VICIOUS (II) : peter pan ouat

How to See Ghosts

Harry is spread out on the ground, as he backs up from the ghost in front of me. He's so very frightened' he must have fallen down.

Alex slows down from the run he once had, his eyes wide but his mouth stuck in the same frown as always.

"Charlie," he begins slowly, a question weighed in anger.

"I don't know." I answer him.

I'm not sure what he was going to ask, but I whatever it was, I have no clue.

The hooded boy glances up at Alex, before grabbing his own skull, wincing and shouting.

I turn to Alex, unsure of what to do. He always knows the answer.

When he turns around, sprinting back towards camp, a terrified expression on his face, I follow him.

Whoever this imposter is, and whoever he's with, are forces not to be reckoned with.

Unless.

The thought stops me in my tracks, and it dances around my head. Keaton said he never killed Jared. He expressly told me that before he died. He stole Jared's thumb, but didn't kill Jared. I had just assumed he had stolen it off Jared's corpse like the coward he is.

He stole it off Jared's body?

I turn around, slowly limping back towards Jared.

"You're Jared?" I ask the boy.

He nods slowly, and I quickly grab his hands. The left has no thumb.

He tips over as I hold him, collapsing to the ground, as if his head weighs a thousand pounds.

Which is when the other boy grabs hold of me, and I screech as loud as I can. My voice echoes through the forest, and I hear his voice like ice on my neck.

"You don't get to do that to me anymore." His spits, dropping his voice into a growl. "You don't get to hurt me."

I rip myself out of his thin arms, pulling my dagger up to his throat. "Who are you?"

He looks at my hands before leaping backwards, hitting a tree. "How is your hand back?"

When I look at him funny, he looks back at me. Baring his teeth, he leaps towards me, and I manage to duck beneath him.

He runs into Harry's arms, who's behind me with his knives ready. Harry tumbles over under the boys' weight.

"Inali, where have you been?" He asks.

That's when I decide this boy has gone crazy.

I pull Jared off the ground, who's currently battling with consciousness. Blood's pouring out of his nose, and I struggle to move him even a foot. I'm thankful Alex grabs his feet, and we move him together. I'd be more thankful if Harry could help, since it feels like my ankle might melt off. At least he's keeping the feral boy away from me.

We quickly dump Jared on the cot in the med tent. The space has gotten much smaller since we moved, and the cot is practically the only thing we have room for in it. Luckily enough, there is enough space on the floor to place the feral boy, who seems to be so spaced out now he doesn't notice he's placed on the ground.

"Alright, what is going on?" I demand, pulling Alex and Harry out of the tent.

"Always with all the questions, as if we'd know the answers?" Alex practically shouts.

"I'm just upset he thought I was Inali," Harry spits, his thick British accent seeping through. "I'm not even aboriginal! I'm Indian."

"I think that's the least of our worries." I deadpan. "He attacked me."