Juliet Immortal

the spell requires love, and thespecters’ words seem to confirm his claim. But maybe he’s wrong … maybe if I can get a closer look at this spell …
    I hold tight to Ben, to hope, letting it warm me as the night grows colder and I finally fall asleep in his arms.
    The lights come in the middle of the night. Bright lights and loud voices, calling Ben’s and Ariel’s names. My eyes fly open and I sit up, sending a scattering of hay floating into the air. “We’re up here! In the hayloft!” I yell, turning to wake Ben and finding him already sitting up beside me.
    “That’s my brother’s voice,” he says.
    I hear a woman cry “Thank god” and burst into tears and know Melanie is down there waiting for me as well. This isn’t going to be good. At all. I meet Ben’s eyes and he takes my hand, squeezing tight for a second, sending me strength I feel seep through my skin. A second later, we’re both hurrying toward the ladder. A man’s face appears at the top just before we reach it.
    The relief in his expression hits me in the gut. This must be Victor, Ben’s brother. I had no idea he’d be so worried. I knew Melanie would be out of her mind, but Ben and I have been “missing” for less than a night. “We thought you two … we thought—” The man bows his head. I can see his throat working, fighting back tears.
    “I’m sorry, Victor,” Ben says, going to his brother, putting a hand on his arm. “I swear, I didn’t mean to worry you. We got trapped out here and our cell phones weren’t working and—”
    “I’m just glad you’re okay.” He climbs the last few steps and pulls Ben into a hug. “I love you,
hermanito
. You know that, right?”
    Ben’s eyes go wide. “You too, bro.”
    “Are they okay? Is she really okay?” Melanie’s voice sounds from the ground below, so high and strained it drowns out the murmur of men’s shouts and the electronic fuzz of radios announcing that we’ve been found.
    “They’re fine. Not a mark on them,” Victor calls over his shoulder. He pulls away from Ben and reaches a hand in my direction. “I’m Victor, Ben’s brother.”
    “Ariel.”
    “Marianne says I’m going to love you.”
    “You will.” Ben smiles at me. I smile back, trying not to think about the fact that Victor will have to learn to love someone else if I have my way. At least a different body. But I can’t think about that right now. I have to get down there and make sure Melanie knows how sorry I am for worrying her.
    “Let’s get out of here. It’s freezing,” Victor says. He starts toward the ladder but stops and turns back to us, lowering his voice to a whisper. “You two have to know something. I hate to tell you, but it’s going to be all over the news tomorrow. It’s the reason we were so worried.”
    “What?” Ben asks, fear in his voice. “What happened?”
    “Nancy Kjeldgaard was found about six hours ago. In the cemetery on the ridge outside of town. Looked like she’d been held there for a couple days before …”
    As soon as the word
cemetery
is out of his mouth, I know. Romeo has done something. Something awful.
    “Before what?” Ben asks.
    “She was murdered.”
    “Dios mio,”
Ben says. “Did you …”
    “Yeah. I was there earlier, but I was worried about you, so they let me help with the search.” He clears his throat. “But it was brutal, and some people with experience say it looks likea cult ritual, a ceremonial killing or something. Whoever did it is … I don’t want either of you leaving the house alone, or even
thinking
about hanging out in deserted places until these sick freaks are caught.”
    Ben nods. I do too, my head bobbing up and down as I wait my turn to climb down the ladder and struggle to find a reason why.
Why
has Romeo killed an innocent old woman? Soul mates come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, but Nancy wasn’t one of our soul mates. I saw her myself, and her aura wasn’t glowing.
    So why do this? Even Romeo doesn’t go out of his way to kidnap people or commit elaborate murders just for the hell of it. He’s killed before, but usually impulsively, people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can’t imagine why he’d do something like this.
    I push the dark worries away as I climb down into a barn full of three other policemen, a man in waders with a floodlight, and my borrowed mother. As soon as I step off the ladder, Melanie rushes me, pulling me into her arms.
    “Oh my