The Soul Ties

Astra's POV

“I'm Kate Ashford.” Kate says, practically falling into Nathan's arms.

I have no doubt she has been telling him her name for minutes.

I sigh as I watch the scene and feel embarrassed on her behalf. Nathan is by the door, looking extremely bored and impatient despite gathering unnecessary attention while Kate fawns over him as she pretends he is there for her.

I see some girls walking past and looking at her with envy. They don't have to say their thoughts out loud. We can all hear how they think Kate is lucky.

Nathan sees me first and his lips morph into a frown. His gaze hardens and he straightens, making Kate finally notice me.

“Astra,” she calls.

I nod as I get to the room. “Kate.” I smile at her. “Hey.” I glance at Nathan.

“Can we talk?” He says, leaning away from the wall.

About? Kate glances at me, her eyes shining with curiosity. I shrug, telling her I have no idea what the visit is about.

“Sure. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have anything to say.” I reply.

He scoffs at my response. “Where can we talk privately?”

I snort. “Privately? In this hostel? Not a chance. Everyone knows you are in the hostel and will sneak to wherever you are to gaze at you.”

I hate that I have to explain that and feed his over-inflated ego. His blush angers me more.

“Can we talk at my place then?” He offers. “No one will lurk around to eavesdrop.” He chuckles at the look on my face. “Relax! I don't bite.”

“I can hurt you even if you try to bite me.” I hiss.

“Be nice, Astra.” Kate warns, reminding me of her presence.

Nathan glances at her, his eyes filled with annoyance that she is still around. “Shall we?” He says, his tone pleading with me to accept his offer.

I don't know what he has to say but I decide to agree. I might as well get the interview done instead of searching all over campus for him and making appointments.

“Sure.” I nod.

“Astra, are you serious about going to his house?” Kate asks, her eyes filled with fear.

“Don't worry. I can't turn up dead in his house.” I chuckle.

“Not funny.” She scowls.

“If I'm not back in the next three hours, call the police since you already know where I am.” I joke.

“Very funny.” Nathan chuckles.

“Don't you dare spend three hours there.” She says as I walk away with Nathan.

“Your friend seems protective of you.”

I want to laugh at his misguided observation. I decide to help Kate out.

“Not really. She has a crush on you so she is naturally worried.”

“About me?” His eyes widen.

“Yes. You are the one she is protective of.”

I expect him to laugh and diss her off but he surprises me. He sighs, his expression sad and reeking of despair that I can't help but wonder who broke his heart.

I feel an insane urge to hurt the person who hurt him and sigh when I realize what I'm doing. I'm spiralling faster down the crazy zone than I think. I can't wait to be done with the discussion and the interview. The sooner I avoid him, the sooner I get my sanity.

“Tell her to move on. I'm not the man for her.” He whispers.

Because you are for me. My subconscious decides to wake up at that time but I force her back to sleep.

“I'm not interested in her.” He adds.

And neither is he in me. I yell at my subconscious before she starts checking styles of wedding gowns.

His house is a twenty-minute walk to my hostel. I feel nervous as I stand before it, afraid of stepping inside.

“Come in.” He chuckles in amusement as he stares at me.

“Let's talk in the garden.” I say.

He lives alone after all. I see no reason to discuss in his living room.

He scoffs. “I don't like being outdoors except I'm training or playing lacrosse.”

Of course. I do my best not to roll my eyes at how much of a rich brat he is.

“I hope you aren't luring me inside to kill me for staining your shirt.”

He laughs. “Just get in, Astra. If I wanted to kill for that, you would be dead already.”

I love the sound of my name on his lips.

Focus, Astra. I yell, cursing myself for having those visions tampering with my sanity and control at the moment.

“It's not a good time to remind me of the army you have.”

“I'm sorry.”

“For?” I can't believe he knows how to apologize.

“For spilling coffee on you and snapping at you.”

“Who are you in that body?” I narrow my eyes at him.

“It's me and not a spirit.” He chuckles. “Wanna check?” He places my hand on his chest and the air evaporates from the room.

My heart thuds as I hear his heart beating under my palm. I take my hand away as if he is on fire before I give myself away that I'm insanely attracted to him like the other girls after all.

I walk in after him, doing my best not to marvel at the interior.

“What do you want?” I move straight to the point.

He nods at my direct approach, sits and waves at me to do the same. “Coach tells me I need to fix my social image.”

I scoff. “As if the girls need more reasons to fall head over heels for you.”

He wags his finger at me. “And that is exactly why I had to come find you, despite the inconvenience.”

Duh! He didn't have to remind me of that.

He continues. “Coach believes what people know of me asides being the captain of the lacrosse team is my handsome face.” He chuckles at the roll of my eyes. “He says I should work on that before next semester. I'm supposed to do an interview before going home for the break. I want to ask if you can interview me and write a report about me.”

I want to laugh at how lucky I am. I don't have to beg him for an interview.

“Why me?”

He shrugs. “You are one of the few girls who isn't attracted to me. You don't like me so I'm sure you won't butter me up in your drafts.”

“How arrogant of you to think all the girls like you.” I scoff.

He arches his eyebrow. “Don't they?”

He is right. An arrogant asshole.

He chuckles. “Will you do it?”

As if I can refuse him.

“Sure. I get to write about who you really are and help some ladies get over their stupid crush.”

“I would appreciate that.”

I look at him, stunned by the response. I admit that he isn't what I think him to be.

“How did you know where to find me?” I ask to stop myself from overthinking.

“I just had to talk about the girl who spilled coffee on me and I got all the information I needed. When coach told me about the upcoming interview with a journalism student, I knew I wanted it to be you. Even if I do another interview with the assigned journalist, I figured it won't hurt to have you write something else in case the other journalist isn't professional enough.”

“I'm the journalist assigned to you though.” I confess.

He stares at me for seconds, smiles and shakes his head in amusement. “You don't say.”

I nod in confirmation.

“I should have stayed still, I guess.”

“You didn't because it was meant to be.”

He snorts. “It has nothing to do with fate. Don't tell me you believe in that.”

I'm a witch. I got a full curriculum on fate right from conception.

If he doesn't believe in fate, I can't imagine his reaction if I tell him that my visions say he is meant to be mine.

“No, I don't.” I lie, pretending to be a normal human instead of a witch as I always do. “Our decisions control our lives.”

He nods, his eyes filled with pride as he gazes at me. “I knew you are intelligent.”

If only he knows that I'm being affected by visions of him dying. I wonder what he will say about my intelligence then.

“Let's get the interview started.” I look around my bag for my pen and jotter.

“Let me change my clothes in case you need to take pictures.” He says and walks towards his bedroom.

How vain.

He suddenly shouts from his bedroom and I rush to his side. My eyes widen at the state of the room. He doesn't have to tell me before I realize what happened.

Someone has broken into his house.