Soul Deep: Dark Souls, Book 2 Read Free

shared with her boyfriend, Jace. Jace was the only Watcher who had a soul—two to be precise, the same two souls that had once belonged to Lia.
    A short pause followed. “Unless—” Furrows lined Lia’s forehead, and she grew silent.
    “Unless what?” Marcus probed.
    “Unless he’s a twin soul, like I was.”
    Marcus nodded, satisfied. “My thoughts exactly.”

Chapter Three
    Bending his knees, Cal lowered his body next to the boy’s to keep from towering over him. The child’s innocent question had given birth to a slew of his own. “Why would you think I’m an angel?” He exchanged a meaningful glance with Jace, the only Watcher who knew the truth about him—that he was a fallen angel.
    The boy bit down on his lower lip and shrugged. “Your skin glows. And you’ve got wings.” He pointed to an obscure point beyond Cal’s head. “They’re very light. Almost invisible. More like a shadow.”
    “Fascinating.” Cal shook his head, fighting to subdue a growing sense of unease. “He can see through time,” he told Jace. “In his mind’s eye, my current image is juxtaposed with the one I bore in the past.”
    Jace leaned against the railing and crossed his legs at the ankles, looking both interested and skeptical. “What exactly does that mean? Is he a Hybrid?”
    All the Watchers were Hybrids. Unlike the Kleptopsychs, who were soulless from birth, Hybrids were born human and only came into their powers much later, when they died and their souls left their bodies. Sometimes, however, there were signs before their transformation, like the ability to read someone’s mind or move an object with nothing more than a concentrated thought.
    “Possibly.” Cal hoped the boy was indeed a Hybrid, because the alternative was far more dangerous. “But there’s a far greater chance he’s a seer, or a clairvoyant, as they are known nowadays.”
    “A fortune-teller?”
    “Not like the ones you’re thinking of. Seers today are just that— see-ers . They merely catch glimpses of the future. Their souls are too weak to do much else. But a very long time ago, before souls were divided, seers had unimaginable power. The power not only to glimpse the future but to shape it.”
    Jace exhaled a long stream of air. He pulled Cal aside, far enough away from the boy so he couldn’t hear them but close enough to keep an eye on him. “So how’d he fry his parents?”
    “All it takes is a vision. He saw it in his mind’s eye and made it happen. Usually the visions come at times of great distress. Fear or pain or sadness can trigger them. Seers were once used as prophets. Through them, the angels shaped the future by making them see whatever destiny they hoped to will into existence.”
    Jace shot a curious look the boy’s way. “But that was ages ago, when souls were whole. How can one of these seers be living today, in a cottage in Newport, Oregon, no less?”
    Cal angled a glance at the heavens, their mysteries locked behind tall, gilded doors that were now forever closed to him. “Interesting question. But even more interesting is why?” He had a theory, but he couldn’t voice it. Not until he was certain. “Why now?”
     
     
    Back at the Watchers’ complex, Regan stood guard as Ben slept, curled in a ball, a flimsy blanket drawn all the way to his chin. After they’d burned down his house, along with all evidence of his parents’ death, they’d decided to bring him here to Cascade Head, where—at the heart of a sprawling metal construction once rumored to be a secret military base—the Watchers had set up their headquarters a year and a half ago. Reinforced with numerous shields meant to keep their enemies out, the complex was the safest place for Ben.
    For the time being, anyway. She knew he couldn’t stay here forever. Regardless of how pure his essence was, he was still human, which meant prolonged exposure to the dark energy her kind emitted would eventually corrupt him.
    The thought depressed