Chapter sixty one

“What?” Hephzibah said when Irene told her all she knows about Naomi. She shook her head, “if the Southwood coven knows about her, it’s going to be hard to keep her away from them. She is strong, Irene, she was able to communicate with Asher through her dream.”

“What?” It was Irene’s turn now to say that and she did with a frown. “How can that be possible, it was a dream, the most she could do would be to warn Asher about it not to go to the scene through her dream.”

“I am telling you that that is the only reason Asher is still here with us. When I saw it in my vision, I couldn’t understand, she appeared from thin air and after Prince Asher teleported, she disappeared as well. I couldn’t understand it initially, but now I do. Irene, have you ever had about the first pure blood witch to ever walk this earth?”

“No,” Irene shook her head.

“Legend has it that she travels through her dream. She can be here, sleeping and be solving issues in Northwood and when she is done, she would naturally wake up here. She may not touch people but they could hear and see her and that was all that matters. Once she passes her message and saves the day, she would naturally wake up. Right before she died, it was said she had practiced soul jumping.”

“Soul jumping?” Irene frowned.

“What could that mean?” Aliyah asked.

“It means she can jump into any person’s body,” Edward explained.

Aliyah frowned, “I don’t understand.”

Hephzibah sighed, “back then, witches were still developing spells and once in a while they will come across a spell that will backfire, trapping one’s soul inside their body while the spell uses their bodies to create havoc. The pure blood witch would approach them and then soul jump, her own soul would jump out of her body and into the body of the possessed, there she would find the soul and get the soul to fight and reclaim it’s body. She was the only one that could do it and she lived very shortly after mastering it.”

“Why is that?” Irene questioned.

“She was already a thousand years old before she mastered the spell of soul jumping but it comes with a great price, it weakens the body for ten years. The first time she did it, she slept for five years straight that people thought she was dead and would have buried her if not for her deep breathing. She woke up on the sixth year but was still weak and had to rejuvenate her body and strength. Everyone wanted to know what happened to her and that was when she told them that her body wasn’t strong enough and had became weak before her soul could jump back into it and that if it wasn’t for her years of practicing spells, she would not have woken up. She went back into studying the spell and soon found out that it would take a thousand year old witch to be able to perform the spell, talk more of mastering it. She had a soul jump years later and to everyone’s surprise, she only slept for five days. Which means, she had taken her time to prepare her body and strengthen the resistance.”

“If she finally figured it out, why is it not practiced?” Irene frowned.

“It’s a difficult spell, to learn it, like I said, you have to be at least a thousand years old. Many witches had tried it and many had died, no one had succeeded, except one. She had successfully jumped the soul but she couldn’t return to her body and when the possessed finally reclaimed her body, she died, she never woke up. Her body was kept, thinking it would be like the first pure blood but after five days, she started rotting and they had no choice but to bury her after ten days when her smell was awful. No one tried soul jumping again and the spell was thrown away as a forbidden spell.”

“No one knows where the spell book is?” Irene asked.

Hepzibah shook her head, “I found it once, one thousand two hundred years ago. I had thought no one was able to master it because they were not pure blood witch and perhaps it only works with pure blood witches. I tried it,” she shook her head with a sigh, “but I wasn’t successful to jump. I had tried with my friend back then, wanting to jump into her body. When I opened my eyes, she had a fifteen years old daughter.”

Aliyah’s eyes widened in shock, “what?”

Hephzibah nodded, “I had slept for twenty years. According to her, I passed out immediately after chanting the spell and she waited for me to take over her but nothing happened and neither was I waking up. She got scared and called the coven leaders, they were angry that I tried the spell even though I was told that it was forbidden. They took the spell book from her and hid it where no one else would find it. I was left in my room where my friend came to tend to me once in a while. If it wasn’t for my shallow breathing, I was sure I would have been buried. She got married four years later and gave birth to her daughter. I had woken up on her daughter’s fifteenth birthday. No pure blood witch has ever been successful in traveling in her dreams nor to soul jump since then. Well, except that human girl.”

“Oh my God,” Aliyah covered her mouth in shock and glanced at Edward not knowing what else to say.

“We have to find that girl, we have to keep her with us. She is the only that can reach Asher now. If we can’t do it physically then maybe she would spiritually. Darkness is coming and it won’t be long till she comes for him again.”

“She left this morning, I know her place. I will go for her,” Irene was saying when Asher suddenly snapped his eyes open. “Asher, you are awake.” Her words brought everyone’s attention to him. “How are you feeling?”

“How are you, Asher?” Aliyah asked, reaching forward to hold his hand. His fingers were cold but his eyes were on her and they didn’t seem distant nor were they black.

“Naomi,” he whispered, “I have to go to Naomi.”

“Of course, Irene is planning to go get her. Just wait here, she would bring her for you.”

“No,” Asher shook his head, “I have to go to her myself, she needs me, she is calling for me.”

Aliyah and Irene shared a look. Naomi still wears Asher’s mark and as long she does, he would always be connected to her, which means she could just call for him by just wishing him to be with her. And if she was calling for Asher now, could it be that she is in trouble?

“Oh no, I think she has got to her,” Hephzibah said and before any of them could ask what she meant, Asher had vanished.

“We have to follow him,” Aliyah said, standing up immediately.

“Don’t worry, I know where she stays, I will go with him,” Edward said and stopped her before she could do anything, “just stay here, okay?”

“But Edward…”

“Stay,” he said and then kissed her forehead, “I will protect him.”

Seeing his determined look, Aliyah had no choice than to resign.

“Let me go with you,” Irene said and Edward nodded. Creating a portal, they both stepped into it before it frizzled away.

“Oh, I hope she is okay,” Hephzibah whispered.

“You think she can help Asher?”

“Well, if she was a bit older, maybe a thousand years old, I would consider finding that spell book for her and seeing if she can soul jump. In forever, she is the second pure blood to travel through dreams just like the first pure blood, perhaps, she can be able to soul jump like her.”

“I think she is only seventeen.”

“Exactly, too young and this fight is inevitable and already here. Catherine definitely will not wait nine hundred and eighty-three years for her to attack,” she closed her eyes in defeat.

***

Asher appeared in Naomi’s bedroom but she wasn’t on the bed, he frowned and followed her scent to the stairs and there he paused. Their scent was everywhere; wolves. His eyes flashed blue light as he clenched his fingers in a tight fist. He could remember he had stopped them from taking her that night and now they did, he will not be merciful anymore.

A bright light flashed in the room and Edward and Irene walked out of the portal. Seeing Asher’s stance, Irene knew something was wrong.

“Night Howlers were here,” Edward said, their rusty scent assailing his nostrils and he frowned, “there is something with their smell. I can’t pinpoint it.”

“They are not our pack wolves, they are rogues. Possibly descendants of the rogues that ran away five hundred years ago.” Asher explained.

“They are the unknown pack wolves that have been making appearance of recent?” Edward asked.

“Yes, I had stumbled upon a location they could be dwelling in but have not really found them but it’s out of the question now. They took the wrong human,” he replied, his eyes burning bright blue with his fierce alpha powers.

“Careful Asher, don’t hurt them, you are not the alpha king yet,” Edward reminded.

“Then tell Alpha Damien that I am ready to take up my responsibility,” and with that, he teleported out of the room.

Edward sighed and shook his head.

“What could they want with her?” Irene asked.

“I have no idea. I need to go see Damien, you can go back to the palace.” With a nod from her, Edward vanished and Irene could only create a portal and left. None of them knows what Asher plans to do but they know it would be bad.