The Ghostly Past

Chapter 41

Clara had run off. Max and the others had gasped as she'd slammed the door and sprinted off. He'd reached over and tried to open the door as it locked. "Kim?" He frowned.

"Sorry guys." Kim answered. "We're staying put." Her voice shook.

Max remembered the furtive way both girls had checked their phones just seconds earlier. They had been communicating, he realised. "Kim, let us out." He said, trying to keep the atmosphere calm, with tempers raised already to breaking point.

"I promised Clara I wouldn't. So suck it up." Kim switched on the radio. Hip hop started blasting from the speakers.

"Well this is unexpected." James gave a nervous laugh, sandwiched in the middle of Max and Leo. "But maybe..." he paused. "Maybe this is for the best. I think we should stay put. Clara knows what she's doing."

"She's in danger!" Max's voice rose, "She can be influenced by the spirits out there just as much as we can. You know what happens to Dorian in every cycle! She can't do this alone!"

Kim turned the radio up.

Max could feel his heart thudding. It was icy inside the car, despite their cramped proximity to one another. The windows were frosting up, as they had in Jess's house. Yet he didn't feel that heaviness, the lethargy he now knew was a result of the curse and not him.

He couldn't let Clara down again.

His side hurt badly where Ryan had cut him, but he would manage. He would see this through, and then go to hospital.

Leo unleashed a series of oaths as he rattled the door handle. "I swear Kim, I will rip you limb from limb if you don't let us out! I need to stop Ryan and find Jess. That's why we're here!" He started using his fists against the glass, banging with blows that seemed to shake the vehicle to its frame.

"Hey!" Kim shrieked. "Leave my car alone!"

She turned in her seat and Leo saw the car keys in her hand. He lunged at her, elbowing James as he did so, who fell into Max.

Pain blossomed in his side and he let out a hiss.

Leo didn't even notice, scrabbling with Kim for the car keys, pushing James further into Max who audibly cried out from pain.

"Leo, stop!" James shouted, "You're hurting Max!"

With a shout of frustration, Leo desisted. "What the hell?" Kim was screaming at him, her hands scratched.

"Max, are you okay?" James asked him. It was a good question, and one that Max wasn't sure how to answer, considering he was bleeding again through the bandage packed around the glass. "Leo hold your phone torch up, I can feel blood. Stay with me, Max!"

For once, Leo acquiesced and held the light up, wincing at Max's pale cheeks. "I need to dress this again." James said in a serious voice, "Which means I need room."

"No, I told Clara I would..." Kim started.

"Kim, I will help Leo smash your windows if you don't let us out!" James snarled.

Grumbling, she unlocked the car door, and Leo and James spilled out, jogging around to where Max was taking deep breaths, trying to fight the cold pull of unconsciousness.

They carefully lifted him out and onto the side of the road, lying him down. Max stared up at his friends. "You don't have to...just go..."

"Idiot." James said, almost fondly. "Let me see the wound again."

It hurt, but James peeled off the bloody bandages and replaced them with Leo's help, Kim standing over them with a torch. Leo was getting impatient, Max sensed. He couldn't blame him; he too was desperate to run after Clara and the others. It had been several minutes.

"This is taking too long!" Leo hissed. They could hear raised voices from the direction of the pond. "I have to go!"

"No!" Kim cried out but it was too late, and Leo took off into the trees.

"Kim, you have to go after him." James said urgently. "Or he'll get himself killed."

She let out a noise of frustration as Leo disappeared. "You owe me some new shoes, all of you." Kim answered. "These were expensive." She glared over her shoulder at them as she gingerly picked her way into the undergrowth.

"Well, that's you patched up." James sighed.

"Help me up then!" Max said briskly.

"Max, that's not a good idea. You need to rest." James grimaced. "I'll stay here with you." The air around them seemed to change suddenly. It warmed, the ice on the soil melting. James let out a small gasp. "I feel...different." He let out a small laugh. "Like a weight has fallen off."

"You've broken it." Max smiled. "For you. You're free."

James was shaking his head in wonder. "I can't believe it." A scream ripped through the air, breaking the happy moment.

"We need to go!" Max said urgently. "I need you to help me, James."

"Oh fine." James grumbled, "Put your arm around me."