Page 11 of Caelum

Along the journey, Merry had only told me that I wasn’t crazy, that I had nothing to fear, and that the Academy would help me get myself under control. She’d said nothing about souls. I think I’d have rememberedthat.

“I’m surprised you’re not having a panic attack,” Merinda joked, her lips curving in a mocking smile. It infuriated me, but then I realized she was being blasé on purpose. There was concern in her eyes.

As well as fear.

I blinked at her, wondering why she’d be scared of me. Or was thatforme? I wasn’t sure I’d ever know.

Swallowing, I whispered, “Just let me catch my breath and I might.” Her fear tumbled away at my statement, and it was replaced with her apparent enjoyment of the situation. Annoyed again, I mumbled, “I at least like to be halfway entertaining.”

Merinda’s grin didn’t surprise me even if her words did. “You’ve got fire. Maybe theywon’teat you alive.”

Dear Lord. I refrained, barely, from rolling my eyes.Warning number five.

My voice was husky as I directed my next question at Nicholas. “You said there are seven souls.”

“There are. We have seven breeds.”

“I-I would have said eight.”

Nicholas cocked a brow, but he shook his head. “No. There are seven. If you experience eight, then it’s a repeat of one of the others.” He beamed a smile at me, and I could sense his relief even if I didn’t understand it myself. “That’s your dominant soul. It’s not a surprise. You’re old enough for one to be stronger than the others. Even if it’s only a little.”

Reaching up to rub my temple, I asked, “The aim here is to have a dominant soul, correct?”

“Yes. We must all have one dominant soul by the time we hit twenty-one.”

There was a warning in his words, a warning in his expression, too, if Iwere being honest. The handsome man who wore an outfit that appeared tailored to his frame had exuded power before, but now? It seemed to pollute the air around me.

“And that’s normal? There aren’t people who have, say, two?” I argued.

He shook his head, and for the first time, Merinda appeared serious, and she too shook her head.

“No. One. If there is not one, singular dominant soul, you won’t be allowed to leave the Academy.” Before my heart could start to race, he murmured, “It would be far too dangerous for the humans.”

Though I understood his meaning, I wasn’t a fool. All my life, I’d been reading between the lines to save myself from a worse fate in the compound. I’d known that if the barest hint of my condition had slipped into the congregation’s awareness, they’d have worked up ways to ‘free me’ from my situation. Like little Sister Jessica who’d been in a prayer circle and had been bitten by a rattlesnake to purge her of her evil ways.

The only purging that had happened had been the soil in the cemetery where she’d been buried after an agonizing passing.

Though the promise of death was a whisper at the compound, here, it was an all-out roar.

I could see it in both Nicholas and Merinda’s faces.

The only trouble was—and I wasn’t about to highlight this salient point considering they were wrong—perhaps they hadsevensouls, but I didn’t.

I had eight.

TWO

STEFAN

“Who’s the new girl?”

“You saw her too?” Nestor asked, shooting Eren a glance.

“How could I not?” he countered drily. “She was impossible not to hear.”

I winced because he wasn’t wrong. The girl had screamed as though she were being torn apart. “I’m sure it didn’t hurt as badly when I walked through the gates.”

Nestor shrugged. “We each experience something different. You know that, Stefan.”

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