Free My Soul Immortal by Jen Printy

you, and Leah will want to thank you for this,” he says and waves the book.
    I’m about to agree when three quick knocks interrupt me.
    “Oh, crap. She’s only early when I need her to be late.” Grady tosses me the book and rushes back to the stove.
    “The man in 1B let me in. He was coming home with an armful of groceries, so I helped him upstairs. You better hide whatever you don’t want me to see,” Leah warns.
    My heart pounds. I glance down, half expecting its pulsation to be visible through my shirt. Nope. I conceal the book behind my back as Leah walks in. Surprise floods her face.
    “What are you doing here?” Her words rush out like a breeze, and she steps closer. Her blond hair is pinned up into a slipshod bun, leaving her graceful ivory neck exposed.
    I flounder for words, and my voice cracks. “Just dropping off something for your brother.” Great. Smooth.
    “It’s another book, isn’t it?” Leah says with a huff as she looks around the kitchen. “Grady, you’re leaving soon. How many books do you think you can store in my cramped little dorm room? You really need to take them to Mom’s.”
    “Actually, Jack’s delivering your birthday present. I was trying to talk him into staying for—crap!” Grady opens the oven, and smoke billows around him, swirling toward the ceiling. He removes a smoldering casserole dish and sets it on the stovetop.
    The smoke alarm blares. After setting the book on the table, I rush to open the windows. The cool breeze is refreshing, relieving my burning eyes a little. I turn to see Leah waving a broom in front of the buzzing detector. Her blouse, which matches her eyes and hugs her form, inches upward. My eyes slide down her back, en route to… Be a gentleman. Stick with the nape. I study her for one more moment then tug my gaze away.
    Disgruntled, Grady gapes at the briquette and pokes it with a fork. “I killed your birthday dinner.”
    A sly smile plays across her lips, as if she’s fighting the urge to crack a joke.
    “How about pizza?” Grady asks.
    “Sounds great.” Leah looks to me. “You’ll stay, right?”
    I nod. “Of course.”
    After Grady orders a large pie, he drops next to Leah on the sofa, the book tucked under one arm. Leah peeks around him, her eyes sparkling with excitement. A ridiculous grin breaks across Grady’s face, and he clumsily hands Leah her gift. She glances over the yellowed pages with amazement, stops, and lets her finger trace over the vivid colors of an illustration. The painting depicts a fair-haired girl lying among a forest of green trees. A radiant golden butterfly hovers over her chest. The creature’s large translucent wings cover her. A man in a midnight cloak kneels at her side, his face hidden by his hands.
    “It’s just like the one Gram had.”
    “It’s not every day your little sister turns the ripe old age of eighteen. I wanted it to be special.”
    “It is. Read it to me?” She offers the book to her brother. A look I don’t understand flickers across Leah’s eyes.
    “I can’t very well deny the request of the birthday girl, can I?”
    Their relationship reminds me of the one I had with my sister, Ruth. My secret bonded us; she was the only member of my family who knew I couldn’t die.
    “I haven’t read to you since…” His voice falls silent, and his expression hardens, as if he’s recalling a bad memory. “Which story would you like?”
    “Olluna and the Golden Butterfly,” she says.
    I bite my tongue. This was Lydia’s favorite story.
    “Should’ve guessed.” Grady chuckles and begins, his voice deepened to add drama.
    The words flow verbatim through my head…
    Long ago, in a cottage at the northern edge of the Black Woods, there lived two sisters. The older was named Olluna, and the younger, named Catia. The two sisters loved each other very much. Years past, Catia grew old, but Olluna never lost her bloom, not aging one day past her youth. Her hair stayed the soft gold color