I caused because of them.

  “I really wish you’d wake me up,” he said. I wasn’t prepared as Nate spun me over to face him. He picked at the tear in my shirt and frowned before holding his hand on my cheek. “Promise me you’ll wake me up next time?”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “I promise. I’m really sorry. I don’t know why they won’t go away.”

  “C,” he sighed, brushing his thumb over my cheek. “It’s only been three months since all of this happened. It’s not going to go away immediately.”