Chapter 21 - The Reckoning
The moment everyone was distracted by Melvin's apparition, Joe saw Frank peer from behind an upturned table, directly in front of them about twenty feet away, but outside of the ward. He felt the knot of worry loosen in his gut at having seen him, awake and ready to crash the party the way he was crouched, about to spring.
Melvin let out a defiant roar and lunged at Carl. Joe watched frozen as the spirit turned into a thick, black cloud that completely engulfed the body that had once been his and the spirit of his brother within.
The rain fell on all of them at the same exact moment, delivering another shock.
The magical ward that kept them cut off from the rest of the world was gone. Joe had a moment to realise that Frank must have crossed the barrier. His brother's unique nature had dissolved the magic around them the moment he had come into contact with it, taking it down.
He had a split second to decide which threat to focus on first when Sierra, or it could have been Sienna, screamed at their gun-toting puppets to start shooting.
Joe barreled into the closest Quentin twin, Darren, taking him down in a heap on top of Rogers and Larson. Dylan, moving a lot slower and stupider in his hypnotised state, stared down at them all in confusion before one of the twins screamed at him to shoot at Frank, who was already closing the distance at a dead run.
Dylan managed to shoot once, wildly out of target before Frank tackled him to the ground. Relieved that his brother was safe from flying bullets for the moment, Joe focused on his own target. Darren let out a roar and managed to push Joe off him only to trip on Rogers' foot. The two Hyenas stayed where they fell, curled around themselves but not moving anywhere else. Joe got to his knees the moment Darren brought the gun around to aim at his face. He gritted his teeth against the pain of his jostled broken wrist and kicked out, catching Darren squarely on his left shin. Darren collapsed sideways and Joe grabbed the gun with his intact left hand and twisted with all the force he could muster, his only focus on disarming Darren as soon as possible. He heard a bone snap and Darren howled, letting go of the weapon. In the same move Carl had used on Frank earlier, he brought the liberated gun down hard on the side of Darren's head, knocking him out to crumple on the ground between Rogers and Larson.
"Joe, you good?" Frank called out the moment Joe got back to his feet with the gun now firmly in his hand. Looking to his left, he saw that Dylan was also unconscious on the ground, with Frank standing next to him. The gun now in his brother's sure grip, aimed at the Phillips twins who looked like they wanted to scratch his eyes out.
"Yeah," he said, taking a good look at Frank. He had a nasty cut on his forehead. It was still bleeding down the side of his face, now mixed with rainwater. But Frank's gaze was clear and the gun never wavered from the twins. "Nice timing."
"I try," Frank flashed him a smirk before turning to the twins.
They were torn between glaring at Frank and glancing fearfully at the growing dark cloud just behind them, howling and wailing in inhuman sounds as Melvin fought his brother.
"Ask Rogers and Larson to go back to the ground floor with Darren and Dylan," Frank said calmly. "Then surrender themselves to Arthur Gray."
Sienna took a threatening step forward while Joe brought up his own gun to cover Sierra who hung back. "You think–"
Frank cut off her snarl by pulling the trigger. The shot rang out loud before fading into the sound of the rain. Sienna froze and blinked, her face turning as white as a sheet against the blurred lines of mascara running down her cheeks like black tears. She looked like she couldn't believe that Frank shot the ground only an inch from her left foot. Sierra screamed and fell to the floor hugging herself and rocking back and forth.
"That was me asking nicely, Sienna," Frank never raised his voice or changed his calm, reasonable tone, but the hard edge in his words was crystal clear. "I'm concussed. So, the next time I aim at your foot, I might even miss and hit something else," he said conversationally before nodding at the four prone bodies on the ground. "Do as I said. Now."
Joe kept his attention split between Sierra and the fight between the two spirits. The cloud of blackness was growing and gaining substance. What had looked like a dark gust of wind now resembled a twister made of thick black goo. It expanded and contracted as it kept revolving around itself, keeping Carl firmly hidden from their view. The atmosphere around them was growing heavier, and deadlier by the minute and there was a feeling of static and ozone in the air, making breathing difficult.
"Rogers, Larson," he heard Sienna order slowly, her voice wobbling in fear. "Take Darren and Dylan down."
"Keep going."
"And hand yourselves off to Arthur Gray."
"Thank you," Frank said. "It wasn't so bad, was it?"
Whatever Sienna tried to growl at his brother was cut off by a loud, piercing howl that omitted from the massive black cloud that suddenly expanded to engulf all of them inside the giant twister. The entire world around them went pitch black except for the small grey circle of the gloomy sky above them that marked the eye of the revolving wind column. Sienna screamed and collapsed next to her sister, hugging Sierra's huddled form and hiding her face in the crook of her neck. The only thing that saved the Saunders twins from getting trapped inside with them was the fact that the Binding Circle seemed to repel the ghostly influence away from it, keeping the twins and their ripped-out souls protectively inside the Circle for the moment.
Frank made his way to Joe in a crouch and looked up to stare at yet another impossible ghostly twister that had them trapped.
"This is familiar at least," Frank yelled to be heard above the roar. "Now what?"
Joe pointed at the wind column. Trapped inside the wall of black goo, there were faces - elongated, twisted and distorted as they blended with the rushing wind streams of the twister.
"Look," he shouted. "You can see them."
Frank stared into the column, his eyes widening when he actually saw them. Then he turned to face Joe, concern and trepidation written all over his bloody face. "Are you going to do what I think you're gonna do?"
Joe flashed a grin and squeezed Frank's shoulder in a gesture of assurance. Cailleach's beautiful and ancient voice sang in his mind, asking him to herd the wayward souls her way, where she would take them to where they belonged.
"No… No! Noooo…"
A ghostly wail screamed when Joe stuck his left hand into the wind column. The slimy shapes slipped through his fingers until he closed his hand to a fist and pulled. The black goo immediately latched onto his skin and the burning cold pain travelled up his hand through his arm, reaching up all the way to flare like a raging inferno inside his mind. Joe had to grit his teeth to bite back a scream of agony of his own as he was assaulted by the psychic attack of the spirit.
After what felt like a lifetime of fighting and pulling, Carl's distorted form detached from the twister and fell onto the ground next to him in a messy pile of goo. Carl's face glared at him from the ground, even as his features distorted and reshaped into something that wasn't Carl. Lightning flashed above them, brightening up the darkness for a quick moment. Without even looking up, Joe knew the gate to the In-Between was open, ready and waiting to receive its newest occupants.
"Don't you dare touch me!" Carl's voice wasn't human anymore. It sounded like an echoing gale, insubstantial and hollow.
Joe knelt on one knee and glared at the spirit. "Time for you to get the hell out, Carl. Your new jailor is waiting." Thunder boomed, punctuating his point.
"No, you don't understand," Carl screamed. "Hecate will come for you!"
Joe shared a glance with Frank who was crouching right next to him, not touching but close enough to come to his aid if needed. "I'll deal with her when she does," Joe said to the pitiful spirit. "It's time for you to leave now. You've roamed enough."
"No! Please…NO!"
He ignored the howling protest as he stuck his hand in the puddle of black goo that was now Carl. The spirit couldn't help but latch onto him, powerless against the draw of the World of the Spirits he channelled through his body. He extended his arm in a throwing motion and the lightning struck down towards his fingertips to catch the screeching spirit that was holding onto Joe with all its might. He felt the spirit being pulled off from his skin towards the opening in the sky through the spidery line of light. When the flash from the lightning faded, nothing but his intact skin remained, free of Carl's presence.
The darkness that engulfed them in the form of the twister vanished the moment Carl did. Melvin's spirit manifested back into his original form, floating a few feet above the ground. He also looked different, his eyes black pools of fury and his ghostly limbs full of black ink-like veins. It seemed that he was using whatever energy he had fought and taken from Carl to hang onto his apparition form.
He was glaring at the body now lying on the ground, just before Joe and Frank. It was broken and battered beyond repair - its twisted neck and limbs made it clear that Melvin's body hadn't survived the fight between the two enraged spirits.
"I want my body back," Melvin's voice had the same hollow quality. "I want to live."
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Melvin," Joe informed the spirit calmly even as he felt Frank tense beside him.
"But it's my body," the anger he had earlier quickly turned to despair as he stared at himself on the ground. "I wasn't dead. He took it from me." the wind around them picked up again, responding to the energies Melvin was gathering around him again.
"I know he did," Joe said. "I'm so sorry this happened to you," then he raised his voice, letting Cailleach's ancient power lace into his next command. "But you're dead, and it's time for you to move on."
The wind died and Melvin's form wavered, losing a few shades of colour to become transparent as he hovered. He finally looked up with his blackened eyes full of sorrow and anger in equal measures. "Will I see him again?"
Joe knew he was asking about Carl. "That's up to you and him," he replied. "And the Guardian."
After one more longing gaze at his dead body, Melvin hung his head in defeat and accepted his fate. "I'm ready," he spoke, his voice barely a whisper.
Joe extended his hand again, and Melvin clasped it with his own, making the contact feel like a cold wind rather than a searing agony. The lightning reached down once and extracted Melvin into the new world he now belonged to, leaving nothing but a slight drizzle when the flash faded.
"Goodbye Melvin," Joe looked up and murmured as the opening to Cailleach's world closed in the sky above them. "Hope you'll find peace."
He looked down to see Frank's gaze on him - his bright brown eyes full of concern and wordlessly inquiring if he was okay. He gave a small nod and smile before turning his attention to the twins on the ground. Sierra and Sienna were still in a huddle on the ground, clutching each other desperately and muttering to each other too softly to be intelligible. It seemed that they were in shock, way past terrified, at what they just witnessed.
"I think they should be fine until someone comes to collect them,'' Frank put words to his thoughts, watching the twins. "But they need our help."
Joe looked to where his brother pointed. Constance and Temperance were still inside the magical circles, blessedly unaware of what just took place. Willow on the other hand was still struggling, her mouth open and her face twisted in a silent agonised scream.
They both hurried to the circle etched to the ground. The souls of the girls were intact, but still outside their bodies, connected to them by two flimsy reddish threads that looked transparent like the souls themselves. There was a strange feeling emanating from the circle, a repelling force, that felt like static on his bare skin. There was nothing between them but when Joe reached, there was an invisible barrier preventing him from touching either of the girls.
"Frank, I think we need your mojo here, brother," he said to Frank who watched with a frown. "It's like they are inside a wall." he placed his palm flat against the dome shape he felt but couldn't see and pushed. Nothing happened.
Frank knelt on the floor and placed his palm flat against the ground. The moment his skin touched the black-red line etched to the floor, the entire thing started to fritz and sparkle like a circuit board that had just been shorted. All the intricate lines that made the circles and the intricate designs inside them flared and brightened, definitely fighting against Frank's nullifying influence. But after a long few seconds, the entire magical circle fizzled and died, leaving only black lines and a wincing Frank.
"Okay?" Joe asked, taking a knee next to him.
"Yeah," Frank rubbed his hand against his pants with a grimace and nodded at the girls. Even though the circle and the magic surrounding them were gone, they were still separated from their souls. Willow, on the other hand, was gone, vanished the moment the magic keeping her trapped dissolved.
"Can you, um, put them back inside their bodies?"
Pushing his concern away from Willow to deal with later, Joe focused on Constance and Temperance.
Bridge the gap, Cailleach's voice echoed inside his mind, gently guiding him on what to do. For you are the ultimate conduit of all souls.
"I sure hope so," he muttered softly before taking Temperance's limp hand into his own. She felt icy cold to the touch, and she was soaked to the bones from the rain just like the rest of them. The red line that was connected to her heart rippled, causing the soul that was serenely floating above her to jerk and spasm. He closed his eyes and focused on what the ancient Guardian was saying and whispered softly for her soul to return to where it belonged.
It was a gentle request rather than a command. He felt deep within that Temperance's soul was grateful to be able to return. The red line disappeared into her when her soul finally settled inside her kneeling body, jolting her back to life with a wide-eyed look of horror and a loud gasp.
"Hey, Temperance," Joe squeezed her hand reassuringly as he spoke softly. "Welcome back."
She blinked a few times, trying to focus on him. "What just happened?' she whispered confusedly.
"That can wait," he said before releasing her hand. "Just let me help your sister first."
That made her look to her side and she noticed Constance's still form for the first time. She gasped again and tried to lunge towards her sister. Joe caught her before she fell face-first on the ground, still very shaken and weak from having her soul detached and reattached.
"Joe can help her," Frank said, smoothly moving next to her from the other side. "Let me help you. Can you stand if I haul you up?"
Joe let Frank draw Temperance gently to her feet and keep her swaying form upright while he called Constance's soul back to her body. She came back to life the same way Temperance did, terrified and confused.
"It's alright, you're fine," he murmured to her gently as he stood up with her, keeping her steady as she shook violently in his arms. "You're both fine."
The twins shared a look at each other before turning their gazes on the duo on the floor, still sobbing hysterically. Then they both looked around, taking in the empty area and the slight drizzle that was still falling despite the rapidly clearing sky and the sunshine that was starting to break through the clouds.
"What happened?" they both asked again, almost at the same time.
Before either Joe or Frank could reply, the staircase door to their left burst open. Ten men spilt out of the emergency door, and they only recognized Arthur Gray who led the team.
"Frank, Joe," Gray sounded worried, and he had his gun pointed somewhere to the floor, not sure where the bad guys were. He took everything in one sweeping glance before looking up to face them again. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," Frank said. "We are fine," then he nodded at the Phillips twins. "But handle those two with care."
Two men detached from the group and helped the girls back to their feet. They kept their heads down, looking exhausted and scared. Joe had no idea why they were so drastically different now, their hunched postures radiating terror and defeat. He couldn't figure out if they were still shaken after seeing the violent attack of the ghosts or if it had to do something with failing the task of their goddess, Hecate.
The two that took custody of Sierra and Sienna had the same blank expressions and the nondescript look Gray liked to maintain diligently. But he had a feeling those two agents were the ones from the branch Constance called earlier, the special section of Homeland security that called themselves, the Council.
As if they could hear his thoughts, one of the agents fixed his hazel-eyed gaze on Joe and gave him a tiny nod. "We'll take care of them, agent Gray," he said to the spy politely before they herded the twins down the stairs.
Gray looked at him and Frank, his narrow-eyed gaze brimming with a hundred questions he had no idea how to ask while his team spread around to secure the scene. Joe saw them collect the guns he and Frank had discarded on the ground by the magical circle. Frank stared back at the spy tiredly, half his face still dark with blood from the cut on his forehead. Temperance leaned against Frank heavily, her head resting on his chest just the way Constance was holding onto Joe. His right wrist chose that moment to throb painfully in tandem with his pulse, coming back with vengeance to complain about its broken status.
Gray interpreted his grimace correctly and nodded to himself. "Let's go down, too," he said decisively. "You two definitely need medical attention." Then he focused on his protectees. "What about you girls?"
"We'll be fine, agent Gray," Temperance flashed a bleary grin at him before closing her eyes with a sigh. "Thanks."
"After you've all been checked out, we'll sit down for a debrief," Gray said to them all as he led them down the stairs. "You all have a lot of explaining to do."