Surrender (18 page)

I was looking at the underside of the bench.

Lying on my back on the floor, my head throbbing in pain, a puddle of water soaking through my shirt.

Above me, a girl said, “Oh, did she fall?” But there was a ghostly echo in my mind—I heard a ghost speaking at the same time:
Grab the ring
.

A fist closed on my hair and yanked my head, and another hand grabbed my necklace and pulled. The chain snapped. My ring—Emma's ring—rolled across the tile floor. One of the girls, who I now knew were possessed,
snatched it, and spoke to the other.
Does Neos want her dead? Or does he have other plans for her?

He wants the ring to help him claim her. Now that he has the ring, he'll—

Then I heard a new voice.
Hey, girls, you looking for the showers?
Craven asked.

The sound of fighting and swearing echoed in the locker room as I faded away.

When I returned to consciousness, I was still on the floor, still looking at the bottom of the bench. Except now Craven was sitting there, his face even paler than usual.

I moaned and sat up. “What happened?”

Isn't it obvious? They bashed you on the head and stole your ring
. Craven looked toward the corner.
We fought them off, but he's hurt pretty bad
.

I followed his gaze to the corner, where Moorehead was curled in a ball, slowly unraveling.

He's … he's fading
, Craven said.
I'm going to be alone
. For once, his tone wasn't filled with sarcasm. He was really worried.

I stood unsteadily, then almost fell as pain burst in my head and my knees wobbled. I dropped beside Moorehead and said,
Do you want to stay?

I do
, Moorehead told me feebly.
But I can't
.

I blinked away tears of pain, willing myself to not think about losing the ring—not yet. Instead, I focused on trying
to save Moorehead. I thought if I could summon him, maybe it would lodge his ghost more solidly in this world. My stomach churned as summoning power surged through me. The blow to my head was still making me woozy, and I couldn't get a grip on Moorehead. Instead of helping him, he seemed to be fading further.

I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. I can't—
And then it hit me. What about the principle of reflexivity Simon had been talking about? Could I use my dispelling power to heal Moorehead?

I glanced at Moorehead.
Okay. I'm not sure this is going to work
. But it was better than doing nothing, than watching him fade into nothing. I gathered a line of dispelling energy, then twisted it in my mind, so that instead of hurting him, it would heal. If this didn't work, I was out of options, so despite feeling like I might pass out again, I poured power into him. For a moment, nothing happened. Then he grew firmer, more coherent, his spectral self reknitting.

“It worked!” I said aloud. Simon had been right. All our powers worked in both directions.

Craven slumped in relief.
Much better. We owe you
.

You fought those ghosts for me
.

Because this is the girls' locker room
, Moorehead explained, gesturing widely.
The inner sanctum
.

The holy of holies
, Craven intoned.
We don't let just
anyone
in here. Besides, we couldn't stop them. We tried to keep them from getting your ring, but they were too strong
.

Still
, I told them,
you tried. And you probably saved my life
.

Well, you saved his death
, Craven said.

I tried to smile, but couldn't manage more than a pained grin. Not only because my head hurt, but I'd lost the ring. Neos had wanted one thing, and now he had it.

“The possessed girls hit you with a field hockey stick?” Mrs. Stern asked. “Did you see the nurse?”

It was an hour after school, and I was sitting around the breakfast nook with Mrs. Stern, Lukas, and Natalie. Mr. Stern paced the floor, occasionally stepping through Anatole or Celeste, who kept the table stocked with tea and cookies.

I'd just told them what happened at fencing class, that Neos had used the ghost possessing Kylee to manipulate me into the locker room alone; then the other possessed girls had attacked, and I'd lost the ring.

“I made her go to the nurse,” Natalie answered. “She said Emma's okay.”

“I am,” I said, rubbing my head. “No concussion, just a goose egg.”

“Coach thought she was faking, for attention.”

“Coach hates me.”

“I'll have a word with her,” Mr. Stern said, a hint of his son's protectiveness in his eyes.

“That's hardly the issue,” Mrs. Stern said. “We've lost
the ring. So not only does Neos have this new advantage over us, but Emma can't search Thatcher for his ashes as a ghost.”

“Are we even sure why he wanted the ring?” Lukas asked.

I fiddled with the sugar cookie on my plate. “I think I'm part of his plan. The ghosts said something about him claiming me.”

“He intends to possess you,” Mrs. Stern said. “To use the body of the most powerful ghostkeeper as his own. We suspected that much already.”

I thought about the snaky ghost visions again. What if he'd already started, and the visions were part of that? It made me wonder if I could trust myself.

“We can still search the school,” Natalie said. “Just not with Emma as a ghost.”

“So far, everything we've done has played into Neos's hands.” Mrs. Stern paused to sip her tea. “For once I'd like to be a step ahead of him.”

Mr. Stern stopped pacing. “And Simon expects him to attack soon.”

“Natalie, did you feel the ghosts at school today, in your fencing class?” Mrs. Stern asked. “Why didn't you help Emma?”

Natalie looked stricken. “Me?”

“You
are
a ghostkeeper.”

“Okay.” I set my half-eaten cookie aside. “She gets the point. Stop picking on her.”

“I'm not picking on her, Emma. I'm trying to assess our strength. How much weaker are you?” she asked Natalie. “Since you and Lukas started … seeing each other?”

“I'm not sure. A little?” Natalie said, miserably. I noticed she didn't look at Lukas.

“This isn't her fault,” I said. “I'm the one who let them take the ring.” I downed the rest of my tea. “The only thing that matters is finding those ashes. Without them, we've got nothing.”

Despite being in an ongoing battle with Neos, I still had school and homework. It would be nice if I could claim a ghost ate my homework, but I doubt un-cute Mr. Jones would believe me. So after dinner, I spent a couple hours catching up and finished my
Zorba
paper. Then I knocked on Natalie's bedroom door. She didn't answer. I knew Lukas was downstairs eating his second dinner, so I pushed open the door, presuming I wasn't interrupting anything.

Natalie was buried under the covers, her laptop open beside her. “Go away.”

“No.” I sat beside her. “I know you want to talk.”

“I do not,” she said.

“Yes, you do. I can tell.”

“You're interfering with my celebrity gossip. How am I supposed to survive without knowing what they're wearing to the Golden Globes?”

I was momentarily distracted by the photos on her
screen. “Wouldn't it be awesome to have an excuse to dress up like that?”

“There's prom next year,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess.” Though I had no idea where I'd be going to school next year, or if I'd even want to go to prom. I stared at her until she flipped her computer closed.

“Fine,” she said.

“What's going on with you and Lukas?”

“You mean today in the main hall?”

“No, I mean the whole thing. You and Lukas together. You haven't told me anything.”

She licked her lips. “I know. I didn't know what to say to you. I thought you'd disapprove. I'm scared. That's what's going on.”

“Because you like him more than he likes you?”

“Oh, he likes me,” she said, sounding like herself again. “He definitely likes me.”

“Then what are you afraid of? Losing your powers?”

She didn't answer for a moment, then said, “Ever since that last battle with Neos, with all those ghasts and wraiths, the siren trying to drown me, I've—I kind of lost my nerve. You don't know what it's like; you're Emma Vaile, Warrior Queen of the Dear Departed. You think I'm all brave, but I'm not.”

“You're scared of ghosts?” I was astounded. This was like my ex– best friend Abby all over again. “You don't want to see them anymore?”

“What? No, you bonehead, I'm not afraid of ghosts, I'm afraid of
dying
. I don't want Neos to kill me. Or you.
Or any of us. How would you feel, if you couldn't protect yourself?”

“Terrified.”

“What if you couldn't protect
me
?”

I didn't say anything. If I didn't think I could protect her and Lukas, I'd freeze completely.

“Yeah,” she said. “I'm a summoner. We're the opposite of badass. And now that I finally learned how to banish, my powers are fading. Lukas is taking my power. And he's …”

“What is he?”

“Well, he's totally fantastic, you know that.” She bit her lower lip. “And you know how he
looks
like he knows how to kiss and stuff?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, he does.” She blew a puff of air. “Believe me, he totally knows. He—”

“Okay, okay! Yuck. He's like a brother to me.”

“Well, he's like a hot boyfriend to me. And I really like him. But he's getting stronger.”

“And you're getting weaker.”

She nodded morosely. “If we don't stop, I'm going to lose my powers completely.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” I asked, biting my lip. “You sound like you don't know anymore.”

“Maybe not,” she said, “but am I the girl who gives up everything to be with a guy?”

“No.”

“
Hell
no. And do you really think you can do this without my lame-ass help?”

“Yes. I can do this without you.” I didn't want to guilt her into this.

She lifted an eyebrow.

“Okay,” I said. “Fine. I need you, Natalie. I know I have more power, but you
are
braver. I
can't
do it without you.”

She flipped her long dark hair to one shoulder and began to braid it while she thought. When she got to the bottom, she ripped it apart and started again. When she ran out of hair the second time, she said, “I'm going to break up with him.”

“You don't—why can't you—” I stopped, because I couldn't think of another solution. She had to break up with him or she'd lose her powers completely.

“It's okay,” she said. “I like him. A lot. But it's not like we're destined to be together through the centuries—or apart—or whatever you and Bennett have going on.”

“Are you sure?” At the moment, I wasn't sure what Bennett and I had going on. Despite being broken up, I knew it wasn't over. It was hard to believe it ever would be.

“Yeah, I'm sure. We're not even in the same league of eternally-together-and-forever-screwed as you two. It's just—”

Lukas burst into the room without bothering to knock, which made me wonder how often they were in here “getting all dirty,” as Natalie liked to say.

“Oh.” He looked surprised to see me. “Hey, Emma.”

“I was just going,” I said.

“No, wait,” Natalie told me. Then she turned to Lukas and said, “Dude, it's over.”

Yikes. She couldn't wait for me to leave the room? I stared at the carpet and tried to make myself invisible.

“What's over?” he asked, clearly confused.

“Us, you idiot,” Natalie said. “Emma needs me.”