“How about queen of hearts?”
“That doesn’t even make sense.” Callie didn’t have time for his ridiculousness, but she didn’t totally hate it.
“All your new jars have hearts on them.”
She’d shifted the Soul Charmer’s fraction notations to a five heart system. Each new soul she brought in she’d draw five hearts in chalk on the jar. After each rental, she’d erase half a heart. When it was empty, it was time to put them in the do not rent pile.
“That measures how many times they’ve been rented. They’re still souls.”
“I’ll come up with something you like.”
Derek entered the room. “That’s my job.”
Callie hid her smile. She picked up Beck’s flask and tossed it at him. “Bring me back something nice.”
He groused, but took the tool and headed out of the room.
“You’re settling in,” Derek said.
She shrugged. “This is it for now. How are things outside?”
They’d had some increased foot traffic in the alleyway, which Derek was convinced was a result of Anonymous Souls crew poking around for jobs. “It’s quiet for now.”
The front bell rang the warning before Beck blasted back past the curtain. Callie needed to figure out how to make a barrier like the Charmer had if this continued.
“Someone left this for you.” He held a cream parchment. It was folded in half. The paper shook in his hand.
“Is it addressed to Soul Charmer 2.0, because then I know it was from you.”
He didn’t laugh.
She accepted the sheet. The front of the card had her name in blocky letters. The ink bled out from each line. She opened the page, and would have stumbled backward if Derek hadn’t propped her up.
“We aren’t done.” Her words were hollow. Sand coating her tongue would have been more comfortable that the liquid dread filling her mouth.
The same block letters carried the interior message:
Lower on the page drips ran down from the signature.
The script in the rich red of blood was legible:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Charmer Crew, y’all are the best. A huge thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and handed a copy of a Soul Charmer book to a friend. It’s a joy to get to share Callie’s journey with you. These books are packed with all the things I love, which means you have excellent tastes. #BookTwins.
I have to give extra love to Amanda Bonilla and Megan Frampton for giving good advice and replying to my texts. Additional thanks to Amanda Bouchet, Melissa Marr, Rachel Vincent, Cathlin Shahriary, and Joanna Hoskinson for being great friends and creative sounding boards. You should all come to Texas.
Thank you to Patricia Schmitt for the beautiful cover art.
Finally, thank you to my family for both the support and enduring my plotting rambles.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chelsea Mueller writes gritty contemporary fantasy. She founded the speculative fiction website Vampire Book Club and blogs about TV and genre fiction for numerous websites. She loves bad cover songs, dramatic movies, and TV vampires. Chelsea lives in Texas, and has been known to say y’all.
For the latest updates, join her email list at ChelseaMueller.net or follow @ChelseaVBC on Twitter and Instagram.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Praise for the Soul Charmer Series
Books by Chelsea Mueller
Lost Souls
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Acknowledgements
About Chelsea Mueller
