I can show you the moment that Fabian disintegrated, when Leah lost all the loyalty Rufus and Vini had given her. It’s the biggest mistake I ever made.
This is how I destroyed my father.
Here’s what happened. Fabian was curious, power-hungry and insatiable. He and his brothers ruled the ghosts here with an iron fist. Everyone did what he asked, and he set Vini on them if they refused.
He was convinced that he could do more with Leah’s power. It wasn’t enough that she was pushing herself to look into the future for him whenever he asked. He wanted to know when he would disintegrate.
He couldn’t believe that he’d disappear one day. All his power, all his work – it wasn’t enough. He had to make sure he avoided the final death.
One day, some time back when war rationing was still in operation, he told Leah she had to look five hundred years into the future. He wanted to see if he ever found a way to survive that long as a ghost, without becoming a Shell.
Leah knew that it would drain her completely. It’s a dangerous thing to do anyway – looking that far through time is unstable. It could have damaged both the future and the past.
When she refused him, Fabian cradled me in his arms and wrapped his hands around my neck. He threatened to tear off my head if she didn’t do it. His own daughter. The threat was enough to make Leah try.
At first, it seemed like it might work, until she started to waver. She dimmed and went black and white, and her atoms started to separate.
I panicked. My father had proven once and for all that he didn’t care about me, whereas my mother was willing to sacrifice herself to save me. The choice was simple. Cradled in his arms, with his hands around my neck, I took his energy and pushed it all into her.
He was gone before he even noticed. Leah glowed with his energy, and re-formed. Then Rufus and Vini realized what had happened, and we had to run and hide. They’ve been haunting us ever since.
The Tricksters have never forgiven me or my mother. If they weren’t locked in the basement by Qi, they would destroy us both in vengeance for Fabian. One day we will have to face them again. All we can do is delay the inevitable. As you’ve probably guessed, time is running out for all of us.
RIMA
An old lady in tweed was climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, looking carefully around Mulcture Hall. Her hair was white like the Tricksters’, tied back with a silk scarf.
“Who is she?” Rima was whispering, even though the human couldn’t hear her.
She seemed to just be looking around, taking in the rotting mattresses, ivy-covered glass windows, and rust-stained puddles.
“Do you know her, Felix?” Kasper asked, frowning. “Could she be here because of Oscar?”
Felix shook his head. “I’ve never seen her in my life. And the police have already taken him away.”
Rima froze. “Wait. Is she – could she be Harriet’s grandmother?”
Now she was looking more closely, the woman did look like Harriet. There was something familiar in the shape of the nose and the way it wrinkled as she flicked dirt off her coat cuff.
Kasper frowned. “What would she be doing here?”
Rima’s heart hurt. The lady must be mourning her granddaughter, on a pilgrimage to the place Harriet had died. Harriet had said she lived alone. She must be so sad and tired and lonely.
“Can we use this?” Leah asked. “We needed a distraction. This might be the perfect opportunity to lure Harriet here while we use the eyelid.”
Felix’s eyebrows rose. “That could work.”
It might be a good way to make Harriet back down, too. Seeing her grandmother could snap her out of her chaos.
“I’ll go and find her!” Rima was hopeful for the first time since Oscar’s death.
“How are you going to do that?” Kasper asked. “She’s probably hiding out somewhere, invisible.”
“Can you – I don’t know – get Cody to sniff her down?” Felix suggested.
“Ghosts don’t have scents, Felix!” Rima replied.
He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “OK, OK, I was just spitballing!”
Leah said, “Try the fifth floor. She spent ages there hunting Shells, she might be hiding out. We’ll make sure the grandmother doesn’t leave.”
Rima twisted into an owl and flew up to the fifth floor, turning back into her human form as she landed.
“Harriet?” she called.
She was the best person to come up here – if Harriet threatened to manipulate her emotions, Rima could just fly away. But that didn’t stop her feeling nervous.
At the far end of the hallway, a shadow shifted.
“What’s good, Rima?” Harriet said, her face completely blank.
Rima was shocked. There was barely a trace of Harriet left in the person before her. She was covered in cuts and wounds from the fight with Oscar, and skin was hanging loose across her eye. She looked like a zombie. She would never be mistaken for a living human again.
“Harriet.” She swallowed. “I’m not here to fight you.”
“I should hope not.”
“I’m here to help. You’ve – you’ve lost your way. I think you need some … help.”
“Have you come here to preach to me?” Harriet hissed, suddenly furious. “You’ve done nothing in all this time. It’s too late now. You should have killed me when you had the chance!”
Only days earlier, Rima had said the same thing as a joke while play-fighting. She felt like she’d been punched in the heart.
“Harriet, don’t – I didn’t mean…” She stopped. She was going to antagonize her even more. “There’s an old woman in the building with white hair and a silk scarf. We thought she might be your grandmother.”
Harriet went completely still. “What?”
Rima blew out a breath. “Do you want me to take you to her? She’s on the floor below.”
Harriet’s face crumpled in on itself. Without another word, she ran for the stairs. Rima turned back into an owl and followed her.
Chapter 20
HARRIET
Harriet raced down the stairs two at a time. She had been practising using her new transformation power when Rima arrived. Why was her gran here? Even though she wouldn’t be able to see her, Harriet was still nervous.
Leah and Felix were standing in the corridor, while Kasper was watching from a distance, clearly trying to keep his power under control. Harriet strode past them, searching for her gran. Had this been a lie, to trick her into a trap? Her back prickled, as she prepared for a fight. Then she turned a corner, and saw her.
Her grandmother, in her tweed jacket and second-best blouse.
She looked smaller and older than Harriet remembered.
Harriet realized that she was trembling.
Rima landed on the banister in an undignified flapping of wings, morphing back into human form. “Stay calm. This is a good thing, isn’t it?”
Her gran even smelt the same – part floral laundry powder and part cat hair. She must have called a taxi to get here. She couldn’t drive with her broken ankle.
Rima was still talking. “She loves you so much, Harriet. Enough to visit here, because this is where you died. She would hate to see the way you’ve been behaving.”