LEAH
Leah cradled Claudia close to her chest, unable to believe they’d faced down Fabian and survived. For now, at least.
But there wasn’t time to comfort each other. Rima flew back from where she’d been talking to Harriet, and immediately launched into business. “She agreed. Let’s do the ritual!”
Harriet was talking to Norma, who kept playing with her empty eye socket, touching the edges with her fingers.
They would have to work fast. Harriet wouldn’t be able to keep her distracted for long.
Leah had tested this with Harriet’s eyelid, working out how to isolate the frequency her spirit vibrated at, then amplifying it. She would be able to use the small piece of Norma’s spirit as a connection to draw the excess energy out of her. They could make her weak enough to destroy, hopefully. Leah would die trying in any case.
“Form a circle,” she told them, taking Rima’s hands.
Rima held Kasper’s wounded hand as he winced. Felix finished the circle, looping his hand around Leah’s arm where she held Claudia. Claudia gripped on to his thumb tightly.
Leah took some strength from Rima and Felix’s warmth. Whatever happened with Norma, she couldn’t lose her friends. Not if there was a chance they might survive this.
She tuned into the hair, searching out the specific wavelength of Norma’s power. It tasted so similar to Fabian’s that it almost repulsed her, but she swallowed down her bile and focused on making a connection.
There was a click, and she connected. She could feel every movement Norma made. If this worked, Leah would be able to drain away Norma’s powers by pulling them out of her, through the hair and skin.
“Got it! Now, give me your energy. As much as you can spare. I need it all.”
A pulse of energy came immediately from Rima and Felix, pushed from their hands into Leah’s.
Norma must have felt something strange because she spun around, searching for the source. When she spotted Leah, her expression changed to absolute fury.
HARRIET
Harriet was still doing her best to distract Norma, watching over her shoulder as Leah and the others formed a circle. She didn’t know how that would help them weaken Norma, but she trusted Rima.
“We should gather some more servants,” Harriet said, gesturing to a ghost on the far side of the rooftop, who was shooting thunderclouds out of his arms.
“Good idea.” Norma started walking through the mass of battling ghosts. They parted in her wake, wary and respectful, even mid-fight. Harriet followed her, relieved that her suggestion had worked.
Then Norma paused. “I would like to taste Aeliana’s loved ones, though,” she said, and cast a longing look over her shoulder.
Harriet couldn’t move fast enough to block her view. Norma caught sight of the figures inside the cloudy bubble and realized that one of them was holding a baby. A look of tremendous anger passed over her face.
“They’re back!”
Harriet frowned in false confusion. “Oh, no! What could have happened? She must be too powerful for us.”
She could see the cogs ticking over in Norma’s mind. If Leah was still alive, then Norma must have eaten someone else. She licked her lips, as if recollecting the taste.
“Rufus?” she asked, fury growing. “They made me eat Rufus?”
Harriet’s expression clearly conveyed some kind of guilt, because Norma grabbed her by the neck, hoisting her up into the air. “That shield is yours, isn’t it?”
“Gran – no—” she spluttered.
It was too late. Norma had worked it all out. “You’re working with them? Harriet, how could you do this to me? To us?”
Harriet ignored the pain, and focused all her control on maintaining the shield between Norma and the others. The only thing she could give them was time.
“I’m – I’m sorry, Gran,” Harriet choked out. “But I can’t let you hurt them. They’re my friends.”
LEAH
Leah maintained the line of connection between Norma and the circle. The shield was still in place. If Harriet could keep that going, then they were safe.
“She’s really helping us,” Kasper gasped, looking over at Harriet in surprise. “I didn’t think she would!”
Leah pulled energy from the circle, focusing it on Norma. Pulses of energy kept coming from Felix, Rima and Kasper. There was so little of it, compared to Norma’s towering, glowing mass of strength.
Holding Harriet in the air by her throat, Norma shivered as if she was getting a slight chill. If it had been anyone else, they would have been on their knees by now.
“More energy,” Leah gasped. “I need more.”
There was another pulse of energy from the others, weaker this time. Rima was dimming as she gave Leah everything she had. It was too little, barely a drop in the ocean of what they’d need to overpower Norma.
“It’s not enough,” she managed to say, between breaths. “We need more!”
Claudia looped her tiny fingers around Felix’s thumb. A huge wave of energy passed through the circle, more than anything the others had been able to give. Rima gasped, but Leah wasn’t surprised. Claudia had always been the strongest of them all.
She focused the extra energy at Norma, who had sensed something was wrong now. She was frowning down at her arms like she had an itching sensation. Leah could see so much of her husband in Norma, though she’d changed, too. There was a whole other life there, lived without them. How furious must Fabian have been, if even eight decades weren’t enough to dull his anger at Claudia? Norma’s fury consumed her. Leah was more grateful than ever that they’d escaped Fabian when they did, before he could wear them down to nothing.
Harriet dropped a centimetre closer to the ground as Norma’s grip faltered. She’d gone pale from the pain, but her shield was still holding.
The flow of energy from Claudia ended and the connection went weak again. Norma still hadn’t collapsed, and they couldn’t sustain this for much longer. They’d lose their chance, if they had to stop now. They were all weak and dim from the effort.
“More energy!” she gasped again. “It’s not working!”
Rima looked around desperately. “We could get a ghost? Take their energy?”
“Don’t break the circle!” Leah said, in one breath. She was relying on them to sustain her own energy now. She’d given too much of herself up to the ritual. If they broke apart, Leah would collapse into atoms.
“What do we do? This is hopeless!” Felix wailed.
“The only one of us with a free hand is Claudia!” Rima muttered, frustrated. The baby had one hand wrapped around Felix’s thumb, the other waving in the air freely.
Leah could feel herself sinking into the blackness. She was about to pass out. She forced herself to hold on, hoping they’d think of something in time.
Just a little longer. She could do this, if it meant getting rid of Fabian.
I should take over for a moment here. As you can probably tell, I’ve always been good at quietly watching and waiting. Biding my time. I’ve had centuries to learn how.
I’ve been waiting for this specific moment for a long time. Whenever I looked at this moment, I was baffled. Something happens here – an odd little thing, so small that it took me many viewings to pin down exactly what it was. I helped them here – I will help them here – I am helping them here, right now. Right now.