Soul Betrayed

A Life for a Life

The battle between Shadowed and Guard has brought destruction and terror to Gate Seven and now Maggie wants revenge. As the only after-life being who can save the souls from ultimate death, Maggie comes face to face with her own human body, preserved for a century, waiting for just this moment to arrive.

Yet, how far will Maggie go to exact her revenge on the Shadowed? And when she comes face to face with her past, how will she survive the onslaught of memories she thought long gone?

For when the truth comes out, all is not what it seems and Maggie has finally run out of time… She must choose her destiny or watch all she has perish in the fight for her life!

Soul Betrayed

Katlyn Duncan

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

Copyright © Katlyn Duncan 2014

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 © February 2014 ISBN: 9781472074249

Version date: 2018-10-30

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 on Soul Taken

‘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 on Soul Taken

‘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* on Soul Taken

‘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* on Soul Taken

‘Soul Taken is a tasty morsel indeed.’ 5 stars from Nicky Peacock*

‘Wow! What a story. While I enjoyed the first book Soul Taken, Soul Possessed takes this story to a whole new level. In this book, the stakes have been raised, extra layers have been added to a story that will keep you glued to its pages till you get to the cliff hanger conclusion.’ 4 stars from Realm of the Shappired Dragon

‘Soul Taken and Soul Possessed were super good! The main character was spunky and fun, and utterly different from other main characters. The plot was original and I did not see some things coming. The writing was spectacular, and I read both books in a matter of days. There was the perfect amount of angst, tension, and passion all blended together.’ 4.5 stars from Tween 2 Teen Books

‘ONE of the best I’ve read this year! I dare someone to read this series and tell me I am wrong! DARE! This is a very promising series that I have no doubt will leave everyone who reads it with intense desire for the next chapter!’ from Dark Novella

*Amazon reader reviews

Also by Katlyn Duncan

Soul Taken

Soul Possessed

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.

The journey to writing my first series has been an amazing one. I’d like to thank Victoria, my brilliant editor who took a chance on a first-time author, and the rest of the HQ Digital team who supported me along the way, I am so happy Maggie’s story finally found its home.

Going back, I’d like to thank my first readers: Angela, Jessica, Lynsey, and Meaghan. Your support is invaluable to me and I love you all to bits. And Jennifer M., thanks for being there for my debut!

To my family, thank you for your support and caring about my stories just as much as I do.

To ‘the hubs’, now you can read the books. (I told you I’d do it!). Thanks for dealing with dust and unwashed dishes while I shut myself away and spend time with my other family.

To my readers, thanks for being so supportive, I wouldn’t be able to get through any of this without you. I love hearing about your experience with my characters and it brings me great joy to hear how you are just as passionate about them as I am. (Liz & Amaris especially!)

And finally, thanks to an author that I adore who told me to stop talking about being a writer and just “do it.”

To Mom, my biggest fan. Thanks for always saying yes to a trip to the book store.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Book List

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Prologue

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

Epilogue

Endpages

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

Jamie Blackhorn nearly jumped out of her skin as a hand appeared next to her. She ripped the headphones from her ears and stumbled back, nearly crashing into her easel.

Her dad, Robert, grinned, his eyes on the pill bottle he placed on the table next to her where she mixed her paints.

“God, Dad.” Jamie knelt down, picking up the brush she had dropped. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“I called for you when I arrived home,” he said in an amused tone and rubbed his eyes wearily. “I picked up your refill.” He indicated the pill bottle and headed for the hallway. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Jamie stood in her spot, her toes curled in her sneakers, still recovering from the fright. The ache in her arm, the one only a week away from being released from the cast, brought her back to reality. Soon enough she would be able to put that horrible night in the caves behind her along with burying the annoying plaster arm prison.

She reached for the pill bottle, plucked a tablet out, and popped it into her mouth, then sipped on her water bottle and wrapped the strewn headphone cord around her good hand a few times before placing the coiled circle onto the table. Robert hated when she wore her headphones, something about keeping her awareness of the world, but she had enough awareness of her world plus the After. She needed an escape. Music and painting were a distraction from her freaky gift that she hid from everyone. All except her father when he requested her help on some of his cases. Just recently, he had been in danger of getting laid off due to budget cuts until his unit had been given a grant. She had no idea who would fund a paranormal research agency when there were so many other problems in the world, but she didn’t think too hard on it; his job kept a roof over their head and food on the table, even if most of the time it was pizza or Thai take-out.

But not tonight.

Jamie grabbed the pill bottle and the set of brushes she had been using and left her room. She padded down the hallway and knocked lightly on the bathroom door, calling out “I’m going to heat up your dinner, Dad.”

Then she headed down the stairs and in to the kitchen. She balanced her brushes on the side of the sink and placed the pill bottle on the counter, opened the refrigerator and pulled out the casserole dish that she had prepared chicken parmesan in earlier. It was her dad’s favorite and since he had been preoccupied with work lately, she knew he would appreciate it. She’d found her mother’s recipe a few months ago and had made it at least once a week since then. This week’s batch had been the closest she remembered to the real thing. The best thing about the recipe was that she always felt as if her mother was there with her when she prepared it.

Plating a heaped pile of chicken and pasta she placed it in the microwave and turned it on. She watched the plate circle a few times until her phone rang.

Walking over to the opposite counter, where her phone had been charging, she looked down to see who was calling and recognized the number as Yera’s. Yera was a Percipio like her. She could see the After beings on the Living Realm, a gift they’d shared with each other willingly after their mutual Guard friend, Calliope, had exchanged their contact information. They had spoken only once before, but it had been nearly a four-hour conversation. Jamie had been thrilled to be able to talk to someone about her gift and Yera had been more than willing to listen. She’d even invited her to stay at her house for the summer to hone her gift. It had been a hard sell to her father but Jamie had won that battle.

“Hi!” Jamie said cheerfully.

“Ms. Blackhorn?” a male voice questioned on the other end.

Had she mistaken the number? She looked down at her phone and Yera’s name was broadcast on the screen. “Speaking.”

“Are you a relative of Yera Colehouse?” the man asked.

Jamie’s arms were overrun with goosebumps and she heard her voice shake a little. “No, I’m just a friend. Who is this?”

“This is Detective Branson. Yera had your number listed as her emergency contact.”

Jamie gasped. “Is she okay?”

“Have you seen her lately?”

“No. Is she okay?” she repeated, her mind whirring.

“As this is an open investigation I can’t give too many details but according to a friend she has not been heard from in quite some time.”

The microwave suddenly dinged and Jamie pulled out the piping hot plate absently and placed it on the counter using a dish towel. “I was supposed to visit her soon.”

Suddenly a rush of air filled Jamie’s ears. She stepped back from the counter, her movements slow and clumsy, and tried to grab for the counter, but the room tilted on its axis.

“If you hear anything—“Detective Branson’s voice sounded very far away.

The phone was lifted from her grasp, her weak hands unable to hold onto it and she turned to Robert. He was still in his suit and his hair was dry.

“What’s happening?” Jamie slurred. She blinked a few times, the edge of her vision fuzzy.

Detective Branson’s voice was cut off as her eyes darted to the pill bottle. She’d never had this reaction to her medication before. Her hand shot out, knocking the bottle over. Pills spilled across the counter.

She tried to lick her dry lips, the effort proving futile as her body didn’t respond to her brain.

Her legs gave out from under her and Robert caught her just before she hit the ground. “Just close your eyes,” he whispered. “It will be over soon.”

Jamie blinked, dark spots blotting out her kitchen. She focused on her father. No. He wasn’t her father. He looked like him, but her father didn’t have eyes blacker than coal. The stranger with her father’s face smirked as her world went black.

CHAPTER ONE

My body floated before me in the large container, frozen at seventeen.

“How is this possible? My father killed me,” I said, unable to take my eyes off of her. Me, actually. I’d died over a hundred years ago, yet there I was, preserved in a strange freezer. Since meeting my great granddaughter, Ally, and spending a week in her body, I’d learned nothing was impossible. But this? Tiny wisps of hair floated around her—my—head as if my body was underwater, but I knew it had something to do with the vapor that rose up from the ground in the room. Temperature didn’t affect souls much, but I could feel the chill in the air, it was much cooler in here then it had been in the other room. A tightening in my middle broke my trance. Felix had said that this was the only way to unlock my memories and level the playing field when I was to infiltrate the Shadowed, but could I really do this?

Cooper dipped his head slightly causing his dirty blond hair to sweep across his eyebrows. “He used a special chemical to stop your heart without damaging your body. A Collector removed your soul, bringing it to the After.” He appraised my body in the container, his eyes wide and bright. “The Caeleste have been around for a long time, they are capable of a lot more than we realize.”

I swiped a hand over my face, fully expecting my body to do the same. How could the Caeleste do this? They couldn’t come to this Realm. “But this technology wasn’t available in the Living Realm when I was alive.” I had died in the early 1900s. Even now, humans didn’t have the technology to keep someone’s body that long.

Cooper chuckled softly. “Even when something is staring you in the face you still question it.”

I turned to him. “You can’t tell me that you weren’t a little surprised when Felix told you about this?”

He nodded. “The Caeleste have been able to advance technology for their use on this Realm using the Prognatum.”

I had been a Prognatum. Technically, I still was, minus the whole being dead thing. Prognatum were the generations of half-human half-Caeleste that had started from those who’d escaped the After Realm. I’d ruined my destiny over a century ago after murdering my sister and husband less than a year away from my eighteenth birthday. That birthday would have solidified the rest of my life as Prognatum, instead my father had taken my life, right after I gave birth to my daughter, Leha.

A wave of sadness rolled through my soul. I’d only met Leha a few days ago, but the Shadowed had taken her away from me, hoping that I would unleash the soul-sucking power within me. Felix had informed me that I was a rare breed of Prognatum, a Rodas. The Rodas were a special race of Caeleste able to extract the life force from human souls in an effort to feed themselves. I cringed and thought of Leha. Even though much had happened that day, she was my reason for doing this. I’d experienced my true nature only once before that night after Leha was taken from me. I had “fed” from my grandson, David, unwillingly but whatever I had inside of me had been awakened and I had no idea how to control it. Jackson had been the one to encourage me to learn how to control my nature and now I knew why. He wanted me to join the Shadowed. In a matter of seconds I had lost my daughter and my heart had shattered.

Blinking I broke the vision of Jackson’s beautiful face and dragged my gaze back to my frozen human form. Her face rested peacefully as if she were sleeping. Even though I knew it wouldn’t be possible to reanimate her without a soul, I still expected it to jump out of the container at any moment.

“What purpose would my body have served otherwise?” I asked, my mind reeling.

As far as I knew, my boss, Felix, wasn’t able to see the future. He couldn’t have foreseen this use for my body. He couldn’t have known that someday I’d want to unlock the memories that he’d secreted from me when I arrived at Gate Seven, the bridge between the Living and After Realms. Or could he have seen other uses for it?

“Welcome, Maggie.” A woman’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

I whirled around. One of the Prognatum who’d been guarding the room we occupied stepped through the doorway. Her regulation black uniform fit snugly against the curves of her petite frame. I blinked quickly. She shared similar blue eyes as Leha and I. Her short brown hair was parted severely to one side, making the other appear shaved. The hilt of her broadsword peeked out from behind her shoulder.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The vapor swirled up and around her legs as she neared. Her bright blue eyes glowed in the light from the container behind me.

She nodded her head in greeting. “My name is Sophia.” The five other Prognatum who’d guarded the room with her huddled in the doorway. They were all male and tall. Sophia stuck out like a sore thumb with this group, but I knew if Felix had chosen her for this important assignment then she had to be stronger than she looked.

Sophia continued speaking, recapturing my attention. “We’ve been entrusted by the Caeleste to watch over you.” She waved a hand toward my body.

Since the Prognatum were practically royalty in the After, I knew they were given the most important and top secret assignments, but watching a body for a century?

“Believe it or not,” Sophia started, almost as if reading my thoughts. “There are many who wanted this role, but I suggested keeping it in the family.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”

Sophia smiled, a friendly, warm one. “Myself and Thomas here,” she pointed to one of the Prognatum who smiled broadly and waved, “are from your line.” Thomas’s military-style buzz cut showcased the sharp lines of his face as his turquoise eyes darted between Sophia and me.

Just two months ago I’d been given information about my past. Felix had been less than forthcoming with me about actually meeting my family, more specifically, my father. When I was human, I had been influenced by the Shadowed, souls who followed the banished Caeleste, feeding from the life force of innocent humans for energy to stay alive. Apparently my father wasn’t keen on a reunion with his homicidal daughter, but here I was with two members of my family, who had been waiting for the moment when I would return.

Sophia clasped her hands in front of her. “We will have plenty of time for a reunion later. First, we need to get you into your body.”

I stepped away from the container. “How?” Months ago, Ally’s body had sucked me inside of it when her soul had been stolen by her own father. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience and I really hoped there was a better way.

“Me!” a familiar voice called out enthusiastically.

Moving aside Sophie revealed my last Soul Collecting trainee, Dylan. His wide eyes that had been apprehensive with each soul he procured during training now held a rigid confidence that sparked a swell of pride within me. He stepped forward holding a silky essence and a peaceful warmth raced through my soul.

My True Soul.

My soul leaned toward him. The True Soul called to me just like every other had when I was a Collector, but this one was different. More powerful. The True Soul was an important piece of a soul that aided its return to the After following the human death in the Living Realm. Dylan was able to feel my yearning through his hand and I saw that the True Soul’s light intensified with my presence. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. All True Souls were captivatingly beautiful but with this connection, I was under its spell as it floated over his tiny hand.

Sophia led me away from Dylan. “All in due time.”

Cooper followed close behind me and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of my dangerously uncontrollable impulses. Where were those impulses when Hannah was taking Leha from me? I shrank from the thought and buried the uncomfortable regret flowing through me.

Sophia stopped inches from the container and gestured to my frozen body. “When you return to your body, you will continue to age from the moment you stopped but,” she paused, her nose scrunching like Ally’s always did when she was in deep thought, “since your power has been released several times, we don’t know how that part of you will manifest.”

Okay?

Sophia smiled encouragingly. “Your situation is unlike anything we’ve experienced. Even the Caeleste are somewhat befuddled. So in the nicest way possible you are our guinea pig from here on out.”

“That’s comforting,” I mumbled, glancing at Cooper.

He stifled a smile.

Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “Like I was saying. You died in the month of September and your eighteenth birthday would have been the following July. That should leave us plenty of time for you to infiltrate the Shadowed, leading us to them. But since you were able to access your Rodas power already we think that it will want to be released sooner rather than later.”

I looked down at my hands. The soul-sucking essence was staying put, for now. “I don’t understand—”

She sighed. I guessed she wasn’t used to being interrupted.

I didn’t care. For once I was going to know everything. I had been blind-sided by surprises long enough. I’d vowed to take down the Shadowed, and Hannah and Jackson were at the top of my list.

Jackson. He had manipulated my amnesia, making me believe pretty much anything he said. He had done the same to my daughter. Even though she had sought him out many years ago, he made her think that we had been in love. Why had he gone through all the effort? There was so much I didn’t understand. If I had my memories back, I might be able to repay the favor to him.

Sophia continued breaking me out of my thoughts. “A normal Prognatum holds incredible power, but the Rodas gift is unpredictable and a hundred times more formidable. Once it has been released it is hard to cage. And you’ve already released it twice. There’s no calculating how that will affect the timing of your transformation.”

I stepped away from her. “So you have no idea when my transformation will take place?”

She shook her head.

The transformation was an important piece of a Prognatum’s life. At eighteen it brought out the Caeleste half of the person with all the perks; strength included. Even though I had almost experienced it through Ally, the process wasn’t pleasant.