Soul Protector (Soul Protector Series) Read online

  I was aware of him removing my socks, before starting to peel my top up, over my head and off my arms. Later on, I would feel relieved he’d had the decency to leave my underwear on.

  He began tenderly patting the cool flannel on the hot skin of my body, trying to bring my temperature down. My hair was getting soaked with sweat and sticking to my face. If I’d had the energy, I would have hacked the lot off right there and then.

  The next thing I was vaguely aware of was him pushing something fizzy onto my tongue with his thumb. It was a foul-tasting tablet.

  “That’s it, Gracie, just drink some water, nice and easy,” he said, holding the back of my head up, and easing the glass onto my lips. He was speaking to me as if I was a child and I tried to co-operate as best I could, putting my total trust in him to see me through this.

  As the minutes ticked by, I felt my body growing weaker. It was like someone was zapping all my energy and there was barely enough left to breathe. I was frightened to fall asleep in case I didn’t wake up, but my eyelids were growing so heavy, I couldn’t force them to stay open any longer.

  “It’s okay, just let yourself relax.” Dan’s reassuring voice was the last thing I heard before passing out.

  When I woke, it was pitch black outside. My head was still pounding and my mouth was so dry, I couldn’t swallow properly. I put out my hand to reach for my glass and jumped when it came into contact with Dan, who was lying beside me, fully clothed.

  I felt instantly relieved, knowing he was there watching over me still.

  “Hey, hey, how are you feeling?” he asked.

  “I’ve been better,” I croaked.

  “Let me help.” He got my glass for me and held it up against my lips.

  I swallowed the water too fast, and nearly choked on it. Dan quickly sat me up, and held me as I coughed.

  He smoothed my matted hair back out of my face, and tucked it behind my ears. A sign that I wasn’t feeling myself, I didn’t even flinch. He helped me lay back down, and started patting my skin with a damp flannel again.

  “You might not feel it, but you are improving,” he said.

  I wasn’t celebrating just yet. But I did feel grateful he was with me. When he’d finished cooling me down, he lay next to me again and held my hand, rubbing the skin with his thumb. It was soothing and I felt my anxiety begin to fade.

  “You’re going to be okay, Gracie,” he whispered. I locked eyes with him and managed a weak smile in return. I would have loved to chat with him and get to know him better, but right then smiling was the best I could manage. The irony wasn’t lost on me that such a good-looking guy happened to be in my bedroom, on my bed no less, but the only thing I wanted to do was sleep.

  Dan sat up with me all night. Every time I opened my eyes, he was there, reassuring me, giving me water, or more medication. Gradually, I started to feel better, and the last time I closed my eyes, I fell into a deep, satisfying sleep.

  CHAPTER 6

  .

  Feeling Lost

  .

  The next time I woke, it was daylight and I was pleased my headache had reduced to a dull throb, and I wasn’t drenched in sweat anymore. I looked over to the spot where Dan had been laying and saw it was empty. I imagined he must be in the living room or pottering about in the kitchen. I sat up and strained to listen, but all I heard was traffic noise from outside.

  “Dan,” I called out. I waited, but got no reply, so I raised my voice. “Dan, are you there?”

  Nothing.

  He can’t have just left. There must be a note or something. I flipped the sheets, damp with sweat, off me. It felt chilly so I grabbed my dressing gown and wrapped it around me, and with shaky legs, wandered out into the living room searching for a slip of paper, anything.

  After drawing a blank there, I looked in the kitchen. But there was no note. He can’t have just run off. I knew it was pointless, but I frantically checked the answer phone and my mobile. I couldn’t believe it, no message, no goodbye, nada.

  After practically saving my life, and staying with me all night, he’d just upped and left. As realisation gradually crept in, my heart sank. Why wouldn’t he leave? He had no reason to be here. I was back in my own body and obviously out of danger, so his work was done.

  I sank down onto the sofa, aware of a horrible empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t believe I would never see him again. I was desperate to talk to him. I wanted to thank him, and although I knew what I was now, I still had so many questions. I doubted very much that monitors would be listed in the Yellow Pages though, so I had no way of contacting him.

  I put my head in my hands and sobbed. Partly from being weak, partly because I had lost Dan before I’d got the chance to get to know him properly - no one apart from Mum had ever looked after me so well - but mostly from the shock of everything that had happened to me. The last couple of days had been such a rollercoaster. Unknowingly, I’d put my life at risk and I’d only survived because of Dan.

  After several long minutes, my sobs faded into deep breaths, and I managed to calm myself down. I wiped the tears on my dressing gown sleeves and blew my nose on a tissue I found in the pocket.

  I needed to do something constructive. I was still feeling sticky from sweating through the night so I decided to shower and clean my teeth to get rid of the awful taste in my mouth. I hoped once I’d freshened up, I would feel better.

  I peeled off the grey mismatched underwear and cringed. Dan had seen me wearing those. Blimey, it’s no wonder he left, I thought.

  As the warm water rained down on me, I cursed myself. Messing about with something I didn’t understand had made me vulnerable. I made a vow that I would never do anything like that again. Body-switching was strictly off the agenda from now on.

  After my shower, I still didn’t feel a hundred percent, so decided to ring work to tell them I would be taking a sick day. I looked at the clock, and was shocked to see it was past ten. Camille was going to freak. She had a different set of rules for her down line, with two pet hates. One was being off sick, and the other was being late. Now I was going to be late ringing in sick. Not good.

  I decided to take the coward’s way and ring Arthur instead. He could pass on the message and save me the grief of speaking to Camille.

  He picked up after two rings.

  “Y’ello.”

  “Hi, Arthur, it’s me.”

  “Gracie, my dear, how the devil are you? I hear you have a ridiculously high temperature, you poor thing.”

  “Oh... yeah, I have. Who told you?”

  “Some gentleman rang in first thing. I’m not sure who it was, he spoke to Camille. She was quite concerned initially.”

  It must have been Dan. Well if he made Camille show concern, he was even more amazing.

  “Great, well, I’m just checking she got the message. You sure she’s not on the warpath?”

  “You know Camille, love. She was concerned at first, but now that she actually has to do some work, the novelty has worn off. I had to stop her from calling you a few minutes ago to see if you were able to come in yet. Don’t you worry about her though, just get yourself right.”

  I thanked Arthur and hung up. I was bewildered as to how Dan knew where I worked. He really had taken care of everything. As I thought about him, I heaved a sigh. I needed to occupy my mind, or I was going to wallow in self-pity again.

  I fought hard to motivate myself to tackle the housework instead. I pulled the sheets off my bed, and chucked them in the washing machine. I pressed the ‘on’ button and it felt good to achieve something. My mood lifted a tiny bit.

  I wandered into the bathroom, and started to pull on my marigolds, ready to tackle the lovely job of toilet cleaning. But as I grabbed the brush and bent over the cistern, I felt wobbly and light-headed again. Wiped out after one small job, it was pathetic. I snapped off my gloves in disgust, and flopped back down on the sofa, exhausted.

  As soon as I was idle, thoughts of Dan popped ba
ck into my head. It was hard to explain why I’d felt such a strong bond to him and I was gutted at the thought of never seeing him again.

  Instead I forced myself to think of Mike. And looking at him with fresh eyes, he didn’t look so good. In fact, for the first time I saw him for the complete jerk he really was. Compared to Dan, he seemed immature and pathetic and I couldn’t believe I’d wasted the last three months moping around and missing him.

  It was a shame I couldn’t enjoy the feeling. I might have realised I was finally over Mike, but all I could focus on was that fact I’d let Dan slip through my fingers. I closed my eyes and thankfully drifted into slumber yet again.

  ~

  The ringtone of my mobile interrupted the dream I’d been having. Actually it was more like a nightmare. It involved me standing with a group of people, all side-by side to form a circle. We were facing outwards to another group of people standing around us in a slightly larger circle.

  Some strange folk song struck up in the background, and we had to dance with our partner in the opposite circle by linking our left arm through their left arm, and then spin each other round before linking arms with the next person in the smaller circle, and so on.

  As mysterious hands grabbed me to spin me round, I kept finding myself switched into their body. I’d glance around frantically looking for my own body to switch back into, but ‘Gracie’ was getting further and further away, lost in the crowds of dancing people. All of the spinning was making me feel dizzy. Fighting panic, I’d manage to steady myself and spot ‘Gracie’ again, but before I could make my way over, someone else would grab my arm, and I’d switch again.

  My eyes flickered open and I checked my watch. Six-thirty. I’d been asleep for hours. I seemed to be doing a lot of unplanned snoozing since I’d discovered body-switching.

  Feeling groggy, I picked up my phone and pressed ‘answer.’

  “Hello,” I croaked.

  “Hi, it’s me, Kerry. Sorry hun, I’ve woken you up haven’t I?”

  I could hardly hear her against the loud music playing in her salon.

  “It’s okay, I shouldn’t be snoozing anyway.”

  “I just wanted to check you’re alright.” She shouted down the phone.

  “Well, I…”

  “I phoned you at work earlier and Arthur answered. He said you were off sick.”

  “Yeah, I…”

  “He said you sounded really rough, and you’ve had a high temperature. Apparently...”

  “Kerry...”

  “Yes?”

  “…can you at least let me get more than two words in?”

  “Oops, sorry, yes you tell me.”

  “I just…,” I struggled in my mind to grasp the right words, but what could I say? I didn’t want to lie, but I could hardly tell her what had really happened. “Well, it sounds like Arthur already said it all. I’m feeling better now though,” I finished hastily.

  “Oh, that’s good. By the way, Arthur mentioned it was a man who called in for you this morning.”

  This time she left a pause and when I didn’t fill it, she urged me on.

  “So come on, Gracie, who was it, you dark horse?”

  I sucked in a deep breath. I had no idea how to answer her. I was bursting to tell her about Dan - I knew if I did, I would probably feel better about everything. But where would I start? The switch with Lydia, the kidnap, nearly dying when I switched back? It was all off-limits.

  “Well, are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to drag it out of you?” she persisted. She sounded like she was going to spontaneously combust if I didn’t tell her something in the next five seconds.

  “Erm, it must have been Mum’s boyfriend, Terry,” I bluffed. “Mum was going to ring in for me, so she must have asked him to do it instead.” I had my fingers firmly crossed behind my back.

  “Oh, Terry, right. I didn’t think about him.” I could hear the enthusiasm dying from her voice, “I just thought… well, you know what I thought. Listen, I’ve got to go, Mrs Atkins’ dye needs rinsing out. You know where I am if you need me though. You take care, okay?”

  “I will. Thanks, Kerry.” I sighed. I’d never kept secrets from her before. Even the details of my early childhood had been picked over and dissected between us. We told each other everything and now I needed her more than ever.

  “No problem, I’ll be in touch soon,” she said.

  With a heavy heart, I ended the call and plugged my phone in to charge. Then I plodded through to the living room, flopped down on the sofa and hung my legs over the arm. This Soul Protector business was complicated. It was such a huge, life-changing thing.

  I was relieved to find out I wasn’t going mad, and that there were others like me, but after explaining the basics, I couldn’t believe Dan had just gone and left me dangling. This was the wildest thing to ever happen to me and I had nobody in the world I could discuss it with. And because the whole stupid thing was steeped in secrecy, I’d upset Lydia, and now I’d lied to Kerry. They were my two best friends and I wasn’t happy about shutting them out.

  I sighed and shifted my position on the sofa, trying to get more comfortable. My head felt fine now, I just had no energy. I closed my eyes and tried to relax.

  It was a struggle to push the guilty feelings out of my mind. I’d known Kerry and Lydia since Miss Ashcroft’s class in year four when I’d had to join Brinton Primary halfway through the winter term. I’d been a shy and nervous nine-year old, reeling from the trauma of recent events.

  I can still picture that first day, standing at the front of the class like a rabbit caught in the headlights as Miss Ashcroft introduced me to everyone. I’d cringed inside as she’d asked who would like to be my friend and I’d hardly dared to look up, as I prayed someone, anyone, would volunteer. I was relieved to see several girls holding their arm up and was immediately drawn to Kerry.

  She had long dark curly hair pulled into bunches, and dimples in her cheeks which were growing deeper as she smiled. Fingers flapping, her hand was raised as high as she could stretch it. She was practically standing up to gain inches on her classmates. I smiled shyly at her as Miss Ashcroft ushered me over to sit at her table. From that day on she acted as my chaperone. She was very protective of me and in the early days I was grateful, and although I was big enough to fight my own battles now, I knew I could still count on her. I could never see a time when Kerry and I wouldn’t be friends.

  It had been Kerry who introduced me to Lydia. She was a completely different kettle of fish. The coolest girl in school, everyone wanted to be like her. Tall and beautiful, she seemed to wander through life effortlessly, taking for granted the hero worship she got from most of the other pupils.

  The intercom buzzed and interrupted my trip down memory lane. I did a lazy stretch, stood up and made my way over. I couldn’t help feeling irritated that someone was disturbing me when I just wanted to be left alone to wallow in self pity.

  I pressed the switch down. “Hi, who is it?” I asked, my voice a drab monotone

  “Hi, Gracie, it’s Dan. Is it convenient to come up?”

  Oh. My. God.

  “Dan, hi,” I said, forcing my voice to sound natural. “Erm, yes, come on up.”

  Why hadn’t I put any make-up on? I released the intercom switch and practically ran to the bathroom. I fumbled around in my make up bag and found what I was looking for. I swept a mascara wand across my lashes and hastily blobbed on some lip gloss, before I heard the knock at the door. I did one last check in the mirror, flicked my hair forward over my ears and tried to ignore the fact it was frizzing up and not the glossy locks I would have tried to create if I’d known he was coming back.

  I strode back across the living room in record time, and paused by the door forcing myself to take a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down. I plastered on what I hoped was a casual smile, opened the door and there he was.

  As I took a good look at his face, he literally took my breath away. Of course I hadn’
t forgotten he was a looker, but now that I wasn’t so petrified or gravely ill, I saw him with fresh clarity. He was easily the most handsome guy I’d ever laid eyes on.

  Being so close to him made me feel clumsy and awkward. His outfit wasn’t helping either. He was dressed in black combats and a black t-shirt covered by what looked like a stab vest, with a small backpack slung over his shoulder. It was incredibly sexy. I felt like someone had granted my wish and made all my fantasies come true at once.

  “Good, you’re looking much better,” he said, his dark eyes twinkling as he smiled. He reached out to put a hand on my forehead, obviously to check my temperature, and I’m sure he sent it escalating another ten degrees. I was glad he didn’t have a stethoscope to hand, or he would have known something was up.

  “Will I live doctor?”I asked, trying to hide my fluster.

  “I should think so,” he said, grinning. “Can I come in?”

  “Oh, yes of course.”

  I looked up at him and noticed how his bluey-black hair was forming soft, spiky peaks. It looked silky to the touch and I imagined running my fingers through it. My heart was thumping so loud I was sure Dan must be able to hear it too.

  There was a bit of an awkward moment, as I realised me standing there gawping at him was blocking the entrance. I snapped out of my stupor and stepped aside so he could actually come in. He had to duck his head so as not to hit the doorframe as he entered.

  Once he was inside I shut the door, and the whole flat instantly felt smaller with him in it.

  “Listen, I had to come back,” he said, “I need to sort out a time to take you to the Office and get you registered.”

  “Registered? What office?”

  “Soul Protector HQ,” he said in a dramatic voice, and then chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’s just a formality. If any other SP turns corrupt in this area, it’ll help to eliminate you from the investigation. I hope you don’t mind, Gracie.”