“Latte anyone?” Heather chimed in.
“Yes please!” Ally cheered. Krystal said nothing.
I transitioned out of the car. The girls hopped out and six Guards appeared surrounding them in formation. Cooper stood closest to Ally, an invisible bodyguard.
Calliope smiled as she appeared out of her car and nudged me to follow the girls as they strutted into the mall.
“Is this normal?” I asked indicating the six Guards.
“Not usually, but we can’t be too careful in this situation.”
We kept up following right behind the group. As we walked through the entrance of the mall, a sharp blade ripped through me. Something was wrong, really wrong. Flames burned through me as if my whole soul was engulfed in fire.
“Argh!” I groaned, signaling for her to stop walking.
Calliope turned around, and transitioned next to me, placing a hand on my back. But her touch just intensified the burning.
“Don’t—” I sputtered.
“What’s wrong?” She signaled to Cooper.
Cooper appeared next to us. “What’s happening?”
“It’s here,” I choked through the pain. “I feel her True Soul.”
The only time I’d experienced a True Soul go through that much agony was when Aaron had waited too long to reunite the True Soul with the human body. I’d never wanted to feel that again yet here I was. Surges of unyielding emotions ripped through me. Ally’s True Soul was calling to me. It wasn’t ready to be reunited with her soul, but it knew she was nearby and yearned to keep its distance.
“She can’t be here,” I said to Cooper. “If it gets too close to her, her soul could be removed from her body.” Why anyone would want to do that was beyond me, and I didn’t dare think of the consequences.
Cooper fixed his gaze on Calliope, his voice commanding. “Callie, I’m going to her. You two, find it!” He disappeared.
I dodged through the crowd of mall patrons, cringing each time one of them came close or brushed past me, but I kept pushing. We finished searching the top floor and made our way down to the one below.
The True Soul continued to call to me though it didn’t give away its position but I knew I was getting closer when a tugging sensation pulled me toward a railing overlooking the food court.
Where the rest of the mall had scattered patrons, the food court area packed in enough humans to be well over capacity. They swarmed the food stands and milled about, looking for places to sit.
I shivered. I didn’t want to go down there unless absolutely necessary.
Scanning the area I saw kids attached to their mothers by short ropes, elderly groups moving slowly with their trays, and a considerable amount of teenage girls, but none of them stuck out to me as a threat.
“Oh my God! Are you serious?” Ally’s laughter rang out.
I turned to see Ally and her friends step away from a coffee cart, each holding a steaming cup. Cooper and the rest of the Guard were in a tight formation around the girls as they made their way to a descending escalator.
“It’s down there!” I yelled to Cooper.
He shouted orders to his Guard and a few of them appeared in the food court; they spread out among the crowd. At least they had it covered.
“Where?” Calliope asked her eyes darting around the food court.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure exactly. It’s down there but whoever has it is concealed pretty well.”
Then Ally’s high-pitched scream ripped through the air.
We all watched helplessly as her body soared over the moving escalator stairs. Her coffee sailed over the railing, splattering the people below. The now wet targets shouted up at her, but when they saw the falling girl, their shouts were silenced.
Ally’s body slammed into each step. Bones crunched and joints popped with each hit. She tried to stop her fall by grabbing for anything. Her hands rubbing against the glass partition, making her attempt for leverage useless. Heather’s screams matched Ally’s but by the time Ally hit the floor Heather was the only one still screaming.
I bolted down the escalator after Ally, not caring that I’d just passed through Heather and Krystal’s bodies. I knelt beside Ally and leaned down close to her body. Her breaths were shallow, but present.
She was alive! But for how long?
A crowd had gathered around us and I couldn’t see around them so I stood up. None of the Guard were in sight.
Where had they gone?
“Hey! She’s still alive!” I shouted, twisting around, desperately trying to see over the concerned patrons. Why was no one helping her?
Then I saw them. Cooper, Calliope and the other Guard were on the second floor. They stood in a line, side by side, their backs facing me with their swords raised. A chill ran through me.
Cooper didn’t look over the side but I heard him clearly. “Maggie, protect her!” Then his body disappeared from view as he ran toward the unseen threat.
The patrons were oblivious to the battle that raged above; they focused on what they could see – the twisted body of the pale, yet still beautiful girl crumpled on the floor. I looked over at Heather and Krystal, who were carefully making their way down the escalator, both on their cell phones.
I knelt down again next to Ally and reached out to touch her skin. Even though the sensation was unpleasant, I could feel her pulse as it rapidly declined.
“No,” I moaned. I looked up again to see if any of the Guard could help, but no one was around.
I looked back down at Ally. Her face was paling by the second. My soul started to tingle. I leaned closer to her body, reaching my hand out to touch her face again, when her arm moved toward mine.
I jumped back.
Heather pushed through the crowd. “Did she just move? Did I see her move?” Streaks of black mascara ran down her cheeks.
A ringing sensation tickled my ear and I tuned in to the True Soul’s presence. I looked at each human. The True Soul was close, but who had it? They all seemed equally shocked at the tragedy.
An uncomfortable pressure in my chest drew me closer to her body. My soul slanted toward hers until I was practically on top of her. I helplessly watched my hand morph and stretch toward her body.
“What the—?” I tried to pull back but the strength of whatever was happening had other ideas. My hand disappeared first, then my arm, then my torso.
But before I could call for help, my world went dark.
A suffocating heat pressed all points of my soul. Even though I hadn’t breathed in a hundred years, I felt the need to inhale, yet I couldn’t. A fire burned in my chest.
I attempted to open my eyes, to move one finger, a toe maybe, but the pressure immobilized my body. The burning sensation tore through me over and over until I had just about given up the fight.
But, just as quickly as the pressure came, it lifted, bringing a seemingly endless barrage of images. I was experiencing someone else’s