The Soul Healer (9 page)

“You do?” I asked, surprised.

“Of course!” She shot me an amused look over her shoulder. “You don’t think I go hunting in my dresses, do you?”

I thought back to that night we had faced Boneless for the first time, me in freaking heels that had almost broken my neck a number of times. “No, I guess not. Then why…?”

“I like to dress up.” Nina shrugged. “It can get boring here when you’re not hunting—there’s only so many times you can read the same, dull books over and over again—so I go shopping. Manhattan has the best stores ever, oh my gosh! I just take my credit card and buy, buy, buy!”

“Really?” I was instantly jealous. Nina must be loaded! Chloe and I weren’t even allowed to have credit cards yet, and Dad never lent us his. Actually, that was smart of him. If Chloe was ever let loose in a mall with it, forget it. She’d have the whole place charged before you could snap your fingers. As for me? Once I had started working and went shopping using
my
money (rather than my weekly allowance, which stopped the moment I got my first pay check) to buy
me
things, well… Let’s just say, I didn’t buy nearly as much as I used to. I worked hard for my money at the stupid Convenience Corral! I wasn’t going to waste it on frivolous things I didn’t need.

Suddenly, I really, really missed my job.

Are you kidding me? I had been so excited to be off from that dump for a week, and now I wished, more than anything, that I was working right now, wearing my lime-green t-shirt, listening to that damn buzzer moo as another customer came in. At least, then, if I was working, my life would have been relatively normal, not thrown upside-down and inside out by a deranged man who thought I could somehow bring people back from the dead.

Yeah, I really missed the Corral.

“Here you go, here are some jeans; I only wore them a few times.” Nina plopped the pair into my lap, distracting me from my daydreams. “Are you ready to see your room? It’s just down the hallway.”

“Nina,” I asked suddenly. “Do you know Rafe? Rafe Fitzgerald?”

“Rafe?” She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, he used to be a hunter here, but then he moved away. Why?”

“He’s my boyfriend.” I watched as her eyes widened. “I need—I need to speak to him. Can I borrow you phone—”

Nina was already shaking her head. “Oh no. No, no, no.” She held up her arms, making an “X” across her body. “No can do. Director Adler would be furious.”

“Please,” I said, knowing I sounded desperate and not caring. “I really need to—”

“I can’t!” she shouted. “Please stop asking me, because I can’t. Now come on, let me show you to your room.” Without watching to see if I followed, Nina opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

I blew out a long, disappointed breath. Dammit, and I had thought she would help me, too. After taking a quick peek around the room to see if she had maybe left her cell phone lying around and I could swipe it (she hadn’t), I got up off the bed and followed her.

But I wasn’t giving up that easily. No way. I didn’t care what I’d promised Charles. I was getting the hell out of here, the first chance I got.

Chapter Fourteen

“Here’s your room,” Nina mumbled, unlocking another door. It was in the same hallway as hers, but two doors down and on the opposite side. She flicked on the lights, revealing a stark room that contained only a bed and
a dresser.

At least
they weren’t pink.

I expected Nina to follow me in, but she remained in the hallway, staring at the floor, her mouth twisted into an unhappy line. I sighed. “Look, Nina, I’m sorry about before.” Total lie; I wasn’t sorry for asking. She was the one who should be sorry—for not helping me!

“I’m going to see about getting you some food,” Nina replied, completely ignoring my apology. My eyes narrowed, but instead of calling her out for being rude, I just shrugged.

“It’s okay, I’m not hungry.” Another lie; I was starving.

“Oh.” She paused, looking momentarily confused. “I’ll bring you food anyway, since Director Adler told me to. It’s up to you whether you eat it or not. I’ll be back in a bit!”

Rolling my eyes, I watched her dash away, her flip-flops clomping against the floor as her bracelets and necklaces clinked together
musically. Yes, because heaven forbid we don’t do what Director Adler tells us. What would happen then, Nina? What would happen if all of you stupid hunters stood up to your fearless leader and told him he was completely out of his mind and needed to retire immediately?

I sighed. That was a wonderful fantasy, but that’s all it was. It was clear everyone was happy with Charles, or else they would have revolted a long, long time ago. Like Rafe and Evan had. Well, just Rafe now.

Rafe, Rafe, Rafe. Why did I keep torturing myself by thinking about him? Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing right now, at this exact moment. There was a deep ache in my chest. Was he hurting because of me and the stupid things I had said last night?

Had it really been only last night? I shut my eyes. So much had happened since then that it felt like years, not hours. A deep weariness settled over me. I wondered if they would let me sleep, or if I would be forced to meet with Charles, or maybe even Alexandra, as they tested my powers.

First thing first. I opened the door to the adjoining bedroom and turned on the sink’s faucet. I scrubbed at my hands, washing away Jonathan’s blood that still stained my fingers after my failed attempt to heal him. I wondered, briefly, if he had recovered, but found myself unable to care, either way. Once my hands were blood-free, I changed into the clothes Nina had lent me, pulling Philip’s hoodie back on, over the sweater.

Exiting the bathroom, I parted the curtains from the room’s only window to reveal a quiet residential block. Hmm, that was surprising. I figured HQ would be smack dab in the middle of skyscrapers so tall their tops were hidden by clouds, as taxis honked their way down the street and pedestrians rushed along the sidewalk
s. I wasn’t expecting a view of brownstones, in various shades of red, no taller than five or six floors, stretching from one side of the block to the other. Quite a few of the windows were decorated for the holidays, as were the trees that lined the block, their bare branches and trunks draped with tiny, twinkling white lights. No one was out walking, but there were cars parked in every available spot.

I had no idea where I was. I had always lived in upstate New York, and the last time I had been to Manhattan had been back in
the ninth grade for a field trip to see
The Lion King
on Broadway. But we had been in the bus the entire time—bus to the theater, bus to the restaurant, and bus back home. Uptown, downtown, the East Side, the West Side—it was all foreign to me. And forget the subway. I’d probably get on the wrong train and end up in Queens or something without even realizing it.

So even if I managed to get myself out of HQ, I’d be lost within two seconds of hitting the pavement.

It is pretty, though
, I thought wistfully. Even the overcast winter sky did little to dispel the charm of the apartment buildings that surrounded HQ. I squinted. If the buildings surrounding HQ weren’t towering skyscrapers, did that mean I was downtown? Who knew? I could be on the moon for all I knew. I was hopelessly lost.

Still… I rested my palm on the
cold glass.
I wish I could have come here with Rafe.
Not HQ, but the city itself. Exploring the busy streets, seeing the world he had grown up in. Visiting his favorite restaurants, his favorite shops. It would have been nice, normal.

Normal? I laughed bitterly. The moment that demon had walked into the Corral, normal had disappeared from my life forever.

***

“Do you want to go to winter formal with me?” Rafe asked suddenly.

I paused the corny holiday movie we were watching (his idea, not mine. I had wanted to watch a slasher movie, but he said that wasn’t exactly festive and was instead forcing me to sit through an hour of singing clay reindeers and snowmen) in my living room and stared at him. “Excuse me?”

He nervously played with the tassels on one of the couch pillows. “The winter formal. At my school. Did you… Do you want to go with me?”

Aww, he was nervous. Why, though? It wasn’t like it was our first school dance together. We had done Halloween—wait. I narrowed my eyes. “Rafe, after the disaster that was the last dance, why do you want to go to another one?”

He squirmed. “I doubt we’ll see another demon at this one.”

“Really.”

“Yes, really.” Rafe nudged me with his shoulder, laughing. “Our luck isn’t that horrible, Gabi. We won’t see another demon at another dance. I’m positive.”

“Um, in case you’ve forgotten, the universe seems to hate it when I wear something nice when I’m with you. It’s like, ‘I don’t think so, Gabi, Rafe can’t see you in that dress without staining you with blood or punch or GREEN DEMON ICK.’” I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know why I even bother. I should just wear a garbage bag over my entire body, with a hole for my head to stick out.”

Rafe spit out the soda he had just taken a sip of, his face turning red as he half-choked, half-laughed. I pounded him on the back, laughing myself.

When he finally recovered, I gave him a mock glare. “Instead of laughing, Rafe, you were supposed to tell me I would look super hot in a garbage bag.” I shook my head. “Haven’t I taught you anything?”

“Oh please,” he said, pulling me into his lap. I snuggled closer to him, sighing in contentment. “I tell you I think you look good and you bite my head off for having an old lady fetish.”

“Well, you do!”

Rafe trailed his hand up and down my arm and hummed noncommittally. “You haven’t answered my question, you know. Do you want to go to the dance with me?”

“If I said no, would you ask someone else?”

“Yeah, I was going to ask Evan to be my date,” he responded sarcastically. “Think he’ll wear a dress?”

I groaned. “Actually, I think he probably would. Especially if you paid him. In cigarettes.”

“The sad thing is, you’re absolutely right,” Rafe said. “Come on
, Gabi, spare me the humiliation of going with Evan and say yes. Please?”

“When you put it that way, I guess I have no choice but to say yes.” I smiled. “I’m such a good
girlfriend, you know?”

He tilted my head up to kiss me. “The absolute best…”

***

Dammit. Was I going to dream about Rafe every single time? I rubbed at my eyes, trying to stop the tears before they really started flowing. I may have been the girl who hated the thought of spending a week away from her boyfriend, but I refused to be the girl who gave up and just sat around crying when things went bad.

No, I would be the girl who did something about it.

I rolled out of bed, glancing out the window to see it was nighttime. Hard to tell, with the city lit up with lights; even the sky was still bright, not a star in sight.
Back home, the night sky shone with thousands of sparkling diamonds; I couldn’t believe I had ever taken such a breathtaking view for granted.

I missed the stars.

Heading for the door, I skirted around the tray of half-eaten food Nina had brought me earlier. A buttered roll, some soup, and a banana. No dessert whatsoever. I guess they wanted to kill me after all. My door was unlocked, just like Nina said. I figured I’d explore the floor, see if she was telling the truth about the elevator and stairwell also being locked. I was too keyed up, too saddened by my dream about Rafe to even attempt going back to sleep.

Holding my breath, I stepped out into the hallway, waiting for an alarm
to go off or maybe for Charles to pop out and start screaming at me.

When nothing happened, I exhaled in relief and began my exploration of the darkened corridors.

Chapter Fifteen

Door after door. Wow, HQ was
so
exciting. Except that it wasn’t. And now I was lost. I smacked my hand against my forehead, wishing I had bothered to remember what number my room was.
Might as well keep going. The elevator has to be around here somewhere.

I turned a corner and yep, there it was. I rushed over, smashing the down button a billion times (because that makes it come up faster), but nothing happened. Frustrated, I kicked the door a couple of times, which was equally useless. And now my toes were throbbing. Argh! I pulled at my hair, opened my mouth, but decided at the last moment not to scream. Screaming would make the hunters come running
, and I really, really didn’t want to see them tonight.

Actually, if I could avoid ever seeing them again, that would be perfect.

With the elevator ruled out, I decided to check out the stairs. Maybe someone had forgotten to lock them tonight.
Yeah, like it would be that easy…

The hallways were deserted, quiet, which was odd; I wondered if most of the hunters lived on other floors
. I mean, every single room couldn’t possibly be occupied, could it? I could totally picture Nina being the only one living on the sixth floor. Although, if that were the case, then wouldn’t she have painted the whole damn floor pink? I shuddered at that horrible mental image and turned the corner, passing by an open door.