The Soul Game

by McQueen, K. T.

  If she were to do the task some of her money was going to have to go on takeaway tonight. Which made her feel guilty after Malcolm brought all that food. But if she went to the next town’s pizza place she would have a huge audience and free salad bar.

  It was a short walk to the bus stop and a shorter walk at the other end to the cash machine. It was weird how the ten she took out was two stuck together, but when she checked, the machine had only acknowledged the ten. Sweet. Maybe the book was lucky after all.

  She bought the biggest stuffed crust meat feast pizza she could afford with a supersized coke. Then selected a booth near the salad bar, where she gathered the largest portion of salad and pot of sauce she could. She left off the mushrooms, though, she hated mushrooms.

  One or two people watched and whispered behind their hands. She knew the pictures her so called friends had taken had spread but she hadn't realised anyone would pay them any notice other than her own town. It took all her willpower to stay in her seat and continue eating. She’d paid for the food and it was ages since she’d allowed herself to just pig out.

  Eating even after she was too full to continue. Just after the halfway mark, she decided she’d have to take the rest to go. There was no way she could finish it, and after two bowls of salad, she was beginning to wonder if the extra money had made her go too far.

  Collecting her things and binning the empty soda cup she headed to the counter to get a takeaway box. Some people had watched but not many.

  The bus home wasn’t long in coming and she managed another two slices on the journey, much to the disgust of the old couple sitting ahead of her. Or maybe that was because of the coke and pizza doing the cha-cha in her stomach making her belch. Refusing to apologise, just like the book told her, she tried to keep the noises to herself for the rest of the journey. If all the challenges were like this she was going to enjoy them.

  That night, with her reheated pizza she began to read the next task. A smile spread across her face; she was sure she could manage this one too. It was almost too tempting not to continue to read to the following task, but the book had already explained how wrong that was and she had no intention of giving away her soul for a stupid mistake.

  Task: Convince someone to lend you their car, whether you can drive or not, just to feel what it’s like. If you can convince them to hand over the keys, you’ve completed the task.

  The following morning, she woke smiling and ate a small breakfast anticipating the task. She rather fancied a drive in that new truck in the yard. It belonged to one of the workers.

  Conner was friendly and funny and had, when he first got here, asked her out to the local pub once or twice. But then he’d stopped. But he hadn’t stopped talking to her.

  ‘Morning,’ she said sweetly, as she sidled around his truck. ‘Did you clean her?’

  ‘Yeah, I did. Hot date tomorrow and she insists on a clean car.’ He grinned.

  Kelly frowned, wondering whether the reason he had stopped asking her out was because he’d found someone else.

  ‘Taking her anywhere nice?’

  ‘Mostly just picking her up from the airport.’ He made a not too keen on that task face. ‘My mum is flying in and staying for a week.’

  ‘Ah.’ Kelly nodded, she hadn’t spoken to her mother for months.

  ‘So what can I help you with this morning?’ he was looking for an excuse not to start work.

  ‘I was wondering if you might be an angel and let me have a drive of your truck.’

  ‘Why?’ his frown indicated he never let anyone drive his truck.

  ‘I want to see if it looks good on me.’ Kelly giggled, she hadn’t meant to, it just sort of slipped out.

  ‘I don’t know, you can’t even drive, can you?’ clearly not keen.

  ‘We’re on private property, I don’t need a license on private property.’

  ‘I don’t like anyone else to drive her, it just feels weird after they’ve been in my seat.’ He shrugged and grabbed his jacket out of the cab.

  ‘You know I’m gonna bug you about it all day, right?’

  ‘All day? Are you helping out this morning?’ He asked. She’d already done her two days.

  She must have looked sad because he slung his arm around her shoulder and guided her to the yard door.

  ‘I’ll think about it okay,’ he said giving her a playful shove and jogging off to where the other guys were moving a huge bale of hay.

  She didn’t have too much to do. She’d been asked to clean out all the feed buckets and troughs.

  ‘Brought you a coffee.’ He found her in the horse barn just after noon.

  ‘Thanks,’ she grinned. He stepped back like he’d smelled something disgusting. ‘So you gonna let me drive your truck?’

  ‘Not smelling like that!’ he looked offended, which was a tough task when he worked in the same place. ‘You can take a shower first.’

  ‘So that’s a yes!’ she grinned.

  ‘I’m still thinking about it.’

  ‘You said I could if I took a shower. I have this barn to do, then I’m done. So, I can take a shower before you even finish for the day.’ She almost sang, tasting success on the tip of her tongue.

  ‘We’ll see,’ was all he said as he turned to go back to work, but she knew she’d won.

  She caught herself singing as the hot water rained down on her, a long way from where she’d been last week. She laughed and sang louder. Last week it would have been a miracle if she took a shower. She would have been sitting in her pyjamas all day, curled up, crying to herself.

  Everything had led up to that moment on the bridge, and she’d been rescued. Perhaps rescued wasn’t the right word, cajoled? Yeah, that’s more like it. Nothing seemed quite as bad now. She had focus and goals and a purpose.

  With one last yodelling note she turned off the hot water. She was going to make enough effort that Conner would be unable to resist her request, she hoped.

  ‘Whoa!’ he was leaning against his truck.

  Well, Kelly figured, the effort she’d gone to was working. She smiled slowly, hitching up one cheek and bringing a glow to her eyes that no one had seen in a long time. Then she stalked across to the truck, yeah stalked. Conner stood stock still. She could see his lips moving as if he were trying to make words but there was no sound as he held out the keys.

  ‘Thanks,’ Kelly said sweetly and moved around him to the door.

  Stepping up she knew he’d get an eyeful of her rear but she didn’t care. It was a long time since she’d been the one to make someone blush.

  ‘Are you getting in?’ she asked. He patted the bonnet and ran around to the other side, shaking his head.

  She inserted the key as he pulled the door shut, the engine roared into life and she grinned. It was true she didn’t have a license but not true that she’d never driven before. As they pulled away Conner was clasping the seat with both hands, worry creasing his face, eyes firmly on her leg. She figured she’d stick to the farm track around the edge of the field. It was a little bumpy. And perhaps slippier than she’d expected.

  ‘Just take it slow okay,’ he muttered.

  She eased off the accelerator a little before stopping.

  ‘Now show me how it’s done,’ she told him, hopping out and running round to the other side.

  He moved over to the driver’s seat and revved the engine, a wicked grin on his face as he powered backwards and turned right into the wood road. It was wild, and she screamed around the tight curves and narrow track, it was clear he’d done this before. They completed the circle and he parked just next to her caravan.

  ‘When you’re ready to get your license let me know and I’ll give you lessons, if I’m still here.’ He grinned as she pecked him on the cheek. His truck would need washing again but she’d do it whilst he worked.

  ‘That was awesome!’ she called after him as he turned to leave the farm. His grin just as wide and happy.

  Task: Sex is your all-consuming desir
e today. You must have it, somewhere, somehow and before midnight. Perhaps there is someone you fancy but have been too shy to approach or you want something you’ve never had the guts to try. Perhaps you could even attempt a sex marathon.

  The caravan was warm and cosy as she curled up to read the next chapter. A wicked grin spreading across her face, she may have just laid the groundwork for that one. Thoughts of the task plagued her all night and by the time she got up she felt exhausted and frustrated. She didn’t go out to the yard when she heard Conner’s truck pull up, but then he wouldn’t expect her to.

  As soon as she saw the farm tractor take the guys out across the fields she went out to clean his truck. Mulling over her options as she cleaned. By the time he got back the truck was clean and dry and Kelly was peering through a tiny gap in the curtains to watch the expression on his face.

  She wasn’t expecting him to leave so early, though, even after telling her his mother’s flight got in today. He probably wouldn’t be back tonight. Which meant her only option to complete the task was to go to Billy’s Bar, which was a bit of a dive, and try her luck there.

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE: MAËL

  A storm was brewing and he spared little more than a glance at the witch’s book shop on his way to Sparky’s; finding the cat sunning himself on the doorstep.

  ‘That beam won’t be there much longer if the hairs on the back of my neck are any indication.’ He could have sworn sparks were crackling along the nape of his neck. It was getting closer every second and it was going to be a doozy – as they say. The cat looked at him like he had no idea what he was talking about, made a turn and plonked down to heat the other side.

  Mike stepped past him. The bell jangled and there was Sparky as if he’d been expecting him.

  ‘Welcome back!’ he said. ‘It’s going to be fierce that storm. Something brewing, can you feel it?’

  ‘Ordinarily, I’d say I had no idea what you mean but it’s like electricity in the air.’ Mike glanced out the window.

  ‘Have you been reading the book?’ Sparky asked producing a tray of lemonade, and a bowl of melon chunks.

  They sat at the same table as before. The sky outside the small window behind them steadily darkening.

  ‘I have, although I can’t say I’ve taken much in. It’s been a very strange week. I should have come sooner.’ Mike took a sip of lemonade and smiled.

  ‘Well tell me all!’ Sparky said.

  Low rumbles of thunder were shaking the air by the time Mike finished his tale. The fat ginger cat had abandoned the sun beam for a spot in front of the radiator. Eying Sparky like he expected him to get up and make it warm.

  ‘Could you draw the symbol for me?’ Sparky asked.

  Mike took the pen and paper and drew the symbol. The first flash of lightning lit the store. Goblins carved into the highest bookshelves eerily visible and moving. Sparky saw him looking.

  ‘They protect the books from sparks, flames, anything that might burn them. Magical carvings, very old,’ Sparky explained. ‘Much like this symbol. I’m surprised you know it yourself, never mind how it was reversed.’

  ‘My mother taught me everything she knew, or at least everything she thought I should know.’ He knew she hadn’t told him everything.

  ‘Your mother was a Faroe Demon. They have the knowing of the woods and mountains.’ He smiled. ‘These symbols are of their making.’

  ‘I never knew what kind of Demon she was. Or my father. Only that they were and that she was also a witch,’ Mike said.

  ‘You don’t know what kind of Demon your father is?’ his eyes went so wide they began to disappear under his lazy brow.

  ‘No, sir. I never met him.’

  ‘Well, her being a witch is the reason for their union. Usually, he would pick human women, but Faroe Demons are unusually beautiful. Very tempting when they want to be.’ Sparky chuckled. ‘He would have been tempted.’

  ‘Do you know him?’ Mike was curious. His mother had insisted the less he knew the better.

  ‘I’ve met him,’ was all he said. ‘Would it be uncomfortable for me to come to your home? I might be able to determine what is lurking outside your apartment. I may also know some protection charms you haven’t used that could keep both you and your lovely girlfriend safe.’

  ‘I don’t want Joy to find out what I am,’ Mike hedged.

  Thunder boomed, rattling the windowpanes.

  ‘She would think I was nothing more than an elderly gentleman who owns a bookshop. That you had befriended of course.’ He smiled. ‘You could invite me round for a drink to calm my nerves, say I remember the war and the crashing thunder disturbs me.’

  ‘Today?’

  ‘Now.’ And he took Mike’s hand in his.

  CHAPTER FIFTY: WHITE

  By the time Eric got back to his tiny, one bedroom flat it was pouring with rain. He was so wet he had to hang his coat over the bath and put his clothes straight in the washing machine. Pulling on warm tracksuit bottoms and his favourite jumper he went to the kitchen for a drink and something to eat. He thought perhaps it was a bit of a girly thing to do but he felt eating might make him feel better. It was a long time since he’d had any time off from work and now it was forced job loss. He supposed he would have to job hunt later but right now he just wanted to sulk.

  He found the beginning of the book confusing, how could a book take your soul, and what was a soul anyway, did he use it? He’d never been spiritual but this was asking him to believe in something he wasn’t sure existed. Surely it was just a book and a figment of the author’s imagination, like it said right at the beginning, and so he was sure it wouldn’t matter whether he played the game or not. He didn’t bother to pick a colour, although if he had it would have been white, the joke amongst colours.

  The tasks seemed simple enough and he imagined doing them. He wondered if the woman in the red dress had done the tasks and drifted off in thoughts of her instead. But he soon returned to reading, ignoring the prompts to stop, ignoring the strange sensation in his stomach and the dry taste in his mouth.

  The doorbell rang.

  ‘Hello, sir,’ said a beautiful dark haired woman, her eyes so blue he found himself gazing longingly into their depths.

  ‘Hello?’ he said. Perhaps the book could bring a person what they most wanted after all.

  ‘I’m selling cakes to raise money for charity, the lost cat home actually,’ she told him with a devastating smile. He felt his insides melt a little at the soft curve of her lips and the milky white skin of her neck. Using the tip of her tongue to moisten her lips she said, ‘I wondered if I could tempt you to purr-chase one, the sale of one cake feeds one cat for a day.’

  ‘I’ll get my wallet,’ he said, failing to ask for identification.

  But she was a woman and he was a man, there was no way she could do him any harm. Besides, he thought as he turned back to her, she didn’t seem the type.

  ‘How much?’ he asked as he handed over a note.

  She was still smiling as she handed him the cake and his change.

  She was still smiling as she told him to enjoy every bite.

  She was still smiling as she turned and walked away.

  He was sure he heard her laugh as the door clicked shut.

  The cake was dark and supremely chocolaty, as it melted in his mouth the flavour flooded his taste buds. The more he ate the more he wanted and he began raiding his cupboards for sweet things. He piled them on the table and chose the first thing that came to hand, biting in with relish.

  Two bites later he realised he couldn’t taste anything. He tried stronger and stronger things and had to stop himself as he bit into a chilli. His mouth was filled with fresh chilli and he couldn’t taste a thing. He broke down in the middle of the kitchen floor, surrounded by wrappers. Sobbing into the cold tiles until darkness fell and the visitor arrived.

  The temperature dropped and his breath began to fog. His eyes opened wide as he tried to see. The light had gone;
the dark of night had fallen without him even noticing. He raised his head and looked into a pair of eyes. White eyes in a grey horned face above a black suit. He frowned, the suit didn’t seem right. And why was the visitor on the ceiling? Wings stretched out lazily, touching the wall on either side of the small room, its head moving like a snake, watching. The creature had no shoes and the claws of its feet and hands kept it attached to the ceiling. The long tail swished menacingly, the sharp barb barely missing his own feet.

  Eric was too terrified to move. He must have overdosed on some toxic substance, he thought, as the creature landed on its clawed feet in front of him. Eric whimpered. It was all he could manage.

  ‘I have come for payment,’ the creature said in a deep, strangely cultured, slow voice. As the claws clicked on the linoleum, the demon approaching.

  Eric didn’t have time to wonder what payment as the Demon leaned towards him, reaching inside Eric’s body with one long clawed hand it took hold of something. Eric could feel it fighting the Demon. Riving inside him as it tried to avoid its grasp. The creature pulled backwards, its eyes filled with concentration, its sharp teeth bared as it tore Eric’s soul from his body. The soul screamed and Eric felt a fresh wave of nauseating guilt.

  ‘The ones who don’t know they have a soul are always the trickiest to separate. But don’t worry, a few days of detox and you’ll be fine, free to lead a soulless existance.’ The Demon grinned. ‘On the up side, it will never matter if you sin again. Have a nice life!’