Chapter 21
Lifting a grey arm and pointing his charcoal finger at the viscountess, the ghost screamed.
‘Murderer!’
Anna cowered behind her mother, her eyes wide with fear. ‘I told you, Mother! I told you Papa wouldn’t let us leave.’
Violet’s face whitened with fear, but she pushed Anna behind her and straightened her shoulders. ‘You can’t hurt us any more, Arthur. I killed you once. I can do it again.’
The ghost’s laughter was a cold and terrifying thing. Chills skated up Clio’s spine as gooseflesh broke out over her arms and legs.
‘You can’t punish the dead. We are already suffering for our crimes.’ Arthur turned to Clio, grabbed her wrist, and held her tight enough to leave a bruise. ‘Kill her. You must avenge me. You promised to help. She murdered me! Make her face judgement.’
Clio tried to pull free, but his grip was too powerful.
‘I won’t.’ She kept her voice strong and steady. ‘Murdering her will not help you find peace.’
‘I don’t want peace. I want revenge,’ he rasped, yanking hard on her wrist, pulling her close and gripping her throat with his other hand.
As he began to squeeze, Clio saw stars. His silver gaze held her in thrall.
Her magic stalled in her chest, the flame flickering, starved of oxygen as her lungs began to scream for air.
She could barely hear him over her pounding heart.
‘I can’t touch her. But I can hurt you. I can kill you.
And I will do it if you don’t follow my command.
’ His harsh promise seeped into her like frigid water, bringing with it the icy guarantee of being forever trapped as a spectre.
Not of this world, but not able to leave.
‘I don’t follow anyone’s command but my own,’ Clio gasped.
And Thomas’ on very special occasions. The mere thought of him pitched her into a panic.
What if she never saw him again? What if she died tonight and he never knew how much she loved him?
Her heart beat madly as she tried to think.
She should have told him sooner. The moment he arrived, she should have put aside her fear and made him see how very much she adored him, just as he was, with no changes.
She closed her eyes and imagined his face.
If she were going to die this night, she wanted the last thing she saw to be him.
‘Let her go!’ Thomas’ deep voice resonated in her imagination. It felt so real. As if she’d conjured him from thin air.
The unmistakable caw of Sir Robin pulled her from the edge of darkness.
She forced her eyes open, and Arthur was no longer looking at her.
His deathly grip fell away as he covered his head, protecting himself from the talons of her raven as Sir Robin once more attacked.
Perhaps it was his connection to Clio as her familiar, or some mystical blessing from the fates, but whatever the cause, Sir Robin was able to pierce the viscount’s ghostly skin.
Viscount Beachley swung his arm blindly, hitting the bird as Sir Robin descended.
Feathers flew. Sir Robin careened wildly across the room.
He landed with a thunk near Anna’s skirts. The girl screamed.
But the bird was only stunned. He hopped to his feet, blinking rapidly and fluffing his feathers, his head cocked to the side.
Clio felt a moment of relief before the viscount reclaimed her attention. He lowered his arms, and silver dripped from his face where black claw marks marred his once-perfect skin.
‘I will kill you both. You first, witch.’ He moved with inhuman speed, but before he could reach her, Thomas was at her side, gripping her hand in his.
The heat from his palm seeped into her as she took a ragged breath. She filled her lungs, and with it, her flame renewed, heating her chest. A dome of light surrounded them. As the viscount slammed into it, he was thrown backwards, his face twisting in rage.
‘No!’ He turned to Violet and Anna, moving towards them.
‘This is all because of you!’ He pointed a grey finger at his wife, the hatred in him creating a pulse of energy that struck out like a bolt, striking near Violet’s feet and leaving a charred scar on the wooden floor.
The viscount’s eyes lit with surprise, then a manic kind of joy.
He flung his rage once more, this bolt striking Violet in the belly. She cried out and doubled over.
‘Oh, dear goddess.’ Clio watched in horror as the viscount laughed in glee. He was somehow able to channel his fury into power. She’d never seen anything like this before. But she’d never encountered a ghost with such malevolent energy pulsing through his spirit.
‘You couldn’t just let me kill her.’ The viscount threw another bolt of energy, this one barely missing Anna. ‘I’ll finish what I started. And then I’ll bring you to this side, Violet. I’ll make you pay for what you did for all eternity. You’ll never escape me.’
‘What is happening?’ Thomas jolted forward, but Clio tightened her grip. She didn’t know how to defeat the viscount, but she knew they needed to stay together.
She lifted her free hand, their combined power lighting a blue flame in the centre of her palm. Furrowing her brow, she changed the flame’s form into an arrow. With a flick of her eyes, it flew, embedding itself into the viscount before he could launch another attack on his wife and daughter.
He howled a chilling scream and turned, the arrow flickering and then dissolving. But it achieved her goal of claiming the ghost’s attention.
His silver gaze narrowed on Clio. ‘I thought you could help me. But I don’t need you to avenge me. Not any more.’ The viscount threw a ball of black, roiling rage that crashed into Clio’s shield, shattering the dome.
She couldn’t destroy the viscount. Her oath to do no harm held true for all, even the poisonous spirit of a dead madman. But she could contain him.
She’d never attempted such powerful magic alone. Thomas tightened his grip, squeezing her fingers and reminding her he was right there with her. She didn’t have her coven, but she had him, and he was somehow fuelling her magic.
‘Thomas, we are going to bind him.’ She needed something to hold the ghost. A vessel to contain his soul. Her eyes caught on the doll clutched in Anna’s arm.
Sir Robin needed no instructions. He hopped over to the girl, grasping the doll in his claws and winging towards the ceiling.
Anna’s eyes widened as her arms fell limply to her side.
In a flurry of black feathers, Sir Robin returned to Clio, dropping the doll at her feet.
She picked it up, letting her magic fill the doll with a blinding light.
Resuming his position on her shoulder, Sir Robin clacked his beak. ‘Bastard!’ But this time, he wasn’t talking about Thomas.
‘By air, earth, water, and fire, I bind Arthur’s spirit to this doll.’ Clio’s voice rang like a bell, resonant with power.
The viscount snarled. His chest expanded as he pulled darkness from the shadows of the room.
‘By air, earth, water, and fire, I bind you here to do no harm.’
Muttering his own curse, the viscount held out his hands, and the air between them began to bubble and boil like heated tar.
‘By air, earth, water, and fire, in this doll, you shall remain until you choose to leave this plane.’ She pushed her power into the spell, willing the words to wind around him like ivy.
Arthur lifted his hands, the sphere of black power hovering. ‘You will die screaming, witch.’
Clio repeated the spell, Thomas joining her. His deep voice lent power to her own as the viscount threw his vicious wrath in a jagged sphere of rage.
Clio countered his attack, launching her own blue spear of power that flew true and straight through the ball and into his stomach.
Arthur’s volley was aimed at her chest. Her spear did not stop the ball’s trajectory, but she hoped it might lessen the blow.
Thomas stepped in front of her, absorbing the orb. His body arced as if electrified. His hoarse cry ripped something in Clio.
Thomas fell to his knees.
The viscount pulled the spear free; it disappeared in his hands. He began muttering once more, weak but intent on his mission.
Fear and love amalgamated in the crucible of Clio’s heart. She needed to help Thomas, but the viscount had turned to his wife and Anna. He knew his time was running short, but he would kill them both before Clio could stop him.
‘Finish this,’ Thomas rasped, sinking to the floor, his body deathly still.
Fear for Thomas transformed into a clear purpose: contain the enemy. Save her love. Live happily ever after.
She lifted her head, narrowing her gaze on the viscount and calling forth another column of fire that she transformed into a whip.
‘You will not hurt them!’ Cracking her power, she flung the whip’s sparking tongue at the viscount, wrapping the flame around him.
‘By air, earth, water, and fire, I bind you, Arthur Beachley.’ She repeated the chant; the whip tightened.
The viscount screamed. He tried to claw at the band of fire holding him captive, but the flames surged, blackening his ghostly skin.
Anna covered her ears, curling into a ball as her mother shielded her daughter with her body.
‘Now!’ she called to Sir Robin, flinging the doll up.
The raven flew after it, catching it in mid-air and dropping it into the blaze engulfing the viscount.
Swirling flame and smoke spiralled around the ghost until he became part of the inferno, his spirit dissolving into the fire that spun and crackled, sucking into the heart of the doll, a storm of power and fury imploding into the fluff-stuffed toy.
The doll dropped to the floor, spinning to a slow halt and pulsing brightly before it dulled back to worn cotton and wool.
Clio collapsed next to Thomas, her hands cradling his head. He was so still. His eyes were closed, and she couldn’t tell if his chest was expanding with breath.