The Soul Quest ( #YourStoryIndia #Wattys2016)

Chapter 14 ( Kelly's POV)

"How do I look?" I asked my maid Alicia, my eyes shining with excitement. I smoothed down the folds in my dress and twirled happily.

"You look beautiful as always." She replied smiling at my childish eagerness.

Today was the day of the big ball. My father had organized it and had invited rulers from every realm of the world. Apparently they were planning to sign an important treaty. How boring is that? I was just happy for an excuse to dress up and dance with handsome young men. I might even find The One today, I thought to myself dreamily.

I turned around to admire myself in the mirror once more. My long blonde hair was open and hanging down my back with slight curls at their ends. I was wearing a blood red coloured dress that stood out on my pale skin. My blue eyes held a mischievous sparkle and my cheeks were flushed with excitement.

"It's time to go." Alicia said.

"Finally." I whispered and gathering my dress , I daintily walked out of the room.

As I walked down the stairs I heard our Butler Matthew announce my name presenting me to the ballroom packed with strangers.

"There is nothing more exciting than arriving fashionably late." I winked at Alicia.

"Miss Alison Lancaster, daughter of the Duke of Lancaster and Heir to the Seat of the North." Matthew called out.

With a gasp I woke up and looked around me dazedly. I realized I was in Paula's room. Paula and Emily were sleeping soundly beside me. I rushed over to the mirror and looked at myself. My hair was black and my eyes were brown and confused. No blonde or blue colour visible anywhere. What was that dream,I wondered to myself. Were Alison Lancaster's memories somehow resurfacing? Countless questions ran through my mind but I didn't have any answers. I could feel myself hyperventilating and panicking. I picked up my phone to call Jared and tell him about it when I remembered how exhausted he looked last night. He had a lot of problems to deal with by himself without me adding to them. Sighing I fell back onto the bed thinking about last night.

Jared had fallen asleep on the way to Paula's house. When we reached there Paula had rushed inside to find her parents. They were too relieved at first to ask any questions. But soon they started grilling all of us. We stuck to Paula's story and introduced Peter as a friend of Jared's who had come over from the next town. He had accompanied Jared on his search because he was an excellent tracker and had been of great help. When her parents asked her how she had ended up in the woods Paula feigned memory loss and said the last thing she remembered was driving over to meet me. When she woke up she had found herself in the woods with no sense of time and place. She kept walking around until finally we found her and got her here. Her parents seemed to believe our story thankfully.

Jared and Peter had been leaving when Ian had showed up. Somehow the news that Paula was back home safe and sound had already spread around. Hugging Paula happily he demanded to know what had happened. When he heard our story his eyes narrowed angrily.

"That's a load of crap." He said. "If that were the case, Jared would have called me to help him. I know you guys well enough to know when you are lying to me. Tell me the truth." He demanded.

All of us stared at each other in shock. What the hell were we supposed to do now? Jared immediately took control of the situation.

"Ian please trust me when I say you don't want to know." He pleaded.

"How can I trust you when you just lied to me?" Ian huffed scornfully.

"Okay." Jared said reaching a decision. "We will tell you the truth." Ignoring our gasps of surprise he continued , "But I'll tell you everything tomorrow. Not today. Paula needs to rest and so do the rest of us. It's a really long story but I promise I'll tell you tomorrow."

Nodding his assent, Ian hugged Paula again. "Glad to know you are safe." He said smiling at her. Then he turned to me and gave me a look filled with anger.

"You have a lot to answer for Kelly. You think you can just play around with Jared, don't you? One minute you break up with him and next minute you call him when you need him. Go find someone else to play your games with." He shouted.

"Ian! Calm down man. You will understand everything tomorrow. This isn't her fault so please trust me." Jared said dragging Ian to his car. "Come on let's go. Please drop Peter and me at my place."

Jared turned to me and rolled his eyes in Ian's direction. "Please don't take him seriously. He is just looking out for me." He whispered in my ear. Giving me a hug he drove away with Ian and Peter.

The three of us trooped inside and went upstairs to Paula's room. Too exhausted to do anything all of us curled up in bed and fell asleep.

Paula and Emily started stirring beside me. Deciding to give them a little morning surprise I went close to their ears and screamed "Boooo!" Their reactions were so different that I had to laugh. Paula just mumbled "go away Kelly" and went back to sleep. She was used to my antics by now. Emily, on the other hand, had jumped out of bed and was frozen in a fighting stance ready to beat the crap out of whoever had scared her. On hearing my laughter she looked around confusedly and her expression only made me laugh harder. Realization dawned on her when she saw me in fits of laughter.

"Oh! You were trying to prank us."she said smiling weakly. "Not a good prank to play on someone like me Kelly. I would have killed you in an instant. I may have a new Soul now but my instincts are still the same. Old habits die hard."

"You really need to relax Em. Pretty soon you will get used to Kelly's stupidity." Paula said finally waking up. "Let's get dressed and have breakfast. I am starving." She said.

Later we were sitting in the Jacobs's kitchen shoving pancakes into our mouths like it was our last meal.

"Whoa slow down girls. Those pancakes will come right back up if you eat like that." Paula's mom said walking into the kitchen. "Paula honey I came to warn you about the press. They are all over us demanding to know your story. I think if you just gave them one interview they will be satisfied and disappear. Do you feel well enough to talk to them today and get this over with?" She asked worry etched on her face.

Paula gave me a fleeting look of panic and turned to her Mom. "Can I please do this tomorrow? I just want to relax with my friends today." She pleaded.

I could understand why she was so worried. Lying in front of a whole bunch of people with cameras was no easy feat. If she slipped and made a mistake, people will start questioning and investigating.

"Sure honey. It's up to you." Her mom replied hugging her. "I am worried about one thing though. You said you had no idea how you ended up in the woods. I just keep thinking what if someone drugged you and hurt you? They probably dumped you into the woods later. We need to know for sure if you are okay so I booked a doctor's appointment for today afternoon. I hope I am wrong." She said her voice cracking at the end.

Paula looked horrified. "Mom please listen to me. That's not what happened. Last night I was too exhausted and my thoughts were muddled up. This morning I remembered everything when I woke up. When I was driving over to Kelly's house I thought I heard an animal. It sounded as though it was in pain. So I tried to follow the sounds and ended up lost. I didn't find the animal but I also didn't find any paths to lead me out of there. So I curled up under a tree and fell asleep. You already know everything after that." She smiled desperately hoping to convince her mom.

"Oh thank God! I was so terrified that someone hurt you." Her mom said clutching Paula and sobbing in relief.
"I will handle the press today." She said pulling herself together. "You girls go out and have fun but be safe. Paula I expect you to be back home before it's dark." She said sternly.

"Okay Mom. Thanks. See ya." Paula called out as we left. "Now let's go meet Jared, Ian and that hot Hunter friend of Jared."she chirped happily.

Shaking my head at her perkiness, I followed her out. Judging by Peter's attitude last night he was not going to welcome Paula's shameless flirting. Plus who knows how Ian was going to handle the truth? So many things can go wrong, I thought to myself. It was going to be a long long day.