Immortal Souls: The Immortal Souls, Magic & Chaos (Book 1)

by Karen M. Dillon

  Oh no, Sam thought as Scott placed a gift on the librarian’s desk. She sighed. He did this every year. On her birthday and on Christmas and even one year on Valentine’s day. He didn’t seem to understand the meaning of ‘we’re not together anymore’. Scott smiled. “I’ve gotta go now,” he said and walked away without giving Sam time to respond.

  “Wait,” she called after him. He continued walking away and out the library doors, acting as though he hadn’t heard her speak.

  Sam let an exasperated sigh. She grabbed the gift off the desk, jumped up out of her chair and followed Scott. Jack stayed where he was, paying no attention to her. She threw the doors open and stepped outside. “Scott, wait!” she called.

  He froze at the gate and slowly turned around to face her. Sam ran to where he was standing. She held the gift out to him. “I can’t accept this,” she said.

  Scott kept his hands by his sides, refusing to take it back. “Sure you can,” he said. “It’s a gift.”

  “You shouldn’t be buying me gifts,” Sam said. “We’re not together and I don’t want you to get the wrong idea or anything.”

  Scott took the gift back and immediately got that look on his face again. The same one he always got when they had this conversation. The one that made Sam feel like she was breaking his heart all over again. “So, what?” he asked and shrugged. “Does that mean we can’t even be friends?” Sam didn’t answer. They couldn’t be anything anymore. “Did I ever do anything to make you hate me?”

  Sam sighed. “No,” she said. “You’re like the nicest person in the world.” Which made breaking up with you so hard, she added in her head. It was necessary, Sam told herself. It had to be done.

  Scott held the gift out. “Then take it,” he said. “It’s a friend gift, it doesn’t mean anything.”

  Sam struggled to decide. Scott looked at her and smiled, his brown eyes wide and hopeful as they stared into hers. Sam forced a smile and took the gift out of his hand. “Thanks,” she said.

  Scott appeared relieved that she had taken the gift. “Would I be pushing it if I asked for a hug?” he said and opened his arms.

  Sam knew she shouldn’t, it might give him ideas. But she really wanted that hug, so she shook her thoughts away and wrapped her arms around him. Scott held her tightly and Sam held on just as tight. He pressed his head against hers, his chin resting on her shoulder. “I miss you,” he whispered into her hair.

  Sam missed him too, but she didn’t say that. Instead she just held on tighter. After a while she muttered, “I should go back inside.”

  Scott hesitated before letting her go. “Yeah,” he said and smiled. “And I should probably go home.”

  Sam smiled. “Have fun on vacation,” she said and started walking away.

  “I’ll see you at school,” Scott said and walked out the library gates.

  Sam headed back towards the building. She tore the wrapping paper open and looked at the gift inside.

  She pursed her lips and held back a smile as she shook her head. Doesn’t mean anything, she thought, what a liar. Sam walked through the library doors, then cursed to herself as the power went out and the room was plunged into complete darkness.

  CHAPTER 17

  Sam hurried into the darkened library. The bang of the closing door echoed in the silence. “Jack!” she called, her voice tinged with panic as her mind was flooded with memories of last night.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Sam could make out a shadowy Jack shaped blob on a chair at one of the desks. “I think the power went,” she said, as she took a step in his direction. “Did anyone else walk in while I was out?”

  “No.”

  “Okay,” Sam said. She concentrated her energy and sent it out to the room. The lights flickered pathetically before finally switching on. Although the light was dimmer than it should have been because the bulbs were being powered by Sam’s Magic rather than electricity. “Do you know where the main switch is?” she asked.

  Sam walked behind the librarian’s desk and looked around pushing books and magazines and cables out of the way in the search of something that looked like a fuse box.

  “They usually have those in the basement, or outside by the wires and things,” he said. “Do you want me to go down and check?”

  “It’s fine,” she sighed. Sam took the keys Michelle had given her out of her jacket pocket, and used them to open the door behind the desk. “I’ll do it.”

  Jack stood up. “I’ll go outside, check the perimeter, see if it’s out there.” Sam nodded, then walked through the door into the narrow hallway, going straight for the door on the left.

  The basement door.

  Sam looked at it for a moment, remembering how adamant Michelle had been that she not set foot in the basement. Sam reached forward, key in hand, but before she had a chance to unlock the door, it clicked, then opened on its own.

  Nervously chewing her lip, Sam looked back towards the main part of the library as the sinking feeling in her stomach and the dryness in her mouth told her that she shouldn’t go down alone.

  Jack was nowhere to be seen so he must have been outside. She knew that she should wait for him to return before going into the basement, but even if she did, Jack wasn’t allowed to really intervene. All he could do was yell, ‘Look out, behind you’.

  Sam took a breath as she pushed the door all the way open and stepped onto the first creaky step leading down to the basement.

  The first thing she noticed was that it was dark.

  Not dark in the average basement way, but dark in the ‘you’ve just walked into a black–hole’ sort of way. Shivers ran down her spine as she ventured further into the darkness.

  Something felt very wrong here.

  Sam sent more Magic out into the air to try make some form of light in the room. Glittering beams of purple Magic latched onto the bare light bulb that hung from the ceiling in the centre of the basement. The Magic burrowed its way inside the bulb, lending it power so it could illuminate the room.

  The bulb flickered a little, then slowly began to switch itself on. Sam smiled to herself as the basement lit up in a pale orange glow, but jumped as she saw something move in her peripheral vision. Before the light had a chance to reach its brightest, allowing her to see what was moving, something that appeared to be a shadow jumped on the bulb and sucked all of the light from it.

  Sam looked on as the room was once again plunged into darkness.

  Fuck it, Sam thought. She allowed her energy to build up in the palms of her hands, feeling the electrical surge run through her veins as her Power manifested, then—with a flick of her wrist—she sent glittering raindrops of Magic into the air. The room filled with pink and purple lights that hovered in the air above her. With a steady source of light, the room looked less terrifying, but Sam had the same feeling she had when it was dark.

  The feeling of wrong.

  Of dread.

  Of fear.

  And fear was one of those things that Sam didn’t generally feel.

  On the far end of the room she saw a little metal box on the wall. She ran to it, prised it open, then flicked the main switch. The lights immediately switched back on and Sam’s Magic lights dissipated.

  “Sam?” A voice sounded from behind her.

  Without wasting a moment in thought, Sam struck out at the person behind her. She tripped him up; he landed with a thump on the ground. Sam placed a knee on his chest to keep him there.

  “What are you doing down here?” Sam asked accusingly. Curiosity was no excuse for wandering in dangerous places.

  Dangerous? Sam asked herself. When did basements make the list of dangerous things to stay away from?

  Jamie stared up at her in astonishment, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened. “Uh, I was upstairs, and no one was there . . . and the door was opened . . . and—” Jamie looked at the ceiling, his brow furrowed in confusion. “Did you see that?” Sam ignored
him. Instead she looked around the room and realised that’s exactly what this place was.

  Dangerous.

  That was the first time she noticed that there was a cluster of darkness in every corner of the room, and the more she watched it the more it seemed to be building up in size.

  Building for what? Sam wondered, and there it was again.

  Fear.

  Suddenly the thought struck her, They’re not shadows at all. Sam stood, quickly scrambling to her feet. “Get up,” she ordered. Her voice sounding shrill and panicked.

  “What? What’s—”

  “Get up now!” Sam cried. The shadows were building in every corner of the room, seeping from the spaces between each brick on the wall, edging around the room.

  Blocking off the exits.

  “Go!” Sam said and pointed at the staircase.

  Jamie got to his feet and walked almost hesitantly towards the staircase. Sam moved behind him and gave him a shove to quicken his pace. “Go!” she said again. Jamie obeyed and jogged up the stairs. As they reached the top of the staircase Sam sent a ball of light into the room. It exploded noiselessly, but it seemed to scare the shadows enough to send them scurrying back to their corners.

  “What was that?” Jamie asked and turned around just as Sam slammed the basement door shut.

  “What was what?” Sam asked. She held her breath for a few seconds in an attempt to calm her racing pulse.

  “Did you not see that?” he asked. Sam locked the basement, and holding her hands close to her stomach so her actions couldn’t be seen, used her fingers to draw invisible symbols in the air, casting a quick barrier spell over it. Whatever was in there would not be getting out any time soon.

  “See what?” Sam asked and turned to face him.

  He appeared more confused than Sam had ever seen another person look. “Was that . . . was that lightning?” he asked, looking around the narrow hallway as if trying to find a logical explanation for what he’d witnessed. There were no windows, which just seemed to confuse him more.

  Sam shrugged in an attempt at nonchalance. “Do I look like the weather man?” she asked rhetorically. “I didn’t see anything.” Sam walked out of the room to the librarian’s desk. Jack was back at the table. He looked at her questioningly.

  Sam thought to him.

  Jack turned away from her and went back to reading his book.

  “You’re not allowed be back there,” Sam said to Jamie, who was still in shock and standing in the back room. Jamie slowly stepped out, then around from behind the librarian’s desk. He stood in front of the desk and just stared at Sam, as if assessing her. She felt a push inside her head. Without too much effort she blocked him from reading her thoughts, just as she had yesterday. Though this only seemed to add to his confusion. “You alright?” Sam asked.

  Slowly Jamie nodded.

  Sam reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded slip of paper she had written the directions to the Blood-Bar on. She held it out to him. “This is for you,” she said.

  Jamie looked at the paper in her hand, then at her. “What is it?” he asked.

  “The address you asked for yesterday.”

  Slowly, Jamie reached his hand out to take the paper from Sam.

  One touch, his fingertips against the palm of her hand, and Jamie fell to the floor and was unconscious within seconds.

  CHAPTER 18

  Jamie felt a surge of Power shoot through his body, momentarily paralysing him and causing him to fall to the floor. He instinctually closed his eyes against the pain, and tried as best he could to pull his strength together so he could push himself to his feet.

  “What did you do that for?” he heard a man ask. Jamie felt his body tense at the sound of another person’s voice. When he had come into the library he hadn’t seen anyone, or felt anyone’s presence. The entire place had seemed deserted. It’s why, when he saw the open door, he’d gone through it, hoping he’d find Sam.

  But he didn’t fully understand what he’d found.

  He heard light footsteps approach him. “He saw me use Magic,” Sam said. Magic, he thought, but, that’s impossible. “I have to wipe his memory.”

  “You don’t have to Sam,” the man said. “You could just explain everything to him, and then you’d have another ally.”

  Sam placed her hands on either side of Jamie’s head. Warmth radiated from her fingertips and seeped through his skin, causing his body to relax at her touch. “Another ally who will just be killed,” she replied. Her voice seemed cold and detached.

  “Do whatever you want.” The man sighed and mumbled, “You always do.”

  Something pushed inside his head. A Power stronger than anything he’d ever sensed before moved within his mind. Searching through his memories with alarming ease. Jamie tried to build walls in his mind, in an attempt to shield himself, but his efforts were futile. Whatever was within his head pushed through his defences before he had even finished creating them.

  It searched through his memories.

  More specifically, his memories of the past fifteen minutes.

  He felt the memories being pulled from his mind and he didn’t fight it. Instead he put all of his energy into staying perfectly still, unsure as to what he would, or could do to help himself out of this situation.

  Was it Sam who was doing this?

  He couldn’t believe that it was.

  Last night he had spent hours looking at her, watching her, observing her. And although he was unable to sense her presence and was unable to enter her mind, she still registered as human. She looked human and she acted human and he was sure she wasn’t a Vampire. So what else could she be?

  After a few moments of Sam attempting to remove his memories, he felt new pictures being formed inside his mind. Images replacing those that had just been stolen from him.

  He saw himself enter the library and walk over to the desk where Sam was sitting, reading a book different to the one she had been reading yesterday. He’d struck up a conversation with her, in which he’d suggested that they spend some time together. She declined. He pushed. She told him she wasn’t interested. He’d been offended. They argued. She told him to leave.

  The scene repeated in his head again and again until it was burned onto his memory as if it belonged.

  He felt Sam take her hands off him. And for a moment he just lay there, his cheek pressed against the cold marble floor, fully aware of what had just happened and knowing that Sam had to have been the one responsible for it. But not understanding how she was capable of doing something like that.

  he heard Sam’s voice in his head. Another thing which he knew she shouldn’t be capable of doing.

  Jamie paused for a moment, before he complied with her command, not sure what else he could do.

  He pushed himself off the floor, and stood facing Sam who was standing behind the desk in the exact same place she had been when he’d first hit the floor.

  She folded her arms across her chest. He looked at her, his head tilted slightly in confusion. She was in the exact same place. It made him wonder if he had imagined everything that had just happened.

  “You should leave,” Sam said, her tone completely neutral, not giving any insight into her emotions or thoughts.

  For a moment Jamie just stood there staring at her. She looked human. Everything about her looked human.

  Though everything about him seemed human too, and he wasn’t. And she worked the night shift, so perhaps . . .

  He felt his hand rise slightly as he reached out towards her. He stopped himself before he touched her, remembering how she had attempted to manipulate him into believing she didn’t want him anywhere near her.

  Sam watched him steadily, her eyes not leaving his for even a moment. Her lips were set in a harsh line, indicative of her anger, contradicting the feeling he saw in her eyes. Which were filled with an immense sadness and held a strange familiarity. One which he was still unable to place. He didn
’t know how, but he knew those eyes.

  Jamie let his arm fall to his side. Then, turning sharply, he walked out of the library. Deciding to give Sam exactly what she wished for.

  For now at least.

  CHAPTER 19

  Sam watched Jamie as he walked out the door, her shoulders relaxed and she let a sigh as she heard the heavy thud of the door closing.

  “What the fuck happened?” Jack asked. He was standing right next to her now, looking at her with an expression that was somewhere between concern and anger.

  Sam chewed her lip as her eyes wandered to the room behind her. “There’s something down there,” she said without looking at him. She just stared at the door, reaching out to it with her psychic senses, trying to get a clear read on whatever was in there.

  “What do you mean? What’s down there?”

  Sam clenched and unclenched her hands, trying to stop them from shaking. She’d had to deal with everything so fast that she hadn’t had time to calm down yet. Her pulse was still racing, her nerves still felt frayed, she still felt scared.

  “I don’t know,” she answered, turning her head so she could see him. He was watching her intently, almost as if her face would hold some vital piece of information that would help him figure out what had happened.

  “It looked like . . . ” Sam let her sentence trail off, not wanting to say it out loud, knowing in her mind how crazy it sounded.

  “Like what?”

  Sam sighed and shook her head. “I’m sure it was nothing.” She let a nervous laugh. “I’m probably just tired or something.”

  “Sam.” Jack’s tone was serious. “Tell me what you saw.”

  Sam shrugged, glancing at the basement door that was now sealed with a protection spell that would keep things from getting out . . . but it wouldn’t keep people from going in.

  She remembered Michelle, and how freaked she’d been when Sam had tried to go down there yesterday. Did she know there was something down there? Did she know what it was? Did she realise it was evil?