Soul Stone

By DelSheree Gladden

Dreams, curses, and threats of death were supposed to over.

After surviving an ancient Aztec curse, Arra is more than ready for her new life in the boring little town of Grainer, Maine...but she should have known better than to think it would last.

The new dream of a lonely girl is odd, but Arra passes it off as nerves about starting school. Her boyfriend, Tanner, is push the dream out of her mind, until they walk onto the school campus and see the girl from Arra’s dream.

Tanner won’t risk losing Arra again and demands she stay away from Sibeal, but Arra can’t stop thinking about the girl’s haunted expression. Arra can’t walk away and let whatever curse has a hold of Sibeal claim her without trying to stop it. But what if Sibeal deserves the punishment?

Arra’s battle to make the right choice becomes more difficult when she is forced to seek help from her least favorite person. Sebastian Wallace is arrogant and irritating, but he has information she needs. As Arra tries to determine what the right choice is, she realizes saving Sibeal may be the least of her problems.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DelSheree Gladden
• Release date: May 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311007148

DelSheree Gladden

DelSheree Gladden was one of those shy, quiet kids who spent more time reading than talking. She didn't speak a single word for the first few months of preschool. Her fascination with reading led to many hours spent in the library and bookstores, and eventually to writing. She wrote her first novel when she was sixteen years old, but spent ten years rewriting before it was published.Native to New Mexico, DelSheree and her family spent several years in Colorado before returning to northern New Mexico. When not writing novels, you can find DelSheree reading, hiking, sewing, playing with her dogs, and working with other authors.DelSheree has several bestselling young adult series and has hit the USA Today Bestseller list twice as part of box sets. DelSheree also has contemporary romance, cozy mystery, and paranormal new adult series. Her writing is as varied as her reading interests.

Book preview

The rain pounds against the windowpane, distorting the image of a young woman dressed in white. Raindrops sliding down the glass appear as tears running wildly down her cheeks. As a hand presses against the window, the reflection follows. The girl and her reflection stare into the darkness with sad, mournful eyes.

Behind the sadness, there is fear. There are secrets.

When the young woman’s head dips, blond, wispy curls falls forward, clinging to damp cheeks. Tears, not born of the rain, slip down her pale face. A tremble runs through her fingers as she peels her hand away from the glass and moves toward a curious looking stone perched on the window sill. Her fingers hover over the stone, but do not dare touch its rough surface. Clenching her fingers, anger and frustration blossom on her pale face, yet the stone remains untouched.

Once more, the young woman’s hand reaches up to the window and presses against its reflection. The sad eyes stare at one another. The anguish that passes between them borders on desperation, but the secret stays buried as the young woman stands and turns from the window. As she walks away, the reflection’s haunted eyes never waver, watching the young woman’s retreating form until she is left alone.

***

My eyes are sluggish to open. They can tell it isn’t bright enough to get up yet, no matter how loudly the alarm whines. I groan as I roll over and tap my cell phone to get rid of the obnoxious noise. The temptation to roll back over and bury myself in my blankets pricks at my tired mind.

I went to bed unnecessarily early last night at my mom’s insistence, but I still feel exhausted. Images of rain and strange reflections dance around in my head, pinpointing the source of my grumpiness. Ever since the summer when a series of terrifying dreams brought to light the gruesome truth of my family’s history, I have despised dreaming. No matter what the focus of the dreams, I have tried everything I can to escape them. A valiant effort, to be sure, but a pointless one. Banishing my ability to dream has proved impossible.

As I drag myself out of bed, I wonder about the bizarre dream of the girl at the window. Or was it two girls? I’m really not sure. It made no sense, and all it seemed to accomplish was ruining my sleep and putting me in a bad mood for my first day of school in Grainer. I was perfectly excited last night.

Arra, my mom calls through my door, are you up?

Yes, Mom, I call back, my voice filled with irritation.

I’ll have breakfast ready in twenty minutes, so be quick.

I roll my eyes instead of answering and trudge to the little bathroom attached to my bedroom. As I go through the motions of showering and getting dressed, I try to recapture my good mood from last night.

It isn’t nerves that have me anxious. Sure, it’s a new school, but I have already been here all summer and know everyone in the junior class. A small town like Grainer makes that fairly easy. I met everyone at the summer bonfire on the beach the first week I was here. Thinking of the bonfire does lift my mood out of the mud just a little. That was one event I never thought I would survive to attend, thanks to my impending death at the hands of an ancient Aztec god.

I am putting on the last of my makeup when my cell phone starts singing. I recognize the ringtone meant for Tanner and hurry over to pick it up. I smile when I see Tanner’s grin staring back at me.

Hey, Tanner. What’s going on?

I’m really hoping that he isn’t cancelling his offer to walk me to school. I have no fear of getting lost—Grainer isn’t that big—but I feel better about walking onto the new campus with him there to back me up, just in case. There have been no strange or unusual occurrences since my birthday, but that edgy, get under your skin feeling has been plaguing me since I woke up.

Just making sure you were up and ready to go. I know you used to start school a lot later in Manhattan, so I just wanted to be sure you weren’t still asleep, Tanner says mockingly.

I was a few minutes late to our archery practice session last week. Okay, half an hour late. It was an accident, though. It’s hard to pay attention to the time when I start listening to my grandpa’s stories. I have the feeling Tanner isn’t going to stop teasing me about it any time soon.

Ha, ha. I am perfectly capable of waking up on time without your help.

Hmm, Tanner says, that’s too bad. I was half tempted to sneak through your window last night just to make sure you got up on time this morning.

That thought banishes every sour emotion from my mind. Tanner, don’t joke about that, I beg. It’s much too tempting to take you up on an offer like that.

And I mean it.

The first week I was here, when I was struggling to figure out how to break the curse on my family in time to save my life, I was so terrified of going to sleep the night before my birthday that I asked Tanner to stay with me. Even as overwhelmed as I was by everything, lying in Tanner’s arms was a haven of safety and calm. I’ve never felt anything like that before.

Arra, Tanner says softly. The ache in his voice cuts right to my heart. He doesn’t continue, but I know what he’s thinking because I’m thinking it too.

Are you still coming to pick me up? I ask quietly.

Of course I am.

Attempting to distract myself from thoughts of being anywhere near a bed with Tanner, I say, If you hurry, my mom is making breakfast. Probably strawberry covered pancakes. You know she’ll make twice as many as we need.

Tanner laughs, knowing my mom still cooks every meal as if my older brother David were still here with his bottomless stomach, instead of away at college. I’ll be over in five.

We end the call after a quick goodbye and I hurry to finish getting ready. I am closing my bedroom door when a knock sounds on the front door. I call out that I’ll get it and open the door happily a few seconds later. I don’t even have time to say hello before Tanner pulls me into his arms and greets me with a kiss that continues his unsaid thoughts from earlier.

I’m not prepared when Tanner pulls away unexpectedly, and I reach up to bring him back. Tanner’s quick retreat almost makes me lose my balance. I can’t understand why he would break off so fast until he speaks.

Good morning, Dr. Malo, Tanner says politely.

My eyes widen in embarrassment as I turn around to find my dad staring at us with his arms folded across his chest. He does not look pleased. It isn’t hard to read the words behind his expression. We will be having a chat when he gets home from work tonight. My shoulders droop, knowing I am going to be in trouble. Although, not half as much trouble as I would be if he knew Tanner had once slept over. It wouldn’t matter in the least that nothing more than a kiss had happened because I was too scared to even think about taking things further. I would be grounded for life, and Tanner…I don’t like to think about what would happen to Tanner.

Thankfully, my mom bustles out from the kitchen right about then. Tanner! she says happily. Are you hungry? You’re welcome to stay for breakfast. We have plenty of pancakes.

Even after being caught by my dad, Tanner and I both try and fail to suppress a laugh. Dad’s frown deepens even more, probably thinking we are laughing about being caught. I decide to bail as fast as I can before I get myself into any more trouble. I grab Tanner’s hand and drag him toward the kitchen, mumbling a hasty good morning to my dad on the way.

Mom seems a little confused by Dad’s hostility toward Tanner throughout breakfast, but no one bothers to explain. Tanner and I both eat rather quickly and make an exit before my dad decides to break his silence.

When we are finally outside and headed for the school, I turn a not-so-fierce glare on Tanner. I am in big trouble because of you.

Me? Tanner says innocently. Then his lips turn up in a devilish smile. I wasn’t the only one doing the kissing back there. I don’t think I imagined you kissing me back.

No, I say as I edge closer to him, you didn’t.

This time I am the one pulling him to me. My lips touch his softly, just brushing his lower lip. I feel his shoulders tense as he tries to stop himself from grabbing me. I kiss him again, this time pulling him closer to meet my lips fully. Tanner’s hands slide down to my hips. His grip makes it clear that he wants to take the lead, but he forces himself to hold back. Lifting up on my tiptoes, I finally give him what he wants, pressing myself against him and deepening the kiss to where we left off before breakfast.

Dropping back to my heels a few minutes later in order to break the kiss, it takes me a moment to regain my breath and remember how to speak again. From now on, I say, no more kissing me at the door.

Tanner’s breath brushes against my ear as he exhales. I’m sorry I kissed you in front of your dad like that.

Don’t be sorry, I say. I’m certainly not.

I’ll just make sure not to do it in front of your dad anymore, okay? Tanner pulls back and looks down at me worriedly. Is he really that mad?

Did you see his face?

Tanner grimaces. I try to soften my words by reaching up and looping my hands behind his neck. Just give him a few days to cool off, okay? I’ll talk to him tonight, but it might be best if you meet me at the corner for a while.

You mean, no more pancakes? Tanner pouts.

I roll my eyes and start pulling him down the street. Let’s not make things worse by being late for school.

Fine, fine.

We only make it one more block before Tanner asks, Hey, was everything okay when I called this morning? You didn’t sound like yourself.

I look over at him, surprised he could tell just from my voice that I’d had a rough night. Pulling a little closer to him, I lean my head against his shoulder. It was just this weird dream. You know how much I dislike dreaming these days. This one was more bizarre than usual and I didn’t sleep well.

Tanner looks over at me with a frown. I can feel his arm tightening around me. He’s very sweet, but this isn’t worth getting worked up about.

It was just a dream, I say, no big deal.

Tanner looks skeptical. What was it about?

The desire to blow off his question and not talk about the dream is very tempting. In reality, it was strange, and talking about it might help me get it out of my mind.

There was this girl sitting at a window, looking at her reflection. It was raining and the reflection looked like it was crying. The girl seemed pretty upset, though, and she started crying, too. I stop, attempting to shake off the strangeness of the dream. Failing, I continue. The weird thing was, the girl put her hand up to the window like she was trying to touch the reflection. Then she held her hand over this odd looking rock. She didn’t touch it, just held her hand over it. When she turned away from the window, the reflection didn’t move. It just kept watching her walk away.

Tanner’s brow knits together as he considers what I’ve told him. He seems to be trying to puzzle it out, but he just shakes his head after a while. That is pretty weird. I wonder what it meant.

Why does it have to mean anything? The last thing I want is another dream with a hidden agenda.

I didn’t mean it like that, Tanner says, I just meant, I wondered what brought it on.

Well, at least she didn’t look like me. That was actually a huge relief. The dreams from the summer all featured a young woman who looked almost identical to me.

Tanner laughs. No kidding. What did she look like?

Blonde, curly hair, green eyes, pale skin, beautiful. Pretty much the exact opposite of me, I assure him.

Except the beautiful part, Tanner says before stealing another kiss.

I smile as we finally cross onto the high school campus. Actually, it’s the junior high and high school campus, since there are so few students here, but no one seems to mind. I see brand new little sixth graders talking with seniors. Everyone appears to be mingling regardless of age. The sight makes me wonder where Tanner’s little sister is. He mentioned she had to be at school early for some student council meeting, but I thought she’d be done by now. As I scan through the milling students, my eyes catch on an unfamiliar girl standing alone.

About to ask Tanner who she is, my whole body dives into panic mode the second she turns toward me. I can’t move. I can barely breathe. My eyes refuse to blink, yet my fingers are strangling Tanner’s. I can feel my head getting lighter, about to check out entirely.

Tanner turns to look at me with a confused expression. Arra, what’s wrong? Are you okay?

I…it’s … My throat seizes up. I know I am seconds away from passing out. Tanner’s eyes widen.

Arra, breathe, Tanner says slowly. Your dad is never going to let me see you again if I have to tell him you passed out at school. He’ll be convinced it was my fault. Breathe, Arra, just calm down and breathe.

The possibility of being kept away from Tanner is just barely enough to override my panic. My lungs finally suck in a huge breath of air. My head still feels woozy, but Tanner’s shoulders lose some of their tension. He pulls me against his chest gently and holds me until my breathing finally returns to semi-normal.

When it does, he pushes me back slowly and watches me for a moment. What just happened? Do I need to call your dad?

I shake my head quickly.

Then what happened? he asks.

It’s her, I squeak, the shock stealing my voice.

What?

With trembling hands, I turn Tanner toward the lonely girl. He watches her for a moment before turning back to me with a shrug. It’s her! I say again. The girl from my dream!

Chapter Two

We stare. That’s all either of us can do. Tanner doesn’t question me—which I appreciate—but he seems to be at a total loss. The silence is unnerving and my panic begins to creep back in. I tell myself that I must be wrong. My eyes scour this unfamiliar girl for clues to discount my recognition, but everything is exactly right. Curly blonde hair spirals in perfect ringlets over her shoulders. Her green eyes stare, but at nothing in particular. The paleness of her skin convinces me she is about as outdoorsy as I used to be before moving to Grainer. Altogether, she is the definition of hauntingly beautiful.

And she is scaring any hint of logical thought right out of me.

What do I do? I whisper to Tanner.

He finally turns to look at me. Do?

Yeah…do? Like talk to her, run, pretend she doesn’t exist? What should I do?

You should stay as far away from her as you possibly can, Tanner says emphatically.

But …

Tanner shakes his head and starts dragging me away from the lonely girl. Seriously, just stay away from her, he says. We have no idea what this might mean. She could be connected to what happened this summer, for all we know.

What? I admit, this thing is pretty weird, but that just sounds ludicrous.

The firm hand on my back forces me even further away. Arra, I’m not taking any chances with your dreams, and neither should you.

But what if it’s nothing, just a weird coincidence? I turn and look back at her. I frown at the image of her standing alone, staring off in the distance as if she is waiting for someone she knows will never arrive.

Tanner finally stops pushing and shoving. His eyes meet mine, filled with sincerity. With you, Arra, there are no coincidences. If you dreamed about her, there’s probably a reason, but that doesn’t mean you need to get involved. Whatever is going on with that girl, it’s her problem, not yours.

What if she needs help? I say quietly. The helplessness I felt when I was the one in trouble threatens to overwhelm me.

Tanner pulls me out of the flow of hallway traffic and corners me against a row of lockers. Arra, please. I don’t want to even think about something happening to you. Please just stay away from her.

His concern is hard to combat. Fine, I’ll do my best, but this school is the size of a fishbowl. Chances are I won’t be able to avoid her for too long.

Just try, okay?

I smile up at him, glad he cares so much. I’ll try.

The bell tears through the halls with its awful screech, pulling Tanner away from me. After making sure I know where my first class is, he sets off for his own. Because of the size of the school population, there won’t be too much variety in classmates. Surprisingly enough, though, Tanner only ended up in three of my classes. It’s probably because we have different tastes in electives. My bid to convince Tanner to take Spanish, Graphic design, and beginning art didn’t pan out as well as I hoped it would.

What I’m not looking forward to is sitting through classes twice as long as usual. At my old school, I had seven to eight classes every day. Here, I will only have four, but they will be twice as long. Tomorrow, I will have four new classes, and then back to the original four. A lot of the teachers here double up on subjects and it’s easier for them to switch every other day than every fifty minutes.

I try to put the blonde girl and my strange dream out of my head entirely as I head into my first class. Remembering my first day at high school back in Manhattan and the anxiety it induced, I’m glad to walk into a classroom of familiar faces. Dani has a seat saved for me by the window and I head in her direction.

When I reach down to get a notebook out of my backpack, I’m not expecting a pair of legs to come barreling by at the same time. I’m too slow. One of the legs connects with my head and knocks it into the desk behind me. The legs are gone an instant later and I sit up rubbing the side of my head. Annoyed, I look back to see who forgot their manners over the summer, but all I glimpse is the unfamiliar backside of someone in a grey canvas jacket hustling to the back row.

Good morning, class, the teacher at the front of the room calls out. I recognize him as Mr. Harrington. His easy smile puts the rude guy in the back of the classroom out of my mind. It’s nice to see everyone again. I hope you all had a nice summer and are ready to get back to work. We’ll be studying U.S. history post 1865 this year. We will be covering everything up to World War Two this semester, so your mid-term projects will be to choose an invention created during this time period and explain to your classmates how it impacted daily life.

Nobody complains about the project, and even I think it sounds pretty interesting. I figure I can get some first-hand help with this from my grandpa. He’s always happy to tell stories, and as long as they have nothing to do with Aztec curses, I’m happy to listen.

As I spend the next hour and a half in history class, I realize my grandpa isn’t the only one who likes to tell stories. I am absolutely captivated by Mr. Harrington’s lecture. Even calling it a lecture is an insult. It’s a story. He tells us about the aftermath of the Civil War and how difficult it was for a country to begin rebuilding itself as if he experienced it. He knows every detail and somehow manages to tell us about the reconstruction of the South and make it seem more like we’re watching a movie about it.

I’m not the only one caught up in his story. The whole class is glued to his every word. When the bell rings, almost the entire class jumps. Even Mr. Harrington looks startled. He seems disappointed for class to be over. I think he could spend the entire day talking about history. The funny thing is, I think the whole class would be willing to sit and listen.

I completely forgot when I sat down that I needed to ask Dani a question about the party this weekend. When I look up, I realize she has already taken off. I see her retreating form escaping through the door too late to get her attention. After gathering up my own things, I follow suit.

As I walk down the halls, I keep an eye out for the locker I was assigned, but have yet to set eyes on. I’m so distracted by my hunt that I block out the other students crowding in the narrow hallways. All I care about is the fact that my backpack weighs a ton and I can’t wait to give my shoulders a rest. Only a few feet from my next class, I see it. Sighing with relief, I set to work trying to open the combination lock.

Deciding that I would make a horrible thief after finally getting my locker open on the fifth attempt, I drop my backpack to the ground and start unloading the pounds and pounds of school supplies my mom insisted I would need today. I don’t know what she was thinking, because all I really need are a binder and some loose leaf paper, but I didn’t want to stomp on her motherly kindness.

I stand up with a bag that is about twenty pounds lighter and turn toward my next class. My view is immediately blocked by the canvas jacket-clad guy from this morning. Irritated that he didn’t even bother to apologize after ramming into me, I fold my arms across my chest in silence. His molasses colored hair and classic good looks don’t faze me at all. Neither does his robin’s egg blue eyes.

Canvas Boy only grins at me. You don’t look familiar, and since this is a ridiculously small town, you must be either the new doctor’s kid or the mystery girl no one seems to know anything about.

Hey, Arra! Dani calls out as she rushes down the hall. You’re still coming to the party on Friday, right? I thought I heard that your brother had to postpone his trip for a couple weeks.

Trying not to dwell on the fact that I won’t be seeing David this weekend like I had hoped, I say, Yeah, I’ll be there. Do I need to bring anything?

Some of your mom’s cookies, Dani calls out with a grin before disappearing around a corner.

Her request makes me laugh. Tanner isn’t the only one who has come to love my mom’s cooking. I think her delectable treats are half the reason I get invited places. I turn away from Dani and find myself once again confronted with Canvas Boy. He waits expectantly for me to answer his earlier question.

I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count, I say, a touch of sarcasm edging my words.

If he hasn’t pinned it down after my quick conversation with Dani, he’s welcome to stew over it all day. My head still hurts from whacking it on the desk, and as I reach up to rub it, I feel a knot behind my ear where it hit. Great. I grab my bag and try to step around him. He blocks me once again.

It’s nice to meet you, Arra, he says cockily.

I roll my eyes and again try to get around him with no luck. He looks at me as if I should have something to say. I’m not in the mood, so I just stare at him.

You’re not going to ask who I am? His smile is very irritating.

I don’t care who you are, I say, already tired of this conversation. I already met everyone else over the summer, and since no one even bothered to mention you once, I figure I’m not missing out on much.

Especially not after the lump he gave me without so much as an excuse me or an apology.

After that comment, the last thing I expect from him is to bust up laughing. I like you, Canvas Boy says when his chuckling dies down. I heard you were from New York, so I guess I should have expected some attitude, but I was not expecting so much sass.

Sass? I say. What century are you from?

Well, you are living in the real life version of Mayberry, Miss Arra. What do expect? he mocks.

For this being Mayberry, you sure don’t have the charm or manners of Andy Griffith.

He shakes his head at me, laughing again. You may be right about that, but I have never claimed to be Andy Griffith. My name is Sebastian Wallace, but most people call me Bas.

Bas. I cringe as the name rings a bell. This can’t possibly be Tanner’s best friend.

Bas steps forward, no doubt basking in my embarrassment. I’m guessing that look means you have heard my name before?

So what if I have? It doesn’t change the fact that you ran into me this morning and made me hit my head on the desk behind me without bothering to say you were sorry and you pop up in front of me like I should stop everything I’m doing just to talk to you. I take a firm step back from him. I don’t care if this is Mayberry or New York. I have to get to class. Would you please just get out of my way?

Bas bows out of my way dramatically, and I finally manage to step around him and dart into class. I am so annoyed and over this whole day that I drop into the first seat I see without bothering to look around. I roll my eyes when Bas walks in right behind me and slides casually into the seat across from mine. Of course.

My day only gets worse when my science teacher, Mr. Davis, hands out a packet of chemistry worksheets and tells us to get into groups of three to work on it. Trying to avoid Bas, I turn away from him in search of willing group members and find myself face to face with the blonde from my dream.

She seems startled at my abruptness, but asks, Wanna be in a group?

I nod wordlessly and slide my desk toward hers. Like fingernails on a chalkboard, the sound of Bas dragging his desk into our circle sets my last nerve on edge. I am determined not to let him see how much he is bothering me, though, so I plaster on a polite smile and turn back to my original group member.

I’m Arra. What’s your name?

The girl’s eyes dart around before answering. Sibeal Ahearn.

It’s nice to meet you, Sibeal. I’m new in town, too.

Really? she asks quietly. It’s seems like you already know everyone.

I laugh. Yeah, well you’ll know everyone by the end of the week, too.

Sibeal’s head turns toward Bas as he flops into his chair. His grin seems to be a permanent fixture. I’m Bas, he says. He extends his hand to Sibeal, waiting patiently as she hesitates, and then takes it. Sibeal, that’s an Irish name, isn’t it?

The smile his question inspires makes Sibeal look even prettier. Yes! How did you know?

My mom’s Irish. Most of her family is still in Ireland. We visit them every summer, and I remember hearing that name before. It’s nice.

Thanks, Sibeal says shyly.

Bas begins asking her about her family, where they’re from, and if she’s ever been to Ireland herself. When she nods that she has, he fills the silence talking about his summer