Souljacker by Kodilynn Calhoun Page A

place after school. Portal’s always open.”
    “I’ll walk.”
    “Whatev, doesn’t matter. See ya then!” She
pushes her chair away from the table with a screech of metal on
tile and picks up our trays. I watch the way her hips sway as she
saunters through the cafeteria, bold, her confidence growing with
each step she takes.
    Jale comes up behind her, resting a hand on
her shoulder. She turns and gives him a sassy grin and they walk
away together. I feel a flare of jealousy and fight it down. No.
Caddie deserves him—hell, it’s only because of her that Jale is
keeping whatever he thought happened between us a secret. But
Caddie does deserve to be happy.
    Still, I can’t help but think about Iofiel,
the way his hand rested lightly on my leg, the way his tongue swept
the drips of ice cream away from the cone. His smile, the gleam of
happiness in his eye when I sank that hole in one. The way he held
me, if only for a moment. My throat tightens. Maybe it’s not
supposed to be mine. I grab my bag and books off the table and take
off before the bell has a chance to ring.
     
    ***
     
    My stomach is a coil of snakes, writhing in
my gut with nerves as I knock on Caddie’s front door. Hope barks
mercilessly out back, high pitched and annoying. The door swings
open and Caddie grins at me. “Thought you’d gotten lost.”
    “Had to check something first,” I admit with
a shrug. Color me OCD, but I had to see if maybe Iofiel was back.
If I could just…find him, then maybe…
    I take a deep breath. “I’m not sure about
this.” I take a step back, feeling my heel teeter off the edge of
the porch step.
    Caddie reaches out and snares my arm. “Dude,
chill. It’s just my mom. She’s awesome!” With a laugh, she drags me
inside and I’m surrounded by the smell of cinnamon and sugar, AC
billowing through the house. She tugs me down the hall, wallpapered
with country-style print and pictures of Caddie and her brother
lining the walls.
    Her brother is blond and blue-eyed and
very…impish looking. Like he could have little devil horns
sprouting from his skull at any time.
    “That’s Caleb,” she says, pointing at a
picture. “He’s a pain in my butt.”
    “Looks like he could be Satan’s child.”
    “Nah, that’s me.” Caddie smirks and a flicker
of fire dances across her fingertips. “He’s powerless. Which is a
good thing. He gets into too much trouble as a normal kid, let
alone a paranormal one.”
    We walk into the kitchen and I’m hit with the
mouth-watering smell of cookies—buttery flour and cinnamon. Her
mom’s pulling a pan of snickerdoodles out of an ancient black oven,
the heat making her untamed mane of blonde curls even frizzier. She
sets the pan down on the counter on a couple of hot pads and turns
to us.
    My stomach tightens as our eyes meet and lock
for the briefest of seconds, and then she’s looking me up and down.
I hunch my shoulders and glance to Caddie, who’s picking at a very
hot cookie.
    “They just came out of the oven, Cads,” her
mom chides, her voice soft and flowery. Then she shoots me a
brilliant smile, warm enough to melt snow off a roof in the dead of
winter, and I feel myself relax a notch. She offers her hand. “I’m
Trista, Caddie’s mom, but you already knew that. Who else would I
be?” She chuckles.
    I stare at her outstretched hand for a
moment, my knee-jerk reaction not to take it, just in case. Caddie
shoots me a look that says, “Hurry up, dummy! You’re normal,
remember?” and I remember that I’m full. I don’t need her soul, her
energy. I offer a tight smile and shake her hand but it’s only
after she releases me, untouched by my Need, that I relax. “I’m
Lucy.”
    “I hope you like snickerdoodles. This is one
of my favorite recipes.”
    Caddie grins around a mouthful of cookie.
“They’re great, Mom,” she says, spitting crumbs. Trista shoots her
a glare and Caddie swallows before she continues. “As always.”
    “Thank you, Cads,”