Rima said, “I think it’s time we discussed Harriet. I have a plan, but can you please get out of the rain before we start plotting? I know we can’t catch hypothermia, but this really isn’t a rom-com. Not every dramatic conversation needs to take place in the rain!”
“Please stop with the genre criticisms,” Leah said. “I just woke up. It’s too early.”
“Oh, be quiet, Miss Angst-and-Misery,” Rima said. “You’ve been awake for at least an hour.”
“Have any of you seen Harriet recently? How do we know she’s not listening in again?” Felix asked, voice quavering. He looked around the room nervously.
Kasper jogged a lap around the room, waving his arms madly. He didn’t bump into any invisible figures.
“Satisfied?” he asked Felix.
Felix rolled his eyes but nodded. “Carry on, Rima.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about what we can do about her.” As Rima spoke, something in her posture changed minutely. The girl who had been teasing Felix only moments before was gone. In her place stood a commanding, determined figure. Leah had never been prouder.
“I think we can all admit that we aren’t going to be able to stop her with force,” Rima continued, striding up and down as she spoke. “None of us have ever dealt with anything like this before – and Leah’s too weak right now to help, so it’s just the three of us. We can’t beat her with strength anyway. She must have four or five powers by now, between her own, the Shells’, and O— your brother’s. She might even have Greg’s power, too, seeing as we don’t even know what she did to him.”
Leah shivered. Greg had used his power on her once. He’d waited around the corner to pounce on her. His touch had made her trust him unquestioningly. Against all her better judgement, he had convinced her to come down to the basement with him. He’d almost managed it, too – only Claudia’s insistent screaming had made her pause and reconsider, just before she passed through the lightning barrier. If Harriet had Greg’s power, they were all in trouble.
Rima continued, “At this point, we can’t even predict what things she could do to us. We have to assume any power is within her grasp, if she’s started picking off weaker ghosts. If we fight her, we’re going to turn into Shells long before she even gets tired.”
Kasper ran a hand over his scalp. “Can you get to the solution? This summary is stressing me out.”
“Sorry. Basically, I think we need to use something other than brute force. There must be some way we can combine our powers to get her under control without fighting, right? That didn’t work last time and she’s only grown stronger. We need to use our brains instead of muscle.”
Leah considered this. There was a chance that Rima was on to something. The idea of combining powers reminded her of some advice an old ghost had told her. They’d been living in the building when she was newly dead, and had disintegrated soon after. Leah had never tried it out, but she’d kept the idea in the back of her mind – just in case she needed to use it one day.
“You know, I’ve heard of something we could try. It might take some preparation, though.”
Rima asked, “What is it?”
Leah frowned, trying to remember the details. “If you can get hold of a body part, then we can use it as a connection to her energy. We can draw out the excess energy until she’s weak enough that we can subdue her. Something like a strand of her hair or a fingernail would work. Anything that used to be part of her body. It will still be running off her energy, and we can tap into that connection.”
“Maybe we can distract her and steal some hair without her noticing?” Felix offered.
Rima winced. “She’s on her guard now. I don’t think she’d let any of us get that close. She knows we want to lock her in the basement.”
Felix held up a hand. “Wait – the basement. Couldn’t her … eyelid be down there? It was torn off by the Tricksters, remember?”
Rima gasped.
“An eyelid could work!” Leah said.
“What if we made a trade with the Tricksters for it?” Rima suggested.
Kasper looked frightened. “Rima, you know what they did to Lisa. We can’t risk it. They’d take everything from us.”
She shook her head, expression taut. “I can’t see how we have any other choice. I’d rather be in debt to the Tricksters than let Harriet keep killing people.”
Leah said, “I agree. I can show you how to suck out Harriet’s energy using the eyelid, once you have it. But I’m afraid I won’t be able to come to the basement with you. The Tricksters and I have … unfinished business. My presence might make it harder to negotiate with them.”
It had been decades since she’d seen Rufus and Vini, and she had no interest in repeating the experience. She definitely wasn’t letting her daughter get anywhere near them.
Rima looked intensely curious, but to Leah’s relief, she didn’t ask any questions. “I’ve got loads of credit on the black market from all the squid ink they’ve ordered for tattoos. We can use that to trade for it.”
Kasper sighed. “Do we really have to go and see the Tricksters? Would they even still have it? Everyone knows that Vini likes skin. He’s probably eaten it by now.”
“Rufus wouldn’t let him,” Leah said firmly. “He will know how valuable it is.”
“Does he know that he can control people with part of their body?” Felix asked.
“I think so.” Leah winced. She was lucky that he’d never managed to get hold of anything from her or Claudia. He’d have destroyed them both in an instant.
Felix said, “Sorry Rima, but I don’t think your credit on its own is going to be enough for this. He’d be stupid to give up part of Harriet’s spirit unless there was something even better on offer. She’s the most powerful ghost in the building right now.”
“What could we offer that he wouldn’t be able to resist?” Rima asked, frowning. “What can possibly be better than a way to control the most powerful ghost in the building?”
Kasper had gone pale. “Me.”
It’s been eighty years since we last saw Rufus and Vini. And that’s nowhere near long enough for them to forgive me for what I did.
I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet. I’m sorry.
Leah would do anything to protect me, but she can’t avoid this confrontation for ever. Time is running out, and when we see Rufus and Vini again, I’m going to do what I was never brave enough to do before. I’m going to end this, once and for all.
Chapter 18
KASPER
“I really, really don’t want to do this,” Kasper groaned, standing outside the basement. He was so nervous that he could taste acid in his throat. The Tricksters had been trying for so long to get Kasper to use his power for them. Now he was actually going to give it to them.
They hadn’t seen anyone on the way here. Everyone had gone into hiding while Harriet was on the loose. Only Rima and Felix were foolhardy – and brave – enough to try and stop her. If they hadn’t been here with him, Kasper would be hiding away, too. He definitely wouldn’t be preparing to go inside the basement.