Spirits

Chapter Eight

Farrell burst from the woods, catching a glimmer of Rose's nightgown as she disappeared into the church. He paused to catch his breath. Even knowing the woods as well as he did he couldn't catch up with her, she'd run as though the devil were at her heels. He looked up at the bell tower, the incandescent glow still radiated from the windows like light from a lantern. A dark humanoid form now stood silhouetted against the arched outline of the window. Farrell swallowed hard. It had been years since he'd last gone up against a spirit, and this time he didn't have his father by his side to bail him out should things go wrong. He inhaled deeply as he approached the church trying to steady his nerves, not sure what to expect on the other side of the door.

The church was unnervingly quiet. The glowing outline of the full moon passed through the stained glass but there was no sign of Rose. A door stood ajar on the right hand side of the church, behind it the narrow set of wooden stairs that led up to the bell tower.

Farrell run up the stairs, the old wood groaning underfoot as he took them two at a time. A flurry of movement ahead made his heart leap into his mouth and instinctively he created a sphere in his palm. A startled pigeon flew from its nesting place in the wall and fluttered up to the safety of the rafters above. Farrell breathed a sign of relief, although his heart continued to thump in his chest. He let the orb of energy slowly float out in front of him, its glow a comfort in the almost complete darkness of the tower.

He slowed as he reached to top of the stairs, the light from the spirit spilling into the stairwell. It radiated with an unusual brightness, forcing Farrell to shield his eyes as he moved quietly up the final few steps. He took a deep breath and burst into the bell tower, firing the orb at the glowing light, it flickered for an instant as the ball of energy passed through it, but then continued to shine brightly. Farrell stopped, a blinding beacon sat on the wooden floor of the bell tower, the intense white light burning Farrell's eyes every time he tried to catch a glimpse of what it was. The only thing he knew with certainty was that it was not a spirit.

He looked around the room, but with the light in his eyes he couldn't make out much. The belfry was a small square room with a large copper bell that hung from the rafters of the spired roof. There was no where to hide and no sign of Rose. Farrell began to feel an uneasiness spreading in the pit of his stomach, nothing about this made any sense. He ducked beneath the bell as he made his way across the room to investigate the light source.

A gust of wind blew through the bell tower and in an instant the light was extinguished.

"Farrell?" came a voice from in front of him.

"Alex?" He couldn't see him, but he recognised the voice. He tried to blink away the spots burnt into his vision, but they were slow to fade. Alex dropped off the window ledge and into the bell tower as Farrell's vision slowly began to come back. He'd been standing directly behind the light source, no wonder Farrell hadn't seen him, but as he began to walk towards across the room Farrell noticed somthing on the ground.

"Stop!" he said to Alex and he froze. A wide unbroken circle was traced on the ground around in a fine white powder. A series of interconnecting symbols and swirls wove their way around the inside of the circle, tracing out an arcane seal. A thin trail of smoke rose from a freshly extinguished candle sitting in the centre of the circle. It had burned down to its final few centimetres, its dark wax dripping down the sides of its crystal plinth. While he didn't recognise the symbols and runes of the seal, he did recognised the candle. It was a black candle. They shed light only in the spirit world and had been used by hunters for generations to lure in lesser spirits like moths to the flame. It was little wonder he'd confused its glowing light with the aura of a spirit. Alex had very nearly walked straight into the circle, and Farrell realised that if the candle hadn't blown out, he would have as well.