Mateo ran like never before in his life. The spirits were ahead of him, flying above the trees. Soon they would dip out of view into the valley. He ran like the wind, like a thoroughbred horse, like a hungry cheetah in pursuit of dinner. He didn’t stop to think what might happen if he tripped on a root or a rock in his path. He just ran. Kristy’s life, and the lives of Carl and Priya, depended on him. He needed to get to them in time.
He made it to the edge of the embankment, skidding to a stop at the spot where the terrain took a severe downward trajectory. A cloud of dust rose around his feet. Below Mateo the spirits were descending upon his friends. His earlier plan had been to take a safer route into the valley, the path Kristy had used, avoiding the steepest sections of cliff. He had thought he might be able to keep the spirits away from Kristy, Priya, and Carl until the full blood moon was complete. But that clearly hadn’t happened. As the spirits raced toward his friends, Mateo made a snap judgment. He needed to get to Kristy fast, to help her, as quickly as possible. He chose Carl’s path.
Stay on your feet, just stay on your feet, he told himself. But he built up far too much speed on the first yards of the incline, and he went down. He bounced and tumbled, then came to a stop. He did a quick body check. No broken bones. Let’s go. Before him was the patch of loose rocks and the drop that had gotten the better of Carl. Mateo made a quick calculation in his mind: jump. It might be a steep drop, but he didn’t think the section of cliff could be higher than about ten feet. He could make it. He kept up his speed and at the last possible second dug his left foot into the dirt and sailed through the air.
The jump seemed like more than ten feet. As he began to think he’d maybe made a mistake and completely blown up the plan, he hit the ground and rolled, out of control, three or four or five times. Gravel scratched at his hands and his elbows. Winded, he checked himself again, already moving toward his friends. The damage was minimal. There would be bruises and scrapes to deal with later, but his knees and ankles and legs were fine. Time to run.
He entered the valley—luckily flat for the most part—and was just a hundred feet or so from his friends. “Hold on, Kristy!” he shouted. “I’m coming!”
Mateo remembered the calm feelings he had experienced while looking into the face of the white spirit—a trance! “Don’t look at them!” he yelled. “Kristy, whatever you do, don’t look them in the face!” He ran. He was almost there. He could see Kristy kneeling over Carl and Priya, covering their faces with her jacket and the one Mateo had given her. The spirits surrounded her, moaning some wretched sound he hadn’t heard them make before.
“Don’t look them in the eye!” Mateo made it. He finally made it. He dove through the torches and crashed on top of his friends.
“Help me!” screamed Kristy. “I can’t hang on!”
Mateo saw it. Kristy’s body was being pulled into the air by some unseen force. She was barely keeping her hands on the jackets that covered Priya and Carl’s faces. Mateo grabbed hold of his jacket, the one that was covering Carl, and at the same time snagged Kristy’s leg with his other hand to keep her from floating away. “Hang on!” he yelled. “It’s almost over!” Priya said this would be a short eclipse, he thought. Only two minutes. Two minutes. How long ago was it that the spirits, hovering over him, shrieked at the blood moon and scurried back to the valley? It had to have been a minute at least. This nightmare would be over soon.
“Hang on, Kristy!” he shouted again. He held his jacket over Carl’s face. The moaning grew louder. Gusts of wind battered his body; the temperature had dropped significantly. His fingers were beginning to freeze and stiffen up.
Then he felt his own body begin to rise. He and Kristy were both being pulled away from their friends. “Keep the jackets over their faces!” he shouted. “Don’t let go!”
“I won’t if you don’t!” yelled Kristy.
It was all Mateo could do to keep his body on the ground, his face turned away, his hands on the jacket. “Come on, you stupid blood moon!” he screamed. “Be done, for crying out loud. Let’s end this thing!”
As if someone was following his orders, Mateo’s body suddenly dropped to the ground. Kristy’s did the same. They scrambled to get a better grip on the jackets, to protect their friends. “What’s going on?” Kristy yelled.
“I’m not sure!” Mateo said. “But don’t look up!” Maybe the full blood moon had ended, but he didn’t want to relax just yet.
The spirits’ moans quickly turned to terrible wails that pierced Mateo’s eardrums. He grimaced. It was the most pain he’d ever experienced in his life, but he refused to let go of the jacket to protect his ears. He tried to ride it out.
“They’re leaving!” yelled Kristy.
“I told you not to look!” screamed Mateo. His eyes were still on the ground, but when he realized that the awful shrieks from the spirits were getting quieter, he couldn’t help but do the same. He looked up into the sky.
The spirits were now at least fifty feet above them, turning in a compact circle, wailing and flying up higher and higher into the night. Their flight became faster. Their circle became tighter.
“Look out!” shouted Kristy.
Mateo looked over to her. She had pulled back, leaving the jacket over Priya’s face but inching away from her body. Coming out from Priya’s nose and open mouth was the same white spirit they had seen enter her earlier in the night. Mateo looked at Carl. The other spirit was leaving his body. Mateo slowly retreated.
The two spirits coalesced again, robes billowing in the icy wind, and flew into the sky to join the others. Together the spirits morphed into one large cloud of smoke, shot up into the air, and were gone. Just like that, it was over.