Page 96 of Shadows of Nightshade
Besides, where did he even get a sword?
“Finn…” I began, but my voice echoed through the space as more branches began to fall from the sky. Finn lunged forward, slicing through the air in a circular swoop. Broken leaves and twigs dropped around us, sparing the space Finn had attacked. The ground began to burn a faint glow as the dust quickly settled from the rain.
“Come out!” Finn called—his focus remained in the sky. “Fight me!”
The presence that’d just tried to hurt us in the basement—the same from when I’d almost drowned in the bath—had returned, blanketing the area in a suffocating weight. Whatever Finn haddone to drive it away was no longer working, and now it was angrier than ever before.
“You’re not the one I want,” it screamed. My throat closed at the touch of the spirit’s hissing voice, and I pressed myself further against the dirt.
Finn told me to stay down. I’d stay down.
The light had vanished from the ground, and the warmth faded from beneath my fingers. Finn looked at me, and our gazes locked for less than a breath before a white-hot pain clamped around my ankle, and the voice screamed, “It’s her!”
I shrieked, and my heart burst with panic as I was dragged backward along the ground toward the house. Fear threatened to choke me, and adrenaline flooded my system. Why was it doing this? Why did it want to hurt me?
The ground shook as I was suddenly released. My breath was erratic, and my throat hurt, but the pressing need to see my surroundings overruled the pain. I rolled over as Finn moved back into an attack position. He now stood between me and the house.
“I’m not leaving,” he said. I could barely hear him over the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears. “You’ll have to take us both.”
Thatfool! What good would that do? How could he avenge me then?
But, at the moment, he was plenty threatening. Maybe the ghost would give up and go away. There was a lingering pause, undecided, pregnant in the atmosphere. I could scarcely breathe.
Maybe the spirit was as afraid of Finn as I was of it?
But the air shifted, and my heart sank.
“Okay,” the spirit’s voice rang loud through the space. As the force grew stronger, gravity pushed Finn to his knees and me back into the mud. The wind was suffocating with furiousemotions, but at the depths of it, there was the smallest hint of grief.
“You sent her away!” It was growing angrier. “How could you do that?”
What…
I couldn’t contemplate it. Ripping, tearing pain radiated from every direction as I was lifted into the air. There was only the pained howl of the furious ghost ringing in my ears.
But I didn’t understand—I’d been able to help the other ghost. It felt right.
Why was the feeling of this ghost so different? Why was it so angry?
It’s not the right time yet.
The thought cut through the frenzy, and even though the chaos rang strong around me, I had a moment of clarity.
It wasn’t that the ghost couldn’t be saved. There was still hope.
But then the thought was lost. My hair was whipping around me, hopelessly tangled from the force of the hurricane, and a crushing weight was pressing against my chest. I choked, and black spots danced along the corners of my vision as, suddenly, Finn and I were roughly thrown into each other back-to-back. I blindly felt through the growing darkness, reaching for the source, but was unable to grasp onto anything.
Behind me, I could feel Finn struggling, too, and my heart sank as I realized our situation was hopeless.
I was dying, and as the long seconds passed, the dimming, buzzing sensation began to sink into my thoughts as the end drew closer.
This ghost was going to kill me.
I hoped Finn remembered that I’d told him this was going to happen, even as he, too, grasped for his last breath.
Just as the last grain of hope began to slip from my fingers, and my limbs turned lax, a furious shout pierced through the night. A violent wave of energy passed over me, and a sharp pain radiated from my hip as Finn and I fell onto the lawn.
We were ambushed instantly, and a hurried touch pressed against my shoulders. My head spun, and I coughed as I turned toward the soft, warm surface holding me.
