by Ami Urban
I shut them in his face, then pulled one of the chairs toward it, wedging it between the floor and handles so he couldn’t get out.
Immediately, he began to pound.
“Katie! He’s too strong! You’ll never be able to banish him!” he cried.
“We’ll just see about that.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Katherine, what’s going on?”
I spun around to find Julian standing in the living room with one eyebrow raised.
I must have looked pretty funny—with my eyes wide and hair a mess. My cheeks were burning from anger and frustration.
Kevin pounded on the door again, the force almost knocking me off balance.
“Julian!?”
Damn.
“Julian! Let me out! Don’t let her do it!”
“What are you doing, Katie?”
“What, no formal full name?” I kept the weight of my body against the chair blocking the door.
“What happened to your manners, Julian?”
“Manners aside... What are you doing? Why do you have Kevin trapped in his bedroom? What is he telling you not to do?”
“Nothing!” I snapped. “Go away!”
“Julian!” Kevin called.
“Shut up! Leave me alone!”
“Katie...whatever it is you’re going to do, please reconsider,” Julian tried.
He approached me, but I warned him with a look, so he backed off.
“You both just think I’m so incapable, don’t you? You always have to be around to protect me.”
“Katie...”
“I don’t need you! I can do it by myself! I can do anything!”
“Katie, I know you can.”
Julian put up both hands as if brandishing the fact that he had no weapon.
“You’ve proven that to me this past week. You went against odds to find a man who didn’t want to be found. You befriended a jaded girl. Look, I came back here to tell you she made it. You succeeded. Serena’s all right.”
“You think that helps?” I was beginning to shake with both compulsion and fear. “Nothing you tell me is gonna stop me from calling Irish Moses.”
Julian’s eyebrows lowered. “What are you talking about? Why would you do that?”
“Don’t let her do it, Julian!” Kevin called.
I spun around. “Shut up or I’ll lock you in there forever!”
“Katie...”
I turned again. Julian was right in front of me. I pushed him away. “Back off! I’m doing this!”
“Okay, okay,” he obliged. “I won’t move. But, please, Katie, think about what you’re doing.”
“I’ve done enough thinking!”
Someone rapped on the hotel room door. I tore my gaze away from Julian. The knock came again after a second or two of silence. I stomped forward, curled my fingers around Julian’s wrist, and went straight for the door. I threw it back and stopped.
“Justine?”
She looked halfway pissed off. Her arms were crossed over her chest, one eyebrow raised, and her left foot tapping incessantly.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, digging my fingers into Julian’s wrist.
“Before I say anything…” She shot my companion a sneer. “I just wanted you to know that Martin Krane is mine.”
“I think we established that a long time ago, Justine,” I said.
She flipped her hair. “Yeah, well, he’s all I have left now that my best friend is gone.” Her eyes shone with a sudden onset of tears. I rolled my eyes. Serena was right—her friends didn’t give a damn about her.
“Is that what you came here to tell me?”
“No.” She stepped past me without asking. When she was halfway into the room, she turned around. “He sent me here to get you.”
I narrowed my eyes. Julian twisted out of my grasp. He rubbed his wrist with a hurt puppy look on his face.
“Why?”
“Percy Mays is out of prison.”
My jaw dropped. “What? They let him out?”
“Obviously. Anyway, he sent me here to get you ‘cause he needs your help or whatever.”
I glanced at Julian. It was then or never. I could help Martin from right there in Kevin’s hotel room. All I had to do was sing. But how could I with Justine there?
“Sit down,” I instructed her.
Her upper lip curled into a sneer. “What?”
“Sit down and close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Secret agent stuff. I can’t let you see the location of my hidden jewels,” I said flatly.
“Gross.” But she humored me—for once—and sat on the sofa, placing her hands over her eyes.
“Katherine…” Julian placed a hand on my arm, but I shook him off, my anger returning.
I opened my mouth. Shaky strains of Michael Bublé’s Home spewed forth. It was sort of perfect for the mood. I just wanted to go home and forget about everything that had happened.
And I wanted Irish Moses to hear me. With all my heart, I asked for him to hear me.
But something I never expected happened. Julian said my name softly, forcing my eyes to focus.
He was watching the floor with intensity. I followed his gaze...and shut up right away.
The shadows in the room were stretching slowly toward me. It was like the day was fading or a car had passed outside, but I knew that wasn’t it.
They were coming toward me. Even the shadows made from the sofa and counters were reaching for me.
“What are you doing?” Justine demanded.
She looked ridiculous—sitting among stretching shadows.
“Stay still!” I commanded.
“Katie...what were you thinking about when you sang?” Julian whispered to me.
“I...”
I reared back, jumping onto the chair wedged between the door handles so the shadows didn’t touch me. I was vaguely aware of my phone buzzing in my pocket. “I wanted him to...hear me... I didn’t care if...”
“Anyone else heard you?” he demanded, his tone firm. “Katie, you called all wraiths to you...even the ones without bodies.”
What? I held my breath. The shadows grew darker, longer. They stretched from every corner and seeped under the doors. Kevin was silent—no doubt horrified by the goings on or maybe in some sort of danger.
The balcony door flew open by itself, the white satin curtains billowing into the room and obstructing my view of Julian. He pushed them out of the way. Justine uncovered her eyes and gasped in surprise.
“What…the hell?”
“How do I stop them?” I asked. Julian stepped over one as it slinked across the floor. The wind whipped at his short, dark hair.
“Good luck,” was all he said.
“Katie! What’s going on out there!?” Kevin shouted all of a sudden. I thanked God he wasn’t hurt.
“We’ve got a problem,” I mumbled.
“I’d say,” Justine said.
My phone buzzed again. I fished it out of my pocket and glanced at the display. It was Martin.
“Martin?”
Justine looked up.
“Katie? Where are you?” He sounded calm. Why did he sound calm? I watched the shadows drift further into the room. One flinched as Justine moved her foot.
“Where am I? Where are you?”
“Katie, Mr. Mays is dead. He hanged himself in his cell this afternoon…”
Martin kept talking, but I wasn’t hearing what he said. I was too busy staring at Justine as she stood from the sofa and walked straight through the shadows toward me, a creepy smile filling out her face.
“No…”
The shadows swirled around her feet, almost as though they were groveling. She watched them for a time. Some of them were crawling up the legs of my chair of protection. One of them touched my bare ankle, sending an icy shock through me. I dropped my phone.
“Go away!” I yelled at it.
“Come...” Justine/Irish Moses said. The s
hadows retreated some, but didn’t disappear. “She is mine! You may not have her!”
At last, the shadows receded, sliding like goo across the carpets and leaving the room feeling cold. I began to shiver.
“Katie Bunny...” Irish Moses smiled when all was still.
I stood from the chair on shaky legs. Casting Julian a sidelong glance and swallowing my fear, I approached the wraith. We met in the middle of the room. Inches from each other, he smiled using her lips, but I didn’t return it.
Now or never. Before I could second guess myself, I placed a hand over Justine’s heart—the way Martin had taught me. “I banish you.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Okay, I’d said the right words, did everything like I was supposed to. So why wasn’t Irish Moses’s soul in the palm of my hand, pulsating with black specks amid a white cloud? Did I do it wrong? How could I have?
He chuckled. “You humans can be so...silly.”
“What...?”
He grabbed my wrist. His ice cold fingers dug into my flesh, sizzling each nerve ending until my body felt like it was on fire. I tried to pull away, but the pain intensified.
“I can be banished no longer,” he growled.
“Wha…what?”
“It was such a long process… This is not the body I would have liked to link with, but you did not give me many choices,” he said.
“Linked?” I gulped another lungful of air.
“Oh, it took practice, Lamb.” The pet name he’d given me sounded strange coming from her throat. “At first, the souls didn’t want to cooperate.”
“You pushed them out…”
“They rejected the agreement,” he corrected. “And these…barbarous human bodies certainly can’t take much damage. I must say, death is glorious, however. Pain is intriguing.”
My blood boiled. He loved killing. He loved killing…himself.
“Eventually, however, I gained enough expertise to find the body that would finally link with my soul.” He swooped a hand down Justine’s torso—his prize.
“Why? Why would you do this?”
“Why do you think?” His gaze zeroed in on me. “You cannot banish a soul that belongs in a body.”
Oh, God… He was unstoppable. Irish Moses was free to walk the Earth like every other human being.
“On the bright side,” he continued. “I don’t want the psychopomp anymore, Katie Bunny. I want you.”
“But...but...I belong to them now...” I stammered. His dark-eyed gaze bore into mine.
“Not for long...”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said! If I take your soul for my own, Katie Bunny, they cannot fight me. I’m much too powerful for them. Your Martin Krane has seen to that.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Julian inch toward the bedroom. He was going to let Kevin out.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said out of nowhere.
Julian stopped mid-stride, his hand reaching out for the door of the bedroom.
“If you’re not careful, you could get burned.”
In a moment of insanity—or genius—Julian lunged for the door.
Without letting me go, Irish Moses swung around, crossed the room, and grabbed my companion by the throat. As Julian began to choke and sputter, the wraith began to laugh.
“Having a living, breathing body isn’t the most elegant way to be, now, is it, psychopomp?” He turned back to me. “There’s no way you can stop me, Katie Bunny. It’d be easier if you gave up now...”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I had to do something. I had to figure out a way to free Kevin from the bedroom and Julian from his grip.
But no amount of loud thoughts or reading emotions was going to give me that. So, I reverted to something so cliché that I was surprised it worked.
“You may be all powerful, but you’re still in a human body!”
I planted my left foot and swung my right knee up as hard as I could into Justine’s stomach.
Yep, she was a nice, squishy human being. And when she doubled over, I was able to twist from her grasp. Without hesitation, I spun around and kicked the chair out of the way.
Kevin burst forth, pushing past me on his way to the wraith. But I caught his arm and tugged him back.
“Wait! He’s too strong!”
Kevin looked down at me. He was angry—that much was obvious. But when he saw the pleading look on my face, he sighed.
“Don’t worry...” He touched my cheek.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen!” I sobbed. Well, it was a dry sob. I wasn’t crying or anything, I was just plain upset.
“Shh...it’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay,” he assured me.
“I wouldn’t make promises if I were you...”
We turned. Julian remained calm in Justine’s grip. If I were him, I’d be freaking out.
“It’s a promise I intend to keep.” Kevin shoved me out of the way.
Irish Moses looked Kevin up and down when he was able to stand. “I know you...” he said.
“I’m sure you do.”
“You’ve found yourself quite a body.”
“It’s suited me well these past years.”
“It won’t be able to stop me,” Irish Moses hissed, a smile teasing his lips. “I will get Katie Bunny’s soul.”
Then, just like that, a genius idea ripped through me. I remembered something—something important.
“Hey, Justine, or Irish Moses, or whoever the hell you are,” I said.
The thing wearing Justine looked at me.
“Do you have any idea who you’re holding? Who you’re touching?”
The thought went through both mine and Julian’s head at the same time. We shared a moment of understanding. Then, Julian closed his eyes.
“Bye, bye, Irish Moses.” I wiggled the fingers of my right hand as Justine’s eyes grew wide. In a second too fast to count, Justine let go of Julian and her body crumpled to the floor, dead.
A bright light—the same light I’d seen before—exited her chest. The soul zipped through the room, almost faster that I could see.
“Julian!” I yelled, running to his side. “Ferry his soul before he can get someone else!”
Julian followed its movements. I could see sweat bead on his forehead.
“I…can’t…catch it.”
Then, to my horror, it came toward me. I dodged, and it zipped past my head, making a U-Turn at the bedroom door.
“Katie!” Kevin flung himself right in its path, where it hit him square in the chest. He stumbled backward toward the open balcony door. I ran to him.
“Kevin!” I wedged myself under him, supporting his weight so he didn’t fall over. He placed both hands on my shoulders. His eyes were closed.
“Katie...” He winced. “He’s...too strong...”
Tears started to fall down my cheeks. “No... Don’t let him win!”
“I...can’t...” His fingers dug into my shoulder. I ignored the pain. “I can’t stay in...this body...”
“No!”
“But...there’s one way I can stop him.”
“How? How?”
He stood straight, wincing again at some invisible pain.
“It’s going to take a sacrifice...” He backed up, one foot behind the other, all the while watching me. When he pushed himself against the railing of his balcony, I sprang forward.
“No! You can’t! I need you!” And I hadn’t realized how true that statement was until I cried it out. I did need him. I needed him because I didn’t have anyone else, and he had always been there for me.
The curtains flowed around us, encasing us in a satin shroud for our final goodbye. He touched my face again.
“I’m sorry. It’s the only way...”
“No!”
“Katie...” He seemed to choke on his words. I could fight the tears no longer.
When Kevin touched his index finger to his lips and then brushed it across my ch
eek, I lost my resolve. His back gave out, and he tumbled backward off the balcony, down eight stories.
I tried to look out, but Julian rushed to my side and pulled me away from the balcony into his arms.
“Don’t look,” he said.
There was a wet smack on the pavement outside and a woman screamed. That’s when I let loose and cried for my friend.
* * *
“Do you want me to tell you what happened?” Julian asked gently after the police had “officially” ruled Kevin’s and Justine’s deaths as accidents.
I hugged a throw pillow to my body, curled up on the little couch.
I hadn’t even had a scrap of energy to talk to the police about what had happened, and when the coroner came up to the room, shook his head at me, and apologized, I’d lost it again.
That being said, I didn’t much feel like hearing what Julian had to say.
“Only if it’s good news.” I wiped a stray tear from my cheek.
“Half of it is,” he admitted, taking a seat next to me.
“All right.”
I sniffed. “I guess you can give me the bad first...permitted it isn’t going to make me want to hurl myself off the balcony.” My breath hitched at the thought.
“Well, Katie...Kevin’s gone.”
I whined, burying my face in the pillow.
“I didn’t see a soul come out of the body. He must have been able to keep them both in there. That’s part of the good news.
“See, Irish Moses is gone for good. Kevin locked him in that body, and now that it’s dead, the wraith is trapped.”
Okay, I had to give him some props.
“And also...” he continued, placing a hand on my arm. “I’ve got to go.”
I looked up at him. “What? You’re going to leave me, too?”
“I have no choice. I was only able to stay as long as your first assignment lasted. It’s over now.”
I sighed. “You don’t have to tell me that twice...”
Nodding, he stood, helping me up with him. I dropped the throw pillow onto the couch. But when I turned to hug him goodbye, he was already gone.
A gust of cold wind blew through the open window, tickling the back of my neck. If I’d have known better, I’d have sworn that tiny breeze whispered, “Goodbye...”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
