Page 32 of Ghostly Touches

I do as I’m told, eager to be able to talk again.

I feel it the moment she touches my soul. The contact between her power and my soul sets off a feeling of total bliss. A warmth sizzles through me even as my soul lifts from the body I’ve been stuck in. It becomes alarmingly hot, though it doesn’t actually hurt. I’m breathless despite not needing to take a breath.

“What is this?” Willow breaths in surprise.

I look up to see her looking down at her own hands and then back at me with wide eyes.

“I feel…” Her words trail off as she shakes her head in disbelief. “It must be something to do with my senses feeling overworked…”

She feels it, too? Without thinking, I try to take a step towards her. But I don’t move. I look down to find she’s only pulled half of me out of the body. My lower torso is still stuck inside.

“Sorry, I can’t risk pulling you all the way out again,” Willow says wearily, dropping her hands. “It’s really bad for a body to be without a soul. I’m surprised Viktor’s body didn’t just give out on him after a few hours.”

“This is fine.” I grin when I hear my own voice. “God, it feels good to talk again!”

“I’m sure it does.” She nods but stops abruptly.

“Are you alright?” I ask, frowning as she closes her eyes and draws in a few deep breaths.

“Yeah, just trying to not throw up the nothingness in my stomach.” She gasps as she leans down to brace herself on her thighs. “While I’m trying not to throw up or pass out, why don’t you tell me why we didn’t stick with the Ghosts.”

“There’s something not right about them, Willow,” I tell her quickly. “Viktor’s ready to murder me, and Kwil isn’t a human… I mean Fae, fuck, whatever. He’s a monster. More monster than me at times! And he acts on it. I’ve seen him just rip creatures to shreds with his hands and teeth. I think they really fucked up somehow, and they’re trying hard not to be detected by anyone. Even their own Brotherhood. And they’ve kept me tied up and refuse to feed me. I don’t know if they don’t believe I’m human or if they’re just pricks. Either way, that’s not okay. On top of all of this, they think you did something to them. They’re pissed and want answers. I’ve seen them all pretty angry over the course of the week and trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near them when they freak out. I don’t know what they’re planning to do, but from my short time with them, I’ve realized that they’re willing to go to extreme measures to get what they want.”

Willow’s mouth pops open in surprise as her eyes widen.

“Oh no! I led them straight to you!” Georgina shrieks in horror. “What are you going to do?”

“We can only run,” I tell Willow. “I don’t know where to or for how long, but I think the best bet is to stay away from these guys.”

Willow shakes away her surprise and looks around the dark family room as she thinks.

“But I didn’t do anything to them,” she says when she looks back at me. Her brows come together as she thinks. “Well, actually… maybe I did? I don’t know. Whatever it was, I didn’t do it intentionally. I was just trying to save everyone.”

If she did something to them, she must have done it to me too because I could feel her hold on me while they fought in the other room. At one point, everything went still and silent. Vaguely, I remember floating about my body before everything went dark for a few minutes. When I woke up, Theodon was tugging on the ropes tied around my wrists, trying to get memoving.

“I don’t think it matters if it was intentional or not,” I point out. “But this is something we can talk about later. We need to go.”

Willow shakes her head.

“Go where, Jonah? I’m sorry, but you’re not in a position to simply blend into a crowd.” She rubs her face with her hands. “Were they able to find anything that can help you?”

I scowl. “No, Theodon opened the book a few times using sticks and shit, but I don’t think he found anything. In fact, I don’t think he can read it at all. Even if he could, I have a feeling he isn’t the type of guy willing to go out of his way to help someone who isn’t Viktor or Kwil.”

Willow shakes her head. “Ghosts are supposed to be the good guys. What is happening right now?”

Before I can reply, there’s a large thump against the house. Willow and I freeze as Georgina whirls around.

“What was that?” Willow whispers. “Are they here?”

“I’ll go check,” Georgina offers before disappearing out the front door. She’s back a moment later looking terrified. “Those brown things with the wings that came through your window when the others were here? There’s over a dozen of them closing in on the house.”

Willow and I exchange looks with one another.

“Put me back into my body. I’ll protect you!” I can’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I’ve never put someone else’s safety before my own.

Willow waves her hand and throws me back into the body. Another thump hits the roof, and then there’s a horrible gurgling noise from where the front door used to be. I get up slowly, feeling disoriented from the abrupt shove back into my body.

“Jonah!”

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