Cinder by Jessica Sorensen

is no us. With a loud grunt, I manage to get my foot up and then step back very ungracefully, bumping my hip into the corner table.
     
    “Shall we?” I ask Raven in a very cordial tone.
     
    Cameron chuckles. Shall we? I guess I probably should have done better than that.
     
    I feel a hot sensation whisk through my body and then he swiftly takes over, making my legs move, bringing my knees up a little too far so it looks like I’m marching in a parade. Raven follows after me with a perplexed look on her face as I stumble to the door.
     
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” Raven asks as I open the front door and stumble over the threshold. Sunlight shines down on me, yet I feel like I’m stuck in the shadows. In the cold.
     
    You’re feeling me, he explains. I know it’s not the best sensation, but bear with me.
     
    “I’m fine.” My mouth moves as I trip down the stairway and onto the lawn. “I’m perfectly okay.” I plaster a smile on my face, but on the inside I feel completely hollow. So cold. As though I’m losing control of who I am as well as what makes me feel things. I think I could do anything at the moment—good or bad—and be okay with it.
     
    Cameron, what is that? Why is everything so cold? It feels almost like that night in the room when the shadow dove into me.
     
    I have no idea what you’re talking about, he says. I can’t tell if he’s telling the truth or not. But that coldness you feel is the feeling of death, he explains. You’re feeling me right now and the energy of the souls I’ve stolen. I’m part of you at the moment, Ember; part of your mind, body and soul. I just wish I could figure out how to take it. And who knows, maybe you’ll break down and tell me.
     
    Part of my soul?
     
    Oh, God. I’m in deep shit.

Chapter 6
     
     
    The cops that are always parked out in front of my house are gone, probably taking one of their very rare breaks. The sun is shining down on the neighborhood, but it’s eerily quiet with everyone too afraid to step outside or something. Leaves shower from the trees and land on the frosted ground, crunching underneath my boots.
     
    “I made them leave,” Raven states as we cross the piece of lawn between our houses to her car parked in the driveway next door.
     
    “Made who leave?” I work to stay upright as Cameron ungracefully controls my legs.
     
    She grins as she rounds the back of her silver car. “The cops.” She unlocks the door, smiling to herself. “I know they’ve been watching you.”
     
    I swallow hard as my arm stretches out and my fingers wrap around the door handle. I give it a tug and the door swings open. Then, bumping my head on the ceiling, I climb in. Raven gets in too and starts up the car.
     
    “They think you killed all those girls,” she says as she starts the engine while I buckle my seatbelt.
     
    See, I care about you, Cameron says as he forces me to buckle it.
     
    Yeah, I’m sure you do. And that’s why you’ve made me get into a car with a girl that’s possessed by the Anamotti and is probably leading me straight into a trap.
     
    Just trust me. That’s what we want.
     
    I already told you that you have to earn trust and this isn’t the way.
     
    “So, this should be fun,” Raven says as she backs down the driveway and turns onto the street.
     
    “Yeah, I guess,” I mutter.
     
    What do you mean this is what we want? How are you doing this, Cameron? How are you controlling me? I thought the Anamotti couldn’t control me like they control part of the humans.
     
    I already told you that I’m not part of the Anamotti.
     
    Yeah, but you weren’t able to do this before… make me move like this and talk inside my head. So what’s changed?
     
    You.
     
    What do you mean?
     
    I sit quietly in the passenger seat of Raven’s car, waiting for an answer, however he offers me none. I rack my brain for something that might have changed over the last few days, but I draw up a blank other than the