“You don’t have to pretend anymore, Oren told me about the Alliance order.”
“I’m sorry,” Lavie whispered, leaning closer and wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “I’ve wanted to tell you since my aunt and I found out, but we were sworn to secrecy. I wondered how long Oren would be able to keep it quiet.”
“I’m not going to question the fact they want me, but what kind of organization would target a teenage girl?” I sighed, stepping over the asphalt we were traversing.
She squeezed my shoulder, pressing me tighter against her side. The ease with which she physically acted around me enforced how strong our friendship had grown.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, leaning her head closer to mine. “But off the record, Saul thinks there’s more to this order than meets the eye.”
I stopped, kicking up some loose gravel with my boots. “Your demon friend is also part of the Alliance?”
She was quiet for a moment too long so I turned to face her, forcing her arm to drop to her side. Lavie wasn’t someone who cowered away, so she looked me in the eye. She’d willingly stood by my side when Maya the Lamia—a member of the
Obscurus—
attempted to steal my power via a dark ritual. If not for Lavie’s help, I doubted any of us would’ve made it out of that basement. So why was she skirting my question now?
“Is the demon part of the Alliance?” I repeated.
She shook her head.
“So you told him, but couldn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry, okay?” she said, making a grab for the strap of her backpack. Only one was draped over her left shoulder, and with her incredible, big and kind hazel eyes, she looked just like a schoolgirl. “I had to tell someone—it was driving me crazy. I really wanted it to be you, but Oren and Aunt Sally warned me against it. They didn’t want to add to your troubles.”
Yeah, my trouble quota was always too long. I nodded, refusing to take my dark mood out on her. “Fine, what did he say?”
“Saul reckons there’s got to be more to it than just trying to eliminate a potential threat. It’s all hypothetical excuses, and he thinks there might be something rotten going on within the ranks.”
Yeah, there was something really rotten about a woman who was prepared to place a death order on her own great-grandchild.
“But don’t worry, he’s looking into it.”
“Why would he do that? The guy doesn’t even know me.” Why would he care?
Lavie shrugged, her eyes twinkling under the dim streetlight. “That’s just Saul. He cares about people and wants to help. Besides, don’t forget, he’s friends with your yummy boyfriend.”
Of course. How could I forget the connection?
A smile spread across my lips. “My yummy boyfriend, huh?” That was one of the many things I loved about Lavie—she could make me smile even while my life was on the line.
“I call it as I see it.”
A chuckle burst out of me. It helped release some of the tension bubbling up inside.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll make sure the order never comes to pass,” Lavie said.
This Alliance, headed by a necromancer who used to be my grandma’s friend but hadn’t seemed so civil towards Oren in his vision, wanted me dead by Halloween. With Oren, Lavie and Sally being insiders, I had to believe we’d work out a way to fix this.
“How does the order work?”
She bit her lip. “The Alliance Elders write the orders down on scrolls, which magically appear to the person who has to execute the order.”
“Who’s got mine and Willow’s order?”
“I don’t know. No one knows until you receive it.”
I had to hope it was one of the people I trusted. “Okay.” Out of childish habit, I looked up into the sky, wishing on the stars I could barely see.
“Hey Sierra, we’re going in.” Ebony stood in front of the biggest warehouse on the street, her three shadows behind her.
“Are you sure you can handle it?”
“This shouldn’t take long,” Juliet said, her ponytail bouncing against her narrow shoulders.
“Make sure you don’t get cocky and rush things. Go in expecting the worst. The owner of this warehouse claims there’s more than one spook inside. We need to clear all of them before he gets to work tomorrow or we’ll lose the bonus he promised us.” The extra money always came in handy, but I worried about the girls. “I don’t want any of you showing off and getting killed in the process.”
“Got it,” Ebony said. She turned to the girls and called, “Let’s get inside and capture some spooks.”
Juliet high-fived Claire, but Jana pulled out a canister and held it steady at her side.
“Will they be okay?” Lavie whispered.
“Yeah,” I said. Yet I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the structure until they’d all been cleared by the night watchman and disappeared inside.
“Is this location common for you?” Lavie asked, looking around at the industrial area one suburb away from Serene Hills.
“We don’t get called into warehouses much.” Usually, spooks gravitated to more populated areas. Sure, the abandoned part of town was frequented by many a lost spirit, but they didn’t spend all of their time there. The fact this warehouse was haunted sounded a little odd to me. I couldn’t feel any cold spots and although it was isolated now, during the day this area would be filled with activity.
The manager had explained the haunting as
“chaotic, violent and downright scary”
. There were two people currently in the hospital, several injured, and a bunch of others who were too afraid to turn up to work. It was costing the company, and we were here to help them.
These spooks were breaking the law. Ghosts had rights and could remain on this patch for as long as they wanted to, but they couldn’t hurt humans or stay in a place they weren’t wanted. That was where I came in.
I would stop this tonight, with my fellow catchers beside me.
Lavie and I continued to make our way across the street, and paused a few feet away from the warehouse. Before we went inside, there was one other thing I needed to ask. “Lavie, you know about Oren, don’t you?”
“That he’s your grandfather? Yeah, I’ve known for a while. My aunty knows him from way back.”
I nodded, because there was nothing more to say.
“Can you hear that?” Lavie asked.
“Hear what?” I stepped onto the sidewalk and past the streetlight. I scanned the area behind the big rectangular, peaked warehouse and focused on the overhead train lines. The train tracks were dark, but I could definitely hear something. It sounded like…sparks.
“I can hear a sizzling sound,” Lavie whispered, standing under the streetlight.
My skin prickled at the same time as white, blue and green sparks appeared along the overhead train wires. They moved quickly, getting closer.
“Lavie, get away from the streetlight,” I said, never taking my eyes off the wires.
“What?”
“Just move away, into the dark!”
The electric arcs had already jumped the train lines. Some were slipping in through the warehouse’s wiring, others were racing towards us.
“Sierra, what the hell’s going on?”
As I turned to push her away, a rush of energy reached the power lines crisscrossing over our heads. The white, sparkly lights raced into the streetlight, causing the bulb to fizzle out and leave us in the dark.
Lavie finally took a step, but it was too late. She stood too close, so when the spark manifested into a phantasm, it engulfed and zapped her with enough current to knock her off her feet.
I watched as it took off, headed straight for the warehouse.
“Shit.”
An ethereal explosion lit the night with green sparks. The warehouse was buzzing with energy. I could see the glow from the square windows.
The night watchman ran outside but was zapped in the back of the head. He collapsed in a heap on the driveway.
“Lavie,” I called, stepping closer. “Lavie, are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. I crouched beside her to make sure she was still breathing. She was, and her pulse was steady. I didn’t want to leave her alone out here but the others might need my help. I had to get inside.
I pushed her backpack away to make sure she was lying flat on the sidewalk, took off my jacket, and threw it over her body so she’d stay warm on this cool September night.
“Sierra!” That was Ebony. “We need your help!”
I glanced at Lavie one last time before racing towards the warehouse. The closer I got, the more my skin itched and my hair stood on end. I was glad I’d decided to put it up in a ponytail. I touched the door handle but pulled my hand away instantly. An electric shock ran up my arm but it wasn’t too bad. I pulled my sleeve over my hand and yanked the door open before rushing inside.
The interior of the warehouse was cavernous, filled with equipment parked in specific places, and rows of shelving that created a maze.
“Sierra,” Jana called, running out of the dark with the canister at her side.
“What’s going on?”
“There’s too much energy trapped in here. I only managed to entrap three.” She held up her canister. “It’s heavy.”
“Do you have more?”
She pointed to three duffel bags, which were spilling spook canisters onto the concrete floor.
“Good. Empty one of those bags completely and only store the full ones inside it,” I instructed. “We don’t want to lose sight of what’s been used and what hasn’t.”
Jana nodded.
“How many did you sense?”
“There’s no need to sense them—we can see them.”
“Phantasms,” I whispered.
“What are those?” Juliet asked, sidling up beside me.
“Spooks that can tap into electrical energy,” I said. “They travel through wires, cables, metal—anything able to conduct electricity.”
“So, how do we get ’em out of here?” Jana asked.
“We need to stabilize them.” I looked around. “Where’s Ebony?”
“She’s looking for the fuse box, said she was going to switch off the power,” Juliet answered, her eyes wide and filled with fear.
“Where’s Claire?”
Both of the girls shrugged.
I moved forward. “Come on guys, let’s take care of this.”
“But I don’t even know what to do!” Juliet said.
“We’ll do it together.”
“But—”
I stepped in front of her. “There are no buts, Juliet! We need to stabilize and remove the phantasms before they zap the life out of
us
. Do you want to be a spook catcher, or not?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but didn’t.
“Roe told me you were ready for this, but if he was wrong you can still get out. Go to the car and wait outside.”
“No, she’s not going to the car,” Jana said, her eyes hard. “We’re going to do this together.” She grabbed Juliet’s hand and pulled her closer. “The three of us made a pact, remember? After what happened, we said we’d always stick together.”
The electrical charge in the air was starting to make my skin itch.
Juliet finally nodded.
“Let’s go,” I said. Roe wanted these girls to become full-fledged partners of his business and I needed to make sure they knew what they were getting themselves in to. I wouldn’t always be around to babysit them, and neither would Ebony.
As I picked up my stride, I realized I hadn’t crossed paths with many spooks classified into this nasty cluster. These were the messy kind, ones they made movies about, not ones we faced on a daily basis. But that wouldn’t stop me.
The temperature dropped as soon as my foot hit the metal stairs. I was pretty sure being anywhere near metal wouldn’t be a good idea with this many volts surging through the warehouse, but we needed to get upstairs.
I peered over my shoulder. “Okay, we have to take the stairs up to the next level but these are metal and will conduct electricity if any of the bastards get close.”
“What are we going to do, then?” Juliet asked.
“We have no choice but to clear them as fast as we can. And don’t touch the railing.”
Both girls looked up, past me. Without needing to turn around, I knew what was going on because I could feel the static prickling at the back of my neck. As soon as we took the first step, the phantasms were going to strike with enough voltage to fry us.
“Are you two ready?”
They both nodded, though Juliet was biting her lip.
“Let’s go!” I took the stairs two at a time, stomping so hard the silver dagger tucked in my right boot dug into my ankle, and the one Papan had given me dug into my quads. But I didn’t let it stop me—I kept moving and was relieved to feel the staircase jump with each step. It meant the girls were right behind me.
When I reached the top, I grabbed Jana’s hands and dragged her the rest of the way. She was still holding onto Juliet, who had almost reached the top when the railing was struck with enough voltage to make Jana miss a step. She nearly toppled and I strained to maintain my grip on her. I somehow managed to keep Jana upright, but Juliet had already reached for the railing.