Immortal Souls (The Immortal Souls: Magic & Chaos)

Chapter 21

It was the morning of the twenty-sixth and the sun had yet to rise when Jack left for Freya's house. The Moirai had pretty much given him a play-by-play of everything that would happen over the next few months. They told him everything he had to do up 'til the day he was supposed to bring Sam to Athens to see the Moirai for herself.

And they had assured him that before next summer came, his work for them would be finished. He would be free and they would grant him the one thing he wished for. To live again. And he would finally get to tell Sam all the things he'd been waiting so many years to tell her.

But for today, he was supposed to go to Freya and get an amulet from her. The one that had belonged to every female in Sam's family going right back a few thousand years to when it had been Freya's.

When Sam's mother had been killed, the Moirai had given the amulet back to Freya and told her it would find its way to Sam when the time was right.

Jack felt that the Moirai should have told Freya what they really meant. Because what they really meant was, when the time was right for Sam to receive the amulet, they'd send Jack to go get it from her so he could bring it to Sam.

Jack had to use his ghostly Powers to materialise on Hunter land, near the house he used to live in and the house that his family still resided in. But he wasn't allowed to see them, because that was against the goddamn rules. From there he had to corporealise, then walk a few miles to the river that separated his family's property from Valkyrie territory. After that he had to cross the river, and walk another few miles through fields and forests to Freya's house.

Because of the barrier spells that surrounded the Valkyrie's territory, Jack couldn't just materialise at the house. He had to walk all the way there in his corporeal form and get sore legs and feet.

Because the fucking bitches that called themselves the Moirai didn't believe in the post office.

The branches of the trees began to thrash violently as Jack's anger manifested itself in the nature around him.

As a Hunter his emotions had always been quite volatile, and as a Ghost they were much worse. Mostly because if he didn't control his feelings, they would manifest around him, like they were now. Infecting nature and anyone close enough to feel it.

Jack took a breath to calm himself; every time he thought of the Moirai and all of the shit they put him through it made him so angry he could barely contain it.

He continued walking through the green fields of the Valkyrie's territory towards the old brick house. The front door swung open before Jack had even reached it.

The woman standing on the other side was well built, just slightly shorter than Jack, which meant she was incredibly tall for a woman. But then, the Valkyries were built like warriors. She glared at Jack, her dark eyes watching him in a way that if he were living would have incited an extreme discomfort.

"What are you doing here Hunter?" Brynhild asked, her tone making it sound as though Jack's very existence had ruined not only her entire day but her entire life.

"Actually, it's Ghost," Jack corrected. "I haven't been a Hunter in years, and I'm here to see Freya."

"Who says she wants to see you?" she asked rhetorically. "Why would she? You're the reason Serenity was killed."

Serenity was one of Freya's descendants, and Sam's birth mother. Jack physically flinched at the mention of her name. It was a low blow bringing that up. "He's also the reason that Samantha is alive," Freya said from across the room. Brynhild turned around, as if just noticing Freya's presence for the first time. "Let him in."

Brynhild begrudgingly stepped aside, keeping her eyes on Jack as he walked through the doors, past Brynhild, into the room where Freya was standing.

She turned and led the way to the living room, seated herself on an armchair and directed for Jack to do the same. He took a seat on the sofa across from her. "Is she okay?" Freya asked, wasting no time with small talk. "Is it time yet?"

"No," Jack said. "The Moirai sent me to get the amulet."

"Oh," Freya mumbled, folding and unfolding her hands in her lap. Jack could see the disappointment in her expression even though she tried to hide it.

Freya looked a lot like Sam, and a lot like Serenity. Her skin was slightly darker than Sam's, her hair was also about two shades darker and her eyes were a more vibrant shade of purple. But other than that they looked very much alike. If you were to put them side by side you would be able to see quite clearly that they were from the same family.

Even though Jack had spent all of his Hunter years living just across the river from Freya, he had never really known her. When he was younger he just thought of her as the woman who lived in this house. After a while he started to notice that she wasn't simply a woman, she was actually quite a powerful Witch.

But it wasn't until the last few months of his life that he had learned the truth about what Freya, and everyone related to her, really was.

And he couldn't understand why someone with such an immense amount of Power-someone that far up on the food chain-would hide herself away, acting as though she were powerless instead of doing what she could to stop the war that had been started because of what she had created.

"Before next summer," Jack said. Freya looked to him curiously. "That's what they said. You'll meet her before next summer."

Freya sighed, nodding her head. "That's not so long." She stood up and walked out of the room. A few moments later she came back in, holding a silver chain with a clear tear shaped stone on the end. "I always thought she'd come here to get it herself," Freya said as she handed the amulet to Jack. "It needs a drop of her blood to be activated, it won't respond otherwise."

"Right." Jack put the amulet into his pocket.

"So," Freya said and sat down,carefully folding her hands on her lap. "Tell me all about her."