The Returned

by Bishop O'Connell

  “Anna, that’s not what you’re doing,” Wraith said. “You’re bringing people back, but it’s the people who killed Gerrard and the others. They’re coming back and killing the others who were there that night.”

  “No,” Anna said and shook her head. “No, I’m bringing him back. It hasn’t worked yet, but it will soon.” Her mouth twisted, and the power flowing into her increased. “I think I’ve got it this time! And so what if I am bringing them back too? Maybe it’s just what they deserve. Maybe it’s God’s punishment for murder!”

  “God has nothing to do with this,” Wraith said and pointed at the talisman. “That thing is manipulating you. It’s feeding off your anger and hatred and using you to bring people back and make them kill.”

  “You’re lying!” Anna screamed.

  “I understand the anger,” Caitlin said. “I know that feeling, but it isn’t what Gerrard would want.”

  “He’s dead!” Anna yelled. “They killed him! And I will make them pay for it!”

  “Shit,” Wraith said just before the blast of magic hit them. She turned, expecting to feel it tear into her soul, but nothing happened.

  She looked up and saw a golden orb surrounding them. Wraith looked over the ward and saw it was absolutely perfect.

  “I can’t hold this for long,” Edward said.

  “Damn, Doc,” Wraith said. “Mad props.”

  “Less props, more doing something,” Edward said.

  “You’re like them!” Anna yelled and hurled fiery darkness at them. Each blast hit Edward’s ward like a purple oil, sticking and oozing down it until it fizzled out of existence. “You can’t stop me! I won’t let you!”

  “Tell me,” Siobhan said.

  Wraith looked over and saw her white-knuckled grip on the pistols.

  “No,” Caitlin said. “There has to be another way.”

  “We need to get her in a circle,” Edward said. “Lock her away from that power.” He gritted his teeth and winced as the barrage of dark magic continued to pound his ward.

  “Don’t think she’ll come along quietly,” Siobhan said. “And we’re running out of time.”

  Wraith closed her eyes and focused. There had to be something. Distantly she could hear footsteps echoing through the halls. The cops were coming. If they came in now they’d be torn apart.

  “Can you put her to sleep?” Caitlin asked Wraith.

  “What?” Wraith asked.

  “Like you did with the Legion at the coroner’s office.”

  “I, uh.” Wraith thought about it. Could it be that simple? She didn’t bother answering; she just began weaving the equation together. It was hard, like trying to swim upstream or up a waterfall, while juggling. When it was done, she wove another, and another, and another, twisting them together. “Will your ward stop magic from getting out?”

  “No,” Edward said. “And pretty soon it won’t stop it coming in either.”

  Wraith hurled the formulation at Anna. The girl lashed out with tendrils of purple flame. Wraith guided the spell, dodging as many attacks as she could, but she couldn’t avoid them all, which was why she’d layered the holy hell out of the spell. Anna’s magic tore at Wraith’s, ripping layer upon layer off of it.

  Wraith’s stomach knotted, and she gritted her teeth, fighting to hold the spell together. Was this what she’d been like after the Order had gotten their hands on her? She pushed that thought aside and fought on. Her spell inched forward, now pushing against a wall of dark magic. Wraith reached down deep inside, pulled together all she had, and pushed.

  The spell broke through, and Anna collapsed to the floor. Immediately the dark magic filling the library drew back into the girl and began tearing at Wraith’s sleep spell.

  “Crap,” she said. “I didn’t see that coming.” She began desperately weaving new equations to replace those that were being burned away. It was easier than before, but the speed at which she had to work made it taxing. “I think I’ve got her. I’m having to rebuild the spell as she destroys it, but I’m keeping ahead of it.”

  “We need to get out of here,” Edward said. “Now.”

  “Can you glamour us again?” Caitlin asked.

  “I don’t think I could stop to scratch my nose and not lose her,” Wraith said.

  “What do we do?” Edward asked. “This place is full of police. No way will we make it out carrying an unconscious kid.”

  “I’ll distract them,” Siobhan said and lifted her pistols. “You get the girl out of here and someplace safe. I’ll keep the Garda busy for you.”

  “Put your guns away, Sundance,” Caitlin said. “No blazes of glory today.”

  “I could bust her out of jail when this is done,” Wraith said. “I mean, assuming they don’t, you know . . . ”

  “Not an option,” Caitlin said. “There’ve been enough Fian sacrificing themselves already.”

  Wraith had no idea what that meant, but she was too occupied with holding the possessed girl to ask.

  “Can you glamour us?” Caitlin asked Edward.

  “I, uh, I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never tried.”

  “Fine time to give it a whirl, yeah?” Siobhan asked.

  “I’ll talk you through it,” Wraith said and hoped she could. “It’s easy. Ish.”

  “Famous last words,” Siobhan said.

  “You’re not helping,” Caitlin said.

  “Gather the info—er, power,” Wraith said. “You’re not actually trying to make a visible illusion.”

  “I’m not?”

  “No,” Wraith said and fought to keep the spell together and translate her equations into something Edward might understand. “It’s more like you’re projecting a suggestion to everyone else, telling them what they’re seeing.”

  “I’m getting into their heads?” Edward asked.

  “No,” Wraith said. “Don’t even go down that path. It’ll backfire. You need to, um . . . I can’t think of how to explain it so you’ll understand.”

  “Beg pardon?” he asked.

  “Not like that,” Wraith said. “Christ, Doc, check the ego, okay? We all use magic differently. I just—”

  “Then explain to me how you do it,” he said.

  “Fine,” Wraith said and tried to ignore the feeling of her head wanting to explode. “You need to modify the quantum information around us. Observers aren’t seeing us—they’re seeing photons bouncing off of us. That interaction changes the quantum information of those photons. The observer translates that information into a visual image. You need to create a field around us that modifies—”

  “The photon’s information so the observer sees what I want instead of what is,” Edward said.

  “Bingo,” Wraith said and felt Edward putting the spell together. She wanted to look and see if it was right, but she couldn’t take the chance of looking away from Anna.

  “Cuddio yng ngolwg pawb,” Edward said after what felt like a week and a half.

  Wraith felt the spell settle over them, and as it drifted into view she could see it was right. “I think you got it,” she said.

  “I’ll get the girl,” Siobhan said and rushed over to Anna.

  “Be careful,” Wraith said and drew her spell tighter, trying to keep any of the dark magic away from Siobhan.

  “Go,” Siobhan said once she lifted the sleeping girl into her arms.

  They rushed out of the library and made it half a dozen steps before a group of police, all in black tactical body armor and carrying rifles, came around the corner.

  “Freeze!” the lead one said, and they all took aim.

  Edward raised his hands. “I heard some students saying there was a girl who wouldn’t leave. We all came in to look for her,” he said, calmly and slowly, then nodded at the girl in Siobhan’s arms. “We found her. She’s unconscious, but we don’t know why. We need to get her out of here.”

  Four months passed as the cops considered what Edward was saying and how they all appeared. Wraith noticed th
en, for the first time, he’d made them all look like school security.

  “Any more of yours in here?” the cop asked and lowered his gun. The others did the same.

  “No, everyone else evacuated,” Edward said. “We only came back because a teacher confirmed she was missing a student.”

  The cop nodded. “EMTs are outside.” He keyed the mic on his shoulder. “We have friendlies coming out with an unconscious student.”

  “Roger that,” came a voice back from the radio.

  The leader turned to the rest of his team. “Continue the sweep.”

  The cops moved forward as Wraith and the others made for the front entrance. When the cops vanished down a side hall, Edward turned and headed for the rear exit. The rest of their group followed.

  When they reached the door, Edward opened it, looked out, and ducked back in. “Cops and people are everywhere.”

  “You’ve got to cloak us, then,” Wraith said. “Same idea as the glamour, but you need to change the quantum information back to what it was before it made contact with us.”

  “How do I do that?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Wraith snapped back. “Just do it, and quick.”

  Edward drew in magic and started drawing the spell together. He opened his mouth a few times, obviously trying to find the right wording to associate with the spell.

  “Neb cartref,” he said, almost as a question.

  The glamour equation shifted and resettled over them.

  “Did I get it?” Edward asked.

  “Yeah,” Wraith said without even looking. It didn’t matter. If it worked they’d get to the car. If it didn’t, they didn’t have time to try again. She pushed Siobhan out the door. Caitlin and Edward followed close behind.

  They crossed the school yard and hurried to the fence surrounding the grounds. Edward must’ve gotten it right because no one even looked their way. Caitlin watched the police holding the perimeter, and when they both turned away, she opened the gate and they rushed through. When the gate latched shut, a cop turned but didn’t see them.

  A minute later they were in the car, Anna held in Siobhan’s arms, and pulling away.

  “Where to?” Edward asked from the driver’s seat.

  “Someplace away from here,” Wraith said. “And where we can get the circle set up without being seen or interupted.” A flash of pain made her wince, and her control slipped for a moment, but she pushed back and got the upper hand.

  “Probably out of the question for you to teleport us all somewhere, yeah?” Siobhan asked.

  “You think?” Wraith asked through gritted teeth.

  “The factory,” Caitlin said.

  Edward looked at her.

  “I’m open to better ideas,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a good one. I think it’s the only one. After all, it’s not like we can bring her back to the hotel.”

  “What about the First Housers we ran into before?” he asked as he drove away from the school.

  “We’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it,” Caitlin said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Caitlin’s eyes kept darting around as they sped through town. She was simultaneously checking for police and the Legion and keeping an eye on Wraith. The girl didn’t look good. She was pale, sweating heavily, and gritting her teeth so hard Caitlin was afraid she might crack them.

  “Are we there yet?” Wraith asked.

  Caitlin smiled at her attempt at humor. “Almost, just a little longer.”

  Wraith just nodded and clenched her shaking hands into fists.

  Edward gave Caitlin a look, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. They were effectively driving through town with a bomb in the backseat. If Wraith lost control, at best they’d all be killed. At worst, well, she didn’t let herself think of that. Instead she closed her eyes and tried to send all the strength she could to Wraith. She had no idea if it would do any good, but it was all she could do.

  A few minutes later, though it felt like hours, they arrived at the factory. Edward continued past the gate they’d used yesterday, and Caitlin couldn’t help but look out the window as they passed Nancy’s house. She was about to ask Edward where he was going when she saw a second gate, one on the opposite side of the factory from the houses.

  “I could drive the car through,” Edward said.

  “Can you pop this lock as quickly as you did the other?” Caitlin asked.

  Edward nodded.

  “Then let’s not risk any undue attention,” Caitlin said.

  Edward parked, and before the car had even fully stopped, she and Siobhan were both out. Caitlin helped Wraith while Siobhan lifted Anna, and Edward went to open the lock.

  “We should hurry,” Wraith said. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold her.”

  Caitlin took Wraith’s arm over her shoulder and nearly carried her through the now-open gate, not even trying to keep up with Siobhan, who’d sprinted ahead of them, Anna in her arms.

  There was a loud thud as Siobhan knocked open the door and went inside. Caitlin came in with Wraith as the Fian was kicking debris out of the way to clear a spot on the floor.

  “Set her down there,” Edward said and pointed to the middle of the clear spot. “Damn, I don’t have anything on me to draw the circle with.”

  “Chalk,” Wraith said. “I have some in my bag.”

  Caitlin opened the flap and dug around till she found a box of colored chalk. She tossed it to Edward. It bounced off his open hand, and he did a little bit of juggling before he was able to grab it. Once he had it, he set to work, tracing out a circle just bigger than Anna.

  Caitlin eased Wraith down to the ground, positioning herself so the girl was leaning against her. She held Wraith close, wishing there was more she could do to help.

  “Siobhan,” she said. “Could you watch the door? I don’t think we were followed, but between the police, the Legion, and the First House—”

  “Aye,” Siobhan said and nodded. “I’m on it.” She drew one of her pistols and opened the door just enough to see out. Even so, she kept glancing back over her shoulder at Edward’s progress and at Wraith, a look of deep concern on her face.

  Caitlin understood; Wraith was looking worse by the second. She was shaking badly now, and her skin had taken on an almost gray pallor.

  “I hate to put pressure on you, Doc,” Wraith said, a trickle of blood running down from her nose, “but in about three minutes, I’m going to pass out and you’re going to have a very cranky demon on your hands.”

  “Almost there,” Edward said.

  Caitlin took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the blood away from Wraith’s nose, glancing from Wraith to Edward. He’d finished one circle—she was always impressed how he managed to make them so perfectly round—and was just finishing a second around the first, about a foot of space between the two.

  Please work faster, she thought to herself.

  “Just a little longer, honey,” Caitlin said to Wraith and brushed some hair from her face. “Hang in there.”

  “Okay, Mom,” Wraith said, her voice sounding small.

  Caitlin wasn’t sure if the girl was trying to be funny or was so exhausted she really thought Caitlin was her mother. She just kept holding her.

  “Got it!” Edward said, finishing the last of the symbols in the space between the two circles. He stepped back and touched the outer circle.

  There was a pressure in the room that Caitlin recognized as the circle closing.

  Wraith let out a long sigh and passed out.

  Anna immediately opened her eyes and leapt to her feet in a manner that would’ve impressed Bruce Lee. She began screaming and banging against the invisible wall the circle created; there were flashes of dark purple fire as her fists pounded the barrier.

  “You can’t keep me here!” Anna roared, her voice oddly modulated. “This pathetic circle won’t stop me!”

  “Probably not,” Edward said, already drawing another cir
cle around the completed one. “That’s why I’m making another. And when that’s done, I’m going to make a third, and then I’m going to join them all together. That should hold even the likes of you for a while.”

  Caitlin turned her attention to Wraith. There was color coming back to her cheeks, and her breathing was normal. She took the girl’s pulse and found it slow but strong.

  “Is she okay?” Siobhan asked.

  Caitlin nodded. “She just pushed herself too hard.” Reaching into her purse, she pulled out the small flashlight and checked Wraith’s pupillary response: normal, symmetrical dilation and contraction. That was good. That meant it was unlikely this was anything more than just her passing out.

  “That girl’s got courage and determination to spare,” Siobhan said.

  “Yes, she does,” Caitlin said. “But I worry she’s a little too reckless as well.”

  “She’s young,” Siobhan said, then a smile crept into her voice. “Of course, some of us carry that trait into our latter years as well.”

  Caitlin didn’t answer. She wished Wraith could have a normal life, a warm and welcoming home, a family. Maybe she did have that last one, though a bit unconventional. All the same, holding her, Caitlin couldn’t help but think of Fiona and what future might lay ahead for her. Right here, in this burned-out building, was a girl who suffered unimaginable pain and torment, and she came out the other side wanting more than anything to help and defend those who couldn’t defend themselves. Caitlin looked over at the still-raging Anna. And then this girl, who also suffered pain and loss, was taken in by a dark power.

  Caitlin had never been religious, but she did say a silent prayer, for Fiona, for Wraith, and for Anna.

  “Ow,” Wraith said, opening her eyes and pressing a hand to her forehead.

  “Easy,” Caitlin said, easing up the rather tight hold she had Wraith in, not sure when that had happened. “How’s the pain? On a scale of one to ten?”

  “Ow,” Wraith repeated. “That sucked. And ninety-six.”

  Caitlin couldn’t keep from smiling. “Glad your sense of humor wasn’t damaged.” She went back into her purse and came out with the little bottle of water she’d grabbed from the hotel room and handed it to Wraith. Next she retrieved a bottle of Tylenol she always kept with her. “Hold out your hand.”