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“Maybe we should have gotten salt for a circle,” Lincoln said. “A little too late, now.”
“He’s laughing at that,” Troy informed him.. Addressing the spirit, he called out, “Do us all a favor and get out while you can. I don’t think being blocked from this town will be pleasant.”
An audible growl echoed in the night before he materialized in front of us.
“Holy fucking shit,” Ethan gasped. “Tell me you’re all seeing this.” A chorus of agreement rang out. The dark figure was visible for all of us now, an after effect of his new energy boost, courtesy of the town I would assume. It felt like electricity filled the air, the hair on my arms standing on end and skin tingling as he circled us like a shark.
“You can’t stop us,” I said evenly. “He’s right. You should go.”
“He says no. This is his town,” Troy translated. “And a string of curses I won’t repeat. You should really learn more creative uses of language.”
“Shit,” Sully cursed as he was violently yanked forward, slamming to his knees. Lincoln quickly got him back on his feet, checking that he was alright.
“Don’t fucking touch him!” Ethan yelled, pulling out a spray bottle from his bag. “I came prepared.”
“With water?” Gavin asked.
“Holy water,” he corrected. “It’s the last of my supply and I had to dilute it a bit, but here.” He sprayed us all with it. “An extra layer of protection never hurts.”
“Uh, Ethan?” I said as I grabbed his hand. He was steadily rising and soon I was being dragged with him until Lincoln and Ben grabbed on to weigh me down. “I’m guessing our protection is useless right now.”
“Good to know,” Troy practically whimpered. “He plans to throw at least one of us into the sea by the end of the night, if not all. He said we can join him for eternity since we won’t leave.”
“Not a chance,” I growled vehemently. “Jacked up energy or not, you can’t hurt us.” As if to prove his point something slammed into us, dropping us all into a heap.
“He’s proven otherwise plenty of times,” Sully said. “Don’t piss him off.”
“Done,” Adam announced, handing the double-sided rune stone off to Lincoln. He studied it closely before rushing off in a full sprint for the lighthouse.
“We don’t split up!” I yelled, taking off after him now that I was back on solid ground. It felt like we were running through molasses. Each step was labored as the energy intensified to the point it was hard to breathe. A weight bogged down every inch of me to the point I was barely moving. Even Lincoln was affected ahead, although seemingly not quite as much as I was.
“Let her go!” Sully bellowed. “Someone go get salt.”
Gavin took off running back down the hill, sliding on the grass which only took him further from the ghost trying to stop us.
“Keep fighting it,” Ethan called out to Lincoln. I was sweating profusely as I struggled, every labored move like I’d done a marathon of exercise and I knew I’d be sore tomorrow. But we couldn’t stop pushing to the top. I was finally inside and on the stairs, Lincoln still ahead of me. I’d hate to see how awful this would be without the necklaces we all wore to keep ourselves protected. The fact these ghosts could ignore most of it was unsettling to say the least.
By the time Gavin arrived we were halfway up. He moved freely as he threw out handfuls of salt like confetti. It would have been comical watching us fight against nothing and him throwing it around, if not for the terrifying quality of having no control over our bodies. My hands clung to the railing with everything I had in fear of being pitched over the side.
“Here,” Gavin said, tossing salt on me. I barely closed my eyes before it rained down on me, clinging to my hair and to my sweaty skin. It worked instantly, my breathing returning to normal, and I nearly slammed forward at the change of force, only my hand on the railing holding me upright.
“Lincoln,” I told him as Gavin ran past me. Now I was on their heels as Lincoln regained his movement and rushed to the top.
“Fuck,” I gasped out as we stared off against the wall of shadows in the room. But Lincoln simply held the rune above his head as he glanced wildly around.
“The rafters,” I said quickly, already climbing the wall despite having to walk right through the shadows. The salt still clung to my body so they were powerless to stop me as I used the metal caging over the windows to lift myself higher, ignoring how terrifying it was being uncoordinated and high up. Lincoln rushed over and put a hand on me for support before passing me the rune. There was just enough space on the rafter beams I was able to wedge it behind a joist, blocking it from view.
“Holy shit,” Gavin said. “They’re gone.”
Lincoln helped me down before I glanced around to find us alone now. Frantic footsteps thundered up the stairs and the rest of our group joined us.
“He literally flew backwards and disappeared,” Sully told us as he reached the top with the others. “I think you did it. That witch of yours is handy.”
“She’s amazing,” I agreed. “And now we can finally have some fucking peace.”
“No shit, I don’t think I’ve slept well since we arrived,” Ethan agreed.
“Remind me to never come ghost hunting with you guys again,” Troy joked weakly. “I’m only partially kidding. This was fucking nuts.”
