The Rise Read Free

similarities, as well. Somehow, despite the differences, every Soul sings in a sort of chaotic harmony with every other. Each is connected, and the web that holds them together is simple: the web is freedom.
     
    In a more perfect world, I would be forever that little girl who snuck out of her window on warm nights and stared up at the stars. An observer, who got to see and smell and touch and feel the Souls that most people only ever have a vague understanding of. The beauty of it all, the wonder, was in the freedom. But freedom so often resembles shiny red apples. And I suppose that even back then, I knew that someday I would take a bite.
     
    Look but don’t touch, it was how I defined myself. Seeing into Souls was one thing, commanding them was another. Sometimes, however, life throws you situations that force you to break your own code. Sometimes, you have to do the wrong thing , because it is the only option you have that you can live with.
     
    Standing here, in the Queen of Two Rivers’ office, in the presence of eight Souls, that shiny red apple dangled in front of me, and it looked sweet and tasty to my suddenly parched throat. My mind – or rather that muscle in my mind that is a result of my tainted blood – salivated just at the sight of them all. Its hunger for control was amplified by my growing anxiety. Whatever the reason I was here, it was not a good one. I didn’t have to be a Searcher to figure that much out.
     
    Two enormous warriors flanked the door – my only escape. Two more blocked the windows that made up the entire east wall. One more stood behind an armchair, across from which, on a couch that looked to cost about the amount of a college education, sat Queen Camillia and her niece, Bethany. In the armchair sat King William. It was his Soul that drew me so completely, like a secret present wrapped in shards of glass and thorns, fitting for what must be inside the box.
     
    “Please, have a seat, Miss Montgomery,” said the King.
     
    I found that I could not move. The battle I was silently fighting in my soul was all-encompassing. My mind wanted to be set free, to soar through the room and touch the souls within and hold them and squeeze them and see them. The muscles in my body were locked into their positions, as though by tensing and flexing alone they could keep in what stone walls would yield simply to. I wasn’t entirely sure I was still breathing, though my chest seemed to be rising and falling and filling, not with air, but with fear and fight. If I were to lose the battle over my control, things would go wrong. The apple would be sweet, I could no longer deny that, but the aftertaste was sure to be sour. If these people found out what I was, they would see my head on a spike. I was sure of it. My eyes floated over them. I couldn’t help it.
     
    They will kill you or imprison you either way. You can see it on their faces. You weren’t called in for a nightcap. You’re half of a monster… and Alexa is M.I.A.
     
    “Nelly, may I call you Nelly?” said the King. “Do you know who I am?”
     
    It was that voice of his. It was as silky as flower pedals, as smooth as snake’s skin. My teeth snapped together as that muscle in my mind bucked hard, kicking and scratching in my grasp like an enraged toddler. For all the concentration it was taking to hold it in, I could not even risk sending the simple message of movement from my brain to my legs. I didn’t dare meet the King’s eyes, if his voice alone sent the beast that is my mind into a frenzy, there was no telling what kind of reaction the windows to his soul would receive.
     
    In outright rebellion of my efforts, unwelcome thoughts from the dark side of me found their way to my head: Secrets, sooo many secrets in his soul, bad man, bad man, he’s a bad man, secretssss…
     
    I cringed internally, the tensed muscles in my stomach shriveling up and seeming to congeal. If I didn’t get out of here soon, I was going to make