Sniffling, I shook my head.
He leaned back and took my face in his hands, the way a kindly grandfather would. “Because you are the descendant of an incredibly strong, impossibly brave woman, the kind of woman legends are written about. If your blood is so powerful that others covet it, surely you have access to great abilities without having to lose so much as a drop.” Sympathetically, he reached for the bookshelf behind the desk and offered me a box of tissues.
I took one and wiped my face, then blew my nose.
He continued, “You said you retrieved this stone from a sewer?”
“Uh-huh. I don’t know what I was thinking when we went down there, but I guess I’m glad we did,” I said.
With a wry smirk, Mr. Geo glanced away and examined the stone again. It was roughly the size of his palm. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It’s simply amazing that I’m holding such an ancient artifact in my hand like this.”
“Is that really the right one?”
“Yes, I’m sure this is the real deal,” he answered, mesmerized as he turned it in the light, admiring its many facets, examining it from every angle. “Of course, we will not have any way of knowing for sure until the day of the ceremony.”
“Ceremony?” I asked, suddenly unsettled again.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure this one requires no sacrifice. Debra and I have been going through all the books. It appears that to free the spirits, a ceremony has to take place during a full moon, when the stars are aligned in June or July. There are quite a few nights we can choose from in that timeframe, as long as it is before you graduate.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. I think June tenth might be a good possibility.”
I sighed. “That’s a huge relief. So all we have to do is have this ceremony?”
“We’re still translating to determine the details about the ritual. We cannot afford any mistakes, so Debra is taking her time to make sure we get it right. She’s as brilliant as she is beautiful,” he said, blushing a bit.
“I’m sure she is, but time is the one thing we don’t have much of,” I said.
“We must not rush things, Zoey. Ceremonies and rituals with ancient artifacts and magic can be meticulous business, and we can’t take any shortcuts. Besides, we can’t do anything until June anyway.”
“You’ll know what to do by then?”
“Yes. Our main goal is to free the spirits, and I am certain we now have everything we need to do that. We only have to find the right spell.”
“How?”
“King Geoffrey surely knows it. Since he created the spell to trap them, he could easily release them too.”
“He’ll never help us,” I said, shaking my head.
“Perhaps a little blackmail is in order.”
“But how? All he wants is a body, because he wants to be immortal. That was all he wanted when he went on that rampage and killed Isabella and all the castle spirits.”
“We cannot grant such a monster immortality.”
“No way.”
“We have to send him back to Hell.”
“I wish Prince Alexander would just exile him.”
“He likely would, if he could find him. King Geoffrey is clever and knows many places to hide.”
“This isn’t such a big place.”
“He uses every trick he knows. It is likely he’s using a cloaking spell.”
“How? He’s a spirit. He has no access to magic.”
“He must be working with somebody in the castle.”
“But who?” I asked. “Who would help a jerk like him?”
“I don’t know, but if we could figure all this out, perhaps we could use it as leverage to force him to help us.”
With a shuddering breath, I bowed my head. “What am I supposed to do, Mr. Geo?”
“You just keep going, Zoey.” He waited for me to look at him again, then continued, “I know it seems difficult, if not impossible, but you already know you can’t run, so what other choice do you have? You must fight, keep fighting as hard as you can. Learn everything you can, such as this language I’ve been trying to teach you. This is a school after all! Learn how to use that pendant in every way possible, to every greatest advantage. Learn all you can, and when the day comes to use that knowledge, you’ll find that you will be much stronger than you ever imagined you could be.”
Nodding, I asked, “Can you keep the gem and medallion for us? They came so close to finding it, and we can’t risk that again.”
“Consider it done. They will be in good hands,” he said, slipping the priceless items into his pocket.
“Thank you, Teach.”
“Anything I can do.” His expression was uncharacteristically gentle as he said, “Now run along to class, Zoey. Just fall into the routine, and try not to think too hard about everything that’s upsetting you. It’s a lot for one person to bear.”
He was absolutely right about that, but I couldn’t just let go of it and return to class like any normal student. Too much had happened. I just didn’t have the motivation, and there was only one period left in the day anyway. Instead, I found myself slumped in a corner of the common room, rereading the same pages from my book over and over again, waiting out the clock, ignoring all the people who swarmed around. They were celebrating the end of the school day, catching up, exchanging gossip, and laughing, but I felt like a ghost among them, just numb and void and a million miles away from their shallow reality.
Chapter 13
I didn’t see Mr. Rowens at all for the next few days. That was odd, because he usually lingered in the halls between classes to cast disapproving eyes on the students with the worst reputations. I had little doubt that I would have been among them had he been up to his usual routine or meandering through the cafeteria as he often did, so it was a relief that he was absent in the wake of everything that was happening. At the same time, it filled me with anxiety to the marrow of my very bones. What is keeping him so busy, keeping him away from his normal routine of watching the students with a raptor’s eye?
I asked William what he thought, but he only shrugged, drifting through the air as one might in a pool. “Who knows? Perhaps he’s not feeling well. His illness is rather severe, a vile, unforgiving plague indeed.”
“Yes, but I’m sure there’s more to it than that. He’s never let his sickness stop him from doing anything before.”
“Not that you’ve noticed, but the disease progresses with startling speed. It has taken many lives in this castle, sometimes far sooner than expected. Perhaps he’s bedridden.”
“You know,” I said tersely, “you could check.”
“Yes, I could, but something keeps me out of his room and his office.”
I scoffed. “And you never thought to mention this to me before?”
“You have never asked.” After a mild shrug and a half-smile at some joke that only he found funny, William pouted at my dissatisfied expression and turned over, swimming across my line of sight. “Don’t you think I’d have helped you spy on him already if I could have?”
My scowl only deepened. I stormed out of the common room, to the bed that awaited me in my room.
William followed me like a nagging wife. “Tell me, luv, what exactly have you gotten in your head to do?”
“I’m going to see about this barrier and see what we can do about it. It would help immensely to have a nosy sort like you on the inside.”
“I’ve tried everything,” he sang absently.
I angrily tucked myself into bed, as if I was going to get any sleep at all. “How do I do the thing?” I asked.
He responded with a look of innocent ignorance on his face, “You know.”
I looked up slightly, just enough so I could see him. “The ghost thing.”
“I have not heard you say please,” he said. “A lady must exhibit manners at all times.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. “Please tell me how to do the ghost thing.”
“
Well,” he said rather stuffily as he drifted to my side, “you can always just touch me.”
“And if you’re not around?”
“If you want to join the spirit world without one of us, you will have to give yourself up to that pendant completely.”
I sighed, dropped my head back into my pillow, and closed my eyes. All efforts to wash away my anxiety seemed impossible at first, until a single word was repeated in my head so many times that it eventually lost its meaning: Death…death…death…death… It was hard to carry on when I knew somebody wanted me dead. Suddenly, I felt lighter, and I fell into the immediate depths of meditation. My eyes slid shut, and I saw the necklace looming behind them, somehow sensed the glow I could not physically lay eyes on. Then I felt that same pull as before, the strange sucking sensation of my consciousness being drawn out of my body and into the spirit realm.
When I opened my eyes, William was in high-def again, staring down at me with shock in his face. “I am shocked, miss. In a million years, I would not have expected you to succeed on your first try.”
“Your confidence is appreciated,” I muttered, feeling like my father at that moment. I suddenly understood his gruffness and constant irritation with anyone outside immediate family, understood why, during family gatherings, it was his preference to watch golf by himself in the living room. Right then and there, I decided that when my personal ghost story was over, I was going to move into a log cabin in the middle of the woods. I was surrounded by too many people, living and dead, and I was tired of having to solve mysteries. I desperately wanted to know all the facts, as I’d never been one for going into anything blind, another trait I’d inherited from my daddy dearest.
I blew a few runaway strands of hair out of my face and oozed out of bed. I paid no mind to my body and marched past William. I stormed through the dorm and common room, into the great hall. A few students on the way to the nurse’s office traced a slow path, but almost everyone was outside, enjoying the glorious spring day. Unfortunately, the singing robins and warmer breeze only reminded me that our deadline was looming every closer. The school year was quickly coming to an end, and I had barely made enough progress in the ghostly language to even ask for the location of some hellish bathroom. I wasn’t even sure that learning the language would help, but I did sense that it was an important tool to have in my belt. That only made me feel worse about struggling to grasp it. Its structure and grammatical rules were all so foreign. Within two weeks of French, I’d picked up enough to introduce myself to someone and ask some very basic questions, but this new language had me stumped.
Determined, William floated after me as I climbed the stairs to the faculty floor. “It will not take long for King Geoffrey to realize what you’ve done,” he warned.
“Pssh,” I said, dismissing him with a wave of my hand. “If I’m gonna spend my whole time here living in fear of King Geoffrey, I may as well lie down and die. This necklace has power, and I can’t just let them waste away.” I frowned, clutching the pendant and doubling my pace. I knew it would dishonor Isabella and all my ancestors to refuse such power, the power that had been so carefully passed down through family generations. I knew Mr. Geo was right: I couldn’t run, and I had to do everything I could to ensure my own safety, as well as the freedom of those spirits, as I’d promised.
In the faculty hallway, teachers meandered from one point to another, mimicking that same slow, ghostly flickering, as if their bodies were riddled by perceptual glitches. Just looking at them gave me a headache, so I plodded past them with my head down, only occasionally glancing when we passed some of William’s fellow ghosts. My eyes were naturally drawn to their costumes, gowns and suits straight from a Renaissance fair. It still seemed so surreal, and I found that funny, since that fantasy had basically become my daily life. I should have been so used to it that I wouldn’t bat an eye, but I wasn’t sure it would ever feel normal. If it did, I would have to start questioning my sanity.
The principal slept in a room at the end of the hall, a room I’d never been in or even seen open. “This used to be Queen Victoria’s chambers,” William said as we approached. He wore a disgusted expression on his face as he looked the door up and down, as if the slab of stone itself had betrayed the royal family. “It is unfathomable that she is completely shut out of it in death. It was such a beautiful room when she lived. I can only imagine what it looks like these days.”
Frowning, I placed my hand on the door. Indeed, I felt what he’d described. It was shockingly solid, so much so that I withdrew my hand with a gasp, as if I’d been bitten.
William laughed. “I tried to warn you, my dear. Isn’t it amazing? Whatever it is, it never ceases to surprise me.”
“What is this?” As I lowered my hand again against the surface, I realized it felt rather like glass, but at the same time, it was sizzling with power, an eerily familiar, menacing buzz of dark energy.
“This is King Geoffrey magic, his hallmark,” he admitted, frowning.
“How can the principal use his magic?” I asked. “Are you sure he didn’t use a spell from that book?”
“No. Only the king can do this.”
“That must mean…” I began as the thought occurred to me.
“They are working together,” William finished. “What a fiendish pair!”
“Mr. Geo said someone gave King Geoffrey a cloaking spell so Prince Alexander can’t find him. The principal must have used the book for that!”
“Of course he could,” William said, nodding.
“But why is the king helping our principal?” I asked, leaning forward, pressing my ear to the door. “And how can the principal communicate with him?”
“I don’t know, but I’d certainly love to find out,” my ghostly companion said, mirroring my own thoughts.
Chapter 14
Exhaling softly, I squeezed the necklace tightly, closed my eyes, and let its image fill my mind. Prior to that, most instances of experimental telepathy for me had been with a specific target in mind, in sight. I wasn’t sure if it would even work through a barrier that could turn away ghosts, any non-corporeal entity, but I figured it was worth a shot.
To my delight and utter surprise, it actually worked. It was something like a tape player stuck on a loop, full of interference and static, but slowly, as I listened I became aware of the sound of the principal’s voice among all the chatter. I heard him repeating certain stilted sections of phrases over and over again. As the molasses-slow ghost time wore on along with the time I was used to, I began to piece together the sentences that were running through his head: That little brat! Of course she was the one to steal the gemstone. I’m sure of it. People are already asking so many questions. This can’t go on. King Geoffrey is draining the life out of me, speeding up the cancer. I should’ve never said that spell so that I could talk to him.
I took a deep breath and glanced up at William, who was watching my face intently as I listened in. “The principal played around with those books,” I said. “He did some spell so he could talk to King Geoffrey.”
“Okay, one mystery solved.”
I arched a brow. “Can King Geoffrey worsen illness?”
My friend crossed his arms, frowned in consideration, then finally offered, “I have no way of knowing for sure, but his effects on the human body may resemble illness, at the very least.”
The idea was sickening. King Geoffrey was making the principal sicker. I knew that most people didn’t believe in ghosts and denied their friends’ and relatives’ claimed brushes with the spectral realm, until they came face to face with a haunting themselves. After that, as I knew from experience, one’s world would forever be tuned upside down, and nothing would ever feel real again. Being in the center of that storm, surrounded by paranormal activity and having his energy totally sucked by it was certainly changing the principal, just like it would change anyone. For a brief moment, I almost felt sorry for him, even if he wanted to bleed me out on some altar for his own
supernatural salvation.
I shook my head. “I just don’t know what to do,” I confessed, my stomach twisting into knots.
“It’s hard to say. So many masters have died among these walls. I never truly considered that their blood would be on his hands, but you’re right. So many of them may have been at his hands, but you’re right.” William ran his hand along his jaw and shook his head. “Come now. We must get you back down to your—”
Before he could finish speaking, a terrible cry rattled through the castle. Just as it had the first time, King Geoffrey’s demonic voice seemed to come from all directions. This time, though, much to my shock, I understood a word amidst all the terrible, metallic grinding: “Run!”
My stomach dropped, and I took off like a shot, dashing down the stairs and shouting, “Where is he?”
“We have to hurry,” said William. “I have a very bad feeling about this, Zoey.”
I had a bad feeling, too, at first, and it only grew worse when, in my peripheral vision, I noticed that the pendant bouncing around my neck had lost its glow. There was a far darker feeling when the grinding screams of King Geoffrey stopped. By the time my friend and I made it to the common room, my worst fears of all were realized: My smiling body was stretched out on the bed for a moment, then slid from beneath the covers and stood on its own, without me inside it. With a cry, I clutched William’s arm, and he held me as we watched me walk past, riveted in horror. Both of us were too frozen with terror to do anything initially, but then the non-me paused and turned its head. Evidently my blood was all it took to gaze into the spirit world, because a terrible, foreign smile curled across the doppelganger’s lips, and her eyes focused very distinctly on the point in space we inhabited.
“You really must figure out what floor I’m on before you try something like that. Do you think I spend all my time upstairs?” My voice sounded so different from the outside, especially when it was dripping with unrecognizable hate. Sneering, the possessed form, a stranger who looked like my twin, turned away and flipped her hair. “The ceremony will take place as planned, and I will have my old life returned to me. Until then, however, this will make a most convenient substitute,” she said, running her hands—my hands—over he body. “It’s been such a long time since I’ve inhabited any fleshly form. I am not sure I enjoy being a woman, weak as they are, but I also have the added security of knowing this valuable blood is safe and sound, right where it belongs, inside this school and inside of me! Now,” she said, turning away with a certain bounce in her step, “I wonder if I can convince Mr. Geo to hand over that sapphire.” Then, just like that, my human body was gone, vanished from the common room.
Ablaze - Book 4 Page 8