Soul Redemption



  Soul Redemption

  Short Story Prequel to Waning Moon

  Book One in the Chronicles of Lily Carmichael trilogy

  By

  PJ Sharon

  Other Books By PJ Sharon

  Heaven Is For Heroes

  On Thin Ice

  Savage Cinderella

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, or as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the author.

  Please respect the hard work of the author and support Independent publishing.

  Cover stock photo by Big Stock Photos

  Design by Melody Simmons

  Copyright 2013 by PJ Sharon

  Chapter 1

  “Lighten up with your hands around my throat.” Lily gasped as she struggled to escape my grip.

  “Sorry. I guess I don’t know my own strength.” I let go, unaware that I was crushing her wind pipe.

  As soon as I loosened my hold, Lily shot her hands straight up into the air, breaking the hold. She spun around and locked my arms under hers. Then, with a wide step back and a sweep of her leg, she slammed me to the ground. The wind gushed out of my lungs as she landed on top of me and jammed her elbow into my stomach.

  Before I could recover and grab her, she rolled away and was on her feet, a broad grin in place. “I can’t believe you fell for that.”

  I dragged myself to standing, dusted off the dirt, and picked straw out of my hair before it got lost in the thick, dark curls. I glared at my sister. “That wasn’t fair. You used mercy as a weapon.”

  “No, I used my brains as a weapon.”

  I wanted to wipe the smug look off her face, but she had squarely beaten me. I let a smile curve my lips. “I hope you didn’t strain anything.”

  “Ha ha, very funny.” We stalked around each other again.

  “Don’t think I’ll fall for that twice. It’s not like you wouldn’t heal if I happened to…say…break your arm…” I grabbed for her wrist and twisted it behind her back, pulling her in close and wrapping a forearm around her neck in a choke hold.

  I had her up on her toes as she gave out a yelp. Then I heard a pop and immediately let go. She dropped to her knees.

  “I’m sorry!” I yelled over her screaming. “I didn’t mean to…”

  But she was already manipulating her arm into the socket and working her way to stand, her face going from pale to crimson in a matter of seconds as she relocated her shoulder and shrugged off the pain. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You have no self-control!”

  “I said I was sorry.” I stared at my feet, tucking my hands behind my back as if they might do more damage if left to their own devices. Controlling my strength, my temper, and worst of all, my life-taking abilities was becoming increasingly difficult. With each passing day, the urges became stronger, the temptation greater.

  Lily approached cautiously, which only served to make me feel worse. “I realize this is challenging, but you have to try harder to control yourself. If that was anyone else, you could have done permanent damage.”

  What she meant to say was that I might have killed them. These training exercises were pointless. I didn’t need to learn how to fight off an attacker. If anyone so much as laid a hand on me, I had the power to siphon their life’s energy off in a matter of seconds, leaving them gasping for air until the light drained from their eyes. At least that’s how I imagined it happening. I’d used my gift, as Lily insisted on calling it, to save her life from a mountain lion and to kill wounded animals to stop their suffering. But human life had a certain intense…flavor—one that was hard to forget and even harder to resist. More than once I’d siphoned off bits of energy from strangers and townspeople who continued on their way, fatigued and nauseous, but unsuspecting. Vague memories haunted my dreams, telling me I’d done worse.

  I squared off with my sister, grudgingly admitting she had a point. “You don’t understand how hard this is.” I turned away, afraid she might see my desperation. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just can’t control…what’s happening to me.” The rush of adrenaline that surged through me when I allowed my ability to take over frightened me with its intensity, but I couldn’t help wanting to experience the powerful effects. It was like a drug. And the high kept getting better.

  “Maybe I understand more than anyone.” Lily followed me to the paddock where Phoenix and Shilo, our two horses, stood munching oats from their buckets. I sat down on a bale of hay while she leaned against the fence, petting Shilo’s long nose. “I know what it’s like not to be able to use your gift—to have to hide who you are from the world.”

  Lily’s gift for healing was an amazing ability, but she wasn’t allowed to use it for fear of drawing unwanted attention. The Industry would like nothing better than to get their hands on us. EVO kids like Lily and me ended up captured, detained, and brought to the Western Desert, never to be seen again—an outcome Sam, our uncle, was determined to avoid. Lily made exceptions, of course. Her healing nature wouldn’t allow her to turn away someone in need, but she tried to keep her talents hidden. Otherwise, people from all over would track her down seeking help and she’d never have a moment’s peace. Then too, every time she did a major healing, like bringing someone back from the edge of death, the strain took a toll on her, leaving her weak for days sometimes. In some ways, her gift was probably harder to keep contained than mine.

  “We’re two of a kind, aren’t we, sis?”

  “Two sides of the same coin.” She smiled and sat beside me, ruffling my hair and then rubbing her knuckles across the top of my head. I winced at the biting pain. Not that I didn’t deserve it for dislocating her shoulder.

  “Sorry about hurting you.”

  Her face grew serious. “You have to learn to control yourself, Zeph. I understand you’re going through a lot of changes. It’ll take time and practice to figure out your limits.” A sympathetic smile passed across her face and then faded. “I want you to remember how bad it feels to hurt someone. That feeling of regret and sadness may be the only thing that stops you from acting on those urges.”

  Taking in a slow, deep breath, I considered the heavy weight of guilt I carried for causing the people I cared about so much pain. “This power is not a gift, Lily; it’s a curse.” I turned away and my hair fell over my eyes.

  “Only if you let it be. If you can find a way to use your ability for good—to make the world better—to help people—then you’ll see it as a gift.”

  “You make it sound so easy.” I nudged her, trying to smile past the awful truth that made her words sound impossible.

  She rested her head on my shoulder. “It’s not easy, Zeph. But I’m afraid it’s the only way you’ll survive.”