My Soul to Take Read Online Free

you forgot one thing: you’re a powerful force. Your music reaches people and makes them believe in something bigger than themselves.” He lowered his voice to a hush. “No touring, no press junket. A one-night concert. We’re ready to heal the world—we’re already doing it—but we need you.”
    Heal the world
. Phoenix almost chuckled. She had been full of herself, too, at his age.
    “Some free advice?” she said. “Too much hype makes you sound crazy. I know.”
    “I’m just telling the truth, Phoenix.” His unblinking eyes believed every word he said.
    “Me too, John. How old are you?”
    “Twenty-one.”
    “And you already know the truth?” Gentle skepticism in her voice. “Lucky you.”
    “Yes. Lucky me,” Wright said. “Truth came to me one day. Got me in some trouble. Yeah, it got me on the news. Then, the truth exonerated me. That same truth will heal the world. But even truth needs a messenger. Ask Mark, Luke, and John.”
    Phoenix had expected him to start flinging biblical references, but she had to fight not to roll her eyes. Her wrist vibrated with a text message from an unfamiliar number:
    JUST LEFT SAN JUAN. IN NY TONIGHT. CA TOMORROW. Phoenix shot to her feet, as if the words carried an electrical charge. Carlos was on his way home!
    When he’d called last night from his throwaway phone, Carlos had bemoaned the long lines at the airport and the Health Department’s dictates. A TSA official had told him he had to stay in Puerto Rico for thirty days’ quarantine. He’d ducked out of his exit interview and was sure he’d narrowly escaped being arrested. But something had changed.
Thank you, God
.
    “Do you believe in miracles, Phoenix?” Wright said.
    Phoenix exhaled a sigh of relief so powerful that her body shuddered. Until that moment, she had been preparing for the idea that she might not see Carlos for a long time. Or, just possibly, ever again.
    “I believe in miracles today,” she said. “My husband’s on his way home after a long hassle. His mother got sick and died suddenly. He thinks …”
    She was bursting to tell someone, but thought better of it. Carlos had made the mistake of blogging his theories about his mother’s sudden illness. He’d taken the internet page down right away, but the damage had been done. He’d been banned from flying, threatened with arrest. He said he’d never seen Puerto Rican officials in such fear and hysteria.
    “I’m profoundly sorry for his loss,” Wright said. “But your husband’s mother would still be alive if she’d had this vial of Glow.”
    Phoenix didn’t believe in miracles in a vial. Mom had agreed to try Glow toward the end, and Gloria had pulled every string in search of the fabled Underground Railroad. The doctor who had analyzed the vial Gloria brought back said it was saline with red food coloring, and it might have done harm if she’d injected it.
    “The hard sell doesn’t work for you, John,” Phoenix said. She picked up the waiting vial and held it out to Wright, noting the warmth of the glass against her palm. Rumors said that real Glow was warm to the touch, but that thought only made her angry. It didn’t help her now. “Take it. I wish you hadn’t brought an illegal substance into my home without my permission.”
    “Please, Phoenix—keep it,” Wright said. His eyes pleaded with her.
    “I don’t shoot up drugs,” she said. “
Any
drugs. Don’t make me ask again.”
    Wright pursed his lips, so disappointed that his eyes narrowed. He returned the vial to his hidden pocket. “I’m sorry. I meant it as a gift, but … it’s only a gift if you’re ready. My employer wants to keep you around a long time.”
    “Tell your employer I’m doing fine,” Phoenix said.
    But that wasn’t true.
What about the lump?
    Phoenix could lie to John Wright, but not to herself. She felt a tiny lance of pain in her right breast as she remembered. Sometimes she thought she could feel her breast squirming,