Page 37 of Ghostly Touches

Surprise crosses Theo’s handsome face.

Viktor laughs coldly. “Lies. Whatever he told you is a lie.”

I shake my head as I feed Jonah scrambled eggs. “No, you’re both wrong.”

Theo’s jaw ticks. “Can you pull his spirit out so we can talk to him?”

I shake my head. “No. It’s a really bad idea to keep pulling souls out of their shells. A body could easily reject the soul and shut down. I’ve already done it to him twice. If you want answers from him, you will need to figure out how to turn him back to his human form.”

“We’re not mages,” Viktor snaps.

I glare at him. “Then find one if you want to talk to him.”

“Willow,” Theo sighs my name in exasperation. “In order to help you and Jonah, we need your help to understand the book that cursed you both. We need to speak with Jonah. He may have the answers we need.”

Jonah shakes his head vigorously.

“No.” I glare at Theodon.

His jaw ticks again, but it’s Viktor who grows impatient. He stomps over to me to get into my face. “Why don’tyoubreak the curse over him? You did it for me.”

“If you don’t get out of my face, we’re going to have problems.” I smile at him as my power floods my body.

I know he sees it because his scowl becomes deeper, and his upper lip pulls up in a sneer.

“Howdidyou manage to break Viktor’s curse, Willow?” Theo asks as he places his hand on Viktor’s shoulder.

The gesture is some sort of communication between the two. Viktor looks over at Theo’s face before backing up and turning his attention back to the window. The power Theodon has over the other two is amazing. What makes him so important?

“I didn’t remove Viktor’s curse,” I huff. “Don’t you remember watching Viktor throw caution to the wind and hop back into his body?”

Viktor sputters, but we all ignore him.

“If he actually triggered the curse, shouldn’t he be dead?” Theo asks with sudden animation. He steps closer to me as his eyes alight with curiosity. “What did you do?”

“I just… reached out and grabbed Viktor’s soul. I tried to hold onto every little bit of it, even though it looked like—”

“I was being burned alive,” Viktor offers through gritted teeth.

With a frown, I shrug. “I was going to say dissolving, but yeah, I guess.”

If what I felt was a fraction of the pain Viktor went through, I know the Fae suffered. He doesn’t look at me, nor does he say anything to this.

“Go on,” Theo pushes after a moment. I turn my attention back to him. “You just held onto his soul and…”

“And really that was it. I saw pieces of him disappearing, so I reached for those pieces, too,” I explain. “I held onto every bit of him as much as I could, hoping I could just wait out the reaction of the curse.”

“Then what happened tous?”

Theo’s question throws me for a loop. Before I can ask him what he means, Viktor whirls around to face Theo, his anger disappearing for the first time.

“What do you mean, what happened tous?” he asks in genuine surprise.

Theo looks to Viktor and then to Kwil, who remains silent, before looking back at me.

“I was dead. I could feel myself rising out of my body, and there was this horrible pain…” Theo trails off with a frown. “What happened, Willow?”

Thinking back to when I had to grab for his soul, and Kwil’s, while holding Viktor together, I consider what transpired.

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