by Lee French
Enion perked up, his little mouth stretching into a lackluster smile. “Right.” He tried to lay a claw on her foot. It passed through, disturbing her mist without harming her.
The other dragons hadn’t caused that. Her mist had stubbornly remained in place for them.
“Enion, do that again. And you,” she pointed to the dragon next to him, “do it too.”
The second dragon patted its chest. “Rhubark.”
“Nice to meet you, Rhubark.”
Everyone watched while Rhubark swiped his claw through Claire’s hand. Nothing happened. Then Enion swiped his claw through, once again stirring the mist. Wisps clung to his claw and wrapped around his foreleg before dissipating. Claire’s hand, by now fully healed from her node encounter, writhed back into its proper shape.
“You can affect me, Enion.”
Enion’s tail swished back and forth. “Enion make Claire solid!” He hunkered down low, squeezed his eyes shut, and wiggled his tail. As he did so, his butt rose in the air like a cat preparing to pounce.
Stifling a giggle at her adorable sprite, Claire thought about how she seemed to be able to manipulate herself in small increments here. In her demesne, things happened with only a fleeting thought. Rondy had tricked her into warming the “air” by bringing the subject up.
Anne, a genuine witch and member of the Brady family, could probably answer at least some of her questions about this situation. Until she figured out enough to get around and do things, though, she couldn’t find Anne to ask her how to get around and do things.
Even here, which she figured must be the woods on the Brady property, her sense of direction failed. Where the vague halo of the sun through the clouds overhead and the nearby trees and rocks should have told her enough to find Justin’s cottage, she instead could only picture the house itself, not the path to it. Her mind had gaps and blocks. Time would let her suss it all out. Hopefully.
Facing her sprite, she had no patience. He wanted her now and she wanted him now—not in five minutes, not tomorrow, not next week. Now. Focusing on that goal took no effort. She threw her head back to face the sky and spread her arms, determined to succeed and hoping for illumination.
Her edges rippled and flared with hints of color. Nothing else changed.
Claire sighed and let her arms fall. “One step at a time, I guess. C’mon, Enion. Let’s go to the house and see what Justin thinks.”
Enion leaped into the air and tried to land on her shoulder again. He fell through with a surprised chirp, disturbing her mist. With a few hard flaps, he recovered and landed on a low branch. His tiny sigh of defeat punched Claire in the heart.
“I need you to lead me, Enion. I can’t tell which way to go.”
The dragon perked up. “Claire lost?”
“Yeah, kind of.” She considered tugging on the last thread. It had to be for Drew. He’d taken a blood oath to be her guardian. But she wanted to talk to Justin first. If she presented any kind of threat to Drew as a Phasm, she needed to know about it before she corrupted him, not after.
“Enion lead!” His head high, he pointed and flitted to the next tree.
Claire floated in her dragon’s wake. As she drifted through the trees, she noticed movement to the side. Something white writhed among a stand of fir trees. Curious, she slipped to the side. She found a vague blob of white mist swirling back and forth between two trees.
“Wrong way,” Enion trilled from a nearby branch.
With one finger over her lips and the other pointing at the blob, Claire floated closer.
Enion cocked his head to one side, then the other. “Tree?”
“What?” Claire paused a few feet from the blob. “Can’t you see it?”
“See what?”
The blob drifted toward her.
Furrowing her brow, Claire realized the other mist-thing didn’t appear for Enion. She had no idea what that meant. Still puzzled, she held out a hand and watched the mist surround it. Cool and clammy, the fog crept up her arm like a thousand tiny, white spiders. Claire withdrew her arm, but the mist came with her, refusing to let go. It swallowed her neck and pushed into her mouth. She snapped her jaws shut.
The ground and trees disappeared until Claire saw only blank, white fog. It crawled over her, pricking her boundary. This was clearly bad, yet she had no idea what to do about it. As a Spirit Knight, she would have slashed her dagger through it. As a Phasm, she carried no weapons.
“Why Claire stop?” Enion asked, his tiny voice muffled and distant.
Claire didn’t dare open her mouth again to answer. She thrashed her arms, which accomplished nothing. The fog darkened and formed vague shapes. Something small flashed with silver. Claire swiped for what she thought might be Enion. Instead, she caught a shape resolving into a dinner knife. The plain, rounded style reminded her of Justin and Marie’s tableware.
Why would another ghost form a knife from her their utensil drawer? She watched it solidify in her hand, thinking about the dozens of meals she’d shared with the Evans family. They ate dinner at the same time every night, then Claire helped with the dishes. No, she did the dishes herself because she got into trouble and Marie gave her that chore as a punishment.
Another shape glinted in the white. Claire swiped the mist to collect it and found an empty water glass. As she held it up, the glass shortened until she saw one of her father’s whiskey tumblers. Amber liquid sloshed inside, poured by an unseen hand from an unseen bottle. Two gleaming ice cubes splashed in. Dad kept the liquor in a high cabinet and only brought it down for special occasions and guests.
After her one disastrous brush with alcohol a few days before her death, Claire had no interest in the whiskey. She pushed the glass away. The fog took it and the tumbler shifted from an elegant, rounded glass to a chunky, square one made of cheap plastic. Claire had seen a cup like that in one of her least favorite foster homes.
A man’s hand formed around the glass, holding it. Tendrils of fog writhed from its wrist as if seeking something. The arm built itself slowly enough to see it happening.
Claire recoiled. She didn’t want to meet a memory of that foster father. He’d been an abusive drunk half the time and uncomfortably sweet the rest of the time. For three long months as a twelve-year-old, she’d spent as much of her waking time as possible at school or shut in her room. His wife’s apologetic attention hadn’t been any better.
She noticed Enion’s voice had faded to nothing. His thread remained strong. Finding this ghost’s advances unwanted, she tugged on Enion’s thread to escape. Nothing happened. She focused her will on the thread and pulled with everything she had. Still, nothing happened.
The man’s arm formed an elbow and kept going. Claire panicked. She needed to get out. Now. Her other two threads might still work. Going back to her body in Iulia’s care solved nothing, so she ignored that thread. Which left Drew. She wanted to let him have time, but she had none left to give. Whatever the sight of her did to him, they could fix together.
Claire plucked the thread tied to Drew and prayed for it to work.
Chapter 5
Drew
Justin thwacked an ant with his bat, hurling it at the wall. Two more took its place. Drew shot a burst of superheated steam at a cluster of ants, shoving them down the tunnel. Though he cooked the one in front and it no longer moved, the rest rolled to their feet as soon as he stopped. Avery wavered, his ability to stand dwindling as the acid ate his feet.
“We need to get out of here,” Drew shouted. “There’s too many!”
Instead of answering, Justin cried out in pain as an ant leaped on his back and bit his shoulder. Avery finally toppled and ants swarmed in for the kill.
Drew blinked in shock. Then he spun out mist to cover both men and forced a connection with the front room of Nine Cans. Avery howled in pain. Justin growled. The fog cleared. Ki screamed in fright.
Ants still swarmed over Avery, biting him. Justin ripped the ant off his back with a grunt and flu
ng it at the floor. Two dozen more stood on the floor between the three of them, antennae flailing.
“What have you done?” Ki shrieked.
Tariel trumpeted in anger and crushed an ant with her front hooves. Two more climbed up her legs. She reared, hit the ceiling, fell to the ground, and ran for the door.
Drew gulped. His version of helping seemed to make things worse. He snapped his head around, looking for some way to make things better. They had to get Avery clear before the ants killed him. Hot steam would scald him even if Drew took careful aim.
“Kay, I need ideas!”
“Run for it!” Kay wailed.
“We’re not leaving Avery.”
“Get more power from the ley line outside!”
Drew opened his mouth to disagree, then shut it. His spirit had a point. Between the steam and the fog transport, he had little left to work with. He whirled to run for the door.
Mist filled the space between him and the exit. He staggered back in a panic, terrified they’d attracted a ghost in the middle of a deadly battle with mutant ants. The mist followed him, flowing into the shape of a person.
All the noises in the room mashed together while Drew panicked.
“No, no, no,” Kay moaned in his head.
The rippling figure solidified with a miniskirt, long-sleeved shirt, and chin-length hair. Drew backed into the bar and cringed away from the ghost with a whimper.
“Thank goodness. Hello to you too,” Claire said.
Drew’s heart stopped. He snapped his eyes open and faced the misty figure of Claire with patches of color swirling over her ghostly form. Her hair and clothes waved as if she stood underwater, and wispy fingers of fog danced on her edges. She smiled at him in relief.
Kay screamed.
Struggling to block out Kay, Drew lurched forward to hug Claire. But he fell through her, displacing her mist and sending a freakish chill surging down his spine. Without her blocking his field of view, he saw Ki smacking ants off Avery with a broom while Justin dragged the detective by his calves to the front door. Tariel kicked a table to dislodge the ants on her legs.
Kay still screamed.
With Claire’s ghost behind him, he froze. He blinked and stared at the scene. Everything in the room was his fault. He’d tried and failed to pick up Claire’s slack. One boy possessed by a ghost stood no chance against a horde of mutant ants.
“Why are you standing here, doing nothing?” Claire whispered into his ear. “You’ve got all Kay’s power at your command.” Her misty hand pointed over his shoulder at Tariel. “You can help her. I believe in you.”
Her words jolted Drew’s brain. She believed in him from beyond the grave. Maybe she’d even come here specifically to tell him that. He raised a hand, echoing Claire’s gesture, and blasted scalding steam at Tariel’s legs. The horse could stand the burns. Her legs would heal.
Tariel whinnied in pain. Two ants flew off her legs to hit the front door so hard they blew it open. Justin reached the door and heaved Avery out. Tariel kicked an ant at the wall. Ki jabbed another ant off Avery’s body with his broom handle. Several ants approached Drew.
Drew spun fog and moved himself and Tariel outside. He landed beside a woman. She screamed. He ignored her and blasted an ant off Justin’s back. Claire floated through the wall. More people screamed. Car brakes squealed. Kay blubbered. Ki flung another ant for distance.
Unlike the last time they’d screwed up traffic at this intersection, no cars hit anyone, and Drew didn’t hear the crash of an accident. People panicked and ran, but no one got hurt. And across the street, he saw the first cell phone out, recording everything.
Drew blew fog around Justin and Avery, hoping to shield them from recognition. He didn’t have a family or career to protect. They did.
“This is kind of a mess,” Claire said, hovering next to him. “Wish I could help. You should probably get everyone out of here for now, though. Regroup, get better weapons. Form a plan. That sort of thing.”
“This is my bar,” Ki snarled. He gripped his broom and marched back inside.
After blasting one last ant off Avery, Drew pulled everyone to the Brady farm. Justin looked around, panting. He dropped his bat and sat on the ground. Avery lay on damp leaves, gasping with tiny, whimpering squeaks. Drew chose not to check the man’s feet.
Kay finally stopped screaming. Drew fell forward onto his knees, cradling his head in both hands. He needed a ley line again. The nearest one required a five minute jog. But at least he hadn’t brought any ants this time. He needed to work on that. Keeping things out of the mist didn’t seem like it should take a lot of effort.
“Master!”
Drew raised his head in time to see his dog jumping on him. Mutt bowled him over, knocking his head to the ground hard enough to black out his vision for a second. A long, hot tongue slurped up his face.
“Gah! Not the glasses, Mutt!” Drew elbowed the dog’s head aside.
“I’m so happy I finally made it home, Master. I wound up in a very strange place and it was scary and now I’m home.” Mutt whined and laid his brown, furry head on Drew’s chest.
Drew pushed his fingers under his glasses to cover his eyes. “I can’t anymore today.” Should he be happy to see Claire’s ghost? Definitive proof yesterday hadn’t been a freakish nightmare hurt him deep inside. On the other hand, he still got Claire, and no one else would kill her. This line of thought made his brain hurt.
“That has to be the worst idea I’ve ever had,” Avery managed through wheezing gasps.
“I agree with you,” Justin said. “Now there are giant mutant ants running around in downtown Portland.”
“Joy. I thought I could go down there, take on a few, and leave. Instead, a horde of the things descended like they’d been waiting for someone stupid enough to present himself as their lunch.”
Drew nudged Mutt off his chest and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. “Guys.” He pointed to Claire’s ghost.
“Hi, Claire.” Justin waved wearily. “I guess if you can manifest here, you’re not a corrupt Phasm, so that’s something.”
Claire grinned. “Even if I was, wanting to destroy the Palace wouldn’t make me much of a threat.”
Avery laughed between whimpers. Justin joined him. Both men bordered on hysterical.
“Too soon?” Claire asked, still grinning.
The sight of Claire’s Phasm, combined with Justin and Avery taking it so lightly, hurt too much. Drew stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets. His eyes burning, he walked away. The trees swallowed the laughter, granting him a reprieve. Mutt walked alongside him in silence.
“At least she’s here?” Kay said.
Drew hunched his shoulders and kicked a rock. “You know as well as I do that’s only an echo of her.”
“It’s a full echo, though. I’m only a partial. Did you see the flickering colors? She has genuine memories already, not just fragments like Kurt had. She died less than a day ago and she already knows who she is, can manifest on Earth proper, and came straight to you. Do you have any idea what all that means?”
“I get to be tormented for the rest of my life by a close copy of Claire that I can’t touch?”
“No, dumbass. It means she’s powerful. Really, really powerful. The kind of powerful that would’ve made Caius wet his Ancient Roman britches. Or whatever they called their underwear. When she finishes gathering and figures out how to throw her stuff around, she’s going to be a major force in the world. The kind of force with the potential to destroy it.”
Drew frowned at the ground. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“She wouldn’t do what?”
He whirled to find Claire close behind him. With no danger nearby, he took a good look at her. The detail stole his breath. Every line of her face appeared as he remembered. Forgetting she had no substance, he reached for her and disturbed her cheek. His fingertips froze. Shaking his hand out, he turned away.
Claire sighed. “Yeah, Enion’s
not happy about that either. It’s not fair.”
Too many emotions swirled inside him at once, pulling him in too many directions. Drew patted Mutt on the head, grateful for his warm, solid presence. At least one entity in his crazy life had a physical form. Aside from Grandma Tammy, of course, who gave good hugs when he let her. Maybe he should let her more often.
“I just unleashed monsters on downtown Portland and left Ki to fend for himself.” Both sounded much worse out loud than they had in his head. Thank goodness he didn’t have to watch her react.
“I saw. Maybe we should break the seals holding Ki’s power in check. He’d be really useful now that nothing is stopping ghosts or monsters from being created.”
Drew took a deep breath. If he kept talking to her without seeing her, he could almost believe she still lived. Almost. “It’s possible we’ve broken enough seals for one weekend already. We might be better off waiting to see how much damage we did before trying to ‘fix’ anything else.”
“I guess.” Claire went quiet for several long, awkward seconds. “Do you need some time?”
He rubbed his face, not wanting to answer. Telling the truth meant pushing her away. Lying meant forcing himself to face her. Neither seemed right. Both seemed awful. He needed to think. Which took… time. “Yeah.” The word tasted like cowardice. “I think I do.”
“Okay.” She sounded disappointed. Unless he imagined that because he’d disappointed himself. “You’re still my sworn guardian. I can find you anywhere. Maybe you can find me too.”
Drew glanced back and saw her drifting toward the house. The patches of color seemed bigger.
“She’s right,” Kay said. “Get your head screwed on straight and keep it that way. She could wind up overpowering us by accident when you’re not paying attention.”
“I hate this.” He wanted to scream, throw things, or rip something apart. Instead, he hung his head. “How am I supposed to go to school tomorrow knowing my best friend might unwittingly turn me into her slave minion?”
