Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,4

body swung my fist at Andros, connecting with his ribs.

The huge man was a wall of muscle and barely grunted, but it felt like I fractured my knuckles. My eyes watered and a little whimper escaped. I wanted to collapse in pain, but the ghost had other plans for me. The ghost swung my leg in a roundhouse kick that Andros caught. My teammate held me, leg aloft, and stepped closer, his hips between mine, his deep-set blue eyes flickering over mine; his expression asked what was going on without words.

I tried to shove my mouth open, I tried to shout an answer, but the ghost clamped my jaw shut so quickly that my teeth hurt.

I batted at the bastard inside my brain but he just snickered and my insides grew even colder, goosebumps rising on my skin.

Behind us, Ginny chortled as she shot me a knowing look and a wink before she blasted UV light at the others on my team, blinding them so she could bend to check on Claude.

I heard Evan gasp in pain behind me as she gave him the most brutal intense sunburn, but I couldn’t look back to check on him.

From the shadows, I heard Malcolm call out my nickname, “Shakespeare!”

The ghost wouldn’t let me turn my head, he just lit my hands up with UV magic and tried to burn a hole in Andros’ face with the pale blue magic.

Thank fuck Andros was quick enough to bend my hands down and let the light shoot harmlessly toward the floor—I could have blinded him, burnt him, hurt him irreparably. My thoughts were a whirl of fear and fury. The sensation of being possessed weighed me down like an anchor. It felt hard to breathe—it felt like I was under the waves: my body was swollen, lungs filled with seawater instead of air, about to burst.

Fuck.

I couldn’t say any of that. I couldn’t scream, couldn’t warn the guys, couldn’t explain myself. When I struggled to speak again, the ghost slammed my teeth onto my tongue until I could taste blood. Then he yanked my body out of Andros’ hold and walked stiffly back to Claude’s side to protect the bastard from a new attack by Gray.

Gray’s wind stopped when my body blocked Claude, whom Gray had been blowing toward the far wall.

A cold that resembled brain freeze traveled over my mind as the pirate-ghost-man whispered inside my head, “I own you.”

Of course, that set off every fight instinct I had.

I tugged at my limbs and tried to force my eyes closed. I wasn’t strong enough for that. My eyelids merely twitched, even though it felt like I was throwing my full body weight around, yanking on a giant red velvet theater curtain and trying to shut it. But my consciousness was tiny and my body felt so impossibly huge.

The ghost just chuckled inside my head and batted me away, like my will was a gnat, annoying and insignificant.

God dammit.

Clearly, I couldn’t fight him head on.

I tried to change my approach. If he thought I wanted control of my head, I’d try something different. My consciousness raced from my face down toward my hands, which the ghost had filled with light magic and directed at the guys. He was draining whatever was left of my natural power faster than a hooker drained a dick. I was nearly out and that made me panic.

I’d never been fully depleted before.

I mentally yanked at my hands, trying to stop the flow of magic—my heart pounded in my chest and my mind careened like a raft through the rapids—every ounce of my existence focused on trying to shove that magic back, even as I heard the ghost control my lips.

He made me smile and say, “I’m going to kill you all.” A laugh I didn’t recognize spilled out of my mouth as the ghost turned me to face my team and slowly lifted my hand higher, shoving out more magic, making my entire body quake as my magic changed and the glow disappeared from my hand.

Wait? What? I felt the pull on my magic. But I didn’t see the normal stream of light or shadow emanating from my palm. I flipped on my infrared vision, but there was nothing there, though I could feel the power leeching out of me. I turned on my X-ray vision and saw my team turn into a pack of skeletons trading magical shots with Ginny until she screamed in pain. But still, my hands