My Soul to Take
Page 79
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Its my fault. Living with us is too hard for humans. I should have known better. Uncle Brendon sobbed, swiping one sleeve across his face. She didnt want to grow old without me.
This is not your fault, my dad insisted, clasping his brothers shoulder. Its not that she didnt want to get old without you, Bren. She didnt want to get old at all.
My aunt Valerie had made a deal with a hellion, and cost four innocent girls their lives. Shed lied to us all, and had nearly gotten her own daughter killed. And she had blasted a hole the size of a nuclear crater through our familys core.
But when the time came, shed given her own life in exchange for her daughters without a second thought, just like my mother had. Did that make her sins forgivable?
I wanted to say yesthat a mothers selfless sacrifice was enough of a good deed to erase her past sins. But the truth wasnt so pretty.
My aunts death wouldnt bring back Heidi, or Alyson, or Meredith, or Julie. It wouldnt repair whatever psychological damage her loss caused Sophie. It wouldnt give Uncle Brendon back his wife.
The truth was that Aunt Vals sacrifice was too little, too late, and shed left those she loved most to deal with the aftermath.
HERE, KAYLEE. This will help your throat. Harmony Hudson set a small cup of honey-scented tea on the table in front of me, and I leaned over it, breathing in the fragrant steam. She started to head back into the kitchen, where the scent of homemade browniesher favorite form of therapyhad just begun to waft from the oven, but I laid one hand on her arm.
I would have lost Sophie if you werent here. My voice was still hoarse, and my throat felt like Id swallowed a pinecone. And the shock was finally starting to pass, leaving my heart heavy and my head full of the terrible details.
Harmony smiled sadly and sank into the chair next to mine. The way I hear it, youve done more than your fair share of singing today.
I nodded and sipped carefully from the cup, grateful for the soothing warmth that trickled down my throat. But its over now, right? Belphegore cant leave the Netherworld, and Marg wont come back, right?
Not if she has any sense. The reapers know who she is now, and theyll all be looking for her. Harmony glanced to her left, and my gaze followed hers to the living room, where my aunt had died, my cousin had been restored, and Id whacked a psychotic grim reaper with a cast-iron skillet.
Weirdest. Tuesday. Ever.
The paramedics had been gone for less than half an hour, and the thick white carpet still bore tracks from the wheels of the stretcher. Theyd rolled Aunt Val out draped in a white sheet, and Uncle Brendon and Sophiefollowed the ambulance to the hospital, where she would get stitches in the back of her head, and her mother would be officially pronounced dead.
Sophie didnt understand what had happened; Id known that from the moment she regained consciousness. But what I hadnt anticipated was that she would blame me for her mothers death. My cousin was technically dead when Aunt Val made the bargain that had saved her daughters life, and Sophie didnt remember most of what shed seen before that. All she knew was that her mother had died, and that Id had something to do with it. Just like with my own mother.
She and I had more in common now than we ever hadyet wed never been further apart.
How did you know? About all of this? I asked Harmony, waving toward the living room to indicate the entire disaster. But she only frowned, as if confused by the necessity for my question.
I told her.
Startled, I looked up to find Tod sitting across from me, his arms folded on the table, a single blond curl hanging over his forehead. Harmony smiled at him, letting me know she saw him too, then rose to check on the brownies.
How did you do it? I brought the teacup to my mouth for another sip. How did you guide Sophies soul? I thought you were a reaper.
Hes both, Nash said from behind me, and I turned just as he followed my father through the front door, pulling his long sleeves down one at a time. He and my dad had just loaded Aunt Vals white silk couch into the back of my uncles truck, so he wouldnt have to deal with the bloodstains when he and Sophie got back from the hospital. Tod is very talented.
Tod brushed the curl back from his face and scowled.
Harmony spoke up from the kitchen as the oven door squealed open. Both my boys are talented.
Both? I repeated, sure Id heard her wrong.
Nash sighed and slid onto the chair his mother had vacated, then gestured toward the reaper with one hand. Kaylee, meet my brother, Tod.
Brother? My gaze traveled back and forth between them, searching for some similarity, but the only one I could find was the dimples. Though, now that I thought about it, Tod had Harmonys blond curls.
And suddenly everything made a lot more sense. The pointless bickering. Nash knowing Tod forever. Tod hanging out at Nashs house. Nash knowing a lot about reapers.
How could I not have seen it earlier?
A word of warning Harmony gave me a soft smile, but then her focus shifted to my father. You have to watch out for bean sidhe brothers. Theyre always more than you bargain for.
My dad cleared his throat and glanced away.
This is not your fault, my dad insisted, clasping his brothers shoulder. Its not that she didnt want to get old without you, Bren. She didnt want to get old at all.
My aunt Valerie had made a deal with a hellion, and cost four innocent girls their lives. Shed lied to us all, and had nearly gotten her own daughter killed. And she had blasted a hole the size of a nuclear crater through our familys core.
But when the time came, shed given her own life in exchange for her daughters without a second thought, just like my mother had. Did that make her sins forgivable?
I wanted to say yesthat a mothers selfless sacrifice was enough of a good deed to erase her past sins. But the truth wasnt so pretty.
My aunts death wouldnt bring back Heidi, or Alyson, or Meredith, or Julie. It wouldnt repair whatever psychological damage her loss caused Sophie. It wouldnt give Uncle Brendon back his wife.
The truth was that Aunt Vals sacrifice was too little, too late, and shed left those she loved most to deal with the aftermath.
HERE, KAYLEE. This will help your throat. Harmony Hudson set a small cup of honey-scented tea on the table in front of me, and I leaned over it, breathing in the fragrant steam. She started to head back into the kitchen, where the scent of homemade browniesher favorite form of therapyhad just begun to waft from the oven, but I laid one hand on her arm.
I would have lost Sophie if you werent here. My voice was still hoarse, and my throat felt like Id swallowed a pinecone. And the shock was finally starting to pass, leaving my heart heavy and my head full of the terrible details.
Harmony smiled sadly and sank into the chair next to mine. The way I hear it, youve done more than your fair share of singing today.
I nodded and sipped carefully from the cup, grateful for the soothing warmth that trickled down my throat. But its over now, right? Belphegore cant leave the Netherworld, and Marg wont come back, right?
Not if she has any sense. The reapers know who she is now, and theyll all be looking for her. Harmony glanced to her left, and my gaze followed hers to the living room, where my aunt had died, my cousin had been restored, and Id whacked a psychotic grim reaper with a cast-iron skillet.
Weirdest. Tuesday. Ever.
The paramedics had been gone for less than half an hour, and the thick white carpet still bore tracks from the wheels of the stretcher. Theyd rolled Aunt Val out draped in a white sheet, and Uncle Brendon and Sophiefollowed the ambulance to the hospital, where she would get stitches in the back of her head, and her mother would be officially pronounced dead.
Sophie didnt understand what had happened; Id known that from the moment she regained consciousness. But what I hadnt anticipated was that she would blame me for her mothers death. My cousin was technically dead when Aunt Val made the bargain that had saved her daughters life, and Sophie didnt remember most of what shed seen before that. All she knew was that her mother had died, and that Id had something to do with it. Just like with my own mother.
She and I had more in common now than we ever hadyet wed never been further apart.
How did you know? About all of this? I asked Harmony, waving toward the living room to indicate the entire disaster. But she only frowned, as if confused by the necessity for my question.
I told her.
Startled, I looked up to find Tod sitting across from me, his arms folded on the table, a single blond curl hanging over his forehead. Harmony smiled at him, letting me know she saw him too, then rose to check on the brownies.
How did you do it? I brought the teacup to my mouth for another sip. How did you guide Sophies soul? I thought you were a reaper.
Hes both, Nash said from behind me, and I turned just as he followed my father through the front door, pulling his long sleeves down one at a time. He and my dad had just loaded Aunt Vals white silk couch into the back of my uncles truck, so he wouldnt have to deal with the bloodstains when he and Sophie got back from the hospital. Tod is very talented.
Tod brushed the curl back from his face and scowled.
Harmony spoke up from the kitchen as the oven door squealed open. Both my boys are talented.
Both? I repeated, sure Id heard her wrong.
Nash sighed and slid onto the chair his mother had vacated, then gestured toward the reaper with one hand. Kaylee, meet my brother, Tod.
Brother? My gaze traveled back and forth between them, searching for some similarity, but the only one I could find was the dimples. Though, now that I thought about it, Tod had Harmonys blond curls.
And suddenly everything made a lot more sense. The pointless bickering. Nash knowing Tod forever. Tod hanging out at Nashs house. Nash knowing a lot about reapers.
How could I not have seen it earlier?
A word of warning Harmony gave me a soft smile, but then her focus shifted to my father. You have to watch out for bean sidhe brothers. Theyre always more than you bargain for.
My dad cleared his throat and glanced away.
