“How are we supposed to lay ghosts to rest?” asked Jack, beginning to believe that Arc was insane. “Do you think you’re some sort of medium as well as a sharpshooter?”

The spellslinger laughed. “Do you think I would bring us to Purdue if I didn’t know what I was doing?” asked Arc.

Jack rolled his eyes while Arc continued to smile. “No, but it might help us stay alive if we knew what your plan was.”

“Can you tell us the full story, please?” asked Julie, worried more about her brother losing his temper than she was about going into a haunted town.

“Alright,” said Arc with a shrug. “It’s another bounty I picked up a while ago, but it was low on the priority list. It’s pretty simple, honestly. Go into Purdue and smash the spirit idol that binds the souls of the lost townsfolk to the town. Once that’s in pieces, scoop up the remains and hand it over to the client to cash it in. Like I said, it’s simple.”

“And this is all part of your plan to remove the rot from the Nuvarian wasteland, is it?” asked Jack.

“Why are you so cynical at such a young age, boy?” asked Arc, scratching his chin. “I do some good and get paid for it. A man’s gotta eat somehow, right? And clients very rarely pay expenses, so all my ammo is paid for by what I’ve got left from the previous job. If you’re looking for a career that’ll make you rich, being a bounty hunter ain’t it.”

Jack and Julie looked at each other.

“Alright,” said Jack, having calmed down. “Tell us what to do and we’ll do it.”

“Just stick close to me and do whatever I tell you to do whenever I tell you to do it. There’s nothing else to it. I had planned this little excursion as a solo endeavour after killing Colt, but I’m neither solo nor is Colt dead.”

Jack gave Julie a look that reminded her of the conversation they had the previous night. Julie avoided eye contact, not wanting to admit that Jack was right. Being around Arc would be dangerous and they would have to part ways in Pembroke for their own safety. She hated when he was right, but it happened often enough that she was used to it.

The trio continued walking along the side of the road. Every now and then as the dust billowed in the wind, the grey of the worn asphalt became clearer and Julie spotted a line marking the centre of the road that separated one lane from another. Cars these days didn’t care how they travelled on the roads as all of the old rules had fallen by the wayside.

The few who could drive tended to use the centre markings as a guideline to drive on top of rather than a division between forward moving and oncoming traffic, largely because most roads didn’t see cars for months on end with only the main roads seeing more than a handful in any given week. Living mounts were the favoured method of transport over mechanical ones, simply because it was easier to feed a horse than to fuel a car.

It was late afternoon by the time Arc, Jack and Julie spotted Purdue for the first time. Arc stood atop a hill and scanned the rundown town of broken brick buildings that were interspersed with ones of dry splintered wood. All seemed to be quiet and there was still another hour of sunlight before there would be head or tail of any phantoms.

“As I said, stick close,” Arc reminded the children, who moved closer to him.

The three walked down the hill and along road that passed through the centre of the small town. Arc poked his head around the corner of the nearest doorway, which had no door to even open. He squinted inside, looking into the dark corners where the light streaming through the broken roof and upper floor didn’t reach.

“No, too unimportant,” said Arc, shaking his head.

“What do you mean?” asked Jack. “Couldn’t this idol be anywhere?”

“It could, but it won’t be.”

“And why not?”

“In my experience, important artifacts are either buried a few feet under your boots, forgotten to time, or they’re kept somewhere of significance; a town hall, an old museum, and so on and so forth. There’s no way in hell I’m digging my way through town in an hour, so we’ll prioritise a few key buildings. I would bet the silver in my pouch that the idol is somewhere prominent.”

“How many jobs involving ghosts have you taken?”

Arc didn’t answer, avoiding eye contact and walking towards the town centre while ignoring the other nearby buildings.

Jack had a sinking feeling in his chest. “None?”

Arc smiled. “Two, but I’ve read enough about these sorts of things to know that’s how it usually goes for others. If I’m honest, most of my lived experience is with humans and monsters.”

“I don’t believe this,” said Jack, shaking his head in frustration while clutching his hair. “All this time I thought you were some sort of expert!”

“Let’s see you take out twenty-two goblins on the warpath and live to tell the tale, wise guy. My skills are transferable, and there’s nothing complicated about finding a spirit idol. Once we find it, I shoot it like I do every other thing that causes trouble and it doesn’t live to tell the tale.”

“Except for Colt, right?”

“Stop fighting and let’s keep looking,” Julie said, pulling her brother back and, looking towards the sun. “The quicker we find the idol, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“The quicker we find it, the sooner we don’t need to get out of here and can rest up as intended,” said Arc with a grin. “If you want to split up and check out all of the minor crevices of no significance, then by my guest. But I assure you, you’ll be wasting your time.”

Jack and Julie didn’t dare leave and Arc nodded knowing that they were too scared of being alone if night were to fall. He walked away and beckoned them over his shoulder, leading them towards a building with a wooden signboard that had fallen from its mounted position above the entrance and was now blocking the door.

“Purdue General,” Arc read aloud. “I have no doubt it’s been looted to hell and back, but maybe there’s something useful in here. Lesson number one about scavenging, kids; scavengers always look over valuables, whether intentionally or not. I’ve found a few gems hidden at the back of shelves or in locked safes that nobody put any effort into opening.”

Arc leapt over the sign effortlessly and then pushed his way through the rubble that had piled up behind it, while Jack and Julie helped each other into the building. Being much shorter than their new companion, they found entry trickier than the six-foot-tall Arc.

“Aha!” called the bounty hunter after rummaging around behind the counter for a while.

He sat up and held out a couple of shotgun shells and a single revolver bullet. The twins couldn’t understand why he looked so pleased when his spoils were a single usable bullet and something utterly useless to him.

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“Before you say anything,” said the man, “remember that we’re going to Pembroke and they have merchants there. I’ll introduce you to my buddy Jamison when we get there. These shotgun shells may not be useful in the here and now, but getting a few silvers for them or using them for barter to get something I need is something I can’t emphasise the importance of enough.”

Jack was about to retort, but Arc cut him off.

“How did you two get by before meeting me?” he asked.

“We bought what we needed,” said Jack.

“Or stole it,” added Julie guiltily.

“I thought by now that you two would have understood the importance of trade,” said Arc, standing up and pocketing the ammunition. “Forgive me if this is a sore subject, but have you two been alone for long?”

“Only a year,” said Jack quietly while Julie’s lip quivered for a moment. Even though she held it together, her eyes had begun watering.

“I see. You don’t need to tell me what happened. After all, I’m still a stranger, but hopefully before we reach Pembroke, I can teach you a thing or two. It’s an old mantra, but just remember that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Somebody wants these shotgun shells and will happily accept them in exchange for something else, whether that’s money or another item of value.”

“Well, I knew that already,” said Jack.

“Yet you looked confused as to why I decided to keep them. There’s no need to be ashamed of not knowing some of the basic rules of survival, especially if you’re as young as you two and haven’t ever roamed the land scavenging.”

“Thank you, Arc,” said Julie, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

“It’s all good, kid,” he said, making his way back over to the doorway. “Alright, time’s a’wasting. It’s safe to say there’s no idol here.”

Each building they passed, Arc either dismissed entirely or ran a curious eye over before moving along. Jack and Julie asked him why he didn’t bother searching a few of the buildings that looked like they had once been shops.

“Shops aren’t important buildings,” he told them. “They’re good for scavenging, but who keeps a magical totem in a shop that isn’t intended for dedicated mages? If Purdue has a museum, that would be somewhere worth checking, but most of these buildings aren’t worth our time.”

The trio walked to the centre of the town where an old iron fence sat in a square. Within the square, they would once have been lush grass and vibrant flowers, but they had all died out a couple of decades before the three had even been born. Nestled at the crossroads of four broken paths of paving stones was a podium. Atop it, stood a large stone statue of a finely dressed man with a beard, holding a book and looking towards the town hall. His expression was one of pride as he gazed upon the fine building before him.

“Last man left in town,” chuckled Arc before following the gaze to the town hall. “And I bet you, he’s telling us where we can find the spirit idol.”

“Don’t you—”

“Scoff when I’m wrong, but not before,” said Arc, holding up a hand to silence Jack.

“When?” asked Julie and Jack sniggered.

“If, I’m wrong,” mumbled Arc through gritted teeth. “I meant if I’m wrong.”

He strolled towards the limestone building that had more damaged bricks than not and walked up the stairs, unintentionally flicking sand behind him with every step and forcing Jack and Julie to cover their faces after the first faceful of sand. The spellslinger looked up towards the balcony that hung from the third floor, wondering how nice the view from up there would have once been. No doubt, the entire town was visible and perhaps even beyond the once-green hills to the south.

With a sigh for the memory of a past he had never known, Arc marched on through the double doors that had remained standing. While there were few doors that hadn’t been ripped from the hinges in Purdue, the thick oak that had been used for the town hall was in good condition. So good in fact that even the varnish still had a sheen to it, having been repeatedly buffed by the sandstorms that tended to occur in these parts.

The town hall itself had been completely ransacked with barely a wooden chair left standing. The chairs that were standing were often missing a leg or back support. There were dark squares and rectangles on the walls where paintings had once been hung and the paintings that were left were all hideous or so badly stained that they were unrecognisable.

Arc wrinkled his nose at the smell of musky decay and walked up to the front desk. He leaned over to see what sat behind it, not sure what he was hoping to find there. There wasn’t as much as a single paper, logbook. It crossed his mind that the record keeping was largely computerised, and most of the electronics could have been stripped for parts.

With a shrug to the twins, he made his way from room to room, continuing the search. The trio made their way between meeting rooms, offices and even bathrooms—which were particularly foul-smelling—across the floor and came up empty.

“What exactly are we looking for?” asked Julie after half an hour of searching. They had now reached the second floor of the building and were systematically working their way through the rooms up here.

“Small stone statue,” said Arc.

“I know, but what does it look like?”

“It looks like a small stone statue and that’s the best I’ve got for you. Don’t know if it’s a man, woman, beast or any random object.”

Arc could feel Jack rolling his eyes through the back of his head. “Look, boy,” said Arc sternly, spinning around and pushing his index finger into the young man’s sternum. “This is a job I’m doing to keep myself afloat and it isn’t exactly in my wheelhouse. If you’ve got a problem with it, you and your sister can go wait for me outside of town. I’ve been nothing but nice to you and the disrespect is starting to grate on me. You want to wander the wastes alone? Go for it. Good luck to you.”

Jack stood staring at Arc. He wanted to be staring coldly at him, but the shame started washing over him and he broke eye contact.

“You’re right,” said the young man. “I’ve not been fair to you, Arc.”

“Damn straight. We’re all trying to survive here and it’s easier done if we can not rain on each other’s parades all day long.”

As Arc resumed his search, Julie gave Jack a thump on the arm. “You can’t control that mouth of yours, can you?” she whispered to him angrily.

“It wasn’t my mouth, it was my eyes,” grumbled Jack.

“I don’t care what it was. Stop it! We’ve got someone looking out for us for a change and I’m not going to let you ruin it because you need to find fault with everything.”

“I know, I know. I can’t help it, Jule.”

“You had better start helping it or I’ll never let you hear the end of it.”

The search continued in silence save for the footsteps on the wooden floorboards and the occasional grinding of furniture being pushed aside. Each room that turned up empty made Arc feel all the more confident that the idol was somewhere deeper in the building.

“I demand souls,” said Arc after sneaking up behind Jack when the young man was looking through an old cabinet.

Jack yelped and jumped so high that he hit his head on the cabinet shelf. He pulled himself free, his heart beating thrice as fast as it normally did, and he started massaging his crown.

“Now we’re even, Jackie Boy,” said Arc, chortling as he clapped Jack on the back.

Jack knew better than to retort or make any sour faces, so he got back to rummaging for the idol without a word.

As the trio crossed the hall, Julie’s foot broke through one of the old floorboards. Arc caught her as she fell and pulled her back up. She squatted low and looked at the large scrapes across her shin.

“You alright?” Arc asked.

“Fine,” she said as she pulled out a couple of large splinters.

Treading more slowly and carefully now, the trio headed into the room, which was as dishevelled as the others. One thing, however, caught Jack’s eye. There was a large cloth map hung on the wall showing the local area and Purdue was dead centre.

“We didn’t pass any of these places on the road here,” said Jack, pointing at different villages and towns.

“Not everywhere survived the Arcanaclysm,” said Arc, walking up beside the young man. “See those forests? All gone. That’s not to mention the factories, temples, and many others.”

“Lake Mari,” said Jack, drawing a line with his finger from Purdue to a large blue-tinted section. “I’m guessing that’s dried up now?”

“Yep,” said Arc as his chest heaved up. “A real tragedy, right? If you’ve ever heard people talk of the Lumen Basin, that’s what they’re talking about. You get strange abyssal beings showing up there every now and then. I don’t know if they live in some deep pit in the basin or they’re coming through some sort of portal, but people avoid it like the plague.”

“And for good reason.”

“At least we got to keep Lake Pandora on the mountain up there or we’d have precious few rivers running through the area. Imagine trying to survive in lovely old Nuvaria when the only water you get is from the rain—"

A sudden shriek broke out from another room behind them and the twins froze in horror as Arc spun around, pulling out his spellcaster and loading an Arcane Shot into it. The voice had a horrible echoing tone to it that tore right through your eardrums and seared into your brain, leaving you feeling cold from skin to bone.

“That’s not good,” said Arc, glancing at the window.

Orange light was still filtering through and there should have been nearly half an hour before the sunset. Yet he knew rightly that the chilling wail came from one of the ghosts of Purdue.

“How could they be awake during daylight?” whispered Julie, clinging to Jack’s arm.

Jack looked around the room and realised the critical error that Arc had made. “Because the daylight is fading faster in here than it is outside.”

Arc felt a lump in his throat as he swallowed. He had unwittingly led the children into grave danger after constantly assuring them that everything would be fine. As big of a mistake as he had made, he told himself that he would get them out of this mess one way or another.