Web Master (#8 Shifter Squad)

by J. C. Diem

  “Our clairvoyant disagrees,” she replied in a frosty tone. “She has never been wrong before. We have no reason to believe she is mistaken now.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw a shimmer on the far side of the room. Surreptitiously turning my head, I examined the magical barrier. Nearly invisible, it stretched across the length of the room. It wasn’t a ward, but a screen that was hiding someone or something from our view. It was dense enough to mask the scent of whatever was behind it. I couldn’t hear anything behind the barrier, but sensed something was there.

  Zeus sensed danger and began to growl. He looked towards the magical barrier that he knew was there, but couldn’t see. He crouched down low, preparing to attack whoever or whatever was hiding from us.

  “What is it?” Flynn asked. Instead of telling him, I used our link to show him what I was seeing. I drew Kala in as well. They both immediately felt a stab of pain in their heads. It was easy for me to see through them, but they suffered a headache each time the reverse happened. Kala put her hand on the gun that was strapped to her thigh and moved to shield Mark.

  Reece hadn’t taken his attention away from the Board members. We used our link to see what each other was seeing. He saw the barrier through me and I saw their reaction to our discovery that we weren’t alone in the room through him.

  “They know,” Cromby said and snatched up the phone on his desk.

  The barrier shuddered as a girl walked through it. “Do not bother to call for assistance,” she told him. “Your guards will not be able to save you from creatures such as these. They will be torn apart in seconds, just as you will.” He hesitated then dropped his phone back to the desk.

  I stared in shock at the face I’d seen in the hallway only moments ago. Her long brown hair was hanging down her back rather than tied up in a bun. She was wearing modern jeans and a t-shirt, but it was definitely the same girl.

  What the hell? I sent the thought to Reece and he shook his head. He had no idea how the body and spirit of the girl could be in two separate places.

  “We should never have allowed Agent Steel to take these monsters in,” one of the male Board members muttered. His accent was Spanish.

  “We all agreed that it would be an excellent experiment to see if shifters could be tamed from a young age,” another snapped. His skin was dark and his accent was African.

  “Clearly, we were wrong.” They glared at each other through their monitors.

  Doing my best to ignore their bickering, I sensed something else behind the barrier. Whatever it was, it was trying to hide from us. I’m going to have to go through the barrier to see what else is hiding there, I thought to the others.

  Determined to protect me from danger, Zeus sprang into action before I could take a step forward. I linked myself to him more strongly so he could share my ability to see the barrier. The girl put her hands up in self-defense and cringed away when he raced straight for her, but it was just an act. I couldn’t smell any fear coming from her at all.

  Without sparing her a glance, he darted around her and entered the barrier. Skidding to a stop, he stared up at the apparition that hovered a few inches off the ground. Without my aid, the ghost would have been as invisible to him as the barrier had been.

  The phantom was so ancient that it was wispy and almost completely see-through. Old and withered, he must have been in his eighties when he’d died. Now he was a malevolent spirit. I had no idea why he was hiding behind the same barrier as the girl.

  He hissed in anger when he realized that his cover was blown. He swiped a hand at Zeus and it passed through him harmlessly. He couldn’t hurt anyone in this form, but the contact left a bone-deep chill behind. It also gave me an insight into what he’d been when he’d still been alive. “Necromancer,” I said grimly. Mark’s hand went to his gun and he peered into the dim corners of the room, waiting for the menace to reveal itself.

  “You are the necromancer,” the girl accused. “Not I.” The Board gasped at her declaration. That news came as a shock to them. It was good to know they weren’t omniscient and didn’t know everything about us.

  “I’m not talking about you,” I said contemptuously, knowing her for what she was now. “You’re just the puppet he’s using to give misinformation to the PIA.”

  “What are you talking about?” the British woman snapped.

  “How long has this girl worked for you?” I asked, assuming she was the clairvoyant they’d been speaking about.

  The Board members shared an uneasy look before she responded. “For over fifty years now.”

  “Isn’t anyone suspicious that she isn’t aging?”

  “She’s a witch,” Cromby explained. “She uses organic spells that are harmless to humans to keep herself young.”

  I shook my head at their naivety and willingness to believe such a lame story. “She’s not a witch. She’s a zombie.”

  The girl shrank away from their shocked looks. “She lies!”

  “Really?” Kala said flatly. “Then why can’t I hear your heart beating?” Everyone knew we were shifters. They also knew that our hearing was exceptional.

  “If she’s just a puppet,” Mark said uneasily, “who is controlling her?”

  “The ghost of a necromancer is hiding behind the barrier,” I said and pointed at Zeus. Only his back legs showed. We couldn’t hear him, but I knew he was rooted to the spot, growling at the spirit that was still invisible to us. “He’s been controlling the zombie all these years.” How he was able to do that was a mystery to me.

  A babble ensued as all eight foreign Board members spoke at once. “Enough!” Cromby shouted and silence descended. “If you truly are a necromancer like your father, you should be able to take control of the zombie and send her to her rest.”

  I nodded, giving up the pretense that I wasn’t a necromancer myself. I’d have to deal with the fallout of this revelation after I defused the threat. “I’ll try, but the ghost will no doubt try to stop me. You’ll have to get rid of the barrier so I can see what he’s going to do.”

  Picking up the phone, Cromby pressed a button. “Yes, sir?” a female voice asked.

  “Please lower the wards,” he ordered.

  “Which ones, sir?”

  He looked at me for clarification. “Just the ones inside the building,” I replied. I didn’t want them to drop the outer wards and render the place vulnerable. For all I knew, EERI might be out there right now, waiting for an opening just like this so they could strike.

  He relayed the information to the female agent. “Yes, sir,” she said. She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and spoke to someone in the background. “Could you please lower all of the wards inside the mansion?” Her tone was respectful and slightly afraid. I heard a mumbled response, but couldn’t make out the answer. “The wards will be lowered straight away, sir,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Cromby replied and hung up. Everyone turned to me expectantly and my palms began to sweat. I’d never taken on a ghost before and I had no idea how to defeat one. He was already menacing, even though he couldn’t actually hurt me right now. That would change if he turned vengeful. Once that happened, we’d all be in serious trouble.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Nine

  From somewhere deeper inside the mansion, I sensed power swell. Moments later, the barrier disappeared. The ghost knew I could see him and he was enraged that his ruse had been discovered. My worst fears were realized as he began to transform.

  His ratty black suit turned to tatters and became a billowing shroud. His hair lengthened, turned stringy and floated around his head. His already thin hands transformed into claws and his face became even more haggard. Already deep eye sockets became hollow pits. His mouth opened and he let out a shriek that reverberated around the room. Everyone who was linked to me flinched at the noise.

  Aware of what was about to happen, the zombie backed away. She huddled in the corner as the puppet master that was controlling her prepared to a
ttack. I called Zeus back to me, knowing the crap was about to hit the fan. He obeyed me reluctantly without taking his eyes off the ghost.

  When the enraged spirit flew towards me, I froze. I could control the undead, but I’d never tried to take over a ghost before. I reached for his mind and his rage poured through me. I gleaned that he’d been dead for three centuries and that he’d been enslaved by a master that he hated the entire time. His mind shied away from the person who was controlling him before I could see who or what it was.

  Reece yanked me out of the way when he realized I wasn’t going to be able to dodge the attack in time. Coldness passed through my shoulder as the spirit’s claws grazed me. He turned solid just in time to rend deep furrows in my flesh. My t-shirt tore and blood poured from the wounds. The flow stopped a moment later when I healed.

  I’d only had a light brush with the necromancer, but it was a reminder of the damage that vengeful spirits could do to the living. In this form, he could easily tear me limb from limb. My restorative powers were phenomenal, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to heal something that had been torn completely off me.

  Now that the wards had been dropped, the room was no longer protected. I sensed more ghosts trapped inside the building and reached out to them. Help me, I mentally shouted and they came at my call.

  Eight apparitions appeared and formed a protective wall in front of me. Their somber black clothing told me that they had all been servants. The young girl was at the forefront of the group. I rapidly read her story from her mind.

  She’d been murdered a hundred years ago, but hadn’t seen who had ended her life. Her killer had wanted a puppet and she’d been convenient. She’d been resurrected almost immediately. Even back then, the mansion had been warded. Her spirit had become trapped while her body had become a tool for the person who had killed her.

  Through her, I learned more about the ghost controlling her. The spirit of the necromancer had been transported here from overseas by some strange magic. He couldn’t leave the mansion, but he’d been given control of the girl’s body. For decades, he’d followed his master’s bidding and had forced her to perform various tasks. Most of the tasks had involved killing certain PIA agents who proved to be troublesome. Other murders had just been for kicks, including the servants who had come at my call.

  Fifty years ago, the order had been given for the ‘clairvoyant’ to come forward. Pretending to be alive, the girl had presented herself to the Board. She’d given them information that had assisted in their fight against the monsters and EERI. I didn’t know who was sending the information to the necromancer to pass on through her, but they’d never been wrong. She’d become an invaluable asset to the organization and they trusted her implicitly.

  A short barrage of images came from the other ghosts next. I saw each of their deaths at the hands of the girl. They’d all been killed in this house and had become imprisoned here. They sensed that I was their best chance of finally being able to escape from this building. They were desperate to move on and they were going to do their best to help me.

  Blocked by a wall of spirits, the necromancer snarled in fury at being thwarted. I wasn’t sure if he’d been crazy before he’d died or if he’d gone insane afterwards. It didn’t really matter. Even as a phantom, he was intent on being a puppeteer. He couldn’t raise the dead himself anymore, but he could control a zombie when it was ordered to obey him. Whoever was behind this was a puzzle that I hoped I’d be able to solve. First, I had to survive this encounter.

  The girl was the first to transform. Her appearance changed both rapidly and drastically. Her hair lengthened until it almost reached her feet. It floated around her in a tangled mess. Her uniform and apron disappeared and a billowing shroud took their place. Her face became something out of a nightmare as she seemed to age right before me. Now wrinkled and hideous, her bones showed through the tears in her shroud. Her eyes were deep, dark pools of insanity.

  In seconds, the other ghosts turned vengeful as well. I backed away and the others followed my lead. We shielded Mark and Zeus as best as we could while the ghosts did battle.

  Whirling and zooming through the air and shrieking in rage, they targeted the long-dead necromancer. He howled as the girl passed through him. She turned solid at the last moment, rending his corporeal form apart. He re-formed, but another of his victims was ready to attack.

  Each time they passed through him, they fed on his energy. Already faded and insubstantial, he soon became a pale outline that I could barely see. He glared at me in hatred then the girl passed through him a final time, scattering him into nothingness. He uttered a low wail that petered out as his essence was destroyed.

  With their foe defeated, the vengeful spirits calmed. One by one, they returned to their normal forms. The girl was the last to resume her human form. She turned towards the body that she’d been parted from so long ago. I caught a fleeting wish from her that she could be reunited with her flesh. It was an impossible dream. She stared at her reanimated shell sadly before turning to mist and disappearing.

  Each of the ghosts winked out of existence, glad to finally leave this realm behind. They were gone for good and they wouldn’t be coming back. I envied them the peace that had been denied to them for so long. I wished my task could be so quickly and easily resolved.

  With the necromancer’s ghost now gone, the zombie should have become hostile. Her hunger for flesh should have driven her to attack and feed. Instead, she watched us silently. At least she’d given up on the pretense that she was alive. Her face was now expressionless and she didn’t bother to blink or pretend to breathe.

  “The ghost wasn’t her master,” I said to the others. “Whoever raised her ordered her to obey him.”

  “Who raised her then?” the Spanish man asked. None of them had witnessed the short battle, but they knew something had happened.

  I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  “Can you question her?” Mark suggested.

  I had a feeling it wouldn’t do any good, but I crossed the room anyway. Reece and Zeus flanked me while Kala and Flynn stayed back to guard our boss. “Who is your master?” I asked her when I came to a stop a few feet away.

  “I cannot tell you,” she replied without emotion.

  “Does he work for EERI?” Reece asked.

  She turned to look at him and a tiny smile appeared for a moment. “That is correct, Agent Garrett. You’re obviously much smarter than you look.” She scowled when he didn’t react to the insult, which meant someone was now speaking through her. “Soon, I will have the knowledge that I require to execute my plan. The world as you know it is about to end.” She turned back to me and contempt shone through her dead eyes. “No one can stop me. Not even one of Fate’s chosen warriors.” With that pronouncement, she disappeared.

  A chill went down my spine that my deepest secret had been revealed. Only my closest friends should have been aware of my destiny. Whoever was in control of her now knew far too much about us.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Ten

  “Where did she go?” the British Board member asked.

  “Someone teleported her away,” Mark said grimly. “I think it’s safe to assume it’s the same person who took Viktor and the golem heads.”

  “Did you notice her accent?” Flynn said when we walked over to the rest of the team.

  “What about it?” Kala said.

  “It changed from American to something else. It sounded European.”

  “I didn’t notice,” she said carelessly. “I was too busy waiting for her to try to bite Lexi’s throat out. Whoever was controlling her didn’t seem to like you very much.” I nodded in agreement. That had come across loud and clear.

  “What did she mean when she called you one of ‘Fate’s chosen warriors’?” another of the Board members asked.

  Everyone looked at me and I sighed. Reece put a hand on my shoulder in support. “They have to know sooner or later, Lexi.”

/>   “I know. I just feel like an idiot talking about it.” I was never comfortable being in the spotlight, but it was a feeling I was going to have to get used to.

  Mark stepped up, taking the burden of explaining it from me. “Agent Levine was contacted in a dream by an entity calling herself Fate,” he said. “Fate has apparently given her the task of saving our world from a coming catastrophe.”

  “So, a disaster is coming then?” Cromby said. “Now that we’ve learned our clairvoyant was actually a zombie, I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”

  “EERI are going to try to destroy humankind,” I said. “At least I assume they’re responsible. I have no idea what their plan is or when they’re going to launch it. I only know I have to make the right choices or everyone will die.”

  That disturbed our superiors and they again shared uneasy glances. “That is a heavy responsibility for such a young girl,” one of the other females said. Her accent was Russian.

  “Lexi is strong enough to handle it,” Kala declared. “Besides, she won’t be alone. The Shifter Squad will have her back.”

  Cromby’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Who or what is the Shifter Squad?”

  “We are. It sounds cooler than the Track and Kill Squad,” she shrugged. “It’s our own private name for our team.”

  His mouth trembled on the edge of a smile, but the gravity of our situation dampened his amusement. “We need to discuss the events that have just transpired,” he said. “Ava will show you to the guest quarters. We’ll meet again in the morning.”

  Mark drew us towards the door as Cromby called his assistant to give her an update. Flynn was the last one to leave the room. By the time he closed the door, Ava stepped out of a room further down the hall and hurried towards us. “I understand you’ll be staying overnight?” she said when she reached us.