The Seven Souls

Chapter 8 (Jeanelle)

Well, that's just great. Amber stole the tar. Now how was I going to do anything? I really needed to give her a call and get it back. How would that even work, though? Her wand has stopped working. What, would my face appear on one of those golden bracelets of hers? Would it have a gold filter over it? Do I even bother? Or do I just call someone who has a functioning wand?

Like Bruce. Now that I remember it, it wasn't Amber who stole it. It was Bruce who handed it over to her. I get that he's a human being capable of his own choices, but he really should have run it by me first. We had work to do. I wish I knew where he lived. Then I could teleport straight to him and give him a word or two.

No. That wouldn't accomplish anything either. Arguing about the black tar would waste time that we could use to study the black tar. I needed to pay Amber a visit, and luckily for me, there wasn't anyone at school who didn't know where Amber Louis lived.I just needed to find a way to get there.

"Teleport into her house," came that voice.

Apparently, the voices in my head know more about magic than me. With a quick twirl of my wand, I found myself in the marble-floored foyer of the Louis residence. I originally hesitated to take myself straight to her bedroom because she might have just stepped out of the shower or something, and I wanted to give her a little time to get dressed, but I'm beginning to wish I had taken the bedroom option because as I tiptoed around the floors, the house began to remind me more and more of the palace. Amber probably knew the place like the back of her hand, though.

Maybe I'd have some luck going up the stairs. They were made of some sort of wood. It wasn't quite red, like mahogany. It was browner than that. Chestnut? What sort of wood did rich people put on their floors? Amber could probably tell me when I took the black tar back.

The place was awfully empty. What, was she at dance practice? Was her mom shooting her latest movie? Weren't there any servants in this mansion? Did she even have a father? She never seemed to talk about him if she did. This was way too big a house for two, possibly three, people. I began to wonder how many apartments this place could be made into. There were probably plenty of homeless people on the street who would consider it a dream come true to live here, and here were Amber and Meredith taking up all the square footage.

My footsteps continues to echo against the white walls as I reached the second floor. I was surprised that I hadn't been stopped by some maid wondering who I was or what I was doing and why anyone hadn't called security yet. They probably had security. They had the money for it.

And that's exactly what happened. I locked eyes with a hunched-over old woman shuffling out of what I assumed was one of many bedrooms with a mop in one hand and a bucket in the other. I couldn't move. I was too nervous about what she might say or do. Should I just see myself out? Hopefully, her vision was poor enough that she'd mistake me for Amber's little sister whom she also didn't talk about.

The maid squinted at me. "Jeanelle, is that you?"

She knew my name. How did she know my name? "Yes, that's me."

"Amber's been talking so much about you lately," the old woman said. "I remember, I was cleaning her mirrors when she said, 'that girl with the braids is trying to boss us all around, and she doesn't even know what she's doing.'"

"Well of course I don't know what I'm doing. This is my first time developing a..." She probably didn't want to hear my rambling. "Do you mind telling me where her room is?"

The maid pointed to the right. "It should be right down that hallway."

"Thanks." I slipped past her and entered the hallway. She didn't really give me a specific room, but I still got a direction, and hey, she didn't kick me out. I could just peek through every door I saw. Amber's room would probably be the one full of pink sparkly things.