The Professor plopped into a seat with a smile. The waitress arrived with Shay’s drink and a bottle of Irish Stout for the Professor.
Can’t be surprised that she knows what he wants. He all but lives here. Probably has a cot in the back.
“Keep them coming,” the Professor told the waitress. “It’s definitely a six-drink-minimum kind of night.”
She disappeared with a smile.
Shay didn’t even bother to talk for the first minute, just sipped her drink as Smite-Williams guzzled most of his.
He set his bottle down. “I’m glad you could come on such short notice, Miz Carson. There’s something important I need you to recover sooner rather than later for me.”
Shay shrugged. “That’s what I do. What’s the job?”
“There’s a village in England…Ashmore. It’s come to my attention that a local legend talks about an actual artifact, a golden coffin that can raise the dead. It’s buried in an old stone crypt that the locals avoid, close to the village. It was also protected by powerful wards that have unfortunately faded with the passage of time, which now means the coffin is accessible.”
“A coffin that raises the dead? Sounds handy.”
The Professor shook his head. “No. It’s very dark magic, and the people raised by it become darker, more twisted. Not only that, but it requires a heavy price in the blood of the living and souls.” He frowned. “I’ve also become aware that the followers of a very nasty wizard have a keen interest in this coffin and will be coming for it soon, so you’ll need to make a move quickly.”
“Who is this wizard?”
“Michael Galbraith.”
Shay tossed the name around in her head for a few seconds. “I read that name recently. He’s been dead for, what, fifteen years now?”
“That’s exactly why his followers want the coffin. To bring him back.”
“Makes sense.”
The Professor let out a little chuckle. “It might be worth bringing the lad in on this.”
Shay shook her head. “James has a visit with Alison. I only wasn’t going because I had a few things to research. I don’t want work getting in the way of his family shit. We both know he needs to work on his emotional intelligence or whatever the hell you want to call it.”
The silver-haired man looked at her with a faint smirk. “How wonderfully domestic. Very well. I only suggested that because of the unusual level of danger, but I’ve heard rumors that you’ve expanded your circle of associates, so perhaps one of them might be of assistance.”
Shay eyed the man for a moment. She was never sure how much he knew about her.
“I’ve got some new friends, yeah, but they don’t kick as much ass as James. What do you mean by an unusual level of danger?”
“The coffin is nasty and has the potential to create an undead army, but the forces protecting it are even worse—spectral beings summoned by rather powerful dark magic in the past.”
Shay frowned and picked up her drink. She took a sip and set the glass back down. “Ghosts?”
“Of a sort. It’s claimed they’re soldiers trapped between worlds who’ve been cursed to protect the coffin.” He finished his beer just in time for the waitress to deliver a new one. “So whatever you need to do to destroy them will be fine. You’d be doing them a favor and freeing them from a hellish existence. Oh, one minor problem. They’re invisible. Completely.”
Shay frowned. “What about if I try looking with tech? Can I pick them up on infrared?”
The Professor shook his head. “An associate of mine scouted the area with a drone. He could see nothing, regardless of how he looked. That didn’t stop the drone from being destroyed.”
The tomb raider sighed. “I hate invisible armies.”
“You’ve faced one before?”
“At least one, and I’ve fought more than a few things that can turn invisible. That’s why I asked about using something other than normal visible light.” She shrugged.
The Professor grinned. “Wonderful. It means you’re a genuine subject-matter expert.” He laughed. “How fortunate for me.”
“Glad you’re enjoying the idea. You said soldiers? So what are we talking? Invisible guys from World War I with machine guns? Angels of Mons?”
“Fortunately, no. It’d be quite the adventure fighting someone invisible who could shoot at you. These spectrals only use swords.”
Shay nodded. She could work with that. “And can they be taken out by guns?”
The Professor shook his head. “I highly doubt it.”
“You doubt it?” Shay frowned, definitely not liking the sound of that. “I need to know what I’m facing if I’m gonna have a chance of defeating them.”
“They’ve demonstrated invulnerability to rocket fire. My experience in the past suggests when you see that sort of thing it’s strong evidence that the creature or being in question is immune to conventional weapons.” He took another swig of beer. “But you have magical weapons at your disposal. That should be enough.”
“I don’t have a magical rocket launcher.”
The Professor shrugged. “Something for the future, perhaps. You’ll just have to get close and use your blades.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“You’re right, Miz Carson, it is. If I were a younger man, I’d be handling this myself.” The Professor shrugged. “Don’t worry too much. Even though you’ve had experience fighting invisible armies, I will note this one does provide one small advantage, and I’m sure you can turn that small advantage into a path to victory.”
“What’s that? Right now all I’m hearing is I’m going to have to try and carve through a bunch of invisible ghosts with swords.” Shay sighed.
The Professor tapped his earlobe. “You can hear them. Their bootfalls, the moans, their weapons. It’s quiet, but it’s there. You really have to listen, though, and anticipate where they are.”
Shay shook her head. “This sounds like bad news. Even if I made James come it’d be too dangerous. It’s not like he uses magical weapons. You’re telling me to go after a bunch of invisible soldiers I can’t see but
