Nameless Ghoul

Ashes

Itzal came awake with a start as someone was shaking him by the shoulder.

“Itzal! Wake up!” Sunshine was whispering insistently, “Wake up!”

He sat up straight, his eyes wide with panic as he smelled the blood and sulphur smell of the black witches. It took him a few seconds to realise that he was still on the sofa in the cinema room.

“You looked like you were having a bad dream. You were chanting something.” 

He rubbed his eyes and wrinkled his nose.

“Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” she answered, looking confused.

He sighed.

"Never mind. I don’t remember if I was dreaming. I don’t think I was.”

It was a rare treat to wake from a dreamless sleep for him, but he was concerned that Sunshine thought he’d been having bad dreams. He must have been restless. As he looked around, he noticed that the other ghouls and ghulehs were sleeping soundly in a big tangle of bodies on the floor, snuggling into each other. He heard soft snores and mumbles coming from the pile.

“What time is it?” he asked.

Sunshine checked her phone and it was just after eight a.m.

“We can go back to sleep if you like?” she asked as she snuggled into his side again.

“I’d rather get up, I think. My neck feels weird.”

He must have been sleeping on it funny. Sunshine looked towards his collar, and her brow scrunched again and she reached out to touch his neck. She checked he was okay with her touching it, and he gave her a small smile. She brushed her fingers along the skin of his neck, just above the collar, and then held them out for him to look at. Grey ashes covered the tips.

Itzal’s heart jumped in his chest.

“What the fuck is that?” he breathed out.

“Okay, we need to find Secondo. Now.” She took out her phone and started calling someone. They both got up and left the cinema room, heading for Secondo’s study. Sunshine spoke with urgency to Secondo, he realised, and as she hung up she said, “He’s on his way. He’s letting the witches know.”

They stopped outside the door to wait for his arrival. A few minutes later, Omega and Seren came around the corner, both looking like they’d just woken up. They greeted them with warm smiles, and he could see Seren looking towards his neck. Secondo arrived, looking as cool and unflustered as ever. His slacks and shirt were immaculate. He let them all into the study.

“Sit down.” He gestured to them all. They each found a seat on the sofas and chairs by the fireplace, which was still cold and dark. “Tell me what happened.”

So they did, even though there wasn’t too much to tell.

“We were in the cinema room. We had movie night last night. We'd fallen asleep on the sofa. I woke up because Itzal was fidgeting and mumbling something. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, but it sounded like chanting, like a spell or something,” Sunshine explained. “I tried to wake him up for ages, but he just kept twitching and whispering. It took me a couple of minutes to wake him.”

Secondo looked thoughtful.

“Did you notice anything about the collar? Was it glowing like it did before?” 

“No, I don’t think so.” 

“Itzal, do you remember what you were saying?” 

“No. I didn’t realise anything was happening until Sunshine woke me up. I usually dream and I know when I’ve had a nightmare. This time there was nothing,” he answered. “But when I woke up, I thought I smelled the witches again.” He looked to Seren, “Santos’ witches, I mean. It was like the dream I had the night before.”

Secondo gave a questioning look and he explained about the dreams he’d had with Santos on the steps of the Academy and the witch in his bed.

“This is worrying. It seems like he's found a way around our amendments to the inscription on the collar. Can I see it, please?” Seren asked. Itzal nodded and looked at Omega, who was again hovering protectively by Seren’s side. “Is it ok if I touch your neck?”

Itzal nodded and felt himself tense up as she approached him. He lifted his chin and kept his eyes on Omega, who stood within arm’s reach. He felt a tingle on his skin and he was grateful to the quintessence ghoul for trying to soothe his nerves. Seren's fingers brushed his skin lightly and he found that he only flinched a tiny amount at the contact. Progress, he thought dryly.

Secondo had moved closer, and Itzal felt himself frowning in concentration to stop his nervousness from overwhelming him. Secondo gave off similar vibes to Santos. They were both powerful sorcerers, so he wasn’t entirely comfortable being this close to him, despite Secondo being nothing but good to him since he’d arrived.

Omega kept eye contact with him and offered him a reassuring smile as he felt another wave of quintessence mojo. He took a deep breath and slowly calmed himself. Secondo and Seren moved away to inspect the grey ash that she had wiped from his neck with her fingers. She brought them to her nose and sniffed. Secondo also took a sniff.

“Agrimony and sulphur?” said Seren. Secondo nodded. “So they were trying to reverse the protections we put into place. I don’t think they succeeded fully, but it's worrying that their spells are physically manifesting now. It seems to only happen when you're asleep. They've found a way to link to your unconscious mind and tap into the bond that way. Can you feel the bond, Itzal?”

Itzal concentrated and was sad to find that yes, he felt the bond as an ever so slight ache in his chest. He hadn’t noticed with all the excitement, but when he looked for it, it was definitely there. He nodded slowly and Secondo cursed under his breath.

Sunshine was looking at him the way she did when she was checking on his aura, and she nodded sadly, too.

“The static is back. It is very, very faint, but it’s there.”

“So we need to move forward with the plan then,” Secondo stated. “Get Helena here and we will start immediately. We will work through the night if we have to.”

Sunshine looked puzzled as she looked at Itzal.

“I needed to talk to you today about this," he said to her.

“Okay, let’s get some breakfast then. We can go back to the lairs, and you can fill me in while we eat. That’s if Secondo is done with you?” she asked.

Secondo gave a curt nod, and they left in search of food.