didn't want me to get too close to her. I stopped a few feet away from Devon, making sure I wasn't crossing the barrier that had protected me before.
"You came back." He smiled. It looked just as fake as before, plastered on his beautiful lips to lure me in and give me a false sense of trust and safety. I didn't fall for it.
"How do I unleash my powers?"
He cocked a brow. "You don't know?"
"If I knew I wouldn't be asking."
"You don't need to unleash them, Sofia. They're already there, waiting to be put to the test."
His answer took me by surprise and for a moment I just stared at him, searching his features for a giveaway that he was lying. "How do I use them then?"
"Come with me and we'll show you." He reached out again, his fingers pressed against the invisible shield.
I shook my head. "First answer, then I'll consider your offer."
"No. You need us more than we need you."
"What makes you say that?"
"Don't you want to be with your sister again?" He pointed behind him at the small figure peering at me from between the trees. Her hair swayed in a breeze I didn't feel, her white, baggy gown made her look frail and sick. I could make out the details on the hem and around her thin wrists, and yet I couldn't really see her face through the blur that seemed to envelop her.
I swallowed down the lump in my throat. "My sister's dead. The only way I could ever be with her is if I joined her in the afterlife."
"That's not true, and you know it," he said. "We could help you find a body and teach you to raise her."
I considered his words. Ever since Theo died I had wanted to know what happened to her. For a long time, I would've given anything to turn back the time so my baby sister wouldn't go out that fateful night in search of me. If I hadn't insisted on playing the gig and took a taxi like every human being in New York, she wouldn't have needed to leave the house. If I didn't tell her how much that gig meant to me, Theo would still be alive. I desperately wanted her to live, but raising the dead? It seemed so…wrong. So scary. Would I be creating the same person as before, or a dead copy of her former self? A zombie. I needed to know how to use my powers and what those powers entailed before making a decision.
"Just tell me how to use them," I said.
"Your voice is your most powerful weapon, but be careful what you speak for it might just come true."
I nodded, thankful for the advice. "What else?"
"Blood is the carrier of your powers, but it can't be any blood. Use it to ground yourself and for everything else that you wish to achieve."
My mind went wild. Pictures of an old woman dipping herbs into a puddle of blood and spreading it around her in a circle moved in front of my open eyes. I could see her shifting back and forth as though to soothe a crying child, but what she held in her arms wasn't a child. It was the lifeless carcass of an animal, something furry like a weasel, but I couldn't be sure because the head was cut off.
Bile rose in my throat. I bent forward and retched. I threw up a few times, nothing but bile. When I rose to my feet again, the pictures in my head were still there, but I felt better.
"You have strong memories," Devon said. I nodded and he continued, "Don't fight them because they're the key to your future." I cleared my throat to get rid of the scratchy sensation, ready to speak. He held up a hand to cut me off. "I'm a Shaman, not what you are, so that's about all I can teach you. However, we have others who know about your kind, and they will be happy to assist you. Come with me, Sofia."
Many years ago I would've joined him gladly. I couldn't now. "I'm staying."
"You need help if you want to gain control of your powers. The vampires in there can't help you. We can."
I shook my head defiantly. Two tiny lines formed around his mouth, but if my answer didn't please him he didn't say so.
"Don't you want to help your sister?" His tone became softer. Even though I could sense his bluff,