Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Book 2 - Chapter 8

Danny jumped with fright, almost firing a shot in the process. He sighed in irritation, lowered his weapon and looked around the area he was patrolling. Some civilians were walking along the streets and other members of his unit were doing their patrols. Danny marched off behind one of the buildings, where he was pretty sure no one would hear him, but he whispered anyway, just in case. "What are you doing here?" he asked, glaring at Jack, who had appeared out of nowhere and scared the shit out of him in the process.

"You need to come home," Jack said.

Danny squeezed his eyes shut tightly and yawned, the heat of the air and the stuffy uniform always made him tired after a few hours. "Why? What happened?"

"Sam died," Jack said simply.

Danny's eyes shot open and he stared at Jack. Half thinking that he was over exaggerating, or making it up so that Danny would come home. "What?"

"She died. Someone killed her, I got her to say the spell and she should be recovering. But—"

"If she's recovering then everything should be fine. I don't need to go home. And besides, I can't just leave whenever I want to."

Jack gave Danny a sideways glance, his expression saying 'yes you can'. "Everything's not fine. Someone tried to kill her. They have a list you know!"

"If she's not dead and she's said the spell, then they can't hurt her now can they? So yeah . . . everything is fine."

"You're on their list!" Jack yelled.

"If they think Sam is dead they have no reason to come after me," Danny replied harshly; the only reason he or anyone else on their 'list' was in danger was because they were associated with Sam. If the people thought she was gone, then they wouldn't waste their time on anyone else.

"That's not why you're on their list," Jack said, almost as if he had read Danny's thoughts. "Sam's the first one to die . . . After that they go for the others. Wanna guess who's second on their list?" he said with a meaningful look at Danny. Danny rolled his eyes. "They're on their way," Jack persisted. "Lucky for you I got here first. Now get your stuff, we're going. Now."

"No. You're going. Now get out of here before I shoot you."

"You can't shoot me, I'm noncorporeal. You'll just shoot whoever's unlucky enough to be standing behind me."

Danny sighed and turned to walk away. Jack appeared in front of him. "Please listen to me," Jack said. Danny paused; Jack did look pretty concerned. "If someone tries to attack you there's nothing I can do to help. And unless your gun is filled with enchanted bullets it won't do much to help either. So please just listen to me, you have to get yourself home. You'll be safer there."

Danny let a breath. "Listen, I appreciate the concern, but I made a commitment to stay here, and I can't just leave, okay. Deserters go to prison you know. And besides, they kinda need all the help they can get here."

Danny walked around Jack. He could have walked through him, but he didn't for two reasons. One, walking through someone you were having a conversation with was weird, and two he had always worried if he did Jack's soul might get sucked into his body and permanently get trapped in there.

"I have a plan B," Jack said from behind Danny. "If I can't get you to come home on your own I will use that plan."

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're a Ghost Jack, you can't do anything."

Danny heard the gunshot before he felt it hit him. He fell to the ground, his legs suddenly limp, his ears ringing, his eyes blurred. People came running over to where they'd heard gunfire. One of them knelt down beside Danny, while the others spread out, trying to find who had shot him. Jack knelt on the ground beside the soldier, who was completely oblivious to Jack's presence.

The last thing Danny heard before he passed out was Jack saying the words, "I'm a Ghost Danny. I can possess inanimate objects."