This isn’t right, Oberi said as he stepped back.
“Thad!” Marcus kept trying to get his attention, but all Thaddeus could do was scream. “It’s Marcus. I sent you down to Cellblock 9, remember? You’ve got to tell us what you learned!”
“Can’t you see he’s incapable?” Ava yelled. “Marcus, you’ve got to send him back to Ancestral Lands. Staying here is killing him!”
“He’s already dead,” Marcus shot back.
“You know what I mean,” Ava snapped. “The longer he stays, the more tortured he becomes. Tortured souls can’t move on alone. Send him backnow!”
Several beats passed, and all that seemed to exist was the hollowing cry of Thaddeus’ tortured spirit. He sounded in so much pain— like his soul was being torn apart from the inside out.
“I can’t—” Marcus rasped.
“You can, and you will,” Ava growled. “He can’t help us in the state he’s in! The least we can do is help him!”
“No, I mean… I’m trying, and I can’t!” Marcus said. “Thad should be able to move on, but my connection to the other side is… gone. I— I can’t send him back.”
Terror festered within me, but I refused to accept it. We damn sure were going to find a way. We’d break down the gates of the Blessed Haven ourselves to send Thaddeus through, if we had to.
But we didn’t get a chance to discuss it, because Thaddeus’ screams came to an abrupt halt. A blast of ice-cold air nearly knocked me to the floor, then… everything became silent. The room returned to its normal temperature, and the sound of ghostly wails ceased. It was like Thaddeus had never been there in the first place.
Then, we heard it— the banging above our heads, and the faint shrill squawk of his hawk. The whole room groaned, and clanging came from inside the walls.
“Whathappened?” Kallie demanded.
Marcus’ voice shook as he got to his feet. His footsteps were light and timid as he took several steps back. “Thaddeus transformed into a poltergeist.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded. We were all panicking, and it certainly wasn’t helping the situation.
Marcus was on the verge of tears. “It’s what becomes of a tortured soul. When they can’t contain their energy, they become a spiritual being who can influence our surroundings. Poltergeists can bite you or move things around the room. His spirit has basically been torn to pieces, and although he can return in spirit every now and then, he’ll have no choice to do so. His spiritual presence is left up to chance.”
Nobody spoke as the horror of what Marcus said sank in. It was like watching Thaddeus die all over again. If there was any chance of helping him move on, that just went out the window.
“I… never intended for this to happen,” Marcus rasped.
“Intention or not, your poor decisions led to this,” Ava bit at him.
“I’m not an idiot,” he snapped. “Obviously, I fucked up. What do you want me to say, Ava? That you were right? Because you were. You don’t need to rub it in, okay?”
His voice cracked, and Ava didn’t say anything. Then I felt her sorrow slip through the bond. Something changed in her when he admitted he fucked up.
I heard her roll forward and lean in to give Marcus a hug.
Marcus was silent, before he let out a sob. I felt his embrace through our bond as Marcus hugged her tightly and cried into her shoulder. “I’m really sorry, Ava. I should’ve listened.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Sometimes we make bad choices.”
She held him for a moment, before Marcus gave a sniff and drew away. “I made a really bad choice this time.”
“None of us are innocent,” Ava replied. “We’ll get through it. We’re getting out of here.”
I heard her think,Even if Thad didn’t.
Marcus was pretty torn up, so Kallie took him back to his room. She promised us she wasn’t going to leave him alone before they left. I wheeled Ava back to our cell, but she must’ve felt I had more to say, because she turned to me and said, “You’ve been awfully quiet.”
I sat on the couch, and Oberi hopped up beside me. “I’m thrilled we’re getting a chance to leave, but that’s all it is right now. Achance. We don’t know for sure if this will work. We’re putting our lives in other people’s hands to pull this off, and that scares me.”
“I don’t think we have another choice,” Ava said.
