Juliet Immortal

any cost. Meanwhile, I’ve been left to flounder in ignorance. As usual.
    “So you’ve been … 
there
the entire time?” She nods and I grit my teeth. “Then why did you wait so long?” I ask, not bothering to hide my anger. “Why didn’t you—”
    “Gemma’s soul is still here. Inside this body. I can lull her to sleep and replace her memories with substitutions for a short amount of time, but I couldn’t risk interfering with her life until her aura was secure.”
    “It’s been secure for at least a day. Why didn’t—”
    “It wasn’t safe to reveal myself. Even to you.”
    “You could have found a way for us to be alone,” I say.“You had to see that I needed your help. At least to keep Gemma from running me over yesterday at the barn.”
    She looks down at the mud-streaked floor. “I apologize for that. I would have stopped her, but her thoughts didn’t give me warning. It wasn’t a premeditated action, just another destructive impulse she found difficult to control.”
    I can’t stop the breath that huffs from my lips. “Yeah. She’s full of them. Some soul mate.”
    “She is difficult.” Nurse shakes her head. “But I have to confess … you’ve been difficult at times as well, Juliet.”
    My mouth opens and closes twice before I can force out a word. “What?”
    “The magic created by your vows is coming to an end. I think it’s time for you to leave our service. I can take care of Gemma and Mike. Gemma’s love is sealed, and Romeo’s sudden change of heart put an end to her destructive relationship with Dylan. From this point, it will be a small matter to rise within her and say the things Mike needs to hear to secure his commitment, to put them both beyond Mercenary reach.”
    “What? But—”
    “You haven’t performed as we’d hoped,” she says, only the barest hint of sadness in her tone. “It shouldn’t have taken this long.”
    “What shouldn’t have taken this long?” I snap. “And why would it be better for me to go? I’ve done a good job. I’ve done everything I promised I would do, even when I hated it. Even when I hated
you
for turning me into this
thing
that I am.”
    “Yes. Hate.” She sighs and crosses her arms, leaning against the scratched gray door to the stall. “That’s your problem.”
    “Oh, it is?” I bite the inside of my lip, pretty sure I haven’t been full of
this
much hate for quite a while.
    “It is.”
    “Here’s what I think,” I say, struggling to keep my voice even. “I think
lies
are your problem. I think you’re a liar. Romeo told me what you are, he—”
    She laughs, an acidic sound that reminds me more of Gemma than Nurse. “And we all know Romeo has never told a lie.”
    “Not about that. You
are
what he said you are. Aren’t you? You and the Mercenaries were—”
    “Yes, I am what I am. And the Mercenaries are what they are, and long ago we were brothers and sisters in hope and magic,” she says, as if this weren’t a revelation. “I would have told you those truths when you were ready. If you’d shown true dedication to your work.”
    I sputter for a moment, choking on my indignation. “I have worked tirelessly for over thirty shifts, I’ve—”
    “Exactly. You should have found your way so much sooner.”
    “What way?” I fight the urge to grab her shoulders and shake her until she stops speaking in riddles.
    “The heart of our magic is love,
real
love, not good works performed with bitterness and rage as their motivation.”
    I laugh my own nasty laugh. “So this is because I didn’t give you service with a smile? Is that it? So everything I’ve done has been for nothing?”
    “No, not for nothing. Your good works have sustained us—just as Romeo told you—and helped heal the world, but your freedom would have given so much more,” she says. “To our cause, to the world, to yourself.”
    “My freedom. How could I be free when you’ve—”
    “By finding your way to the peace and happiness you’ve longed for.”
    “Don’t you think I want that?” I ask, anger flooding out of me.
    “Not enough.” She puts a hand on my shoulder. “That girl you saw in the classroom shouldn’t be here. She’s a soul specter, created by fear and regret and hate. They come at the end for the Mercenaries’ converts, to haunt them with the evidence of their sins and finally escort them to the mist for all eternity. The appearance of Romeo’s corpse isn’t a surprise, but