Pure Souls (book 1) : Light Withering Away

R

Sasha's P.O.V

I heard shouting coming from Jess's room, so I decided I'd best check it out. I went over, but the door was locked. I scratched the door. I did sometimes have these animal-like behaviours, but they only occurred whenI wanted them to. When it didn't open, I took a pin out of my hair and tried to pick the lock. It worked, and I slowly opened the door, and I was shocked at what I saw.

We all thought they were the perfect couple, but... maybe they weren't. Shelby and Jess were fighting. I could see the sparks coming from Jess's hands, and I saw some sort of black goop on Shelby's hands. They were still screaming at each other. Then there was a burst of light, and Jess was knocked to the ground. Shelby laughed quietly, but the unsettling noise began getting louder and louder. I dove out of the way of the door slamming shut, and they finally noticed I was there. I stood straight, trying to keep control over my shaking. I was scared of how Shelby laughed, scared of the unfamiliar goop on her hands. I was scared of what was going on. "There seems to be an issue?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Sasha, how'd y-" Jess began, but I cut her off.

"What's the problem?"

Jess tried to stand, but Shelby shot a beam of light at her, and she squeezed her eyes shut. The look in Shelby's eyes was pride. "What are you proud of?" I asked.

Shelby didn't reply. Her eyes widened, and the look disappeared. She glanced down at Jess and dropped to the ground. "Oh my God, oh my God, Jess, I'm so sorry!" she cried. "What have I done? Oh no."

"I... I can't see..." Jess stuttered.

"Sasha, please, help me take her to the others!"

I transformed into a bear. I scooped Jess up. "I'll take her to the meeting room. Go round up everyone," I said. Shelby nodded and ran out of the room.

"Sasha, is that you?" Jess asked.

I ducked out of the room and made my way up the stairs. Our base had three floors: the bottom one with the kitchen, lounge room and other fun stuff. There was also a door that lead to the power training field. The second floor had bedrooms and bathrooms, and the top floor had the meeting room and library, as well as a few offices for the mentors. "Yes, it is. I'm taking you to the meeting room, and we're gonna get you help."

"O-okay... thank you."

"What happened?!" Max burst into the room, everyone else fast behind him. Seeing as Yammy was already up here, she helped me move the big armchair from the library to the meeting table so that Jess didn't fall over. She and I sat at the table now, me next to Jess and Yammy next to me. Shelby quickly came and sat next to Jess, kissing her on the cheek. "I... we were just joking around when... when I went haywire. I don't know why, but we got into a fight and... and... I accidentally blinded her," Shelby replied, looking across the now full table.

The three little boys came trotting in yawning. "What's happening?" Will asked.

"Boys, this is ad-" Scott began, but Shelby waggled a finger to shoosh him.

"No, if they're living with us, they can't be left in the dark about everything," she said. "Boys, come over here."

The trio slowly went over to Shelby. "This is going to be very hard to hear, but... Jess can't see anything," she told them with a sigh.

"What? Why?!" Liam exclaimed.

"I-I... well, it was a-an... I didn't mean to do it!"

"Didn't mean to do what?"

"Y-you know I'm Light, Life, the depths of us all, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, when I get mad enough, my beams of light can... can blind people. And something happened. I dunno what, but I got mad, we fought, and I accidentally blinded Jess."

The three boys froze. "Is she dead?" Graser asked as he grabbed Jess's hand.

"No, I'm very much alive. My retinas are burned out though," Jess replied. 

"It's okay, we'll fix it," I said.

"How?!" Shelby cried. Liam and Will hugged her as tears formed in her eyes.

"I dunno! Someone has to have some sort of healing magic!"

"Shelby, why do you have cuts on your forearms?" Will asked.

Shelby's face went red. "I-I don't!" she said.

"You do."

Will tugged her sleeve up. The scratches were of all depths in her skin. Will looked Shelby the eye with sympathy and sadness. "Shelby... why?" Joel asked. 

"Because! I don't wanna upset you all, so I thought, if I slowly ended my life, then... then maybe you'd all be happy," Shelby replied.

"How long have you been doing this?"

"I... I don't know. I was depressed before this. I cut back then, then I stopped when I came here, then started again a couple days ago..."

"Please, stop. Don't do it, we're not worth your entire life."

"But you are!"

"No, life is a precious thing, Shelby," Jess said. "We aren't even upset with you, we understand it was an accident. But we are mad at the fact that you're not telling us that you're upset."

"I didn't want to say anything! Look, can we talk about this later?"

"Fine."

Will had a faraway look in his eyes. He gently placed a hand on the cuts that went all up her forearm. They began to fade. Everyone watched in awe, including Will. Soon enough, they were gone. "Will... what was that?!" Callum exclaimed, grinning.

"What happened?" Jess asked.

"He healed her scars!"

"I... I don't know," Will replied.

I stood and picked him up, taking him between my chair and Jess. "Place your hands over her eyes," I instructed. He did just that. His hands began glowing a salmon colour. Jess screamed, which caused Will to pull his hands away. Jess shook her head. Her eyes opened. They were bloodshot. "I... I can kinda see!" she exclaimed. Everyone cheered.

"Wait, you said kinda," Cory pointed out.

"Yeah... it's real blurry."

"Jess, I'm sorry, I don't know what possessed me to do such a thing," Shelby hugged her.

"Apology accepted."

"Shouldn't we take her to an optometrist?" Cory asked.

"But going into town means people see our faces."

"Well, one of us could take her," Lauren suggested.

"But still, people can find out where we are. And we don't want the EAPE tracking us down."

We were discussing our options when there was a bang. Will was on the floor, unconscious. "Probably exhausted from using so much magic," Scott said.

"I'll put him to bed," I said, picking up the small child and leaving the room, Graser and Liam trailing behind me.

"Will he be okay?" Graser asked as I placed Will in his bed in the room we set up for the three boys. I squeezed Will's hand before standing up straight. I smiled down at Graser and Liam, who looked very concerned. "He'll be okay. He just needs rest," I reassured them.

"How did he use magic?" Liam asked.

"We don't know." I frowned. "We'll have to figure that out later. But in the meantime, you two keep an eye on him. And let us know if your fingers feel twitchy and you feel a tingling in your chest and a sudden burst of strength... and you see strange things in your dreams."

"Why?"

"Because those are signs that you just may have magic deep in your soul."