Page 117 of Ghostly Touches

Together we leave the campus.

We cross the busy street and head towards the café. Inside, the strong scent of coffee and processed pastries hit me. My mouth waters. My stomach, on the other hand, turns itself inside out.

“Here, go get a computer. I’ll get us something to eat,” Jonah suggests, pushing me towards the row of computers.

“I’m really not hungry. Get yourself something and save the money for a room tonight.”

“Go, Willow.” For once his smile fades as his eyes trail over my face. “You’ve got to eat something.”

With that, he leaves me to go stand in line. Rolling my eyes, I move through the small, crowded café. All the computers are occupied except for one. When I sit down, I find the seat still warm. Lucky me.

I log on and get to work. It takes me a moment to figure out what to write. How do I beg a mage to remove a curse his book has placed on me as well as plead with him not to kill me for whatever reasons he may have? He wouldn’t have sent a group of armed men to tag along with his tracker if he didn’t plan on hurting me, right? Jonah joins me a few minutes later with a green tea and a scone for me. I ignore the pastry, but sip on the tea gratefully as he looks over my message. Together we critique it until it’s vague enough that should an office aid open it, they won’t think it’s suspicious, but detailed enough to let the mage know I need help that’s not school related.

“There.” I lean back in my send after I click send. “It’s done.”

“Good because we need to go. Now.” The tone of his voice startles me. I look over to find him staring past me towards the entrance of the café.

I follow his gaze but don’t see anything.

“Why what’s wrong?”

“They’re here.” Jonah says, taking my arm and pulling me to my feet.

“Who’s here?”

“Ghosts.”

His one-word answer is enough to send my heart into a sprint. I allow him to pull me towards the back of the café, but my gaze remains pinned to the window that looks out of the front. I finally see him. Viktor is leaning against the building across the street. His stillness gives him away. Dressed simply in a shirt and cargo pants, I would never have noticed him if I hadn’t actively been searching for him. Vaguely, I wonder where his sword is.

We hurry through the short hallway, past the public restrooms, and out the emergency exit. The moment we’re outside I take over trying to pull us away to safety. They can’t get to us. Who knows what else these madmen will do? My heart is pounding so loud that my frantic breathing is overpowered by the sound. We rush down the alley, but as we draw close to its end, Kwil drops down in front of us. He lands in a crouch before slowly straightening. A deep, guttural growl reverberates from the shadows of his hood.

“Fuck, come on,” Jonah hisses and tugs me in the opposite direction

We turn and run the way we came. We pass the exit to the café and round the corner, only to run into Theo. The leader of the Ghosts pushes off the building he’s been leaning on and faces us. His face looks thinner, but that’s the only change that I can see right away. The stiff set of his shoulder, his clenched jaw, and glittering of malice in his eyes are the same as when he stabbed me. The blood drains from my face as my hands tremble. I won’t let him get me again. I can’t.

“Willow, Jonah… You need to come with us. We mean you no harm,” he says calmly.

Neither Jonah nor I acknowledge the absurdity of his comment.

“This way.” I pull Jonah away from the Ghost, and we take off down a side street.

We get a block down the sidewalk before Kwil steps in our path, in full view of pedestrians. No one seems to notice him. At least not right away. A man in a cloak isn’t worth a double glance? Really?

I glance over my shoulder to see Theo coming up silently behind us. I reach for the spirits that linger in nearby buildings and around the area who haven’t caught on that I’m here yet. Immediately, spirits begin to spring up. Visible to everyone, people begin to take notice.

“Ghosts!” someone screams.

At once, there’s a stampede of people running in every direction away from the spirits, who exchange bewildered looks with one another. Both Kwil and Theo stop as people rush around all of us.

“Willow,” Theo says, just loud enough for me to hear. “Please, let’s talk about this.”

I don’t respond. Instead, I whisper to my new friends, “Block them while we escape.”

The spirits move at once, splitting up and moving towards the Ghosts. Theo and Kwil back away, giving Jonah and I time to merge with the mass of hysterical strangers. We make it several blocks before people begin to slow down.

“Come on, I think we left the car this way,” Jonah insists as we cross the street.

“No, we have to leave it. We don’t have enough gas in it to run very far. We’ll take public transportation until we’re a good distance away.” I point towards the bus stop. A block away the bus is stopped at a red light. We may make it.

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