Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Chapter 23

Sam got up out of bed and had a quick shower before brushing her teeth. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, not bothering to look at what she was dressing herself in before she put it on. She rarely ever paid that much attention to what she wore, at least not anymore.

Clothes didn't matter. What was the point in dressing nice when no one was there to notice?

Despite the fact that she had fifteen minutes left before Jack would barge in and drag her outside, she used Magic to dry her hair. Not just because it was easier and less time consuming than using a hairdryer, but because ever since Sam had openly started using her Magic she'd used it for pretty much everything.

Drying her hair, mending clothes if they started to look worn, keeping the house clean, making food taste better. Since she'd turned fifteen Magic had become a part of her daily life.

She never used it to apply make–up though.

Not because she couldn't use it for that, but because Magic for make–up was nothing more than a glamour. And people could see through glamours if they cared to look closely enough.

After spending about five minutes making her face look slightly more presentable she placed the amulet that Jack had given her on the counter beside the sink. Then, using a pair of scissors from her desk she cut her finger, allowing a drop of her blood to fall on the crystal.

The blood seeped into the clear teardrop shaped stone. It mixed around inside it for a few seconds, floating within the gem like a red mist. Then the amulet started to glow, before it went clear again.

Cool, Sam thought as she picked the amulet up and held it in her hand. She felt the warm pulse of ancient Magic seeping from it and thrumming against her skin, melding into her flesh and becoming a part of her.

She squeezed the gem tightly in her hand for a moment, allowing herself some time to adjust.

Then she put it around her neck.

Sam gasped as soon as the stone touched the skin on her chest. Her heartbeat momentarily increased. She felt a small stabbing pain go through her heart. Sam turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. A drop of blood ran down from her chest, directly behind the amulet, and behind her t-shirt.

For a few seconds breathing was more difficult than breathing should be. Then, after a few moments, the pain cleared and her breathing returned to normal, as another drop of blood—this time travelling from Sam's heart—seeped through the stone and into the centre. But this time as the blood swirled around inside, it stained the amulet purple.

Sam ran the tap and used the water to wash the blood off her chest. By the time the amulet had relaxed, and grown used to Sam, she noticed that the colour it had turned was the same colour as her eyes.

Sam took a breath, then when she was ready, she put on a pair of shoes and walked downstairs. Jack was in the living room waiting for her. "Ready?" he asked turning to face her as she stepped off the last step.

"I guess," Sam mumbled. She took her jacket off the coat rack in the hallway, then put it on, checking her pocket to make sure her keys were still where they should be. Sam opened the front door, and had taken just one step when she almost fell flat on her face. Jack, still in his corporeal form, reached out and grabbed her, keeping a firm grip on Sam's arm, doing his best to keep her upright. Sam fixed herself, regaining her footing, before she let her gaze travel down to find whatever had tripped her up.

A vase was rolling around on the front porch, eighteen red roses spilled across the ground.

"The fuck?" she mumbled. Sam looked at the vase, then at Jack. He scrutinised the vase in confusion, obviously it hadn't been there when he'd come in. He looked at Sam and shrugged.

Sam bent down, picking the roses up off the ground; she put them back in the vase, counting them as she did. She had been right, there were eighteen, and each one had the thorns removed from their stems. There was a card accompanying the flowers, though it was just a generic piece of white card. It didn't say where the flowers had come from and it didn't say who had sent them. All the card said was 'Happy Birthday'.

Sam stood up with the vase in her hand. "Who are they from?" Jack asked, turning his head sideways to try read the card.

"I don't know," Sam answered, her jaw clenched as she spoke, while the back of her head whispered, Yes, you do. "It doesn't say." Sam brought the flowers inside, walking through the hallway quickly; she reached the back door, swung it open with her free hand, then dropped the roses, and the vase they came in into the trash can outside.

She heard Jack let a sigh and knew it meant he'd figured out who they were from. "You didn't need to do that you know? A gift should be appreciated, even if you're mad at the person who sent it."

Without a word in response she walked back to the front door, slamming it shut behind her.

Sam had barely made it up the driveway to Jade's house, when Jade walked out the front door with her jacket on. "Hey Sam," she said. "Ready to go?"

Sam forced a smile and nodded. Jade walked past her, over to the fence where Jack was waiting for them. Before Sam turned to join them she noticed movement at the living room window in Jade's house. She saw Hayley standing there, staring at her boldly, her lips curved in a smirk. Sam felt her teeth clench as she held back her anger.

She wasn't sure what it was about Hayley that pissed her off so much. There was just something about her that seemed . . . wrong.

Sam turned to walk away, when she caught sight of a shadow in the corner of her eye. She turned back sharply to try get a better look at what she thought she saw. But when she looked, there was nothing there.

No shadows.

No monsters.

No Hayley.

There was nothing evil . . .at least not that she could see.