I'm With Cupid by Anna Staniszewski Read Free Book Online Page B

matchmaking auras. “What about car accidents and stuff? You’re not saying soul collectors are in the car with those people, are you? I mean, they’d get hurt too.”
    â€œNo, in accidental deaths like that, the soul is thrown out of the body. Then I’d get a message telling me to hurry over there to collect the soul before it wanders away.”
    â€œWanders away?” he repeated. “Like…like the soul goes to haunt people?”
    Lena shook her head. “It can get confused and drift around, that’s all. If it gets too far away from the spot where it died and a soul collector can’t find it, then soul hunters get involved.”
    â€œLike ghost hunters?”
    â€œNo, not ghosts,” Lena insisted. “Ghosts are only in the movies. These are souls that aren’t where they’re supposed to be.”
    â€œYou really don’t like things you can’t explain, do you?” Marcus asked. “Love. Ghosts. I bet you don’t even believe that four-leaf clovers bring luck.”
    â€œThey’re genetic mutations,” she said with a shrug. “How about you? What does a matchmaker do?”
    He explained how the energy was a type of magnet that pulls two people together so they can get to know each other better. Then he told her how the first couple he’d ever matched had had a strong spark right away and how that spark had gotten even stronger the more time they had spent together, a sure sign that they were going to last.
    When he was done, Lena let out a long sigh. “I guess that really is what happened to Mrs. Katz today. I’d been hoping whatever went wrong was something else, something that wouldn’t mess up her life.”
    â€œMess it up by making her fall in love instead of making her die ?” Marcus asked in disbelief.
    â€œI don’t make people die. It’s part of life. It happens.”
    â€œWell, so does love. Matchmakers only help it along. That’s why we can’t make people fall in love whenever we want.” No matter how much Marcus had wished over the past few months that he could have “zapped” Lena with a little love jolt and made her like him, he knew it would do no good. The manual was clear that if you used the abilities for personal gain, they’d backfire.
    â€œI’ll have to check on Mrs. Katz later and make sure she’s okay,” said Lena.
    â€œWhy wouldn’t she be okay? She’s probably happier than she’s ever been.”
    â€œMaybe she is now,” said Lena, “but wait until the whole love cloud wears off. Then she’ll be miserable.”
    Marcus couldn’t believe how negative Lena was about this whole matchmaking thing. He’d always known she was matter-of-fact. That was one of the things he liked about her—along with her silky hair and her calm way of listening to people, even when they were shy like he was and never knew the right thing to say. When they’d worked on their math project together last spring, she’d been open to his ideas but had still kept them on track so they were done in no time. It was strange the things he was finding out about her now that they were together.
    He sucked in a breath. Wait. Were they together? They’d kissed three times in the past twenty-four hours, after all. Granted, all three of those kisses had happened because of other people telling them what to do, but it still had to mean something, didn’t it? Grandpa’s book would certainly say they were “going steady.”
    He peered at Lena as she steered her bike down the street, mumbling lines from the play under her breath again. Maybe there was a reason behind all this power-swapping business. Maybe this was the universe’s weird way of finally making Lena notice him.
    â€œWhy are you staring at me?” she asked suddenly, coming to a stop.
    Marcus blinked. “Oh. Sorry. I guess I was…wondering