Echo (The Soul Seekers 2)

“Playing chauffeur seems to be the only way I can clinch any quality time with you. For such a dead-end town, you sure seem to keep busy.”

“Yeah, it’s called school. Homework. You know, the kind of life normal people have. Crazy, I know.” I shake my head, slide toward the edge of my seat.

“Is that what this is about—you wanting to be normal? Because we can do normal, Daire. You should see how normal my life has become.” She swivels in her seat, looking at me with a face so full of hope I can’t help but look away.

I stare hard at the Rabbit Hole, the very symbol of why I’ll never be normal again. As long as there are Richters, I’ll have no choice but to live the kind of life I’m only just beginning to understand.

Being a Seeker is my new normal. It’s the life I’m going to have to learn to embrace. These lighthearted bickering sessions with Jennika are about as normal as my life will permit.

“So, Secret Santa, huh?” Jennika fusses at my hair, determined to reclaim my attention. “Whose name did you pick?”

“Lita’s.” Turning toward Jennika, I add, “But Lita got Dace so she traded with me.” My voice sounds small when I say it. Prompting me to shake it off, remind myself how much has changed—how much I’ve changed—in just a few days.

“So, Lita got … herself?” When our eyes meet, we both burst into laughter, until she focuses on the bag I hold on my lap. “Are you going to tell me what you got him?”

“No.” I gaze down at the bag, clutching it tighter, as though to keep her from snatching it. Which, she probably wouldn’t do. Still, with Jennika, you can never be sure. “I’d really rather not.”

She studies me for a long moment, heaving a sigh of resignation as she says, “You need me to pick you up too?”

“I’ll find a ride. You just go do whatever you decide to do.” I open the door, start to squeeze out of the car. But just when I step onto the street, I’m overcome by one of those impressions—astounded by the amount of sadness and loneliness Jennika holds in her heart. Enough to prompt me to turn back and say, “If you want to stop by tomorrow, I can saddle up Kachina, borrow a horse from Chay, and we can go for a ride?”

Jennika smiles. “Sure. Why not? It’s been a while since I got my cowgirl on. But for now—” She fumbles through her purse, pulls me toward her, and dabs a dot of shiny, clear gloss smack in the center of my lower lip. Then she smudges a thumb over each cheek. “Okay, now you’re completely irresistible. Go knock ’em dead.”

I make for the entrance, but only because I can feel her watching me from the car. The second she drives away I dart for the back, where I busy myself with the prep work. Using every item I stored in my bag, before I run a self-conscious hand over the mane of curls I’m not used to wearing, and head into the club.

Barely having enough time to acclimate to the dim light and noise before Lita grabs hold of my sleeve. “Finally!” she says. “I thought for sure you were going to wreck my party!” She huffs, rolls her eyes, and shakes her head simultaneously. It’s an impressive, dramatic display. “But—you’re here now!” She engulfs me in one of her Lita hugs that, between the surprising amount of sincerity and the cloud of cloying perfume, always leave me reeling.

“So, where were you anyway? Why are you late? Did you come with Dace—because he’s not here either. Or, correction, the old beater truck he drives is here, but I haven’t seen him anywhere.” She draws away and runs a scrutinizing eye over me. “And who did your hair and makeup? Is Jennika in town? Do you think she’ll do me?” Not allowing me any time to respond, before she adds, “Whatever. We’ll cover that later. Just—come. C’mon!”

She tugs hard on my sleeve and steers me past a huge Christmas tree with branches so stuffed with ornaments they sag under the weight. Then she drags me down mistletoe row, scowling at any guy foolish enough to look at her with a gleam in his eye, stopping only when she reaches the group of tables nearest the bar, where pretty much the entire junior class sits. Including the people who, just a few weeks earlier, she’d deemed completely unworthy of noticing.

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.” She fields my look of surprise. “First I befriend you. Then Xotichl and Auden. Then Dace. And now, it looks like I’m willing to be friends with just about anyone.” She lifts her shoulders, looks all around. “What can I say? I’ve turned into a complete and total friend whore. Then again, it is Christmas, and that always puts me in a giving mood. So I decided to expand my horizons and allow all of these losers to come to my party.” She smiles and waves at a small group of them, and the way they react to being noticed by her—overexcited and giddy—well, it’s a good indication of just how much power she wields.

I may have the power of the elements and the power of my ancestors on my side, but Lita has the power of charisma—attracting people to her like bees to a flower.

“I have something for you,” I say, once we’ve met up with Xotichl. “For both of you. Auden too.” I dig through the contents of my purse, in search of the small, crudely wrapped packages I pass on to them. “Sorry about the wrap job—I didn’t have much time.”

“Who cares about the paper?” Lita says, not missing a beat before she’s ripping into her gift. “It’s the insides that count, right?”

I glance between them, noting Lita’s disappointment and Xotichl’s joy, when they discover a small carved opossum and bat respectively.

“It’s a talisman.” I bite down on my lip.

“I know what it is.” Lita looks at

me. “You can’t grow up in Enchantment without being surrounded by loads of superstitions.”

“It’s not just superstitious,” Xotichl says, curling hers into her palm. “These animal totems protect us, look after us, in more ways than you realize.”

“Says the most superstitious person I know.” Lita laughs, playfully bumping her shoulder against Xotichl’s.

“Maybe so. But just so you know, these aren’t like the ones they used to sell in the tourist shops—back when we had tourist shops. These are—”

“Fortified,” I cut in. “They hold the power to protect. But only if you wear it, keep it nearby, and try not to share it with anyone else. Present company excluded, of course.”

Xotichl tucks Auden’s gift into her pocket, and her bat into the soft buckskin pouch she recently started wearing, while Lita looks on with a skeptical expression. “I don’t have to start wearing one of those, do I?” She jabs a thumb toward Xotichl’s pouch. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m appreciative of the gift, and those pouches look okay on you guys, but I wear a lot of deep V-necks. It’s gonna stand out—and not in a good way.”

“You can put it in a pocket,” Xotichl says. “Or…”