Page 109 of Woven Souls

She hums thoughtfully before her hand grows cold. Around us the ground shakes under a blast of her power. Like a generator powering down, I can feel magic so subtle I never noticed it in Everlast before, rushing away. The temple shakes and screams from inside let me know thatsomethinghappened. Outside, everything appears normal.

“What did you do?” I ask her as people push past the row of armed Ghosts to evacuate the building. They start coming down the stairs but stop when they see us and scatter in different directions.

“I threw out some power and hoped it would cancel out whatever they have around the place. That should have counteracted any magical bindings they have on the guys if they’re still in there.” Willow steps up beside me. Her feet, now planted solidly on the ground, shift apart so that she’s braced herself. She looks up at archers and frowns.

“Let me make myself perfectly clear.” Willows pulls her hand free from mine to plant them both on her hips while she glares up at the Elders. “I’m not playing games. I’m just here to get my men, and we’ll leave.”

“If you don’t cooperate, we’ll have to bring you up by force, risking your Fallen friends’ lives in the process,” Elder Corathien counters.

Willow shakes her head as the archers lift their bows again. I shift to move in front of Willow, but she turns and glares at me.

“The jokes on them. If they hurt you, they hurt me,” she whispers fiercely, her eyes glowing even brighter than before.

“We can’t help the others if we’re dead,” I remind her.

“But the dead can help the others.” Willow’s smile shifts.

Around us, a handful of spirits begin to materialize. To my surprise, most of them are Ghosts, hidden behind their cloaks. How is this possible? They should be in the Third Realm if they died over there, as they should have. That’s how we’re supposed to go. By protecting this realm from the creatures over there. So why are there so many over here?

“Do you think you can manipulate the spirits ofourGhosts?” Elder Matthews takes a step towards us, his pleasant expression shifting to rage. “If they could, they would fight againstyou,even in death, to protect their loved ones here.”

The spirits look between us and the temple. I don’t have to see their faces to sense their surprise at being seen.

“You have three seconds to decide what you want to do, Willow. You can come up here and have a nice chat with us. Or, we’ll have to come down there to get you. And if we do that, I can guarantee it won’t be in one piece,” Elder Corathien warns.

“Those Elders killed us,” the nearest Ghost whispers to us. Dressed in her cloak, I can’t see her face, but the voice is feminine. “Whatever you need, we’re onyourside.”

I flinch in surprise. “They killed you?”

“One…” Elder Corathien counts slowly.

The Ghosts nod. “All of us, for various reasons throughout the years.”

My stomach rolls in disgust. There’s no time to discuss this, but I have a thousand questions, starting with why?

“Two…”

“What do you guys need? I don’t know if we can do much like this,” the Ghost asks.

“I can give you guys the ability to touch things, but it won’t last long. Help me find my guys,” Willow says. “There are three of them: Theodon, Viktor, and Jonah. I’m sure they’re tied up somewhere.”

“Three!”

The archers pull back their arrows. The air grows cold again as Willow sighs. The archers all drop. The Elders turn to look around in surprise.

“Come on!” Willow grabs my hand and pulls me towards the temple.

I pull my sword free, and together we run up the stairs. The Elders pull daggers from their long, draping sleeves and brace themselves as we approach. Without a word, the two of them drop. I catch sight of their spirits as they sit up, but that’s all the attention I give them as we leap over their bodies.

We push open the glass doors and enter the place I once revered.

I note immediately that nothing has changed since the last time I was here. The stone walls have images carved into them of Ghosts in mid-battle or praying. Images not of the Ghosts are of our people living happily in Everlast. The floors are wooden, partially covered by spotless white runners. Staggered between the wooden boards, gold is embedded into the floor. Around the large foyer, there is a large desk and several doors that lead to various sections of the temple.

After the rush of Fae that left the building, I’m not surprised to find no one in here.

“We’ll find them.”

I jump at the sound of the spirit as she steps up to my side.

---