“Quit it!” he yelped.
“Quit what?” the second dude replied.
“Okay, that’s it. I’m getting out of here. I don’t care if you think I’m a coward. I’m not staying in this place.”
He didn’t wait for his colleague to answer. Brushing right by me, he jogged down the stairs, leaving the other guard with no choice but to follow. I pressed myself against the curved wall as he went by. I waited a few moments longer until I heard the lighthouse door open and close.
Nothing a little haunting can’t fix. I chuckled, giving myself a moment to enjoy my triumph. Getting rid of the guards had been surprisingly easy, but the rest of my task wasn’t going to be. Craning my neck to look at the top of the lighthouse, I shuddered. The amulet was glowing like a beacon and getting hot in my hand. That couldn’t be good.
Why couldn’t it have been an artifact-finding mission? Artifacts were easy. Some digging here and there, maybe a bit of thievery, and the job was done. Spirits were crafty, and I didn’t like them one bit.
Steeling myself, I made my way up the rickety stairs. With every step, the amulet glowed brighter. I wished I could’ve been back at the SDC, learning more about the ins and outs of my newfound abilities. Things were pretty much peaceful there. No dramas, no ghosts, no missions… just plain old coven life. Even when jobs came up, they were nothing compared to Erebus’s endless list of tasks. Man, I envied Harley and the Muppet Babies.
This was the price. You know that. Right on time, my brain swept in with a sharp reminder. I’d taken my pills that morning, but sometimes my brain liked to chatter away of its own accord.
I reached the last landing, where a wooden ladder disappeared into a dark hole above. What could possibly go wrong? Crumbly ladder, pitch-black trapdoor, a twenty-foot drop to the ground below, and Ponce de León shivering everyone’s timbers at the top. Bad, good, scary, angry—it was anyone’s guess what kind of spirit I’d be facing.
Taking a deep breath, I gripped the middle rung of the ladder and started to climb.
Eventually, I emerged from the trapdoor, grateful not to have plummeted to my death. The lantern room curved around me, with uninterrupted windows on all sides and a huge bulb in the center. As it was daylight, the lantern wasn’t lit to warn ships, but the room gave one hell of an ocean view.
The waves churned and seagulls wheeled, and I could see ships in the distance, big ones, small ones, all kinds. I was about to step forward to get a better look when a shadow made me freeze. Someone stood on the other side of the lantern, looking out at the sea.
The figure wore a cloaked hood of some kind. They seemed to suck all the light out of the room. It should have been glaringly bright, with the sun shining down. But it wasn’t.
I looked down at the amulet. It was so bright now that I couldn’t look at it without risking my retinas. Yep, I’m definitely dealing with a spirit. I lifted the amulet toward the hooded figure, and the amber stone vibrated in my hand.
I cleared my throat. “Am I in the presence of Juan Ponce de León?” At least I didn’t have to worry about trying to speak in broken Spanish to this guy. From my research, spirits were beyond the limits of languages—they could understand and converse in any tongue.
I figured it was best to get straight to the point. This had to be a super-powerful kind of spirit if I, a meager non-Kolduny, could see it with my bare eyes.
“Hello? Mr. Ponce de León?” I spoke again, since the shadow didn’t seem very chatty. “Or do you prefer Juan? Mr. Juan? How about ‘Conquistador?’ Just so I know.” I took a step closer and saw a waxy sheen of gray skin underneath the hood. The fabric covered half of his face, but I could make out a pale mouth. Suitably ghoulish.
I waited, but he didn’t say a word. “See, the thing is, I was hoping you could help me out with something. I’m looking for the Fountain of Youth. I bet you’re tired of hearing that, huh?”
I gave a nervous laugh. “I mean, that’s quite a legacy, right? The man who found the Fountain of Youth. It’s better than ‘Pie-Eating Champion 2010,’ anyway. Sorry, I babble when I’m excited. You’re a legend, sir. You pretty much invented Florida, you explored the Caribbean, you governed Puerto Rico, and you’re one of the most famous explorers of all time. You’re a heck of a guy, Mr. Ponce de León, even without the Fountain of Youth stuff. But, unfortunately, I am here for the Fountain of Youth stuff. Erebus sent me to speak to you. He wants to gain some intel from you, via me.”
I stopped again. The spirit had to be ready to answer me now that I’d just jabbered my way through an introduction like Mr. Bean on steroids… right? Plus, I’d dropped the big name, and that usually got folks talking. But the shadowy figure just stood there, staring out at the sea.
A spark of anxiety shot through me. I was getting a very bad feeling about this. Had I missed something important? Was I supposed to collect something else before I came here? A gift, or an offering, or something? Erebus hadn’t said anything about it, but then, he wouldn’t have. I tried to think back just in case, but the only thing on my to-get list had been this amulet.
“Can you hear me, Mr. Ponce de León?”
I held my breath as he turned. A ghastly face appeared under the hood—skeletal and drawn, with sunken cheeks and hollowed eyes. He opened his mouth, as if he was finally going to say something, only his mouth kept getting wider and wider, unnaturally wide, as if he were made of putty. The long sleeves of the cloak billowed out.
His entire being expanded like a swelling cloud. I stared as his gray skin morphed into a tempest of black tendrils with a vaguely skull-like head hovering in the middle.
“GET OUT!” it roared.
I staggered backward, dropping the amulet into my pocket—and forgetting about the trapdoor in the floor. My legs fell right through it, and my hands snapped out to stop the rest of me from following suit. I gripped the side of the trapdoor with every ounce of strength I had and hauled myself back up into the lantern room. I needed to slow down on the Wile E. Coyote mistakes, otherwise this would be the last mission I ever went on for Erebus.
Don’t speak too soon. Judging by the seething mass of shadows dead ahead, it still could be.
“I’m here on behalf of Erebus!” I shouted, my voice snatched away by the wind that howled around the room.
“Leave this place!” the spirit boomed.
“I can’t leave yet! You need to tell me where the Fountain is!” I ducked as a chair whizzed over my head and smashed against the back wall.
Ah. Poltergeist. It made sense now. I’d been able to see the spirit, which shouldn’t have been possible. That meant it was another type of spirit—a pissed-off poltergeist.
A table came at me, full force. I dove out of the way, slamming into the lantern. Chunks of wood and steel and stone hurtled at me next, the poltergeist seizing whatever was handy and chucking it my way. I rolled and ducked and dove, but the attack just kept coming. Putting up my hands, I shot a blast of Telekinesis at the spirit, but it passed straight through him.
Okay, that’s not good. How was I supposed to fight a spirit?
I hid behind the lantern, trying to catch my breath. A chunk of the ceiling fell away above me, giving me a split second to lunge forward before it crashed into the ground. It landed right where I’d been crouched. It would’ve brained me if it had hit its mark.