Soul Protector Read Online Free Page B

she was about to say something. I flashed a smile, hoping to
disarm her and swiftly leant across, opening the door to let her
out.
    When I was on my own in Lydia’s
apartment, the euphoria faded. I knew I’d violated Lydia by
switching into her body and it made me feel anxious. I tried to
shrug off the bad feeling as I wandered into her living room and
plonked myself down on the leather sofa. I pressed my fingertips
together in a prayer like pose, and came to the conclusion I would
give myself one hour to fathom out what was going on, and if I was
none the wiser after that, I would go home and switch back
regardless.
    The leather felt cold beneath
me. I leant behind and pulled the fake zebra-skin throw off the
back of the couch and tucked it around me. It smelt of Lydia’s
vanilla perfume.
    For the next hour or so, I sat
absent-mindedly picking nail varnish off Lydia’s perfectly
manicured nails, while my thoughts went round in circles. I had
established I wasn’t going mad, and I had worked out how to
switch into other people’s bodies, but what I couldn’t understand
was why . What was the point of it all? I
wondered if it was completely random, some kind of weird phenomenon
that I would never truly understand.
    I toyed with the idea of
telling someone. But what then ? They’d want me to prove it,
and I didn’t know if that was even possible. And if I was able to
prove it, would I be carted away to some secret Government location
and subjected to all kinds of invasive tests?
    The whole time I was thinking,
I had to compete with the funny sounds in my ears. I remembered
Kerry’s granddad used to complain about something similar. He
called it tinnitus. It was strange Lydia never mentioned she
suffered from it as well. Well, she had my sympathy, it was
exhausting.
    ~
    Lydia’s silver tabby, Chloe,
extended her claws through the throw and buried them into my
thigh.
    Disorientated, my eyes shot
open and I was surprised to see daylight streaming in through the
horizontal blinds. The fog cleared from my mind and I remembered
why I was on Lydia’s sofa. My heart raced.
    I picked Chloe up and placed
her against my chest, stroking her fluffy body while she rattled
and purred. It had a calming effect on me.
    “God, Chloe, I’ve been asleep
for hours. I hope your daddy’s not due home any time soon.”
    Chloe stopped purring, stuck
her back leg out, and began washing herself. I knew I couldn’t just
lie there, so after a few moments I picked her up and plopped her
on the floor. She looked up at me in disgust.
    “I’m sorry, puss. I need to go
home and switch back.” Saying the words out loud highlighted how
absurd the whole thing was.
    Chloe chose to ignore me, and
sprung back onto my lap. I slumped back, stroking her head. “You’re
right, you know. If I switch back now, I’ll have achieved
nothing.”
    I tried to come up with a plan.
The tinnitus made it difficult to concentrate, but I remembered
Lydia’s car was in the garage, so I decided my best bet would be to
go into town as Lydia had intended, and collect it. It was the
least I could do for her. I would use the time in-between to try
and pick up any clues and work out what was going on. If I didn’t
discover anything by the time I switched back, at least I’d know I
gave it my best shot, and made up for sleeping on the job.
    I had a small battle with my
conscience as I hunted in Lydia’s handbag for the diary she kept in
there. Her life was highly organised, and I knew that diary was the
centre of her universe. Rummaging amongst the expensive make-up and
perfume, I found the black leather-bound book I was looking for. I
slipped it out of the bag and flicked through it. I found the
garage details scribbled down under the date. She had added, ‘pick
up after five-thirty.’
    Next, I wandered through to her
en-suite to freshen up. I decided against showering, it just didn’t
seem right. Instead, I washed my face, cleaned my teeth and prayed
that