Pure Souls (book 1) : Light Withering Away

N

Scott's P.O.V

My jaw dropped as Lauren and Ross talked about Ross' backstory, and... Jack. After all this time, he's the leader of the EAPE. I felt tears in my eyes at the end. Yammy hugged me. "We're all upset, Scott," she comforted me.

I sniffled. I punched the wall and curled up into a ball. "He was my best friend. And then his stupid demons had to take him away!" I sobbed.

"What if we went to go get him?" Shelby asked. I looked up at her to see everyone else staring at her. She froze, staring into the space just past Callum's shoulder. She smiled slightly. Something felt off about it, however. Soon the frown returned as she squeezed her eyes shut with a shake of her head. "So you gonna elaborate?" Lizzie asked.

"Huh?" Shelby asked.

"You spaced out." 

"What was I...?"

"We were gonna go get Jack?"

"Oh! Right. There has to be a way to... you know, being Jack back to his old self, right?"

We all stopped and thought. I fumbled to the bookshelf and scanned through the books. I pulled out two: a book of potions and a book of spells. I gave the potion one to Lizzie. She was always good with them. She put the book between herself and Shelby, and the pair looked up at me expectantly. "There could be something to help us. I don't know what exactly, but there has to be something. Joel, stay here with me and Lizzie and Shelby. Everyone else, go look in the library."

The others all nodded.

"Heh, that's funny," Lizzie chuckled to herself.

"What?" Joel asked.

"There's a potion for turning someone into a spaghetti monster."

"Concentrate!" I snapped. Lizzie's face dropped. I sighed. "Sorry, I just... this really hurt me. Jack and I had this playful relationship where we'd fake fight and prank each other." I smiled sadly at the memories. "Hey, Scott?" Shelby asked.

"Hm?"

"You know how you mentors have powers that aren't elemental?"

"Yes."

"Was it always like that?"

"Sorta. We never had elemental powers, but Yammy wasn't always peace, she was music. Sasha and Lauren were still shapeshifting and creativity. But, I... I was life. I was the one who held us all together. These days, my power is love, but that's only because there was a new life. That was you."

"What was Jack, if you don't mind me asking?"

"He was death. But he sure was a bright one. I think it was because of his other side, he was a lot more angry, more... I don't know, but he wasn't nice."

"Was there a sixth one of you?"

"Um... Brit, yes. She had the power of illusions. But... w-well... Jack started acting off, zoning out and talking to himself, laughing to himself. One day, he... snapped. He killed Brit."

"We were talking about that before," Joel said as he turned the page of his book. "How... similar the situation was to yours."

"Will I kill one of you guys?!" Shelby panicked.

"Hopefully not," I replied.

But Jack was very powerful, probably more powerful than Shelby. And if the evil got the best of him, then... what hope did we have for Shelby making it through?