13 #2
I snatched my backpack, stocked with candies and potions I’d planned to hand out to the residents staying at Emberheart Place, and followed everyone out to Nick’s SUV. The drive should’ve taken ten minutes, but with the way Nick tore through the streets, we made it in five.
We pulled up to the curved driveway of the assisted living home, and I practically jumped out of the car while it was still moving, running through the automatic sliding doors and into the chaos inside.
I felt it immediately; the suffocating cold that enveloped the lobby. My breath exhaled in puffs of white, my fingers numb. My gaze locked onto a phantom pinning a bald man with round glasses up against the wall.
“George!” I cried out, my hand already outstretched. The magic erupted from my hand in a flash of bruised purple light, the necrotic bolt a whip crackling with rot and hunger.
It hit the phantom square in the back. He flickered as a ghostly apparition, then dropped to his knees, grunting.
“George, are you okay?” I rushed over toward him as he scrambled away from his assailant.
“He … kept screaming at me, saying he was going to call the cops because I was abusing him.” The front desk attendant, a middle-aged man who smelled of nicotine, rubbed his neck where the phantom had nearly strangled him.
He looked up at me with wide, unsettled eyes, both relief and disbelief flickering across his face.
“I have no idea who this man is, Theo. W-what the hell is going on? I’m calling the cops.
Those rift wardens will know what to do. ”
He pulled out his phone and started dialing. Before I could stop him, the call had already connected.
The doors slid open, and others had joined me in the lobby. Loud noises and screams were echoing from beyond the hallway.
“We’ve got this.” Stella brushed me aside. “Go find your sister and mom.”
I nodded, leaving George in Stella and Ivy’s care. Then I shrugged off my heavy winter jacket and set down my black backpack, just in case Ivy needed it to treat anyone.
Frantically, I raced down the hallway toward my mother’s room.
Ren, Alex, and Nick chased after me. Shrill screams filtered out from the residents’ rooms and common areas.
Magic was flying everywhere. I hesitated, wanting to help them, but Nick grabbed me and forced me onward. My sister and my mom had to come first.
A blazing fireball soared past my shoulder, its magic erupting into a burst of magical flames as it engulfed the phantom in front of me; a controlled fire that only subdued its target.
“Watch where you’re going, Theo.” Nick had already readied another attack in his hand. “Stay focused.”
The phantom writhed on the floor, screaming as fire consumed him.
I had never seen Nick use his magic before, but I knew these were no ordinary flames.
They didn’t burn flesh or leave scars. They fed on magic and corruption, consuming any spell the phantom might have been under.
The sinister magic that clung to the phantom refused to release him, and the fire pressed on, relentless.
Alex reached for my hand, gripping it tightly as he watched. He didn’t say a word, but I could sense the turmoil roiling inside him, as if the flames were devouring him as well. I was feeling it, too.
The noise attracted several other phantoms, and within minutes, we were surrounded by four newcomers, attacking both residents and staff. The rift wardens had already arrived. I could hear their heavy footsteps and screaming coming from down the hallway we had just come from.
Nick kept hurling his magic, careful not to get innocents caught up in the chaos.
“Why can’t I get through to them?” I pushed Alex behind me, protecting him while Nick fought. These were no ordinary phantoms. Something was off. Caspian’s magic was flaring inside me, but I couldn’t reign it in.
“Ghosts aren’t supposed to have magic.” Nick hurled another fireball. “When they passed through the veil, traces of that sentient magic absorbed into their new bodies. They can’t control it, and it’s taking over, scrambling their minds and actions.”
I flicked two fingers outward, then slapped them into my palm. The phantom charging toward us tripped and fell to the ground.
With the rift wardens about to take over this place, I continued on with Ren and Alex while Nick stayed behind to buy us some time. After a few twists and turns, we reached the end of the hallway where my mother’s room was.
A loud crash echoed out into the hallway, making my stomach tighten.
“Paige!” My heart thumped wildly in my chest. Being deaf, my sister wouldn’t have heard me, and my mom was in no shape to answer. It didn’t stop the panic from tearing through me anyway.
I rushed into the room, only to be met with a chair soaring toward my head. I went to stack my arms to create a shield, but it hadn’t been fast enough.
Small hands wrapped around me, a shimmering barrier shattering the chair into splintered wood. Alex released his magic, panting heavily like that single action drained all of his energy.
My sister’s honey-brown eyes widened at the sight of her brother barging into the room, but the welcome didn’t last long.
She was fending off a phantom, a middle-aged female wearing a loose brown cardigan.
She had thin, pale brown hair tied into a stubby ponytail that fell down her back.
She raised her hand to my mom, ready to strike.
Paige, much more proficient with sign language magic than I was, thrust her hands forward, fingers splayed wide. She traced the signs with desperate speed—Away. Push. Force.
The phantom attacking her was violently shoved back, slamming into the nightstand and tumbling to the floor.
Discomfort stirred in my chest as Caspian’s magic came to life. At the same time, Alex dropped to a knee, pressing his fingers into his head as he gritted his teeth and screamed.
“Alex!” I cried out.
“You don’t have time to play nurse, Theo.” The phantom was already up and attacking again, this time lunging at Ren. “If more phantoms arrive, or if the rift wardens find us, we’re fucked.”
Torn between who to protect, I grabbed Alex and shoved him behind me.
Both Paige and my mom seemed unharmed, but my sister must have been fending off phantoms for a while.
Her strength was draining before my eyes, each breath more labored than the last. My mom trembled uncontrollably in her wheelchair, her hands shaking harder than I thought possible, and an icy dread coiled tight in my chest.
“Ahhhh!” Tears streamed from Alex’s eyes as he heaved for air. He pointed to his head. “I can’t … I can’t stop it! The veil warped their minds, their memories. Listen, Theo. Listen!”
I had been ignoring Caspian’s magic churning inside me.
I had no idea how to control it, and I was wary of its rapidly evolving nature over the past few months.
But when I forced myself to focus, voices brushed the edges of my thoughts.
Not sound, but pressure; memories bleeding into my mind.
Names, faces, unfinished stories. They reached for me through my magic, angry, desperate and afraid.
I’ll kill you for this! You told me everything was fine and let my grandmother die alone! You deserve a life in hell!
“I hear you,” I told the woman. “Let me help you. These people are innocent. They don’t know anything about your family.”
For a brief moment, she hesitated, but her lucidity only lasted seconds before magic gathered in her fist and my hand burned like I had touched a hot stove.
“Theo, what’s the plan here?” Ren jumped in, using small bursts of strength to fend off the phantom with minimal touch. Most of Ren’s magic was destructive and unstable. Using anything else in this tiny room could cause disaster.
“A-Alex, I don’t know how to do this! What do I do? How do I send them home?”
Alex dropped to the floor, curling up on his side as he clutched his stomach. It was as if every punch, every slice of magic that hit these phantoms echoed through him as well. “Just … do it.”
Not a very helpful explanation, but it was all I had to work with. When the phantom swung at me, I caught my hand around her wrist, trying to restrain her as she clawed at my head.
“Please,” I begged, reaching for my magic and the phantom before me. “Let me help.”
Emotions surged through my chest as power rose to the surface. Rage. Grief. Loneliness. The phantom's pain crashed into me like a tidal wave, so overwhelming that for a moment I couldn't tell which feelings belonged to it and which belonged to me.
The phantom swatted at me with her other hand.
I grabbed it, not to attack, but to connect.
The living magic responded instantly. White threads spilled from my fingertips, weaving through the air like strands of moonlight.
They wrapped around the phantom, not restraining it, but reaching into the storm raging inside it.
The phantom let out a piercing scream, its form flickering violently as the connection locked into place.
“I know,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes. “I know you're hurting. But you don’t have to anymore.”
The magic swelled between us. I was feeling what the veil felt. Not a wall. Not a prison. A path home. The threads of my magic pulled gently. The phantom dissolved into a shower of silver light and vanished.
“T-Theo?” Catching my breath, I whirled around to see another phantom standing in the doorway.
But this one was cowering, a frightened young man shaking like a leaf.
Dressed simply in a button-down and khakis, his dark hair framed his delicate, almost boyish face.
My stomach tightened. I recognized him immediately.
And just like the first time we’d met in the courtyard outside, tears streamed down his cheeks and quiet sobs wracked his fragile frame.
“Lukas? Is that you?” He rushed toward me, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug and nearly tackling me to the ground.