Harriet had only the smallest tinge of regret about losing the phone. It was a useful thing to have, but the information she had obtained in exchange was better. Though she couldn’t quite remember how she’d come to make the deal with Rufus and Vini. It was all a strange blur in her memory. At least Greg had been there to support her.
Rufus had asked Harriet, with a smirk that she had refused to let scare her, whether there wasn’t anything which might make her consider staying in the basement with them. He had mentioned an intriguingly vague selection of “services” that she was “welcome to make use of”, if she stayed. She hadn’t asked for further information, shaking her head so vigorously her hair fell out of its bun.
Ever since then, she had been wondering whether she could take a power from another ghost. It sounded easy and painless, but taking energy from another person was so personal. It was invasive. She had to get home though. She’d been telling herself for days that she’d do anything it took to get back to her family – and now she was backing out because it was suddenly getting too real? Her gran would disown her if she could see how pathetic Harriet was becoming.
“Don’t let anything stop you, once your goal is in sight,” she had once told Harriet. “Other people will stomp you into the ground if they get the chance. You have to make sure you beat them to it.”
She had still been wrestling with her dilemma when she’d found Felix and the girls. She was aching with curiosity about what had led to Claudia stealing someone’s energy, but hadn’t found a way to ask about it.
She had surprised herself by actually enjoying the conversation. She hadn’t meant to reveal so much about herself to them. There had even been a moment when something had shifted in her chest, a strange bubbling sensation that she’d thought might be affection. Unnerved, she’d pushed it away. She couldn’t let herself grow closer to them. She might have to steal a power from one of them.
Felix’s power would be useful, but he seemed to distrust her already. He wouldn’t even let her get close enough to give it a shot.
Rima’s shapeshifting would be a handy power to have. But Rima had all these connections with people like Qi that might be useful, if Harriet kept her on side. Plus, she could get animal spirits for her if Harriet asked nicely.
Meanwhile, Leah had said her power was too weak to work any more, and Kasper hadn’t even told her what his power was yet. He just kept staring at her with those big doe eyes, like he was inventing a love story in his head.
She was going to have to let him down gently, if Felix had a thing for Kasper. She should have been paying better attention – she hadn’t even noticed that he liked him, but it made total sense now she knew.
She could kick herself. Knowledge like that was invaluable for negotiations. She’d been focused on getting Rima and Kasper to help her by offering them the things they wanted most – friendship and romance. But in doing that, she’d forgotten to think about what Felix wanted most in all the world.
Well, if Felix wanted Kasper, then he was welcome to him. She would have to turn Kasper down after their date. Felix’s hypnotism made him more useful than Kasper, in the long run.
None of their powers were worth stealing. That left Claudia. The baby was apparently the only ghost here who’d taken someone’s power. All that wasted potential was just waiting for someone to come along who would appreciate it.
While she was considering the awful possibility of taking Claudia’s energy, Kasper had mentioned the Shells. She’d completely forgotten about them. There was her answer, right in front of her. She had a ready-made power supply waiting on the fifth floor.
The Shells couldn’t even use their powers any more. It wasn’t like it would hurt them, if she took some of their energy away. They might not even notice it. The Tricksters had said she would need to take all their energy, if she wanted to steal a power. But the Shells were so old and weak it would probably be easy.
It would be fine, she was sure of it.
On the fifth floor, wind gusted through broken windows, sending dust into spirals. Harriet herded the Shells into a crowd. There were eight in total. She had no way of knowing what powers they had, so she’d just have to choose one at random and hope for the best. Any power was better than nothing at all.
Before she could chicken out, she grabbed a girl with curly hair, sucking down her energy, open-mouthed. It was like a dam had been released. The energy rolled in a wave through her body, and it kept coming and coming and coming.
She shuddered, tilting her head back. The golden haze of potent energy thrummed in her blood. How would she know whether she’d taken the power yet?
The girl convulsed, and a high-pitched, pained whine burst from her throat. Harriet held on tight, desperately trying to chew down more energy.
She had only meant to take her power, but now her mind was blissfully blank. Even as it poured into her in an endless gust, it wasn’t enough to sate her. The Shell’s chest collapsed in on itself, a wormhole of swirling atoms that disintegrated under Harriet’s touch. A grating noise of pain was still coming from the girl’s mouth.
Harriet tore at her neck to get more energy. It pulsed under her skin, starting to burn now, like the shocking heat of a hot bath when you first step into the water. Her nerves were on fire, but she kept going. She couldn’t stop.
Around them, the other Shells wailed in a chorus of mournful commiseration. Harriet shook their fingers off her shoulders. The Shell was almost gone, and she couldn’t stop until she’d gathered every last drop.
Too quickly, it was over. The Shell disintegrated, her atoms spreading through the air. Harriet’s arms were empty. The girl with the curly hair, a long-forgotten student of Mulcture Hall, was nothing more than a memory and a boost in Harriet’s cells.
She threw the other Shells across the room, with a strength she’d never imagined possible. Her skin was bursting, like it would split under the swollen richness of the energy.
Harriet stumbled across the wrecked room to the window, gasping down cold, fresh air. The buzzing feeling inside her had changed from thrilling to frightening. She fell to the ground, wishing she’d asked Rufus and Vini how to control the energy before it fried her flesh.
Curled in a shivering ball on the floor, Harriet braced herself against the painful burn. She was going to disintegrate. She couldn’t possibly survive this. What had she done?
This is what the Tricksters do. They lend you enough rope to hang yourself, and then charge interest on it. Harriet thinks she’s forging her own path, but these moments have been planned for a long time. Nothing can be done to stop this now.
My father used to say that you have to find what people fear the most and focus your attention there, even if there are easier, weaker links. He said that it’s worth spending the time trying to break people open in a way that will last. Then you only have to do it once. He planned everything he did meticulously, and then made it look like it was all a spur-of-the-moment decision. People would carry on underestimating him, that way.
Harriet isn’t at that level yet. She’s trying, but she lacks experience.
The Tricksters clearly had their reasons for telling Harriet how to take a power. I’m not even sure they gained anything from this chaos, except for the visceral satisfaction that comes from knowing you’re responsible for another person’s destruction.