Page 43 of Soul Keeper

“I’m... I’m...” Zoe looked at her body in wonder as the mists cleared. “I’m a ghost!”

She let out a laugh of joy, until she somersaulted through the air, as weightless as a feather caught in the breeze. With a cry of delight, she sped across the perimeter of the clearing, weaving effortlessly through the branches of Persephone’s Tree. She’d never felt so weightless, so free. She closed her eyes in concentration, before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, reappearing beside Shadow’s side moments later.

“This is incredible!” Zoe laughed joyously and drew a breath, only to float upwards against her will. “Although how do you stop yourself from floating away? I feel like a helium balloon with no string.”

“It takes some getting used to.” Shadow rose through the air to greet her, and broke into a smile. “Perhaps I can keep you grounded for now. I wouldn’t want you floating all the way to the moon.”

Zoe gasped as Shadow took her hand in his, feeling his touch for the first time since the Spectral Soirée. It was a touch altogether different from anything physical. A touch that she felt within the very core of her spirit. They held each other’s gaze as they floated weightlessly through the air, until Shadow looked at her appearance in wonder.

“You look even more beautiful in death than you do in life.” Shadow’s eyes gleamed at the sight of her golden body next to the darkness of his. “Like a ray of sunlight sent from the heavens themselves.”

“Okay, break it up you two.” Spooks appeared in a cloud of blue smoke, his bells jingling in the breeze. “I’ll admit that death looks good on the fleshie. But we’ll miss the race entirely if you two spend all evening giving each other puppy dog eyes!”

Zoe glanced at the skies, as the nightly spectacle of lights unfolded in the heavens above. She watched as the ghosts teamed up into pairs and gathered at the starting line. Misty fanned herself as the Phantom Fiestadores eagerly battled for her hand, while Spooks attached long spiderwebs and a sled to Cerberus, like a spectral Santa riding his sleigh. With a grin, she turned to Shadow, to see his eyes sparkle with excitement.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Together, they joined the ghosts by the starting line, and focused on the currents of wind that tore through the landscape. “Ready, set…”

“See ya, losers!”

Spooks chuckled as he dangled a bone on a fishing line and hurled it in front of Cerberus. With a bark of excitement, the dog took off at full speed, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. As the meddlesome poltergeist’s laughter echoed through the landscape, Zoe couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Clearly, some things would never change.

At once, the racers sped from the starting line, until the sky filled with their laughs of delight. Zoe sped after them, marveling at the sensation of the breezes as they propelled her through the sky, until she became lost in the shimmering tunnels of wind. Together with Shadow, she raced through the cactus fields, nimbly weaving between each obstacle, leaving nothing but a trail of golden stardust in her wake.

Onwards they raced, across the Bubbling Bog, where vast geysers of water exploded into the air. Where once, the lake had echoed with Zoe’s screams of terror, now her laughs of delight rippled across the surface. She wove through the watery explosions in a trail of light, until each droplet shimmered with a kaleidoscope of rainbows and the landscape was bathed in a magical glow. With a hearty cry, she reached the shores of the lake, overtaking Misty and the Phantom Fiestadores, until she sped into the final part of the track.

Zoe watched as Spooks’ makeshift sled veered chaotically through the sky, pulled by Cerberus as the dog excitedly chased after the tiny bone. As the poltergeist caught sight of her and Shadow, he summoned his catapult, and launched a maelstrom of cobwebs their way, forcing them to veer from the track.

“Watch out, Zoe!”

Zoe gasped as she veered towards a brick wall at top speed. She braced herself for the impact, only to balk in surprise as she passed through it without a scratch. She drew a breath in shock, checking herself for injuries, before Shadow raised a knowing eyebrow.

“We’re ghosts, remember?” But his eyes darkened as Spooks’ cackles echoed through the sky. “We’ll never catch up to him in time. If there’s one thing I know about Cerberus, it’s that nothing makes him run faster than the promise of a juicy bone.”

Zoe glanced at her surroundings, to find herself in a small graveyard. A group of skeletons played a game of bridge on an overturned gravestone nearby, while the bones of what must have been a wooly mammoth carved through the ground like giant archways. Zoe looked from the giant bones, to Cerberus as he pursued the tasty treat dangled before him, and smiled as an idea formed in her mind.

“Then we’ll just have to use his appetites against him. Follow me!”

Zoe raced through the graveyard, pulling a giant bone from the earth, before she sped into a vast tunnel of wind. She flew across the landscape like a shooting star, her eyes focused on the poltergeist as he careened through the sky on his makeshift sleigh. As Cerberus charged towards a fork in the tunnels of wind, she sensed her moment, and hurled the vast bone across the sky. She watched with bated breath as it tumbled through the air, before a bark of excitement told her that her plan had worked.

“Woah, boy!” Spooks yelped as his sleigh jolted violently. “Where are you going?”

Cerberus veered sharply through the sky, following the path of the bone as it sailed through the sky. The powerful winds plucked it into their grasp, carrying it away from the race course, and further out into the landscape, until the slobbering dog eagerly followed in pursuit.

“No, you silly mutt! You’re taking us the wrong way!”

Despite Spooks’ cries of frustration, nothing could stop Cerberus as he chased the giant bone. The poltergeist howled with fury as he remained trapped in his sleigh, and victory slipped from his grasp once more. As he disappeared on the horizon like a ghostly Santa with a runaway reindeer, Shadow turned to Zoe with a smile.

“You did it, Zoe.”

“We did it.“ Zoe broke into a smile, before she glanced at the motel in the distance. “Now come on. We have a race to win!”

Together, they raced into the shimmering currents of wind, before they were launched across the sky. As they soared together in a blur of light and darkness, their laughter echoed across the valleys and chasms, breathing new life into the frozen landscape. Zoe watched in wonder as the ice thawed in their wake, until green shoots and delicate flower buds slowly unfurled in the presence of her light. As the true beauty of the Underworld slowly awakened, Zoe turned to see Shadow race beside her. She recalled how he had once been as frozen as this landscape, protected behind layers of darkness and ice. But now, his eyes gleamed with an inner light of his own. A light of hope, of renewed pride in the lands he called home. And she realized it was the most magical sight she had ever seen.

With a victorious cry, the pair raced across the finish line. Zoe embraced Shadow, breathless from the race, and watched in wonder as an explosion of stardust filled the air. One by one, the remaining racers crossed the finish line, until Cerberus bounded towards them, his tail wagging contentedly as he carried the giant bone in his jaws. But Zoe looked at the crowd in confusion, as one competitor remained missing.

“Huh, where’s Spooks?”

A sharp cry echoed across the valley, as a dark silhouette plummeted from the sky in a trail of blue smoke. Zoe gasped as Spooks’ makeshift sleigh crashed into a pile of snow, leaving a poltergeist-shaped imprint in the mound. He tumbled out of the wreckage, before shaking the snow from his hat in a jingle of bells, and pointing an accusatory finger at Zoe.

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