AVERY
I blinked. No, I must have been seeing things. The ghost didn’t turn into a demon. She was still there, her white blonde hair swaying in the breeze, her crimson eyes locked onto us. She spoke in a quiet voice: “Greetings, elves. I am a poor soul who died and is now roaming this world, unable to rest in peace. Can you help me?”
Jackie jumped right in. “Sure! Why not?” The ghost smiled, then said: “Wonderful, and thank you very much. All you have to do is say a chant, and then I shall be able to rest in peace.”
Danica nodded, but I had a strange feeling about helping this ghost. I couldn’t express this feeling, of course, but it was like a tendril of darkness creeping into my soul every time I stared up at her.
“Now,” The ghost said, clapping her hands together. “All you have to do is repeat after me. Now say: ‘Epitrépste mou na eisélthoun syneídi̱sí̱ sas’” We repeated it diligently, and she smiled. Was it just me, but did I see a twinge of satisfaction when she smiled?
“Good!” she said, and then said: “Now, say: ‘Afí̱ste ti̱n psychí̱ mou me ta diká sas eiságete’” Again, we repeated it. Danica and Jackie seemed quite calm, but the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach continued to wind itself up to my throat, allowing my voice to be all jumbled and quaky.
The ghost clapped her hands together and said: “Okay, now here is the last part of the chant: ‘to só̱ma sou eínai dikó mou , dikó mou gia pánta’” She said it in some kind of accent, so we had some trouble saying this last line. After we said the first word, I froze, not continuing. Now I knew why I had such a bad feeling!! It was Greek she was speaking, and, luckily a few years back, I had grown an interest for Greek and begged my mom to let me learn.
I had no idea where she got me a class for learning Greek, but she did and I spent almost two years there before I decided it was too difficult and had quit, but luckily I still remember a lot of the words I had learnt there, and if I was right, the last line of her mysterious chant had said: “Your body is mine, mine forever.”
I edged away from the ghost. That wasn’t right!! What kind of chant to send you to peace ended with such a line? Unless……..I stopped dead as it dawned to me. She didn’t want us to help her rest in peace!! We were just tools, tools for her to fulfill her wicked desire; She wanted to posses one of us!!!
“Stop!!” I screeched, holding my hand in front of my two friends before they finished their sentence. The ghost glared at me angrily, but Danica and Jackie didn’t even notice. “What?” Jackie said, her tone of voice clearly confused. Danica stared at me in bewilderment, but then the ghost screeched: “Please continue that line!! She’s mad if she wants you to stop! All I want is to rest in peace!!”
“You liar!!” I shrieked back at her. Jackie stared at me, aghast. Danica clasped her hands to her mouth. I had never been this fierce to anyone before, so I could tell they were shocked. “Tell me,” I said in a gentle but dangerous voice. “Tell me why your cursed chant ended with the sentence: “Your body is mine, mine forever!!!”
The ghost glared at me, her face the color of molten lava, her eyes glittering with fury. “You…..you….you mad witch!!!” She screamed at me, then turned back to my friends. “She is mad!! She is definitely mad!! My chant didn’t end with that sentence!! I’m telling you the truth! Please help me!!”
Jackie shook her head and edged towards me, and I felt tremendously relieved. Jackie was on my side!! She believed me!! We gazed back at Danica, still confused, still wondering who to believe. The ghost shrieked at Danica: “Please,” she pleaded. “Please. Your friend, she doesn’t know what she is saying. I…I truly want to find peace!! I really do!!”
“Danica!!” I shrieked back at her. “Don’t believe her!! She wants your body, she wants to posses you! That was all she wanted from the start!!” But Danica didn’t appear to be listening. She opened her mouth to say something, and to my horror and the ghost’s delight, she said this:
“Epitrépste mou na eisélthoun syneídi̱sí̱ sas,
Afí̱ste ti̱n psychí̱ mou me ta diká sas eiságete,
só̱ma sou eínai dikó mou , dikó mou gia pánta!!!”
When the chant was complete, I shrieked: “No, Danica, NO!!!!” The ghost then smiled wickedly, and then, with a blinding flash, she turned into what everyone would call a devil. Her white blonde hair darkened into black, her skin grew as pale as a ghost, thorns shot up from her head and her white angelic robe melted into a dark devil’s overall. She stared wickedly at Danica, who remained glued to the spot.
“You impudent fool!!” the devil laughed, and Danica shrank to the door, her legs gone to jelly. We wanted to run over to her and protect her, but we found we were paralyzed!! The devil towered over Danica and laughed evilly. “From now on…” she said in the same gentle but dangerous tone I used. “Your body is MINE!!!”
And with frightening suddenness dived into Danica’s body and stayed there. We watched helplessly as Danica screeched as the evil, wicked soul entered her body, squashing Danica’s soul into the dark depths of her own body. She crumpled to the floor and just laid there for a few minutes, until she stood up again, gasping.
As soon as Danica stood up again, we found out we could move again, and immediately rushed to her aid, but a dark force repelled us backwards, and in the same wicked tone the devil used, Danica said: “If your looking for your little elf friend….” she laughed, and glared at us, her eyes as red as blood, her hair darkening into the same shade of black as the devil. “She’s long gone.”
I stared in horror at what used to be my friend, what used to be Danica. How could I let this happen? First Jackie, now her? I had to be the worst friend ever. The devil that was once Danica stood and admired her new body, smiling as she did so. She pulled apart Danica’s neatly tied braid and let her dark hair spill down her shoulders, then stretched. Suddenly, dark devil wings exploded from her back, and she flapped them endlessly.
“Not the best body….” She groaned as she stretched her arms, pulling them high above her head. “But can’t be choosy, can I?” She looked around the room, and then caught sight of Jackie, tears spilling down her cheeks, bounding towards her with her hands balled into fists.
“Let go of her body!!” Jackie screeched, but the devil just yawned and flicked her away with her fingers, repelling Jackie into the vault door, knocking her out. Then she put her palm on the rough surface of a wall, and with a loud bang, blasted a hole right into the wall, three times bigger than Jackie. The devil gazed back at me, smiling evilly, waved, and then said: “Later. Thanks for the body, young elf.”
Then she leaped out of the hole and into the dark night, the ground at least 10 meters below. She disappeared into the night as soon as Jackie grunted and got up, looking groggily around the room. “Avery,” she asked, her voice quivering. “Where’s Dani?”
I slumped onto the floor, not even focusing my gaze on her. “Gone.”
MINERVA
I froze, and gazed back to the place I had come, my heart pounding in my chest. She’s here, she’s come.
As soon as I heard a girl scream, I knew it was her, and it was too late to save the girl now. She was a goner if she possessed her, and I knew she did. I swallowed, my heart raked with guilt for leaving those three girls vulnerable there. What was I thinking?
I turned back the way I had come, but was immediately repelled back by the same dark force I felt all those years ago. It was her, and there was no doubt about it. I knew I had no chance against her, so the three elves would just have to figure it out on their own.
Still, I hoped they were all right.
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