Return to Eden Read Online Free Page A

of our own."
    "Remaining?" Jesse pushed forward to the edge of his seat. "You said, ‘Remaining Soulkeepers.’"
    "There may be others, in other countries, or who haven’t come into power yet, but we have reason to believe that the names on the list are key to thwarting Lucifer’s plan. The list has thirteen names: nine Horsemen, three Helpers, and me, the Healer."
    Jesse’s hand went to his mouth. "You’re the Healer?" he said between his fingers. "I didn’t know."
    Malini smiled and shook her head. "It’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to. I was surprised Master Lee recognized me." She squinted eyes at Lee. "How did you know?"
    The old man pointed at his milky blue eye. "My gift. The supernatural have an aura. Horsemen carry a ruby glow, Helpers a cool azure, but you, Malini, sparkle an intense green. I’ve only seen that color once before, the last Healer."
    "Can you see Watchers?"
    He nodded. "Their aura is black as tar."
    "I think that ability will come in very useful. As I was saying, there were thirteen on the list but one of our Horsemen, Mara, died a few weeks ago. Twelve remain. Besides myself and Jacob, we have another, Jacob’s mother, Lillian."
    "One of my students! How is Lillian?" Lee asked.
    "She’s wonderful. She’s getting our new facility ready. There is a place, a school where we can train safely. I need you both to come with me and stay there while Jacob and I gather the other seven."
    Jesse shook his head. "I can’t. I’m a freshman at the University of Hawaii. I’m halfway through the semester. I can’t just leave. I’ll fail all my classes."
    "We have someone that helps us with situations like this," Jacob said. "She can alter records, make the school believe you’ve come down with a long-term illness. She’ll make it work. You can go back to majoring in basket weaving when you’re done saving the world."
    "Elementary education, thank you very much. The children are our future." Jesse flashed a lopsided grin. "I get your point. I guess if Lucifer is running the planet it might curb the employment opportunities. If my Helper goes, I go."
    Master Lee nodded his head and picked up the phone. "I will arrange for my assistant, Michael, to take over the dojo in my absence." A voice buzzed on the other end of the line and Master Lee rambled something in Chinese.
    "I’ll need to stop at my dorm and pack a few things," Jesse said.
    "No problem." Malini rose and moved toward the door. Master Lee hung up the phone and stepped around the desk.
    Jacob nudged Malini’s hand out of the way. "Let me get that for you," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. Opening doors for her had become a kind of joke, a way to play the chivalrous male even though she was ten times more powerful than he was. He kept his eyes on hers as he swung open the pinewood door.
    Silver flashed at the edge of Jacob's vision and searing pain ripped through his stomach. He crumpled in the doorframe. Beside him, Malini screamed. The man with a Mohawk, the one who’d been teaching class, tore the blade from Jacob, sending a spray of blood up Malini’s side and across her face. Removing her glove, she thrust her skeletal hand at the man’s chest, but he kept coming.
    "He’s possessed!" Lee yelled, dodging the man's slashing blade.
    Malini clenched her healing hand, but before she could act, Jesse materialized behind the man. With a pair of nunchucks from the wall, he thwacked Mohawk in the head, sending his body tumbling to the ground. Thrusting his hand into the man's skull, Jesse's molecules broke apart as they entered the flesh, fishing for the Watcher inside. He pulled his fist back, latched onto the black ooze.
    "Come on out and play," Jesse said through his teeth. He discarded the nunchucks and caught the knife Lee tossed him from the wall. Extracted from its host, he severed the Watcher's oily head from its body. The rest of the beast bubbled out of Mohawk and fried on the wood like hot tar.
    From the place where Jacob