“That hit the spot.” Rufus raised his arms above his head and bent backwards, long and luxurious. He flicked his eyes at Harriet. “We’re even. Now get out of here. If it turns out there’s anything else which you’ve … forgotten, we’ll find you.”
“I can go?” Harriet was surprised. She’d been expecting them to say that one random boy didn’t equal Qi. From what she’d heard, she’d thought they’d ask for another two or three ghosts. But Rufus seemed satisfied already. It was like he hadn’t been interested in getting her to pay off her debt at all. Had he been testing her? To see if she’d actually go through with it?
And she’d done exactly what he wanted, like an obedient little lamb.
“You can leave. Unless you’d like to make another deal altogether…? There’s still a lot I could teach you.” His voice was like tar, slick and rich and thick enough to trap her.
“No, that won’t be necessary.” Her eye was still crying out in pain.
“No hard feelings, hey?” He ran a hand through his silvery white hair, the colour that perfectly matched her own. “It’s just business.”
Harriet’s mouth tightened. “I’m not sure I have any feelings at all. Thank you for all your help. Goodbye.”
Before Rufus could reconsider their temporary peace, she walked out. Greg was hovering nervously in the hallway, holding a wriggling mouse spirit like a joint. The sight of it made Harriet’s mouth water. The more energy she consumed, the hungrier she seemed to get.
When he saw her, his worried face brightened into a beam. “You survived!”
“You could have warned me what they were like. I was totally unprepared.” Harriet fixed her hair, which had been roughed up during Vini’s stranglehold. Her eye was unsalvageable, but there was no reason the rest of her shouldn’t look good. “What do they even want a phone for, anyway? Why do they care that it ran out of battery?”
Greg shrugged. “I heard that they were looking up a woman on the Internet. Cynthia down in the basement said it must be someone they knew when they were alive, but I swear they’ve been dead for hundreds of years. Everyone they know must be long gone by now, right?”
“Whatever,” Harriet said, dully.
Greg squinted at her. “You know you’ve got blood in your eye?”
“Yes, Greg, I know that there’s blood in my eye.”
Did ghosts heal? How long did it take? She’d have to ask someone, after she’d worked out what to do next.
“Huh. It doesn’t suit you,” he said.
“Would you piss off, Greg? I’m taking this.” She tugged the mouse spirit out of his loose, surprised fist. “Thanks for nothing.”
“No need to take it out on me. I was just following orders.” Greg turned to leave, dreadlocks flicking over his shoulder.
She was too eager to be ashamed, and slumped against the wall to absorb the mouse. It was only a small boost to her energy. Once again, nothing happened when she tried to force her power to manifest.
No matter how useful her invisibility and emotional manipulation were, she still hadn’t found a power that let her leave the building. There weren’t any Shells left, either, so she’d have to be creative.
Harriet remembered how Kasper had possessed that police officer. He’d pulled her inside the body when she’d been on the verge of disintegrating. It had protected her.
Was there a way that she could get him to do that again? They could walk right out of the building, safe and snug inside the living body, all the way to her parents.
She could manipulate his emotions to convince Kasper that he wanted to possess a human, to show his love for her.
It was the perfect plan – or it would be. If all of the humans hadn’t already left Mulcture Hall. The police had finished dealing with her corpse and packed up. There was no one left for her to hitch a lift inside.
Greg was halfway down the corridor by the time Harriet realized that he could help her. “Wait,” she called after him. “Don’t go.”
Greg turned and raised one eyebrow at her. “You’re sending me mixed signals here, princess.”
“Can you find me a human? An alive one?”
He smirked. “What will you trade for it? You don’t have that lovely phone any more.”
Harriet huffed and touched his elbow. He leant into her, grin widening. He didn’t know she had a power yet, so he didn’t suspect a thing. By the time she had twisted his emotions, it was too late for him to stop her using his own power.
She pushed admiration and love into him, with a hint of desperation. That should do the trick. He was clearly taken by surprise, because a misty look entered his eyes.
“Are you sure you don’t want to help me? If you could find me a human, I’d be ever so grateful.”
Greg swallowed. “I’ll be right back, princess.”
Harriet is following in her family’s footsteps. She always has. I’m guilty of it, too. We can hardly hold that against her.
When the Tricksters trapped Lisa in a debt, she wasn’t as ruthless as Harriet. They asked her to bring them a sacrifice too, but she refused and gave up her own life instead.
I reached through to the past to try to help Lisa, afterwards. I thought I could nudge things in a different direction. But there’s only so much I can do.
It started because Lisa wanted a pet owl. Rima isn’t the only one with a pet – Felix had a badger at one point. Or maybe he’s going to have one? I forget.
For years, Lisa had tried to find a dying animal and tame its spirit, but she’d never had any luck. Eventually, she went to the basement. She didn’t realize what the Tricksters were really like, or how dangerous their black market could be.
She struck a deal with them to get an owl spirit that a ghost had been training up, in exchange for using her power on the
