A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,58

something else, prompting Kelara to look at me and Lumi. She seemed doubtful.

"What is he saying?"

"Herbert here has been doing his homework on a wide array of things, it seems. Including swamp witchcraft," Kelara replied. "He says your witches can use ghouls to power up the interplanetary spell. They are essentially souls, albeit decayed ones. Raw energy that can be used instead of serium batteries, which you obviously lack for a potentially long interplanetary trip. He says you need lightning speed if you're to get to Death before it's too late."

"Oh," Lumi said, both eyebrows arched in surprise. "So how much more speed are we talking about here?"

Kelara sighed. "A lot. There's at least a dozen ghouls who've already consented to this."

"It will destroy them," Lumi said. "Actual souls used as fuel for a swamp witch spell… It's intense. Destructive. Nothing like using a serium battery."

"They're willing to do it. After all the specters they've eaten just to help us get to Time, they know Death will have some harsh punishments to share," Kelara replied. "Granted, most are hopeful it won't end that way for them, but, you know, desperate times, yadda, yadda."

Seeley showed the pebble to Time. "Do you know what this says?"

"No," the Time Master said, shaking his head. "I don't think she left it behind as a message, but rather as a means to track her."

"Death's actions are never random. These words mean something," Seeley insisted. "I remember some of the language, but it's ancient stuff. I need time to figure it out, and it's time I don't have."

The Time Master took the pebble and turned it over several times. "Lumi needs it to power up the hybrid spell's target," he said. "I'll keep the words in mind, though, and see if I can help."

He handed the pebble over to Lumi, who was already drawing up the interplanetary spell pentagram, using the last of our swamp witch magic paraphernalia. Nethissis helped, limping as she positioned the herbs and minerals in all their assigned spots across the design.

"How are you feeling, brother?" Widow asked the Time Master, while the rest of us got our bearings and prepared for what could very well be our last journey across space, the clock ticking incessantly in the back of my head like a sour reminder.

"Humiliated. Infuriated. Afraid," Time replied. "The Spirit Bender got incredibly far with his scheme, and none of us took his bitterness toward Death seriously. I fear we are all responsible for this sequence of events."

"That's nonsense!" Soul blurted. "First of all, Phantom, Widow, and I were too busy existing inside Thieron to have had any involvement in the matter—"

"Hey! Not a good start!" Dream warned him.

Soul chuckled and moved his attention back to Time. "Second, Spirit is a scheming and duplicitous lowlife, okay? He fooled everyone, including Death. He's had a lot of time to cook up the perfect plan. He observed everything, down to the last detail, before he took any kind of action. You couldn't have possibly predicted he'd do something so utterly stupid and disgusting."

"In a sense, he's been our true enemy from the very beginning. Brendel was just a weapon he used," I said.

Lumi glanced at Kelara. "The spell is ready. We need the volunteer ghouls to take their positions." Looking at the rest of us, she nodded. "It's time."

It was a weird situation we'd gotten ourselves into. On the cusp of the ritual's finale, the Hermessi were no longer a threat to our mission, probably thinking we'd never make it in time to stop them. The thought horrified me. And yet, I'd managed to find a silver lining in this unexpected alliance with the ghouls. Most of us had never even seen one before this whole Hermessi debacle.

We moved inside the interplanetary spell's central circle. All of us, including the Reapers. Herbert whispered something to Kelara, then growled at the ghouls to join us. To my surprise, the creatures managed to thin themselves into mere wisps, defying the laws of physics. The five ghouls that had already settled in certain points of the spell's drawing were at full size, though, and I could tell from the grim looks on their faces that they were genuinely scared about what would come next.

"Kelara, perhaps you could put them to sleep, at least," Lumi said. "The ghouls don't need to be awake for their sacrifice, and I have no such power over the dead, myself."

Kelara agreed and spoke to the ghouls on Lumi's behalf. Four