The Many Ramblings of K. A. Webb

Crystal jars surrounded Elodie. Each one contained a soul that needed to be recorded. It was a strange job, but she grateful for it, because it meant she was unlikely to end up in one of the jars until it was truly the end of her first life. Many of the souls, and she didn’t want to know exactly how many, had died before their time as a part of Caoimhe’s experiments. People who asked too many questions, especially in the hearing of Caiomhe’s right hand man Ruarc, usually disappeared, and Elodie wouldn’t have been surprised if she was told that some of the souls she had recorded had belonged to those who had disappeared.

As she picked up another jar, this one holding a blue soul, Elodie sighed. Her choice had been made long before she even really knew what it was she was making a choice about. If she hadn’t of overheard a conversation between Ruarc and one of the gatherers she never would have known the truth. There were other recorders who were ignorant of how some of the souls were collected, but she would never know for certain who actually knew and who was just keeping their mouth shut the same way she was.

The blue soul belonged to a boy of nine. Elodie bit the end of her quill before writing down the information. In his old life he’d had magic, but he wasn’t old enough to know his abilities. He did know his family’s, so she noted that down, pretty certain that the family’s abilities had been hereditary. Before him she’d recorded his two older sisters, one of whom was old enough to have had her abilities manifest, his mother and his father, so she knew that they’d all had the same abilities. Part of Caiomhe’s experiment was about seeing if magic was something a soul would take with it to another body or if the body holding the soul would manifest new abilities.

Elodie knew the souls of the boy and his family would be in the recording centre again, she just didn’t know when. It was unlikely she’d see them again, but someone would, and their second life would be recorded below their first life by someone else sitting in her seat. Before her there had been a recorder writing about the lives of souls who were coming through the centre again, so she had no doubt there would be one after her, although she had heard rumours about someone wanting to put an end to Caiomhe’s experiments.

When Elodie looked at the soul one last time she was torn. The soul in the jar might have died naturally and using it again in another body was putting it to good use, or it might not have and then… She ran a hand through her hair. Maybe it was better for the experiments to end, even though the souls might just end up floating around uselessly, because she couldn’t understand how anyone could kill a little boy for any experiment.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

It was the sensation of eyes on her that woke Lexi up, and a warm arm wrapped around her waist. When she’d gone to sleep she’d expected to wake up alone in her own bed, the same way she had every other night she’d visited him. Her first feeling was utter terror as she rolled over to look at Ragnar. Using his free hand he brushed some hair off her face before leaning down to kiss her. Shaking her head she pulled away, not wanting him to kiss her until she had some idea what was going on, if at all.

Ragnar raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t seriously expect me to let you leave again.”

“That drink…”

“I made sure that you’ll never leave my side again.” Softly he pressed a kiss on Lexi’s cheek. “When I first saw you I knew that you were the one for me and I planned on keeping you from the beginning. It just took me some time to make the potion.”

“Send me home.”

“Even if I could I wouldn’t.”

Lexi ran a hand through her hair, trying to think. “My family’s going to be worried about me. I disappeared from my bed in the middle of the night and that’s not normal.”

“There’s nothing I can do about that.” Ragnar shrugged. “I can’t send you home because the potion is irreversible and I have no idea what world you came from. Working with dreams the way I do can be a little nebulous.”

“I’m from Earth.” Lexi stared at the wall beside his head, trying to calm herself down, but it really wasn’t working. “Is there any way I can send a message to my family to let them know I’m safe?”

“Not that I know of.” Ragnar tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. “I don’t see why it matters. We’re together now, permanently.”

“I get that we’re together.” Lexi shook her head. “You should have asked me.”

“What would you have said?”

All Lexi could think about was the family, the friends, and the life she had left behind, and eventually she replied, “I would have said no.”

“That was why I didn’t ask. No isn’t an answer I would have accepted from you, because you belong with me.” Ragnar smiled. “One day you’ll thank me for this.”

“I doubt it.”

“This world is beautiful,” he said, carrying on as though Lexi hadn’t spoken. “It’s much nicer than Earth and I’ll teach you how to dreamwalk.”

“Is what you did normal?”

“Some dreamwalkers think that what I did is immoral. They wouldn’t bring someone through from another world unless the other person asked them to and even then they wouldn’t definitely agree to it. The rest would have done the same thing I did. I know a couple of dreamwalkers who brought their soulmate through from another world.”

“You think I’m your soulmate?”

“I know you’re my soulmate. If you weren’t the potion wouldn’t have worked and you’d have gone back to your world last night. This is where you’re meant to be.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.