The Soulkeepers by G. P. Ching

around him seemed to move in slow motion.
Dane's arm retracted. Malini's mouth opened as if to scream and
Phillip's head nodded at Dane, but whatever sounds they made didn't
reach Jacob.
    His body was a string map. Every finger and
toe was the end of a string that was tied to the center of his
chest, right over his heart. The strings were tight and when he
strummed them with his mind they played a note, the same note as
the water. In that moment everything felt connected. Using the hum
was instinctual. It was like knowing what to do with his kidneys.
He didn't have to understand how they worked, they just did.
    With a new strength, he wrenched his arms
free from Phillip's grip. As Dane's fist neared his head, he
gathered the hum tightly inside and then let go. His arms flew out
towards Dane and he expected them to pound into his chest, to push
him. But he missed. Jacob's arms stopped short of Dane's chest but
those strings inside of him released.
    Like a slingshot, the hum shot towards Dane
but instead of a stone flying loose, the rain started
again—sideways. Not from the sky but from everything wet: the
pavement, the trees, and the tops of the cars in the parking lot.
It came from behind Jacob, like someone had turned on a fire hose.
In a mighty gust, the water washed Dane and Phillip against the
wall of Westcott's grocery and knocked the air out of both of them.
Jacob stared in shock. The impact was so strong he hoped the boys
weren't dead. The water fell to the pavement as abruptly as it had
come.
    After moments of painful silence, he was
relieved to hear a sharp intake of breath from the two boys,
followed by plenty of coughing and spitting. He didn't press his
luck. He grabbed the groceries and Malini's hand.
    "Let's get the hell out of here," he
said.
    "What the hell was that?" Malini gasped,
falling into step. They hurried up the sidewalk towards Laudner's
Flowers and Gifts.
    "I don't know. I guess…weather."
    "No, Jacob. That was not weather. That was
some kind of miracle. Did you see the water wash those two away
when you pushed Dane?"
    "It was a coincidence. It had to be."
    "Were you just there? Did you not see
Phillip fly over your head? He was behind you Jacob! The water
washed him away. And look at me! I'm dry as a bone. If it was the
weather, why am I not wet?"
    "I don't know… I don't know."
    "What?"
    "I don't know what happened, okay? Let's
just forget it ever happened."
    Malini narrowed her eyes and filled her
cheeks with air. Her body stopped moving. He pulled her hand gently
but she stood her ground.
    "I'll tell you one thing,
you are not going to be able to forget about that anytime soon." She pointed at
his face.
    Jacob turned to see his reflection in the
window of his uncle's shop. His left eye was a swollen red slit and
blood from his lip oozed down his chin. He dabbed it with his
finger. The door opened and John stepped onto the sidewalk, his
mouth twisting into a grimace.
    "Aw hell, Jacob! Could you possibly make my
life any more difficult?" John lifted the groceries from Jacob's
arms. "Your Aunt Carolyn is going to have a field day with this.
Get in the car!"
    He did as he was told.
    John asked Malini if she needed a ride
somewhere but she insisted she was meeting her dad at his office.
He didn't ask twice.
    As John pulled away, Jacob watched Malini
through the window of the truck. She remained standing, on the same
spot of sidewalk, staring after him with her lips parted slightly.
Her expression was unforgettable, like she had just seen a ghost…or
a miracle.

Chapter Thirteen
    The Not So Ordinary
Sunday
     
    Every day with the Laudners was bad but, for
Jacob, Sundays were the worst. They were Catholic, which meant they
dressed up in their nicest clothes and attended church every Sunday
morning at nine o'clock. The Laudners had a specific pew where some
Laudner had sat in their Sunday best for one hundred and fifty
years. Apparently, they had never missed mass, but as the story
goes, twenty-five