My Soul to Keep
Page 71
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And I couldnt choose.
This offer expires in two minutes, Kaylee Avaris intimate whisper made me feel dirty, and promised much worse things to come when we met in his territory. Things that may have already happened to my father and Nash. And I couldnt decide which of them to rescue.
Fortunately, before I could squeak out a desperate, impulsive answer, I heard a dull thud over the line, then the smack of something hitting the floor.
An instant later, Tods voice spoke to me over the line. You were right. It was Sophie.
What did you do? I demanded. My momentary relief was eclipsed by concern for my cousin, who hadnt exactly volunteered her body for hostile occupation. Even if her own occupation of it was usually hostile.
Tod chuckled. You cant possess someone who doesnt have control over his or her own body. Thats like stealing a horse without grabbing the reinshow are you supposed to control the animal?
Had he just compared my pampered cousin to a beast of burden? I shouldnt like the comparison, but I do.
Still So what did you do? I repeated.
I hit Sophie on the back of the head with a universal remote. This thing is huge. Its like a cell phone from the 90s.
You were supposed to get rid of Avari without hurting the host!
Yeah, I didnt get that memo. Maybe next time you should be a little more specific when you boss me around while Im saving your ass. Though, frankly, this whiny little shrew is lucky she only has one bump, cause shes had this coming for a while.
Well, I couldnt argue with him there. Is she still breathing?
It was a remote, not a sledgehammer. Anyway, its not her time. Shell be fine.
She better be. I sighed and sank onto the couch again, desperately hoping I hadnt just signed my fathers death warrant. Or Nashs. But the real question is how can we keep it from happening again? Whats to stop Avari from taking over everyone I know?
Other than the qualifications for an intermediary? I mean, how many people do you know who have a connection to the Netherworld?
Not many, fortunately. Not that I knew of, anyway. But there were a fewEmma, Sophie, Uncle Brendon, and Harmonynone of whom I wanted to see hurt. Especially because of me.
Besides, Tod continued, suddenly appearing in the middle of my living room floor, still holding Sophies home phone. I think the key to keeping Avari out of your friends and family is right in front of us.
It is? I dropped my phone back into its cradle as Tod nodded solemnly, ignoring the static bleeding from the receiver in his grip.
Alec.
The proxy? Finally wide-awake, I made my way toward the open kitchen window.
Yeah. The reapers gaze followed me, but in true Tod fashion, he made no move to help as I used most of my weight to force the first heavy pane of glass closed. Possession takes an enormous amount of energy, and most hellions can only do it every now and then, and only for short periods of time. A few minutes, at the most. But Avaris been possessing you regularly for a month now, right?
I latched the kitchen window, then moved on to the two in the living room. As near as I can tell. I felt sick just thinking about it. How could Nash let Avari possess me? Had he even tried to evict the body snatcher? Even once I forgave Nash for lying about the Demons Breathafter all, hed been exposed while helping meI wasnt sure I could forgive him for letting Avari inside me. And even if I could forgive, I could never forget.
And hes been able to do it twice in two days, since he got his hands on Nash and your dad, Tod continued, dragging my thoughts back on topic. Which suggests that hes using them as additional energy supplementslogical for a hellion of greed, dont you think? The reaper raised one brow for emphasis.
Yeah. And that also supported my theory that Avari had no intention of returning them, no matter what I did. Especially now that Id blown the one now deal.
But without proxies to boost his energy level, Avari wont have the power to possess his own wardrobe, much less the entire cast of the Kaylee Cavanaugh show.
Okay, that makes sense I nodded slowly as I reached into the fridge for another Coke. But wont he just get more proxies?
The sides of Tods mouth lifted in the first true smile Id seen from him in a very long time. Hell try. But were banking on the fact that proxies like he has now are few and far between.
Wait, Dad and Nash are bean sidhesI get that. But Avari was possessing me way before he had either of them, back when Alec was his only walking snack. And Alec is human, right? He called himself a human proxy.
The reaper shook his head slowly. I dont know exactly what this Alec is, but Id bet my afterlife that he isnt only human. If he were, theres no way he could have possessed Emma for so long. Or twice in one night.
So Tod was right. The key to disabling Avaris human-telephone mode was to get Alec away from him. Not to mention my father and Nash. But since hed just been physically expelled from my cousins body by an unknown third party, the hellion would probably guess that not only would I be coming for my men, but Id have backup.
This offer expires in two minutes, Kaylee Avaris intimate whisper made me feel dirty, and promised much worse things to come when we met in his territory. Things that may have already happened to my father and Nash. And I couldnt decide which of them to rescue.
Fortunately, before I could squeak out a desperate, impulsive answer, I heard a dull thud over the line, then the smack of something hitting the floor.
An instant later, Tods voice spoke to me over the line. You were right. It was Sophie.
What did you do? I demanded. My momentary relief was eclipsed by concern for my cousin, who hadnt exactly volunteered her body for hostile occupation. Even if her own occupation of it was usually hostile.
Tod chuckled. You cant possess someone who doesnt have control over his or her own body. Thats like stealing a horse without grabbing the reinshow are you supposed to control the animal?
Had he just compared my pampered cousin to a beast of burden? I shouldnt like the comparison, but I do.
Still So what did you do? I repeated.
I hit Sophie on the back of the head with a universal remote. This thing is huge. Its like a cell phone from the 90s.
You were supposed to get rid of Avari without hurting the host!
Yeah, I didnt get that memo. Maybe next time you should be a little more specific when you boss me around while Im saving your ass. Though, frankly, this whiny little shrew is lucky she only has one bump, cause shes had this coming for a while.
Well, I couldnt argue with him there. Is she still breathing?
It was a remote, not a sledgehammer. Anyway, its not her time. Shell be fine.
She better be. I sighed and sank onto the couch again, desperately hoping I hadnt just signed my fathers death warrant. Or Nashs. But the real question is how can we keep it from happening again? Whats to stop Avari from taking over everyone I know?
Other than the qualifications for an intermediary? I mean, how many people do you know who have a connection to the Netherworld?
Not many, fortunately. Not that I knew of, anyway. But there were a fewEmma, Sophie, Uncle Brendon, and Harmonynone of whom I wanted to see hurt. Especially because of me.
Besides, Tod continued, suddenly appearing in the middle of my living room floor, still holding Sophies home phone. I think the key to keeping Avari out of your friends and family is right in front of us.
It is? I dropped my phone back into its cradle as Tod nodded solemnly, ignoring the static bleeding from the receiver in his grip.
Alec.
The proxy? Finally wide-awake, I made my way toward the open kitchen window.
Yeah. The reapers gaze followed me, but in true Tod fashion, he made no move to help as I used most of my weight to force the first heavy pane of glass closed. Possession takes an enormous amount of energy, and most hellions can only do it every now and then, and only for short periods of time. A few minutes, at the most. But Avaris been possessing you regularly for a month now, right?
I latched the kitchen window, then moved on to the two in the living room. As near as I can tell. I felt sick just thinking about it. How could Nash let Avari possess me? Had he even tried to evict the body snatcher? Even once I forgave Nash for lying about the Demons Breathafter all, hed been exposed while helping meI wasnt sure I could forgive him for letting Avari inside me. And even if I could forgive, I could never forget.
And hes been able to do it twice in two days, since he got his hands on Nash and your dad, Tod continued, dragging my thoughts back on topic. Which suggests that hes using them as additional energy supplementslogical for a hellion of greed, dont you think? The reaper raised one brow for emphasis.
Yeah. And that also supported my theory that Avari had no intention of returning them, no matter what I did. Especially now that Id blown the one now deal.
But without proxies to boost his energy level, Avari wont have the power to possess his own wardrobe, much less the entire cast of the Kaylee Cavanaugh show.
Okay, that makes sense I nodded slowly as I reached into the fridge for another Coke. But wont he just get more proxies?
The sides of Tods mouth lifted in the first true smile Id seen from him in a very long time. Hell try. But were banking on the fact that proxies like he has now are few and far between.
Wait, Dad and Nash are bean sidhesI get that. But Avari was possessing me way before he had either of them, back when Alec was his only walking snack. And Alec is human, right? He called himself a human proxy.
The reaper shook his head slowly. I dont know exactly what this Alec is, but Id bet my afterlife that he isnt only human. If he were, theres no way he could have possessed Emma for so long. Or twice in one night.
So Tod was right. The key to disabling Avaris human-telephone mode was to get Alec away from him. Not to mention my father and Nash. But since hed just been physically expelled from my cousins body by an unknown third party, the hellion would probably guess that not only would I be coming for my men, but Id have backup.
