Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Book 2 - Chapter 4

The street was dark.

Jamie stared at the streetlamp outside Sam's house in silent contemplation. It was odd, that the light was off. From what he could recall, earlier that night the light had been working perfectly well.

If it were just the one darkened light, it could have been something he would scarcely have noticed; what was worrying was that not one, but all of the streetlamps on the road that stretched before Sam's house were in complete darkness. Not a single beam of light fell from any of them.

It was as if something had come along and syphoned all of the light.

Usually Jamie was indifferent to the dark; he had never been bothered by it. But right then, a cold chill made its way down his spine as he felt a bubble of fear pop within him.

The dark here was not right.

And the more that Jamie watched it, the more he felt it.

He took a breath to calm himself and tried to focus on what he was here for.

Closing his eyes to block out the world, he stretched his senses outwards, focusing his energy on the house next door to Sam's.

Within the house he felt the presence of two humans.

Both female and both sleeping.

Jamie zeroed in on one female in particular, trying to gauge which part of the house he could find her in. He opened his eyes and jogged across the street, then walked around to the back of the house, his feet leaving behind footprints in the soggy grass.

He stood by the back door, reached up, grabbed hold of the wooden frame above it and pulled himself upwards. Pushing his feet against the door, leaving muddy imprints on the white paint as he climbed up to the top bedroom window.

Jamie tried to look inside, but the curtains were blocking his view. As far as his senses could tell, this was Jade's room. He leaned one hand on the window ledge, keeping his arm straight to hold himself up while he used his other hand to tap lightly on the glass. Hoping it was loud enough to wake her, but soft enough that her mother wouldn't hear.

There were no sounds of movement from inside the house. He sighed, if I knock any louder I might wake her mother. Jamie closed his eyes again and stretched his senses outwards, searching for Jade's mind. It was trickier than usual to find a connection because his attention was split between Jade and trying not to fall. But because she was asleep and dreaming her mental guards were down, leaving her open to hear his call.

<Jade!> Jamie yelled as loud as he could inside the mortal's head. <WAKE UP!>

Jamie heard a groan and what sounded like a mattress creaking.

"Who's there?" Jade whispered in a groggy voice.

<It's Jamie> he stated, feeling a welcomed relief at the sound of her voice. <I need your help>

"Jamie?" She seemed confused. "What the hell are you doing inside my head at four thirty in the morning?"

<I'd come back at five thirty but it's an emergency> he replied, his tone sounding more sarcastic than he'd intended.

He heard Jade stand up and take a few steps around her room. "Where are you hiding?" she asked, sounding annoyed and very tired. Jamie didn't blame her, he too would be irritated if someone had woken him during a peaceful sleep and had invaded his mind to do so.

He lightly tapped on the window again.

The curtains shot open so fast it almost startled him into letting go of the window ledge. Jade stood on the other side of the window, glaring at him as if he'd committed a serious crime by daring to wake her. She threw the window open and looked down at him, then with her thumb she pointed over her shoulder to the room behind her, indicating for him to get inside.