White Orchids {BOOK 1 COMPLETED}

Chapter 23

I don't remember my last name. It's like someone stuck a hand into my mind and removed it. I barely noticed it at first, it feels natural to not know. I remember Jonna, I remember Emma. Mikael. Kristina. They are the most important to remember. Jonna, Emma, Mikael, Kristina.

I sit up in my bed and try to say my name. My lips won't even move. I try again. The same thing happens. If anyone would see me, they wouldn't even notice that I was trying to say something.

"Emma."

It sounds like I have a large and hot piece of food in my mouth.

"Mikael."

It sounds strange and my entire throat is burning up from the inside.

It's time to forget now, I know that. It will only hurt. Yet I continue.

"Kri... Kristina."

It feels like I'm about to throw up scorching hot ashes for each syllable I say. I pull my knees to my chest; it hurts so much I don't want to say anything at all. I want to cry until I cannot. I lay down again and let the tears fill my eyes. It has been a while since I cried, I don't fight it like I normally do. I know that I have to get up and get the first contract from Blomst, but I'll lay here until I have no choice. For once I'm happy I'm dead and don't have a body that leaves signs of crying.

"Emma," I say when it doesn't hurt as much. I whimper when I feel the fiery pain grow from somewhere deep inside me.

"Mikael." I take a deep but shivering breath. "Kristina."

When it hurts too much I continue to cry until I can say their names again.

***

Blomst sits behind her messy desk with piles of papers, they look even taller today. Her hands move quickly over the pages. Strands of hairs have escaped her hairdo and hangs down her forehead, or is tucked behind her ear.

I take a few steps into the room filled with flowers and greenery. She looks up behind the many strands of hairs and blow them to the side. She searches for the black stone tablets where my – not Clover's nor Rampion's but mine – contracts are written.

"There you are," she mutters.

Blomst pulls out two black stone tablets form one of the piles. They're a bit bigger than her hands, and somewhat thicker than cardboard. She lays them over the messiest but thinnest pile.

"You decide yourself what you'd prefer to do with the contracts."

Not even a greeting. I carefully pick up the tablets from the desk. There are two names written – Joseph Davis and Allie Reid. Underneath their names there's a number, the number of days until I'm supposed to reap their souls. One of them is in a few days, while the other – Joseph Davis – is more than a month from now.

"It's up to you whether you chose to go visit them right away, or when their souls are ready," she says and pulls a hand through her hair to catch the loose strands.

Something is clearly going on with the guardians. Blomst is messy, but this is a new extreme. And they had mentioned something being stolen from Arkaros. I have a feeling I don't want to know the details. Yet there's a curiosity there, one that is likely more dangerous than I'd like to admit.

"If you focus you can put away the contracts," she says.

Put away likely doesn't mean what it sounds like. It probably has something to do with magic, in the same way she could conjure chairs. Maybe they had always existed but were put away in some magical world that only existed for her.