SANTA MARIA HIGH (COMPLETED)

Part Three: 11

"Are you okay?" Andy asked after walking in with Obi's body, he placed it right next to Ada. Ada was warm but not as warm as Hope would deem normal, her breath was weak. Obi was the same too. Ada never stopped asking every now and then if she was dead.

Hope looked up to Pa Jacob who stood with Maria at the fore of a crowd of shadows. He obviously got tired of telling Ada that she's not yet dead, he was quiet while Andy brought in the bodies. Andy's wound still bleed, soaking his shirt, though he insisted it was nothing.

"How do you say this can be done?" Andy asked.

"they usually die after being touched, it was Louis's idea of mercy." Said Santiago's wife whose name Hope never learnt. The crowd edged away for her to pass, she knelt beside the bodies. Andy whether consciously or not moved away from her. Only Hope, Ada and Obi seems to see the shadows not as actual shadow, Andy admitted he could only black moving masses everywhere. "you have grown, now you are the bridge between this place, the power, the third spaces where souls roam, and the physical world. All you need to do, is be that middle man."

Hope held tightly to Ada's hand and reached for Ada's soul, she felt the sizzle, the mist came again from the caves, Ada coughed popping herself to sit when the mist receded. the same happened to Obi who held tightly to Hope's hand longer than Hope felt was necessary he hacked briefly and turned to face her, his eyes all bleary and tired, "I always wanted to do that." He smiled. Hope smiled too after giving Obi a berating tap on his shouder. "Ouch, I just came back from the dead."

"we weren't dead." Ada insisted. She stretched her limbs and yawned, "I so love being alive."

"Set them free." The voice rang clear; no one seems to have heard it. Mother had been watching over her, she had seen this moment and with her last breath told her what to do, her eyes misted, she wiped a tear turning to where no one can see. She saw the object that was between the engraved Celtic double spiral knot, she knew what it was without knowing how. Just as she was between her friend's soul and body, the Tortoise must have been to serve the purpose of the Cat: to anchor Louise's consciousness to life while he moves from body to body, but he also shares his life force with the cat, hence the size it could attained, and how Louise could actually use it's body. it was all complicated, her head ached.

"they will be fine." Said Andy was by the side of the two bodies slowly breathing. They would wake up from what must feel to them like a nightmare, and would discover like she'd done that it had been real all along. Hope wasn't sure if any of them would be fine. Lawrence would possibly have memories of the things Louise did, or no memories of all that happened the past three years; Lisa on the other hand, the memory of betrayal and how her body was almost taken over by someone else she had loved so strong he convinced her to keep a tortoise for a pet. Tortoise had a longer lifespan than any animal Hope knew, maybe the cat was getting too old, maybe that's why the intervals between the body shift reduced from six years down to three.

"how do I free you?" she turned to the shadows.

"it's never been done." The man in pelt that had attacked them earlier said, making his way from the side of the crowd, "you did what no one had done before, you dethroned a custodian of this place of power, I know you'll find out how to let us go."

"well," Hope looked up at the skylight where the moon still flitted through, then at her friends who like her had no idea what she was doing. Hope turned to the shadows, "you have all been held captive, and as the custodian of this place, I set you free and declare freedom to any other soul to die on this land."

Voices rang, all hollowed out, riddled with croaks and statics but she knew it was in agreement with her.

Two seconds later, the shadows were where they were looking at each other.

"maybe it would work later." Obi said, after a long drawn silence pregnant with disappointment.

Then it began, the mist swirled out the burial caves, like frigid breath of the dead, towards the centre. Andy hurriedly pulled Anthony and Lisa to himself as if to shield them. There was a rumbling underneath, then a low growl which she heard distinct form the rumbling. One by one the shadows fizzled in a puff of pure white smoke. Tears streaked her face as Pa Jacob and his wife kissed one last time and slowly began dissolving. He waved, smiling, just before he was gone.

****

One more chapter to go! Thank you all for reading this book, your voted and comments have been encouraging. You've been great. 

See ya.