Reborn, I Let His Sister Face the Dead

I was Ivy Hart, Hecate's chosen heir—the only one in the entire Federation—and I lived in a temple on the Grayhaven coast. I could send my soul out of my body, enter the Underworld, and speak to the dead, bringing back the messages they'd left behind. People like me were known as soulwalkers. In my first life, Mrs. Blackwood came to the temple and begged me to find out where her husband had hidden his will. Six months later, Julian Blackwood—the son Mrs. Blackwood had always overlooked—rented out an entire private island for our wedding. With the information I brought back, he inherited over $10 billion and forced every brother who had once dismissed him off the board. I thought that wedding proved he loved me. But in our fifth year of marriage, while I was making a journey to the dead for one of his investors, he extinguished the silver lamp that marked my way home and cut the red thread that tethered my soul to my body. My soul was stranded beside the river of the dead, but I could still hear his cold laughter. "If Serena Blackwood had gone down that first time, she never would've been thrown out of the family. She never would've failed at a séance and taken her own life. Ivy, you took everything from her. And you still expect me to love you?" He threw my pass into the fire, too, then set the whole temple ablaze. Noah Reed, who had grown up beside me like a brother, came rushing back to save me. Julian locked him inside. "Aren't you the goddess's favorite? Then let Hecate come down here and bring you back herself!" Unable to find my way back, I wandered along the river for so long that the black mist even eroded the goddess's mark on my soul. I could no longer prove who I was. Branded a mortal trespasser, I was dragged onto the punishment platform. The whip they used there could shatter a soul. After ninety-nine lashes, I was barely whole. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Mrs. Blackwood had knelt before me. I helped her to her feet and met her hopeful gaze. "Your adopted daughter Serena can speak to spirits too, can't she? Let her go down this time." Mrs. Blackwood froze. The light slowly faded from her eyes. "Those are just little tricks she learned from that spiritualist group. How could she actually meet the dead?" She tightened her grip on my hand, her voice breaking with emotion. "Ivy, I know these journeys damage your health. Help us, and the Blackwood family will make it worth your while." I pulled my hand away. The memory of those lashes still made my fingers tremble. Julian's father had died suddenly the night before, leaving his will and the details of his overseas accounts in a private safe. He had told no one its location or its combination. Without that money, the debt-ridden company wouldn't last another month. Julian could forget about taking it over. In my first life, I had given the combination straight to the lawyer when I returned. Five years had passed; I could no longer remember all of it. Julian had never even listened. He had simply waited for the money. This time, there was no getting around the dead man. Brakes screeched at the foot of the stone steps. Julian climbed out of a silver-gray sports car and pulled his mother to his side. "Serena is right here at home. Why would you come begging to an outsider?" I looked up sharply. In my first life, he had never come to the temple. He had stayed beside his father's coffin. Yet the hatred in his eyes now was unmistakable—the same hatred I had seen through the flames. He had come back in time, too. After five years as his wife, I was still nothing more than an outsider to him. In our previous life, every time he tormented me, he claimed it was for Serena, who was dead. Now she was alive and well, right here, and he looked at me exactly the same way. Mrs. Blackwood clutched his sleeve, still trying to reason with him. "Immigrants from the Asterian Isles built this temple. Families have been coming here for generations. Ivy's teacher helped your father. What has Serena ever actually done for anyone?" "I've been studying for three years, Mom." Serena stepped out of the car in a white dress and a black cloak, a bracelet of black stone beads around her wrist. She took her place beside Julian and looked at me skeptically. "My teacher says I'm the most gifted student he's ever had. No one on that island in the Elarian Sea learned faster than I did. She wants money before she'll even help. I don't. I'd do anything for Julian." Julian took her hand. Even his voice softened. "I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you." I watched them coldly. At best, her paltry skills might get her onto the riverbank. Without a pass, the guards wouldn't even let her board the ferry. Yet Julian straightened her cloak as though she already had the will in her hands. When he turned back to me, the disgust returned to his voice. "Ivy, you actually dared to make my mother kneel. Once I take over the family, you'll regret your arrogance today." Mrs. Blackwood hurried to stop him. "It was my choice. You can't—" Before she could finish, he slapped me. My ears rang. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth. "Remember this," Julian said, staring at me. "You will never marry into the Blackwood family in this life. And you will never use one of your little trips to steal our money." I looked at him for a long time. So that explained the baseless interrogations in my first life. The locked jewelry cabinet. The constant scrutiny of my fees. He had married me, but he had never trusted me. Slowly, I clenched my hand. I offered no defense. I had spent five years explaining myself, and he had still been convinced I was a thief. This time, I wanted to see how much of his fortune he could keep without me. A bank of gray mist suddenly rose above the estate. A figure with silver wings at his feet passed through it. Hermes, the god who escorted the dead. He had come for Julian's father. Once the dead crossed the river and drank from the spring beyond it, they lost all memory of their former lives—including where they had hidden a will. I wiped the blood from my mouth and stepped back inside. This time, I wasn't about to rush to catch that ferry for him. Julian's fate was no longer my concern.