Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Book 2 - Chapter 9

Jamie stood up and walked out of Sam's bedroom, closing the door quietly so he wouldn't wake Jade who had fallen asleep on the chair next to the bed. He made his way down the stairs, where he noticed the front door was still open. He stared out at the street which was illuminated by the rising sun. The streetlamps were still off, and the road was completely empty. There was no sound but the breeze flowing through the trees making the leaves rustle.

Last night that same street had looked completely different, and somewhat terrifying. At least from what he could remember of it. Jamie looked down at the floor gazing sombrely at the dried blood. He sighed and closed the door, then walked into the kitchen and searched through all of the cupboards and drawers until he found a cloth. He held it under the tap, and squeezed it to get rid of some of the water.

Liquid droplets ran down his arm and wet his sleeve.

Jamie sighed again as he knelt down, using the wet cloth to wipe away the smudges of dried blood from the kitchen floor, following the trail out to the hallway and to the front door. He cleared the floor of all traces of blood, and any signs that anything bad had happened.

Once the floor was cleaned he threw the blood stained rag into the bin and stood in the kitchen, staring out the window with unseeing eyes.

Sam appeared to be alive. Though he had no idea how. Last night, she'd been dead.

She wasn't right.

He could tell.

The way she moved, the way she spoke, there was even something about the way she looked that just wasn't Sam.

Jamie chewed his lip and listened hard. In the house he could hear the sound of two people breathing. He ignored the one he knew to be Jade and focused on the one that was Sam. He zeroed in on her aura, assessing it as best he could.

Her heart was beating steadily and she was breathing normally. Jamie reached out further and tapped into her mind, surprised by how easy it was. In her unconscious state there were no barriers to keep him out.

Jamie pushed against Sam's subconscious, trying to find something that didn't belong. He wandered through the tunnels of her thoughts, expecting to have to do a lot of sifting. But in her mind there was nothing.

No words.

No pictures.

No thoughts of any kind.

There was just emptiness.

An endless gulf of black, with nothing taking up space whatsoever.

Jamie frowned.

He turned away from the window and rushed back upstairs. Crashing through the door so loudly it caused Jade to jump out of the chair she had been sleeping in. He knelt down on the floor beside Sam and pressed his hand to her head.

"What's wrong?" Jade asked, leaning over Sam.

Jamie ignored her; instead he focused completely on Sam. He closed his eyes and searched again inside her mind, hoping that the proximity would help strengthen his Powers.

Once again he was allowed to pass through with no effort. And inside, there was still nothing. He took his hand away and looked at Jade who was watching him intently. Patiently waiting for him to reply. "She's not in there."

Jade looked at him in confusion, as if she had no idea what he meant, or what he was talking about. "What?"

"Sam's mind is empty."

"What do you mean?"

Jamie sighed, unsure as to how he could word this in a way that Jade would understand. Especially when he wasn't sure he fully understood it himself. "If I were to go inside your head I'd hear your voice, I'd see images of your life in your memories. And more importantly than that, it wouldn't be easy for me to see all of that. Everyone has walls inside their mind, little sections where they lock away all of the things they don't want anyone to find easily."

"Okay . . . " Jade looked at him in confusion, as if she wasn't sure why he was telling her this.

Jamie sighed, running his hand through his hair. He cast a worried glance down at Sam's sleeping form. "There's nothing inside her head, Jade. Nothing at all. No words, no pictures, no memories. And more importantly, there's no walls."

Jade looked at Sam. "What does that mean? Are you saying she's dead?"

Jamie shook his head. "She's breathing. I saw her move and heard her speak. She's not dead, but . . . " Jamie placed his hand on Sam's head once more. "I don't think she's in there."

"But she's alive," Jade stated. "So if Sam's not inside that body, who is?"

Jamie looked at Jade, his eyebrows pulled together in an expression of confusion. He had known that something wasn't right about Sam, and he knew that her body was empty of any psychic presence, but not until now had he even considered the idea that the reason Sam had seemed so off was because there was something else within her body.