Hardly daring to breathe, I turned my head away from him, staring straight ahead. He leant closer, positioning himself so his face was only inches from mine. When he spoke I felt his breath warm against my cheek.
“Tell. Me. Your. Name.” The way he said the words sent an involuntary shiver down my spine. Panic and confusion flooded my mind, and I tried to think rationally. If I told him the truth, he wouldn’t believe me anyway.
I dared to look back at him and saw his jaw muscle flexing. I was terrified of making him more agitated.
“Lydia,” I heard myself answer.
“Lydia. And that’s your primary name?”
“My, my what?”
“Don’t mess me about,” he practically spat the words out, “were you born Lydia?”
My hands were shaking so violently I had to sit on them to try and make it stop.
“N-No, Gracie. Gracie Reynolds.”
“Reynolds?” He looked thoughtful for a moment, and I saw him form the word again silently. I noticed the driver shaking his head in the front.
“Okay, have you ever had a different surname?”
“Um, yes, it was N-Nicholls.”
The driver turned his head towards us. “Haven’t heard that one either.”
My interrogator frowned and carried on. “So Lydia is the body you’re switched into at the moment?”
Whoa! He knew about the body-switching thing?
I swallowed hard. “Yes.”
“And how long have you been switched?”
I couldn’t think clearly. “I-I’m not sure.”
“It’s important. I need to know how long.”
Terrified tears started to build behind my eyelashes. “I-I don’t know exactly. Since about six o’clock last night.”
“Damn.” He squeezed his hand into a ball. “Where’s your primary body now?”
Too scared to ask, I guessed he meant my own body. I looked at my watch, and forced my voice to stay level. “At home, I-I think.”
“And where is home?”
I paused, not sure whether to lie, and decided I had nothing to lose by this point.
“Harold Road, Crystal Palace.”
The driver turned and nodded to the guy next to me. “Straight there, Dan?”
So that was my kidnapper’s name.
“Yeah, fast as you can mate.”
As we drove, Dan ceased his interrogation. He shifted away from me and I felt my anxiety recede a little. I shot a sideways looks at him. His features were pulled tight as he checked his watch, obviously deep in thought.
I replayed the previous couple of minutes in my head, and was amazed that so far I had come out unscathed. He’d been so wound up, but he hadn’t hurt me. Surely if his intention had been to cause harm, he would have done it while he was angry with me.
Bit by bit, cautious relief flowed through me and I began to think more rationally. He obviously knew stuff about this whole body-hopping thing, and I desperately needed answers.
I took a deep breath, it was now or never. “Um, h-how did you know I wasn’t in my own body?”
He turned to look at me and flicked his eyes above my head. “Your aura.”
I watched him and it hit me how handsome he was. Not in an obvious pretty boy way. It was more to do with the arrangement of his features; the definition of his cheekbones which gave him a look of determination, the pout of his lips and the way his dark eyebrows gently slanted up at the outside edge. I was disarmed and looked away to try and pull myself together.
I sat reflecting on his answer and when I turned back I had another look at the yellow glow above his head. That was an aura? My mind raced to catch up. I thought of the man and woman I’d seen earlier with orange glows.
“So, are there other people who can switch bodies?” I asked, feeling braver.
“Yes, loads.” He sounded irritated again. “Why are you asking? You know this.”
From nowhere, I felt anger flood my system. He had snatched me off the street, scared me to within an inch of my life and then interrogated me. I was at least allowed to ask why.
“I don’t know anything.” I snapped, and it all came spilling out. “None of this is making any sense. I switched bodies for the first time on Saturday. I didn’t know what was happening and it’s completely freaked me out. I thought I was the only one who could do it and I’ve been trying to find out why it’s happening to me, anything to make sense of it all. Then you guys just… grab me off the street and kidnap me. So no, I don’t already know.”
Dan had turned to face me full on. He was wearing a puzzled expression, and his eyes were searching mine to see if I was telling the truth. I felt my chin wobble as I tried to hold back the tears.
I turned my head to look out of the tinted window, trying to focus on car headlights speeding along in the opposite direction. I used the back of my hand to bat away the tears as they started rolling down my cheeks.
After a few moments, I became aware of him gently touching my arm. It made me uneasy, and I twisted to face him. He looked different now, softer, and his eyes were full of concern.
“Gracie, are you telling me you honestly don’t know you’re an SP?”
I wrinkled my nose. “A what?”
“An SP, a Soul Protector.”
I gave him a blank look and he moved his hand away.
“Jesus, you really don’t know, do you?”
I shook my head.
He took a deep breath. “Listen, I’m sorry. We wouldn’t have grabbed you off the street like that if we’d known.” He ran his fingers through his dark hair. “We thought you were corrupt. If you knew what you were… a Soul Protector, you’d have been half expecting it.”
Dan looked from me to the driver. “You ever heard of this happening before, Steve?”
The driver, Steve, nodded. “Yeah, someone was talking about random cases just the other day.”
Dan took a deep breath and shook his head, “I’ve never met anyone who didn’t know.”
“Well I didn’t. Sorry.” There was more than a hint of sarcasm to my voice.
We sat not talking for a couple of miles, deep in thought. The only sound was the drone of the car engine.
After a while, Dan shifted in his seat and took a deep breath.
“Gracie, there are things you should know. Being a Soul Protector... well it changes everything… who you are, what you do, what you can do.”
I nodded. “So tell me about it. Please, I need to know.”
He cleared his throat. “This is going to sound far-fetched, but I guess from what’s been happening, you’re not going to have any trouble believing me.”
He got that right.
“Okay, in basic terms, being a Soul Protector means you have the ability to enter another person’s being.”
He stopped for a second to check my reaction. I nodded furiously, desperate for him to continue.
“Your mind splits in two, and your conscious thoughts become prominent in the other person’s body. It’s important to remember, you never really leave your primary body, that’s what we call your own body.”
I must have looked confused, because he tried to simplify it.
“It’s a bit like watching one movie live and recording another. Part of your mind transfers to another body, while your primary body carries on as normal, but you won’t know what thoughts and feelings your primary body’s been having until you switch back.”
I chewed my lip as I nodded.
“While your mind is in another person’s body, if you focus, you’ll be able to pick up that person’s thoughts and feelings, and you have the power to influence the way they think.”
The intermittent bouts of tinnitus, they were Lydia’s thoughts…
“But you must only enter another body for the greater good,” he carried on. “Only vulnerable people need our help.”
“Like who?”
Dan slouched back in the car seat. “Well, it’s hard to define, it could be someon
e struggling through a rough patch, someone suffering from depression, or maybe coming to terms with bereavement. It could even be a victim of crime, or an addict of some sort. Then it’s okay, well it’s our duty really, to switch into them and help them heal.
“But how are we supposed to do that?”
“Each case is different, but you need to try and influence them to a more positive mindset, or help them make better choices. It’s not an exact science, but we’ve got a high success rate.”
I sat and digested what he told me. It felt good to finally get some answers, but I felt uneasy knowing I’d crossed a line, switching into Lydia when she was the last person who would ever need help.
“When you leave a body, do they know someone else has been interfering with their mind?” I held my breath as I waited for his answer.
“No, they won’t remember you’ve been there.”
I sagged with relief.
“And we need to keep it that way,” he carried on, “can you imagine how people would react if they knew about us? We’d be ostracised, or locked up or something. You must never tell anyone what you are.”
That was going to be hard.
“I can’t believe no one has ever found out?”
“Well, people who have been visited usually have a feeling that something has happened, but they can’t quite put their finger on it. They might wonder why they were inspired to go to a certain place, or why they impulsively changed a major decision, leading to positive events. That’s when you’ll hear the phrase, ‘it must have been fate’, or ‘an angel was watching over me.’ Mostly that’s us interfering, in a good way of course.” He smiled as he said this, and I was surprised by the effect it had on me, causing my cheeks to flush.
“Basically, when we leave their body, they usually feel like they’ve been daydreaming, but hopefully they’ll be feeling more upbeat and positive than before.”
“Yeah, we’re like band-aid for broken spirits,” said Steve.
“So Soul Protectors are good people?” I was starting to get a good feeling about it all.
His smile faded. “No. Not all good. Like any organisation, there are tainted characters. We have plenty of corrupt Soul Protectors. That’s what we thought you were. Steve and I are monitors and it’s our job to make sure people are switching for the right reasons and not abusing their gift.”
Steve cut in, “You’ll recognise monitors because we have yellow auras instead of the usual orange. And we can switch for longer than regular Soul Protectors.
“Oh. Why do you switch though, I mean, if you’re not helping vulnerable people?”
“Because it’s only when you’re switched you can see another Soul Protector’s aura. I only switch with other monitors, and it’s with their express consent. I would never joyride,” he said, grinning.
I wasn’t sure if he was mocking me, so I chose to rise above the comment.
“Are you arresting me?”
He shook his head, “No, we don’t arrest people. We just make sure they do the right thing. In your case, we need to get you switched back as soon as possible.”
“Of course,” I said, relieved. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
He nodded and his smile dropped again.
“The colour of another Soul Protector’s aura is important. If it’s orange, then you know that person is a Soul Protector who’s switched for less than eight hours, which is fine. If the aura starts to go dark orange like yours, it means they’ve been switched for too long. It’s not ethical or safe to inhabit another body for a long period.”
My cheeks started to burn. I didn’t think it was possible to feel any more ashamed of myself.
“The longer you stay in another body, the more dangerous it is to switch back into your primary body,” he carried on.
“Why, what happens?” I felt my pulse start to speed up again.
“When you switch into someone else, your mind stretches, because essentially it has to split in two. Then, when you switch back to your primary body, you’ll feel the effects. You’ll be exhausted, and feel like you’ve got a hangover. If you do it for too long, the hangover becomes more acute. Your whole body can go into shock, and depending how long you’ve been switched, it can be really...” he paused, searching for the right word, “serious.”
I felt the blood drain out of my face. What had I done?
“What about Lydia?”
“She’ll be fine. It’s you we need to worry about.”
“Oh thank God.” She didn’t deserve to suffer. I was the one who’d been reckless.
“When you switch back, the effects will come on almost instantly,” Dan continued, “try not to worry too much, I’ll stay with you and do everything I can to help.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and fixed me with a look. It was a mixture of pity and determination. “We have to do this by ourselves though, Gracie. You can’t see a doctor. They’ll have no idea what they’re dealing with, and anyway, conventional medicine can’t help you.”
“But Lydia will be there, if it’s that bad, she might call a doctor.”
“Once you’ve switched back, you have to get rid of her immediately. We can’t risk her calling an ambulance.”
An ambulance. The butterflies in my belly whipped up to a frenzy as my mind scrambled for reassurance.
“Erm, if someone decided to stay permanently switched. What would happen then?”
“Well, apart from it being completely immoral, you’d eventually get a dark red aura, which would alert other Soul Protectors that you’d taken over someone else’s body. They would inform the monitors, because we know once you’ve gone to the red stage you’ve got no intention of returning to your primary body.”
“But you said you can switch for longer. How do you do it without your body going into shock?”
“It is possible to teach your mind and body to cope for longer. You know you’re safe when your aura goes yellow instead of dark orange. But even monitors can’t go to the red stage.”
“So would it be possible to teach me to cope for longer?” I asked, biting my lip.
As Dan looked at me, I saw only pity left in his eyes.
“No, not without intensive training, it takes months for your body to adjust.”
“Oh, right.” I managed to sound calm but inside I was in turmoil.
We spent the next couple of minutes in the car deciding on how to get rid of Lydia as fast as possible after the switch-back. Dan said there would be no time for lengthy explanations. I would just have to be blatantly rude and tell her I didn’t have time to see her. He was going to sneak into my flat through the fire exit at the back, so he would be ready to help me the minute my body went into shock.
For the last part of the journey, Dan coached me how to erase the kidnap from Lydia’s mind. I had to go back to the memory immediately before I was bundled into the car. I thought back to the man with the orange aura, glaring at me while on his phone. Dan said I should bring this image to the forefront as vividly as possible. Then, I had to think of the kidnap in a light-hearted way, not easy when you’ve been scared to within an inch of your life, and convince Lydia’s mind it was all in her imagination, an image she conjured to pass the time of day. I did as I was told, but was sceptical about it working.
CHAPTER 5
.
The Recovery
.
As we pulled up outside my flat, Dan grabbed his backpack and we climbed out of the car.
“Good luck, Gracie,” Steve said, putting the car into gear. The look he gave me was far from confident and as I watched him pull away, I felt a fresh sense of doom.
Dan came and stood next to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. I had to crane my neck to meet his eyes. He was a good six foot one I’d guess.
“Gracie, I’m going to get you through this. Can you trust me?”
I gulped, and nodded firmly. I had to trust him. I was in way over my head.
After giving him some
inside information about breaking into my flat, he gave me a parting wink and shot off round the back of the building.
I took some deep breaths, walked up to the intercom and buzzed my flat.
“Hel-lo,” there was my voice again, but the other Gracie was using it.
Good, she was home. I blew out a shaky breath.
“Hi, Gracie, it’s me, erm, Lydia. Can you let me in?”
I heard a click as the door unlocked. I opened it and practically ran up the familiar stairwell, stopping outside flat 3. I knocked on the door, and ‘Gracie’ opened it. It was so surreal. Without giving her a chance to talk, I reached forward and embraced her, remembering to wish I could switch back.
After the familiar giddy sensation, I was back in my own body and immediately could tell I was in trouble. I opened my eyes to be faced with Lydia who was staring into space. I felt shaky and weak, ready to collapse, but I had to act fast to get rid of her. I gripped hold of the door handle hard, aware I was losing the feeling in my legs.
“Lydia, I’m sorry I’m really busy right now,” I blurted out. “I can’t talk, but I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
I felt myself spiralling out of control, and had to slam the door in her face. I knew she’d be livid, but I had no choice. As soon as it closed, I crashed to the floor. I had a blinding headache and felt unbearably hot. Sweat was pouring off me. I was vaguely aware of Dan appearing at my side, but I couldn’t speak to him.
He slid his arms underneath me, picked me up and carried me until he found my bedroom. He gently deposited me on the bed and disappeared in the direction of the bathroom. I was scared and didn’t want him to leave, so it was a relief to see him reappear with a damp flannel which he placed on my forehead. The coolness felt good against my hot skin, and I tried to convey my thanks just by looking at him.
He started to strip off my clothes and if I hadn’t felt like death, I would have been mortified. First, he slipped off my cardi. Then he unbuttoned my jeans, and tugged them down. This was hard enough for me to do on a good day, but he had to contend with my damp skin as well. After some pulling, they gradually came over my thighs and he whipped them off and discarded them on the floor. I felt the cool air hit my skin, and it felt good.
Soul Protector (Soul Protector Series) Page 4