Soul Slam Read online

  Guess he did.

  “I just want to go home,” Xander’s voice scraped with pain.

  “You have no home. You failed your one and only mission in life.” Jeb’s words sounded similar to Fitch’s threat to me before the heist. Olivia, if you’re not going to steal for the family, you don’t belong in the family.

  My bruised heart ached all over again. Do the heist or get kicked out of the family. Be able to watch over Tina and Doug or abandon them just like their parents. Become a thief or become a whore.

  Fitch’s threats were harsh, but a loud mouth and carrying a big stick was his form of motivation. Although this time his tone had been different. More intense.

  My tummy dropped so deep it never hit bottom. Xander wasn’t even given an option. And it was because of me.

  “It wasn’t my fault. She took it.” A touch of Xander’s usual arrogance returned.

  “You are no longer a member of the Society of Aten.” Disgust and anger filled the old man’s tone.

  When I screwed up, Fitch slapped me or sent me to my room with an empty stomach. But this time his larger threat to kick me out of the family was similar to Jeb’s threat.

  “What about my room? My things?” Xander’s voice cracked.

  “The things the Society bought are for the host of King Tut’s soul.” Jeb’s ice cold tone clipped short. “Which isn’t you.”

  Xander struggled to sit up. “But…but we’re a family, you brought me up, you’re the only person in this world I know.”

  Without Fitch I probably wouldn’t have survived the last few years. He wasn’t the best person, but I didn’t starve or freeze to death. He trained me to do something, even if it is illegal. If I didn’t return with the amulet, I’d be kicked out of the family. Abandoned just like Xander. So, I didn’t have a choice. I would get the amulet to Fitch if it was the last thing I did.

  “I raised you to possess King Tut.” Jeb reached down and swiped the crown off Xander’s head, then turned away. “You should’ve thought of that before you let the girl claim the soul.”

  Behind the fake foam tablet, I swallowed a lump the size of the ugly amulet. Because of me, because of my actions, Xander was being dumped. Like garbage.

  I understood what he was going through.

  The pain.

  The humiliation.

  I’d been there before with my parents and the foster care system. Many times. Until I joined Fitch. Sure things had changed more and more over the years, but I couldn’t forget—he’d never let me forget—he’d saved me.

  A high-pitched screeching wailed. I sunk down and covered my ears. The delayed pressure alarm in the display case had finally gone off. We’d be surrounded by guards soon and the museum would be swarming with police.

  My chest compressed, imagining small spaces with bars in my future.

  I peeked over the tablet to see Jeb and Xander’s reaction to the alarm. They didn’t know my inside contact would delay the police, at least by a few minutes.

  Fright flashed across Jeb’s face. “I have to find her before anyone else does,” he yelled over the alarm, a sense of determination in his tone.

  No way was I going to let that man anywhere near me. Fitch would save me, protect me, if I could get back to him with the amulet.

  “You can’t leave me here.” Xander raised a hand and then dropped it. “My body’s weak, partially paralyzed. I’ll get caught.”

  “You will learn your new rightful place.” Jeb made it sound so final.

  The front door to the exhibit banged closed and locked. I jerked at the deafening sound. It reminded me of what a prison door might sound like locking me up for life. Just the thought of a tiny cell had my chest clogging with claustrophobia. If I didn’t get out soon all the doors would close one by one. Locking me inside. Forever, or until the cops arrived. I’d never see Tina or Doug again.

  “Enjoy your stone cold afterlife.” Jeb ranted as he slipped out a second door right before it slammed shut.

  I glanced at Xander on the ground, then at the only door still open. The only escape.

  The old man didn’t care about Xander, didn’t care that he was hurt or that he’d get caught. Xander truly had been abandoned.

  I sighed. I shouldn’t help him but I couldn’t leave him lying on the floor. I had to at least get him out of the museum. Then, I’d dump him.

  I straightened from behind the tablet and rushed over to Xander. “Hurry. Let me help you.”

  His face paled. “Don’t touch me.”

  Couldn’t he accept help from a girl?

  “The guards will be here any second. We have to get out.” The bleeding sympathy in my heart changed to fear. My chest strangled, holding the organ like a caged animal.

  “Push that tablet you hid behind over here.”

  “You knew where I was?” Pressing my lips together, I did as asked. Anything to get him up and moving.

  The muscles in his arms bulged as he pushed against the fake tablet to get to his feet. “The weakness is fading.”

  “Do you have some weird disease?” Why would a perfectly healthy guy fall to the ground and not be able to move? I hadn’t pushed him that hard.

  “You have powers. I’ll explain later.” He shuffled forward with a slight limp, still looking like a Roman god, but a vulnerable one. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Duh.” Like I hadn’t been trying to do that for the last ten minutes.

  “This way.” He pointed in the direction Jeb had disappeared.

  Not only was the door closed and locked, but the older man had gone that way to find me. No way was I following Xander into a trap.

  “I’ve got a plan and I have to stick to it.”

  Not that I’d followed it since Xander had burst into the museum. Fitch would be mad that I’d helped someone from outside our circle.

  “Your plan was doomed from the start.” What Xander whispered didn’t make sense. “Trust me.”

  “Why should I trust you? You tried to steal the amulet.” I had to remember that. I might be helping him get out, but that’s where our partnership ended.

  “Isn’t that what you’re doing?” He stopped his painful-looking shuffle. His eyes flared with the intensity of the sharply-cut emeralds one of the older kids had lifted last week. “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

  I had everything to lose. Everything I’d worked for would be gone. “I’m meeting my team. Don’t tell me you still trust Jeb after what he did to you.”

  Xander’s face reddened before he glanced down. “Why did you stay to help? When Jeb left you could’ve followed.”

  I didn’t plan to tell him about my sad trip down memory lane. “I’m going this way. You can follow me, or not.”

  He followed as I scurried through the museum like a mouse in a well-practiced maze. Nerves constricted my muscles making my jog awkward, and the silence between Xander and me awkward-er. Life would’ve been easier if he’d gone his own way. I’d have a hard time explaining him.

  Fitch and I had rehearsed with a timer, knowing how many minutes I had until all the doors slammed and locked tight. I was already behind. Our paid-off guard could only neglect his duties and delay things so long.

  The plan had me exiting by the loading dock. We wended our way toward the small back room where the museum stored pieces and display materials.

  “This exit.” I pointed toward the small door next to the big garage-like loading dock doors.

  “Hey…you.”

  “Olivia.” Shoot. I shouldn’t have told him my name, but I wanted to be more than a ‘hey you’ to this guy. I didn’t want to analyze why.

  “Olivia.” I liked how he said my name. With a sophisticated accent, not a trashy lilt like the boys in the family. “Shouldn’t you look outside first?”

  I firmed my lips and kept my pace heading straight for the door. “I trust my people.” I tossed my braid around and shot him a look. The dig was deliberate.

  “So did I.” His response cut
my bravado in two.

  My family wouldn’t ditch me. Like the Marines, we didn’t leave a man behind as long as I brought Fitch what he wanted.

  I pushed against the metal bar to open the door. Damp air hit my face. So did the stench of recently-smoked cigarettes. A black SUV was parked in front of the doorway with its lights off. The shiny car looked expensive and new.

  Fitch didn’t own a vehicle like that.

  Something hard and pointy shoved into my back. Clicked. Like an animal about to become lunch, I tensed.

  “Don’t move,” a gruff voice said from behind.

  Not Fitch’s voice. Or the old creepy guy Jeb. My brain analyzed the situation while my instincts wanted to scream. “Are you a security guard? Because some old guy is in there trying to steal—”

  “Shut up. I got a rifle kissing your heart.” How long had the guy been rehearsing that corny line?

  “Wh-what do you want?” My tongue tripped over the words.

  “You.”

  First, the security guard. Then, Jeb and Xander. Now, this guy.

  It sucks to be so popular.

  Chapter Three

  The man with the gun nudged me. I stumbled forward and then stopped. Queasiness squirmed in my stomach like a weasel burrowing deep. I was afraid to turn around and look at him. “You a cop?”

  I knew plenty of cops in San Francisco. None of them drove an expensive vehicle like the one parked by the loading dock, but asking questions didn’t hurt. I needed to stall for time, get more information, pray Fitch would come to my rescue.

  A slight movement inside the car caught my eye. The vehicle’s ignition turned on. A tall man was seated in the driver’s seat. He wore all black.

  The guy behind me shoved the butt of the gun harder. “Get moving.”

  The queasiness erupted and vaulted up my throat. Fitch wasn’t there. Instead, two strangers with guns waited. My mind clicked with possibilities but came up empty. Like a tornado of dust in an alley, disbelief whipped and clogged my brain. Fitch had done to me what Jeb had done to Xander. Exactly.

  Desperation clawed inside my chest raking my lungs into shreds of pain and confusion. Fitch wouldn’t do that to me. He wasn’t like Jeb. He worried about the family, made sure we were safe.

  From everyone but him, I argued internally.

  No. Fitch cared about us, not just as tools to get what he wanted. On other jobs, he would never leave until the thief was out of the building…

  …and the stolen object safely in his hands.

  Stop thinking like that. Jeb’s callous handling of Xander and Fitch missing a meet were not the same. Something must’ve happened to Fitch. Maybe he was hiding, waiting to help me at the right time. He wouldn’t desert me. I refused to believe it. He wanted the amulet too much.

  The guy holding the gun slumped behind me.

  Stiffening, I twisted around and saw Xander. He pinched the guy’s shoulder. The rifle clattered to the ground. “Touch him.”

  “What? What did you do to him?”

  “Touch him. Now.” The urgency in Xander’s voice couldn’t be ignored.

  I bent down and touched the guy. He screamed like Xander had earlier. His body convulsed. Did I do that?

  A car door slammed and I jumped out of my thoughts. The tall man got out of the driver’s seat of the black SUV. His face shadowed by a hat and the overhang of a tree. The man raised his arms and the security lights glinted off the black metal object in his hand.

  Another gun.

  Heat fired through my veins like lava, erupting in adrenaline and alarm. The danger wasn’t over.

  “Run.” I darted down the three short steps of the loading dock and took cover behind a large metal dumpster.

  Xander scampered behind me like an over-protective bodyguard.

  I peeked around the edge of the dumpster. The first man still lay shaking on the loading dock. The tall man moved cautiously forward holding the gun out front like a shield. We needed to dash now, before the tall man got closer.

  “Go!” Xander ordered.

  We rushed from behind the dumpster through a deserted parking lot, knowing a bullet could zing by and stop either one of us in an instant. Xander ran slightly ahead of me. I huffed and puffed across the empty lot. We darted into the bushes lining the blacktop and leading to Golden Gate Park. I stumbled to the ground trying to catch my breath.

  The darkness exploded with blue and red slashes of light as they twirled off the approaching squad cars. The tall man ran back to his car, got in, and peeled away.

  Trapped in the beams of red and blue, I ducked farther into the bushes trying to control my exhausted, shaking limbs. Xander dove to the ground.

  I scooted deeper into the woods, leaving the museum and the cops behind.

  “You’re leaving?” Xander sounded like a lost child and pulled at my heart.

  But when I turned to face him, he presented a strong, over-bearing male. Even crawling on his hands and knees he appeared arrogant.

  I forced a harsh attitude into my tone knowing we’d be better off separated. Or at least I would. “Uh, yeeeeaaah.” The disc warmed beneath my shirt. My chest rose and fell. “Handcuffs don’t match my outfit.”

  He scooted behind, keeping up with my semi-crawls. “I need to tell you about the power.”

  More crazy talk. Time to say buh-bye. Then, I pictured the guy with the gun who’d fallen at my touch and Xander convulsing on the museum floor.

  I bit my lip, then stopped and stared at Xander. He was cute, but he was a liability. He made me vulnerable with his white sheet and kooky ideas. He’d helped me and I’d helped him. An even score. This was where it had to end.

  “Well, thanks for knocking that guy out. That weird maneuver saved me.” A bug buzzed my face and I gently swatted it away. The insect plummeted to the ground.

  “It’s Sebakkah, an ancient Egyptian form of martial arts.” That’s probably how he got such a great body.

  “Good to know in case I ever encounter it again.” As if.

  Now out of view of the parking lot, I straightened and walked away. Going our own way was for the best. I had to find Fitch, explain why I was off-plan. “Do you have a cell phone I could use?”

  “No.” Xander followed me.

  “No, you don’t have one? Or no, I can’t use it?” Every teen had a cell. Even with our limited resources, Fitch gave us each one so he could reach us at any time. Mine was usually glued to my hand. Except tonight because of our paranoid client.

  “I don’t have one.”

  “Why not?”

  “I wasn’t allowed to have one.” Xander’s voice quieted like he was telling me a secret. “The Society didn’t want me in contact with anyone but them.”

  “Bummerita.” For him, and now for me.

  “I’m serious about the training.” His tone commanded as if he really was a king or pharaoh.

  “From you? I don’t think so.”

  The last thing I needed was this arrogant high school McHottie telling me what to do. “Right now the only thing I need is to get far away from the museum.” I walked faster hoping he’d give up and leave me alone.

  He kept his pace even with mine. “You have to know the basics for hosting King Tut’s soul. To handle his power.”

  “What power?” The question escaped in a rush of stupid words before I could stop it. He’d mentioned powers before, but I hadn’t had the time to think about it.

  And sure, I’d felt something when I’d swiped the amulet. And yes, the little army had seemed to move. And both Xander and the gun guy had screamed and fell at my touch. But that was just lighting and atmosphere. Like a scary movie shown in a dark theater allowing a viewer to suspend disbelief.

  Firming the theory in my mind, I kept walking. I didn’t want to have a conversation, especially with him, about some funky ability that didn’t exist.

  “King Tutankhamun harnessed the power of the sun and worshipped the sun god Aten in secret.”

  “If
it was in secret, how do you know?” Ha, caught Xander in a lie.

  “The Society of Aten carried on the traditions, wrote the scrolls keeping the history, paid the sacrifices.” He caught up to me.

  “Human sacrifices?” Figures I’d get caught up in a killing cult.

  He scrunched his face in a gross expression. “Because King Tut used the powers of a god, when he died his soul didn’t go to the Afterlife. His soul existed in a vortex. His powers were stored in the amulet. The amulet you now wear.”

  Goosebumps traveled my skin like ancient warriors on a quest. Thinking about dead guys wearing the same jewels curled my stomach. Disgusting. I tugged the amulet away from my body through my thin T-shirt.

  “During a phase of the moon, when an appropriate host is found and the ancient words spoken the amulet acts as a conduit transferring Tut’s soul and the powers to a new host.” His footsteps echoed in tune with mine.

  Crickets chirped. An owl hooted. The woods provided the spooky atmosphere. I wrapped my arms around myself in a comforting hug. The deep cadence of his voice and the story he told set off alarms in my head. I digested his story, totally sucked in by the tale.

  Don’t be a fool, Olivia. “Ha, ha, ha. You weave a great tale. Ever thought of writing a book?”

  Xander didn’t crack a smile. The intensity of his green eyes sparked with conviction. “Did you hear the ancient words Jeb spoke?”

  “Yes.” The strange chanting of the old man had creeped me out. I hadn’t understood a single word.

  “He spoke the ritualistic words on the night of the summer solstice during a total lunar eclipse.”

  The damp blanket of fog rolling in from the Pacific didn’t hide the eerie, copper-colored moon. Earth’s shadow covered a portion, making the moon darker than most nights.

  “I heard about the eclipse on TV.” In between the gossip and fashion reports. I didn’t pay attention to hard news because I lived the crime scene every day.

  “Both events happening at the same time hasn’t occurred in almost 400 years. The receiver of King Tut’s soul must have turned sixteen this year.” He whipped his head to analyze me. “How old are you?”