Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Chapter 40

After talking with Scott, Sam decided to leave school early. As she always did whenever he tried to talk to her about how they should get back together. She hated dealing with that conversation again and again.

And again, and again, and again.

. . . and again.

Scott would make it worse by always walking past her and looking at her dejectedly. It just made her feel guilty, even though all she was doing was keeping him safe.

Sam walked out the school doors as soon as the lunch bell rang, only to walk right into Jamie.

Actually, no, scratch that, she didn't walk into him . . . he ran into her. Sam felt a huge jolt as his body crashed into hers, but he caught hold of her so she wouldn't fall. "Sorry," he said quickly. "I should have slowed down sooner."

Sam gave him a little push so he would let her go. "It's fine," she grumbled, straightening out her jacket as she fixed the strap of her bag onto her shoulder.

Jamie looked around. "Is school over?" he asked, obviously confused by the lack of other people.

"No," Sam said, running her hand through her hair to fix it in case he'd messed it up. "I just wanted to leave early."

She paused as she was struck by a sudden thought, Wait . . . I left early . . . the fuck is he doing here?

Turning to Jamie suspiciously, she asked, "Do you just stand around here all day and wait for me to finish?"

Jamie shook his head. "No," he said defensively. "I was keeping tabs on you, and I sensed that you were upset so I came to see if you were okay."

Sam blinked, surprised not only by the fact that he was spying on her, but that he'd just openly admitted to it as if it wasn't a big deal. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Jamie . . . "

He looked at her and smiled excitedly, as if he were anticipating some words of kindness. "Yes?"

She shook her head. "You are such a stalker." Jamie's smile faded. "Stop keeping tabs on me, I'm not okay with that. If I need you I can just call you." Sam walked towards the school gates.

He walked along behind her. "Would you?"

"Would I what?"

"Call me if you weren't okay?"

Sam shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "Not that I'd need to considering the fact that you never . . . go . . . away."

Jamie looked up at one of the posters on the notice boards by the school gates. He pointed to it. "Are you going to that?" he asked.

Sam looked to where he was indicating. She saw the poster for the Halloween dance and sighed, turning away. "No."

"Would you like to go with me?" he asked.

Sam gritted her teeth. "No!" she said again, this time firmly. What was with people and wanting her to go places with them?

"Oh," Jamie said, looking deflated.

"I was already asked, and I said no because I don't want to go," she explained in an attempt to make him feel better. "And why would you ask?" Sam wondered out loud. "You don't even go to school."

Jamie shrugged. "I've never been to a dance before."

"What? They didn't have dances back in ye olde ancient times?"

Jamie smiled. "They did," he said. "I just didn't go." His gaze shifted around the street in confusion, brow furrowed as he looked behind him. "Uh, Sam?"

"What?" she asked, her voice sounding more irritated than she actually was.

"Isn't your house that way?" he asked, pointing in the other direction.

"Yes," Sam stated. "I'm not going home yet."

"Then where are we going?"

Sam noticed that he said 'we' as if she had invited him on her journey. Then, after she spent a moment thinking about it, she realised that he would assume he had been invited because she hadn't told him to go away yet.

He could come along, Sam decided, as long as he didn't talk anymore about dances or dates. "Tír na nÓg," she answered as if she had said something normal like post-office or laundromat.

Jamie laughed as if he thought she was joking. "Good one," he said. "Now where are we really going?"

Sam looked at him. "Tír na nÓg," she repeated with a serious tone to match her serious expression.

He looked confused. "Tír na nÓg? . . . As in the mythological world of Faeries?"

Sam nodded. For someone who had two centuries to learn all sorts of things, he could be pretty stupid sometimes. "Yeah," she said.

"But Faeries aren't real," he said, stressing the word 'real' as if he were trying to convince her of that fact.

Sam grinned widely. "Do you realise that by that logic you're not real either? And neither am I, or Jack, or—"

"Okay!" Jamie held his hands up to stop her from speaking. "But I am real, and you are real, and Jack is real, but Faeries are not real."

"Yes they are," Sam stated.

"No they're not," Jamie said adamantly.

Sam laughed. "Why not?"

"Show me the evidence that Faeries are real!" Jamie demanded.

"Show me evidence that they're not."

Jamie looked around him and directed at all of the trees. "Do you see any Faeries?" he asked.

Sam laughed and shook her head. "Not right now I don't."

"Well then," he said with a satisfactory grin. "How can you say they're real when you can't even see them?"

"Do you believe in God?" she asked.

Jamie got a half confused, half surprised look on his face. She had caught him off guard with the question. "Yes . . . maybe . . . I'm not sure. I used to, but . . . anyway, that's different. That's a matter of belief."

Sam smirked at his naivety. "Everything is a matter of belief, Jamie. You fall asleep every night without fear because you believe you'll wake up the next morning. You drive when the traffic lights go green because you believe that means it's safe. You lock all of the doors every time you leave the house because you believe if you don't you'll get burglarised. But just because you believe all of that, does it mean that you will wake up every morning? Or that you won't crash your car? Or your house won't get broken into?"

"Well, no, but—"

Sam interrupted, "So does that mean that Faeries aren't real, just because you believe they're not?"

"Yes," Jamie said in an 'I know everything' matter-of-fact tone.

Sam laughed and shook her head. "Well Faeries are real. And I don't believe that, I know that. And I'll prove it . . . when we get to Tír na nÓg."