“So, Sam you’re calling me pretty early in the day. Shouldn’t you be in school? Actually, there’s two others. Are all of you skipping school?” Samantha’s captain asked through the speakers of the laptop.
Samantha had just put the computer on the dresser where the TV had been. She had pushed it back as much as she could and then full screened the video call so that they could each see the woman on the screen. She was older at least mid to late 50s. She had pale grey box braids and the beginnings of lines forming at her eyes and her mouth.
That morning Samantha had reached out to Dick who in turn had reached out to Lily and said they should meet her at her motel room rather than go to school. And considering how eventful the previous night had been Lily was more than willing to comply with this despite being a student who never missed a day of class.
Lily was sitting at the edge of the bed, her eyes drooping slightly and her hair barely combed or brushed. She looked like she had barely gotten any sleep but was still willing to show up to school, wearing the uniform and everything. Dick looked a little better having had almost a month to get used to this and was standing near the window.
Samantha took a few steps back and sat in the chair near the desk and brought her fingers through her curly hair. “Well Captain. That’s the thing. The situation has become more serious than I could have predicted. And complicated in ways that I’m grossly unfamiliar with. So, I’d like to come to you for help.”
The joking tone that her captain had had for the beginning of the call fell away and revealed the woman who had trained Samantha. “Report Warrior Samantha. Bring me up to speed.”
Samantha sat up, more rigid than before and nodded shortly. “I arrived in the city nearly a month ago. I responded to the presence of a wraith early in the morning. In my dispatching of it I came into contact with Dick,” she motioned toward him. “Assuming he would forget the event, I left him and proceeded to the local high school.
“Once there I discovered that not only did Dick go to that school but he didn’t forget about the events that transpired. However, I tried to keep my distance from him and hoped he would forget,” she looked toward Dick when she said this who looked away sheepishly. “That night he was attacked again by another wraith. This time though he manifested his geist and defended himself.”
“What?” she turned and looked at him from the computer and he gave a slow wave. “He awoke naturally to his power?”
“It surprised me as well,” Samantha said softy.
“Why didn’t you report it to me immediately?”
“I thought the mission to be a simple extermination and would have put it in my report when I returned to base.”
“But that wasn’t the case,” she said and Samantha looked at the ground. Letting out a breath she waved her hand. “Continue Samantha.”
She nodded quickly and motioned toward Dick. “At the time Dick was an innocent and he needed to be able to defend himself. So, I trained him, teaching him the basics to remain safe. Together we managed to defeat several wraiths and learn that a much older wraith had set up shop within the city.
“Last night I did some research on my own and discovered that this wraith has been here for almost two decades, feeding and hiding within the city at large. I was going to share my findings with Dick but I ran into Lily, a friend of Dicks, by the river. There we were attacked by what I believe to be the wraith in question. It was more powerful than anything I’d ever faced before.
“I made it my priority to protect Lily who was a civilian but then she did something I did not expect and managed to manifest her own geist as well. Together we managed to repel the wraith for the time being.”
Silence hung on the air as Dick looked at Lily and then Samantha. Samantha kept her gaze forward and staring at her captain who had a hand over her mouth. She was thinking deeply over what had just been shared with her before giving a short nod.
“That’s quite the report. Not informing me of Dick’s geist awakening was an error. Thankfully not one that resulted in his death.” Samantha looked toward the ground with a deep frown. “But you’ve done good with the resources you’ve had. I’m glad you finally came to me. So let’s see about these new ones,” Her captain turned to look at Dick and Lily.
“So. Dick and Lily. Hm.” She looked at the pair of them as if trying to understand who they were just from looking at them in the moment. Neither was really okay with the sudden attention though and couldn’t meet her gaze appropriately. “What can you two do?”
“Do?”
She laughed lightly and motioned with her hands. “Your deists. How did they manifest themselves? I know Samantha’s took the form of armor and gave her the ability to wield ice.”
“Oh,” Dick held up his hands. “I create bracelets around my wrist that let me create chains. Me and Samantha think that the chains stop wraiths and other geists from using their powers.”
“That’s powerful. Flexible as well,” she arched an eyebrow.
“See!” he grinned and Samantha scowled at him. “I still need practice. I can get thrown around by most wraiths if it’s just me.”
“Training is never a bad thing,” she said and then looked at Lily. “And what about you?”
Lily looked at her and frowned. “I. I honestly don’t know. MygGeist ‘awakened’ last night. I don’t even know how to do it again Ms-.”
“Betty. You can call me Betty. And once you’ve done it, doing it again isn’t hard, just a matter of concentration. Focus. Like riding a bike.”
Lily frowned and looked down. Her hands shook slightly just at the thought of the previous night. Of the wraith, covered in fire, being suddenly bathed in a warmth that was so comforting it scared her. Being aware of the floating arms like they were her own and yet knowing they were disconnected from her.
Dick squeezed her shoulder and she jumped for a moment then looked at him and rested her hand on his. “Betty,” Dick began. “I’ve seen wraiths. I know how dangerous they are. How much danger they are for other people. I’m sure I lost my family to a wraith. No one deserves to have that happen to them.”
“What?” Lily asked standing to look at her friend. “You think the fire was caused by one of those things?”
“I kept dreaming about seeing those eyes in my dreams about that night. But maybe it wasn’t just a dream. Maybe it was real.” He said and stared at the ground. “After all I’ve seen and done. I can’t say maybe it’s not possible.”
Samantha looked away from them and turned toward Betty. “Captain. This wraith has been careful for so long. Hunting and making its spawn. I can’t believe we’ve dealt with all of them. There has to be more and even worse this wraith showed itself to us. It must have believed that it could take us out. But since it couldn’t it’s going to go back into hiding. If we waist this chance we’ll lose it and it’ll keep doing what it has been.”
“Was last night not enough for you?” she asked and Samantha stared at her with a shake of her head.
“Last night I was taken off guard. And I was more concerned with getting Lily out alive. But with Dick at my side I believe we can fight and finish the wraith off before it can cause more harm to this city.”
Dick looked at her and frowned for a moment and then nodded his head slowly and moved to stand with her. “Following Samantha’s lead, we can do it.”
“Yes. We can.” Both of them started, turning around and then looked at Lily who’d stood up and frowned heavily. “Yesterday was terrifying and the sooner I never have to deal with it again the better. So, if that means using that power again to help my friends stop that wraith, I will.”
Betty looked at them with a slow nod, “You’ve found some good allies. But I advise each of you to be beyond careful. You’re all young. And that can make you dangerous but also reckless. Don’t underestimate this wraith. You’ve got 24 hours. The wraith will most likely flee in that time. Be careful Sam. Good luck.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Samantha stood at attention and Betty nodded quickly before ending the call.
When the call was over she let out a breath and sank into her chair. Pressing her fingers to her face lightly and rubbed her eyes. Dick walked over to her and crouched slightly. “So that’s your ‘aunt’ right?”
Samantha nodded quickly. “Yes. She’s my captain. The one who rescued me that night. She taught me and has been looking over me for years. I don’t want to disappoint her.” She looked straight at Lily then and frowned. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Lily looked at her and her gaze wasn’t shaky though it was still haunted. “Yes. That thing, that wraith. I want it gone forever. I don’t know much about any of this, you can fill me in, I just know I want this over. So, I’ll do what I can.”
Dick nodded. “She’s strong. Stubborn too.”
Lily ignored him and kept her gaze on Samantha. “So, what’s our next move?”
Samantha brushed her fingers across her face slowly and nodded. “Okay. Okay.” She got to her feet and paced the front of the room slowly. “Before we do anything, we at the very least need to work with you Lily. Help you be able to call it at will.”
“My geist. Right?”
“Yes,” Samantha held up her hand and after a second, her gauntlet formed out of a flash of light. She flexed her hand slowly and turned it before letting it fade away. “It comes as easy as breathing for me. Dick is learning.”
Dick held out his hands and said, “Manifestar.” A shimmer of light around his wrist and it came to life. He showed the bracelet off to her. “I’m getting better.”
“You actually have a battle cry?” Lily chuckled.
“Yes, I do. And it works. Don’t hate.” Making a face at her he looked at Samantha next. “So, what did you want to tell me yesterday before you got attacked?”
“That the Riverside killer and the Wraith are the same. It’s been the cause of a bunch of arson and missing person’s cases going back years,” she avoided his gaze for a moment but faced him. “I was going to investigate the bridge when we were attacked. It’s likely the river is its territory right now.”
“The entire river?” Lily repeated and Samantha nodded. “How are you going to make it appear again. Especially after last night.”
“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “It appearing yesterday put a timer on us. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“The bodies normally wash up on the shore,” Dick said. “Not thrown there but appear right?”
Lily glanced at him and it dawned on her for a second. “The river current flows south. So up north is the docks.”
“You think it hunts there and just throws them into the river?” Dick asked.
“That’s what most wraiths do. I can’t imagine why this one would do differently,” Samantha said. “Especially after everything that’s been showing up in the news.”
“So, the docks. We go there tonight and try to find and flesh it out,” Lily said folding her arms. “And then finish it off.”
A grim look crossed Samantha’s face but she nodded. “Yeah. We take it down. But before that. We need to see what you can really do.” She said. “We can take you to the same place I worked with Dick.”
Lily took a deep breath and nodded. She thought of last night, the feeling of fear, the instincts that took over that probably saved her life. “Let’s do this.” She went toward the door and stepped in the hallway. Dick was right behind her when Samantha grabbed his hand.
“What’s up?” he asked arching his eyebrow.
She met his eyes and frowned. “Remember what you told me. About your parents and your brother.” She felt him stiffen somewhat but gave a short nod. “I did some research. About that event. And there’s been others like it. I think this wraith, the one we’re about to fight, is the one who killed them.”
The color in his face drained slightly as he stared at her and then turned to look toward the wall. “So my dreams were right.”
Samantha watched him and nodded slowly despite his back being to her. “Yeah.”
He looked down, shutting his eyes tightly. “Mi Mama, Papa, y Hermano,” He began to shake visibly, taking his pendent and counting under his breath. When he reached ten he turned to face her and sniffled wiping his eyes. “Let’s take this damn thing down. For good.”
She squeezed his shoulder meeting his eyes. She didn’t say anything but Dick reached up and lightly squeezed her hand. He forced a smile onto his face as he looked. She did her best to return it and they joined Lily outside.
They took the train over and gave Lily the quickest breakdown on everything. On the wraiths, their geists, the geist legion and as much as they could communally remember. Lily was taking it better than Dick had. Then again, they both learned about all of this after being attacked by the Wraiths. Seeing is believing in most instances.
The abandoned shop that they had used as a training ground was the exact same as it had been a few weeks ago. Samantha opened the door and stepped through the place smelling how stale it was in here. But she turned to her new allies and folded her arms. Lily made a face as she stepped over some of the debris and seemed to be lost on whether to stand around or try to sit on the ground. She settled on standing.
Dick crouched stretching out his legs mildly excited at what was going to happen next. But Samantha shook her head at him. “No, we’re not going to be fighting. Or at least you aren’t.”
He looked crestfallen at that and sat down pouting. Lily looked at him and rolled her eyes but then looked toward Samantha. “Then what will we be doing.”
“We’re going to focus on getting you comfortable with your geist manifested.”
“Like this?” Lily asked and shut her eyes. She gasped feeling the warmth explode around her. She felt herself sink to her knee for a second taking several quick breaths. The cloak settled around her shoulders. She looked up slowly and the mask was resting on her face right above her cheek bones. One arm appeared and then the other, floating at her sides awaiting some sort of command.
Dick jumped to his feet, staring at his best friend. His first time seeing Lily this way. He took a step forward and the hands jerked forward stopping him from getting any closer. He backed off shocked but she wore the same expression.
“Stop that. He’s a friend.” She said sharply, glaring at the arms and they retreated. She blinked and turned to stare at both of them. They floated in front of her not moving much. She reached out toward them and they turned to meet her hand, lowering so that she could touch their backs as if they were pets.
She looked at the silver cloth around her and picked it up. It felt thin but warm to touch. It didn’t seem like anything special to her personally though it looked nice. But she remembered that it had protected the both of them from the Wraiths attack even though it exhausted her entirely afterwards.
“Let’s see how precise these things are,” Samantha called her geist to her hands. She created a ball of ice in hand and tossed it back and forth to herself slowly. “Try and catch this.” Lily nodded quickly but Samantha shook her head. “With those.” She pointed at the floating arms and Lily gave another less confident nod.
Samantha did a quick underhand throw and Lily stared at the ball before saying, “Catch.” Both arms surged forward and clapped together shattering the ice in one go. She made a face as she looked at them and frowned lightly.
“Alright, maybe this is harder than I thought,” she said and glanced at her.
Samantha nodded her head. “Why don’t we try something a little bit easier and requiring less finesse. Dick get over here.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re her best friend. More likely for this to work with you.”
“And what are you going to try and do,” Lily asked tilting her head slightly.
“Simple. I’m going to launch him into the air and you’re going to catch him.”
“Wait what?”
Instead of answering Samantha stomped the ground. The ice appeared underneath his feet and he was launched forward toward the wall. Panicked Lily shot her arm out and the arms surged toward Dick. One grabbed the back of his shirt and the other wrapped around his waist and brought him to the ground.
Grunting he turned and glared at Samantha who was already shrugging her shoulders. “Alright that was far from fun.”
“It worked didn’t it?”
He couldn’t argue that exact line of reasoning but that didn’t mean he liked it. Rubbing his stomach slowly he groaned and then looked at Lily. “At least you didn’t crush me, right?”
She made a face and nodded. “I guess that’s a silver lining.”
“So ready to do it again?” Samantha asked.
Dick held a finger up. “Only if I get some warning first?”
“No problem,” she said and glanced at Lily. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
That was the plan, tossing Dick at Lily and getting her comfortable with catching him. However, it was also along the lines of grabbing him out of the way of danger from attacks from Samantha. Whenever this worked out Lily had to focus carefully on the actions of Samantha and Dick and if she ever took her eyes off him she wasn’t at all precise and would drop him.
However, after enough back and forth, along with Dick’s complaining, they swapped to testing just how durable the cloak was. The problem became trying to attack Lily and the cloak without the claws attacking them in return. The claws were fast and had a high threat detection, so any aggressive motion toward Lily resulted in defensive motion usually swatting them away or pinning them to the ground.
Unlike before Lily couldn’t command them to stand down. Blatant aggressive action toward her meant they would defend her no matter what. Samantha had come up with the idea to see if Lily could make one of them defend her and another defend Dick. The answers were a mixed bag. Sometimes it would go off without a hitch, other times they would leave Dick behind favoring Lily. The long and short was that it wasn’t reliable and just ruled they’d have to remember that.
So, to nullify the hands they had Dick use his chains to pin them down. They struggled against his chains but because of his inherent ability the struggle was relatively weak. Lily looked at them and felt guilty. They were like her dogs back home except far more vicious.
Samantha stood ready and glanced at the claws then at Lily. “You ready for this?”
“I’m not even sure how this is going to work,” she said as she looked at the cloak gripping the edge with one hand. “But sure.”
Samantha nodded and rested a hand in her palm. “We’re going to start small.” She created a small orb of ice in her hand. Pressing both palms against it she squished it down slightly into a disc.. Taking a step back she flung it at Liiy and it whistled as it went.
Lily brought her cloak up and it shattered on contact. Everyone stared at it widened eyed, expecting it to bounce off or something similar. Not being hard enough to break it. Lily waved the cloak about and it didn’t seem worse for wear.
“I think we can try something a little bigger?” she suggested and Samantha gave a quick nod.
“My thoughts exactly.” She clapped her hands together and dragged it back creating a long spear of ice. “Ready?”
Lily nodded and Samantha took a few steps forward before launching the spear at her. Lily raised the cloak blocking the blow and stumbling backwards. The spear shattered thankfully but she gasped lowering the cloak as ice rained on the ground. She took a step back and breathed deeply but gave a thumbs up.
“That’s a tough cloak,” Samantha said. “But it has limits.”
Lily lowered her cloak and winced as her arm throbbed in pain. She removed the mask and then looked at the cloak itself. Taking the mask off her head she slipped the cloak off and watched it float beside her. It hovered near her as if awaiting some sort of orders. If the claws were attack dogs, then this was a guard dog.
She looked at Dick and then at both her claws who were both struggling mutedly but for the most part had calmed down. “Can you let them go for now? I know it’s weird but seeing them like this makes me feel guilty.”
Dick glanced at the hands and then her and nodded. “I guess. Just make sure they don’t try to attack me once they’re free.”
She smiled and gave a short nod. Standing slowly, he swung his arms and the chains slapped the ground then came back to him. Both arms surged off the ground and focused on Dick for a moment but Lily whistled and they came back to her, hovering over her shoulders.
Samantha stared at the cloak for a second then pointed. “Protect Dick,” she said and it flew straight toward him. It wrapped around Dick, the mask resting on his face.
“Whoa this is weird,” he said pulling it up slightly and glancing at the fabric. “It’s softer than I thought.”
Lily smiled and nodded. “Samantha try that again but at Dick.”
Samantha gave a short shrug but nodded. She created another spear of ice and gripped it, turning it slowly. “Alright Dick, try to you know, have the shield up beforehand.”
He nodded pulling the cloak over his face already and crouched slightly. At his signal Samantha hurled it at him. It slammed into the cloak and he nearly fell backwards but the ice shattered the same as before. “Ow!” he shouted rubbing his arm. “You could have warned me that it would hurt like that.”
“Well that’s a nice find,” Samantha said with a thoughtful look. I wish we had more time to test ideas but,” she looked outside and frowned. “We don’t have the time. We should try to get to the docks before the sun goes down.”
“Agreed,” Dick said. “It’ll be easier to deal with a wraith in the day rather than a night.”
“What about other people?” Lily asked. “Wouldn’t they get caught in the middle?”
“That’s why we need to scout things out first. See how many people would be there. See the lay of the land. We’re not going to just go in, geists blazing and challenge the thing. We may be on a time limit but we’re not that desperate. Not yet at least.”
Dick and Lily looked to Samantha then and she frowned under their gaze. She was the impromptu leader. The ‘veteran’ here and that meant she had to be the one with the ideas and make the calls. That was nowhere near what she expected when she came to the city a month ago.
Samantha walked toward Lily and smiled. “You round us out almost perfectly. My abilities are almost entirely suited for offense and Dick is best on offense but supportive. It’s more lockdown. But we’ve been lacking someone who can truly keep us alive. We’ve been having to out think and outnumber every wraith we’ve come across. With you we can cover the situations we’re not always ready for. You might be the only way we can deal with this wraith.”
Lily looked at her and then gave a short nod and smiled. Dick even clapped a few times from beside her and she rolled her eyes at him. “What?” she asked pretending to be more annoyed than she was.
“Nothing. That just sounded so sincere. Brought a tear to my eye.”
She scowled and rolled her eyes. “Fine. If you die that’s on you. Me and Lily will make sure the thing gets killed.” She stomped away toward the door and Dick laughed followed quickly by the other two.
The Harlequin Library 