Chapter 27

"Where is he Harmione?"

Harmione trembles and points. We turned around to face the swings. One of them began to swing back and forth on it's own. Gwen walked leisurely over to Kevin and grabbed his arm as he stood up. Hope bumped my shoulder as she brushed past me. She quickly pulled Harmione up from under the slide and held on to her. We heard a laugh from the swings.

"It took you long enough." We heard a voice say. Suddenly Ghostfreak finally appeared to us.

"What do you want with my little cousin!" Gwen shouted.

"She and I are friends..." He replied back.

"She's no friend of yours!" Hope screamed after.

"Mommy!" Harmione cried and held Hope around the neck tightly burying her face in her chest.

"Oh but we are...we have been for the past five years...haven't we sweetheart?"

"Stop it!" I yelled. "That's enough!"

"Why Ben...didn't you want her to have friends?"

Ghostfreak laughed quietly to himself as Harmione cried into Hope's shoulder. I glared at him.

"What do you mean by the past five years?!" I said as I clenched my fist. "Answer me now!"

"That's such a long boring story...But one worth telling..."

Ghostfreak left the swing and floated toward us as he spoke.

"I was once originally linked to the conscious, memories, and personality of Zs'Skayr. However, ever since I left the Omnitrix and began to exist freely, of my own accord...I realized how lonely I really was..."

Hope glared at him.

"I waited and watched from the shadows...I knew I couldn't possess you Ben Tennyson...or you Kevin Levin..."

He mocked our names as they passed his lips.

"Damn straight, you did that once and I-" Kevin blurted out.

"Kevin ssh." Gwen insisted.

"And you two ladies would sense me before I could even try..."

"Then how come Hope couldn't sense you before?" I demanded.

"I discovered that the mana I am able to absorb makes me impervious to mana manipulators...all they can ever sense is mana...and if I became that it would make me undetectable..."

"And Harmione?" Hope asked. "I bet it's been really hard to hide yourself from her since she got her powers!"

"Yes...the child I was just getting to that...you see...I possessed her many years ago...feeding off her mana...using her to get closer to you...not that she was ever aware of my presence...as I laid dorment in her very skin, she linked me to bad dreams, and when I finally revealed myself to her it frightened her to say the least...but she trusted me because I promised I'd help her with her powers."

"That's disgusting!" Hope cried.

"Actually my dear, what was disgusting was all the kisses and hugs you ever gave her!"

"Shut up!" I yelled back. "When did all this happen?"

"Right...right...well you see I had to wait for the right moment to possess her...as I wanted her to be completely unaware that I was there...I wanted to live in her skin, and run through her veins...it was the perfect hiding spot...and the perfect opportunity..."

"Stop rambling, when?!" I yelled again. "You said five years, Harmione wasn't even born then."

"Yet...you see it was nightfall much like now...but cold...just the way I like it...then...to my surprise the power went out..."

Hope and I gasped as he continued to talk.

"It was perfect...everyone's minds was on something else...your Mother on lighting lanterns, your father on the storm itself...and the two of you on the birth of your child...as I entered Charmcaster's body; there she was...Deliously sweet, lying in that bitch's vagina!"

Hope screamed.

"Ben!" She screamed in both fear and disgust at me.

"And I think I see another opening...about...now."

I stood in front of Hope and Harmione and wrapped my arms around them. Gwen and Kevin looked around. My eyes shifted as well as Ghostfreak vanished. It was far too quiet. Suddenly, Gwen screamed as she was pulled from Kevin and lifted into the air.

"Gwen!" Kevin shouted.

Gwen kicked her feet, and Ghostfreak reappeared holding Gwen in an arm lock. Kevin ran over to our patio and absorbed the concrete from the ground. I flipped through the dial on the Omnitrix and transformed into Swampfire. Hope ran for the house and held Harmione tightly in her arms. She placed her on the ground and opened the door.

"Go on inside baby."

Harmione did as she was told and Hope shut the door. Once Harmione was safe out of harm's way we began to circle Ghostfreak and Gwen. It was going to be difficult as Gwen was carrying Kevin's baby. We had not one but two hostages to deal with. As concerning as it was, Gwen didn't try to fight back. We had a staredown with Ghostfreak, and he didn't seem like backing down. We feared the worst. Someone was about to get hurt. Bad.

"Gwen!" Kevin shouted again.

"Let her go now!" I snarled as Swampfire.

"I do not think so Ben Tennyson...the child within her could very well be my new host." Ghostfreak hissed.

"You're not gonna use Gwen, like you're some parasite!" Kevin cried out.

"How about a trade..."

"Fine by me..." I snarled again as Swampfire.

"Ben...no." Hope whispered.

"Give me the girl..."

Hope and I gasped.

"I won't let you take her!" Hope screamed. She grunted furiously and a bright flash of magenta mana discharged from her fingertips. Ghostfreak let go of Gwen as the flash blinded him momemtarily. This was our opportunity. I caught Gwen in my arms as she fell forward. Hope and Kevin lashed out at Ghostfreak, their attacks missing as he dodged their blows. I gently placed Gwen on the grass. She and the baby were safe but she lay unconscious.

I helped Kevin hold Ghotsfreak off as best I could. Hope floated upward, her hair blew upwards and sideways as she did so.

"Meus Manus Manus." She called. Her eyes illuminated a shimmering pink. The patio door opened by itself as her staff, that was once Hex's flew into her hand as she summoned it.

"Kalecky Erupt!" She hollered and swung the staff. Fire beams slashed and diced out at Ghostfreak as she swung. The light was one of Ghostfreak's true weaknesses if memory serves. Though it did hurt him he became intangible and invisible to us once more.

Hope, Kevin, and I stood back to back ready for anything. Until, Harmione's cry was heard from inside the house.

"Harmione..." I breathed.

"My baby..."

Hope ran for the house. I turned back into myself and watched as Kevin aided my cousin.

"Gwen, you alright?"

"Yeah...yeah I think so."

Their voices faded into the background as I entered the house. It had to be Ghostfreak's doing somehow, but the power had been shot. The house grew cold and felt empty. I could hear my baby crying. I walked a little ways through the dark living room, suddenly I was grabbed by a strong force and pushed into the wall. I sprung open my watch; a green aura brightened the hall, and lit up our faces. It was Hope.

"God, Angel...don't do that I could have hurt you."

"Ssh." She put a finger to her lips and urged me to follow her to Harmione's room. Her cries grew louder as we approached. We stayed quiet in hopes of avoiding another hostage situation. Hope opened the door. Harmione sat in the floor crying. On the floor were pieces of crushed rock, and a chain.

It was Juju's remains.

"I...I brought out Juju to protect me...and the ghost...he...he made me kill Juju!" Harmione cried with tears running down her face.

Ghostfreak was then nowhere to be found.

"Oh sweetie...and my protective enchantment I put over him..." Hope began and got on her knees near her.

"I broke it...I...I...I killed Juju, Mommy!"

Harmione sobbed loudly and uncontrollably. Hope wrapped her in a hug and rocked her back and forth.

"These things happen...sometimes even with charms, and as rock creatures no matter how loyal they are...they all eventually crumble into dust...but Juju died doing what I'd hope he'd do...protect you."

Harmione sniffles into Hope's arms.

"But he was my friend...and I loved him!" She cried and screamed.

"I know baby...I know."

Later, we recollected ourselves, and cleaned up the damage. Gwen sprang her wrist but nothing too serious. Ghostfreak had gone quiet, and Harmione's seizures seemed to have stopped. We cleaned her room, put her to bed, and got the power working again. I thought perhaps Ghostfreak would return to finish whatever it is he wanted to do; then it hit me. Not just Ghostfreak but anyone of my past enemies could try to get to Harmione. She was little, she was frail and her powers were still developing. Anyone of them could kill her or try to turn her like Ghostfreak did. I presumed as night turned to morning he had left us to go into hiding. It began to scare me, that should he ever return and bring others I wasn't so sure I could control myself. If Harmione got hurt in any way I'd kill them. Nothing not even Hope would be able to stop me.

Hope spent the first few hours of the morning trying to fix Juju to no avail. We felt that we had lost one battle of one very deadly war.