“Someone help me!” Felix yelled, voice thin and frantic. He clamped his hands around Kasper’s shoulders, knees locked to the ground, but his arms were trembling. He couldn’t hold Kasper down for long. And the body was still there, frozen in shock while its current soul tried to process what had just happened.
He still had time to claim it. For him and Felix. It could be theirs, to share. Kasper heaved upwards with all his might, and in one smooth movement rolled Felix over to the side. He broke free of his grip and staggered to his feet.
Then a hand touched the back of his neck. Gentle, soft fingers stroked the skin, and then sharp fingernails dug in.
Suddenly, he was filled with a staggering, overwhelming terror, so complete that it stopped him in his tracks. Everything went monstrous and threatening. He was so so scared. Whatever it was, it hurt. Kasper’s vision went blurry. He fell forwards as everything abruptly faded to black.
In the late twelfth century, there was a ghost here who could possess people, like Kasper. This was before Mulcture Hall was built, of course. When there was nothing here but farmland, ancient ruins and one little wattle-and-daub barn.
It was quiet, for a century or two. The only time we got new company was when a tramp took shelter alongside the cattle and died in his sleep. Though for one golden summer, the farmer’s son brought the butcher’s daughter here every night at dusk. That kept us all entertained for a while.
We fed off the spirits of calves and lambs from the slaughterhouse next door – and sometimes, when everyone got bored, we’d hunt the youngest ghosts and feast until we were bright with energy for a few more decades.
One day, a pedlar took shelter in the barn during a spot of light drizzle. He hit his head on the door frame, dying quickly. He adapted to being a ghost even faster.
The pedlar’s power worked like Kasper’s, but he wasn’t afraid to use it. The farmer was convinced the barn was haunted, because any time he came near, he would lose control of his limbs and dance the jig. It made us all laugh – and stopped us from hunting the pedlar down, for a little while. That didn’t last, but the pedlar had a good run of it.
After a dozen possessions, the farmer started to change. He became jumpy and confused, holding tight to his dog’s collar for comfort whenever he fetched something from the barn. He would often stop and stare into space, lost inside his own brain, like he had forgotten how to think for himself after having someone else take the reins so often.
Still, it was a lot of fun. Kasper is missing out – I don’t know what he’s so worried about. But then, I’m still getting the hang of morals and ethics and all those modern concepts. My father raised me according to his own rules, which valued power, secrets and control above ethical concerns. You haven’t met him yet. You’ve only seen traces of him, heard echoes all over the hall.
You will meet him soon enough.
Chapter 12
FELIX
Felix’s breath left his chest in a whump when Kasper collapsed on top of him, unconscious. Harriet was staring down at them both in complete shock.
“What just happened?” Felix asked, wheezing. It had been so quick that his brain was threatening to short out. Kasper had rescued Harriet, and then lost control and accidentally possessed a police officer. Felix had used hypnotism to force him to release the woman and then Harriet had touched his skin, and – what? What had Harriet done to him?
“I don’t know,” she said, and looked from Kasper to her hand, still raised from where she’d gripped his neck. “I think I knocked him out.”
“What?”
Behind them, Felix heard a paramedic say to the police officer, “Are you all right, Petra?”
“Just had a dizzy spell for a second there,” Petra said, sounding stunned.
Felix winced. Kasper – who was completely unconscious and breathing damply into Felix’s collarbone – was going to be horrified when he woke up and realized what he’d done. His biggest nightmare had come true. He’d accidentally possessed someone. Kasper wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. For his sake, Felix hoped that he stayed asleep for as long as possible.
“Sorry, what did you do?”
Harriet was still staring at her hand, blindsided. “I think it’s my power.” Slowly, like a cobra preparing to strike, she smiled. The expression, combined with the unnaturally white hair, sent shivers down Felix’s spine. “I think I can control emotions. I can see them all inside you – like harp strings waiting to be plucked.”
Felix was chilled to the core. Harriet was dangerous. And stronger than they’d ever imagined.
“I don’t understand,” Rima said. “Invisibility is your power. Isn’t it?”
Harriet shrugged.
Harriet had two powers? He’d never heard of such a thing.
At that moment, Kasper gave a little groan.
“Come on,” Rima said. “Let’s get Kasper upstairs. We can make him more comfortable there.”
Felix helped her carry him up to the bedrooms. Their bystanders stared after them in disappointment, clearly wishing they could carry on watching the drama. It was probably the most exciting thing they’d seen in years.
They propped Kasper up in the corner of Rima’s room. He groaned again.
“Where’s Leah?” Felix asked. He hadn’t seen her down in the foyer.
“I’m here. Unfortunately,” Leah said, coming in from where she’d been sleeping on the fire escape with Claudia. When she saw Kasper, and noticed Harriet’s bone-white hair, she raised her eyebrows. “What did I miss?”
As Rima brought her up to date, Felix stood at the window watching the police cars pull away. Kasper was starting to come around. He leant forwards, his head falling heavily between his knees. There was sweat on the back of his neck. Felix could hardly stand to look at him, knowing that he was hurting but unable to offer any comfort.
Right after Lisa had disintegrated, Kasper had retreated to his room in grief and guilt, convinced it was his fault because she’d asked him to help her stop the Tricksters. Felix had sat with him in the dark and the light and dark again. He’d wrapped his arms around Kasper, who hadn’t said a word through all the long days. Finally, in a voice rusty with disuse, he’d told Felix, “If you hum any more Christmas songs, I’m going to scream. It’s August, you monster.”
Afterwards, Kasper had acted like his long grieving period hadn’t happened. Felix had never been able to work out what to say to bring back the peaceful, trusting companionship that Kasper had allowed for such a brief time. Eventually, he’d given up trying. It was easier to return to the old bickering dynamic their relationship had always had.
“How do we know you did anything to Kasper at all?” Rima asked Harriet. “Maybe the possession was just too much for him and he passed out on his own. Two powers is impossible, it’s—”
“No. I did it.” Harriet’s expression was vacant, like she wasn’t seeing them at all. “I thought he had gone crazy and was going to hurt that human. When I tried to pull him away, something clicked in my head, like a sense I hadn’t known I had. I realized that if I touched him, I could push a feeling of fear over him and immobilize him.”