Page 9 of Soulmates

Maddox didn’t have a chance to respond before a sudden, silent burst of energy blasted them apart.

Chapter 7

The first thing Maddox registered was pain. Fuck, were his ribs broken? It had been a long time since the perfunctory combatives lessons they forced all elementalists through, but he remembered the feeling. Through shuddering breaths, he took stock. On the ground, outside, cold, on his back. Where?

Maddox blinked until his vision cleared and tried to sit up. He made it on the third try, hissing and gripping his side. He was alone in the courtyard outside his first-year dorm.

It all came back in a rush. The challenge, the tasks, Jake. What were they doing last? The whispered words, “Just take it, Maddy. It’s yours anyway.” And then the rush of energy. Where was Jake? What did he take? Or what did Jake give? And where did he go?

He got to his feet and felt a new sensation somewhere behind his bruised ribs. Like something wedged in his sternum. Not unpleasant but not familiar. Warm, foreign, but also not. An awareness. As crazy as it sounded, the feeling or object or magic seemed aware itself. And aware of itself. But he didn’t know what it was. He had a near encyclopedic knowledge of magic, but this was not ringing any bells.

Was this whatever the riddle was alluding to? The thing that belonged to him? Or was this a symptom of internal bleeding?

Either way, he needed a plan. A next move.

Jake was…east. He didn’t know how he could know that. But he did. He was sure. So he started walking.

Exhaustion weighed him down. How was it not morning yet? Maddox trudged across campus, unwilling to puzzle it out on his own. He wanted Jake. Wanted to know he was okay. Make a plan together. Lay eyes on him, run into his arms, and fix things together.

A rustling sound from his left startled him out of his longing for Jake.

Jake. He took a grateful step in Jake’s direction before jerking to a stop.

Jake stood, leaning against a tree, arms crossed, looking calm. And almost…blank.

The light from the lanterns nearby seemed to bend just slightly toward him, creating long shadows of Jake leading into the woods. Little floating lights gravitated toward him. Fireflies. What the fuck?

“Hello, Maddy,” Jake said. As if they hadn’t just spent the night in the fucking Twilight Zone.

“Jake, um, are you okay? What’s happening?”

“Never better. You made sure of that, didn’t you?”

“What…what are you talking about? We were talking, and then I was on the ground, and you weren’t…there.”

“Yes, well. I needed to retrieve something,” Jake said, gesturing at the broadsword propped against the tree next to Jake’s leg, “and you seemed to be resting comfortably.”

“Jake, what’s wrong with your voice? And…just…what?” He was at a complete loss. Had Jake hit his head?

“You see, I had these feelings, you know? I can remember them. But I gave them to you. You took them. Such a relief, if I’m being honest.” Jake pushed off the tree and vaguely waved off the fireflies, not really looking at them. Maddox was too confused to even try to parse out what was going on with the light or the bugs or anything else.

“Now I can just…be. It’s quite peaceful. No more unwelcome thoughts or feelings. It’s so quiet.”

“Jake, you are seriously freaking me out here. Did you hit your head? Were you unconscious? Can we just go to the healer’s house?”

“Oh, Maddox. Are you scared?” Jake stepped forward. “If you aren’t, you should be. I can’t risk it. Not dawn’s peril. Not going back to how things were. None of that. And there is only one solution I see…” Jake smiled. A big, not-Jake smile, not filled with light and joy. It was a smile that sucked the joy from the very air. “I’m going to kill you.”

Chapter 8

Maddox ran. There was no time to talk it out or come up with solutions. He had to buy time. Get to the dean or one of the healers. They were all gone to a conference, leaving the school in the hands of the upperclassmen, who were all entrenched in this challenge. But since everything else was bullshit, there was a chance the teachers were there somewhere. He just had to find them.

Jake laughed as Maddox took off across campus. The sound faded with distance. What the hell was he doing? Not chasing? Chasing seemed inevitable, but if he could find another person—any person would do—he could get some help. He tried casting a concealment spell using his air affinity, but nothing happened. Thinking back over the night, no magic he cast worked unless it was related to his current task. He could use wind to ascend the third-year dorm but couldn’t use anything in his arsenal to fix his phone. He could use fire to heat his potion but not to warm his hands after his battle with Carter.

Fuck! Carter. Carter had to have gone to Lizzie. If he got the same message as Jake, he would have gone to her. His closest bond. Presumably, the person he wanted to marry was Carter’s closest bond. If she wasn’t, Lizzie might murder him anyway, Maddox thought a little hysterically.

He veered to the right toward Lizzie’s dorm and, hopefully, a little help. It was close, which was good. Cardio was not his strong suit. He threw himself into the lobby, shouting Carter’s name. Maddox’s voice echoed through the downstairs rec room. The very empty rec room. He raced up to the second-floor dorms and banged on the first door he came to. No answer. A creeping dread added to his already creeping dread when he thought back to earlier. The campus was casted. For all intents and purposes, it was empty.

He kept running down the hall, yelling for Lizzie and Carter, knowing there would be no response.

---