The Soul Healer (24 page)

But you kn
ow what? Who cared! Silver Moon-related problems were
not
my problems! “Are we done here?” I asked bitterly. “Because if you’re not going to let me go or torture me or throw me at Alexandra again so her parents can scream at me for being useless, then I’d really like to get some sleep. It’s been a long day, what with finding out I’m probably going to die soon and all.”

“That
is
troublesome,” Charles agreed, surprising me further. Why was he being so pleasant? I wasn’t going to fall for it, though. Not after everything I knew about him. He was a viper, and all the kind words in the world couldn’t hide his true nature from me. “I wish you four had brought it to my attention rather than try to take matters into your own hands. We could have figured out what to do together.”

I shook my head. “You want me to use my powers to help bring people back from the dead! I’m sure that’s not going to change just because you found out I may die from it!” Glaring at him, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Admit it, you hate me. Me dying after doing your bidding is probably the greatest news you’ve heard all year.”

Charles’s mouth parted slightly. “Is that truly what you think of me?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. I pointed an accusing finger at his face. “You may not think so, but you
are
a monster, Charles. You killed Rafe’s parents, no problem, so excuse me if I don’t believe you about trying to help me.”

Charles stood so suddenly I jumped in shock, nearly toppling out of my chair. Gone was his calm demeanor as his brown eyes flashed with a familiar rage.
There he is
, I thought, wondering if provoking the man who so carelessly killed his best friend was the smartest thing to do. This time, I didn’t have Philip to back me up.

This time, I realized as I swallowed
, I had, I was alone. Philip and Nina were who knows where, detained or punished or
something
equally frightening, while I was stuck here, with furious Charles.

Whoops.

I glanced over my shoulder, wondering if I could make it to the door before he throttled me, but Charles, following my gaze, said, “You are not going anywhere, Gabiella, until you explain what you just said.” His words came out as a throaty growl, sending a shiver racing down my spine. Maybe I liked raging Charles better. This quiet one? He scared the crap out of me.

“Um,” I said, stalling. So far, Charles hadn’t moved from behind his desk, so maybe that meant he wasn’t going to hit me. Actually, I had given him quite a few opportunities to hit me since we’d first met, and he hadn’t yet. Hopefully, that meant he never would, but with the way he was looking at me right now? I shuddered and pressed my back against my chair, wishing the wood could absorb me, taking me away from Charles and his wrath.

“My patience is growing thin. What did you mean by that?” Charles leaned forward, balancing himself on his desk so we were eye to eye. “What do you know about Liam and Rosa’s deaths?” I assumed Rosa was Rafe’s mom. “Who told you about them?”

“Rafe, obviously,” I said and he blinked, as if he realized he should have known the answer to his question. “But Nina filled in the details Rafe had left out. Like how you and Liam were up for the director’s position, and then Liam so conveniently died, allowing you to seize the position.” Charles had paled at my words and despite knowing I should probably shut up, I continued, heading straight for the edge of the cliff and falling right over it. “You were best friends, but that didn’t matter, did it, Charles? You still sent that demon, telling everyone you were testing Rafe’s Sightless abilities, when meanwhile, you gave it instructions to kill Liam!” Now I stood on shaking legs, shouting the last bit. “So I’m sorry if I don’t believe you about wanting to help me. You’re an evil jerk who ruined Rafe’s life, and you’re not even sorry about it!”

“Enough!” Charles slammed a fist against his desk, knocking a picture frame onto the floor and shattering the glass. “I did not kill Liam and Rosa! Sending a demon to test Rafe’s abilities? Where did you even hear that?” His face reddened with anger. “Did Nina tell you that?”

“No, Matthew Davenport did.” Charles was like an angry, vengeful god, scary enough that it made me shake like a leaf, but somehow my voice managed to stay calm. “He told Rafe the truth about Silver Moon. We thought he was crazy—he
was
crazy—but that stuff he said was true, wasn’t it?” Charles and I locked gazes. “Silver Moon—no,
you
sent the demon to that apartment.”

“No.” He shook his head over and over again, as if that movement could somehow chase away my words. “No, of course not. Silver Moon fights demons, not its own members. Davenport was a raving lunatic and a betrayer to our sacred oaths. He mixed his blood with a demon’s—Gabiella, you cannot believe a word he said. He wanted to take down Silver Moon, so he spun lies to convince Rafe to join him. That is al
l they were: lies.”

I had said the same thing to Rafe while we were battling Davenport, but now, with the additional information about Liam and Charles, I didn’t know what to believe. What if Davenport had been right? “But Liam—”

“Was like a brother to me,” Charles said hotly. “When he was murdered, I felt as if a piece of my soul had been extinguished.” He lowered his gaze to his desk, like he was uncomfortable with sharing his feelings to me. “I almost left Silver Moon, that’s how deep my grief was. After Liam was gone, I didn’t want to fight, didn’t want to become the director. But then I looked at Philip. He wouldn’t have left, and I was afraid of something happening to him if I did. I had already nearly lost him once, and I wasn’t about to lose him again.”

It sounded convincing, but Charles could just be a really good actor. He had to
persuade everyone that he was just as broken up as they were or else they would grow suspicious.
And why hadn’t anyone been suspicious?
I wondered. Were they all so biased that they couldn’t even see what was right in front of them? Was I seriously the only one who knew?

Crap. Why hadn’t I told Philip about my fears? Or Nina? Rafe needed to know the truth. He needed to know about his parents so he could avenge them, and I needed to get out of here so I could tell him. But I had done such a great job of escaping last night, and I knew until he got what he wanted, Charles was going to keep me on an even tighter leash from now on.

As if reading my mind, Charles raised his brows and said quietly, almost sadly, “You don’t believe me.”

“Why should I?” Frustration and anger made my voice shake. “You killed them. I know you did!”

“I am sorry that you feel that way.” Charles closed his eyes briefly. “Obviously, you are too distraught to listen to me, and therefore there’s no reason for us to continue this conversation. You will remain here while I wait for your temper to cool.” He waved a hand and an invisible force pushed me back into my seat. I glared at him, struggling against his spell, but it was like there was a boulder sitting on my lap, making it impossible for me to rise. “I’ll take the spell off after I leave the room,” Charles walked to the door and paused, his hand on the knob, “but I will be locking the door from the outside with magic, and you won’t be able to open it. I’ll return in a few hours with food, food that you no doubt won’t eat because you’ll believe it’s poisoned.”

Ugh, sarcastic Charles was even worse than creepy Charles! Before I could respond, he stepped outside and shut the door behind him. I heard a quiet click and felt the effects of his spell wash away. Jumping to my feet, I ran straight for the door and twisted the knob.

Locked.

So Charles did know how to tell the truth.

Chapter Thirty-eight

I spent the better part of an hour trying to see if I could escape Charles’s office. With no windows, my only option was the door. I threw my chair at it a couple of times, almost whacking myself in the face with one of the legs and nearly giving myself a concussion in the process. Bruised, battered, and sweaty, I gave up on the door and decided to snoop around the office. Really, he left me in here, what did he expect me to do with myself? Sit around like a good little girl?
Come on, Mister Director, you know me better than that…

I checked the desk first. The drawers, much to my disappointment, were all locked, and the papers piled neatly in the upper right-hand corner were boring documents about things I would never care about. Out of spite, I swiped the papers to the floor,
like Philip had done the last time we had been in Charles’s office, hoping I had messed up his precious organized pile.

As I came around the side of the desk, the frame he had knocked over caught my eye. I picked it up, careful to avoid the broken shards of glass. Curiously, there was no picture in the frame.
Who keeps an empty frame on their desk?
Maybe there had been a picture of Philip inside, and after last night, Charles had pulled it out and shoved it somewhere he wouldn’t see it.
Like a locked drawer,
I thought, eyeing the desk wistfully. There were probably all sorts of interesting things in there. Maybe there was a key hidden somewhere?

I faced the wraparound bookshelves and sighed. If I wanted to hide something, I’d pick one of those books. But did I really want to search through each and every book? I glanced over my shoulder at the locked door and shrugged. It’s not like I had anything better to do. No TV, no computer to surf the web… What was a captive girl to do?

Make a mess,
I thought with a grin, reaching for the first book I saw. Opening it, I flipped through a few boring pages about legal proceedings, made a face, and threw the book to the floor. It landed with a solid thump, and my grin spread.
This could be fun…

Except, an hour later, it really wasn’t. I sat on the floor, surrounded by piles of books, my eyes aching, my head throbbing, and my stomach growling. Part of me wished Charles would show up with his promised tray of food, take one look at the mess I had made, and put me out of my misery.
Do to me whatever it was he did to Philip and Nina.
At the thought of my friends, my stomach clenched. Charles wouldn’t hurt them, would he? I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head atop them. I hadn’t wanted anyone to get hurt because of me, and look at what had happened. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Nina with the knife pressed to her chest, or Philip getting blasted with a spell. Were they okay?

Who was I kidding? Of course they weren’t.
It would have been better for everyone if we hadn’t met,
I thought glumly. Would Charles leave them alone if I promised to cooperate? If I healed Alexandra? Or had I finally pushed him too far, and he would take his anger at me out on them?
Can’t let the stupid Soul Healer get hurt, right?

For someone who had the ability to fix what was broken, I was really good at screwing things up.

My pity-party lasted a few more minutes before I wiped my face and stood up, assessing the room. This couldn’t be it. There had to be something in here I could use to help me escape. And then I would march downstairs (if the stupid elevator or stairs were unlocked) and out the door and to hell with everyone.

Okay, that was the dumbest plan ever, but I didn’t care. Philip and Nina couldn’t help me. Evan wouldn’t help me. Kain was
possibly a traitor. And Rafe—

I paused, reaching for my necklace. Somehow, through everything, it still rested under my shirt, unharmed. I squeezed the rose in my fist, imagining that it was a magical amulet, filling me with power.

What would Rafe say, if he saw me sitting on the floor, wallowing in my misery? He wouldn’t have even recognized me! During the fight with Davenport, when he had nearly given up after hearing about Silver Moon betraying his parents, I had yelled at him to snap out of it. How could I say that stuff and then give up myself? What would Rafe think?

It didn’t matter
because Rafe wasn’t ever going to find out what a pathetic wimp I became when things got a little bad. So the door was locked. Big deal. I was going to pick that uncomfortable wooden chair back up and throw it at the door until something broke. (Hopefully, not my face.)

I hurled the chair at the door. Nothing happened. I picked it up again, yelling this time as I threw it. Still, nothing happened. What the hell was the door made out of? It looked like wood, but I hadn’t even made a dent in it yet.
Am I really this weak?
I had
told
Rafe I needed to start lifting weights. I’m sure he had some lying around his apartment. Of course, they probably weighed a billion pounds (and he could probably lift them with one hand), but if I asked, he would definitely buy me some cute, pink barbells. Had I just said pink? I picked up the chair again, laughing at myself. Nina had rubbed off on me way more than I had realized. And I meant that as a compliment, too.

So get out of here and tell her how much she means to you, Gabi,
I told myself.
Philip too. And for god’s sake, apologize to Rafe for saying things you hadn’t meant!

Oh my god, what had I been doing, these last few days? I felt like I had just woken up from a long sleep. Everything was clearer now. I had been wasting my time here, feeling sorry and scared for myself for nothing. So what if I was a Soul Healer with an expiration date? Crying about it wasn’t going to change anything! And these stupid Silver Moon assholes weren’t going to do anything about it, either. Time to cut my losses and get going. Sorry
, Evan, sorry, Alexandra (even though we had never met). I wasn’t apologizing to Charles because I wasn’t sorry about leaving him. I felt bad about Philip and Nina, but I knew, somehow, that they would understand. They had risked so much to get me out of HQ, and they would be pissed if I just sat around, doing nothing.