Free With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent Page A

questions.”
    * * *
    That night, Tod, my dad, and I made a conscious effort
to keep our own emotions in check, so we wouldn’t accidentally trigger Emma’s
as-yet-uncontrollable syphon ability. Which wasn’t so much an ability at that
point as a constant trial.
    I think we did pretty well. Until around ten-thirty, when Em
was doing homework on her bed and Tod and I were stretched out on my bed, not
doing my homework. After about ten minutes of what I would categorize as
PG-rated not-quite-adult content, she threw a balled-up pair of socks at us and
said if we didn’t go away she would jump my boyfriend herself.
    Evidently we weren’t very good at keeping those emotions in check. And since I did not want my best friend syphoning anything quite that intimate, we
took the party to Tod’s place.
    Tuesday morning, Emma was in much better spirits. We picked up
coffee on the way to school and met Nash and Sabine in one corner of the
cafeteria, as far from the breakfast eaters as we could get.
    “Here.” I passed out lattes, and Em snatched a napkin dispenser
from an empty table.
    “What’s the occasion?” Sabine looked suspicious. I couldn’t
blame her. We’d reached an understanding—she could have Nash, and I could never
again touch him, for any reason whatsoever, so long as we both shall live. Which
isn’t as bad as it sounds. Nash and I had made serious strides toward actual
friendship, which was more than I could say for him and his brother. Sabine and
I would never be like sisters, but we had definitely reached something akin to
friendship.
    And that was good, considering that the alternative always
seemed to involve her trying to kill me, with little regard for the fact that I
was already dead.
    “I need some information.” I took the lid off my cup and blew
over the top of my latte. “From Nash.”
    “What’s up?” He dumped a packet of sugar into his open cup,
then realized he had nothing to stir with.
    “I need you to make a list of everyone you know who tried
frost, back when Doug was, um, distributing to your teammates.”
    Emma flinched at the mention of her ex, and I felt guilty all
over again. Both of her most recent boyfriends had died because of me and my
otherworldly complications.
    “I don’t have a list.” Nash scowled at the powder that refused
to mix with the foam on top of his coffee. “In fact, I don’t know a single name
for sure. I didn’t even know Doug was using, until that party. The night he hit
your car.”
    “You don’t have a single name? Seriously? Not even an educated
guess?”
    He shrugged and put the lid back on his cup. “I can tell you
who I saw him with at that last party, when his dealer showed up.”
    “Was Marco Gutierrez one of them?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Good enough.” I pulled a notepad from my bag and pushed it
across the table toward him. Em added a pen. “Write down all you can remember.
Please.”
    “Is this about what happened with Marco yesterday?” Sabine
sipped from her cup while Nash scribbled on the notepad.
    “Yeah. He was just possessed, so it was pretty easy to get rid
of Avari, but I’d like to avoid a repetition. Or at least see it coming ahead of
time.”
    “So, where do we stand with Sophie and the liquid envy?” Em
cradled her cup in both hands.
    Sabine’s smile looked almost euphoric. Which kinda scared me.
“I gave her the first dose this morning, in her coffee. Had to dump in extra
sugar to cover the taste.”
    “Half a drop?” Em said. “Because Kaylee went bat-shit crazy on
a full drop.”
    “I did not—”
    “Yeah. Half a drop, as instructed.” Sabine spoke over me. “But
I’m telling you, this whole thing would be much more entertaining—and would go a
lot faster—if you’d let me really dose her.”
    “No. I know you enjoy your work, but the object isn’t to drive
her nuts.”
    Sabine huffed. “Speak for yourself.” Then she shrugged. “At
least I’m getting a decent bedtime snack out of this.” Because