Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Chapter 22

It was eleven o'clock before Jack made it back to Sam's house. Not that she even noticed he'd gone, since she was still sleeping when he arrived. She lay curled up in the middle of her bed wrapped in the duvet. "Sam," he called. She stirred a little at the sound of his voice. "Sam. Sam. Sam."

"What?" she mumbled without opening her eyes.

"Sam," he called again. It was his firmly held belief that she wasn't awake until she opened her eyes. "Sam. Sam."

"What?" she asked again. More agitatedly than before.

Jack paused for a moment. "Sam. Sa-"

Sam opened her eyes. "WHAT?"

"Wake up," Jack said. Sam groaned and pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes with her hands, smudging the remnants of yesterday's make-up, creating dark circles under her eyes.

"Why?" she whined.

"I have a present for you." Sam looked at him questioningly, probably confused because he had never given her a gift before, with the exception of the stuffed toy he had bought her when she was a baby. Jack pulled the amulet from his pocket and handed it to her.

She took it from him and studied it for a moment, turning it around in her hands so she could see it from the back and the front. "Thanks," she said with a smile. "I don't really wear jewellery though."

"It's an amulet. You need to put a drop of your blood on it to activate it," Jack explained as he took a seat on the edge of Sam's bed. "It was your mother's."

"It was?" Sam asked, as she examined it closely, as if she would find some clue to her past within it. Jack nodded. "Where'd you get it?"

"I can't tell you that, not yet."

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course," she grumbled, her voice tinged with resentment. "Did you have it or did you get it off someone else?"

"Someone else," Jack stated, trying not to be hurt by the obvious accusation in her question.

"Who-"

"No," Jack interrupted. "You know the rules."

"But if you know people who knew my parents, they probably know all about me too, so they could tell me things-"

Jack shook his head. "No," he repeated. "You know that there are certain things you're not allowed to know. Not yet."

Sam sighed. "Well if I can't find out yet, when can I find out?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"Soon," he repeated.

"Well soon isn't soon enough!"

"Everything will happen as and when it's supposed to happen," he tried to explain, but Jack could see the doubt on Sam's face. "Just trust me," he sighed. She looked at him sadly, with her big indigo eyes. "Have I ever let you down before?"

"No," Sam mumbled.

Jack corporealised, then wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. Hoping the gesture would offer her some comfort or make her feel like she wasn't as alone as she thought she was. "Then just trust me." Sam hesitated before returning his hug. "If I could tell you everything right now, I would."

He let her go. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Life sucks."

Jack said nothing in reply. His stomach clenched with the sympathy he felt for her; her life was so much tougher than it should be. Though he was proud of all of the things she could do and all of the things that she would accomplish, he couldn't help wishing that the burdens that came with the amount of Power she had didn't have to fall on her shoulders.

Nobody her age should have to worry about whether or not they were going to live to see tomorrow.

Jack shook away his thoughts. "It's your birthday," he said resolutely and stood. "And you are not going to lie around all day and do nothing."

Sam sulked. "But that was my plan."

"Well you can change your plan. Because I'm not going to let you stay home all day doing nothing."

"I won't be doing nothing all day," Sam corrected. "I have to go to the library at six."

"And you have more than six hours 'til then, so what do you want to do?"

"Lie around and do nothing," Sam said, then lay back down and pulled the duvet over her head.

"No." Jack glared at the duvet momentarily, willing it to move; it flew off the bed and onto the floor.

Sam dragged herself into a sitting position. "Why not?" she whined.

"Because I said so," Jack said sternly. "Why don't you call Madison or Elle and ask them to do something?"

"Because one, those two never shut up. I can only handle talking to them for an hour or less. And two, I'm not friends with them anymore."

"Then why don't you call Jamie?" Jack teased. "I'm sure he'd be more than happy to spend a few hours . . . or his entire life with you."

Sam gave him an unimpressed looked. "Because I just got rid of him a week ago."

"Call Jade," Jack said. "You always liked Jade."

"I'd rather just lie around and do nothing," she mumbled, absently tracing her finger over the birthmark on her wrist.

"Call Jade," Jack ordered.

Jade was Hayley's daughter. She was just a few months older than Sam, and they always got along really well. There was no reason for Sam not to call her. "Call her and I promise not to be an alarm clock for a week," Jack said, knowing how much Sam hated it when he woke her up by calling her name over and over and over again.

She sighed. "If I agree to hang out with Jade for a few hours you'll leave me alone before noon, not just for the week but from now on."

"A month," Jack offered. "After that you'll be back in school, so you'll be waking up early anyway."

"For the rest of the summer, and any days I'm not in school."

"Deal," Jack said. "Now get up, get dressed, and I'll go call Jade. You have thirty minutes!" He walked out of the room, giving Sam some privacy so she could get dressed.