Page 49 of Soulmates

Maddox grunted and did his best to shove Jake to the side, but Jake was immovable. Just as he thought none of this would matter because he was going to suffocate, Jake jolted to his feet. He charged Cricket again, this time adding in his amber magic, but he bounced right off the shield, the magic scattering in little shards of amber light. He raised his arms and beat against the barrier. That more than anything got Maddox moving. “Stop, Jake. Please.”

Jake turned to Maddox. “Please? Please?” Jake mocked. “Are you begging again? You begged so prettily in the woods. Do it again.”

The malice didn’t sit well on Jake’s face. It crushed Maddox’s heart to hear those words said with such disdain.

“Cricket, please,” Maddox said.

“Jake, you should probably run now before I shoot you or let Maddox grab you.” Cricket said, ignoring Maddox. “Oh, and don’t expect your magic to get you out of this. I’ve spelled you to decrease its efficacy. Have fun with that.”

Jake stared at them all. Santiago glanced away when he looked at her. He seemed to size them each up slowly, seeking cracks in the armor. Finding none, he backed up a few steps. Maddox followed until he hit a wall of impenetrable air. He pressed his hands against it, pleading silently for Jake to stay long enough for Maddox to connect with him. And hadn’t that been the problem? Maddox couldn’t connect with Jake, or none of this would be happening. Rage simmered under Maddox’s skin. Jake seemed to sense it and laughed lightly at Maddox. “What are you going to do, Maddy? Cling to me for the rest of your life? It’s fucking sad.”

Maddox didn’t bother to respond, but he focused on his air magic and tried to push through the air shield, silver shimmering off his palms. Nothing happened. Jake took that opportunity to turn and run. Maddox lunged after him, only to be tripped by something. A root? He looked down and found vines—fucking vines—wrapped around his right ankle. He grabbed at them, tugging and pulling and finally blasting through them with a green burst, only to turn and find Jake gone.

Maddox whirled on Cricket. “What the fuck was that?”

“That was me saving your dumb asses from yourselves. You’re allowing fear for each other and your perception of your inadequacies to rule you. It has to stop.”

“And somehow you think letting Jake loose in the middle of a giant swamp is going to fix our ‘inadequacies,’ as you so kindly put it?”

“I said the perception of your inadequacies, not that you actually have them. So I took away his guilt. He can’t feel guilt if he can’t feel anything. You still feel afraid. I can almost smell it on you.”

“Jake is going to either get lost or come back here to kill us all in our sleep.”

Santiago regarded Maddox sadly. “No, he won’t be doing that. We’re warded, and you won’t be sleeping. You’re going to go after him.” She tossed him a pack that skidded along the ground to land at his feet. Cricket tossed over a pair of boots.

“Why are you doing this?” Maddox asked, directing the question to Santiago, his friend. Why would she agree to this?

“Because it’s time for desperation, Maddox.” Santiago shook her head. “You’re getting worse. Your eyes are blazing when you can keep them open, and your skin is paler than I’ve ever seen it. I don’t know if this is going to work, but we have to try.”

“It’ll work because it has to,” Cricket said. “Maddox, you will both end up dead if you don’t fix it. Stop being afraid. Stop blaming yourself. Give yourself over to it.”

“Give myself over to what?” Maddox asked, though the question seemed redundant. He had to give himself over to Jake. But how? He’d been trying the entire week with no luck at all.

Cricket leveled him with a glare. “Find him.”

Maddox turned and regarded the swamp into which Jake had disappeared.

“You have the advantage here. This place, what draws me to it, is the wildness of the nature. Nature here is not like nature in other places. Places like this—swamps, rain forests, any place old enough—they sing with nature. Nature is aware and it fights back against those who try to tame it. You don’t tame nature; you commune with it. You speak to it, even if that’s not how you see things. Every element is in your control. Feel the earth, feel its conflicts in this place, and use it to help you find him.”

“And then what? What do I do when I find him that I haven’t already tried?”

“That part is up to you.”

Great, Maddox thought. Up to him who had failed all week to do what Jake had done so simply.

“Stop. That’s your problem right there. You’re holding yourself back from this. Do you not want to be with him?”

Maddox whipped back around. “Of course I want to be with him. I’ve always wanted to be with him.”

“Then prove it.”

Santiago stepped forward. “Maddox, you can do this. I’m positive you can. Find him. Fix him. And then let’s go home or go conquer the world or whatever is in that brilliant brain of yours.”

Maddox had never heard Santiago give him that kind of compliment. Brilliant? He didn’t know about that. But one thing he did know was what direction Jake had headed. And if they were going to make him chase Jake down, at least he knew which way to run. He turned away from them, tugged off his Converse, and slipped on the boots. They were sturdier than anything he owned and looked waterproof—swamp proof. He grabbed the pack and refused to look at Santiago and Cricket as he stepped into the trees in the direction Jake had headed.

Chapter 30

Jake had bolted from the house in a fury. He might feel nothing particular about Maddox other than wanting to be rid of him, but he could be irritated at not getting his way. Something inside him would not allow him to kill Maddox, he had to accept that. And fucking Cricket had made it so he couldn’t kill his way through him and Santiago to get away either. So now he was in a Godsdamned swamp to buy himself enough time to make a plan.

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