Slate shared the pained expression, but didn’t object. He and Dash got what they wanted and there were some arguments he just wasn’t going to win.
Slate paced the room, checking the wards. Again. He already knew they’d created them properly; he just needed to do something while they waited.
“You’re going to create a walking path if you don’t stop,” Dash said. “They’ll get here when they get here.”
The irony of being told to relax by Dash forced Slate to smile. “You’re just jealous my track will be more defined than yours.”
“Not at all.” He pushed off the wall and stepped closer to Slate. “You have bigger feet, so naturally, you’d cut a groove faster than me.”
“You know what they say about big feet?” Slate said, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Yep. You need to buy big shoes.” Dash looked around dramatically. “But the other part is true too.”
“Whatever you two are doing, you’re having way too much fun,” Meredith said as she crossed the room. “Everyone looks like they think the house is going to collapse.”
Slate’s cheeks burned, and he worried she would figure them out. “Nothing?—”
“I mentioned he had big feet.” Dash winked at Slate. “He pointed out mine were just as big.”
He hadn’t said that, but if they were talking aboutfeetinstead of feet, Dash wasn’t wrong. “He said I’m beating a path in the floor with my pacing.”
“Ah,” Meredith smirked, and it reminded Slate of Dash. “That would cause a guy to blush. Anyway.” She drew out the last word. “Just figured you should know, Grandpa and Clifford are prepared to banish these two if you can’t push them out.”
“Over,” Dash said. “We need to force them to cross over, and we will. But thank you for the heads-up. We?—”
Dash’s hand went toward his neck, but he slapped it down. A second before Slate detected the arrival of ghosts. “Incoming,” Slate said.
As if he’d summoned it, the temperature dropped, and the wall rippled.
Thomas phased through first, Wilbur thrashing in his hold. Oliver did his best to hold onto the other ghost’s legs. Slate had never seen him so determined.
Cain and Gary came next. Theodore struggled against the hold, but Cain’s expression didn’t waver. Like Thomas, he’d said he’d dealt with bullies before, and this proved he hadn’t lied.
The moment everyone passed through the wall, light flared along the chalk symbols. Linked to the wards, Slate knew the instant the containment was complete.
The ghosts must have sensed it too, because Cain and Thomas released their prisoners, and Theodore and Wilbur scanned the room, their heads whipping around in jerky movements.
Theodore tried to leave, but he slammed into the invisible barrier. He spun, rage twisting his features. “What is this?”
“You wanted to come to the party,” Thomas said. His voice was calm, but his expression was almost amused. “Consider this your personal invitation.”
Wilbur lunged for the wall they’d come through, and spectral energy crackled around him. He kept trying until his form flickered, and he pulled back. “This is outrageous! Wait and see what we do to the town when we get out.”
“That’s right.” Theodore’s voice rose. “You can’t hold us forever. If you don’t release us immediately, when we break out, everyone in this pathetic place will suffer.”
After how well the containment worked, Slate ignored the bluster. The threats, however, confirmed that Theodore and Wilbur were exactly what they feared. They were bullies who terrified people and other ghosts to feed off the negative emotions.
“You won’t terrorize anyone,” Slate said. “This is a stopover, not a prison.”
“Do you think you’re the first mediums to try to banish us?” Theodore circled the perimeter, poking at the barrier as he walked. “These flimsy wards won’t last long.”
“As Slate said, we’re not planning to keep you for long,” Dash said. “And we have backup.”
Morten and Clifford moved out of the shadows, and Wilbur’s fear smothered his false swagger. “I’m confident we’re nothing like the mediums you allegedly faced before,” Clifford said.
“You’re bluffing,” Theodore said. “We’ve been around longer than any of you. Your little cage won’t hold us.”
He was probably right that no cage could hold them forever. Fortunately, they didn’t need that long. Slate glanced at Dash as their hands met. Dash’s energy flowed through their link and merged with Slate’s.
