Kasper let Felix talk, holding and supporting him. They moved closer with every inhale, until Felix was half sitting in his lap.
When he finally pulled away, the rain had stopped. Kasper rubbed water away from Felix’s cheek with one thumb. Felix pretended that it was rainwater instead of tears.
“You’re going to survive this. I promise.” Kasper swallowed. “This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been there.”
“He died because of Harriet, not you,” Felix insisted.
“You had to stop me. Again.”
“I’ll always be here for you. What I said before – I was wrong. I’m not going anywhere. If you need me, I’m here.” Just like Kasper was there for him.
Kasper’s hand came up, pressing at the back of Felix’s head until their foreheads touched. His pupils were blown wide open. “I’m not going anywhere, either.”
When his gaze dropped to Felix’s lips, Kasper sucked in a stuttering breath. Felix was shocked once again by how close they were. Kasper kept pushing at the boundaries he’d erected between them; creeping closer each time they touched, then darting away again. But maybe now, maybe finally, this was—
Someone yelled, “There they are!”
Felix’s heart stopped. Kasper’s head reared back.
Rima and Leah were barrelling across the room towards them.
HARRIET
Harriet was waiting for Oscar’s power to manifest. She’d done this enough times now that she could tell from the way it was bubbling under her skin that it was almost ready. She hadn’t given up the hope that it might be something useful. Even if it didn’t let her get back to her gran, it could still help her to defend herself if the others came after her again. She’d barely managed to hold them off last time.
She had felt sick and dizzy ever since Oscar’s death. Her lost eyelid and the incisions down her back from Rima’s claws had been oozing constantly. Her whole body felt torn to pieces, like a scab that wouldn’t heal. She itched and itched and itched until she wanted to scratch her skin off.
After the fight had ended, she’d turned invisible and slept in the shadows, lost in the wracking torments of energy. Slowly, as light turned into darkness turned into light turned into darkness, Oscar’s excess energy died away until she could think again.
Regret overwhelmed her. She hadn’t meant to kill him. All she’d wanted to do was use Oscar’s body to get home, but everything had somehow spiralled out of control. The energy and chaos and adrenaline had got mixed up in her head, and he’d just tasted so delicious, better than anything she’d tried before.
Killing humans was different to making a Shell disintegrate. Killing Oscar … that was murder. She’d murdered him. Felix’s twin brother.
Was she a monster, or was this how everyone felt on the inside? Were they all somehow wishing for blood and death and fear, too? Was everyone else just better than her at pushing those urges down?
Harriet focused on making Oscar’s power manifest, because that felt like the only thing she could control any more. She had tried hunting rats to get a burst of energy, but she hadn’t been able to catch one. There was no one around to trade with, either. The whole population of ghosts in the building seemed to have disappeared. They must be hiding away somewhere until the fighting was over for good.
Gradually, Harriet realized that heavy electronic music was playing near by. It vibrated through the floorboards and made her head pound. It was coming from a group of human students who were making their way through the hall.
They were clearly hours into their pre-drinks, and covered in glowing fluorescent paint. Shining phone lights into the shadowy corners, they kicked old beer cans across the concrete, making room to set down their own bottles of vodka in the corridor where Harriet was hiding.
“All right, Squash Club!” one of the boys said, clapping his hands together. “Where are the freshers at?”
Four pasty students stepped forward, looking nervous. The boy poured lemon juice into a bottle of Baileys, and shouted, “What team?”
“SQUASH!”
He eyed up each of the freshers, then handed the bottle to a blonde girl, who looked dismayed.
“We like to drink with Charlie, ’cause Charlie is our mate,” he began, and the watching students joined in, shouting the rhyme as the fresher choked down the congealed liquid. “AND WHEN WE DRINK WITH CHARLIE, SHE GETS IT DOWN IN EIGHT …”
The fresher was chugging the drink, looking green.
“… SEVEN … SIX … FIVE … FOUR … THREE … TWO … ONE!”
Only recently, Harriet had been like them. A naïve, innocent fresher, whose biggest problem was finding new and disgusting ways to get drunk. She’d changed so much since then.
Charlie held up the empty bottle, looking proud and nauseous in equal measure. The boy clapped her on the back, then shouted, “Let’s get this seance started!”
Seance? Harriet suddenly clicked to attention.
The students gathered in a circle, hooking their arms together, as Charlie wandered off down the corridor, presumably looking for a corner to throw up in.
“Spectres of Mulcture Hall, hear our call. We wish you no harm,” a fresher intoned.
“Give us our girl back!” one of the boys yelled.
The students all burst into giggles, except one boy, who looked terrified.
“We call upon the spirit of Harriet Stoker…”
They were here for her? She’d only been dead a few days, but apparently she had become a university myth already.
“If Harriet is still present in the building, please can she make herself known to us.”
A sign? They wanted a sign?
Harriet walked into the centre of the circle, spinning around to look at them all. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to take a little from one of these humans? Just a smidgen of energy would be enough to make Oscar’s power manifest. They had so much to spare, and they were practically offering it up to her. It could be the difference between life and death; between holding her ground against the others or being destroyed. Could she really…?
Should she?
“Harriet Stoker! Your life was taken too
