Wrath and Wraith

The world was cold and damp and still mostly dark when Felix and the others were awoken the next morning. Archer stood next to the tent and started rattling off instructions before Felix was even sure he was no longer dreaming.

“—get the tents packed up before we start hiking,” Archer was saying. “Make sure you seal up any containers of food.”

Felix groggily unzipped the tent. “Could you repeat that?” he asked, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes. “Slower?”

“We don’t have all day,” Archer replied, his voice cold.

“We don’t?” Mason mumbled a few feet away.

Archer was already walking away, likely off to shake Jack’s tent awake with the same lecture. Felix dragged himself outside. It took a couple of minutes for Mason to follow. Arisa stumbled out last, Clementine under her arm.

Archer passed by again a moment later, carrying his bags to the car.

“What about breakfast?” Arisa called after him.

“You can eat snacks while we hike,” he replied.

Kendra emerged from her tent, looking the most put-together of any of them. She joined Archer in cleaning the site up immediately. Felix and the others stumbled around, trying to help as much as they could, but they didn’t contribute much. At least they weren’t Jack’s gang, who went back to kicking around their ball until Archer barked at them that it was time to go.

It didn’t rain during the hike, but the previous night’s storm left the trail muddy. Dark clouds in the sky kept visibility low even after the sun broke the horizon. Felix nearly slipped more times than he could count.

“If we’re going to a house, why couldn’t we just drive?” he asked after recovering from a particularly close call.

“The road to the house was taken out in a landslide earlier this year,” Archer said. “This entire part of the forest was the family’s property, and since they moved out after the exorcism, no one’s bothered to repair the road.”

The group finally trudged out of the forest into the yard around the house. It was three stories, rustic, and while it was already falling into disrepair, it had clearly been a nice place when it was occupied.

“See if you can sense any magical energy inside,” Archer ordered. “All of you.”

Felix stared at the house and focused. A minute passed, and he felt nothing.

Jack yawned. “There’s nothing here.”

Arisa shook her head. “I’m feeling something. It’s not much, but it’s definitely there.”

“Arisa’s right,” Archer said. “What you’re sensing is ambient energy left over from the exorcism. It will take a few more years to fade fully.”

Jack shot Arisa a dirty look.

“This low a level of energy is hard to sense, even with experience,” Kendra added. “But the rest of you should keep trying until you feel it.”

“Mason.” Archer glanced in Mason’s direction. “Can you tell if an energy masking spell has been used here?”

Mason studied the house. “Not by sense alone,” he replied. “I would have to find the site where the spell had been cast. Or cast another spell that will undo it if it’s there. But my wand isn’t strong enough for that.”

Archer nodded. He turned to Kendra. “I’m not sensing anything active inside, but given everything that’s happened recently, we should go in to confirm.”

Jack folded his arms. His friends exchanged nervous looks.

“You kids stay out here,” Kendra said. “We’ll be right back.” She waved a hand. Butterflies darted out of the trees and circled the air around the kids. The patterns on their wings shifted into sigils.

“Wait,” Jack said. “Shouldn’t we come, too?”

“We need to make sure it isn’t dangerous, first,” Archer told him.

“But wouldn’t it be more dangerous to leave us out here alone?”

“If there are still spirits bound to the house, they won’t be able to leave,” Kendra said. “And I marked these butterflies with protective sigils just in case.”

“Now, you’re going to stand out here and concentrate until you’re able to feel the magical energy coming from the building,” Archer added. “All of you.”

He and Kendra walked up to the ajar front door and entered the house. Felix was happy to stay back and try sensing the energy, but Jack had other plans.

“Let’s go,” he said the moment the two were out of sight. He started toward the house. Clara was the first to follow. After a moment’s hesitation, Noah and Rose joined them.

“Where are you going?” Arisa called. “There’s nothing in there!”

Jack ignored her. The four disappeared inside.

“What should we do?” Felix asked.

“Nothing,” Mason said. “They’ll get in trouble, and we won’t.” He glanced at one of the butterflies flitting near his face.

“Why would they go in? It doesn’t make any sense.” Arisa paced back and forth, fiddling with her bracelet as she walked. Clementine surveyed the area from her shoulder, head turning back and forth.

“Who cares?”

Felix folded his arms. “Jack has been acting weird. Almost like he knows something that we don’t.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Again: who cares?”

He had a point. Felix went back to trying to sense energy, while Arisa continued pacing and Mason stared at the house with narrowed eyes.

A scream pierced the morning air.

“That sounded like Clara,” Arisa said, eyes widening.

“What the hell did they do?” Mason muttered.

Felix stared at the house. His fists clenched. “We should go help.”

Mason shook his head. “Archer and Kendra are in there. We should leave it to them.”

“The scream sounded like it came from this side of the house. What if Kendra an Archer don’t get there fast enough?”

“Yeah,” Arisa added. “They’re assholes, but we can’t just let them get killed.”

A heartbeat passed. Mason nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

They sprinted up to the building. Mason torched a window with hellfire as they approached, shattering the glass and creating an opening for them to jump through. When they landed inside, shouting reached their ears.

On the bright side, the fight was easy to locate.

Felix was the first to reach the door. He threw it open and found a large living room on the other side. Jack, Rose, and Noah were pressed up against the opposite wall. Clara lay on the floor next to them, eyes closed.

Hovering in the middle of the room was a pitch black, vaguely humanoid spirit. It was easily over seven feet in heigh, even with its lower half fading into black mist. Tattered pieces of fabric hung from its body and drifted weightlessly through the air.

The thing’s head turned back to stare at Felix and the others as they entered. Its face was hidden in the shadow of the hood over its head, but it didn’t seem to have any features besides a gaping mouth and two spots of red light where eyes should have been. It extended a hand toward them, revealing that its fingers ended in claws several inches in length.

“What is that?” Felix yelped.

“Wraith,” Arisa answered. “You know how poltergeists are basically extra violent ghosts? These are even worse.”

Mason lifted his fists and let them burn with hellfire. “They’re not that much more violent. The real problem is that they’ll drain your life force if you get too close. There’s nothing left of them but bad memories and hopelessness, and that’s what they feed on.”

“Noted,” Felix said. “How do we kill it?”

“Our magical fire will do the trick. Arisa, can you keep it distracted?”

“We’re on it,” Arisa said. Clementine jumped off her shoulder and charged forward. Arisa drew a deck of cards from her jacket as she ran in a different direction to circle the wraith.

Felix brought his own fire to the surface and moved forward with Mason. He hadn’t had many opportunities to practice since talking to Mom, and he had no idea what the full extent of his power was now. Or how hard it would be to control.

The wraith drifted toward him. Playing cards spun through the air in front of it, cutting off its path with sigils. It swung its head toward Arisa.

Mason jumped in with a blast of hellfire. The wraith shrieked and backed up toward Jack’s group, the edge of its shoulder fading into black smoke. Felix darted to the right and unleashed his own fire, hoping to drive the wraith away from the others. He hit with enough flame to wipe away half of the arm attached to the shoulder Mason had burned.

“Nice!” Mason shouted.

“I was aiming for its chest,” Felix admitted.

Clementine darted by underneath the wraith, distracting it momentarily and allowing Mason a clear shot at the lower half of its form. An even louder shriek echoed through the room. Felix clapped his hands over his ears.

“It won’t stop until it’s completely destroyed!” Mason shouted.

The wraith swung its head toward Mason and raced through the air. When Mason lifted his hands to hit it again, it stopped and reversed, carrying itself out of the hellfire’s path. Felix attempted to dive out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough. The wraith passed directly through him.

Felix’s world fell apart at the edges. His vision blurred, and then he was staring down the Supermoon Wolves again. Then the necromancer. The demons. Gideon. His family’s bodies. He sank to his knees, ready to give up here and now. What chance did he stand against these monsters? If he kept going with the Bright Guardians, he’d be dead in no time. May as well get it over with.

Something solid collided with him, knocking him back into reality. He and Mason slid across the floor together. As they came to a stop a few feet from the wall, Mason lifted a hand and torched the wraith behind him.

“Are you okay?” Mason asked, revealing his fangs. His eyes were wide, and his pupils had narrowed to slits. His irises glowed purple.

Felix nodded, heart racing.

“It’s still got half its body!” Arisa yelled.

Mason climbed to his feet. “Can you keep going?”

Felix reached into the well of energy in his chest. “Yeah,” he said as he stood up. “I’ve got a little more fight left.”

“Let’s hit it together.” Mason turned around. “Arisa, send it our way! We need it close!”

Felix and Mason faced the wraith as it backed toward them, moving away from the protective sigils Arisa sent spinning through the air. Felix lifted his hand, but Mason held out his own to stop him. “Wait.”

The wraith drew closer. And closer. Despair crept into Felix’s chest. He breathed through it and held his ground.

“Now!” Mason yelled.

Blue and purple fire mixed together in front of them. The beam of flames engulfed the wraith. It let out a deafening shriek. Felix gritted his teeth and forced his fire to keep pouring out.

The shriek cut off abruptly. Felix’s shoulders sagged as he let go of the fire and watched it dissipate. With the wraith gone, the room looked lighter.

Mason didn’t pause for even a second. He stormed over to Jack, grabbed him by the front of his shirt with clawed hands, and lifted him into the air. “What the hell were you thinking?” he snarled.

“You—you really are a demon,” Jack stammered.

Felix jogged over and knelt down next to Clara, who hadn’t moved. “Is she—?”

“She’s fine,” Noah said, though his voice was strained. “I was able to negate the wraith’s power long enough for us to pull her away before it could sap much of her energy. But she did pass out.” His hand shifted, and Felix noticed he was turning over a coin in his fingers. His channeling material, maybe?

Arisa’s eyes were on the ceiling as she walked over, Clementine perched on her shoulder. “Damn. You guys did a number on that paint.”

Felix glanced up and took in the scorch marks on the ceiling.

Mason let go of Jack. Jack grunted as he hit the floor. “Seriously,” Mason said. “Why did you come in here just to freeze up?”

Jack’s only response was a glare. Mason turned to Rose. “You wanna give me any answers?”

Rose rubbed her arm and looked at the floor.

“We need to get Clara out of here,” Noah said. “She’s still unconscious.”

“He’s right, Mason,” Arisa said. “Let’s get outside. Let Archer and Kendra deal with Jack.”

“Fine.” Mason’s gaze flickered to Felix. “You’re bleeding.”

“Huh?” Felix held a hand to the side of his face and found blood.

“Here.” Mason reached into his sweatshirt and pulled out his wand. He pointed at Felix and muttered, “Heal.” A wave of energy swept over Felix’s skin, wiping away the gash. The stinging faded in seconds.

“Can—” Noah looked terrified of drawing Mason’s attention. “Can you help her?” He glanced down at Clara.

“I can try. This wand’s not much, so it will depend on how much energy that thing sapped from her.” Mason pointed the wand at her. “Wake.”

After a moment of tense silence, Clara’s eyes fluttered open.

The seven of them made their way back outside through the window Mason had broken. As they watched Jack climb through last, Archer and Kendra came around the corner.

“We told you to wait—” Archer started.

Kendra cut him off, eyes wide. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“What do you mean ‘what happened?’” Felix asked. “Did you not hear the fight?”

“We didn’t hear anything. There was a minor spirit on the other side of the house we dealt with, but it wasn’t much trouble,” Archer said. His gaze darted between them. “What happened over here?”

Jack opened his mouth. “We went in—”

“You went in,” Mason cut him off. “We followed when you all started screaming for help.”

“That’s not—”

Clara had apparently regained enough strength to punch Jack in the arm. “They’re right, moron. We’d be dead if it weren’t for them.”

Jack shut his mouth and let Mason finish explaining what had happened.

When the explanation was finished, Archer shook his head. “It’s like every mindless monster in the state is suddenly interested in tricking us and attacking our students.”

Jack’s gaze moved to the ground. He had a guilty expression on his face, for what could have very well been the first time in his life.

“Let’s go,” Archer said. He led the way toward the trees without checking to make sure the others followed.

Mason hurried to catch up to him. After exchanging a quick glance, Felix and Arisa followed.

“I found a spell in a book that could be used to undo the energy masking spell,” Mason said as the two caught up to him and Archer. “It requires more power than my wand has, so I would need extra supplies. But if I were able to use it, we could know what we’re walking into next time.”

Archer thought for a moment. “If you’re right, and this pattern keeps up, we may not be able to continue without a spell like that.” He looked at Mason. “What do you need?”

With a brief summary of what the spell required, Mason was able to convince Archer—the last person any of them would have expected—to take the three to a witch shop.