Soulstice (The Souled Series) (7 page)

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

The
fallout of seeing Jock Boy in the hall was intense and longer-lasting than I had expected. Considering I hadn’t expected anything at all, the aftermath was over-the-top overwhelming.

After that freaky-ass encounter,
I hid in the bathroom between classes to avoid seeing him. I was seriously creeped out all day. My senses were on high alert. It was as if something watched me, sniffing me out like a blood hound. There was a seriously dark force that pulsed strong, but somehow stayed contained within Jock Boy’s body. I felt its threads winding around me, like tentacles reaching through bars. It was trapped. And it was evil.

Feeling a bit like a coward, I bolted out of the parking lot as soon as my last class got out. By the time I
drove my car safely into my garage, though, I had convinced myself I wasn’t running scared, merely staying one step ahead of something I knew nothing about.

~ ~ ~

“Well, was he angry with you?” Mom closed her book and placed it on the coffee table. “Maybe his negative energy was pulling you in.”

It seemed to take forever for Mom and Jon to get home. After giving them a chance to sett
le themselves in, I rehashed what happened.

“I’ve never spoken to him,” I said. “I don’t think he knows I exist. I was
just standing in the hall before my class. He didn’t even notice all the other girls practically falling over themselves.” I shook my head. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“If he wasn’t aware of the magnetism… and Alyx felt a distinct pull…” Jon looked at Mom, “I don’t know. Maybe an attachment?”

Mom dropped her gaze to the floor as she thought, and then slowly raised it to Jon’s face. “That could very well be,” she said. “It would have to be a strong attachment in order for so many others to pick up on the vibration, though.” Her brows came together. “Highly unusual.”

“Attachment?” I looked between the two of them. “Explain please?”

“An attachment,” my mom said, “is an energetic body that enters an individual and disrupts his or her well-being. It feeds on the individual’s energy.”

“Like a leech.” I shivered.

Mom nodded. “The signs can be so subtle that the intrusion often goes unnoticed, but left unchecked, the attachment can twist the individual’s thinking and influence how he interacts with others. The host will often begin to behave just like the discarnate spirit.”

“Seriously?” I sat in a chair across from her.

She nodded. “Most of the time the attachment’s intentions are self-serving. Unlike our spirit guides who
give
to us from
outside our body,
an attachment
takes
from us from
inside our body.
If they’re unable to let go of this energy plane,” her arms made a sweeping gesture, indicating the space around us, “and cross the veil, they stay stuck here and oftentimes find a living, breathing extension of their residual issues. And since souls are energy, they follow the law of attraction. If we think sad thoughts, a sad soul is going to find its way in because they’re drawn to us. If we’re an addict, the drifter soul’s toxic energies will only enhance what resonates within us. It’s usually those with the most intense emotions that get caught up with an attachment.”

“Well, there was definitely something off about him.” I hugged away the goose b
umps that colonized on my arms.

“It’d be a good idea to pr
otect yourself,” Jon suggested to me.

I looked at Mom
. “How can I protect myself against something I can’t see?”

“Well, there are different ways of going about it.” Her eyes took in every detail about me. “It would help to wear brighter colors.”
Her hand shot up right away to silence the protest that had formed on my lips. “I said it would
help
. You might want to consider red lipstick to help gather some lighter energy.” She cocked her head a little and smiled. “You’d look very pretty with red lipstick. Maybe a ribbon, but that’s your decision. There are definitely other ways. Have you been centering yourself every morning?”

I nodded. That was something I
loved to do. Every morning I flipped over the bucket I placed just beyond our patio outside, exposing a small patch of winter-dead grass. The stiff, stringy blades tickled the soles of my feet when I stepped onto the only clear patch of earth. I felt very much the Summer Princess when I pressed my toes into the frozen dirt, willing the energy from below the frosty surface to melt the layers between us. In much the same way I held energy for Shawn, I would reach out to the sides then to the front of me and encouraged the residual energy from my body to pool there before I released it to the air. I would lower my hands, and with slow exhalation, the energy poured out through my fingers and into the waiting earth. I filled the waiting space with white light, pushing the borders outside my body, expanding my personal space by at least six inches. I really didn’t think that would be enough, though.

“I’m going to need more than light protection, Mom.
When I followed Seth, a weird feeling happened.” I pointed to the center of my chest. “I felt it here. Like a string or wire or something had attached us together. Like a fisherman reeling in a catch. Or maybe the other way around.”

“How did you untangle yourself from it?” Jon asked.

“By physically closing off. I crossed my arms across my chest and turned away. That broke the connection.”

“Did you see Seth after that?” Mom asked.

“No way,” I said to her. “I avoided him. I felt so out of control and sick to my stomach.” I rubbed at my chest, erasing the phantom pull. “I know the centering and white light protection helps, but I want more than that. I don’t want to take any chances.” If Jock Boy had an attachment, I wanted solid steel shields to protect my body and mind.

Jon asked, “Do you know if he is going through anything major in his life? Something that might bring his threshold down?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know much about him. Other than he’s on the wrestling team and he’s totally in love with his girlfriend, Dani.”

“Well. Maybe the entity is just passing through,” Jon suggested.

“Let’s hope so.” Mom and Jon clasped hands as if to show each other comfort. “I hate to see a young person have an attachment. The teen years are confusing enough as it is,” Mom said.

Mom and Jon looked at each other and nodded as if a silent agreement passed between them.

“We could try a shield,” Jon said turning to me. “It’s simple, but effective. It’ll block outside influences and prevent anyone from reading your thoughts or picking up your vibrations. Basically, you’d be shut off. The problem is that even though you’d be protecting yourself, you’ll also be muting your intuition and senses.”

“
I don’t want to go through what I did today ever again, and I definitely don’t want to be its next target.”

“That’s perfectly reasonable,” Mom agreed, “Especially now that you’ve been opening up.”

Mom shifted to face me and took a cleansing breath, gesturing with her hands for me to do the same.

Jon grabbed a pillow from the couch and placed it on the floor in front of Mom. “You might be more comfortable,” he whispered, gesturing to the pillow.
He sat on the couch and looked to Mom for direction.

Positioning the pillow under my knees, I looked to Mom. Jon’s encouraging nod helped me settle my mind and get focused on her instruction. Following her lead, I took three cleansing breaths. My focus went immediately to my core, right at my solar plexus, and I held it there until I felt the swell of energy expand.

Except for the gentle flow of our practiced breaths, the room fell silent. I gave myself to the rhythm of my heart and the slight tingling over the surface of my skin.

“To form your energy shield,
” Mom explained, “visualize the surface of it as being reflective. A mirror will not absorb negative energy, but will repel it back to its place of origin. Contain your aura within the shield so your emotions won’t betray you.”

White light filled the space beneath my heart, drifted up, then slowly enclosed it in a gentle blanket of heat. Slight tingling on my neck flowed upward to touch my face and head. My entire body hummed with pure energy and spilled over my physical boundaries. I was ready to do this.

Envisioning a one-way mirror, I muted the light within me and coated a reflective surface on the outside of my aura. My lungs tripped over the contained energy, as I breathed in my own light. I relaxed and allowed it to flow in and out, swirl around and comfort me. The boxed-in sensation gave way to a sense of free-floating. I then let go completely.

Jon was right. My senses were muted, but not as much as I thought. I could feel my mom’s concern, or maybe it was just the way her brows tightened a little bit
and the way she pressed her lips together.

“Well?” I asked.

My mom shook her head. “I’m not picking up anything.”

“Then that’s great, right?” I looked to Jon, but he looked her. “Why the concerned look then?” I asked.

“It’s not concern at all. You’re more powerful than you think you are. You put that shield up like a pro.” The creases in her brow disappeared and her mouth softened into a smile. She leaned over and squeezed my hand, her warmth leaving an imprint of confidence and pride. “To take down the shield, reverse what you just did. Go slowly at first, but with time you’ll be able to do it quickly.”

I got up, expecting to feel as if layers of bubble wrap surrounded me, but it wasn’t like that at all. The only indication that there was something between me and the outside world was a feeling of invincibility, with a little bit of vulnerability. But as far as Jock Boy was concerned, the slight decrease in my ability to fully sense things around me was a fair tradeoff for full protection against whatever he had going on inside him. Even if it was a harmless attachment, I
would be ready.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

I practiced opening and closing the shield all weekend. The change in the sensitivity around me was more apparent each time. Mom and Jon did what they could to test me, but they didn’t have the ability or experience to push me telepathically, as I suspected an attachment did. I
needed
to get this down because I didn’t want to be caught off guard again. Until I discovered the reason for my reaction to Jock Boy, I wanted to be able to blend into the background unnoticed. I needed to buy myself time to study him. If his attachment was intent on hooking his claws into me, it’d better forget it. That so wasn’t going to happen.

As much as this unnerved me, though, it was also kind of exciting. By opening myself up and embracing who I truly was, I
had opened a portal to another world, another vibrational dimension, where harmony and disharmony co-exist, where people like me, Mom, and Jon, work to restore its balance. We were light-workers, and there was no way a simple attachment was going to trip me up.

~ ~ ~

As I got ready for school Monday morning, I convinced myself it would be a day like any other and for the most part, it had been. I psyched myself up for a big showdown all morning, but I never saw Jock Boy.

After lunch,
though, I had Lit class with his girlfriend, Dani, so I’d definitely see him there. If he still had the attachment, I hoped to draw it out with a few focused thoughts. If he reacted – if
it
reacted – I’d let it get close enough to touch, but not close enough to get hold of me. The problem was, I wasn’t sure if the attachment could somehow stop me from putting up the shield. Could it slide into my body against my will? My timing would have to be perfect.

Then again, all this planning could be for nothing. The attachment could have drifted off. Maybe what I experienced last week was a freak moment.
Maybe I was giving myself too much importance in this whole thing. Maybe I was an innocent bystander. Maybe…

Without warning, pins and needles stabbed at the tips of my fingers and toes and shot up into in my chest, then crept up my neck, before engulfing my entire scalp. The urge to close off was nearly overpowering, but I held back and stayed open, sending out a beacon – only I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear his Polo to my Marco.

I looked at my phone. There were a few minutes before the bell would ring. I braced myself against a wall. It wasn’t very long before he came into sight. There was a solid exchange – my energy for his – and Jock Boy was definitely feeling it. His shoulders stiffened and his brows scrunched above his eyes as they darted in and around the others in the hall.

He stopped mid-stride and spun to face me with an accusing glare distorting his face.

I pulled back my aura and locked up tight. My icy stare met his.
Heh. Not so tough, are you, my little parasitic friend?

I felt prods and pokes, signs of its intention to break through
. He felt me, which meant some of my energy was escaping the boundaries of my shield somewhere.

He wanted in.
It
wanted in.

From what I read about attachments over the weekend, this wasn’t textbook at all. This one vibrated differently – a little darker, a little slower, like a base drum. Its pulse beat against my chest, in a slow, methodic rhythm. It was aggressive.

For now, my shield held. No hooks in my ribs, no breath-taking invasion of my body. I was relieved when Jock Boy turned his attention to Dani and walked away, taking his dark, creepy friend with him. I locked up my knees, afraid if I walked, my legs would give out.

That was
freakin’ crazy, but at least I know what I’m up against.

I think.