The Sixth Ghost: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 6)

by Tamara Geraeds

  When my vision clears, I see Kasinda bending over to pick up the book. I hold my breath as her hand wraps around the cover. Will she notice? Will she feel what’s hidden at the back?

  The witch caresses the book as if it’s a long-lost loved one. “Finally,” she whispers.

  Then she stiffens. Her hands stop moving, and her face is frozen.

  “Did it work?” Charlie whispers.

  I shush him and shake my head to get rid of the crawling inside me. Then I push myself up.

  Slowly, I reach for the book. In Kasinda’s eyes, I can see she’s fighting our immobilization spell, and I have no doubt she’s going to beat it. That’s why I have to keep pretending to want the book back.

  I pull back my shoulders, my hand still outstretched. “Now listen up, Kasinda,” I say loud and clear. “You’re under our spell now, and you’ll do exactly as we say, or we’ll leave you like this forever.”

  Anger flashes across her face. It won’t be long until she pulls herself free.

  “We tried asking you nicely. We would’ve helped you to see your daughter again. Not alive, because it’s never a good thing to bring people back from the dead. But I’m sure her ghost can be summoned to give you some time together. And then she would tell you that my father did everything he could to save her.”

  Kasinda’s hand moves. A couple more inches and she’ll touch the hex bag attached to the back of the book. I can only hope that will be before she turns me to dust.

  Her mouth opens, bit by bit. The shadows around the room lunge at us, apparently waiting for her command to charge, but already eager to grab us.

  “You think…” she growls in a low voice, “that a simple… immobilization spell… can hold me?”

  Her fingers twitch. Her eyes flicker. Instinctively, I pull back my hand and conjure a lightning bolt.

  “You’ll… be… sorry,” Kasinda pants. “You cocky… little… bastard.”

  With a jerk, her hand moves down to get a better grip on the book. I glance at it. Did she touch the hex bag?

  The answer comes in the form of a scream, coming from deep within Kasinda’s throat. She gurgles and tips her head back. I take a step away from her. A thin red thread shoots out from her mouth towards Gisella, whose head also snaps back. The thread disappears into her throat while she stares at the ceiling wide-eyed.

  Charlie grabs her by the shoulders. “Gis? Are you okay?”

  She doesn’t move or make a sound.

  Charlie shakes her. “Gis? Answer me!”

  I step up next to them and pull my best friend back gently. “Don’t interfere. Our spell is working.”

  Black and blue mud crawls out from Kasinda’s throat and along the thread to Gisella.

  “Are you sure this is safe?” Charlie asks, his voice trembling.

  “It’ll be fine,” I try to assure him, although I’m not so sure myself. “This is what we wanted, remember? Her powers are transferred to Gisella.”

  Kasinda’s body starts to shake. She must be fighting my spell with everything she’s got. Her eyes are also still open, and light shoots out from them. They hit the ceiling, and the shadows pull away. They fold in and out like bed sheets and form a solid roof above us, like a tent. The middle slowly moves up and down, as if it’s breathing.

  More light shoots from Kasinda’s eyes, and the giant shadow drops a couple of inches.

  Suddenly, I understand what’s happening. “She’s trying to get the shadows to pull her from her trance! Freeze them, Maël!”

  To buy her some time, I smother the shadows with ice. Crystals cling to the edges, but I can’t make them spread.

  Charlie tries to help by building a wall around Kasinda. Unfortunately, the whole thing tumbles down when the shadow curls its edges and touches it.

  The mud is halfway down the thread when it slows down, seemingly hesitating.

  The plume agate on the top of Maël’s staff lights up, and her mumbling fills the room. The shadow’s ascent is slowed down, but it hasn’t stopped yet, and it almost touches Kasinda’s head.

  Then a soft, high voice calls out from behind me. “Mommy?”

  The shadow freezes, the tips turning toward the sound.

  Kasinda blinks rapidly.

  “I’m here, Mommy, don’t be scared.”

  With my mouth open in shock, I watch a little girl approach. She’s wearing a light blue dress, and there’s a ribbon in her dark hair in the same color. She looks like an angel.

  Is this Lily? Did we accidentally summon her here?

  Suddenly, I feel guilty for trapping Kasinda. She only acts like this because she lost her daughter.

  Vicky frowns at the girl as she passes us. “Lily?”

  The girl smiles radiantly. “Yes. I came to help. My mommy thinks you are bad people, but I know you’re not.” She stops in front of Kasinda and looks up at her. “Don’t fight them, Mommy. I want you to be good. I want you to be like my mommy again.”

  Tears fall from Kasinda’s eyes. They’re still the only parts of her that move. Slowly, the black and red mud crawls further across the thread again. My heart beats unnaturally fast. Is this actually going to work? If it is, we have Lily to thank for it.

  The light in Kasinda’s eyes dies, and the shadows move back to the ceiling in slow motion.

  “Thank you, Lily,” I say to the little girl. “We don’t want to hurt your mother. We want to help her, and we hope that she can help us too.”

  Still smiling, Lily turns to me. “I know,” she says, and then she winks.

  I frown, but she’s already turned back to her mother. “I can’t wait to hug you, Mommy.”

  A soft moan escapes Kasinda’s lips. When I turn my head, I see the mud has almost reached Gisella. In a couple of seconds, she’ll have Kasinda’s powers. Will she be strong enough to control the evil within them? Or will she break under the pressure? I chew on my lip. We’ll find out soon.

  Kasinda’s breathing has steadied, and Gisella seems more relaxed too. Charlie is rubbing her back silently, his head bent. I think he’s afraid to look at her. I can imagine. I wouldn’t want Vicky to go through this.

  “You’re doing fine,” I tell her. “You’re both doing fine.”

  Kasinda starts gurgling again. This time, it doesn’t sound angry. It sounds more like “Lily”. Tears still fall from her eyes.

  The mud has reached Gisella’s mouth. In the blink of an eye, it shoots down her throat. The thread snaps in half, and the werecat-witch starts trembling forcefully.

  “Oh no, oh no,” Charlie whimpers as she drops to the ground.

  On the other side of the table, Kasinda collapses too. Lily quickly steps out of her reach, and when I blink, she’s gone. In her place is a smiling Kessley.

  I gape at her. “That was you?”

  “Uh huh,” she answers with a content grin.

  “Great job!”

  “Thanks.” She points to where Gisella is lying, motionless now. “Will she be alright?”

  “Of course,” I say confidently. “She’s strong.”

  Gisella gasps loudly and sits up straight. When she coughs violently, I’m afraid she’ll spit out all of her guts. But she doesn’t. All that comes out is some red and black dust. Little specks that dissolve instantly. She doubles over, grabbing her stomach and then her head. Her fingers claw into her red locks, and she screams. The shadows above us roll her way so fast we can’t stop them. They wrap around her arms and lift her to her feet.

  For a moment, the whole room is quiet. We all hold our breaths and pray that Gisella is okay.

  She has stopped screaming, and her whole body is relaxed now. The shadows let her go and pull back to where they belong. The werecat takes a deep breath and shakes her long hair over her shoulders. “Oh yes, this feels good.”

  A chill runs from my ankles to my neck at the sound of her low voice. Please no.

  “Gis?” Charlie whispers. “You need to con
trol the evil, babe. You can do it. Look within your heart.”

  Very slowly, she turns her head to him. It creaks alarmingly. When her eyes meet his, all the white in them disappears. She opens her mouth and laughs hysterically.

  Cold fills every inch of my body as I watch her. We made a mistake. She can’t handle the power. We’ve turned her into a nightmare.

  CHAPTER 17

  From the corner of my mouth, I whisper to Maël, “Freeze her, please.”

  Bit by bit, the ghost queen moves her staff until it points at Gisella. The words falling from her mouth are inaudible. The tip of her wand lights up. With a jerk, the werecat turns her head. She raises her arms over her head and brings them down with force. Before her hands reach chest height, all the shadows in the room untie themselves from the walls and furniture and lunge at Maël.

  The African queen is knocked off her feet. Her staff falls from her hand, and the light is extinguished.

  “Gis,” Charlie continues in a panicked voice. “You must stay calm. Control this before you hurt our friends.”

  Gisella turns back to face him. A manic grin twists her mouth up. “I don’t care about friends anymore, Charles."

  She raises her hand, and I scream, throwing myself forward before I can think about it.

  But I bump into someone solid before I can push Charlie out of the way. I land hard on the tainted carpet. Ignoring the pain that climbs from my arms to my shoulders, I look up.

  If the wind wasn’t already knocked out of me, my breath would be cut off now.

  Facing Gisella is… another Gisella.

  “Stop this now,” she says firmly. “This isn’t you.”

  The werecat-witch with the dark eyes lowers her hands without taking her eyes off her double. The shadows retreat, and I hear Maël pushing herself to her feet behind me. She starts mumbling again while the copy keeps Gisella busy.

  Slowly, I sit up and take out Dad’s notebook. There’s bound to be a spell that can make the good inside someone overcome the bad.

  I open the book at a random page and wait for it to start flipping the pages by itself.

  If only I had thought of this before. We could’ve used it on Kasinda. It would’ve been much safer than what we did now.

  The book shows me a page that reads:

  How to suppress the evil inside you

  I scan the ingredients needed and signal to Vicky.

  She doesn’t respond.

  “Vick!” I hiss.

  I wait for her to meet my eyes… and freeze. There’s nothing but anger and hunger in them. Saliva drips from her mouth as she snarls at me.

  I back up hastily. “Why?” I ask out loud. “Why now?”

  Both Gisellas face me and follow my gaze. The real werecat tilts her head in interest. The other one gasps. Her lips form something that resembles “Oh crap”. In a reflex, she grips Gisella’s arm. “Our friends need us. Please help me. Do the right thing.”

  Hesitation flickers in her eyes, but there’s no time to wait for her response, since Vicky jumps me with her hands outstretched. There’s no escaping her. I’m trapped between the couch and the table. Which means that the only option I have is to hold up my hands to catch her and hope she doesn’t bite my fingers off.

  I brace myself for impact and drop my chin to protect my neck.

  She doesn’t hit me. Instead, she comes to a halt mid-motion.

  Taylar grabs me under the arms and pulls me out from under her.

  I thank him and then nod at Maël. “Thanks. Nice save.”

  Meanwhile, the two Gisellas haven’t moved. They’re both staring at Vicky as if they can’t believe what’s happened. When I look around the room, I finally realize the copy must be Kessley. This is the second time she has proven herself to be a great addition to the Shield. I can only hope she can get through to Gisella.

  There’s movement to my left. Kasinda is waking up. I had forgotten about her for a moment.

  Taylar acts quickly. He takes out his sword and pushes it against her throat. “Don’t move.”

  She holds up her hands in defense. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I only want to help.”

  After checking on Vicky, I step up to Kasinda. “Why would you suddenly want to help us? You seemed eager to kill us a minute ago.”

  She bows her head. “I was, and I’m sorry about that.” She holds her hands higher and looks me straight in the eyes. “I promise I don’t mean any of you harm. Why would I? You’ve sucked all the evil out of me.”

  I can’t argue with that. Still, I’m hesitant to trust her too soon.

  I open my mouth to ask her to prove her goodwill somehow, but her attention has shifted to her niece.

  “Please let me help,” she says. “I don’t want her to go down the same path as I did. And I know what to do.”

  Her eyes are full of sorrow, but it could still be an act. For all I know, she’s trying to get close to Gisella, waiting for her chance to get her niece on her side. If they manage to transfer her powers back to her, we’ll be screwed. We’ll never get a chance like this again.

  If only we had Vicky to read Kasinda’s emotions.

  Before I realize what she’s doing, Kasinda is crawling to where Vicky is still suspended in the air, frozen in time by Maël’s power.

  “Don’t!” I yell, but she has already grabbed Vicky’s hand.

  She brings her face close to Vicky’s and takes her other hand too.

  Gisella’s copy takes a step toward Kasinda and stretches her arm. “If you hurt her, you’ll suffer.”

  Kasinda smiles at her. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

  Taylar and I exchange a brief look, not sure what to do. Should we pull her back?

  Meanwhile, Charlie has approached Gisella. He’s talking to her softly. She still hasn’t moved, which gives me hope.

  Kessley’s true appearance blinks through, and I whisper to her, “Don’t change back yet.”

  She might be the main reason that Gisella has not killed us all yet. The werecat-witch seems to truly believe that Kessley is her benevolent side. We should keep it that way until we’re certain that Gisella can contain the evil inside her.

  Kasinda’s whispered voice pulls me back to our other problem. “What’s her name again?”

  “Vicky,” I say.

  “I’m sorry for what I did to her, and to your parents, Dante.”

  I clench my jaws. Is she serious?

  “When Lily died, my malevolent side kept whispering about fault and revenge. I tried to block it out, but the grief and anger were so overwhelming. In the end, I couldn’t withstand the pull of evil anymore. It felt so good to make someone pay for what happened to my daughter. And once I’d succumbed to that side, there was no turning back.” She wipes away a tear. “Which is why I want to stop Gisella from going down that same path. It’s horrible. Somewhere deep inside, there was still a part of me that wanted to break free, that wanted to stop all of the hurt. But I couldn’t.”

  “How are you going to stop her?” I ask, holding on to the desire to be mad at her.

  “By doing what your father told me to do.”

  “Which is?” She’s starting to get on my nerves. Why does she keep speaking in riddles?

  Kasinda lowers her voice even more while Kessley distracts Gisella with a speech about listening to the good inside you. “He came by a couple of weeks after I cursed him, to beg me for help. I refused, and he told me the good in me would never die, but it would be out of reach soon. He gave me an egg and told me to eat it if I wanted to overcome the evil within me.”

  Taylar sticks out his tongue in disgust. “An egg?”

  Kasinda nods and takes another look at her niece. “Or you take Gisella’s powers away. That works too, as you can see.” She gestures at her own body.

  “Don’t let her fool you,” Charlie says. “She just wants her powers back.”

  Kasinda shakes her head. “Oh, trust me,
I don’t. I haven’t felt this good in years. All anger, resentment and need for revenge has left me. You liberated me.”

  Charlie frowns at her, then shifts his gaze to me. “In that case, maybe we should take Gisella’s powers and destroy them somehow. She told me several times that she’s always struggling to keep her evil side under control.”

  I bite my lip. “Sorry, Charlie, we can’t do that. Not yet anyway. We need every power we can get to defeat Lucifer. I didn’t add another ghost to the Shield for nothing after all.”

  He sighs. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “And we need Gisella to undo the curse on Vicky. But we can take her powers away afterwards, if she still wants to get rid of them.” I turn back to Kasinda. “So, what kind of egg are we talking about? Do you still have it? Will it still work?”

  She’s still looking at Gisella, who’s caught up in a conversation with her double. She looks less threatening. Her eyes even seem lighter. Maybe we don’t need the egg.

  “It’s the egg of a Ryu, a Japanese dragon. They lay fifteen to twenty eggs each month but choose only one to hatch. The others are thrown out of the lair and collected by magical people. Those who eat such an egg will be blessed with the wisdom to make the right choices in life. Since Ryus are benevolent dragons, this also means you receive the wisdom to choose right over wrong, and, therefore, good over evil.” Kasinda takes a couple of steps back, watching Gisella like a hawk. “I will go and fetch it.”

  Kessley seems to do fine, so I walk over to Maël. “Can you keep Vicky like that a while longer?”

  She nods without taking her eyes off Vicky. Her lips never stop moving.

  “Good,” I say. “It won’t be long now.” Hopefully.

  I meet Charlie’s eyes. He still looks worried, so I tell him everything will be fine.

  “I hope so.” He gestures at the second Gisella. “I don’t know how long Kessley can keep this up.”

  Gisella blinks rapidly, then narrows her eyes.

  Oh no… Why did Charlie say that?

  CHAPTER 18

  “You!” The werecat holds out her hand, and Kessley recoils. “You are not me! You’re a traitor! A trickster!” The white in her eyes disappears again as she draws the shadows to her.