Page 8 of Ghostly Touches

Swallowing hard, I get back on my knees beside Viktor’s body.

I reach into the satchel for the book. My fingers hardly caress the spine when a pain unlike anything I’ve ever experienced ricochets through my body. My muscles cramp up, and a sudden pressure makes my skull feel like it’s about to explode. I scream as I’m thrown across the room. My body slams into my small tv, breaking it, before I hit the ground. Spots dance in my vision, and for a moment I feel like puking.

Suddenly, Kwil is next to me, crouching inches away from my face. Even this close, I can’t see inside his hood.

“That was quite foolish,” Viktor points out from nearby.

“Are you alright?” Kwil asks.

I reach up and touch the back of my head. I wince as pain blossoms and then fades as I pull my hand away.

“Yeah… I’m fine. What the hell was that?” I demand through gritted teeth.

“Your ‘wicked’ magic,” Theo explains from where he stands. “That book must be full of it. I should have told you not to touch it. Look what happened to Viktor because of it.”

“Yeah, thanks for the warning,” I grumble.

The noise that Kwil makes sounds suspiciously like he is trying to cover up a chuckle. He offers me his hand, which is gloved with thick leather, and I take it. When I’m on my feet, I take a moment to make sure the room doesn’t spin before heading back over to Viktor. After a bit of finagling, I remove the bag that’s holding the book and place it far away from Viktor’s body, and me. When I return to his body, I set my shoulders.

“Alright, let’s try something.”

I stand over him as I call upon my powers. As I allow the coolness to pool into my limbs, I note that Viktor isn’t wearing gloves. One hand hangs off the couch while the other rests on his stomach. There are markings on them. Strange ones. Curiously, I glance at his neck looking for tattoos similar to Theodon’s. He has them, but it almost appears as if someone has written over them.

Momentarily forgetting my powers, I lean down to inspect the artwork around his neck. Next, I take one of his hands and turn it this way and that way. After a thorough inspection, it’s clear the markings aren’t written over the existing tattoos. They are written under the skin and are bleeding through to the surface. The indentions, similar to ones that occur when you press down on a piece of paper with a pen, protrude strangely out of Viktor’s skin. I drop his hand and take a step back.

“What? What is it?” Kwil asks, stepping up next to me.

I open my mouth but then close it, unable to find the words to describe what I’m clearly seeing.

“Why would there be writing under Viktor’s skin?” I ask when I find my voice.

There is a pause as the men in the room consider my words and why I would ask such a thing. Kwil steps forward and grabs Viktor’s hand to inspect the marks, and Viktor floats over to his body to look at the hand Kwil is holding up.

“Shit, it’s a curse,” Viktor growls.

I look over at him in surprise.

“You can read it under your skin like this?” I ask.

“Of course not, it’s backwards and under my skin,” he snaps. “I just recognized one of the marks.”

“What’s he saying?” Theo asks, finally taking his eyes off the Shadebroode to look in our direction.

I relay the news.

“What type of curse? Is it reversible?” Kwil asks quickly.

“I’ll need to be stripped of my clothes, and I’ll have to study the marks to know for sure what we are dealing with,” Viktor muses. “It will take time for me to read all of this.”

“The book did this to you?” I glance down at my own arms. I’m relieved to see there are no markings on my skin.

“What does Viktor say about all of this?” Theo asks me.

“He’s saying he needs to get naked so he can figure out what the curse is.”

Theodon opens his mouth to say something, but the lights in the room flicker. It’s just once, but the hair on my neck rises, and I suck in a sharp breath. Georgina materializes by the threshold of the room. She smirks at me.

“Do you see their faces right now? They are so totally freaked out.” She laughs before she adds, “Oh, by the way, you have company.”

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