We can have that conversation later. I paused. Kane, your intrusion really made things complicated for me for a while, but now I want to hear you.
Again, we clicked the comms on and off and used them to call to one another. I needed this stupid Ghost to come out, so I could kick its butt and capture it. Kane felt so close to me. If we could rescue him… My heart soared inside me. Come on, Kane. Listen to me.
A low-sounding howl issued from the forest. My heart hammered against my chest in nervous excitement. Lyra shot me an urgent look. It was the beast. We both recognized it.
"Two hundred yards into the forest," Holt said on our comms. "Team A moving in."
"Team B following," Jones called. "Guns ready… but we won't fire." It was probably hard for him to say that, but I appreciated it. My palms grew sweaty as the howl got louder. Even though I’d tussled with many a strange creature in my experience with the Immortal Plane, this monster had cradled me in its mouth. It was disturbing. The memory of its teeth pressing into me made me shudder with disgust.
How could Joseph think it doesn't want to hurt us? But I remembered how the Ghost had held me in its jaws. It had been poised to do more damage if it wanted to, and yet it hadn’t. Why?
The trees shifted slightly on the forest line.
"Incoming," Lyra muttered.
"It has one white claw visible at the moment," Colin said on the comm. "Not sure why, but I can see it."
I saw it now, a smear of white as the beast came charging at us. The creature appeared unable to fully shift to invisibility for some reason. Lyra and Dorian rushed in front of me while I pulled out the device. Lyra brought out her knife, one of Reshi's designs, and Dorian positioned himself in front of me. If they could lure the beast forward with their own interplanar vibes, then I had a better chance of stealing forward and using the device on the creature. Stealthily, my team was moving in to ambush the Ghost while Callanish waited nearby to run into the portal.
The howl struck my ears loud and clear. I gritted my teeth. Come on, you stupid monster. Take them to Kane.
Lyra sucked in a breath as the Ghost pushed past her, suddenly smacking her to the side with its claw. Dorian landed a blow, but the monster was too frantic to notice. It wanted me. I fired a shot at the visible claw, but the beast moved faster than I remembered. I jumped to the side as a gust of air hit me. After tangling with this thing the first time, its movements were easier to predict.
If I can just get it to show its nose…
"It's only going for Roxy, now," Bryce said on the comm. "Whatever this thing wants, you've got it, Roxy."
And yet, Dorian and Lyra had been targets before. We’d all set off Reshi's devices, so what did this mean?
The creature came back around. Its cover disappeared for a moment, and then it shifted completely to white.
"Move in," Holt cried on the comm. I heard their thundering footsteps behind me as I tried to focus on the Ghost. My gun aimed up at the beast, and it dove at me again, but Lyra was quick this time. She landed a blow on its side before Dorian yanked her out of the path of the beast’s retaliation. When the monster came back, the Hellraisers were around it.
My team trained their guns on the beast, which let out a furious roar as it jerked its head side to side. The scar from my hit on its nose had almost healed. If we needed to, we could fire there, but I didn't want to hurt it too badly. It was just an animal, really, even if it was from the Leftovers. Lyra and Dorian set off more of Reshi's communication devices. The Ghost curled in on itself for a moment, screeching in pain.
"It's working," Lyra yelled. "We're overwhelming it."
The creature leaned its head back and unleashed a ferocious roar, then turned to the side and made a step forward. My stomach twisted abruptly, a reaction to something strange happening around us.
"The portal," Dorian shouted.
"Hellraisers, move," I commanded. Colin fired a shot just in front of the creature, blocking its way to the invisible portal. Chandry sprinted easily across the field and launched herself at it. Her hands latched onto something, and she forced the portal to stay in place.
I darted forward and pressed the device against the beast's skin. It roared. For several seconds, the beast flashed back and forth between invisibility and visibility, until it finally settled into the white scaly flesh.
The team members of Callanish rushed through the portal, and Lyra glanced back right before she jumped with Dorian. "Good luck," she called. Chandry slipped through last. With that, they were gone. Sweat dotted my brow as I pulled away from the monster. The sensation in my stomach faded. The Ghost collapsed on the ground and let out a pained whimper.
Holt cursed. The beast sprang back up easily. I pulled back, firing up the device again. The Ghost hesitated. Its head was tilted toward me, but it clearly hated the tool I had just used on it. What was its limit? The device hadn't been enough to get the monster completely down. As we’d suspected, the effect was temporary, but how often could we use it before we hurt the creature too badly?
"Captain," Colin
