No body, Marci finished for him, looking down at the empty darkness where her chest should have been.Right.
“I’m sorry.”
You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Myron had me dead to rights back there. You’re the only reason I’m notgonegone right now, so I’m not going to complain about a bit more dark.She wiggled what would have been her hands.At least my arms don’t burn anymore. That’s a bonus.
“That was stupid,” he said angrily. “I was protecting you.”
But we were losing.
“Better that than losing you.”
Marci shook what should have been her head. There was no point in explaining the stakes again. He already knew. As always, though, the one who seemed most afraid of her death was death himself. She’d always thought that was sweet. Now, though, looking around, Marci realized that his desperation to keep her with him might run deeper than she’d originally realized.
Not much here, is there?
The wind tilted, and she got the impression he was shrugging. “There’s a reason I’m named ‘Empty.’”
She looked down at the howling void.I can see why you didn’t want me to leave you alone. But what about the forgotten dead? Aren’t they here, too?
“They are,” he said. “But I try not to bother them unless I absolutely must. It’s my job to bring them peace, and they can be hard to find if they’re not clamoring for my attention.” The wind blew in a wide circle. “This place is so large, even the dead can’t fill it.”
Marci looked up in surprise, eyes going wide.Wait,she said.I’m not just inside your magic this time, am I?She looked around at the looming dark.This is your vessel. The hollow our fear of being forgotten dug into the floor of the Sea of Magic that filled and becameyou.
“If you say so,” he said bitterly. “I’ve never had a name for this place. It’s just where I woke up when the cries of the forgotten reached me, before I met you.”
She nodded slowly, staring into the howling emptiness with new appreciation. The other times he’d pulled her in, there’d been too much in the way to see. Now, though, with no physical reality to obscure her view, Marci began to grasp for the first time just howbigher spirit actually was.
Spirits were large by definition, but she’d always thought about them as being on the same scale as Algonquin: huge, but still understandable. The Great Lakes were enormous, but you could still look down on them from an airplane and think “that’s a lake.”
Ghost was different. She’d known he had the potential to be bigger than Algonquin ever since Amelia had explained the concept of Mortal Spirits, but it wasn’t until this moment that Marci understood just howmuchbigger. If Algonquin’s vessel was big enough to hold the Great Lakes, Ghost’s would have encompassed the entire United States of America.
The cavernous space was so enormous, so vast, there was no possible way to see all of it at once. The only reason Marci knew it evenhadan end was because she could feel the edges through Ghost’s magic. The longer she thought about that, the more she understood why Amelia, Raven, and even Algonquin sometimes called Mortal Spirits “gods.” There was simply no other word for something so large.
Well,she said at last.At least I don’t feel so bad now about never being able to fill you up.Now that she knew the truth, Marci was surprised her magic had made a difference at all. Even Amelia’s fire wouldn’t be a drop in a bucket this big.
“It’s because I was close to the edge already when you found me,” he said dismissively. “A little goes a long way when you’re talking about hitting a hard line.”
Just don’t ask me to fill the rest,she said, awed.I don’t know if there’s enough magic in the world to fill a space like this. It’s incredible.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said quietly. “I don’t.”
Why not?
The wind grew colder. “It’s too big. Big and cold and…”
Lonely?
“The dead are always alone,” he said. “Alone in their deaths, and then alone here. The only company they have is when I rescue them from their collapsing graves, and then they are terrified of my face.” The wind holding her began to quiver. “Everyone is terrified of me. Of this place. Everyone, except you.”
Never me,Marci promised.I’ll never be afraid of you, Ghost.
“I know,” he said as his wind squeezed her tighter. “Why do you think I try so hard to save you? I know your work is important, but you’re all I have. If I hadn’t been so fast, Myron would have ripped you apart.”
But he didn’t,she said firmly.Thanks to you. But you of anyone should know how hard I am to kill. The two of us together? Unstoppable.
“Not that unstoppable. Myron and his rat stomped us.”
Stomped us down,she said.Not out. But while the DFZ might have more magic than you right now, and Myron’s clearly got the casting edge on me, they don’t have what we have. They don’t have this.She ran a mental hand over the bond that connected them.That’s our strength, and it’s how we’re going to beat them.
