by Amy Boyles
EIGHTEEN
The spirit cradled me to his chest and picked me from the ground. We floated briefly, and then Wyrm whisked me from the woods. Wind tangled my hair and twisted my clothes. In the distance I could hear the shouts of my family as he dragged me from the forest and toward the mansion.
In the back of my mind I felt that it would be awful if all the guests happened to see me being taken by a spirit. I was pretty sure this was definitely against witch rules, even though the fact that it was an apparition doing the dragging probably wouldn’t mean anything when it came to the witch police.
I’d be the one in hot water, just you wait and see.
Wyrm sailed through an open window on the second floor, into a sparsely furnished room. It wasn’t like the other guest quarters; it was dark and not luxurious or even welcoming.
Who could possibly be staying here?
The spirit sank onto the floor, lowering me with him. I tried to keep my senses about me, tried to focus on where I was and what was going on, but Agatha’s emotions were too strong.
“Wyrm, my love,” she said. “I’ve been separated from you for too long.”
“Agatha,” he cooed. “I tried to reach you. Tried to bring you back to this world, to the world of the living, but I failed. Over and over I failed, until I found myself trapped in an enchanted object. My one goal in life has still been my goal in death. All I ever wanted was to be reunited with you.”
She stroked his ghastly face. I shivered as a chill swept up my arm. Boy, these spirits were super cold. Not warm and inviting at all.
“We’re together now,” she whispered. “That’s all that matters.”
“My darling,” he said, “no one will keep us apart ever again.”
He cupped her/my face in his chilly fingers. Oh no, it was coming. The spirits were going to kiss, and I would be trapped in the middle of it.
I pulled away, trying to tear my face to the side, doing everything I could not to get lip-locked with a ghost who was clearly quite mad.
I resisted, but Agatha proved to be too strong. “Just do what I want,” she snarled.
“What?” Wyrm said.
She shook my/her head. “Nothing. Just this stupid body isn’t listening to me.”
“Maybe we should get rid of her,” he said.
My ears perked up at that. Since I didn’t want them paying attention to me, I shifted back toward Wyrm, reached out and puckered my lips.
Ugh. I know. The things I do to stay alive.
Though I couldn’t feel his lips, I felt an overwhelming chill that started at my mouth and crept over my face. It spiked down my back to my toes, where they curled in my shoes.
“That’s better,” Agatha said when the kiss was over.
Good. Had to keep their focus off me and on each other.
“But we do need to get rid of this body. We need to lose her so that we can truly be together,” Agatha cooed.
“Let me pull you from her,” Wyrm said.
He grasped ahold of Agatha and yanked. I was pulled forward, and Agatha didn’t budge. The spirit was lashed to me. Wyrm pulled again, but she wouldn’t move.
“You’re stuck to her,” he said.
I decided my best chance in this thing was to convince them to help me. At least until my grandmothers showed up and could tame this guy with some magic and send the spirit of Agatha back to wherever they’d found her.
Boy, were my grandmothers in some deep trouble. I mean, how the heck did they think summoning a spirit and then lashing her to me was a good idea? When I got ahold of them, I might just let Nan spank them with her broadsword.
Just kidding.
“Listen,” I said, “I know how to separate us so that the two of you can be together forever.”
Wyrm watched me silently. So I continued.
“Yes, I can help the two of you be together for the rest of your lives, but first I need you to help me,” I said.
Still the spirit said nothing, which I took to mean that he was interested. Or couldn’t understand me when I spoke. I was hoping he was just so curious he couldn’t find the words to speak.
Yeah, that’s the one I was going to go with here.
“But first I need to know where the needle is.”
Wyrm wretched back. “That cursed thing—never!”
He thrust his arm forward. I lunged out of the way, but the shock waves of power launched me to the other side of the room. I hit the wall with a thud.
Nothing was broken, and besides a dull ache in my shoulder, I wasn’t hurt.
I couldn’t say the same thing about Agatha, however.
“You brute,” she hissed. “You haven’t changed one bit. You’re still the same horrible man in death that you were in life.”
Wyrm’s face crumbled. “No, Agatha. It was a mistake. Believe me.”
She pouted, turning us away from him. “I don’t believe you.”
Great. Marital bliss. How was I going to stop this?
“Agatha,” I said. “He didn’t mean it. I brought up something he didn’t want to talk about—the object that’s held him prisoner all these years. But that’s okay. We don’t have to talk about that.”
I turned my attention back toward the spirit. “Wyrm,” I said. “Tell me who’s been controlling you. Who is it? We can stop her. No matter what, I can help you. Free you from the needle and your confines. You don’t need to be trapped anymore.”
He regarded me. The spirit cocked his head as if considering my proposal. “There is no one who can help me.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “I can help you. I can stop this. But I need your help to do so. I need you to tell me who it is, and I will take them down.”
He cocked a brow. “Take them down?”
I shrugged. “It’s a figure of speech. It means I will stop them. That person has murdered one and has tried to murder me as well. I need your help.”
What was I doing talking to a spirit about needing help? Had I lost my marbles?
Yes, in fact I had.
I felt so close to convincing Wyrm that I barely noticed when the door opened. My first thought was that I was saved. My second thought was that it could be the murderer, and here I was trapped with this spirt attached to me, which made things about a thousand times more difficult to manage.
But as I was saying, the door swung wide and there stood Roman.
“Oh, thank goodness,” I said.
I rushed toward him, but Agatha’s spirit held me back.
Roman kicked the door shut behind him and strode forward. “Leave her alone,” he snarled.
The anger in his voice took me by surprise. I don’t know why. I mean, I knew he would be mad, I guess, but I didn’t stop to think of why or anything.
But it was because he loved me.
Roman had a gun raised. A pistol was not going to be any kind of use against these ghosts.
Roman nodded toward his weapon. “This is going to send you both back into the spirit world. You need to go now, easily. Go while you can, go with ease, because if you don’t go willingly, I’ll use this and it will hurt a whole bunch more. You need to leave this place and be free.”
“But Roman,” I said. “We don’t know who the murderer is.”
He flashed a confused look toward me. “Yes, I do.”
“But how?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” he said through gritted teeth. He focused back on the spirits. “Leave this place. Be gone from here. You aren’t wanted.”
Wyrm flew to the ceiling. “I won’t leave. I’ve been trapped for years, and now I’m free. Besides, your measly weapon won’t hurt me.”
Roman cocked a brow. “This is a special gun, meant for spirits, not humans.”
“I don’t believe you,” Wyrm hissed.
“Doesn’t matter,” Roman said. “Besides, are you really free? Or has someone become your new master, forcing you to do their bidding?”
Wyrm said nothing.
“Th
e two of you can go into the spirit world, but you have to release your hold on this one—the one of mortals. This is the world of the living, and you both belong in the world of the dead.”
Wyrm howled. Suddenly two chairs levitated off the floor and flew toward Roman. They converged, and one hit him in the forehead, knocking Roman to the floor.
My will proved stronger than Agatha’s, and I raced forward. I pressed my fingers to Roman’s neck and felt a pulse. He’d only been knocked out. He’d have a serious headache on his hands when he awoke, but that would be it.
Surely someone would hear us—like my grandmothers—and come save us.
I turned toward Wyrm. “You are a horrible, evil man. You need to leave, go toward the light. What is it you want to do here, anyway? Just be a terrible, mean spirt and go about stealing things and trying to hurt people? No, you need to go. Both of you. Get off me.”
I pressed my fingers to my head and focused on pushing Agatha away. I thought about her attachment and probed around my body, trying to find the point where the spirit had latched on.
Don’t ask me why I hadn’t thought about this before. I suppose I’d been drowning in her presence, fighting for my own individuality in the midst of her.
I located a single little thread. It extended from my heart to the spirit. I guessed the fact the string was attached to my emotional center was why I couldn’t fight Agatha’s feelings, and why her emotions felt like they were mine and vice versa.
I concentrated on that little thread, pinching it with my mind until I felt a good, solid snap. The line had severed.
But I wasn’t finished. I pushed on Agatha, forcing her spirit away from me. I watched as she floated up to Wyrm, taking her place with him. They embraced for a long time, finally able to be together.
Part of me felt happy for them; the other half of me was angry.
“Who’s been using you, Wyrm?” I said.
The spirit pulled from Agatha and started crying. Sheesh. Couldn’t I just get a straight answer from him?
He buried his face in his hands for a good solid minute before lifting to look at me. “I’ve been used, forced to do things. I didn’t want to. I never wanted to, but I haven’t had a choice.”
He pressed his hands against his face and started sobbing again. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes but knew I had to get rid of him and Agatha in order to sever his tie to the murderer.
And why hadn’t my family found me yet?
I was tempted to push Wyrm to tell me who was pulling the strings, but I decided not to. I figured the best thing to do was to get rid of him.
“Where’s the needle?” I said.
Wyrm’s face started to twist. I wagged a finger at him. “Don’t even start with me. Just tell me where that stupid thing is.”
Wyrm pointed to a corner of the room. I focused my magic, sending probing tendrils to the area. I felt it when they touched the needle. The large silver object floated through the air, coming to hover in front of my face.
I took it in my hands. Without Wyrm locked inside to it, the thing held no power. But whoever was using Wyrm had kept him chained to it. Well, no more.
I focused my power on the needle, sending a spray of magic into it. I didn’t know if my idea would work, but it was better than nothing.
A stream of power zapped the object. It splintered with a loud crack, and the needle fell to the ground in two large pieces.
I glanced at the apparitions and pooled my magic around me. “Time for the two of y’all to go on. Go to the next life. Wyrm, you are free of the needle; you can now be with your beloved. This should be all you need.”
Gosh, I hoped it was.
I used my magic to edge them away. “Go to the light or whatever. Go on and be happy wonderful spirits in the next life.”
Or whatever I was supposed to say to them. It sounded good anyway.
Wyrm and Agatha embraced. I watched as a white light appeared behind them. Slowly the two figures turned toward it and started walking forward. After several seconds the brightness claimed them and they were gone.
Vanished—into the next world.
I wiped a line of sweat from my forehead. I turned back to Roman, who was beginning to stir. I knelt over him and pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Are you okay?” I said.
He grunted.
“I guess that means you’ll eventually be okay?”
He was coming around slowly but surely.
“Let me get some help.” I turned away from him and started to head toward the door.
Standing in the frame was the caretaker, Judd.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad to see you,” I said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Judd pointed something at me. It took me a minute to realize that it was a gun. And then it took several more seconds before I connected all the dots.
“Oh,” I said. “This is your room, isn’t it?”
Judd nodded.
“And you were the one who stole the needle, weren’t you?” I said.
He nodded again.
I scratched my head. “And I’m guessing you’re the elf who released Wyrm and was wreaking havoc on everything, is that also right?”
Judd nodded one last time.
I grimaced. “And I’m guessing this also means you plan on killing me.”
Judd sneered. “Your guesses would be correct.”
NINETEEN
“Why, Judd?” I said. “Why would you do it? Why murder? Why sic a ghost on my family? Why try to kill me?”
Judd’s dark hair fell from the ponytail he had pulled it into. It hung in straggly slivers around his face. He was unshaven, with dark holes under eyes rimmed in red. Basically the guy looked like he’d had a horrible couple of days.
Hey, hadn’t we all?
Judd motioned with the gun for me to walk over to Roman. I stood next to him. I was tempted to crouch down to make sure he was okay again, but I figured I’d have a better advantage over Judd if I stayed standing.
“Your kind,” he sneered. “Always thinking you’re better than everyone. Always thinking you can outwit everyone. But you didn’t. You didn’t figure out who had the needle. It was me—all along. It was me!”
I pinched my brows together. “But why?”
He grinned maniacally. “It was when I first saw you with the needle. I knew I had to have it. I knew it was supposed to be mine! I knew it for what it was—a thing of magic. I’d heard the rumors, of course, in the elven community, that there was a needle that held a spirit, but I never thought it would end up here.”
So he was an elf. A very bad elf, if I did say so myself.
“I went to steal it, but that stupid woman who thought she was a witch saw me take it. I had no choice but to kill her. Of course, then I needed to make sure no one suspected me.”
“So you wrote that note,” I said.
He smiled and ran a thumb over his teeth. “And started using the spirit to help me.” Judd shook his fist to the sky. “This was my chance, my one chance to finally be the elf I was meant to be.”
The dude was like an ego-driven super villain with an overinflated sense of self. Really, home boy needed to calm down a bit.
I glanced over. Roman’s head began to bob. He was waking up. If I could get Judd’s attention and pull him away from Roman, then my boyfriend could possibly overtake him. But first I had to keep Judd talking about himself.
“And what elf were you meant to be?” I said, edging back. I wanted to lead him toward the window that Wyrm had floated us through.
Judd pounded his chest. “I was meant to be the greatest elf in all the world. The most powerful. That would show all of them. They wouldn’t laugh at me anymore for taking care of this mansion—they would all see that I could be more. That I was worthy. That running this place didn’t mean that I was just changing dirty sheets and doing laundry.”
Oh, so the other elves thought he was a maid, I take it?
I slowly stepped b
ack. “But that’s not who you are,” I said soothingly. “This mansion gives people happiness. It brings people together. It’s a wonderful, wonderful place. What you do is important.”
Judd sniffed. “Try telling that to the elves.”
I kept going back. I was getting close, closer to the window, but Judd still wasn’t following. “All the people who come here, they respect you. They look to you for guidance. But now they’re going to see that you want to harm me, and they’re not going to think the same things about you anymore.”
His face crumpled.
Oh great, I was getting to him. “You don’t want to hurt me, do you? Look, I’m willing to forgive you for trying to blame me for the murder and the knife hurling through the air, but harming me isn’t going to help anything.”
Judd shook his head. “It’s too late; don’t you see? It’s all finished now. I’m done. Ruined. I can’t let you live. You know too much.”
I kept edging back. I was getting closer to the window. “I don’t know anything, seriously. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Judd cocked his chin. “You can stop walking now. I’m not going to let you throw yourself from the window.”
What made him think I was going to do that? I did not have a death wish.
Judd motioned for me to move back toward Roman. I did so, and we circled each other, which put Judd in front of the window.
He pivoted the pistol on Roman. “First him. Then you.” He pulled back the hammer and aimed the barrel at Roman’s head.
My eyes widened. I didn’t have time to think. I lifted my hands and thrust my magic at Judd. A deadly stream hit him square in the chest before he had a chance to pull the trigger.
He was blown back toward the window. He tumbled through the opening. I stopped spewing power and ran over, my heart racing.
Please don’t let him be dead. Even though he’d tried to kill me, I still didn’t want to hurt him, only stop him from harming Roman.
I threw my head out of the window and glanced down. Judd clung to the lip, grasping the edge of it with his hands.