Lost Souls

Part 8

'What?'

The boy sat up. 'Who are you?'

'Skye,' she said, 'the lifeguard.'

He rolled his eyes. 'Great!'

She couldn't understand his reaction. 'Is there something wrong?'

'Mind your own business,' he almost growled and tried to stand up.

'I don't think...' she started to say but stopped when he turned his head to glare at her.

Just as he started to rise she saw him waver. Instantly she caught him from behind. 'I tried to tell you,' she said with a touch of smugness, 'you're still shaky from almost drowning.'

He pushed her away, lunged forward and stood up, still looking unsteady. He looked down at her, where she was still sitting at the edge of the pool, a look of confusion on her face, before walking unsteadily towards the glass door.

The two boys were still standing nearby. She heard one of them say, 'Typical Kal.'

'Yeah,' the other agreed.

'Who is he?' she asked as she stood up and reached for the towel rack nearby.

'You don't know Kal Master?' one of the boys looked surprised.

She shook her head. 'No, but I'm new here.'

'Ah, that explains it,' the other one nodded understanding, 'He is the most popular guy in school, or at least he was a lot more popular.'

She frowned. 'Was?'

'Yeah, he used to be the captain of the football team, but he had an accident,' the boy shrugged, 'he doesn't play any more.'

'But he's still part of the Knights.'

'What?'

'The Knights, you know, the most popular guys group?'

She shrugged. The boys looked at each other and seemed to come to a conclusion.

'You'll know them eventually,' one of the boys said as they walked away to the other end of the pool.

Skye walked back to the life-guard's post, the events of the past few minutes still revolving in her head.

At the end of her shift, she changed and walked to the bus stop. It was quite late and the bus was practically empty. She noticed the driver looking at her through his rear view mirror. She looked away, out of the window. She was still thinking about the boy from earlier.

'...why did you save me?'

Why had he asked her that? Unless...no way, she shook her head, the other guys had said he was popular, why would he...? The bus rolled to a stop and she got off, ignoring the driver again.

Maybe he was just embarrassed. She nodded to herself; that sounded more plausible. Being the most popular guy and then almost drowning didn't quite go with the image he was trying for. She was walking down the dark street when the street lights starting flickering and she felt the familiar cold chill, starting at the base of her spine and slowly crawling up. She sighed, she was not in the mood today or in fact any day.

'Hello Skye,' he said, his voice like butter with a sharp knife hidden within.

'What do you want?'

'Uh uh uh.' A shadow moved and she instantly recoiled. 'You need to mind your manners.' The lights flickered some more.

She came to a stop and looked round. 'I'm tired,' she said, controlling her voice with difficulty.

'Yes,' his voice moved round her, making her shudder, 'you have been busy.'

She kept silent.

'Very busy, in fact,' he drawled, 'you lost me a contract.'

She had known the consequences of doing that, but had done it anyway, and for who? An ungrateful high school wannabe Justin Bieber! She almost groaned with frustration. 'I wasn't thinking straight,' she said by way of an apology.

The shadow moved again and she tried to follow it but lost it as it moved round her again.

'He was going to be very important in my collection,' he said wistfully, 'I had worked very hard on him.'

The chill in Skye's bones intensified and she bit her lip. 'I'm sorry,' she offered lamely.

'You know I prize you,' he said, and she felt something cold touch her chin. It took all her strength not to jerk away. 'But I still own you.'

She didn't need him to remind her. The day she had signed his contract had been the worst day of her life. A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, as the pain in her bones intensified.

'You owe me a soul,' he said abruptly and let go of her chin.

'What?' The shock of his words left her numb.

'Your punishment,' he drawled carelessly, 'you lost me a soul today. I want you to replace it.' She could almost feel his shrug. 'I know it won't be as good as that boy's but I'm sure you will manage.' She felt the chill around her easing as he prepared to leave.

'Wait! How am I supposed to do that?' she cried out.

'You'll learn,' hesaid, a cruel smile twined round the words, 'find one and call for me. I'll bewaiting.' 

The chill dissipated, the street lights didn't flicker any more, butSkye's feeling of dread seeped into every pore.

Writing this gave me chills too. Did you enjoy it?  Let me know in the comments.  Also if you have any ideas on how this story should go from here let me know!! I'm open to suggestions!!!