Okay, something really fucked-up was going on around here. First we had found the Olympus seemingly abandoned when Puriel, my grandparents, and the others were supposed to be on it. Not to mention the fact that recall wasn’t working the way it should, cutting us off from getting any information from them at all. And now, shortly after we had transported over here to check things out in person, the ship was suddenly moving again? Someone else was in control, and they were sending the ship… somewhere. We had no idea who, and no idea where they were directing the ship.

Apollo was already using his communication spell to call up to where Mercury, Haiden, and Larissa were. They answered immediately. Unfortunately, they didn’t know anything more than we did about what was going on. According to Mercury, he was totally locked out of the controls. They weren’t responding at all. He was going to try to get to the bottom of that, but it would take awhile.

Worse, the connection was really faint. We could barely hear them. Mercury said something about interference, and that we should try to find the source of it because it was coming from somewhere on our level.

Then the communication cut out entirely. We tried again, but got no more response from Mercury, or the other two. Nor did any of the other groups respond when Mom tried for herself, using multiple powers. Finally, she grimaced and looked to the rest of us. “It’s like he said, they’re being jammed somehow. Not just communication, but transport-type powers too. At least, within the ship. I really don’t like this. I hate to say the obvious, but this seriously feels like a trap of some sort. A trap that we just walked right into.”

“We can’t use the escape spells yet,” I immediately insisted. “We don’t know what happened to the others. If we transport off the ship, we might never find it, or them, again.”

Dad’s hand found my shoulder, squeezing it. “If my parents and the others are on this ship, we’ll find them. And figure out what’s going on around here.”

Mom sighed softly, nodding once. “Yes, we will. But if this gets to be too dangerous, I want both of you to use the escape spells. You too, Avalon. And–I know you’re not the original Miranda, but I want you to jump back to your original self and tell everyone there to get off the ship too, if it comes down to it. I mean it. If we have to, Apollo and I can keep the search going without you.” With that, she drew Clarent from its place at her hip, the black blade giving off that strange light in the process.

Valley and I exchanged glances, but didn’t argue. It wouldn’t have accomplished anything right then. But I knew for certain that the last thing I was going to do was run away and leave my mother on a ship that was going who the hell knew where, controlled by who the hell knew who. Or what.

“So, we find the source of that jamming?” I finally asked. “Mercury said it was coming from somewhere on this floor. Uh, deck, I mean. That’s the ship term, right? Anyway, it’s coming from somewhere around here. And if the jamming is coming from around here, I bet we could find answers about the rest of what’s going on.” I made a show of turning in a circle with my hands out. “There’s gotta be something helpful around–”

In my head, Tabbris piped up, Flick! Look to your right, over there in the corner next to the elevator doors. I–I just saw… There was something there, but I need to see it better. Not the A&M, something else. It’s down low.

Confused, but trusting her, I pivoted promptly and took a step that way before leaning down. At first, I couldn’t see what she was talking about. Then my eyes found it. A symbol etched into the metal, almost invisible. I was surprised she had noticed it at all as I had spun in a circle. But now that I had a closer look, it was immediately familiar.

“Uhh, guys?” I spoke up, raising a hand. “Look at this thing. It’s the same sort of rune they used to drive away the Whispers back on the Quietus. And on Doug’s colony world.”

Clearly taken aback by those words, Apollo moved closer and leaned down to look for himself. Frowning immediately, he ran a finger along them and murmured, “These are fresh. Someone put them here recently. I’d say at least within the past day. Probably less.”

Dad shook his head, having stepped over to look for himself. “Okay, but who would have put them there? Puriel?”

“Him or Aletheia, maybe,” I pointed out. “Or maybe Uncle Al. They said he’s pretty good at magic, I think. But I don’t know if any of them know these spells. Wait, does that mean that it’s those Whisper things that are controlling the ship right now? Maybe they showed up and whoever knew these spells used them to try to protect Grandmaria and Popser, and the kids.”

“That doesn’t explain where any of them are now,” Avalon pointed out. “Unless they’re holed up somewhere else in the ship and that jamming stuff, whatever it is, is stopping them from reaching out or responding. Or even knowing anyone’s here.”

Apollo’s voice was grim. “I don’t want to think about what these things could be capable of if they’re enough to make Puriel hole up instead of blasting them off his ship. But that sounds like the best explanation we’ve got so far.” He pivoted. “We need to find the source of that jamming. And keep an eye out for more of those protection runes. They might lead us to answers too.”

Mom gave a short nod, glancing around once more. “You take the lead. You know the ship. I’ll stay at the back, just in case.” Giving Dad, Avalon, Miranda, and me a brief look, she gestured. “Like Apollo said, you guys watch for more of those runes. I don’t know who put that one there, but I doubt it’s the only one.”

“Yeah,” Miranda agreed, leaning in close to stare at it. “I just wish I could communicate with the other me’s to share information without poofing out of existence here entirely. It’s a one-way trip, and I can’t jump right back here to tell you guys anything they know.”

With that, we started to move once more. It was basically the same as before, when we were searching each engine-connected compartment, only now we were moving faster, and we had specific jobs to do. Dad, Avalon, and I were checking each square inch of surface we passed, looking for more of those runes. Mom and Apollo were watching for threats and using various spells to scan for the source of that jamming.

On the way, I spoke up. “So hold on. If those Whisper things are here, do you think we can’t hear them because of Liesje’s spell? I mean, the anti-Whisper stuff on Doug’s hat sort of protected against Seosten. Okay, not completely, but it let Pace and Theia both control her body at the same time. So if it works one direction, maybe it works the other way. The spell protects us from possession and might be shielding us from the Whispers too.” Even as I finished saying that, I found myself blanching. “Which means–”

“Which means they might be somewhere around us,” Apollo finished, voice grim. “Possible. I don’t think so, but possible. I’ve got detection spells going and they haven’t picked up anything. Then again, I don’t want to stake anyone’s life on the idea that they’d be able to pick up these Whisper things.” Pausing briefly, he sighed. “Just keep your eyes open, I guess. For those marks, for any sign of these Whispers, or… anything else.”

So, we continued on like that through the engine deck, watching for anything that stood out. If there were Whispers around, we didn’t see any sign of them specifically. Nor did we find my grandparents or anyone else. On the other hand, we did find more of those runes. Hidden as they were, I was pretty sure we didn’t see all of them. But we found enough to let us know that they were all over the place. We checked a few more and all of them were quite fresh. This was definitely something new. And it made me even more intensely curious to find out what had actually happened here. Not to mention what was happening now. Why had the ship suddenly turned on? Where the hell was it taking us? How had whatever was responsible locked Mercury out of the system like that? And on and on the questions went. They kept replaying through my head while we walked, even as I forced myself to focus on watching for anyone.

On the other hand, maybe it was that slight distraction that ended up helping in the end. My thoughts were drifting slightly as I leaned around the edge of yet another doorway to scan it for any runes, when I felt something. It was very faint, but made my head tilt as the rest of me froze.

Avalon noticed immediately, stepping over to put a hand on my arm. “What is it?”

Everyone else had stopped to look at us, and I held up a hand for them to wait before closing my eyes so I could focus. That sensation had been at the very edge of my perception, almost too faint to catch. But it was there, barely. With my eyes still closed, I tried to stretch my senses that way to pick up more of it. Or even pull it closer. But it was like trying to grab liquid soap with splayed fingers. I felt a bit of its remains, even as the rest simply slipped away. And what little I had managed to grab faded before I could pull it back to us. It wasn’t the best metaphor, but close enough. The point was, I couldn’t keep hold of it.

Did you… I started, needing someone else to verify what I felt.

It was there, Tabbris assured me. She sounded just as frustrated as I felt. But I couldn’t get anything else. It was right there, like… like seeing something out of the corner of your eye.

With silent agreement, I looked to the others as they watched me expectantly. Taking a breath, I explained, “Ghosts. Or something like them, I’m not sure. I can sense something, just… sort of on the edge. I can’t get hold of it. Like… like it’s only partially here or something. It keeps fading out whenever I reach for it. But there’s definitely something. It’s just… faint.”

Mom’s voice was flat, as she glanced around us with that black-bladed sword held out, its glow illuminating the nearby walls. “Does it feel like Kushiel did?”

I hesitated slightly before offering a helpless shrug. “Not exactly, but similar I guess? I need to get closer, but I can’t even tell exactly where it’s coming from. I can’t sense a direction, just that it’s barely there at all. I just…” Heaving a sigh, I muttered, “I’m sorry, it’s not really helpful.”

“Yes, it is,” Dad assured me. His hand found my back, squeezing it. “Just knowing there’s something out there is helpful, isn’t it?”

“Something,” I agreed, “but we still don’t know what. Maybe the–I don’t know.” Something about that feeling was bugging me. Which wasn’t exactly a useful feeling, considering I had been feeling bugged about this whole situation from the start. Still, even that faint, fleeting sensation of something at least ghost-adjacent was enough to send a shiver up my back.

Pausing, I murmured, “Hold on a second.” Then I reached out, stretching my power toward not the feeling I’d just had, but to someone else.

It took a few seconds, but I felt the response just before Seth coalesced in front of me. His ghost form appeared, the man immediately speaking. “Right, this better be important. We have parties too, and I was right in the middle of teaching–” He stopped, blinking a bit while looking around to take in where we were and who was around. “I ahh, I haven’t been everywhere on the station, but… this isn’t the station, is it?” Focusing on me once more, his eyes narrowed. “Let me guess, you couldn’t even take one damn day off without–”

Mom spoke up. “Seth, it’s Lincoln’s parents. And the others.” He looked to her and she gave him a quick rundown of what was going on. Only a few sentences worth, but enough that he immediately muttered a curse.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I agreed. “I need you to come with us, and if we do find any ghosts, or anything like them… well, use a ghost to fight a ghost.”

He regarded me for a moment, before giving a short nod. “You’re worried that they’ll be like Kushiel, that you won’t be able to control them yourself.”

Shrugging, I replied, “It’s a possibility. And if I can’t affect them, maybe I can at least boost you enough to punch them in the face really hard.”

“I do enjoy punching,” he agreed. “Okay, fine. I’m with you. But we better get back before the party’s totally over. I don’t know about you living people, but the haunted mansion is hopping.”

“I don’t think it’s ending anytime in the next couple days,” I pointed out flatly. “Now come on, we’ve still got a lot to search.”

So, we kept going. If I had been by myself, I would have had to try to split my attention between watching for more Whisper runes, and stretching out my senses to check for any sign of that ghost sensation. But I wasn’t alone. Tabbris was here, so we split the duties. She took control of my body, making me walk after the others while looking for the runes, and I devoted everything I had toward trying to detect anything I could as far as spirits went. Or anything else that tripped my Necro-senses. I was barely paying any attention to the world around us, trusting Tabbris to navigate and let me know if anything stood out. I had to put everything toward the single task of sensing for ghosts.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

In the end, it was a good thing I did so, otherwise I would have missed the tickle at the very back of my mind several minutes into our search. Even focused as I was, I still barely picked it up, almost dismissing it before stopping myself. I strained even more, like stretching up on my tiptoes to reach for something on a high shelf that I could barely brush with my fingers. Almost… almost… there. There it was. I could feel it, and that time when the presence withdrew, I was able to make my senses follow it.

And with that, as soon as I kept my grip on that faint sensation long enough, I was finally able to figure out what was going on, what was really happening. As soon as I did, I stopped short, grabbing control of my body once more before holding my hands out for the others. “Wait, stop. Hold on.”

Tabbris, who could already read my mind and had realized the truth right alongside me as soon as I had, gasped inwardly and immediately muttered a couple words in my head that she probably wouldn’t have said aloud.

Everyone else was looking at us expectantly, and I took a breath before raising my hand and turning to point. “We need to go that way.”

Without actually looking, my mother simply replied, “Honey, there’s a wall there.” The others gave assorted nods of agreement. Again, without looking.

“Is there?” I insisted. “Mom, you trust me, right?”

“With my life, and everything,” she confirmed without hesitation, meeting my gaze.

“I know it’s going to be hard,” I informed her, my gaze laser-focused on my mother. I had to break through to her. “But that’s okay. You’re accustomed to doing hard things. You do them all the time. You survived everything this universe could throw at you. You did what you had to do. You won every time, no matter what it was. You saw what you had to do and you did it. Nothing else could have stopped you, and neither will this. So, please, I need you to do one more thing for me. For me, Mom. No matter how hard it is, no matter how much you don’t want to. You have to do this. Please. For me, for Dad, for the rest of your family. You have to do this one thing.” Letting out a breath, I finished with a firm, “Turn around and look at where I’m pointing.”

She almost didn’t. The effect was that strong and that difficult to push past. But in the end, after several long moments of silence, Mom finally, with great mental effort, turned her head. She followed the sight of my finger first, every muscle within her clearly fighting the effort. Her eyes were downcast, one last effort not to see. And then… oh so slowly… they rose.

That was enough. With a gasp, Mom jerked as though something that had been holding her was abruptly broken. “Door!” Her voice sounded like someone who had been deep underwater for too long and finally broke the surface, that almost violent exhale, that gasp. “There’s a door!”

With effort, the others did the same, helped by Mom’s reaction as it broke through the effect. Everyone finally turned to look and saw the door there. When his own eyes found it, Seth cursed out loud, much more colorfully than Tabbris’s silent mutterings a few moments earlier. Finally, he ended with, “–the chocolate-coated fuck?”

“It’s the Whispers, I think,” I quickly put in. “The anti-possession spell helps, but it doesn’t completely keep them out. They’ve been able to do a little bit, like stop us from noticing this door. Or the fact that we keep going in circles in this small area. We’ve barely gone anywhere on this floor. We keep turning around. Probably because you need to go through this door to get anywhere else.”

Apollo, who seemed as shaken as anyone by the realization that something had been affecting his mind like that, spoke up. “Yes. We can’t get anywhere else on this deck without passing through that hatch. They’ve been running us in circles. I… I didn’t even notice.”

“Fuck, dude, I didn’t notice either.” Miranda was clearly reeling, pivoting in place as she pointed one way, then the other. “We must’ve gone through this area… God damn it, how many times?”

“None of us noticed,” Dad pointed out, his voice proud as he looked at me. “Except Flick.”

Flushing a little bit despite myself, I waved that off. “I would have missed it too. I did miss it, repeatedly. Every time we passed this spot, I felt that little brush on my mind, but it wasn’t enough to figure out what was going on. Not until I really focused on it and let Tabbris control me. I just–even then I almost missed it. I almost ignored it, because it told me to ignore it.”

Avalon gave a little shudder, head shaking. “If they can make all of us completely ignore a door and walk in circles for ten minutes, even with Liesje’s protection, what could they make people do without it?”

“Very bad things,” Mom answered, already striding that way. “And now I, for one, want to find out why they were trying so hard to stop us from going in here.”

“Mom, wait,” I interrupted, holding out a hand before looking toward Seth. “Could you…?”

He gave a short nod before floating that way with a casual, “Sure, what’s the worst they could do, kill me?” Pausing briefly by the metal hatch, he looked back to me. “Seriously, they better not be able to erase me, I’m just getting the hang of this ghost thing.”

With that, he pushed through the hatch, and I sent my senses into him, watching through his eyes as he came out the other side to a narrow corridor. There was nothing there aside from a second hatch about ten feet onward, so he kept going, passing through the next one.

Now there was something. An octagonal-shaped room with doors on every side, including the one Seth had just passed through. In the middle of that room was a smallish black woman in a dark red suit, who stood in the middle of a circle of those Whisper runes. All around her were… distortions in the air, even as the woman herself seemed calm and collected, almost like she was ignoring them. But I could feel the runes around her starting to lose power. They wouldn’t last much longer.

“We have to get in there,” I blurted immediately as I snapped my focus back to myself, moving to the door while explaining in a rush what I had seen.

We could all feel the Whispers trying one more time to divert our attention away from the door, but now that we knew what their influence felt like, it was much easier to shrug off. No doubt largely thanks to Liesje’s spell. If we hadn’t just finished that before doing this, I had no idea how this whole thing would have gone. Poorly, no doubt.

As it was, we pushed through the effect and made it into the other room. The moment we did, I could feel the Whispers all around us. They weren’t exactly ghosts. Well, maybe they were. They were something akin to them, at least. Either way, I could feel a lot of them filling up the room. Immediately, I shoved hard with all my power while snapping, “Get out!”

They vanished promptly. I wasn’t sure how much of that was from my power, and how much was because they chose to. But the point was, they were gone. Which gave us time to look at the woman standing in the rune circle.

“Aletheia?” Apollo immediately put in, stepping that way.

“Hello, Apollo,” she greeted him simply, turning to face us. “I’m glad you’re here. We have to find the others and stop this ship.

“Before the Whispers finish piloting us straight into Tartarus.”

*********

Patreon Snippets 23 – Concluded

A Short Time Earlier

“We’re here!” The excited cry came from the small, six-year-old dark-skinned girl with bright green eyes as she bounced up and down, hands tightly clutching Maria and Arthur Chambers’ hands. She’d had no name in the facility she had been kept within before being rescued alongside her fellow… experiments, but had since been dubbed Zahd by one of Puriel’s household staff. It was the word for laugh within the language of the woman who had named her. “We’re here, we’re here!”

Her cry heralded much more excited chattering from the rest of the assorted children, all of whom were staring intently at the viewscreen, which showed the planet Earth directly ahead, taking up much of the view. It was zoomed in, of course. They weren’t that close to the planet. Still, they were close enough that it would not be long at all before they would finally truly be there. After all this time and all the close calls they’d had, the Olympus was finally at Earth. And everyone on board who had family waiting for them were about to have their reunions.

Needless to say, Maria and Arthur were just as excited as the children around them. They even did a bit of their own bouncing, though theirs was considerably more restrained. Still, they exchanged smiles with one another, before Maria turned fully to look at Puriel by the captain’s chair. He wasn’t sitting in it at the moment. That honor, in this case, had been reserved for Spark. Which, yes technically she wasn’t actually sitting there. She was still inside Puriel’s body, using a tiny portion of his power to manifest a solid-light image of herself. An enchanted stone kept within the ‘head’ of the magical hologram provided all the sight, hearing, and other senses she needed, and allowed her to speak. It was as close as they could get to giving the girl her own body, so long as she was trapped within Puriel’s thanks to her own condition.

“How long until we can contact them? And… and how long until we can be there?” Maria asked the man himself, unable to keep the anxiousness out of her voice. She wanted to talk to her son and granddaughter. And, now that she knew the whole story, even her daughter-in-law. There were many things she needed to say to that woman, most of them apologies for the things she had thought and said over the past decade. But she wanted to do it in person. After everything, she owed her son’s wife that much.

Puriel glanced over from the screen, meeting her gaze with a soft smile that told her he knew what she was thinking, and how badly she wanted to be with her family. His eyes, meanwhile, showed that he had his own assortment of apologies to give. “Technically, we could contact them over coms now,” he replied. “But we are still far enough away that they would likely be picked up by other Seosten forces around the planet, including the outpost on the moon.”

“There’s a Seosten outpost on the moon?” Arthur turned that way, suddenly interested. “What are they doing, spying on the planet with telescopes or something? Can we see them from here?” He turned his attention back to the monitor, squinting toward the small speck where the moon was, as though attempting to pick out the outpost for himself with his naked eyes.

Chuckling softly, Puriel shook his head. “No, you would not be able to see them. They are very well-hidden. Particularly since your people began to truly study the place with their technology. And they are not spying on the planet. My people have agents down there to do that. They are standing guard over–”

Before the man could finish what he had been saying, there was a whooshing sound as Alcaeus entered at a jog. “Did I miss it? Did we call them already to let them know we’re here? Tell me I didn’t miss it!” He was looking around rapidly, arms full of various colorfully-wrapped packages.

“You didn’t miss it,” Maria assured him with a small smile before nodding to his packages. “What do you have there?”

“This?” The large man smiled broadly, his attention centering on the assortment of children surrounding Maria and Arthur. “These are just a few gifts I wanted to hand out before we get there.” When there was no response from the kids, he cleared his throat. “Ahem, time to come get your presents!”

That did the trick. The children, who had been entirely unaccustomed to receiving anything throughout their time as what amounted to medical experiments, had learned what ‘presents’ were throughout their time on Puriel’s island and then this ship. Arthur and Maria had made certain of that. Hearing the magic word made their eyes light up, as they stampeded that way.

Laughing cheerfully, Alcaeus handed out the presents and watched as the children began to unwrap them to reveal various jeans, skirts, shirts, jackets, and shoes.

Seeing that, Maria’s eyes widened. “Al, what did you do?”

The man’s voice was fond. “If we’re going to be on Earth, I thought it would be a good idea for the kids to have some Earth clothing. Just used a little magic to turn the designs I drew from memory into the real deal.”

“That is…” Maria shook her head before stepping over that way to embrace him. “You are a good man.” With that, she turned back to the kids, starting to address them, before her eyes fell on Spark, still seated on the captain’s chair. One other person hadn’t approached the gift opening either. Omni. He was standing by his sister, both silent.

Before Maria could say anything else, Al was already stepping past her. He held two more gift packages, one of which he handed to Omni, before pointedly setting the other in Spark’s lap. “You should both open these together,” he informed them in a low voice.

The siblings did just that, opening the gifts together. Both contained more clothing, similar to what the others had received.

“I know you can manifest your… hologram to look like anything you want,” Al informed Spark. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve real clothes that you can put on, just like everyone else. And when we get you into your own body, you’re going to need them.”

For a moment, it looked as though the girl was trying to find the right words to respond to that. Her mouth opened and shut, staring up at the man from the seat. In the end, she simply managed a soft, “Thank you.”

Before Al could respond to that, Maria spoke up. “Puriel? What is it?”

Turning, Al saw the man in question moving to the doorway leading out of the bridge. His voice was distracted. “Do you all hear that? Who– Aletheia?”

Arthur, Maria, and Alcaeus exchanged looks. Whatever Puriel had heard, it wasn’t the woman in question. She was on the far side of the ship, taking care of a few extra things before they arrived.

The three followed after him as he stepped out into the room beyond the bridge. They were trailed by Spark, Omni, and the rest of the children. Maria thought about telling them to remain there, but decided it was better for everyone to stick together.

Spark had already transported herself to appear next to Puriel, as the man stood in that trapezoid-shaped room outside the bridge. He turned one way, then the other. “Someone was talking,” the man murmured. “Someone was whispering right outside the bridge. No, more than one. People. They were whispering. I… heard them. It was just on the…” He trailed off, a frown finding its way to his face as his head slowly turned to the side, as though listening once more.

Abruptly, Spark did something none of them would ever, in a millennium, have expected her to do. She pivoted, lashing out with a hand to smack across Puriel’s face with as much force as she could muster. His head snapped to the side while everyone else gasped.

“Spark!” Maria blurted. “What are you doing?!”

Puriel, however, held up a hand. “Stop, she was right. I was… losing myself. Those whispers, they were telling me to… oh.” His gaze snapped up. “Whispers.”

“Whispers?” Arthur echoed. “Who’s whisp–”

“Whispers!” That was Kutattca, the Native American man approaching from one of the elevators. His face was covered in sweat and a bit of blood. “You’re right, it’s those creatures. They’re here on the ship. I don’t know how, but they are.”

“What creatures?” Arthur demanded. “What are you–”

“We need to find a safe place to defend,” Puriel announced abruptly. “We’ll use the protective runes and block them out, before they have a chance to affect the others.” Even as he spoke, the man focused, using his power to cast a spell that would give him a communication line with Aletheia. “Whispers are on the ship,” he informed her. “We do not know how many, but… enough that I have been affected. I’m contacting Aur–Athena now.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think you are,” came another response. This was from the doorway leading into the bridge crew conference room, across from the bridge. And it was more than a whisper. It came as a full voice, along with a figure who moved into view, visible to everyone.

“What–” Puriel started, before his eyes widened. His communication with Aletheia had stopped, cut off from his distraction. “How are…

“You.”