“I am relaxed,” Felix said, then immediately started biting at his nails. Cody was hunting a mouse, and kept looking up at him in annoyance, his pacing disturbing her prey.
“Nearly got it,” Leah said, staring at the eyelid. “It’s like tuning into a radio frequency. I can feel her energy. She’s … she’s so strong.”
Rima crossed her fingers, hoping this would work. Leah said she could use the eyelid to leach Harriet’s energy out of her spirit, wherever in the building she was hiding. But Leah had never tried it before. She was basing this on something she’d been told hundreds of years before. Was it even possible?
It was their best shot at making Harriet weak enough that they could get her into the basement. If they tried to take her down now, then she would probably destroy them.
“Leah, are you related to the Tricksters?” Rima asked.
Leah breathed out through her nose. She kept her focus on the eyelid, but she’d gone completely still. “Rufus and Vini are my brothers-in-law.”
“You were married to their brother?”
She nodded. “Fabian. Claudia’s father was their older brother.”
Claudia whined.
There had been three of them when they were alive? Rima couldn’t imagine anything worse.
“Why did you never—”
“I don’t really want to talk about it. And especially not right now.”
Leah looked utterly miserable, so Rima decided not to ask any more questions, even though she was burning with them.
“Can we just get on with this?” Kasper asked, lounging back against the wall.
“I think it’s ready, actually,” Leah said. “We need to make sure we’ve found Harriet before I use it, though. Once she’s weak, we’ll have to get Qi to help us move her into the basement as quickly as we can, before she fights back. She’ll still be able to use her powers, even if she’s not got much energy.”
Rima nodded. It wasn’t like they needed to do a vote with the whole building. Harriet had killed a living human. She had to go to the basement, there was no question.
“How about we make a big commotion, so she’ll come and see what’s going on?” Felix said. “As soon as we start talking to her, she won’t be able to resist answering back. She’s never turned down the chance at an argument yet.”
“It’s a plan,” Rima said. “We can play the rest by ear, as long as we have the eyelid. If Leah waits out of sight with that, then the rest of us can handle Harriet.”
Some of the other ghosts would have helped them fight Harriet, too, but most of them had hidden away inside the walls since Oscar’s murder. They probably wouldn’t come out until the danger had passed.
Leah rolled her eyes. “If you just want me to stay out of the fight, that’s ridiculous. There’s no way I’m going to let her hurt you if she starts—”
“I’m not risking you disintegrating, Leah. It’s not worth it. If there’s a fight, we’re more than capable of dealing with it.”
“Yeah, we are. She’s going to regret ever coming near this building.” Kasper was clenching and unclenching his fists, desperate for a fight.
Leah shrugged. “Fine. I guess I’ll stay out of it seeing as Kasper has decided to fight her single-handedly. Are you drunk, Kasper?”
“I’m just – ready. I’m done with this. I want to get it over with.”
“Well, let’s get on with it, then,” Rima said. “Let’s huddle, guys. Come on, Leah – you too.”
“Pass,” she said.
“Liven up, squad!” Rima said. “This is our moment!”
Leah reluctantly let Rima pull her into the circle, intoning, “I will treasure this moment for ever.”
“Same,” Rima said, entirely serious.
Then Cody started yipping behind them. Someone was coming. Though it wasn’t Harriet. It wasn’t even another ghost. It was a human.
Fabian. The lost brother. The worst of the Tricksters. I haven’t mentioned my father much, have I? Rufus and Vini might be unpleasant, but in comparison with my father, they were practically doting aunts. At least they knew my name.
I can show you the moment that Fabian disintegrated, when Leah lost all the loyalty Rufus and Vini had given her. It’s the biggest mistake I ever made.
This is how I destroyed my father.
Here’s what happened. Fabian was curious, power-hungry and insatiable. He and his brothers ruled the ghosts here with an iron fist. Everyone did what he asked, and he set Vini on them if they refused.
He was convinced that he could do more with Leah’s power. It wasn’t enough that she was pushing herself to look into the future for him whenever he asked. He wanted to know when he would disintegrate.
He couldn’t believe that he’d disappear one day. All his power, all his work – it wasn’t enough. He had to make sure he avoided the final death.
One day, some time back when war rationing was still in operation, he told Leah she had to look five hundred years into the future. He wanted to see if he ever found a way to survive that long as a ghost, without becoming a Shell.
Leah knew that it would drain her completely. It’s a dangerous thing to do anyway – looking that far through time is unstable. It could have damaged both the future and the past.
When she refused him, Fabian cradled me in his arms and wrapped his hands around my neck. He threatened to tear off my head if she didn’t do it. His own daughter. The threat was enough to make Leah try.
At first, it seemed like it might work, until she started to waver. She dimmed and went black and white, and her atoms started to separate.
I panicked. My father had proven once and for all that he didn’t care about me, whereas my mother was willing to sacrifice herself to save me. The choice was simple. Cradled in his arms, with his hands around my neck, I took his energy and pushed it all into her.
He was gone before he even noticed. Leah glowed with his energy, and re-formed.
