Everywhere was dark.
Quiet.
There was no sound. No smell.
That's how it was like in the veil-the intersection between the human world and the ghost plane.
The revenant's soul throbbed before him. What should have been a pearly white orb was wrapped by by shuddering black lines. It hummed discordant, misaligned notes.
The threads were erratic.
A dark energy shuddered through the air. It rippled-splotching the air with its corrupted energy.
Seth reinforced the barrier of silver around him. The dark dreary lines clashed with the silver barrier.
The ripple was deflected.
Seth focused on the pale's resonance energy inside of him.
"Picture it. Feel the throb inside of you. The ethereal energy that pulses inside your blood. Envision the silver."
Seth saw it. The silver light that flooded his veins. The life that thrummed-beating like drums.
He raised his hand.
He pictured the silver light seeping through his pores. One breath at a time. He pictured it surrounding the corrupted soul-saturating it.
He opened his eyes.
Silver light twisted around the revenant's spiky soul-smooth, slick.
Peaceful.
Claire's soul tore through the silver light. It shrieked. It shredded through the light, engulfing it like sticky vines that suffocated healthy shrubs.
The silver light dispitiated completely. The dark energy continued to pulse-spiking with each best that passed.
Sweat pearled his brow. Seth gritted his teeth.
Claire was angry-she was clearly still fighting Bella.
Wasn't Bella supposed to be singing?
Despite himself, he tried over and over again. To saturate the negative energy that clouded Claire's soul with pure, silver light. To dispel the blood-zesty thirst-the bitter infused rage.
With every attempt, her soul fought back.
The negative energy sliced against his shield like glass colliding against flesh. Shards scattered across his feet. Seth gritted his teeth.
He furrowed his brows. He tried to reinforce it again but the the dark energy coiled around like throbbing vines that sucked life. The barrier broke.
Shards scattered. Fragments fell away. Splinters loosened.
In a second, the barrier completely broke. Shards hissed past his arms. His head slammed against the ground. Pain radiated up the top of his head.
He heaved. Another line of sweat slithered down his back.
Seth scrambled away- keeping his distance.
Black continued to ripple through the air. It rippled then dispitiated.
He wiped his brow.
It was already difficult enough to penetrate through her soul's barriers. But even his own barriers were failing.
He got up.
Seth tried again. And again. And again.
His muscles strained. His silver light flickered. His barriers weakened. His vision doubled.
It shattered another barrier. Seth jumped out of the way, avoiding another wave of darkness.
The jagged threads of darkness thickened around her soul. It spun faster. Threads went haywire. The air around him picked up.
His stomach churned.
The revenant was about to burn her.
He tried again. He concentrated. The silver spilled out of his hands. Warm. Fuzzy.
It intertwined before wrapping around her soul. The silver light went taut against it. It coiled around the corrupted soul-enclosing it in a cocoon of silver light.
Black fumes dispelled out of it.
It was working-
It broke through the cocoon. The world around him was swallowed by the rain of silver spheres. Seth tumbled to the floor. His head pounded.
Seth squinted. The corrupted soul shuddered. It spiralled. Smoke spun around-coiling like a deadly viper that was preparing for attack.
Seth reinforced his barrier.
Then the smoke broke through his barrier and hit him-right in the chest.
His world spun. His body convulsed. Dark images flashed through image-each too fast to catch onto. Jolts of electricity skidded down his body. His arm. His leg. His back.
Every jerk, he felt the silver light trickle. His mind felt fuzzy. Crust formed between his eyes.
His body weakened. The streaks of silver light on his arms dimmed. It trickled away like a slowly dying stream.
Get up.
His body refused to obey.
He tried to get up again. He couldn't feel his body. His legs were led. His hands felt like wood-unfeeling, without blood. Warm.
Then he heard it.
A song.
Bella's voice.
Bella was singing.
He couldn't make out the words but he could feel the effect. The curling smoke lifted-like a curtain, it was finally parted.
The numbness gave way. His blurry vision cleared.
Seth stood up.
The dark threads weren't as violent anymore. They shrieked-but they were quieter. Less violent, signaling that the revenant too was calm.
It worked.
Despite the fact that he felt better, he already knew the damage had been done.
Bella didn't start on time. The darkness sunk into him. It already sucked the life of him.
"Any damage in the veil is almost irreversible-unless treated immediately."
Seth could leave now. He could escape. He'd already drained enough of the corruption in her soul.
But that would leave Bella vulnerable. She couldn't escape. The song could only distract the revenant for so long.
Then she'd be dead for sure.
Escape. You don't know her enough. These powers have already made a mess of your life.
Remember, you're still human too.
He tried to picture the silver light inside him. It flickered-sparking and gasping in broken spurs.
Any more damage and he'd be completely paralyzed for sure-if not dead.
If he escaped now, he could still survive.
He could still live.
Then he heard it. A laugh. A child's laugh.
It was odd in the barren blankness of the veil. It wasn't normal. It didn't resemble the darkness.
Instead, it was light.
Then another laugh.
It was coming from the revenant's soul. A memory probably-somewhere outside of the darkness. Somewhere that was covered in light.
Somewhere the revenant-Claire- had been free.
"You can choose to leave if you want to. It's your choice." Ann said, her voice was coarse and sharp.
Seth clenched his jaw. "Well I can't even if I tried. No one would accept me. I have no one."
Ann stared outside the window. "That type of reasoning won't get you anywhere. It's fickle. It can die when the stakes are too great."
Annoyance crackled within him."Really? Then do tell-heroic one-why I should do it? Why should I use my abilities?"
She was silent for a long time. Seth's hands curled into fists.
She didn't even have one of her own.
Seth stood up to leave. Then she spoke. Soft. Calm.
"Freedom. I want to see them free." She turned to him. Her dark eyes were serious but there was a glint in them.
Passion. Drive.
"Every ghost and grieving family deserve closure. Every phantom and revenant deserve to be released."
"All of them-the unconscious killer and the almost human ghost deserve it. A taste of freedom."
"I keep going to see them free. That's why I do this. That's my answer."
He decided to stay.
His muscles spasmed. His back burnt.
He tried to will more silver light. They came in short bursts-flickers.
It wasn't enough.
He tried again. And again. And again.
He continued even when his shoulders ached, his heart throbbed and his palms sizzled.
The wind picked up around him. The silver ball grew in his palms. One strand of silver after another. One breath another.
His legs buckled. His eyes burnt. Heat slapped his face.
He contained it until he could barely keep his eyes open. Each strand of his hair glowed silver.
Silver glazed his eyes.
Then, he released the ball.
There was an explosion of silver light.