Title: Three's a Crowd Part 2
Characters: Lena, Webby, Violet, May and June
Word Count: Approx 1400
Lena rubbed at the chalk circle with the toe of her sneaker. Even after wiping at the summoning circle for several minutes, she could still see the outline. And if that wasn't bad enough, some of the candles had been kept burning, and their waxy, shrunken bodies were now bonded to the floor. Lena could easily break off most of the wax, but she could feel wax still in the hardwood.
Mrs. Beakley was going to kill her.
Unless…
She pulled the rug that was in the middle of the room over where they had summoned the ghost. Hopefully the housekeeper wouldn't notice. Ever.
Lena was certain that wouldn't be likely. Mrs. Beakley noticed everything. She would just have to research how to get chalk and wax out of hardwood flooring.
In the meantime, she had to banish the spirits they summoned if they were still around. She put away her Ouija board and pulled out her sage sticks. It seemed odd to her that something so simple could keep spirits away. But on the other hand, she had very little experience with spirits. Just Duckworth and tonight. Magica wouldn't have anything to do with necromancy. Shadow magic was a lot more powerful and easier to control.
But there were some benefits to using necromancy. Lena wanted to test out all the different kinds of magic, which is why she was dabbling in something so dark.
Pulling out some matches to light the sage sticks, Lena was amazed that a little herb could be so powerful. Or was it? Could something like this keep Duckworth at bay? Or was this just for the small spirits that newbies like her summoned?
It was sort of amazing that she made contact with, not one, but two spirits. More than amazing, it was very rare. Perhaps she had a talent for necromancy. Not that she particularly liked the idea of becoming a necromancer, but it felt good to be a natural at something.
That is…was it all her? It had to be. She was the only one who could do magic. So she had to be the one to summon the spirits.
But then again, Violet and Webby had been on several adventures. They had the bracelets, which Lena still couldn't figure out how they were made or how they channeled magic. And they had both touched the shadow realm and followed her in her darkest dreams. And while they weren't born with magic, perhaps they could have been imbued with some magical properties. It was true that Lena felt stronger with her friends beside her, so the three of them together might have summoned the spirits.
Lena was a little disappointed since it might mean she wasn't naturally gifted, but it made more sense. After all, from what she read, spirits don't appear unless a strong, magical force calls to them. The exceptions to that rule is if the spirits have a physical bond to a living person or a location.
But that wasn't likely. If anyone with the name of Auggie was connected to McDuck Manor or any of its residents, Webby would have known because of her weird, fangirl fanaticism to all things McDuck. Lena sure didn't know an Auggie, and Violet would have said something since the name wasn't very common. As for May and June, that was unlikely. The girls were born, like, less than a year ago and aged quickly to pre-teens, growing up isolated in a FOWL fortress. When would they have time to meet anyone named Auggie?
No, there is no connection to Auggie. As for if Webby and Violet helped Lena summon two spirits, she would have to experiement to see just how much stronger she is when her friends were around.
"Okay, Auggie and friend. Time to go home. Or go to the next life. Your choice," Lena said, striking a match. Before she could touch it to the sage stick, it blew out. She struck another one. This time, she noticed a change in the air ever so slightly, as if someone were gently blowing out the match.
She felt her feathers rise and a shiver go down her spine. She wasn't alone.
Lena weighed her options, and while it didn't seem like the wisest choice, she decided to confront the spirit rather than try a more passive route.
"Auggie, is that you?" she said to the quiet air. "Or is it your friend? Or is it both of you?"
There was no reply. And, of course, she had packed away her Ouija board so there would be no communicating with them. Except Auggie had manifested to June. If he was in the room, he could appear to Lena as well…unless he didn't want to.
"Okay, I get it. June's a sweet girl," Lena said. "Do you have some sort of crush on her? Look, I get that you're probably lonely. It's not easy being dead, but she's alive, and having you hang around her all the time won't be good for her. It's best for you to move on." She lit another match and it went out.
"Don't make this hard on you," Lena said, pulling out another match. "This is the easiest way, and from what I have read, it's gentle. Kind of like falling asleep. But there are…more difficult ways of sending you away."
The box of matches were knocked out of her hand, scattering across the floor.
"I don't need matches to light this thing," Lena said, summoning her power. Then the sage stick was snatched out of her hand roughly, and something grabbed her from behind. It felt as if a strong hand was gripping her wrist and an arm was around her neck, restraining but not choking. She clawed at the invisible force, but while it was solid against her wrist and throat, her fingers went right through it.
And then a young, male duck's face appeared right next to her, his cheek against hers. He had dark eyes and a disapproving frown on his beak.
"No more of that, little girl," he snarled.
Lena wanted to shout back that she wasn't a little girl. Not to mention, the boy looked to be only a few years older than her.
"Let go of me, Auggie," Lena yelled, struggling, but it was like fighting a solid wall.
"Oh, I'm not Auggie," the ghost said, his voice low and dark. "And just be glad he isn't here anymore. I'm angry enough as it is with you trying to light that sage. Now if you're good, you will make it through the night with only a little bit of a scare."
"What do you want?" Lena asked. "If you have unfinished business, I can help you. Then you'll be at peace."
"I don't want peace," the ghost growled, and his eyes glowed red. "I want…I want…Just do what I say, and you won't get hurt."
"And what of my friends?" Lena asked. "And Auggie? Are either of you going to hurt them? I'll do what you want if you promise me you won't hurt them."
"I'll only hurt those who hurt me first," the ghost said.
And something about what the ghost said send chills all over Lena's body as if her feathers had turned into icicles. And although she could honestly say that she was absolutely certain that her friends wouldn't have hurt anyone, she knew that ghosts often have a skewed idea of what happened in their previous life and their reality as the dead was sometimes poisoned by their last emotions.
If he thought that one of his friends had hurt him, even if it wasn't true, he could hurt them.
"Brother, we shouldn't do this," another voice, so similar to the first ghost's, said. Another boy about the same age flickered in the corner, looking faded and cowed. "This isn't right."
"Don't tell me what to do," the first ghost growled. "And don't you dare tell Auggie, Sep. What happened to me wasn't fair, and I won't have anyone stopping me."
Lena didn't know what was going on, but she was certain. The unknown ghost that had her restrained, he was an angry ghost. And angry ghosts were the most dangerous because they more often than naught had more power than their passive counterparts.
She had to do something or this ghost was going to hurt her friends. And she had to think fast, because she had been gone for quite the while. Eventually, someone was going to come check on her.
(Author's notes: First, this story will have four parts to it. Just like between the first and second parts, I will be posting other short stories between it. Second, I'm having some issues with and my email...again. Last year, it wasn't sending email notifications to me. I did everything to fix it, and nothing worked so I just changed my email. Now it's happening again, and I did everything that said to fix it. So I ended up changing my email back to my old email address. I'm hoping that that works, but if not, I might not see the reviews that get posted. I have been posting on AO3 as well as , and if you're switching over to the other fanfic site, come find me. My name on there is MiraculousOkapi.)