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Now Maggie has been given the chance of her after-life to become a Guard, nothing will stand in her way. Not even the undeniable attraction she feels for her trainer and past love—Jackson. But when the battle between Shadowed and Guard begins again which side will she choose?
When her boss, Felix, partners Jackson and Maggie up with Ally and Cooper to investigate terrifying Shadowed activity, she doesn’t think it could get any worse. Jackson and Cooper barely tolerate each other and this time, Maggie isn’t just proving her loyalty to the Guard during one mission…she has a side mission too. One so secret and so dangerous she can’t tell a soul…
Praise for KATLYN DUNCAN
‘Katlyn Duncan’s YA debut, Soul Taken, is a thrilling ride that will leave you breathless for the next page, and curious to find the true soul we nurture within.’ Jennifer Murgia, Author of the Angel Star series and Between These Lines
‘Wow! Talk about a completely unique concept with tons of new ideas, roles, and characters that took me on an exhilarating adventure.’ 4.5 stars from I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews
‘I really loved this book. From the first page I was totally hooked and couldn’t put it down until I was finished.’ Dark Faerie Tales
‘Soul Taken is a BRILLIANT read!…This is one of those books to look out for.’ 5 stars from A Diary of a Book Addict
‘It is a quick read and leaves you excited for the next installment of the series…Can’t wait to read more from this debut author!’ 5 stars from Allie Kacmar*
‘I loved the book, such a fast read. I felt like I knew each character personally…Then mix in the excitement of the souls being taken, it really makes you think.’ 5 stars from Joanne*
‘Soul Taken is a tasty morsel indeed.’ 5 stars from Nicky Peacock*
*Reader reviews
Also by Katlyn Duncan
Soul Taken
Soul Possessed
Katlyn Duncan
Copyright
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2013
Copyright © Katlyn Duncan 2013
Katlyn Duncan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © October 2013 ISBN: 9781472044556
Version date: 2018-10-30
Katlyn Duncan
has been reading and writing since before she can remember; her earliest memories involve dragging her mom to the store to get the latest Goosebumps book. She earned two science degrees and currently works in the medical field. She spends her free time writing, reading, and renovating her Victorian “fixer upper” in southern New England with her husband.
To Mr. Foley. Thank you for showing me that reading is an escape.
Contents
Cover
Blurb
Praise
Book List
Title Page
Copyright
Author Bio
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Endpages
About the Publisher
Chapter One
It wasn’t the first time I went back there. Back to the night I destroyed the soul of my grandson, David. Part of the family I didn’t remember. The visions used to be more frequent and, I suppose, I had to be thankful for that. Jackson was always there to wake me up.
And like every other time, I fell into the vision not remembering how I got there. The sharp rock walls closed in around me as the insatiable need to feed awoke, twisting its silky fingers around every fiber of my soul.
Then, I saw the man that brought me there.
David.
His name brought forth a barrage of images and new memories, ones I’d experienced through his daughter after he trapped me in her body. He had taken Ally’s soul knowing that because of our familial link her body would accept mine in her absence. He wanted my power to be awakened on her eighteenth birthday through her transformation, and as much as I had tried to stop it, my power had been awoken after he insisted on hurting the only friends I had.
I looked down at my hand. The orange essence rolled off my fingers in waves, reaching toward him. His soul touched the essence and his body stiffened. His terror surged through me, his grin unmoving as if he wanted me to take him. And it didn’t argue. I didn’t argue. The essence lurched forward, finding the connection to his soul. The insurmountable power within him tasted divine as if my very existence was for this purpose.
I leaned forward, closing my hands, pulling more of his soul into me. His bright green eyes dimmed and his ashen face went slack as I withdrew the last of his soul from his body. Even when there was nothing left to take, I kept my hands close to his body. David’s form fell limp across the cave floor and didn’t stir. My essence burned bright, breaking the bond between his body and mine. Heat flowed through me, and with it more strength than I had ever felt in a hundred years. Even though I couldn’t imagine feeling stronger, the essence sought out its next meal.
Something moved behind me. I sensed the soul and, with the promise of more, the essence pulsed with excitement.
The soul neared, its hand dropping on my shoulder. Its life force called to me. I leaned in to the touch. That was the more I’d been looking for. Suddenly, an unexpected weight in my hand grabbed my attention. My hands tightened around the hilt of a broadsword. I lifted it slightly; the lightness of the weapon surprised me. That could be useful in subduing my new target. Something tugged at my memory but the essence was overwhelming, begging my soul to turn around and feed. I whirled around, brandishing the sword between us.
My assailant held a similar weapon, but he kept it pointed at the ground. The essence hesitated and so did I. Why wasn’t he fighting back? I raised my sword. He may have been significantly taller, but I had the advantage of David’s strength inside of me.
“Mags.” His gravely voice struck me as a hint of a memory bubbled to the surface at the nickname.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to place him. My essence didn’t budge but it waited there on the surface, hesitating. I lifted my gaze to his light blue eyes, almost hidden behind the dark tresses unevenly masking his eyebrows and the tips of his ears.
He moved his arms to the side. “Put down the sword.”
The rock face shimmered around us, but I blinked until it stopped moving. I lifted my sword to him and my essence surged forward, weaving around my sword toward the dark-haired boy. His eyes widened, but he didn’t fight back. I tested him by flicking my hand to the side, almost nicking his black shirt with the blade.
He jumped back, “Snap out of it.”
David’s soul-strength rolled around inside me, urging me forward. I brought down my sword, but he blocked it. I tried again, but he blocked me. Over and over we did this, my essence getting closer to him with each strike.
Grinning, I accessed the power within me and leapt forward, bringing my sword down closer to him this time. He moved back, but I anticipated his reaction and continued to invade his space, not giving him an advantage for one second. As much as I wanted his soul he wasn’t interested in hurting me, only blocking me. Frustration turned to annoyance until I shifted my position, backing him against the stone wall with enough strength to startle him. His sword dropped to the ground leaving his chest wide open. If I could touch him, I’d be able to take him.
I paused too long and before I knew it he side-stepped me and went for his sword.
“You aren’t in the caves, Mags!”
Don’t lose focus.
I flicked my wrist and brought the tip of my sword close to him. He leapt back and this time he purposefully dropped the sword, putting his hands out in front of him.
“Look at me!”
I did. His blazing blue eyes were pleading. The air around him shifted. I blinked again, but this time the walls continued to move and shift. The rock crumbled around us and started to shimmer like the afternoon sun over the ocean. I lost focus and succumbed to the cave crashing down around us. I looked down at my hands, dropping my weapon. The essence pulsed and disappeared just as the rock did.
My new surroundings were of a water’s edge. Small waves lazily lapped against the shore. In the distance, the sun had almost set behind a plush mountain ridge. Every shade of purple cascading across a cloudless sky.
I was in the After. Jackson was right. I’d been inside of another vision.
I stepped back from Jackson, realizing that I could have hurt him. I shoved my hands into my pockets and closed my eyes, trying to calm my jittering soul.
“Hey.” Jackson’s voice was closer than I wanted.
I stumbled backwards raising my fists to stop him. “Wait.”
Bolting to the shore, I knelt down, my black pants soaking up the water, but I didn’t care. I looked down at my reflection expecting to see a power-hungry monster, the one that I felt like each time the visions of that night manifested in my mind. But all I saw was the same soul I’d seen for the past hundred years. The only difference was the black Guard uniform instead of the white Collector one.
I blinked a few times before I was convinced that my surroundings were real. The After had been my home for the past hundred years, but only recently I’d been able to experience my breathtaking environment. Even though I had no use for breathing, I inhaled, taking in the fresh and slightly sweet scent. I dug my hands into the soft sand, rooting me. Calming me.
Jackson appeared next to me. I looked up at him through my reflection.
“I think we’re making progress.”
I turned around. He had one hand open at his side, but the other held my sword. He wiggled his fingers and I took it. Then he wrapped his long fingers around mine and lifted me to his side, holding me there until the tightness in my chest unfurled to a numbness that slowly pooled in my middle.
I loosened my grip and reached for my sword, pretending to ignore his hurt expression. It was the one I’d seen a few times a day since we started training together over two months ago. In the time I’d known him, I’d seen a few of Jackson’s memories through his eyes, and a strange molding of my and his recollection of the night I’d murdered Gemma and Tristan, my sister and husband. The night I died.
Guilt rushed through me every time, but it was my choice not to have my memories back. Not his. I’d attempted to reintroduce myself to him but he was at an unfair advantage, knowing me better than I knew myself.
Without the vision in the forefront of my mind I focused on my weapon. It fit my hand perfectly, because it had been made for me. It wasn’t a human’s traditional broadsword, heavy and bulky; it was made in the After, with a piece of my True Soul embedded in it. I slid it into the baldric strapped to my back.
Looking up, I remembered Jackson had spoken to me and I attempted to cover my thoughts. “How so? That time I nearly had you.”
He grinned. “But you haven’t had an episode for two weeks now. That’s progress.”
I looked across the water, not meeting his gaze. He was right, but I’d prefer not to have any at all.
“Do you want to take a break?”
I shook my head. “The Shadowed don’t take breaks.” He’d said that to me in the beginning when the training had been a challenge after a century of Collecting. His words flowing from my mouth surprised us both.
Jackson looked over his shoulder. “I don’t see any Shadowed here.” He reached out to take my hand, but quickly pulled it back, nodding his head instead to his left. “Come on.”
I didn’t need to ask where we were going. Felix required downtime for all After workers, Soul Collectors included, but Jackson always took a break in training after a vision. I’d always been fond of the Living Realm for my time off when I was a Collector, but Jackson rarely took me there. Not that I wanted to go back just yet.
The last time I’d visited the cemetery where my family was buried, I’d had one of the worst episodes I could remember. Even though the essence hadn’t been seen outside my visions since the night of Ally’s birthday, they were real enough for me not to want any of my memories back. That included no more Living Realm, at least until I could control this power inside of me.
We walked a path across the shore in silence. Our training site was far from the office that I’d flitted in and out of while I was a Soul Collector. Felix had chosen the site for us. I’d guessed it was because of my status among the Guard. Even though David had his mind set on destroying his daughter’s future, I had been the one to destroy a precious Prognatum. I understood their disdain for me, since everyone else had known about what I’d done in my past before Jackson revealed it to me. Felix had removed the memories of my human life from my mind to protect me. I now knew that those memories were linked to my soul-sucking abilities so as much as I had been mad at him, he had done me a favor.
I’d wondered many times why Felix didn’t opt to Recycle me. Technically I was still a Prognatum, even though I hadn’t transformed due to my untimely death at seventeen. Felix and the other Caeleste were hesitant to release me back to the Living Realm giving the Shadowed a chance at attempting to take me again.
I glanced over at Jackson, whose hardened expression was turned towards our destination. I hadn’t known what to expect of my ex-Guard when Felix assigned us to train together. I had been under the impression that he had been a Shadowed, which wasn’t completely wrong. When I died at my father’s hand, Felix had removed Jackson from his position in our family. He trained other Guard for a few decades until that proved to be a mistake, so Felix gave him a new job—to infiltrate and gain information from the Shadowed. But to keep him undercover, the other Guard were told that Jackson had been turned by the Shadowed a long time ago. I still didn’t understand the full reason for Jackson’s separation from the Guard but I knew a part of it was because of our relationship—a relationship that made the fire in Jackson’s eyes flicker with desire after I said something that reminded him of a memory of us. A fire that equally kindled something inside of me, just out of reach, and I needed to keep it that way.
Jackson nudged me, pulling me back to the present. “Let’s go over some of your verbal lessons while we walk. Unless you prefer silence?”
I’d had enough of internal turmoil to last for a while, so I grinned. “Shoot.”
Chapter Two
Jackson fired questions at me for the rest of our trek.
“Name three rules of corporeality?” he quizzed.
“Make as little interaction as possible. Never be photographed. And give the illusion of life.”
Along with the combat part of the training, the Guard were informed of a lot more than I’d ever been privy to as a Collector. The regulations of the Guard were quite intricate and I understood now why Cooper had kept a lot of it secret. The information was need-to-know for anyone other than a Guard. Initially I was overwhelmed with the lessons, but Jackson had a way of making it easier to digest. And I wasn’t blind to his charm. He made me want to learn and want to do the best I could. This role had been my destiny and I’d try harder than any other trainee to earn my spot back on the Guard, even if I wasn’t a transformed Prognatum.
Transformed Prognatum were still very much alive, but their hybrid status allowed them to cross over into the After without dying as I had. They were given their rightful spot on the Guard. I had to earn it. I wasn’t upset at that fact. Not anymore. Even though Felix and I had our differences, I appreciated the second chance. The only redeeming factor for me was that I’d given birth before I died, securing the Prognatum line. Ally would age until she appeared to be around thirty human years and be able to live the long lives that the Caeleste had, I would forever be seventeen.
“Mags.”
I found Jackson’s eyes, which were looking down at me expectantly.
Shaking my head I tried to focus. “What was the question?”
He regarded me for a second before repeating himself. “What is important about these rules?”
“To preserve and protect the After from the humans.”
I shoved away any distracting thoughts and prodded him for more questions.
***
Our training site wasn’t far from the one place in the After that calmed me in the way the cemetery used to. In the months since Ally’s birthday, Jackson had taken me all over the After. It was just as momentous as the Living Realm, possibly even more. And it was undoubtedly just as beautiful as I’d always seen from my old office. I knew of the other hubs for Soul Collectors and Guard but I never comprehended how many. Word of my ‘gift’ had spread fast so I’d learned to ignore the narrowed stares from the Guard and open-mouthed gapes from the Collectors. Although the further we got from our main office, the more exaggerated my story had become, making it less believable to intelligent souls.
One of my favorite hubs was one of the farthest we’d traveled to where I’d met a Collector who had been in the position almost twice as many years as I’d been. The three of us spent an afternoon together trading stories, and I enjoyed his company so much that by the end of it, guilt had risen to the surface, making my chest ache. I was finally able to understand why Felix wanted me to connect with other Collectors and that I had chosen not to. There was a lot more to the After than just Soul Collecting. Too bad it cost so much to get me to that point.
“Mags,” Jackson’s voice broke through my memories.
I looked up at him. “Sorry.”
He reached down, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve been distracted all day—”
“I know,” I interrupted, trying to not focus on the weight of his hand on my soul. I looked up at our destination. “Let’s just go. I’ll be fine when we get there.”
He took my hand as we approached the familiar ridge that for so many years I’d only been on the other side of. We couldn’t transport the way we did in the Living Realm, so the sharp and rocky terrain leading to Gate Seven had to be navigated delicately.
Even though we’d climbed the ridge more times than I could count, Jackson insisted on us doing it together. Not that either of us could die again, but injuries weren’t beyond the scope of a soul, especially those who saw a forbidden ridge and chose to climb it.
Gate Seven was off-limits to souls outside of Collectors on their missions. We’d yet to establish how the Gatekeepers got there outside of actually climbing the ridge. But I understood the importance. They had a job to do and didn’t need distractions and the souls were overwhelmed enough with having just died, they didn’t need an audience.
We made our way up the path of rocks and I took the same slow steps that Jackson did, his hand squeezing mine to help me balance on the trickier pointed rocks. I focused on my footing, distracting my mind away from how his hand felt holding mine. Despite not knowing the full extent of our past together, I knew it had been passionate and absolutely forbidden. But we’d established a friendship during training that just extended beyond a professional one. I appreciated that he never gave up any information about our past unless I asked. He knew how sensitive I was about it so we stuck to the time of his human and soul life before we met.
Jackson gripped my arm with his other hand and helped me balance. “Last one.”
I closed my eyes like I always did, clearing the negative thoughts of my vision. My soul had calmed significantly already but I loved experiencing Gate Seven with an unclouded mind.
When Jackson let go of my hand, unconsciously I reached out for him, opening my eyes in the process.
As a Collector I’d seen thousands of manifestations of Gate Seven through the eyes of my target souls. The True Soul which helped coax the soul from the body also manifested how a soul would want their transition into the After to appear. Some envisioned pearly gates and others brought out their favorite place in the world. All of the manifestations eased the soul enough to accept their fate. Then the Gatekeepers would be there to guide them to their place in the After to spend their soul life.
But none of the manifestations I’d experienced would come close to what Gate Seven actually looked like. Gatekeepers lined the Veil at the edge of the After waiting for their assigned soul to cross over. I could barely make out the Veil against the glowing backdrop since it was nearly invisible but a lot stronger than it looked. In one of my many new lessons, Jackson had explained that what we referred to as Gate Seven was a sort of dead space between the Living and After Realms, which made it easier to visualize a soul’s manifestation.
Without the connection of a soul, I experienced Gate Seven as an endless sky with swirling patterns in every color. The souls and Collectors in the distance appeared to be standing on air, which at first looked a bit startling, but as a Collector I knew they were witnessing a different kind of beauty. The After didn’t share the same sun as the Living Realm, but it was more powerful creating a constant glow in the distance, illuminating the Realm. It never became fully dark at any point, just a shift in color from light pinks and purples fading into deep blues and reds and every color between.