Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

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.