It’ll be okay, beautiful. It’ll be okay.I tried to tell her this with my actions, with the brush of my face against hers, the strong grip on her shoulders holding her up. I wished they made bullets for curses and ghosts.
“I hear her,” she said. Her eyes moved to focus behind me, widening in terror. I spun around and flung my wings out wide, blocking all sight of Ava behind me, as well as making me look like a bigger fucker than I already was.
A brown, murky shape crawled around slowly, the same color as the curse clinging to Ava’s hand. The shape was low to the ground like a human hunched over, crawling with mechanical jerks on hands and knees. Its back was curved like a cat aiming to fight. Two white dots of light held where eyes should be. Its head was jerking back and forth unnaturally as it shifted forward, getting closer.
* * *
I pressedmy back against the large flat rock behind me. My fingers reached out, brushing over the small entrance. Fear curdled inside me and I felt like I was burning up with fever. The fire radiated from my hand and was soaring upwards over my whole body. My mind was in a foggy daze of panic and I was exhausted, even as adrenaline pumped into my system.
I pressed tighter against the wall. Pollux stood in front of me, wide and tall, wings spread as far as they could go. I heard him inhale as he spotted my ghost. I couldn’t see around him and I didn’t want to.
“There you are,” the little girl said, the sound scratching at my spine. Every single terrifying ghost I saw as a child flashed through my head, all the fear I’d felt back then bucking back to the surface. The long nights of faces in windows, fingers stretching out from closets, hands grabbing from under my bed.
My family envied the ghosts coming to me, the ease at which I saw and heard them. I was their blessed witch. They didn’t understand the weight of it and when they tried to tell me about the rich history of the Luna witches that came before me, all I saw were kindred victims. All I saw was a solemnly shared black fate.
I couldn’t escape the ghosts. Not till Caspian came. He’d been my savior, holding me through the night. At some point, I actually convinced myself I could escape this. That I didn’t have to be surrounded by them. That I didn’t have to be some magic girl destined for great things.
But I was wrong.
Now I feared my own naive hopes were partially to blame for this outcome. My worst nightmare was going to come true. The ghosts would finally get me and once they did I’d never escape. They’d kill me and they’d drag my soul from me all just to keep me close because I wasblessed.
Pollux surged forward suddenly. I tried to grab him to keep him close. There was nothing he could do to a ghost. At least I didn’t think he could but as he flew towards her I held my breath in hope. The hope crashed and burned as I saw him fly right through a dark figure hunched close to the ground.
My eyes widened in shock as I aimed the flashlight on her. A little girl, with limbs stretched out as if someone pulled on them for too long. Her neck twitched and her smile stretched. She had thin lips over yellow teeth. She was gaunt with long dark hair dragging against the cavern floor. Her eyes were white dots in pools of black, aimed vaguely in my direction as her limbs began to scrape against the floor in a slow drag. Her strange eyes remained unfocused, making me think she couldn’t see well.
I cried out as my splinter burned more. I felt sweat slipping into my eyes, stinging. Every time she got closer the splinter’s pain grew and I felt worse.
“Finally!” Her voice scratched from her neck. She looked like something that used to be human but hadn’t been for a very long time. Sometimes ghosts looked normal, sometimes they didn’t. She was one of the grotesquely abnormal varieties.
“Come play with me,” she said as I watched her hands and feet slide over the floor, her limbs jerking without finesse. She looked more like a spider stumbling towards me than a human and with every inch she grew closer, the searing pain in my hand increased as it throbbed further up my arm, reaching up towards my heart.
If she touched me, I was dead. I could sense that in my bones, my instincts screaming.
My fingers found the edge of the circular rock and I thrust myself through the narrow gap. There was only about five feet I had to get through before I’d be in the tunnel.
The walls hugged me tightly and my ribs protested. I gritted my teeth and wiggled deeper. Two instincts warred. One saying to get away from the ghost at all costs. The other saying I was pushing myself in a place I’d get stuck and die in.
I started to panic as the walls closed in. I squirmed, trying to shift myself forward. For a moment, I thought I was completely stuck. It felt like things got tighter, the walls squeezing harder, crushing me. As my own hot breath was pushed right back in my face I felt like I couldn't breathe. I gulped down air, panic making me hyperventilate.
The ghost was in that room behind me though. I couldn’t let her touch me. I squirmed and wiggled. Finally, my fingers felt the end of this crevice. I gripped the edge of the rock and pulled. The walls pressed hard on my ribs, making the breath expel out of me. I groaned in pain.
I felt Pollux’s fingers brushing my arm, trying to grip me. The sound of his wings pumping became loud and he gave a deep grunt, sounding like a giant bear huffing its angry frustration. He didn’t want me to go this way but there was no other choice now.
Suddenly I was free, spilling into the tunnel. My ribs ached as I dragged in air, stumbling forward. My head was swimming and my splintered hand was killing me.
My foot snagged on a lip of the rock on the floor. I fell down, awkwardly careening with no way to catch my fall.
A loud, dull thunk sounded as my head hit hard rock. The flashlight clattered, rolling away as the light slowly fluttered out. I was in complete darkness as my eyes slid shut.
6
Iwoke up confused.
I pressed my hand to my head and it was wet, the scent of twangy iron wafting off my fingers when I pulled it back. Where were the guys? How long had I passed out?
Every effort to move felt like fighting against a crushing weight holding me down. Each breath felt labored as I filled my lungs. All around me was complete darkness. Dizziness swirled inside my skull, making me feel unmoored from gravity. My mind was tumbling over and under itself like I was a child caught in a wave at the beach, rolling relentlessly.
I let out a groan of pain, my entire arm radiating agony. It was as if the splinter had been slowly working into my system, tainting me without any indication until finally, it had worked itself in deep enough to destroy me with one swift stomp of its boot.
