Read Online Touch by Jennifer Snyder - Free Book Online

more tightly around my middle.
    I nestled my head against his chest and closed my eyes in an attempt to shield myself from the horrible urgency that tugged at me, splitting me in two. The second the urgency ceased, my eyes snapped open.
    “ Are you ready?” Jet asked.
    I untangled myself from him and faced the door. “Yes.”
    With a proud little half-smile, he nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you here when you’re finished with everything.”
    Even though I knew this was something I had to do alone, part of me still wished Jet could be in the room for moral support. Without hesitating any longer, I blinked through the door, on a mission to release the soul behind it from the torturing pain its body’s death was about to inflict upon it.
    A woman with no hair lay in the bed among the folds of white, wrinkled sheets. She was so frail looking, making it obvious how much of a fight she had put up against death. In her final moments, chaos surrounded her while doctors and nurses struggled to save her life, not knowing every attempt they made would fail because it had been decided.
    I stepped to her side and extended my hand. A split second before I touched her forehead, I closed my eyes just as Jet always did, but also because it somehow felt right.
    No matter what Jet had said to me before, I was still utterly unprepared for what happened the moment my fingertip touched a Dying: the sudden jolt of electricity that sparked from her and into me, the intensity of all her final memories flooding my mind at the same time as they did hers, the strength of her emotions intertwined and attached to each memory, the vividness and clarity of the entire experience. It was as though I were given a small taste of what it was like to be living again.
    I kept my eyes closed and smiled for a moment as the sensations lingered in every fiber of me, even after our contact was broken. When I opened my eyes, the soul of the woman stood beside me, only now she appeared to be much healthier and with long, red hair.
    “ Thank you.” She beamed. “I knew my time was coming months ago, and now I’m just happy it’s all finally over.”
    “ You’re welcome,” I whispered, taking her hand in mine.
    I was more than glad she was so content with her situation, because I had worried my first Reaping would be with someone who couldn’t accept what had happened to them and I’d have to skip the entire Crossover process, which I already knew would have left me feeling incomplete and like a failure.
    I held her hand tightly in mine and closed my eyes once more, focusing on crossing through the Veil like Jet had taught me. When my eyes opened again, we were standing in a lush meadow known as the Spiritual Realm.
    Thick green grass grew beneath us, dotted with various flowers, and a cloudless, blue sky hung above. Souls walked around freely talking with one another, while others congregated in front of a tiny building with double doors and a glittering gold sign that read Crossover Portal .
    “ Thank you again, Angel,” the woman said, hugging me before rushing away like a child.
    Angel —I was no Angel, but I could clearly see where the misconception came from. I closed my eyes and thought solely of Jet and the white-walled hospital hallway.

 

     
    Chapter Fourteen
     
    When I found my way back to Jet, he was no longer alone. The Reapers’ Council members stood with him. My eyes traveled to each of their faces, but I paused longer on Cassandra’s. In the two weeks that had passed since the last time I’d seen her, Cassandra had aged nearly thirty years or more. Her long, black waves had turned solid gray and her face had begun to sag and wrinkle.
    “ Hello, Rowan.” Damaris greeted me.
    I bowed my head slightly. “Hello.”
    “ We see you’ve completed your first releasing of a soul successfully,” Evelyn said.
    “ Yes,” I replied, wondering if this was the only reason behind their visit.
    “ We also noticed the amount of knowledge