Magic Unleashed

by T J Green

  “I’ve been all around it, and he isn’t here.”

  Before they could say anything else, the light dimmed in the church as the sun dropped below the windows, and cold seemed to seep through the nave. Every single one of them glanced nervously around, and James hurried to put on some side lights.

  And then Avery felt the energy change. Something else seemed to be with them in the space. Ben obviously felt it too, because he whipped around, pointing his EMF meter around the nave, and the whine of the meter started again. He swung it backwards and forwards, the high-pitched whine intensifying when he pointed it towards the far corner of the church.

  “It’s over there,” he said, advancing cautiously forward.

  Alex and Avery joined him, Avery subconsciously summoning a ball of energy into her hands until she remembered that James was still there.

  Avery’s skin prickled. Keeping her eyes on the corner, she said to Alex, “Can you feel it?”

  “Yes. It feels different from what we’ve experience before. Even Helena.”

  “It’s very different from what we’ve experienced before, too,” Ben agreed as the whine intensified. “This reading is very strong.”

  The electric lights suddenly exploded above them and glass shattered everywhere, making Avery cover her face for a split second.

  In that moment, the EMF meter whined like a wounded animal and then fell silent as the energy signature vanished.

  “Where’s it gone?” James called out nervously from behind them.

  They turned slowly, looking for any sign of the manifestation. Avery pushed out her magical senses, but whatever it was had gone for now.

  Alex’s shoulders dropped a fraction as he released some tension. “I don’t know. Stay together in the centre of the room.”

  James’s voice shook as he looked around. “It feels different again.”

  “In what way?” Cassie asked, her pen poised over the paper she’d set up to record the events.

  “Stronger. More malevolent, somehow. It was…palpable.”

  The energy had felt malevolent, but more than that, it felt old, like when Avery had sensed the age of the dimensional doorway they had opened in the witch museum. Very old.

  Moments later, the spirit manifested again, this time on the far side of the church, near the side-chapel where Avery and Newton had hidden before they entered the crypt on the night they broke the binding spell.

  “Over there,” Avery pointed. “I can feel it again.”

  Even before she’d finished her sentence the EMF meter exploded into life, and Ben almost dropped it. “Wow. This is vibrating up my arm!”

  Before Avery could comment further, Alex stepped forward and started his incantation, his words loud and powerful, echoing around the nave, but he was barely a sentence in when once again the spirit disappeared, and the EMF meter fell silent.

  “It’s toying with us,” Avery said.

  Alex nodded. “This thing has time. It’s waiting. It has intelligence.”

  “What do you mean by intelligence?” James asked.

  “Most spirits act out repeated events from their previous lives—an experience we had in the castle a week ago. We witnessed old events replayed, caused by a spike in energy in the local area. ” He didn’t elaborate about the energy, and James didn’t ask. “Spirits don’t think as such. They exist, lost, drifting around in an existence that isn’t their own.”

  Dylan agreed. “Except for Poltergeists, which are very disturbed spirits.”

  “But even then, they don’t have intelligence,” Alex said. “This does. I can feel it.”

  “I agree,” Avery said.

  Ben headed into the side-chapel, his EMF monitor hissing with low static, and Dylan followed him with the camera.

  “Has the basic reading changed?” Cassie asked.

  “It’s slightly higher than earlier,” he said, reading out the levels for Cassie to record.

  Avery turned to Alex, lowering her voice. “What are we going to do?”

  He shrugged. “Not much we can until it reappears, but I have a feeling it knows exactly what we want to do.”

  Then, for a third time, the EMF meter roared into life, and this time Avery and Alex turned in unison, looking up high into the vaulted roof of the church. In a split second, the spirit—or whatever it was—charged them, and Avery and Alex fell to the floor, rolling to avoid its attack.

  A wave of freezing cold something passed through Avery and she struggled to breathe, but Alex had started his incantation again, causing the spirit to disappear as rapidly as it had arrived.

  Alex pulled Avery to her feet. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m fine. You?”

  “Pissed off.”

  “Please tell me you recorded that?” Ben asked Dylan.

  “I’m recording, but I don’t know what I got,” he said. “Not ’til I analyse it later.”

  “I thought you weren’t filming us?” Alex said, annoyed.

  “Sorry, dude,” Dylan said. “It was instinct. I swear I won’t release it. But it could be really useful.”

  Alex narrowed his eyes as he weighed up his options. “Don’t let me down, Dylan.”

  “I swear, I won’t post this anywhere.”

  James was watching the exchange with interest. “You value your privacy too, Alex?”

  “Yep,” he said, not elaborating. Alex looked around the church once more and then turned back to James. “I hate to tell you this, but this is no ordinary spirit.”

  James was pale. “Yes, I’m getting that. I think I need to find Harry.”

  “Have you checked the crypt?” Avery asked.

  James frowned. “No, why? We hardly ever go down there.”

  “Well, I think we should.”

  James pulled a bunch of keys out of his pocket and then led the way back to the chancel, down the stairs to the heavy sealed door of the crypt, everyone trailing behind him.

  He went to unlock it, and then frowned. “It’s already unlocked.”

  “Let me,” Alex said, and he pushed James behind him, entering the crypt first.

  The crypt was filled with candlelight and it smelt of blood. In the middle of the floor was the broken body of a man wearing religious clothing.

  James released a strangled cry. “Harry!”

  8

  “What did this?”

  Newton stared at the scene in front of him and turned his troubled grey eyes on Avery.

  “We don’t know,” Avery said, feeling more helpless than she’d felt in a long time. In fact, she felt sick at how they had been joking about it earlier, like banishing a spirit was a game. This was a horrible return to reality.

  “You don’t know?” he said, incredulous. “Your last words to me were, ‘one spirit only. Should be manageable.’ And now this?”

  They stood alone in the entrance to the crypt. Everyone else was upstairs in the nave being interviewed by Officer Moore, Newton’s red-haired police colleague who worked closely with him, and another uniformed officer.

  “I’m sorry, Newton. I feel terrible about this. A man has lost his life because of our actions here only weeks ago. And no, we don’t know what caused it, other than some sort of spirit.”

  Newton was furious. “Shit. Well, you better fix this. The verger is dead.”

  Instinctively, wind began to build around her as she became annoyed. “Of course we’re going to fix it,” she hissed. “What the hell do you think we were doing here in the first place? We didn’t come here to have a chat and a night cap!” Avery turned and started to pace off her anger. “Seriously, Newton. I think you know us better than that!”

  “All right, all right,” Newton said impatiently. “Get out of the crime scene.”

  “I’m not in the bloody crime scene! It’s over there,” she said, pointing to where the body still lay in a broken heap, Harry’s head slanted at an unnatural angle.

  They had given it a brief examination before calling Newton,
desperately hoping Harry was injured and not dead. But his blank eyes had stared up at the roof of the crypt, and they knew it was too late. They were now waiting for the Scene of Crimes Unit.

  Newton’s face was etched with sorrow. “I’m sorry. I’m just upset and annoyed. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing this, finding a dead body is never easy.”

  Avery’s anger vanished as quickly as it had arrived. “I’m sorry, too. I’m scared, as well. This is different, Newton.”

  He shook his head. “Not here. We’ll talk later. Or tomorrow,” he said, looking at his watch. “It’s late now.”

  The thump of footsteps on the stairs heralded the arrival of SOCO, and Avery stepped back to give them space, and then joined the others in the nave.

  ***

  “So, what killed him?” Briar asked.

  It was the following night and all five witches were in Avery’s attic space, surrounded by spell books, herbs, magical paraphernalia, pizza boxes, and beer.

  Alex was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the sofa, sipping a beer. “It looks like his neck was broken. And other bones. Like he’d been smashed like a doll. But he was pale, too, and his skin looked dry, as if the life had been drained out of him.” He shrugged. “Of course, it could have been the light.”

  The room fell silent as they thought through the implications, and then Reuben spoke. He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall under the window, his long legs stretched out in front of him. “So, like the other spirits, it has physical capabilities.”

  “I guess it must,” Avery said. “Although, we couldn’t feel it when it attacked us. It was like a really strong wind had rushed us.”

  “But you think it was intelligent,” El said from where she sat nestled on the couch. “Maybe it chooses who to be physical with?”

  Briar sat next to El, looking thoughtful. “I forgot you’d said you’d seen spirits escape, Avery. I guess I was just so happy to have broken the binding spell that I forgot everything else.”

  Avery nodded. “I’d almost forgotten as well. Whatever it is—or they are—it’s very old.”

  “Which could explain why it feels different,” Reuben said thoughtfully. “It’s much older than the spirits we’ve encountered before, and something different from demons—which are fundamentally elemental.”

  Avery collapsed against the back of the couch, sighing loudly. “Crap. I better hit the books to try and work out what this could be.”

  “We all should,” Briar agreed. “Do you think we should involve the Witches Council?”

  “Not yet,” Avery said. “Although, I have a feeling they’ll involve themselves when this gets out.”

  “You know this will hit the papers,” Reuben said.

  “Yep,” Alex agreed tersely. “Exactly what we didn’t want to happen. James wants to keeps the whole ghost-hunting thing out of this for as long as possible, and so do the police. And of course the police will not believe a spirit did this—except for Newton. They’re looking for a real person.”

  “Which it may prove to be,” Briar pointed out.

  “Maybe, but highly unlikely in the circumstances,” Alex said. “We’re saying we were at the Church doing historical research. We’ll look less freaky,” he said, encompassing Avery in his statement. “Of course, the press has a way of finding stuff out.”

  “Well, James is more upset than us,” Avery said. “Not only has he lost a friend, but he didn’t want to alarm the congregation. It’s too late for that. The church will be closed for the next few days while SOCO complete their investigation. I have a feeling Newton is going to be busy.”

  And then Reuben said something that Avery had thought, but hadn’t voiced. “What if the spirits that you saw escape, Avery, were the same—all ancient and intelligent. They could be lurking all over White Haven, or anywhere in Cornwall—or even further. What did the Witches Council think about them?”

  “I didn’t tell them,” she said, feeling guilty. “I forgot! The news about the lights in the sea made me forget everything else.”

  “Great, we’ll be outcasts again.” Briar sighed and reached for another slice of pizza.

  “Good,” Reuben said. “We don’t need them, anyway.”

  “I think we will before this is over,” Alex said.

  “So now we have ancient malevolent spirits of something, and lights in the sea. Just brilliant,” El said.

  “But we have our grimoires, and we’re stronger than we’ve ever been. Don’t forget that,” Avery reminded them.

  “I think our lives were easier without them though,” Briar said sadly.

  ***

  The first person Avery saw in her shop the next morning was Caspian Faversham. The doors had been open for only seconds when he strode in, dressed in his customary dark clothes, setting the wind chimes ringing. Sally saw him and went pale, heading straight to the back of the shop.

  “What do you want?” Avery snapped, watching Sally go. “You’re not welcome here, and if you touch her, I’ll kill you.”

  “My, my. Aren’t we pleasant? We’re supposed to be working together now.”

  Caspian leaned on the counter, looking around her shop in his easy, dismissive manner that made Avery want to smash him right between the eyes. And not with magic, either. She wanted to feel the physical pleasure of actually assaulting him. And it was such a shame, because she’d woken in a great mood after spending the night with Alex. Unfortunately, her warm glow had now gone.

  “You made it very clear in the meeting the other day that you didn’t want me there. So, why are you here?”

  “You haven’t seen the morning news, then?” he asked, his eyebrow rising in an infuriatingly superior manner.

  “No.”

  “You don’t know about the death in All Souls?”

  “Yes, I was there when they found the body.” She frowned. Where was he going with this? “What’s that got to do with you?”

  “Humour me. Why were you in All Souls?”

  Avery really wanted to tell him to get lost, but she had a feeling there was more to this early morning inquisition than sheer nosiness. She glanced around the shop and, seeing it was still empty, headed to the front door and locked it, reluctant to take Caspian to the back room with Sally there. She turned to find Caspian watching her with narrowed eyes.

  She leaned against the door, keeping distance between them. “It’s haunted. We were there with a paranormal crew.”

  He sneered. “Don’t you keep interesting company now? Planning to do some ghost-busting?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how did that work out?”

  “Caspian, can you please get to the point and then get out of my shop?”

  He leaned back against the counter and folded his arms across his chest. “How did the man die?”

  “It looked as if he’d been shaken violently. And, his body looked…drained,” she said, for want of a better word.

  “So you think the spirit did it?”

  “It’s possible.”

  He filled his voice with a dangerous tone. “Avery?”

  She glared at him. Why did he have to make her feel like a child? “Probably. The spirit was strong, malevolent. It was toying with us.”

  He fell silent and watched her, the seconds stretching between them before he finally spoke. “It seems we have the same problem.”

  Her annoyance drained out of her, only to be replaced by a sinking feeling. “What do you mean?”

  “We have a lurking spirit in St Luke’s Church in Harecombe, and it killed the verger last night, too.” He watched her, waiting for her reaction.

  Avery’s heart started racing. “What? How do you know it was the spirit and not a person?”

  “Because the body was found in the same manner as the one you found in All Souls. I heard an early report on the radio about both deaths and made a discreet visit to our church. I can feel the spirit there, and it did not like me being there one bit. It’s lurkin
g there, like a toad. Unfortunately, I could not linger for too long, there are police everywhere.”

  “It could be completely unrelated,” Avery said defiantly, reluctant to admit that Caspian may be right.

  He lowered his voice menacingly. “I think we both know there’s no such thing as coincidence, Avery. The news knows that your vicar had paranormal investigators there, too. Speculation is only just starting, and it will get a lot worse. I suggest you tell me what’s going on.”

  She inwardly groaned. So the historical research ruse hadn’t worked. As reluctant as she was to share anything with Caspian, she knew she had to. It was only a matter of time before the Council was involved. “When we released the binding spell, Alex had to open a doorway to the spirit world to send the demon and Octavia through. Spirits escaped from it. I don’t know how many exactly, maybe a half dozen. I think it’s these spirits that are causing the problems.”

  Caspian’s face immediately hardened. “Spirits escaped? Then we are in big trouble, Avery.”

  She swallowed. “Why? Surely we can banish them just like any other spirit?”

  “But they’re not just any other spirit, are they? They have escaped from one of the dimensions of the Otherworld. And that makes them mean. And strong.”

  As much as Avery didn’t like to agree with Caspian, she knew he was right. And he seemed to believe there were different dimensions. While she was spirit walking, she had seen other spirits trying to get out and failing, which did mean these were stronger. “Did you sense intelligence when you were at St Luke’s?”

  “Yes.” He shifted his position slightly as he made himself more comfortable. “Why do you think they’re in churches?”

  “I don’t know. I would think they’d hate churches if they’re from some level of a demonic Otherworld.”

  “Some spirits may feel very comfortable in a church. All those souls to feed on,” he speculated. “Something else to think about.”

  “We’ll deal with it,” Avery said, sounding more confident than she felt.

  “Will you? Sorry if I doubt you,” he said, not sounding sorry at all, “but I’ll deal with the one in Harecombe. Do you even know what spirits they are? Are they all the same, or did several different types escape?” He stepped closer, closing the space between them. “We need to know, if we’re to deal with them properly.”