Spirits

Chapter Nine

Farrell hurtled down the stairs into crypt, Alex close behind.  He slammed the metal gate closed behind him, although he felt foolish doing it, it wouldn't stop a spirit. He paused as he looked around the room. Flickering fire bathed the chamber, several of the torches on the wall were lit.  He walked tentatively further into the crypt, then paused. He didn't remember lighting this many torches for his father's funeral and even if he had, they should have long since burned out. Someone else had been here.

"Rose?" he called out, but his words only echoed off the wall. A shuffling noise from the back of the crypt drew his attention and as he walked deeper into the crypt he saw a figure crouched in the shadows.

"Nanna?" he said in bewilderment. There was no confusing her frail and haunched frame for anyone else. He ran over to her. "What are you doing here?" Her skin was pale and her face was fearful.

"She was like that when I found her," she said softly, her voice shaking. At first Farrell didn't understand, then he saw the body laying on the floor between the coffins. It was wrapped in a linen shroud and lay in the centre of a wide circle of black powder. The circle was similar to the one in the bell tower, but far more complex. Intricate patterns of coloured powder divided the circle into segments, each stitched to the adjacent section by swirling lines of white powder. Farrell approached the body, slowly kneeling beside it and with bated breath pulled the shroud back from the body's face. He felt his heart stop. Rose lay motionless beneath the sheet, her eyes closed, her skin pale. He felt her neck for a pulse. It was there, a feint beat somewhere deep beneath the surface, but her skin was ice cold.

"Nanna, what happened?" he asked, but she just stared at him with blank and confused eyes on the verge of tears. He gently shook Rose's shoulders, trying to wake her all the while looking back at the gate, expecting the possession spirit to burst through at any moment. Rose's eyelids fluttered as she came to, Farrell helped her sit upright.

"Are you alright?" he asked, but she still wasn't in a state to talk. He looked up uncertainly at Nanna, her being here another point on the growing list of things that didn't make any sense.

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" asked Alex as he walked over. Farrell looked around the room, he hadn't really thought that far ahead. The only reason he'd come down here was because they had no other option. Rose looked up at him with unfocused eyes, she tried to lift her arm but the weight of it was too much for her.  Farrell helped her to her feet, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her.  They turned to find Marvin standing in the crypt.

"Farrell, you're alive," said Marvin, visibly relieved.

"Marvin, there's something going on-" started Farrell.

"How did you get in here?" asked Alex.

Marvin dismissed Alex's question. "You have to leave now," said Marvin, panic in his voice, "Marietta is here!" Farrell froze, he hadn't heard that name in nearly ten years but it instantly filled him with dread.

An icy wind blew thought the crypt extinguishing all of the torches, the bells in the tower chimed long plaintive notes.  Darkness closed in around them, then an unearthly laugh echoed around the room.  Rose clutched tightly at Farrell's arm.  From the ceiling descended a solitary spirit. Farrell's heart stopped.  This was no cub, she was perfectly formed, with long, black hair and a billowing white gown.  She smiled at Farrell.

"Marietta..." he whispered.

"What's happening?" said Alex, still not able to see anything.

"How rude of me," said Marietta as she faded into view so Alex and Rose could see her too. "Hello Farrell, how nice to finally meet you." She then looked over at Marvin and smiled.  "Marvin, you look surprised to see me."

"What are you doing here?" he said angrily.

"I heard that the great Lewis Crater was finally dead," she said, "I'm here to pay my respects."  She laughed, gliding over to his coffin and with a wave of her hand whisked away the heavy stone lid. Lewis's body floated slowly from the coffin, hanging in the air like a marionette. Farrell clenched his jaw.

"Put him down," he said, although Marietta ignored him.

"A pity," she said, "I would have liked to have killed him myself." She let his body fall back limply into the coffin. She saw the empty coffin next to Lewis's and smiled as if reliving a pleasant memory. Her joy quickly turned to ash in his mouth as he saw Nanna standing silently in the corner. "I thought it fitting that the last of the Craters should die in this place."

Farrell formed an orb in his hand, ready to fight her. Marietta waved her hand and the bubble burst.

"Don't be stupid boy," she laughed, "you cannot hope to match me."

"I won't let you kill him!" said Marvin, his voice resounded with anger.

"And how do you expect to stop me?" jeered Marietta. Marvin's fingers grew long and claw-like and his eyes turned black. His jacket began to billow in the breeze as he rose slowly off the ground to Marietta's eye level

Farrell looked up at him, he'd never seen Marvin like this. In all the years Farrell known Marvin he had never once lost his composure. Alex leaned across to Farrell, still in shock at what he'd just seen Marvin do. "I always thought he was your butler," he whispered. Marvin shot him an indignant glare.

Marietta simply smiled, "you cannot interfere, Marvin, you know the rules better than anyone." Marvin's form flickered with uncertainty. "Even if you wanted to, your years with the Craters have made you old and weak," spat Marietta, "I will make you watch as I kill every last person you ever cared about."

Rose swayed uncertainly on her feet, catching Farrell's arm as she fell forward.

"What did you do to her?" said Farrell.

Marietta smiled devilishly.  "If I were you I'd be more worried about her sister." Farrell's heart skipped a beat, he hadn't even thought about Ingrid.  He'd been so concerned with chasing after Rose that he'd left her alone.

"If you've hurt her-"

"I wouldn't waste your time worrying about it, you'll be dead soon enough." Marietta brushed Marvin aside and lunged at Nanna. Farrell stepped between them and a flash of purple light burst from beneath Farrell's jacket, driving Marietta back. She screamed and recoiled as the light burnt at her like a blowtorch. Glowing embers flaked from her incorporeal skin. Her form flickered and shifted as she tried to reform her face into its usual calm visage, but her skin still rippled with a cub-like uncertainty. She stared at Farrell with black soulless eyes that made his blood run cold. He had no idea what he'd just done, or how he'd done it, but the purple light continued to glow from beneath his jacket, holding Marietta at bay like a force field. He reached in his pocket and his fingers felt the unsent package from his father. With so much else going on he'd forgotten it was there. He pulled it out, a glowing purple light radiating from beneath the brown paper.  Marietta floated forward, but the light grew stronger and forced her back.  Farrell tore open the package to reveal a small notebook.  He recognised the worn leather-bound cover immediately, it was his father's journal, but he didn't recognise the fine silver chain that dangled from between the pages like an expensive bookmark. He flipped the journal open to reveal a purple amethyst pendant on the end of the chain, nestled between the pages.

"Where did you get that?" Marietta hissed. Her hand moved to the pendant around her own neck, it was an identical copy of the one Farrell now held.  Marietta's form flickered like shifting mist and and the pendant she was wearing was disappeared as it it was never there.

She looked at Farrell with unbridled malice and her eyes turned black.  She flew rapidly at him, her teeth pointed, her claw-like fingers outstretched to tear him apart. But before she hit a blinding flash of purple erupted from the amulet, filling the crypt with a blazing light that forced Marietta back so violently that she sped through the walls and out of the church, her shriek reverberating off the crypt's walls long after she was gone.

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This is the end of Part One of my novel, thanks so much for sticking through to the end.  Things are just heating up, so stay tuned for Part Two.  As always, let me know your thoughts and vote and share if you liked the journey so far!