Chapter Five. #2
“Sorry, I can’t relate, but I understand how you feel. But even if it did, I wouldn’t leave you to suffer,” Ophelia said firmly. “As you have extra bedrooms, can I stay?”
“Of course! That would be amazing, the four of us together!” I exclaimed warmly. Ophelia smiled, but it was empty.
I stiffened, recognising that expression. That was one I’d worn myself often. Someone had hurt Ophelia. Did I reach out to her? She might resent that, as we weren’t exactly close.
“I’m going to go. This will be exciting, everyone together in one place!” Poppy squealed as we all said goodbye.
I bit the bullet and messaged Ophelia, saying that if she wanted to talk, I was there. She sent me back a smiley face, and I left it alone.
A tugging on my legs woke me. Startled, I sat up and looked around.
Just a thin streak of moonlight pierced the room’s darkness.
Fear crawled up my spine as my breath came out in visible puffs.
The bedroom was freezing, and I was shivering under the quilt.
Despite barely being able to see, I felt something in the bedroom with me.
Unfriendly eyes stared at me, and a scream choked in my throat.
A clawed hand appeared on my bed near my feet, and I froze in sheer terror.
I began panting and shaking violently as slowly my duvet was dragged away from me.
A foul stench filled the air, and I gagged on it, the only movement I seemed to be able to make.
The hand kept dragging the covers off me, and I finally let out a scream. Glowing red eyes looked my way.
I gasped as, within a second, a man materialised out of thin air.
He gazed at me, and then his hands grasped the entity that was attacking me.
The black shadow shrieked and grabbed at the bed, and I drew my feet up, terrified.
With a heave, the stranger flung the creature away, and I heard scuttling noises.
The ghost—that’s what he was—ran after the escaping nightmare.
For some unknown, stupid reason, I threw back the covers and chased after them.
Sheer idiocy. The front door opened with a bang, and I guessed they’d fled into the dark.
I dashed downstairs, bolted through the open door, and then looked around.
The ghost pursued the creature into the night, and I raced after them, skidding to a stop. The man grabbed the black figure.
“You’ve no right to be here!” he bellowed over the wind.
An unholy screech met his words as the shadow raised clawed fingers, swiping at the ghost, who laughed.
“This is my power source, vile being. Begone!” he ordered and slung the miserable thing over the edge of the cliff. Rain pounded down as I gaped like a fool.
“Who are you?” I screamed into the wind.
The ghost turned in the moonlight. He wore a flat cap and a cream linen shirt with a heavy woollen jumper over it. Thick knitted trousers enclosed his legs, topped with robust knee-high boots, and a heavy coat hanging to his knees.
“You’re the murdered light housekeeper!” I yelled against the noise of the rain and wind.
“Go back inside,” he ordered.
“You’re a ghost!” screeching again as the breeze blew my hair around my face.
“And you’ll get ill!” he retorted.
I began laughing. “Ghosts don’t exist!”
“Yet, here I stand.”
“What is your name?”
“William,” he replied.
“Who’s paying you for this? How did you get into my home? Are you working with that Keith person?” I shouted the questions at him.
William snorted, and then, before my disbelieving eyes, disappeared. In the grass, footsteps appeared, and I gasped before my gaze rolled up and I fainted.
William
Blast and damnation. That was not the reaction I’d expected. Lyra had been fired up and ready to go to war with me. Instead, she’d dropped in a dead faint. Materialising, I scooped her up and ignored how good it felt to have her in my arms.
Viciously muttering curses, I carried her back to Leafpoint, who slapped me mentally for scaring Lyra.
“She’s a danger to us and what we protect against.”
Leafpoint snorted in my mind.
“Don’t even begin to—”
I stumbled because Leafpoint tripped me.
“Leafpoint, I could have dropped her.”
Lyra was snatched from my arms by Leafpoint, who then floated her before me. Okay, now she was being naughty.
“Have you finished?” I ground out.
A very definitive no came back at me, and I smirked. Leafpoint had been my companion since I died. While she couldn’t actually speak words, she could form images and impressions.
Charles warned me when I took over Leafpoint that something was different about it.
I’d not believed him until Leafpoint began warning me about potential shipwrecks.
It allowed me to light the lantern earlier if I needed to.
I didn’t question Leafpoint’s ability to communicate.
At the age of five and thirty, I was aware things existed beyond my comprehension.
I wasn’t a highly educated man, nor a man of the church, although I attended services on Sundays.
Best to make sure I avoided upsetting the big man in the sky.
Nor was I a bumpkin who believed in Piskies and Spriggans.
Leafpoint had surprised me, but I soon learned to value her.
We’d worked together. She let me sleep and would wake me when the oil ran low at night.
Leafpoint helped me prepare for storms and bad weather.
In return, I ensured she was running smoothly.
She’d taken a liking to Lyra. Maybe it was the Jasper blood.
But Leafpoint wanted to keep her. The issue was the evil I kept trapped.
If I had any idea what it was, I could make a plan.
But I didn’t, and that bothered me. Clearly tonight had been some manifestation of it. Leafpoint poked me impatiently.
“I’m moving.”
Obviously not quick enough, as Leafpoint shoved me in the back again. Carrying Lyra up to her bedroom, I tucked her in and then headed to the kitchen. My mother swore sweet tea was good for shock. I made Lyra a cup, marvelling at the kettle. So much easier than how I used to make it.
As I entered her room, Lyra was sitting in bed, staring at me aghast.
“How did you get in?” she demanded.
I didn’t bother explaining; I set her tea down and disappeared. Lyra shrieked and scrambled back against the headboard.
“What is this? Some sick joke?” she yelled.
“No,” I manifested again and held her panicked eyes.
“Ghosts don’t exist,” she muttered.
“So you keep saying, but here I am.”
“Did you drug my water?”
“No. That action is beneath me.”
Lyra cocked her head. “You’re a real ghost?”
“Yes.” I sighed.
“You’ve been moving things around?”
“I was trying to scare you,” I admitted.
“That’s mean.”
Holding Lyra’s gaze, there wasn’t much I could say to that. “You need to leave,” I said softly.
“That is definitely not happening. I own this. It’s my home. You’re dead; move into the light or whatever you’re meant to do,” Lyra ordered.
I bit my lip, amused despite myself. Lyra had courage.
“You are the one who needs to go, Lyra. Dark things occurred here…”
“Yes. You were murdered along with several others. I’m sorry that happened to you, but that was over two hundred years ago. This is the time for you to rest.” Lyra flapped her hands at me.
“I can’t rest. I was given a duty, Lyra, and you are interfering with it,” I stated.
Lyra cocked her head. “You’re the reason the lantern is suddenly working, aren’t you?”
“The lantern serves as a beacon of hope. The evil I protect against lay dormant from when I died and trapped it. But something woke it, and since Christmas it has been trying to escape. The lantern keeps it imprisoned. Should I fail to light it, it risks escaping.”
My words gave me pause. Had Ajax awakened it? No, that made no sense, already feeling it stirring before Christmas. Ajax had merely helped me awaken Leafpoint and aided my abilities as a ghost.
“I’m not leaving. I’ll help,” Lyra stated.
“You’ve no choice. Leave on your own terms, Lyra; I can and will chase you from here,” I warned.
Lyra’s jaw jutted out. “Bring it on, Ghost-boy!”