My Soul to Take
Page 63
- Background:
- Text Font:
- Text Size:
- Line Height:
- Line Break Height:
- Frame:
She had no pulse. The round woman sat back from Emma, her face flushed in bewilderment. She wasI checked. She should be
She passed out, Nash repeated firmly. She probably hit her head when she fell, but shes fine now. To demonstrate, he held out his hand for one of hers, then pulled her upright, her legs stretched out on the floor in front of her.
You shouldnt move her! the principal scolded from my side. She could have broken something.
Im fine. Emmas voice was thick with confusion. Nothing hurts.
A quiet murmur rose around us, as the news spread to those too far back to have seen the show. Whispered words, like died and no pulse set me on edge, but when Nash reached across Emmas lap to take my hand, the anxiety receded.
Until a second scream shattered the growing calm.
Heads turned and people gasped. Emma and Nash stared in horror over my shoulder, and I twisted to follow their gaze.
The crowd still surrounded us, but through gaps between the bodies, I saw enough to piece together what had happened.
Someone else was down.
I couldnt see who it was, because someone was already bent over her, performing CPR. But I knew by the straight black skirt and slim, smooth calves that it was a girl, and I knew from the pattern that she would be young and beautiful.
Nashs hand tightened around mine, and I glanced up to find his face as tense with regret as mine surely was. Wed done the unthinkable. Wed saved Emma at the expense of someone elses life. Not one of oursan innocent, uninvolved girls.
I arched both eyebrows at him, asking silently if he was willing to try it again. He nodded gravely but looked less than confident that we could carry it off. And in the back of my mind, tragic certainty lingered: if we saved another one, the reaper would simply strike again. And again. Or hed take one of us. Either way, we couldnt afford to play his game.
But I couldnt let someone else die for no reason.
I opened my mouth to screamand nothing came out. Id forgotten my voice was gone, and this time so was the urge to wail. There was no panic. No fresh pain clawing up the inside of my throat.
Horrified, I looked to Nash for advice, but he only frowned back at me. If you cant sing, shes already gone, he whispered. The urge ends once the reaper has her soul.
Which was why my song for Meredith had ended as soon as shed diedwed made no bid for her soul.
Devastated, I could only watch as people scurried around the dead girl, trying to help, trying to see, trying to understand. And in the middle of the confusion, one of the onlookers caught my eye. Because she wasnt looking on. While everyone else was focused on the girl lying on the gym floor, one slim arm thrown across the green three-point line, onewoman stood against the back corner, staring atme.
She didnt move, and in fact seemed eerily frozen against all the commotion surrounding us. As I watched, she smiled at me slowly, intimately, as if wed shared some kind of secret.
And we had. She was the reaper.
Nash I croaked, and groped for his hand, hesitant to take my eyes from the oddly motionless woman.
I see her. But hed barely spoken the last word before she was gone. She blinked out of existence, as silently and suddenly as Tod had, and in the bedlam, no one else seemed to notice.
Frustration and fury blazed through me, singeing me from the inside out. The reaper was taunting us.
Wed known the possible consequence and had taken the risk anyway, and now someone had died to pay for our decision. And the reaper had probably known all along that we couldnt stop her.
And the worst part was that when I looked at Emma, who had no idea what her life had cost, I didnt regret my choice. Not even a little bit.
17
OVER THE NEXT FEW minutes, details filtered back to us through the crowd, now thankfully focused on the other side of the room. The girl was a junior. A cheerleader named Julie Duke. I knew the name and could call up a vague image of her face. She was pretty and well liked, and if memory served, more friendly and accepting than most of the other pom-pom-wavers.
When Julie still had no pulse several minutes after she collapsed, adults began herding the students toward the doors, almost as one. Nash and I were allowed to stay because we were Emmas ride, but the teachers wouldnt let her leave until the EMTs had checked her out. However, Julie was the top priority, so when the medics arrived, the principal led them directly to the cluster of people around her.
But it was too late. Even if I hadnt already known that, it would have been obvious by their posture alone, and the un-hurried way they went about their business, and eventually wheeled her out on a sheet-draped gurney. Then a single EMT in black pants and a pressed uniform shirt walked across the gym toward us, first-aid kit in hand. He examined Emma thoroughly, but found nothing that could have caused her collapse. Her pulse, blood pressure, and breathing were all fine. Her skin was flushed and healthy, her eyes were dilating, and her reflexes werereflexing.
The medic concluded that shed simply fainted, but said she should come to the hospital for a more thorough exam, just in case. Emma tried to decline, but the principal trumped her decision with a call to Ms. Marshall, who said shed meet her daughter there.
When I was sure Sophie had a ride home, Nash and I followed the ambulance to the hospital, where the triage nurse put Emma in a small, bright room to await examination. And her mother. As soon as the nurse left, closing the door on his way out, Emma turned to face us both, her expression a mixture of fear and confusion.
She passed out, Nash repeated firmly. She probably hit her head when she fell, but shes fine now. To demonstrate, he held out his hand for one of hers, then pulled her upright, her legs stretched out on the floor in front of her.
You shouldnt move her! the principal scolded from my side. She could have broken something.
Im fine. Emmas voice was thick with confusion. Nothing hurts.
A quiet murmur rose around us, as the news spread to those too far back to have seen the show. Whispered words, like died and no pulse set me on edge, but when Nash reached across Emmas lap to take my hand, the anxiety receded.
Until a second scream shattered the growing calm.
Heads turned and people gasped. Emma and Nash stared in horror over my shoulder, and I twisted to follow their gaze.
The crowd still surrounded us, but through gaps between the bodies, I saw enough to piece together what had happened.
Someone else was down.
I couldnt see who it was, because someone was already bent over her, performing CPR. But I knew by the straight black skirt and slim, smooth calves that it was a girl, and I knew from the pattern that she would be young and beautiful.
Nashs hand tightened around mine, and I glanced up to find his face as tense with regret as mine surely was. Wed done the unthinkable. Wed saved Emma at the expense of someone elses life. Not one of oursan innocent, uninvolved girls.
I arched both eyebrows at him, asking silently if he was willing to try it again. He nodded gravely but looked less than confident that we could carry it off. And in the back of my mind, tragic certainty lingered: if we saved another one, the reaper would simply strike again. And again. Or hed take one of us. Either way, we couldnt afford to play his game.
But I couldnt let someone else die for no reason.
I opened my mouth to screamand nothing came out. Id forgotten my voice was gone, and this time so was the urge to wail. There was no panic. No fresh pain clawing up the inside of my throat.
Horrified, I looked to Nash for advice, but he only frowned back at me. If you cant sing, shes already gone, he whispered. The urge ends once the reaper has her soul.
Which was why my song for Meredith had ended as soon as shed diedwed made no bid for her soul.
Devastated, I could only watch as people scurried around the dead girl, trying to help, trying to see, trying to understand. And in the middle of the confusion, one of the onlookers caught my eye. Because she wasnt looking on. While everyone else was focused on the girl lying on the gym floor, one slim arm thrown across the green three-point line, onewoman stood against the back corner, staring atme.
She didnt move, and in fact seemed eerily frozen against all the commotion surrounding us. As I watched, she smiled at me slowly, intimately, as if wed shared some kind of secret.
And we had. She was the reaper.
Nash I croaked, and groped for his hand, hesitant to take my eyes from the oddly motionless woman.
I see her. But hed barely spoken the last word before she was gone. She blinked out of existence, as silently and suddenly as Tod had, and in the bedlam, no one else seemed to notice.
Frustration and fury blazed through me, singeing me from the inside out. The reaper was taunting us.
Wed known the possible consequence and had taken the risk anyway, and now someone had died to pay for our decision. And the reaper had probably known all along that we couldnt stop her.
And the worst part was that when I looked at Emma, who had no idea what her life had cost, I didnt regret my choice. Not even a little bit.
17
OVER THE NEXT FEW minutes, details filtered back to us through the crowd, now thankfully focused on the other side of the room. The girl was a junior. A cheerleader named Julie Duke. I knew the name and could call up a vague image of her face. She was pretty and well liked, and if memory served, more friendly and accepting than most of the other pom-pom-wavers.
When Julie still had no pulse several minutes after she collapsed, adults began herding the students toward the doors, almost as one. Nash and I were allowed to stay because we were Emmas ride, but the teachers wouldnt let her leave until the EMTs had checked her out. However, Julie was the top priority, so when the medics arrived, the principal led them directly to the cluster of people around her.
But it was too late. Even if I hadnt already known that, it would have been obvious by their posture alone, and the un-hurried way they went about their business, and eventually wheeled her out on a sheet-draped gurney. Then a single EMT in black pants and a pressed uniform shirt walked across the gym toward us, first-aid kit in hand. He examined Emma thoroughly, but found nothing that could have caused her collapse. Her pulse, blood pressure, and breathing were all fine. Her skin was flushed and healthy, her eyes were dilating, and her reflexes werereflexing.
The medic concluded that shed simply fainted, but said she should come to the hospital for a more thorough exam, just in case. Emma tried to decline, but the principal trumped her decision with a call to Ms. Marshall, who said shed meet her daughter there.
When I was sure Sophie had a ride home, Nash and I followed the ambulance to the hospital, where the triage nurse put Emma in a small, bright room to await examination. And her mother. As soon as the nurse left, closing the door on his way out, Emma turned to face us both, her expression a mixture of fear and confusion.
