The Locket

Kace followed my gaze, glancing briefly at Brent before he continued. “Love is just one of the things the seal represents. Humans are sealed as a guarantee of salvation. The seal holds all of their wrongs and sins until the day of redemption. When that seal is locked the human will never get their day of reckoning, becoming enslaved in The Shadow. The more unredeemed souls The Shadow collects the stronger his power grows.”

“Are there more like you?” I asked.

“No. There are other apparitions in the physical world but they serve The Shadow through me. I serve The Shadow directly. When I made my agreement with The Shadow to save my family, I did so willing, therefore I was rewarded with powerful abilities. The others are humans that passed on but were unable to accept their death, refusing their higher purpose, stuck in apparition form. The Lost Ones, they’re called. Agents locked them away. I set them free, giving them to The Shadow who released them to the physical world as a virtual hell on earth. They have helped me haunt humans, preying on the weakest, those with little self-control until the human becomes a part of The Shadow, executing his will. Murder, rape, theft, all of the darkness in the world is controlled by The Shadow.

The very thought of what Kace was saying terrified me. If it was true, then this shadow of evil literally walked among us in the bodies of humans and apparitions who had no will to fight.

“Humans are stronger than you think,” I said, trying to persuade myself to believe it.

Kace half grinned before explaining why he thought I was wrong. “There was a time when I wanted to believe that, Claire. All humans have a shadow. You can’t see it, but it’s there. It’s a small cloak of darkness where humans hide all of their misdeeds. The Shadow’s presence in the physical world is only growing stronger. Think about what you see on the news every day. People killing each other, even small children are murdered and sometimes at the hands of their own parents. Humans no longer consider one another. They are selfish, greedy, and most of them are for sale to the highest bidder. Hate is alive and well in the weak. There are a lot of dark souls and The Shadow will control them all someday, ending your world.”

“No, No. I refuse to believe that. People are inherently good, Kace. They just need to be reminded,” I insisted.

“Claire. You’re blind to the darkness and forgiving without thought. You see, you were chosen as The Locket because you don’t have a shadow. You’re a rare gift to the human world. That is why I have to kill you, like I did The Locket before you,” he snarled.

Before me? What was he saying? Omni never mentioned another Locket.

“There was another Locket long ago,” Kace explained. “The other Locket was a boy and together with his followers of spirit hunters, he tried to trap me and send me back to The Realm. He was much too eager. I found him and his group easily. When I did, I locked all of their seals, destroying them, denying them their judgment day and sent them to the pits of hell to serve The Shadow.”

The fire burning in Kace’s eyes was his only warning that he would destroy me, too. Naively, I thought there had to be another ending to our story and wondered if the other Locket had thought the same. I needed to prolong things a while longer, knowing that once this fight began there would be no turning back.

In every storied battle of good versus evil, good always prevailed, right? Kace knew otherwise. He had lived it time and again, relishing in evil’s victory over mankind. He’s confident this will end no differently than it had with The Locket before me. Would I and my group of human friends bow to our own weaknesses, eventually submitting ourselves solely to The Shadow? I would not give up without a fight and I would not be weak.

My friends stood behind me, silent. As I listened closely, I heard heavy breathing and sobbing, mostly from Mandy, who I barely made out hiding in the corner of the room. Fear was radiating from her, filling the air, feeding Kace with ammunition. Surprisingly, the rest of my friends were calm and in control of their emotions.

The door swung open, slamming into the wall behind it. Riley and Brody came striding through the door screaming Layken’s name. This is bad. Why are they here?

“Oh goody, more humans. This just keeps getting better and better,” Kace snarled, motioning the two of them to come, which they foolishly complied. “Come on, join your friends.”

I looked over at Brent and asked what they were doing here.

“I called them,” Layken answered. “I thought we were coming to get you from Logan’s. He’s such a jerk when he’s drinking. Since he had a gun, I told them where we were and that if they didn’t hear from us in half an hour, to come looking,” she explained. I couldn’t really blame her for considering her own safety.

“What is going on here?” Brody asked, standing protectively in front of Riley.

“You’re going to die,” Kace taunted, letting out an evil half laugh, half roar as he held up his hand. I watched as a blue ball grew slowly around his palm.

The light started to leave his hand in thin strings of iridescent light that reminded me of the Couriers. He pointed the strings towards Brody and they picked up speed as they raced towards him.

Layken darted in front of Brody, holding her hand out. The rays of light encircled her palm. I screamed out her name, expecting her to plummet to the ground before me, but I watched as the light traveled back towards Kace. The hum of the movement grew noisier as the streams met in the middle, forming a ball of brilliant electricity. Both Kace and Layken held firm. How is she doing that? The hum intensified, getting louder and louder as the ball grew larger. It was now the size of a basketball and Layken struggled to hold it back.

Brooke joined Layken at her side causing Reese to scre

am her name. Brooke ignored Reese’s protest, holding her hand out, sending her own electric threads towards Kace. How is that even possible? Riley and Brody fell in line sending their own current toward Kace.

I can’t believe it. My friends are Chasers, like me.

My head felt light as a vision came to me. I glanced at Kace who watched knowingly. The group of us stood in a huge clearing with a lake behind us in the distance. We had formed a row and Kace stood opposite us. The vision stopped. Kace saw it too. I watched as agitation crawled up his face. Brent and Reese joined the others holding off Kace’s electric charge.

Kace transferred his stare to Mandy who was still huddled in the far corner, holding her knees and sobbing. She was not present in my vision nor had she joined the others and it was obvious as to why. She was human, not a Chaser like the rest of my friends. Mandy was not a necessity for Kace to finish his game.

Kace figured out she was human. It was probably his plan all along. Baiting us, he used his attack on Brody to draw out the rest of the ghost hunters and see what he was up against. He would kill Mandy because he didn’t need her. He couldn’t let her go with everything she had seen.

I propelled myself in Mandy’s direction, hoping to save her, but I was too late. The thin streams of electricity passed in front of me so close the energy vibrated against my skin. The lighted strings penetrated Mandy’s chest and I watched horrified as her body shook violently, the electric seizure was ending her life. I had been too late to stop it. I dropped to my knees overcome with grief and crawled over to her.

Mandy looked up at me with large emerald eyes and I held her hand to console her.

“Sorry,” she whispered, before her head fell to the side. Kace had killed her.