by K E O'Connor
I leafed through old spell books, checked the contents of dozens of jars and vials, and immersed myself in happy memories of my childhood.
I took out a clean spirit jar, salt, camphor, and a feather quill. “I’m thinking we go old school magic. Odessa’s spirit trapping baskets sort of worked, so I don’t want to change everything. If we create a spell to trap negative energy and contain it in this jar, it should suck the ghost inside.”
Hilda ran up my arm. “And put a tiger opal in the bottom of the jar. The one with the most energy. Ghosts hate those.”
I tested several stones until I found one vibrating with power. It went in the bottom of the jar. Then I added cinnamon, bay leaves, a sprinkle of dried arrow root, and a containment spell.
“You should stick with the tiger opals to make a wider containment field,” Hilda said. “They’re amazing at taking away negative energy. And it sounds like this ghost is full of negativity.”
We gathered four more strong tiger opals.
I pulled opened the bottom drawer of the magic cabinet. There were a dozen small journals piled inside, and a box Magda used to store her favorite necklaces.
I smiled as I took out a journal. She’d kept journals her whole life, and would often note down unusual events of the day, or simply record her feelings. She’d encouraged me to journal, but I’d never gotten into it.
I flicked through the pages. It was full of spells and incantations with her comments on their effectiveness. She’d tried different healing spells, calming spells, and repair spells. All of it positive, useful magic. Nothing that hinted at the darkness that had consumed her.
“Less reading and more action,” Hilda said. “We’ve got work to do.”
I closed the journal and flipped open the box. The faint smell of jasmine drifted out, making my heart clench. The smell was Magda. She’d grown jasmine around the porch. I’d have to see if it was still alive and get it blooming again.
A purple lump of amethyst caught my eye. It was looped on a simple black string; the stone polished smooth.
“Indigo, we have a ghost to deal with.” Hilda hopped off my knee and scurried away.
I grabbed a bag and placed the tiger opals and magic items inside. I also tied the amethyst around my neck and stuffed a journal inside the bag. It had taken hours to catch the ghost the last time I’d gone to Luna’s apartment, so I may as well have reading material to keep me company.
“You’re coming with me?” I said to Hilda as she returned and settled on my shoulder.
“Of course. We all are.”
“Then you’d better go wake Nugget and hope he’s not too grumpy. It’s time to catch this spirit and get my best friend back.” If I couldn’t solve my own problems, I’d solve Luna’s. She deserved it.
Chapter 16
We hurried out of the house, and I took a minute to check no one was around to see us leaving. Darkness was our cover as we headed to Luna’s apartment to confront the spirit.
Russell soared over our heads as we continued along the road, heading past the quiet stores and houses. It was a chilly night, which worked in our favor. The cold would discourage most people from coming out and noticing us. Word would be all around the village that a dangerous Ash witch was on the loose and needed to be stopped, and I didn’t want anyone attempting that. My days of hurting people were over.
Hilda rode on my shoulder as Nugget kept to the shadows as we hurried along, while Russell continued to fly overhead, acting as our lookout.
I was dressed head-to-toe in black, with a baseball cap on so if I did bump into anyone, I could avoid being recognized.
The ten-minute walk to the apartment seemed to take forever, and I jumped at any noise or animal hoot from the trees. If I got caught, I’d be in so much trouble.
Finally, we were standing outside Luna’s apartment building. We hurried into the communal area and up the stairs, stopping when we reached the apartment door.
Nugget’s fur puffed out all around him, making him look like a cute, cartoon cat. I was tempted to pet him, but resisted. I didn’t need him to go into attack cat mode on me. One permission to tickle him didn’t give me a free pass to ruffle his fur anytime I wanted.
“Are you sensing something you don’t like?” I said.
“There’s nothing good inside that apartment,” he said.
“You don’t have to come in,” I said.
“We’re all going in.” Hilda was perched on my shoulder. “We’re your backup. We’ll help if you need it.”
“And from the feel of this spirit, you’ll need all the help you can get,” Nugget said. “Are you sure you’re up to the challenge?”
I nodded. I felt confident about using my magic on this ghost. He’d hurt someone I cared about and thrown me out of a window. The thing deserved to pay.
I pushed the door open and peeked inside. What looked like soot covered the floor, and there were black streaks along the wall as if the place had been damaged by fire.
“Russell, do a quick sweep to make sure there’s nothing too nasty lurking in the shadows,” I said.
He shot through the gap and flew into each room, returning a moment later.
“Anything bad to report?” I whispered.
He gave a whole body shudder and squawked.
“He’s not happy, but he didn’t see anything evil,” Hilda said.
“You got all that from a single squawk?” I said.
“Yes. And his body language. We’ve been together a long time. We know each other’s moods,” Hilda said.
“Okay then. Let’s go say hello to this ghost and ask him to leave.” I patted the bag slung over my shoulder. It contained everything to drain and capture this ghost. Hopefully.
I left the front door open in case we needed to make a hasty escape and walked along the hallway. “Coo-eee! I’m back. Aren’t you going to come out and offer me coffee and cake?”
“It’s best not to aggravate the ghost,” Hilda whispered.
“He already hates me. Nothing I do will change that.” I tiptoed along the hallway. “Come out, come out, wherever you are. We need to have a few words.”
The temperature dropped, and a dark mist swirled around me.
“Aaaww! There you are, looking all spooky and evil. I hoped the last time I caught you, you’d given up and moved on.”
A low laugh rumbled through the air like menacing thunder.
I pulled out the tiger opals. “Russell, you know what to do. One in each corner of this room. We don’t want our little ghostly friend getting away while we’re having a chat.”
Russell scooped up each opal in turn and set them in the four corners of the room. They’d act like a barrier to keep the ghost from escaping once I’d contained him.
“It’s time you let Luna go,” I said. “She’s a good person. She doesn’t need your attention. Leave this place.”
“Make me, witch,” a growly voice said. “This is my home. You’re trespassing.”
“And so are you. Luna lives here. Leave her alone.”
“What makes you think you can save her?”
“I have to. She’s my friend. She deserves better than to be messed with by you.”
“That didn’t answer my question. Why you? Luna’s tried to get rid of me and failed. You’ve also tried once. Why come back when you know you’ll lose?”
The dark mist around us intensified, making me shiver. But I wasn’t being intimidated by a bully who wouldn’t show himself. “Because I have my friends helping me this time.”
“These poor excuses for familiars are your only friends? I don’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for you.”
“Hey! We’re great familiars, you big floaty mass of crud,” Nugget said. “The best. We belong to an Ash witch. You don’t get better than that.”
The ghost cackled. “You’ve never belonged to an Ash witch. You were brought into the family by good fortune and an advantageous marriage. That doesn’t make you important.”
/> “How do you know that?” This ghost was bugging me. He knew too much about my life.
“I’m all powerful. I have knowledge that—”
“He can float through walls and likes to earwig on private matters.” Nugget flicked his tail. “Let me give you some advice. No one likes an eavesdropper.”
I snorted a laugh. “They may have been my stepmom’s familiars, but they’re mine now. I’m a full Ash witch. Therefore, they’re important to me. They’re also under my protection. Hurt them and I’m coming for you.”
Russell flapped his wings from his position on the back of the couch, Hilda jigged on my shoulder, and Nugget stared up at me.
I glanced down at Nugget. “I mean it. All of you, if you want to be my familiars. No pressure, though.”
Nugget looked like he was about to hack up a hairball. “I’ll think about it.”
“I’m happy to take on that position,” Hilda said. “So is Russell.”
I nodded. They were mine, even though I’d protested about having them in my life. I couldn’t deny they were part of my life any longer. I also needed to stop denying I wanted familiars. It had been my childhood dream to have a cat familiar, but a crow and a hairy spider were also cool.
Russell gave an excited sounding caw, and Hilda did another little dance on my shoulder.
The ghost growled and spun around me, still nothing more than a cold mist in the room.
“Your show pony tricks are getting tired. It’s time you left this place,” I said. “Move on to a different journey.”
“And if I choose to stay here?”
“Then you’ll be captured. You’ll have no freedom.”
“No freedom. You’d know all about that. You had yours taken from you. Your magic was destroyed. I can sense your lack of power. You’re no threat to me.”
“I have plenty of power.” I glanced at Nugget, and he nodded. “And I have my awesome backup. You can’t fight us all.”
“I can. And it won’t be a challenge.”
I pulled the ghost jar out of my bag, opened the lid and placed it on the floor in the center of the room.
A menacing growl echoed around me. “You will not contain me. I refuse to leave. Luna is mine.”
“She belongs to no one. You’ll let her go. This is your last warning. Release Luna, or you’ll be captured and never feel freedom again.”
A blast of cold rammed through me, making me stagger back. I fell against the wall, my teeth chattering. “Is everyone okay?”
“We’re good.” Nugget’s fur was even puffier, Hilda clung to my shoulder, and Russell hovered in the air above my head.
“I guess that was your way of saying no,” I said to the ghost.
“You’ll fail, Ash witch, you always do. Your past is littered with failures and so is your future. You’re a mistake. The Magic Council should never have let you go.”
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my past, but at least I learned from them. And I’m still learning.” I looked at my familiars and pride made my chest swell. I wasn’t scared of this ghost, not with them here. And Luna’s safety mattered, and I wasn’t giving up on her.
I waved my hands over the open container, evoking the containment spell.
“Your magic can’t trap me,” the ghost said.
Frost crackled against the glass as the temperature grew even colder.
Nugget, Russell, and Hilda moved into position, standing around the container and blasted their own magic into it, strengthening the spell.
“Leave!” the ghost yelled. “You’re not welcome here.”
“Neither are you. It’s time to go. You won’t go willingly, so you leave me no choice.” I thrust out my hands and spread the containment spell around the room.
The mist swelled and pulsed, and I saw flashes of a dark image in it. It was a large, bulky shape that almost touched the ceiling.
I placed both hands over the container and evoked the containment spell again. The magic flowed effortlessly from my hands. It felt amazing to use magic properly again.
There was an angry wail, then the mist vanished, spiraling into the container.
“Quick! Close the lid,” I said.
Nugget knocked the lid down with his head and stood on top.
I snapped it closed, then looked around the room and let out a sigh. It felt peaceful. There were no black marks on the walls, the soot had gone, and the temperature was returning to normal.
“We did it! We captured the ghost.” I knelt and prodded the container with a finger. “That was easy.”
“I never had any doubt we’d do it,” Nugget said. “With us by your side, it was a simple job.”
“Luna’s going to be thrilled. She can get out of the hospital and come home.” I risked petting Nugget on the head, while Hilda danced around the room with Russell, who bobbed along beside her.
I laughed as I watched them do a funny jig. I couldn’t wait to see how Luna was doing. Now the ghost was trapped, he’d no longer have such a hold over her, and after he’d been contained for a while, he’d weaken so she could get free of his grip.
“We should celebrate,” I said.
“Discreetly,” Nugget said. “We don’t want the Magic Council catching us feasting on doughnuts in celebration.”
“You’re right. And that’s something else I need to deal with. The Magic Council will be furious I escaped. I have to convince them I did it for the right reasons. They wouldn’t help Luna, so I had to. I wasn’t using magic to do bad things.”
Hilda hopped on my hand. “We’ll stick up for you. And so will your friends. Once Luna recovers, the Magic Council will see you used your magic for good. You wouldn’t have risked your life to capture this ghost if you weren’t a good witch. That’ll stand in your favor.”
“It’s worth a try arguing that point, but I need to get the Magic Council to listen to me. They’ve never been keen on doing that.”
“We’ll keep fighting until they see sense. They can’t drain you of your magic now you’re using it for good,” Hilda said.
“We’ll take the ghost to show them,” Nugget said. “That’s evidence you’re doing good these days.”
The container on the floor jumped a foot in the air.
I slammed my hand on it. “We need to figure out what to do about the Magic Council later. Let’s get this container back to the house and secure it. We don’t want—”
The lid blasted off, and a foul smelling gray mist shot out. I breathed some of it in and gagged. It stank like the carcass of a rotting animal that had been heated in the sun.
Russell squawked and flew out of the way of the mist. It pursued him, shooting around the room and lunging at him.
“Stay away from Russell!” I blasted out a fireball, not even thinking what I was doing, simply reacting to the ghost escaping. My magic worked perfectly. The fire blasted through the mist and it retreated, only to turn its attention to Nugget.
Before he had a chance to run away, the mist descended on him and he vanished from sight.
“No! Get away from my cat.” I threw myself at the mist. I held another fireball in my hand, but didn’t throw it in case it hit Nugget. I kept grabbing at the mist, trying to break through, but every handful simply slipped through my fingers.
Russell swooped down and plunged through the mist. He disappeared for a few seconds, before rolling out the other side and landing on his back. He hopped to his feet and shook his head.
“Is Nugget hurt? Did you see him?” I gasped out.
Russell gave a short, sharp squawk.
“He’s in there. He’s alive,” Hilda said, from her position on my shoulder.
Nugget was suddenly ejected from the mist. He flopped onto his belly, gasping, his fur covered in green slime.
“No one hurts my familiars and gets away with it.” I blasted a fireball straight into the mist.
It exploded, scattering around the room. The mist swiftly gathered by the doorway and tried to get through, but t
he power from the tiger opals stopped it.
I let out a sigh of relief. The ghost was contained to this room. That would make him easier to get back in the ghost jar, even if he was in this misty form.
The ghostly mist reared back and roared so loudly it made my ears hurt.
I stood tall, Hilda on my shoulder, Russell on the other, and Nugget standing beside me looking gooey but determined.
“We’re not afraid of you. You won’t beat us. Give up now.”
Two glowing eyes appeared in the mist. There was a laugh, and the mist gathered into a large hulking beast. It shot toward me.
I thrust out my hands and blasted a knock back spell. The mist slowed, but kept on coming.
Nugget hissed and orange sparks of magic shot out of him as he pounced and slammed into the mist.
Russell took off from my shoulder and dive-bombed in and out of the mist.
Hilda stood on her back limbs and threw out a sparkling webbing that covered the mist and made it fizzle.
“Keep going, everyone,” I said through gritted teeth as I shoved more power into my knock back spell. “We’re wearing him down.”
The ghostly mist was inching closer, but he had to tire soon. I needed him to. My magic was draining fast, but I was focusing so hard that I only felt mild surprise that my spells were having such an effect on this ghost.
The mist reared up, poured over my head and shot down toward me. An aching cold flooded down my throat, and I couldn’t see.
“No!” I lost control of my spell and batted my hands through the mist, my insides turning to ice. As I dropped to the floor, Russell was alarm calling and Nugget was hissing and snarling, and then nothing.
Chapter 17
My head throbbed as I slowly blinked my eyes open. I tried to lift one arm, but didn’t have the strength to move.
I slid my gaze to the window. Dawn was breaking outside. I’d been unconscious for hours. The last thing I remembered were the cries of anger and distress from Russell and Nugget. Then everything had gone black.
The foul smell of rotting carcass filled my nose. It was sweltering hot inside the apartment, and the black soot had reappeared on the floor.