Page 114 of Ghostly Touches

“I don’t know. We’re just footmen for him!” the second spirit says. “We do what we’re told, and that was to find you.”

Willow looks at me. “Are there a lot of trackers in the world? Could he have sent more after me?”

Hm… maybe.

“There aren’ta lotof trackers, and most of them aren’t very powerful. A majority of them need a scent to track and a starting point. Elite trackers, like me, don’t need a scent, just a picture or even a drawing of the person or object, but we’re few and far between.”

Willow nods thoughtfully before turning her attention back to the two spirits who are desperately trying to step back into their own bodies. Willow pulls them towards her.

“Who knows about the bounty?”

“A ton of people! It’s ten mil to bring you to him,” the first spirit says.

“Ten million dollars?” Willow repeats. I gape as both spirits cringe away from her but nod. She shakes her head and says, “Well, I wonder if I turn myself in, would I get the money?”

I shake my head. Willow near this guy, who has the power to create spells like what’s in that book, sounds like a bad idea. Especially with how powerful she is. She frowns at me, and I mirror it.

“We’ll talk about it when we’re done here,” I tell her. Yes, that’s a lot of money, but it won’t do us any good if we’re dead.

“Where can we find Fredrick?” Willow asks. “Where were you going to take me?”

“Willow…” I warn, reaching out to wrap my hand around her forearm.

“Just another drop off point!” the older guy whines.

Willow stares at the two of them for a long moment. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but her body is trembling and the muscles in her neck move as she glares. Finally, she sighs, and the spirits vanish. The bodies on the ground twitch once before going still. By the rise and fall of their chests, I can see they are very much alive.

“How many necromancers can pull spirits out of a body like that?” I ask her.

I know we have other things to consider at the moment, but I’m so very curious…

“None.” Willow moves closer to me with a frown. Her attention elsewhere. “Fredrick is the guy who wrote the book that the Ghosts have. Is he… could he be the guy who sent you and the other trackers after it originally? Could you find him for us?”

I shake my head.

“The guy who offered up the reward for finding that book of spells was a representative, there on behalf of the person who set up the challenge,” I explain thinking back to that day in the bar.

I try to remember the guy’s face, but I was so fucking high… Most of that day is a blur now. All I can remember is a few days later showing up in a cave with the other two. The worst day of my life. I swallow down the bile threatening to make an appearance. That day is in the past. I only have a future to look forward to now.

As Willow stands there lost in thought, I turn my attention back to the bodies on the ground in front of us. Taking a step forward, I crouch down to rummage through their pockets but find nothing. No wallet, no form of identification, nothing. I check the next body’s pockets and find a cell phone. I’m not familiar with the device, so Willow takes it from me and starts to play with it. I leave the bodies to check their car. There isn’t even a registration attached to the vehicle.

“Now what?” I ask.

“We take their car and keep going. We haven’t gone nearly far enough for me to feel comfortable that our Ghosts won’t find us,” Willow states. She huffs before tossing the phone to the ground. “There isn’t a single number saved in it and the call log was wiped. Useless…”

I wipe my hand over my face as I try to figure out what to do next. The most important thing is our safety. If there are people out there looking for Willow, we’re going to have to be extra careful.

“I think we drive until we get somewhere that we can park and crash for a few hours before we keep going,” I decide. “Once we’ve slept, we’ll have a better perspective on things.”

“How about this? We’ll head to a public library. We’ll sleep in the parking lot and when it opens, we’ll go in and use their computers. I’m sure I can find some information about this Fredrick guy. We can find his location and ask him what the hell he wants with me.”

I shake my head.

“I really think that’s a bad idea. We should stay as far away from him as possible.”

“I’d rather go to him on our terms than on his, wouldn’t you?” she counters. Her hand raises and rubs the middle of her chest. I don’t think she realizes it as she surveys the situation. “Besides, I can’t lead his people straight to my mother’s house and if I try to tell her this over the phone she’ll freak out. Trust me, we don’t want that to happen. We need to address this first.”

Fuck, she’s right. We’d be making her mom a target.

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