The Haunted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 5)

Chapter 4: Ghosts

Sabrina skidded to a stop and played the fading wristlight's beam over the wall, searching for the opening mechanism that would let her back out into the tunnel. She had a vague idea that it shouldn't be as hard to get out as to get in, and her only goal now was to get to the Reissians and take at least one of them out before they got her. Ford would have no reason then to pursue his terrible course. And if it was too late already, then at least she would not have to know it, would not have to watch it or be part of his long slide into madness. That was a fate she was willing to sacrifice a great deal to avoid.

Where is it, where is it, dammit, why would they hide the exit, it's got to be here, she thought frantically, running her fingers over the surface of the cut stone. Ford wasn't far behind her. He didn't have any light, but somehow she didn't think it would slow him much. He was on the next best thing to home turf.

Sabrina bit her lip and switched off her light. It would only reveal her location to him, if he had any doubts about it. She could feel their connection as strongly as ever, and she wondered whether there was enough of Ford left to let her try to save them both. Come on, come on, where's the damn latch? She could hear his footsteps now.

A sense of inevitability washed over her, as if she were caught in a horror movie where she knew perfectly well what was about to happen. She wasn't even startled when Ford's hands landed heavily on her shoulders.

"No, Sabrina," he said softly. "We leave together, or not at all. I need you for this." And Miah knows I'll need you after, his mind continued. She could almost taste the bitter tang of his fear. It was at once comforting and alarming to know that he was not as confident as he seemed.

"I'm not going to be part of this," she told him, not bothering to keep her voice steady.

"We have no choice," Ford sighed, a long, almost voiceless exhalation that sounded as old as Pharo.

"We. Have. Choices," she hissed. "We can go out there and take our chances. We can stay in here and do nothing, just hide. We can dress up in old sheets and pretend to be Pharon ghosts in hopes that'll scare them away. Anything but this!"

She felt rather than saw him shake his head. The darkness somehow wasn't bothering her, as if her vision had become much less important than her other senses.

"You don't understand," he murmured.

"You're being seduced by it!" Sabrina wanted to yell, but somehow the pressing darkness wouldn't let her. She settled for what she hoped was a low growl, but it didn't matter. Ford was impervious to her arguments. "I'm not going to sacrifice you to some horrible evil old man who died, as he should have, millennia ago! I'll—I'll—"

"What, Sabrina?" His voice was whispery soft, like a ghost's. His fingers ran ever so lightly over her cheek, making her shiver with dread even as she longed for warm human contact in all this haunted darkness. "Kill me? Dead at your feet, isn't that what you said to Malvarak? If you meant it about the Reissians, you certainly have to mean it about the wraiths of Pharo. You still have the blaster, Sabrina. I haven't taken it from you. You still have ultimate control over our fate."

She vaguely recognized the tactic from hostage negotiations, a bit of information she'd picked up on Earth: make sure the hostage taker feels in control, so they don't do anything stupid like start shooting. If anything, she was the victim here, yet she had the gun. He didn't want her to start shooting. Or take action of any kind, other than what he told her to do.

She shivered again. There was something almost vampire-like about the way he spoke, soft and mesmerizing. She was drawn to it, and at the same time she was thoroughly terrified by it. She had never had this reaction to him before.