Betrayal by Lee Nichols Page A

twistedness.
    â€œWait,” I blurted. “I’m not ready.”
    â€œToo late,” Natalie said, opening her eyes. “They’re here.”
    They rose from the ground beside the drinking fountain, as if awakened from a deep slumber. Their heads swayed as they scanned and sniffed for the reason they’d been summoned. They didn’t look like wraiths, with tattered skin and hollow eyes, but like regular ghosts, in bad costumes, except gray, like they’d stepped out of an old black-and-white film.
    â€œThey look harmless,” I said, but the Rake had mentioned a trap.
    â€œLooks are deceiving,” Natalie said.
    There were two of them, both male, both dressed like the Rake, only less tailored and elegant. They swiveled toward Natalie and me, bared their teeth, and flew at us.
    â€œOkay,” Natalie said. “Your turn.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI can only summon them, Emma. You have to dispel them.”
    I panicked. “I don’t know how!”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? You’re Emma frickin’ Vaile—you know everything!”
    â€œRun!” I yelled. “Natalie, run!”
    Too late—the burly ghast knocked her to the ground.
    â€œEmma!” she screamed. “Do something!”
    But I couldn’t think; I couldn’t remember how to gather my power. I just stood there with an odd humming in my mind.
    Natalie screamed and turned her head as the ghast drooled over her. The drool fell into the sandbox and sizzled.
    Sizzling drool that would burn straight through Natalie’s flesh. That cleared my mind.
    I reached out to the ghast. Stop! She is nothing to you. She is no threat. Leave her!
    He hesitated, and Natalie rolled away. I started to compel him further, when the lankier ghast hit me like a wrecking ball, smashing me into the side of the seesaw. As I struggled to catch my breath, the lanky ghast screeched so piercingly that I was surprised my ears didn’t bleed.
    The ghast bent me backward over the metal seesaw, which bounced up and down. I couldn’t touch the ground as he pressed his hands into my throat, trying to burn me. The sudden shock of pain woke my power, and I centered his spectral gray head between my palms and loosed a blast of energy that scrambled whatever was left of his brain. He lurched away from me, hardly able to stay on his feet.
    â€œEmma!” Natalie called out. “A little help!”
    I turned and saw her struggling beneath the burly ghast. With a flicker of thought, I compelled him to leave Natalie alone and join the other ghast, now whimpering inside a spiderweb climbing structure made of rope. He jerkily walked away, like an animated scarecrow, and stepped into the web.
    I pulled Natalie to her feet. “Are you all right?” My back was to the ghasts, but my mind was still engaged, feeling their energy, compelling them to stay where they were.
    Natalie examined the holes in her parka where the ghast’s drool had made contact. “Fantastic. What happened to you?”
    â€œI don’t know. Nerves? I froze, I guess.”
    â€œWell, as long as you snapped out of it.” She glanced toward the ghasts and taunted them. “Not so tough now, are you?”
    â€œNatalie. I think there’s more.” Another presence tugged at the edge of my mind.
    â€œOh God!” Natalie said, her voice sharp with fear. “Look!”
    The ground beneath the tire swing bulged, and a mound of dirt erupted from the wood chips. A billow of black smoke emerged and twined into a ghast, twice as big as the other two, with oversized hands and feet, long gray hair, and a beard. His mouth opened unnaturally wide, like a snake with unhinged jaws, as he wafted toward us.
    â€œLooks like we sprang the trap,” Natalie said.
    The humming returned to my mind, and with a jolt of fear I realized that this was too much for me. “I can’t control that thing and compel the others