by E. G. Foley
As he wrestled with himself, the dark spirit reached the man sitting next to him—the ghost dog’s master.
Everyone else around the table suddenly seemed exhausted and rather depressed, except for Madam Sylvia and the last woman, to Jake’s right. It hadn’t got to them yet.
Jake felt trapped. Then suddenly, his time was up.
The black fog came around to him.
He found himself face to face with its horrible floating skull. Its breath stank of the grave. Its soulless eyes were as black as the pit, with sparks aflame in their depths, proving that somehow, it was indeed, hideously, alive.
Jake was trembling, but strove not to flinch or pull back or give himself away in any fashion.
The foul creature hovered before him, its wispy, smoke-like body snaking back and forth a little behind it.
Jake sat frozen like a mouse mesmerized by the stare of a serpent. He heard a voice in his head, the black-magic spell the wraith was using. The words seemed to wrap around him like the coils of a python, conjuring a darkness in his mind of his own worst fears to paralyze him.
In his mind’s eye, he saw that shameful event from all those years ago, when he’d been sent to work in the coalmine. Though he was only nine, his job had been an important one. As door boy, he had to open the door in one of the tunnels for the coal carts whizzing through and for the work crews coming and going.
After the bullies on one crew had made sport of him one time too many, he had locked the door and abandoned his post, leaving them trapped underground.
He had run away and never dared go back, because he knew those boys would have killed him after that. He later heard how they had run out of light down there and might have run out of air before anyone finally wondered where they were.
The worst part was, Jake had not been the least bit sorry. He was glad he had made them suffer.
But the wraith was not done consuming his life-force. To keep its victim still so it could feed, it projected an even worse vision into his mind—horrifying him into a state of helplessness.
Then Jake was swallowed up in dark fascination at what he saw: Himself. Grown up. A man.
Rich, handsome, powerful, the seventh Earl of Griffon at the height of his abilities. He was surrounded by a circle of dark-cloaked witches and warlocks hailing him as…
The new leader of the Dark Druids.
The breath felt squeezed from his lungs at what he saw, but he could not look away from the terrible vision of himself using his supernatural abilities for evil.
He knew somehow, deep in his bones, that in that possible alternate future, he had done terrible things. He had caged Red in the cellar. He had killed Derek Stone. He had cut Dani O’Dell out of his life long ago, and his cousins shunned him.
There he was, using his rank and fortune for evil. He had become everything his Lightrider parents had hated.
Because they deserved it.
Because they had left him.
That was his rationale, and to that Jake—that hard, bitter, angry man—the excuse seemed perfectly logical.
Only seconds had passed when the wraith abruptly quit feeding on him and backed away, coughing and gagging.
Released from the dark vision, Jake blinked, still dazed but struggling to come back to himself. Back to the here and now.
As soon as the Garnock-wraith stopped retching, it turned to him with a shocked, angry stare and hissed a single word of accusation: “Lightrider!”
Jake thought he heard fear in its spectral voice, but suddenly, it fled. Zooming off through the wall, it disappeared, still choking.
Jake slumped into his chair, staring into space. He felt drained and shaken to the core by that ghastly vision of himself. Surely that was just a possible future, not the definite one. He barely paid attention, sitting there in his own world while Madam Sylvia shushed the guests again, listening to the air for all she was worth.
At last, she gave them all a grim nod. “It’s gone.”
Thank God. Jake closed his eyes in exhaustion.
Garnock sped across the starlit landscape, back to his lair in the cold, clammy basement of the school, where he would be safe.
What the devil had just happened? He had eaten the souls of beetles he had found among the dead leaves that had tasted better than that! Who was that boy? How was this even possible? But he already knew the answer, even though he didn’t want to face it.
As much as he had hoped the centuries might have killed off his enemies, it seemed the Lightriders were alive and well even to this day.
He did not know who that lad was, but he certainly had Lightrider blood in his veins. Garnock couldn’t get the vile taste of his soul out of his mouth.
How disgusting!
Even more disgusting to him was how he had no choice but to cower in the basement. Killing ghosts was one thing, but he knew he was not strong enough to face even a baby Lightrider yet.
If his enemies were indeed still out there, then he had better get his full strength and his body back soon.
Unfortunately, he had a long way to go to fulfill the Spell of a Hundred Souls and rid himself of this ghastly spectral form.
At the moment, he was too sickened by the terrible taste of the Lightrider’s son even to think about feeding on the schoolchildren right now. Perhaps he’d lie low for a while, just to be safe.
The worst thing that could happen would be for the Lightriders to come looking for him before he was ready.
He vowed to himself that they would not destroy him twice. If they managed to kill him—for real this time—then there’d be no escaping his bargain with the demon, and Garnock had no intention of spending the rest of eternity in the underworld.
He’d seen the place. It was bad enough to visit. He had no desire to live there.
No, best to hide for now. He could be patient. Once the Spell of a Hundred Souls was complete, he’d be practically invincible.
Then he could take his time enjoying his revenge.
Indeed, once he was back to his old self, he knew just where to begin: with that boy, the Lightrider’s spawn.
A sudden inspiration put a malignant smile on his face. Why, he would deal with the lad the same way he had dealt with that meddling monk.
Yes, when the time came, he’d take the brat’s head.
And keep it for all eternity.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sweet Petunia
Dani O’Dell could not help grinning.
Petunia Harris was so colossally mortified when she learned the surprise theme of her birthday party that she wouldn’t come out of her bedchamber.
Indeed, she threw such a monstrous tantrum that all the guests could clearly hear her screaming in rage at her parents in some distant quarter of the Harris family mansion. “How could you do this to me? Oh, God, a Pirate Party? I am thirteen years old, Mother! No, I don’t want to hear your excuses, you pair of dolts! Unacceptable! How could you humiliate me like this in front of everyone? You’ve ruined my life!”
The Harris family servants—who had been forced to dressed up as pirates for the occasion in fluffy white shirts and scarves tied around their heads—glanced at each other uncomfortably.
Gloating slightly, Dani took a pirate-themed snack off the Butler-First-Mate’s tray (a black olive meant to represent a cannonball) and glanced at Jake. Let’s see how Romeo feels about his Juliet now.
He was a full-blown idiot if he was still in love with that harpy after all her caterwauling, Dani thought. But when she spotted him on the other end of the great hall, he was standing alone, staring out the window.
Hm, still acting weird. He was not himself at all today. Maybe he was just gazing at the colors of this gorgeous autumn afternoon, but she suspected he had learned something upsetting at the séance last night.
Something he had shared with no one.
Curiosity was killing her, but she refused to ask him any questions. She was not speaking to that rudesby. He owed her an apology, and i
f he didn’t think so, then he and the spoiled Miss Harris deserved each other.
For her part, Dani intended to enjoy herself. A Pirate Party might spell social doom to a thirteen-year-old, but was perfectly acceptable for someone aged ten.
Even Archie liked it, and he was eleven.
Dani skipped over to join the boy genius by the fireplace, where he was listening to the hired storyteller, who was dressed up as the pirate captain, and telling the kids swashbuckling tales about his fictional adventures. “Then the sea monster rose up from the waves, covered in barnacles. Aye, it was nearly as high as me mainmast…”
“I wonder if its name was Fionnula,” Dani whispered to her friend.
Archie grinned.
Meanwhile, Isabelle was trying to get away from an older boy who was determined to befriend her. Her cheeks were strawberry red from all his attention, but she was far too polite ever to tell someone to get lost.
She kept trying to walk away from him, pretending to admire all the pirate-themed decorations, for truly, Mr. and Mrs. Harris had spared no expense.
There were tiny Jolly Roger flags popping out of every cupcake. Fishing nets hung here and there from the walls and the vaulted ceiling; one even had a life-sized mermaid captured in it.
The giant birthday cake crowning a table in the corner was made in the shape of an elaborate pirate ship with candy sails. Dani liked the decorations on the dining tables best of all. A little trough of water ran down the center of each long, narrow table like a miniature canal, with live goldfish swimming in it and toy ships floating on the waves.
Even the guests’ parents standing around the edges of the party declared it the most charming birthday party for a child that they had ever seen.
Petunia might even have agreed—if it had been a party for a six-year-old.
At last, red-eyed from crying over the unfairness of the world, the guest of honor joined them—probably because she had heard that her future husband had arrived.
Dani quite remembered how Miss Harris’s attitude toward Jake had changed when she had heard he was the Earl of Griffon.
Dressed in her dark blue satin gown from London, Petunia lifted her chin as she stood in the doorway, letting the Footman-Ship’s-Cook announce her arrival.
Then the haughty guest of honor walked stiffly into their midst, her head held high.
Dani raised an eyebrow as Miss Harris went straight over to Jake. She did not leave his side for the next hour.
Perhaps it was wicked of her to laugh, but Dani found it ever so amusing seeing how annoyed he looked at his ladylove.
She wasn’t sure what had changed—maybe it was merely the fickle nature of boys—nice one day, nasty the next.
But when Jake finally cast a desperate look at Archie and her after a good long while of having Miss Harris glued to his elbow, Dani just smiled back sweetly at him and turned away.
The ever-dutiful Archie went to his cousin’s aid, but Dani sauntered off to rescue Isabelle, instead.
The overly friendly boy was still pestering her, but Dani got rid of him quickly upon their introduction.
It was easy.
She simply scrunched up her nose when the pest said hello to her, then blurted out: “Ew, your breath stinks!”
Isabelle’s jaw dropped, but the boy blanched, mumbled some excuse, and fled in shame.
Dani had a jolly laugh as the irksome toad ran off in search of a mint candy.
“You are terrible!” Isabelle gripped her hand, giggling with her.
“You’re welcome,” Dani said with a small curtsy.
“I thought he’d never go away.”
Dani patted her hand. “Any time, my dear.” Then she pointed out Jake suffering with Petunia at the other end of the room and both girls giggled merrily again.
“I think she thinks she owns him,” Isabelle remarked.
Dani snorted. “Maybe her papa bought him for her.”
“Who, Jake? No, he’s too expensive. What with the goldmine and all.”
“Your brother’s too good to him.” Dani shook her head, watching Archie doing his best to save Jake from Petunia.
“Should we help him?”
Dani shrugged. “I suppose.”
The girls crossed the great hall to go to Jake’s aid.
As they approached, Archie was trying to tell Petunia how he had invented a flying machine that had actually stunned the scientific world at the recent Invention Convention in Norway, but she wasn’t the slightest bit impressed.
Only Jake mattered.
“Is it true Queen Victoria is your godmother?” Miss Harris asked him, practically turning her back on Archie, who frowned as the girls joined them.
“Uh, it’s just a formality, really,” Jake was saying.
“But you’ve met Her Majesty in person? You’ve talked with her?”
Dani knew he had. Her Majesty was, in fact, the formal godmother of all the magical children born in her Realm so that she could keep an eye on them and make sure they didn’t go over to the dark side. For if they did, they then became enemies of the most powerful government on earth.
No wonder the baddies banded together as the Dark Druids, Dani thought while Petunia was still marveling over Jake’s royal connections.
“You’ve had a personal, private audience with the Queen?”
“Aye.”
“La, how funny you are, Lord Griffon!”
“Huh?”
“Nobody says ‘aye.’ Unless you’re trying to sound like one of these stupid pirates,” Petunia said gaily.
Jake’s scowl darkened. “I say ‘aye’ all the time, Miss Harris.”
If that girl wasn’t careful, Dani mused, she was going to get a zap of Jake’s telekinesis.
He cast a “Help me!” sort of look over Petunia’s head at them and cleared his throat. “Well! Here come the girls. Miss Harris, you remember my cousin, Miss Bradford, and her companion, Miss O’Dell.”
Petunia turned. “Miss Bradford.” She beamed at Isabelle, as though she fully expected them to be relatives by marriage one day.
Of course, Dani only got a passing glance, not that she cared.
Isabelle began to draw Petunia into conversation in the hope of saving Jake, but one of the hired pirate musicians blew a bugle, calling all the kids’ attention toward the fireplace.
“Look sharp now, me hearties! Listen up, all ye Jack Tars and pretty Mermaids! Cap’n has got an announcement for the whole crew!”
“Oh, God,” Petunia whispered, hiding her face in her dainty, white-gloved hands.
The pirate “Captain” (the hired storyteller) stepped forward with an artificial parrot clipped to his shoulder.
“Ladies and gentlemen! I seem to have misplaced me pirate treasure out in yonder woods.” He pointed at the window toward the sculpted gardens and grounds of the Harris estate. “I need your help! It’s a treasure hunt, y’see. So, grab a partner and get out there in those woods on this fine day and find me missing gold—and here’s the best part. As yer reward, whatever ye find, ye can keep!”
The dozens of young guests let out a roar of enthusiasm at the announcement of the treasure hunt.
At once, the children began racing outside into the glorious autumn sunshine, choosing partners for the adventure as they went.
“Lord Griffon?” Petunia turned prettily to Jake.
He grabbed Dani by the arm and yanked her over to him so suddenly that she nearly went flying off her feet.
“So sorry,” he said smoothly to Petunia while Dani scowled. She did not appreciate being manhandled. “Already promised the little one she could tag along with me.”
Petunia looked utterly shocked at the denial, but Isabelle hastened to smooth things over, gently clasping the girl’s hands. “My dear Miss Harris! Why don’t you and I go together?”
The dark-haired beauty somehow found the strength to smile in answer, though she still looked astounded that Jake had told her no. “Very well. Yes. All right. It shou
ld be…fun.”
“Hey, what about me?” Archie asked, pushing his spectacles up his nose, but Jake was already dragging Dani out the door in a bid for freedom.
Isabelle, for her part, had only just narrowly escaped being captured once more by Stink-Breath Boy.
Dani looked over her shoulder and saw a very tall girl with braids claim Archie.
The short boy genius looked up at her as if she were a giraffe, but then he beamed with a smile from ear to ear.
Dani lost sight of the mismatched pair in the next moment as Jake marched toward the woods, still clutching her arm as if he feared he might still have to use her as a shield to ward off Petunia.
“Why didn’t you take Miss Harris up on her offer? I thought you loved her. She’s so beautiful,” she taunted, mimicking his earlier praises of the birthday girl.
“She makes my teeth hurt,” Jake muttered. He let go of her arm once they were safely into the green and gold and crimson woods. Then he shook himself like someone waking up from a bad dream. “What are we supposed to do, then?”
“You heard the Captain. Hunt for gold.”
“Oh. Right.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “How stupid.”
“Easy for you to say. You already own a goldmine. I’m going to find some treasure.” Dani strode ahead of him and started hunting for gold coins hidden on every mossy log, behind every rock, in the branches of shrubberies, and under every fern, until she finally found one. “Look!” She picked it up and held it high in victory, then frowned. “Aw, dash. It’s only candy!”
“Candy? I’ll take it if you don’t want it.” Jake snatched the gold-wrapped chocolate roguishly out of her hands, but suddenly paused, seemed to think better of it, and gave the candy back to her. “Sorry. There I go again. You can have it.”
Dani narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. This was very un-Jake-like behavior. But she ate the candy and savored it.
She moved on, going up the forest path ahead of him, hunting idly for candy coins again, really just because it was fun to find things. Poor Mrs. Harris had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to make a party her daughter would love, only to be rejected.
