Page 42 of Ghostly Touches

“Stop it, guys,” Willow steps between the two quickly. “Jonah’s just feeling what you guys felt, but more intensely. His soul is like an exoskeleton in this thing, coating the outside of his body, so he’s feeling it more dramatically than the rest of us.”

“What isit?” I ask her, pulling my eyes away from Jonah to look back at her.

She meets my gaze. I can see her hopelessness shining back at me. Something in my chest shifts. Whatever this is, it’s definitely not good.

“Itis the joining of souls,” she explains.

I frown. “I don’t understand.”

“I somehow, inadvertently, took a piece of your souls into me, and you each had it replaced with a piece of mine. We’re all connected,” Willow says slowly before groaning. “When I reached out with my soul to connect with each of yours, our souls recognized one another and completed each other.”

Viktor sighs impatiently and asks, “Come on, necromancer, stop beating around the bush. Just tell it to us straight without jerking us around. We don’t have time for this.”

She looks at him straight in the eye and snaps, “Our souls are stuck together, asshole.”

I stare at her as her words sink in. When they do, all I hear in my head is just one more vow that we’ve just broken:

AGhost’s only eternal bond may be solely to the Brotherhood.

Chapter14

WILLOW

The Ghosts remain silent as they process this information. Jonah on the other hand is baring his teeth in what I think is supposed to be a grin. It’s terrifying. I choose to ignore it for the time being.

This can’t be happening. I didn’t irrevocably tie my soul to theirs, right? Because that would be the epitome of stupid and reckless, and definitely against the rules. Like really against the rules.

I sink into the nearby chair and drop my face into my hands. This is so not good. But it explains so much. Like why I felt utterly safe in Kwil’s arms when he and Viktor rescued me from the Elders. And why I’m not completely horrified when Jonah kisses me. My soul aches, and their touch, no matter how casual or intimate, eases that ache inside of me. While their presence seems to suppress the ache to a bearable lull, their touches… mind blowing.

“Alright…”

I drop my hands away from my face to look up at Theo, who seems to be in the midst of processing this information. I guess if I had to pick someone to tether my soul to it could be worse. Stuck with a handsome, super mysterious warrior doesn’t sound like a complete shit show. Then again, I’m also tethered tothatass. I glance over at Viktor, who looks like he’s going to be sick. I’m not sure if I should be amused since I feel the same way or offended since I’m clearly the better person between the two of us.

“At least we know what has changed. Now how do we undo this?” says Theo, always the problem-solver.

I scoff. “You can’t undo this. The pieces of your souls have merged with the rest of my soul and vice versa. There is no rearranging the pieces.”

Viktor throws his hands up.

“Okay, well, something needs to be done about this. Willow, figure it out since this is your department. While you do that, we’ll figure out what to do about this stupid book we’ve acquired. We can’t keep it.”

I shake my head in frustration. He doesn’t understand. Before I can explain, Kwil leans back against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you mention that a soul shouldn’t be outside of its body for long? If you have three-four—” Kwil adds, looking over at Jonah before looking back at me. “Different souls in you, and we each have a part of you inside of us… I assume that it can’t be good for any of our wellbeing if we go our separate ways.”

I nod, relieved that someone is getting it. “Exactly.”

Theo frowns. “So what does this mean?”

“It means that if we aren’t in each other’s presence, we’ll feel the uncomfortable effects of not having our souls intact. It will be painful, and eventually, after long stretches of time without being in the vicinity of our soul, it will inevitably turn fatal. Eventually, we’ll all just wither away and die,” I tell them grimly. “And if one of us dies, there goes a piece of my soul, so…”

The three Ghosts share a look with one another.

“Well, that explains what we were feeling while we were in the Third Realm this past week,” Kwil mutters.

Oh, so they’ve already experienced the painful effects of separation. Great. Wonderful. This is super peachy. I guess I have the witches to thank for keeping me spelled so I couldn’t feel whatever these guys experienced.

“So, what you’re saying is if any of us dies, we’re all dead since we’re all tied together,” Theo says in a deathly soft voice as his expression tightens.

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