Page 79 of The Neighborhood Ghost

“Just making sure we’re still on the same page,” Hugo said as he repositioned his grip for a better swing.

“Your highness,” a familiar voice said. “Your highness, I have a proposal.”

Thaddeus Price made his way through the crowd. He stepped off the cobblestone path and stood behind the rider and Madeline.

Madeline turned to face him. “Another one of your proposals?”

He removed his leather tricorn hat. “Yes, your highness. Don’t waste this opportunity.”

Madeline tilted her head and pointed her parasol at him. “What opportunity, Mr. Price?”

Thaddeus approached her with small steps, one arm outstretched with the other holding his hat close against his chest. “You have a rare opportunity here. You have not one, but two people who drank from the spell. Not one, but two people from your town. Two excellent additions to your army. Why waste it?”

Madeline remained silent, as her eyes followed Thaddeus’ every move. He stepped out onto the dock, slipping past the rider’s horse. He remained focused on the fiery blade held above the rider’s head. Thaddeus turned and walked backward along the dock with his caved in head fully visible to Hugo and Alice.

“Who is he?” Alice whispered.

“He’s the witch hunter who burned Johanna,” Hugo answered.

“Witch hunter?” Alice asked.

“He might also be the man who helps us survive,” Hugo said.

Thaddeus stopped halfway between the rider and the two lovers. He placed his hat back onto his head, securing it with a few tugs. He stood tall, pulling the lapel of his green coat. “We can work out an arrangement. Something to benefit us all.”

“What arrangement do you have in mind, Mr. Price?” Madeline asked.

“I am a man of survival. Always have been. I offer these two in exchange for my release,” he answered.

“You offer them to me?” Madeline asked with a sarcastic tone. “I have them where I want them. What do you have to offer that I don’t already possess?”

He pulled back the right side of his coat and stuck his hand into his pant pocket. “Were you ever curious as to how I never succumbed to your tests? How I was able to move and walk freely in your little domain, your highness?”

Madeline’s eyes narrowed. Her lips collapsed tighter. She drove the end of her parasol into the ground.

“You see, your highness, every witch-finder is issued standard gear, and when I died, do you know what standard gear I had on me?” Thaddeus asked.

Hugo and Alice turned to each other. Their eyebrows arched as if they knew what Thaddeus possessed.

He continued, “Survival gear. Survival against witches like yourself.” He withdrew a black, twisted, anti-magick wand from his pocket—the same anti-magick wand Johanna wielded against Alice in the mortal realm. A haunting reminder of the many witches and wizards it claimed from Thaddeus’ past life.

With a flick of his wrist, Thaddeus sent a black bolt careening across the sky toward Madeline. It struck her. She dropped the mask and fell to the ground on all fours. She screamed out and writhed in pain, as she clutched her stomach where the bolt found its target.

“Attack him,” she mustered.

The rider charged down the dock at Thaddeus, the sword pulled back and ready to strike.

Thaddeus flicked his wrist again, this time pointing at the rider. No bolt came. Thaddeus tried once more. There was nothing. The anti-magick wand wouldn’t strike at the rider.

“No,” Thaddeus yelled as he raised his hands to shield himself. “No!”

The rider swung the fiery sword, cutting Thaddeus in half. His body torn asunder, he dissipated into ash and oblivion.

Hugo and Alice readied themselves for the fight as the rider drew closer to them.

“I’ll go high, aiming for his sword,” Hugo said.

“I’ll go low, trying to knock him off,” Alice replied.

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