“Stop!” I yelped, and Charlie wrenched the chair to a halt. I gasped, putting a hand to my middle as a fresh bout of pain ripped through my abdomen at the abrupt halt.
Once we stopped, the ghosts swarmed in like locusts. They soared over us with devilish cackles, ripping at our clothes and hair. Oberi snarled as the ghosts bit into his pelt and tossed him around the room. Rishi remained in the corner, hissing and swiping at the ghosts, while Charlie cast harsh gusts of wind to throw the floating spirits off course. I summoned a barrage of icicles from the puddles lying around the room, but the icy daggers merely floated through the spirits, not doing any harm.
Charlie let out a cry of pain as a spirit with insanely long claws cut into his back. The claws sliced through his sweater, making him bleed.
That pissed me right off, so I forced my brain to come up with a solution. I’d destroyed the lichen during the Darke Games with my blue Fire, and that monster certainly had more power than the ghostly fucks here.
I gritted my teeth as I used simultension to combine my Fire and Water magic to create the blue flame, then shot it out in an arc around me. The ghosts squealed as the blue fire touched their forms, then raced upward to escape it. A couple more approached, but I shot blue fireballs at their forms, which left holes burning in their sides. They wailed as they drew away, hovering above us in a search for an opening to attack.
Dust billowed throughout the room as an explosion shuddered throughout the cell block. Kallie emerged from the smoke, in her shifter form with Marcus on her back. The shadow man faced him, crouching downward as it gave a horrid noise of rage.
Marcus’ whole body shook as he held on tightly to Kallie’s fur. He lookedpissed.
“I order you to be gone. You must go back to the darkness, where you belong,” Marcus raged.
“You cannot leave this place! You will stay with us forever!” the shadow man bellowed.
“No one stays here forever. Not even you,” Marcus seethed. He pointed to the hundreds of ghosts waiting in the rafters above, then to the shadow man, as he uttered, “Destroy him.”
Screeching noise, like nails on glass, emitted from the ghosts as they swept downward in a circular, torrential vortex. They went right for the shadow man, using their long nails and broken teeth to rip into his spiritual form. The shadow man gave a wicked bellow and threw off a couple of the ghosts, but was soon smothered by the hundreds of beings that rushed in to hold him down. The shadow man gave one final scream of anguish, before he and all the other ghosts vanished in a spectacular flash of green. All that was left was Marcus, who was still panting, and Kallie, wagging her tail.
Holy shit, Oberi muttered, and I lifted an eyebrow. Holy shit, indeed.
“What’d you do to him?” Charlie asked as Kallie padded toward us.
“I made the other ghosts drag him off to the Abyss, because he refused to go,” Marcus said darkly. “Death row should be a lot less haunted, after tonight.”
“I’ve never seen someone who was able to control ghosts like that,” Kallie said. “I didn’t even think it was possible.”
“That’s right. Marcus, youcommandedthose ghosts to do what you told them to,” I marveled. “They didn’t have a choice but to listen.”
“I don’t know how I did that. I just felt like I should, and I didn’t question it this time, like I have in the past,” Marcus stated.
“Well, you should try practicing that during our next demigod lesson, because it’d be helpful if you could do it whenever you like,” Charlie noted.
“If I’m a demigod, I have to start using my power,” Marcus said. “I’m sick of being scared and pushed around. I remembered him— that shadow guy— from my time here as Dante. He tormented me until the day he died, then he came back as a ghost to torment me until the day that I did. After all these years, I figured it was time to repay the fucking favor.”
Charlie let out a noise of discomfort, and I patted his side. “Turn around. Let me see your back.”
He pulled off his soaked sweater, and the movement made a slick sound echo throughout the chamber. He knelt beside me, and I winced as I surveyed the damage. Three large, bloody gashes stretched across his back, several inches deep. He’d need stitches if I didn’t fix them right away.
I moved my fingers over the gashes, whispering a song. I watched as the cuts healed up, good as new, and Charlie rolled his shoulders as the blood dried on his skin. “Feels much better, thank you. Are the rest of you okay?”
“The ghosts didn’t hurt us,” Kallie said as Rishi gave a meow, then jumped to land in Marcus’ arms. “Just gave us a fright.”
“Those were much stronger than your average ghosts,” I noted.
“They’ve had a lot of time to grow in power here, feeding off the misery of the other inmates,” Marcus said. “But they won’t be a problem anymore.”
“And we got what we came here for,” Kallie sang. “Let’s go looking for Dante’s grave right now!”
“We should start later,” I said. “I know we’re close, but we need time to rest, after all of that.”
“But it’s six o’clock. Curfew is over!” Kallie objected.
“We’ll go on ahead,” Marcus said, touching Kallie’s shoulder. “Ava needs some time to rest.”
Kallie nodded firmly, and she went off with Marcus to start scanning the grounds. I really wanted to help, but I was exhausted. My middle still hurt, and having multiple heart attacks due to the freaky ghosts on death row had been far from a trip to the spa. I needed to lie down, at least for a moment.
