The Soul Quest ( #YourStoryIndia #Wattys2016)

Chapter 17 (Kelly's POV)

"I told you so." Paula said with a smirk looking pointedly at Jared's arm around me.

"You don't have to act so smug." I pretended to be angry but even I couldn't keep the huge smile off my face.

'A thousand years' by Christina Perri started playing on the speakers.

"Come on! We have to dance to this song." I said excitedly grabbing Jared's arm and pulling him towards the dance floor.

"What is it about girls and this song?" He asked rolling his eyes but coming along with me at the same time.

"Shut up and dance." I told him putting my arms around him and relaxed against him as he did the same. We spun around slowly in circles around many other dancing couples.

'I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more.'

I sighed contentedly as I let the lyrics wash over me. The music soothed all my hurt and sorrow from the past few weeks and I never wanted this moment to end.

"This is perfect." I smiled up at Jared.

"Yeah it is. I..." He suddenly broke off and looked around confusedly. Suddenly his expression changed to one of horror and fear.

"Jared! What's wrong ? Are you okay ?" I started panicking looking at his face.

"We need to get out of here. Now." He said in a hard voice. "I am calling Peter."

"I am right here." Peter said in a grim voice. He was standing right behind us with Paula, Ian and Emily. "Let's go."

The rest of us looked at each other questioningly. I was starting to feel frightened.

"Jared what's wrong?" I asked trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"Kells. We don't have much time. We need to leave now or else there is a good chance every single person here might die tonight." He replied seriously.

All of us stared at him incredulously. For a second, I wondered if this was some kind of joke. But I realized he was serious.

"Oh my God!" I whispered in horror. "Let's go."

Pushing our way through the crowded dance floor, we ran outside.
We hurried behind Jared and Peter as they led us towards the parking lot. Jared started explaining as we ran and Peter kept looking around vigilantly.

"A large number of Soulless are headed this way. I have no idea how many but the fact that I could sense them indicates there are a lot of them.
They have come for you Kelly. I think they were planning to attack under cover of all the noise of the party and take you. They would have killed all those innocent people in there. That is why we have to leave and lead them away from here."

I felt numb with shock. Of course they have come for me. But I hadn't expected an army to show up at our prom.

"Where are we going?" I asked him numbly. "We can't go back home and put our families in danger."

"We are going to leave town and meet a few other Hunters. You need all the protection we can provide. So Peter has sent out an alert for Hunters from all around the world to come here. But it is going to take a few weeks before everyone arrives. Let's hope we can keep you safe till then." Jared replied grimly.

"Okay that is a lot to take in right now but we need to tell our parents before we leave town. They'll worry about us. You know how Paula's parents freaked out already and made her disappearance national news. We can't have policemen looking for us everywhere we go." I reasoned with him.