Soul Searcher by D.M. Richardson (novel24 .TXT) 📕

“So which one of us did it?” I asked trying to stay on topic, but move past the awkwardness.

“Has that ever happened to you before?” she asked him. I didn’t see his answer but he must have shook his head.

“Then it looks like you have another ability. Not only can you search a person’s soul, but you can read people from the memories that you see. It seems that you also have the ability to take someone with you on the journey.” she looked at me in awe and I decided it was time to take my leave. I stood up and stretched.

“Well I have a lot to think about. I should be going. I really need to lye down anyway.” I started for the door but Vera stopped me.

“I’m in town for the next week. You should come back tomorrow so we can explore your abilities. I’m sorry to say you’re an oddity, and we need to find out how much control you can manage. It will help you in the long run, and it’s practice you need.” she didn’t say it with any expression. It was just a matter of fact. I had power I couldn’t control and I needed to learn how. I nodded and left before anyone could say anything else.

I crawled into my bed and slept until the sun was well up in the sky the next morning.

I stretched and rolled out of bed with ease. I felt wonderful. No more aches and pains and most importantly no more headaches. It’s the first time I had actually felt completely rested in a very long time.

It was Saturday so I didn’t have to worry about school. I skipped down the stairs and met Sara in the kitchen. She handed me a plate and I ate with gusto. When I was done I went up to my room to plan for a relaxing day, but I got a text from Zeke asking me when I was going to go over to his house for my practice session. I sighed and grabbed my jacket instead of my book.

I knocked on the door and Rob answered.

“You knocked?” he asked in surprise I lifted a shoulder.

“Yeah I’m feeling much better today.” he ushered me in and I met all of them in the living room like I had the day before. Vera was sitting in the same chair and Zeke was lounging on his side of the couch. He sat up quickly when I walked in, but settled back disappointed when I met him with only a glare.

Vera smiled at me as I took my seat and we all sat in a slightly awkward silence. Finally I couldn’t stand it anymore and leaned forward.

“So where do we start?” I asked. Vera nodded and sat forward as well.

“We start with the most basic of your abilities…searching.”

“How do we do that?”

“Your going to search me.” I took a deep breath and nodded. I looked up and forced myself to meet her eyes, and just like that I was sucked in. It was almost a relief to have the pressure that had been building for weeks eased. The visions only lasted for a moment that felt like an eternity.

It turns out she was raised by her grandmother, but still had a very vague memory of her father. Her mother was no where to be seen in any of the memories. Not even a picture. It left me curious, but I held back not wanting to ask about something so personal.

“So?” she asked.

“So what?” I answered she heaved a big sigh and slumped back.

“Not a single question?” I shook my head.

“No. I mean there is one but its too personal to ask.” she stared at me for a moment. “Is that wrong?” I asked uncertainly.

“No not really just unusual. I’m almost never able to keep myself from asking questions.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice keeping my mouth shut.” I supplied. She nodded in understanding.

“Okay well we already know that you have no control over your searcher abilities so we’re going to find out if you can control the reading.” Rob said as he stood and walked over to me. He knelt down in front of me and my body started to hum. I wanted to reach out to touch him, but I held back not entirely sure what he wanted me to do.

“Do you feel it?” he asked softly looking at me expectantly. I nodded and he reached out a hand. It hovered between us for a moment before I finally took it.

It was different than it was with Sara. I wasn’t pulled in without control this time. Instead I could feel myself pushing at him. I thought about resisting and pulling back but he squeezed my hand not letting me. I took a deep breathe and gave in, but I didn’t push. I felt the desire to, but instead I just went with it. I closed my eyes out of reflex, and saw a glowing light behind my eyelids. The longer I kept my eyes closed the more defined the light became. It became two swirling balls. They weren’t perfectly round, but were more like they were made out of wisps of light that were concentrated in the center.

I realized that I was seeing both of our souls. They took my breath away with the beauty of them. As I watched one moved toward the other. I expected one of them to push into another, but instead I felt as mine sent out a tendril to brush against his. His soul hardened against the contact but never moved. I brushed against him lightly again almost asking permission to enter. After a couple minutes of constant contact his gave way and allowed that one tendril to enter.

The feeling was odd, almost pleasurable. The feeling of humming under my skin turned into more of a tingle than a vibrating and I began to see images. I didn’t want to see anything too personal so I kept it to his adult life. I witnessed his marriage, and the first time he held Zeke as a newborn. I kept it to happy memories. I had no desire to feel his pain from the death of his wife. And I knew it would be a lot of pain, just from the love I felt coming off of him when he was with her.

I opened my eyes and took my hand away from his. He let me without hesitation and sat back on his heels with a sigh.

“I never thought to approach it that way.” he said more to himself than anyone in the room. Zeke and Vera looked at him in confusion. He realized everyone was watching him and he explained. “Normally it’s a fight to enter a soul. Especially one of ours, but instead of forcing her way in she…well it was almost as if she asked for permission.” Zeke gasped.

“And that worked?” he asked doubtfully. I turned to look at Zeke.

“You were really cute when you were born.” Zeke’s jaw dropped and his face turned a slight shade of pink. Vera chuckled slightly.

“So we know that I have control over my reader side. That means we’re done right?” I asked hopefully.

“No now I’d like to see how far back in generations you can go, and if you can pull yourself back to the main person.” I looked at her in confusion, and she offered her hand. I hesitated for a moment then stood in front of her. I took her hand slowly, and met her eyes at the same time.

I was immediately pulled in, and instead of getting the third person point of view I was looking through her eyes as a little girl. From there I was pulled into her father, and then his father after that. I went into her great grandmother, and then her great, great grandfather. When I reached his mother everything went black.

I opened my eyes to find I was looking at the ceiling. I sat up slowly making sure I didn’t have too many bruises. I seemed to be fine, but I was laying on the couch instead of the floor like I thought I was. It took a moment to get feeling in my legs, but when I did I was able to sit up completely.

I looked around and all three of them were staring at me in worry.

“What happened?” I asked. They all sighed in relief.

“You passed out.” Zeke answered looking pale.

“Why?”

“I think that when you go into back generations you slowly spread your soul throughout all of them. Eventually you spread yourself too thin and snapped back.” Vera answered. “How far did you get?” she asked with excitement. I thought for a moment.

“Four I was just starting the fifth when everything went black.” I rubbed my face with my hands.

“Are you okay?” Zeke asked. I nodded.

“Yeah just a little tired.”

“Maybe we should stop for today.” he suggested looking to Vera. I nodded my agreement, and she conceited.

“But I just want to try one more thing.” she said before I could even stand. My shoulders fell slightly but I met her gaze anyway. “I want to see if you can take me with you.” I felt my eyes get wide.

“But I don’t know how I did it before.” I protested. She nodded.

“I know I only want you to try.” I nodded and she sat next to me on the couch this time. She offered her hand and I took it. I could feel the desire to push my way in, but I really didn’t want to. I didn’t want to go back through her memories again. I didn’t want to be able to do any of it. And most importantly I didn’t want to be alone anymore.

Just as I finished that last thought I was sucked in. I looked around and realized I was back to her first memory. I looked to my right and saw her adult self standing next to me. She released a slow breathe and looked over at me with wide eyes. Suddenly I had the intense feeling that I didn’t want to be there anymore. I wanted to be back in my own mind by myself.

And just like that I was back in Rob’s living room holding Vera’s hand. I let go and Vera gasped.

“You did it. I was there, and more significantly you pulled back on your own.”

A week later I was on my back on the couch looking at the ceiling again. It took longer to get feeling back in my body, but when I did I sat up and faced all of them.

I was now able to go back eight generations, and pull out of seven whenever I wanted to. I had taken both Vera and Rob down through their own memories several times, and they each enjoyed their experiences. It seemed the only thing I couldn’t control was searching.

I had seen both of their memories so many times I was