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He nodded skeptically.
I thought I saw a tear roll down his cheek when I placed my forehead to his. I replayed the memory so he could see for himself. We watched as Cecilia and Ben asked for his return and said they missed him. I heard a sob escape his throat and the memory shifted, showing him a glimpse of the future. Cecilia and Ben were running towards him with their arms out crying and yelling how much they loved him. They were overjoyed that he was finally home. Kace smiled at them in my vision, genuine and full of love.
The film continued to play – a movie of Kace’s past. He was a kid standing up to a boy who pushed a girl down on the playground. I felt his growing discomfort but he was too far in to pull away. Another memory was of Kace stopping and giving a loaf of bread he just purchased to a man sleeping in the overhang of a shop. Next, was Kace yanking his brother off Cecilia. Her face was bloody and bruised. The final picture was Kace sitting next to Cecilia on a bed holding tiny, newborn Ben in his arms. Kace leaned down, gently kissing the boy’s head and whispered that he loved him. The visions stopped. Kace fell to his knees and I fell with him.
“You were a very good man once, Kace. Be that man again. Go home to your family. They need you more than The Shadow does. Don’t you want to go home, Kace? Don’t you want to be with them?” I sang softly, pleading to his love for them.
“Yes, Claire. I want to be with them so much. Please, please send me home,” Kace wailed, throwing his head back. His chest jerked forward violently. He raised his chin accentuating the curve between his chest and neck. His chest tore open and darkness shot from the hole, billowing out like smoke through a chimney as his body trembled, revolting against the release. It seemed like hours passed but I was sure it was only a few minutes. The darkness turned lighter as rays of sunshine were leaving Kace’s body.
“Now, Brent,” I shouted. Brent instantly came and stood beside me. He held his hand out like I had seen him do before, trying to absorb Kace but nothing happened. I saw the darkness half way up the rays as though the light was shadowed on top. The ray of light switched directions and started back toward Kace’s body bringing the darkness with it.
“Brooke, release me. He needs you,” I yelled over the hum from the energy leaving Kace’s body. Brooke turned her focus to Brent immediately increasing his pull towards Kace. I continued telling Kace to go to his family, reminding him how important they were to him. The light began to filter towards Brent’s hand. Kace’s image turned to a silhouette of energy before joining the rays of light and spiraling into Brent’s waiting hand. Brent continued to pull long after the light had vanished.
I looked up to see the other versions of me fading away.
“It’s over, Brent,” I said, placing my hand gently on his shoulder so as not to startle him.
Brent turned to me and I threw my arms around his neck. “You did it. It’s over. He’s gone,” Brent said in my ear, hugging me back.
“We all did it,” I said, as Brent let me go.
The group of us exchanged hugs.
“Congratulations. I knew you could do it.” I was startled by Omni’s voice in the room. I assumed he could only show himself through Maggie’s mirror, which given everything that happened, seemed trivial.
I approached him. “Thank you for believing in me,” I said. “But it took all of us to trap Kace.”
“As we knew it would. I never doubted you,” Omni started, and then paused, looking around the room making eye contact with each one of us. “Any of you,” he finished.
As much as I didn’t want to care about Kace, I did.
“What will happen to Kace now?” I asked.
“He has finally completed his purpose. He can move on now,” Omni said, taking my hand, the warmth surprising me.
“I was his purpose?” I questioned, pulling my hand away.
Omni answered. “For as long as time has existed, there have been lost spirits haunting humans, and there have been Chasers to hunt them down and return them to The Realm. The Shadow discovered how to lock their seals and it became harder for the Chasers. They had become powerless. After some time, a new breed of Chaser’s developed. We were not sure the role they would serve. Agents allowed The Shadow to visit Kace in The Realm. Kace’s purpose was to test the new Chasers as they evolved. What we hadn’t planned for was the need for a Locket to help him complete the purpose. It is a rare birth, from two spirits – uniting at a precise moment in time – to create a child with a soul so forgiving, they can see past any wrong. We surrounded the first Locket with other Chasers but never checked their seals for compatibility. As you know from Kace, the group failed and we had to wait for another to be born. We were much more careful with you, making sure the Chasers we paired you with had seals that shared something with your
own. It turned out the other possible Locket children pulled to you in a way we had not seen before.”
“So this was all a test?’ I asked.
“We needed to know if we would ever have a group of Chasers that were capable of hunting and trapping lost spirits once their seals had been locked. We decided if a group could hunt down a spirit that lost his seal to The Shadow himself, then we could be positive,” Omni explained.
I almost felt pity for Kace.
“So you used him?” I asked
“Don’t worry Claire. You unlocked Kace’s seal and he’ll see redemption because of it. This was always his purpose, Claire, to assist us in finding the ones,” he said, gesturing to the group of us. “He was correct about there being more like him, lost spirits. The group of you will hunt them and send them back to The Realm. Humans will continue to live with their shadow, allowing it to cloak their wrongs. As long as the hauntings bring darkness to humans, The Shadow will use it and control them.”
“That is a huge responsibility,” I said.
Omni smiled warmly. “Yes, it is, Claire. Some of them will go willingly, though. You have seen them.”
“The people in the cemetery?” I guessed and he nodded. “They speak to me.”
“They do, Claire. They have waited a long time for you as well. Once an apparition leaves The Realm without permission, they cannot return unless they’re trapped by a Chaser. There are many out there that escaped and have not joined The Shadow. They’re desperate to resume their lives. They return to their bodies, but are unable to reconnect. They are the truly lost, stuck in a human world without life and unable to return to The Realm.”
