I got home from college to find Thomas playing with Spectre. ‘Thomas! You’re OK!’ I ran over and hugged him. He hugged me back, resting his head on my stomach. Spectre glared, annoyed he’d lost his playmate.
‘Sorry for scaring you,’ Thomas mumbled into my coat.
I rubbed his shoulder. ‘It’s OK. So long as you’re OK?’ I crouched down to get to his eye level. ‘Are you?’
Mum walked in from the kitchen, a serious look on her face. ‘Ben and Fadil are coming over after Ben finishes work. Thomas has information we all need to hear.’
Well that sounded ominous.
*
Once Ben and Fadil had arrived, Mum and Thomas took no time to fill us in on the crazy Victorian doctor.
I sat on the floor, playing tug-of-war with Tilly and a rope squirrel toy. ‘If he’s attracted to power, I have to ask: why Tessa?’
‘As much as we hate her, she does have skills he could benefit from. Her ghost wouldn’t be so clear otherwise,’ said Mum.
I grumbled, yanking on the squirrel and pulling it away from Tilly. She glared, waiting for me to give it back. I offered it to her, but she reached for my slobber-free end instead. I didn’t want to grab the super slobbery end of her toy, but I did, needing the distraction of playing with her to keep me semi-calm.
‘Based on the doctor’s desire for power, does that mean we’re all at risk?’ asked Ben, always the one to bring up the hard questions.
The five of us exchanged glances. Nobody wanted to be the one to say it, but we all knew anyway.
‘Well isn’t that just marvellous?’ said Fadil. He coughed into his elbow before continuing, his voice getting huskier the more he spoke: ‘I spent four thousand years mummified in a sarcophagus to be murdered by a psychopathic Victorian doctor a few weeks after being resurrected!’ He flapped his arms in the air.
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ said Ben, standing up and pacing the living room.
Thomas moved out of his way, opting to stand in the middle of the coffee table. ‘We know who he is and what his MO is. Now, we just need a plan.’
‘A plan to take down the murderous doctor who has unexpected powers we may not even know about or be able to compete with?’ said Fadil. He held his nose to stop himself from sneezing.
‘Let’s be pragmatic about this,’ said Ben, glaring at our melodramatic, germ-infested friend. ‘If we let our emotions take control, the situation will be a lot harder to fix.’
‘He’s right,’ Mum agreed. ‘As tempting as it is to spiral right now, we have to focus. He strikes me as the type of person who’ll be able to exploit our weaknesses.’
‘Which means we need to lean into our strengths,’ finished Ben.
‘Like being alive?’ said Fadil, letting go of his nose. ‘What strengths do we possibly have against this guy?’
‘Each other,’ said Thomas. ‘And he’s a ghost. We know Edie’s and Ben’s powers work on ghosts, and Niamh’s should more now, too.’
‘You’re right,’ said Ben, nodding. ‘But we don’t know how Fadil’s power leeching is affecting Edie. This doesn’t feel like the right time to test things.’
‘We may not have a choice,’ I said.
Ben pursed his lips.
‘Maybe we should swap back,’ Mum suggested. ‘Your powers are more useful than mine anyway.’
‘No! We can’t swap back at the first hurdle! We swapped in the first place because me with lesser powers is still more powerful than you with wonky powers.’
Mum’s shoulders slumped. She knew I was right.
‘What about me?’ said Fadil.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Well, I could give you your power back and just not be able to talk.’
‘No,’ said Ben. ‘We need to be able to communicate. Maybe one day, but right now we may need to make quick decisions.’
Fadil nodded. ‘So, what? We just hang around in a group until we know what to do?’
‘At least in pairs when it’s dark,’ said Mum. ‘I’m sure Gwendoline will help if we need her, too. If something were to happen, she’d be able to pass a message on pretty quickly.’
‘It’s December. How are we going to do that when it gets dark so early and our schedules are so different?’ I said.
‘I’m not sure it’s just the dark that puts us at risk,’ said Ben. ‘So far, he’s only attacked late at night, probably to minimise the risk of being seen. So as long as we’re home before everywhere gets too quiet, we should be fine.’
‘You’re right,’ said Mum. ‘He won’t want to risk being caught, so he’s only going to attack when there’s a lower risk of people being around.’
I pursed my lips. While I understood their reasoning I didn’t want to be babysat. I was eighteen, not eight!
‘How will he know when his victim is going to be out late, though? Not everyone makes a habit of wandering around at two in the morning,’ said Fadil.
‘If he’s targeting specific people, he’s likely to be patient enough to wait to get what he wants,’ said Ben.
I shuddered. This guy was getting creepier by the minute.
‘While your info is great, Thomas, we need to know how to take him down,’ I said.
‘Could you talk to Javi, ask him if he can find the witch and necromancer who got rid of him last time?’ suggested Thomas.
‘Javi!’ Mum shouted.
He appeared within seconds. Bowing, he said: ‘At your service.’
It was impossible not to laugh at him. ‘Would you be able to locate some ghosts for us?’
‘I can try,’ he said as he returned to standing. Well, floating. ‘Who are we looking for?’
We all looked to Thomas, hoping he knew their names. Thankfully, he did. ‘Millicent and Percival Hill.’
‘And why am I locating these particular spirits?’
‘They stopped a serial killer in Victorian times who’s returned as a ghost. We’re hoping they can give us some information,’ said Mum.
Dad nodded. ‘I’ll see what I can do!’ Without another word, he vanished. I swear sometimes Dad liked to pretend he was our very own genie.
‘There’s someone else who might be able to give you more information on him,’ said Thomas, flickering in and out of view. Ghosts only did that when they were afraid. Who was this person? Thomas wrapped his arms around himself. ‘They didn’t necessarily get along, but they studied together. He knows him better than most people.’
‘Who?’ said Fadil.
We all leaned forwards in our seats, apprehensive to hear who could give us the potentially insightful information.
Thomas took his hat off and twisted it in his hands. ‘The alchemist.’