Two Halves Series by Marta Szemik

found myself at the hill with my sister and the evil-bender who had just changed our lives forever.
     
    * * *
    “Did I kill her?” I asked after promising Ma we’d eat goulash before discussing any new business. The food was good, but I had no heart to tell her Xela’s was much better. Or perhaps it was her company that made the food scrumptious.
    “No, she’s alive,” Eric answered. He kept his distance from my sister.
    My confusion was mirrored on her face. She’d looked that way since this morning.
    “How did we get the mark?” I asked.
     “You sacrificed your life for hers.” Eric rubbed his neck where the fleshed spikes sunk in.
    I gaped at him. “That’s all it took?”
    “It’s not ‘ that’s all, ’ Xander. We talk about sacrifice all the time, but few would give up their lives for someone else.”
    “But my Xela is gone.” I slumped in the chair, eyes on the kitchen table.
    The pain of knowing my soul remained with Xela lingered. Her lost spirit was trapped in a foreign body. The thought that I couldn’t save her crawled beneath my skin; aching I could never let go. My black witch lived in a body I could not have. Not for another twenty years, perhaps longer.
    Eric lowered his head. “I’m sorry. We had no idea Aseret’s powers had grown so much. It will take more than me or the keepers to keep him bound.”
    I looked up at him. “Is Aseret bound?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then why are you so glum, lover boy?” I forced a laugh, hoping to trigger a dirty look, at least. I glimpsed Mira’s thankful eyes. She was just as curious about Eric’s sudden change in behavior.
    “Aseret’s bound, but he’s done damage that will take years to fix.”
    “The hereafter?” Mira asked.
    “Yes. And it’s my responsibility to take care of it.”
    “It’s my fault the hereafter has been opened,” she said, reminding me of the push that changed the trajectory of his magical attack, saving me.
    “You did what you had to,” Eric’s voice almost cooled the entire room.
    “I’ll go with you. We both will. We’ll help you,” she said firmly.
    “You can’t. It’s not your calling.”
    “But we’re watchers of the dead, aren’t we?” Desperation crept into my sister’s voice.
    “The future has been changed.”
    Somehow I knew exactly what he meant. There was a job I had to do, but I didn’t know what it was yet.
    “You have a responsibility now.” He reached out and touched our wrists, where the blue glow had faded to what looked like black tattoos.
    He was right. There was a new instinct inside of me that I recognized, though I’d never felt it before. Was this due to the mark? Was this what it felt like not to be stuck in endless oblivion?
    “Do you know what it is?” I asked.
    “It will be revealed to you soon,” he answered, looking at Mira as if he were saying goodbye.
    My ears perked up as I heard a rustle in the forest outside the hill.
    “What does it mean for us?” My sister cocked her head to the side. I assumed she concentrated on the swooshing through the higher grass, ten miles to the west.
    “It means my calling to fix the hereafter is now my priority, sugar.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
    “And once you fix things, you’ll be back?” she asked, her eyes mellowed, straining to keep her focus on Eric.
    “I won’t make promises that can’t be kept.” He sighed. “Sugar, I’m not sure I will be able to close the hereafter.”
    “So, you’re gone forever? I’ll never see you again?”
    “Never say never, sugar.”
    “Can’t I be with you while you answer your calling?” she pleaded, holding back tears.
    She wouldn’t let them flow in front of Eric. My sister wouldn’t show despair until after he’d left. But she knew the evil-bender was right. Another job waited for her, just as it did for me. I sensed her heightened alertness as she also listened to the forest outside.
    “Will I see you again?” she asked.
    “I’m not a fortune