Free Unnatural Souls by Linda Foster Page A

they stumbled backwards. The trashcan flew directly into
one of the demon’s knees, sending him to his face, and every one of
the monsters threw their hands up, trying to protect themselves
from the assault.
    And while they were distracted, busy
battering away the objects of my craznado, I took off
running.
    I wanted to teleport back home. And
though the sane part of me told me that was my only option … a
bigger part of me didn’t want to leave. That bigger part was
absolutely crazy. I could die if I stayed, and I had no defense
left—the craznado wouldn’t work a second time, I didn’t think. But
this could be my best chance at mastering the final power. And if I
didn’t take it, I wouldn’t have any way of saving Ash. I didn’t
have all night—I had to master the power, then get to the meeting
place with Michael, and then get to Ash. Before the demon
did.
     
    So while my feet were working to put
distance between myself and the monsters, my mind was working
overtime, trying to decide my next course of action.
    Good decisions were never made in a
moment of panic, I knew that. It was how Ash had ended up in his
current predicament. Hopefully, my risk would pay off better than
his did.
    I skidded to a stop,
terrified that this wasn’t going to work, and almost as scared that
it would . I had
to let my fear go. I needed to focus. Kali and Michael had made it
clear that my powers were affected by emotions, so I needed to get
mine in check. I had maybe thirty seconds before the demons caught
up to me. My chest felt tight, and I could feel tears building up,
but I tried to tell myself to calm down. The serenity. I had to
find the serenity. I took deep breaths and started searching for
the calmness inside myself, but all I could imagine was Ash having
his soul ripped away by the demon because I couldn’t save
him.
    Panicked, I tried to think of
something besides the intensity building inside my chest. My
weapon. I needed my weapon. I replayed every lecture, all of the
demonstrations Kali had given, trying to remember how to do it. But
she hadn’t been able to explain it clearly. I just had to find my
power, she’d said. I could call objects to me, I could summon my
power to teleport myself anywhere in the world, and it all had the
same premise—focus on what you want, feel the power inside, and
call it to yourself.
    I could feel my power, so why couldn’t
I materialize a simple weapon?
    Suddenly I heard movement
not too far behind me, and my heart rate picked up. They were
closing in on me. But I could do this. I had to do it.
    The tightness in my chest
grew until it felt like a rubber band constricting inside of me,
wrapping around my heart. Damn it. I would not die here. My brother was not going to lose his
soul. I wouldn’t allow it. The knot in my chest squeezed until I
felt like I was having a panic attack, and the more I freaked out,
the tighter the feeling inside me became, desperation mixed with
fear. But I reached down into myself until I could feel my power,
and mentally focused on it, the warmth of it like the summer
sunshine. I let myself be surrounded by the feeling, but it was
slipping away. There were moments of cold overpowering the warmth.
Was it my doubt of my abilities? Fear that I would let my brother
down?
    I thought again of my brother, and
then the demons came into view. This was it. My time was
up.
    The pressure in my chest clamped down
so hard I screamed out. The terror that had been building inside of
me reached its limit, and I desperately made one last attempt to
call my weapon. I reached deep down, clinging to the warmth of my
power with everything I had, and, pleading for help from Heaven,
called for my weapon once more, my mental shout hoarse with
need.
    That’s when it happened.
    I felt a stronger pulse of power than
I ever had before. And then the heat intensified tenfold. In the
next moment, the tightness in my chest snapped, like a bolt of
lightning had just hit me square in the