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A dark cloud left Lee, swarming over him and the rest of the bikers.
Screams, howls, shrieks came from the cloud. The sounds were terrifying.
The light turned green.
Lee pulled forward.
I watched as we passed.
The dark clouds looked like a giant snake, writhing, striking and killing whoever was inside until it vanished. As we turned onto the street for the school, there was one biker ghost left behind. The one that Lee spoke to.
He was shaking.
Cassian’s head was on a swivel. “What just happened back there? Someone threatened Cole? Who? Who, dammit?”
Lee’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t reply. As he turned into the parking lot for the school, I groaned. He cursed.
Cassian barked, “What? What is it? I need to know.”
The Witching Line was still lit when we got there. Ghosts, spirits, and now humans were walking it.
Shelton, Beatrice, Benji, and the principal ghost were waiting for us. Melbor and the ghost that helped me get through the factory were also there. They were standing to the side.
They took one look at me and began shaking their heads. Melbor whistled lowly. “Word traveled fast that the Assault Girl got the Reaper’s girlfriend’s body. I hoped it wasn’t true. Sad to see it was.”
Lee was filling Cassian in on everyone’s presence.
I stepped through the door, which was such a weird sensation. “He’s not a Reaper.”
“He’s our Reaper.”
Lee shut the driver’s door behind him. He flicked Melbor with a warning look. “I’ve not been motivated to do a lot of work. Maybe not give me a reason to start. Hmm?”
Melbor swallowed, his face looking pinched. The factory ghost smacked him on the bicep. “No motivation here. In fact, we’re sadly lacking ambition of any sort as well. We’ll be returning back to our places. Not the factory or the landfill. No, no. We always haunt the, uh, the one cemetery back in the country. Yeah. Way far away from here. It’s so small too. Four graves. No reason to come looking for us. Ever.” They hurried away, looking back a few times as they headed in the direction of the factory and landfill.
Lee watched them, coming to stand next to me.
“Is that what it’s like for you? Ghosts threatening you or lying to you?”
He sighed. “None of it matters.”
He began to move away. I caught him by the shirt.
He glanced at me, pausing.
I held on firmly. “It matters, Lee. What you do, who you are, it matters. It matters to me.”
“You know what matters to me?” Lee asked, softly, but with bite. There was an edge to his tone. “You. If we don’t find this bitch, I will scorch this entire town. That’s what matters to me. That’s the only thing that matters to me right now.” He suddenly held his hand out. “You.” His hand curved, cupping someone. “Come.”
Shelton was in his grasp, and he was pulled to Lee. Like in the hospital, like with Sabine, Shelton couldn’t do anything once he was in Lee’s grasp. The hold he had on him was around his throat. An invisible handle. Shelton was trying to claw at it, as if to breathe. He was kicking.
“Don’t,” he squeaked. Struggling. “Don’t—I can’t breathe.”
“You don’t need air,” Lee warned and closed his hand slowly.
Shelton squeaked again, his face getting more and more pale.
Lee was choking the life out of him. Literally. Whatever life force a ghost needed, that’s what Lee was holding in the palm of his hand. It wasn’t actual air, not how humans needed it. It was the energy ghosts needed in order to exist.
