“No—” Harriet tried to tear away, but she couldn’t make herself move. Even now that she knew the truth, Harriet was the same person who’d spent her whole life trying desperately, hopelessly, to please her granny. She still loved her.
How did her gran even know how to do this? She’d only died a few hours before, and now she was stealing energy? None of this could really be happening.
“I hate you,” Harriet said through clenched teeth. “My parents hated you, and so did your husband. We were all willing to die to get away from you. Nothing you do will keep me here with you. I’d rather walk outside and disintegrate right now than spend eternity with you, I swear on it.”
Norma’s eyes blazed with rage. She went completely still, and then lunged forward and bit into Harriet’s neck.
The pain spurred Harriet into action. She wrestled her, breaking free and sprinting for the stairs. But Norma had the energy of a fresh young ghost, not an elderly woman. Before Harriet could make it across the foyer, Norma leapt on her back and pinned her to the ground.
She squirmed, pushing a dizzying kaleidoscope of emotions into Norma – pain, anger, sadness, lust, grief, one after the other. Norma just gritted her teeth, and bent Harriet’s head backwards. A bone at the top of her spine snapped.
“Give it to me,” she crooned. “That’s a good girl. You’ve collected so much energy for me, haven’t you? Now let it all go.”
Norma started glowing as all of Harriet’s hard-won energy left her. Her gran had clearly decided that she was useless, so she was taking everything she could from her weak, pathetic excuse for a granddaughter. Part of Harriet wanted to let her, so that this would all be over.
Something vital tore free then, leaving an aching hole behind. Norma had taken one of her powers. It hurt so much; raw and aching, deep in her soul. Was this what the Shells had felt, each time she had taken their powers? Once again, Harriet was freshly horrified by all the things she’d done under the energy’s influence.
Norma sucked up Harriet’s energy. It was too much for her body to hold, and the power shot straight out of Norma’s hands, tearing her skin to shreds and cracking the delicate bones of her wrists and fingers.
Pain scraped at Harriet’s bones until she felt weak and dizzy. There was no way Norma could be doing all of this on instinct. From the moment she had died, she had been calm and collected and ready for anything. There was something bigger going on here.
Norma let go of Harriet when she’d emptied her out. Harriet fell limp, too weak to move. Her neck must have broken, because her head hung to the side, and didn’t respond when she tried to look at Norma.
Dry-heaving, she searched for any power inside her. But there was nothing. Her invisibility, emotional manipulation and shapeshifting were all gone. But she had stopped before Harriet disintegrated completely. Why hadn’t she killed her?
“Thank you,” Norma said, smoke pouring from her mouth.
Harriet tried to hold her head upright on her broken neck, watching as Norma inspected her fingers, which were charred black with burnt energy. She was incandescent with energy, burning up from the inside out.
She walked away from Harriet, staggering like she was drunk. Without looking back at her granddaughter, Norma turned herself invisible using the now twice-stolen power.
As she melted into the depths of Mulcture Hall, Harriet let her head fall slack and slipped into sleep.
Would you like to see what’s happening down in the basement, while Harriet and Norma talk, and Kasper and Felix kiss away their pain?
Qi is suffering.
As soon as she entered the basement, Vini bit off her head. Rufus tore away her limbs, each one jerking with involuntary movements of pain. He wasn’t even trying to eat her, just dismantling her so that she couldn’t fight back. Qi managed to shoot off just a single burst of lightning, misfired and useless. Vini picked up an arm, sucking it down in one gulp.
They consumed every part of Qi in only a few minutes. When Vini swallowed her last little toe, the lightning barrier on the basement door glowed, then faded into nothing.
Rufus climbed to his feet, brushing off his hands. He walked through the door, passing to the other side without challenge. Triumph clear on his features, Vini followed him.
There was a pause, then every other ghost in the basement rushed for the exit in a huge wave, surging up the stairs into Mulcture Hall.
Chapter 23
FELIX
They were still discussing what to do about Harriet when Felix heard a scream from the floor below.
“What was that?” Rima sat up, disturbing Claudia, who had been sleeping against her shoulder.
There was a distant roar. The building shook, and three ghosts ran past. Felix’s heart jumped. What was Harriet doing this time?
“Oi!” Kasper yelled at them, “What’s going on?”
“They’ve broken out of the basement!” a girl shouted over her shoulder.
“What?” Kasper roared after her. “Who?”
“EVERYONE!”
Felix didn’t process what this meant at first, and then he saw the horror on Leah’s face. The Tricksters, and their loyal army of criminals and murderers, were roaming free. This was worse than anything he could have thought possible.
“I have to get out of here. Now.” Leah grabbed Claudia and stepped right through the wall of the building.
“Where is she—” Rima began, but Felix said, “Go, follow her! Quickly!”
He grabbed Kasper’s hand, tugging him into the empty space between the plasterboard of the hallway and the concrete breeze-blocks of the external wall. It was filled with pipes and cables, supported by metal girders. Leah was striding down the length of the space, walking purposefully through plaster and concrete.
Felix stepped inside, walking after her. It didn’t hurt, but the sensation of things being pushed through his eyes
