Read Soulstice (The Souled Series) for Free Online Page A

didn’t mean we weren’t in touch with the elements. But I used the parties, the clothes, and the cars as a cover to hide behind, and that shield was becoming threadbare in some places.
    Selling my Audi served two purposes: to see if the person my friends saw was good enough without it, and, probably more important, whether the face I saw every morning in the mirror was good enough without it.
    “ It’s all right, Mom.” I grasped her hand and squeezed, hoping to reassure her. “I’m going to my bank and then check out a couple cars I saw in the paper. I’ll call you when I need a ride home.”
    Mom took in a large, slow breath as if filling her lungs with words she wanted to say, then let it out slowly, leaving the words unspoken. “Okay.” She smiled and her face relaxed. “Just let me know where you are.”
    I started to tell her not to worry when the bank lady returned and sat behind her desk. She stapled the papers together, and handed me my own set of documents with a check clipped to the top. “You’re all set.”
    And for the first time in a long while , I believed I was.

CH APTER SEVEN
                 
     
    Under the florescent lights in my bathroom, the blue of my irises and the blonde wisps of hair that fell around my face screamed California girl, but I hadn’t been feeling so sunshiny the last few days. I ran my fingers through my hair. This would be the last time the strands would be coated with blonde. I squeezed them in my fists and let my decision sink in. I was going to be me, and only me. I wasn’t exactly certain where that might lead, but strength and conviction had found its way up to the surface.
    Conflicting emotions of not wanting to let go and wanting to move forward slammed against each other before melting together into a quiet acceptance. Still, the underlying disappointment of what I had become was overwhelmingly obvious in my face. I had ignored me for so long, but found it was easier to cry behind a mask than to explain what the problem is. I couldn’t tell Taylor, or anyone else, how I felt about my dad, about moving here, about wanting to learn the craft like my mom, and how much I missed listening to the rhythm of the Earth. They’d think I was nuts. Well, I was over that. I was about to make myself a huge target for them to ridicule if they needed to. I had no problem with that.
    “ All right. Let’s do this,” I said to my reflection before I could change my mind. “Black hair it is.”
    In just over an hour, my hair was cut, colored, and blown dry. It wasn’t a great cut by a long shot, but years of my veil now lay in the trash, ready to be tossed out with the cotton balls and wadded-up Kleenex. I drew a thick line of black to harness the blue of my eyes, and black lipstick pulled my new look together.
    E very change I made was exciting, but not without a twinge of guilt. I had such an easy time letting go of the past, erasing the last six years of my life, but this time I wasn’t running from anything. I was ready to face my past head-on, ready to take it down if it tried to consume me again.
    Scooping a handful of clothes off the floor , I threw them into the hamper on my way to the closet. I flipped through dozens of colorful clothes that hung on the rack, and opted for the loosest-fitting black shirt I had. In the back of the closet I found a stash of clothes that I rarely wore – black jeans and black ankle boots. Those were gifts from Aunt Sarah that I had dismissed as too serious to wear. Now they seemed entirely appropriate. I grabbed a beanie on my way out and covered all but just a few strands of the new me.
    Black, the epitome of invisibility. After the last few years of being so colorful and loud, I needed some downtime. Today I was going for the stealth look.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Though selling my car was the right choice for me, unveiling the Audi’s replacement officially to my friends was an entirely different matter.
    The ad claimed the car