Page 5 of Mortal Desires

It was the afternoon before All Hallows’ Eve. I needed to be home to prepare the feast with my sisters. More than that, I needed to let go and understand I couldn’t stop him from following his own fate.

A bright light caught my attention. I glanced back through the rearview mirror, hope blooming in my chest. I breathed out when I realized the blinding light wasn’t a car or anything from this realm.

The jasmine scent flooded my nostrils, and I smiled.

He did it.

“Your sisters are freaking out.”

Penny appeared at the front of the door, right when I hit the porch steps. I parted my lips to reply, but Lucia was already opening the door with a disappointed look on her face.

“I had something important to do,” I told her before she had a chance to yell.

“It’s All Hallows’ Eve,” she pointed out like I didn’t already know.

“I’m sorry. I was—”

“Never mind that.” Lucia tutted, yanking me inside the threshold before turning back again, looking at both sides and carefully sealing the line of salt by the front door.

“Marnie’s home?”

“Yes,” Penny answered.

Lucia turned, her eyes scanning me from top to bottom for the first time, taking measure of the state of my clothes.

“Elisa would be livid if we had to pick you up from the police station on All Hallows’ Eve.”

“I’m sorry.” I gulped.

Lucia talked like I was a badass. A cool chick with an attitude who kept getting herself into trouble. I was the opposite of that.

I was a terrified twenty-three-year-old who could talk to ghosts. Just a vessel to their words, I barely talked when it wasn’t for them.

“Go get dressed,” Lucia said at last, turning to leave.

“How’s Marnie?” I dared to ask, hoping for the best.

Lucia’s shoulders relaxed. “I said she’d be fine.”

She did, and Lucia had a blessed tongue, there was no reason for doubt.

We were seven sisters, each one with a gift. Elisa was the oldest, the head of our coven, and the most powerful living witch. She was born with abjuration, or the power of protection, but since she took her rightful place as our leader, her powers grew, shaping her into what our coven needed for survival.

Then there was Lucia, who had the gift of summoninTheng. Lucia was the mouth of the coven. She could manifest with her words. Not solid things out of thin air, she wasn’t a genie. What Lucia did was beyond that. Her lips were lucky. She manifested wishes. Anything that crossed her lips became reality. All that she blessed lasted forever.

Younger than Lucia, were the twins. Elena had visions of the future and Emilia of the past.

Florencia visited dreams; she was our sandman. She had control of her own, as well as anyone whose dream she entered.

Then, there was me. The freak who spent her whole life not being able to distinguish the dead from the living. The one everyone thought was so quiet when in reality, I could barely slip a word in when the dead decided to visit. They were demanding. They already lost everything. There was no politeness beyond the veil. The dead only believed in the now.

Finally, my youngest sister, Marnie. Her powers took so long to manifest that we almost thought she had none. But Marnie had the most unusual of them all.

She could see soulmates. She knew when she was meeting hers and today was that day.

And I missed it.

“Come on, you seriously need a shower.” Penny chuckled, urging me upstairs.

---