“Makwa,” I cried.
“Know you’re strong. Know you can wield ghosts, control them, eat them if you have to. You aren’t weak, Ava. You aren’t human. You will survive,” he growled deeply.
We groaned in pain, our voices both coming from my mouth at the same time—a horrid cacophony. Every muscle in my body strained. It felt as if Ben’s words were needles in every pore, beginning to suction out all my blood. It wasn’t my blood though, it was Makwa, his body being forcefully pulled to the surface.
* * *
Ava’s head flung back,her eyes wide and white as I felt myself forcefully ejected from her body. Her mouth stretched open in a silent scream as my body poured out of it.
It wasn’t painless—not for her or me. It was as if someone’s hands had reached into her throat, digging down into her gut to latch on to me. A hundred little needles sunk into my body and yanked me out brutally.
I growled as I was pulled from her, sludge and ichor spilling on the ground until finally, my dirty skeleton lay there. Little shocks of electricity sparkled across my bones. I looked up at Ben and cracked my teeth together in a grimace. He looked disgusted and the others looked terrified.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t appreciate their fear and disgust.
I was weak. Weaker than I’d ever been. The worst part was that I couldn’t feel Ava anymore. There was an empty spot in my mind where she used to exist. It felt as if someone had died even though she was right beside me, passed out on the ground.
I stumbled up, the sludge pulling up and around me. This was bad. Ben was holding an archaic-looking dagger in his fist a little too aggressive for comfort. I cracked my teeth once more before my skull was covered in black sludge.
I stumbled towards him, tired tentacles reaching out to latch on to his wrist and tangle with his face. I flung myself on him, trying to take my one shot at killing him. I clawed my boney fingers in the scarf on his face, jerking it off to get at whatever wound was hidden.
I was expecting carnage and blood. What I got was entirely different. Half the skin was missing off his face. There was no blood though, only bone. An empty eye socket peered at me, a deer skull partially on display under human skin. I reached out and dug my bone fingers into the wound and scratched. The skin peeled off like clothing from his scalp. An antler stub jutted up where the skin came off.
He threw me off him, grabbing the tentacle on his wrist and pulling it off. He held it, squirming in his fist as he sawed the dagger across it. The tentacle fell to the ground, sizzling until all that was left was a dark stain in the dirt.
I wailed in rage and pain. He was going to kill me. The only option was to retreat. It meant leaving Ava but I couldn’t be much help for her dead either. It was a small comfort that I knew he needed her alive.
The moon beat down on me too brightly, beams of light searing across my body.
I detangled myself from Ben and fled. It was the only thing I could do.
I had to get to the others and tell them where to find Ava before I died. I moved down the mountain like a wraith, the moon burning on my back. The trees offered a small amount of shade that barely seemed to help. Each second felt like I was burning alive. I was dying.
I flew at a speed no human could match, heading towards Ava’s men back at the house. We hadn’t left them that long ago. Ben had moved at an incredible pace once he grabbed Ava, vaulting through the forest in great leaps no human could do.
Which meant I had to go the entire length back down the mountain, growing weaker the entire way. I began to wonder if I’d even make it. I felt small and frail, more and more of my black sludge burning away until there was barely enough to cover me.
The house came into view, silent in the dark. I rushed in, banging my way through the house until I dropped to the ground outside the bedroom. Mothman appeared to have just woken up after the blow he took to the head.
I’d witnessed the fight after Ava passed out but couldn’t do much else, having minimal power reserves. Normally, I could have taken control of her body but while running on fumes I was trapped as an observer.
He dragged himself to Caspian first, rolling him on his back and slapping him in the face roughly to wake him up. A brittle, dry laugh wheezed out of me to see his bitch slap tactic. Mothman shot me a look but then moved to Brandon, performing the same slap he’d offered Caspian, waking them both up.
“Ava,” I hissed, crawling across the floor, finally making it fully into the bedroom. I thought this would hurt but I felt nothing at all, entirely numb. Physical and emotional feelings drying up. There was one thing I still cared about though.
“Makwa?” Brandon asked as I coughed. Black painted the carpet by my head.
“What are you doing here?” Caspian asked, jumping to his feet, sounding panicked. “If you’re here… “
“She’s alive,” I mumbled. “Listen. He’s taking her somewhere. A peak on the mountain. They’d been heading there the whole time. He talked about it while she was passed out.” They had to lean in to hear me, my voice a raspy hiss.
“Are you… dying?” Brandon asked, his eyes skating over what was left of me.
“Listen,” I said. “Ben’s from Mothman’s world. He’s opening a doorway. He’s taking her… “ I trailed off, my voice withering away. I set my head on the carpet.
“He’s dying,” Brandon said, looking to Caspian. When no one responded I managed a dry chuckle. They didn’t care. They hated me.
“Good riddance, right?” I whispered.
