Felix’s brow furrowed. You don’t want to do this, he whispered into her mind. You want to sleep for a long time. You’re so tired.
It was harder to resist now, as he moved closer. She yawned, and then shook it off again, snapping the connection once more. It hit her like a physical blow that he could stop her from doing this. She should have hidden, invisible, until Oscar arrived. Felix was more dangerous than she’d planned for.
“Felix,” she said, voice oozing charm, “Felix, relax! I’m not going to do anything bad. I promise.”
Felix’s gaze flickered, but he carried on moving towards her. A muscle stood out on his neck. You want to go into the basement. You want to leave Oscar alone. You want to see the Tricksters.
Grinding her teeth, she focused on the ache deep in her gums and fixed her feet to the ground. If he came nearer, she could use her power and make him scream in agony. Though if he came close enough for her to touch him, he’d have her completely under his control. They were at a stand-off.
Felix’s plaid-clad shoulders were tight with tension as he pushed the message into her. Again, she snapped the control, feeling the command ricochet back at him. He winced.
“You don’t need to do this,” she told him, as he recovered. She could feel herself weakening. She wouldn’t be able to hold off his next attempt. “It’s immoral to hypnotize people without their consent. You told me so yourself.”
Felix frowned. “It’s not immoral to do it to protect people.”
She scowled. Fine. If he wanted to be like that. “Then again, Kasper could ask you to murder someone for him and you’d leap at the chance, drooling for more.”
At that, Felix lunged at her. Harriet ducked, spinning across the room as the tail-end of his words hit her.
… to the basement.
When Kasper tried to grab her, she pressed a burst of pain into his fingertips. He let go reflexively, like he’d been burnt. She pushed past Rima, who moved to stop her, too late.
Running into the corridor, her main thought was to get away, but then she heard footsteps. Real, human footsteps, shaking the rotting wooden floorboards as they moved down the corridor. Oscar.
Behind her, Felix yelled, “No!”
A man in a well-tailored suit was walking down the hall. He kept his head ducked, focusing on not tripping over the endless debris filling the building.
For one crystal-clear moment, nobody moved. Harriet stopped thinking about Felix and started preparing. It wouldn’t take much. She just had to get Kasper close enough to touch him and he’d latch onto Oscar like a mosquito. With a bit of confusion sent Kasper’s way, Harriet would follow him inside the body. She could make him go to her gran’s house immediately.
She ran. She could feel the air move behind her as Felix followed. He was slow, too slow. She was going to beat him. She grabbed Kasper’s wrist, tugging him along with her across the room with all of the strength her new energy had given her. He let out a yelp, tripping over his own feet as he tried to jerk his hand free of her grip.
Oscar had the same dark cropped curls of hair as Felix. There were lines on his face in the places that creased when Felix smiled.
Flames shot up between her and Oscar, and Harriet jumped back, startled. Where had the roaring fire come from? She couldn’t feel any heat on her skin. Tentatively, she touched it. It was cold. Felix had sent the vision to her with his power, making her hallucinate a fire blocking her way.
She strode through it, ignoring the flames. At once, they disappeared. Felix let out a groan behind her. Harriet grabbed Kasper by the waist, using his stumble to throw him towards Oscar.
“No!” he cried, and reared back, clawing at her cheek as he tried to escape.
Let go.
Harriet released Kasper automatically. When she fell, Felix’s grip on the back of her neck was the only thing that stopped her from hitting the floor. Cody was hanging from Harriet’s leg, teeth sunk deeply into her calf. Rima leapt on her, tiger claws digging into her skin, sliding down her back in deep gouges. Harriet pushed pain into Rima until she yowled, jaws stretching wide in agony and claws digging in harder.
Softer emotions like lust and love were easy to push away, because people did that all the time anyway. Everyone had a crush they tried to ignore. But pain? That was harder to dismiss.
Harriet stumbled across the floor with Felix and Rima, struggling to break free. They knocked into Kasper, who flew forwards and passed through Oscar. The human stopped walking, a dizzy look crossing his face.
Kasper stopped in his tracks. He snarled and jolted forwards, reaching into Oscar’s skull. His instincts had taken over.
“Kasper, no!” Felix yelled, letting go of Harriet to stretch his hand out towards Kasper. His command came again: You want to go to the basement, and then, distorted, a version he must have meant for Kasper: You want to let go of my brother.
Harriet laughed. Felix couldn’t control them both. This was going to work.
She flung Rima across the room, ignoring Felix’s orders telling her to leave. It was weaker now that Felix’s attention was divided. He couldn’t hypnotize them both at once. It was her or Kasper.
Felix commanded, Leave Oscar alone, pulling back Kasper, who fell limp into his arms. His mouth was a hungry, gaping void, but his eyes were pained.
Harriet threw herself at them, knocking the pair into Oscar’s body. Her skin was slippery with blood from Rima’s tiger claws, deep gouges running down her back and chest.
Go down to the basement. The command was weak, desperate now. Harriet didn’t even try to wave it off.
The three ghosts wrestled inside Oscar, who made a cut-off, instinctive jerk of alarm. Harriet could feel Kasper trying to latch on to Oscar’s soul. Every time he got
