The last time I\u2019d seen Phelan as pale as I saw him that moment was when Matt and J.T. had fished him out of the Grand River, half-drowned and bleeding from a half-dozen wounds\u2014including the ones that had left the heavy scars on his hand, two straight lines where it looked like he\u2019d grabbed a sword bare-handed and held on for dear life.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot real?\u201d he echoed softly, staring at her blankly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd something other than human ghosts, too,\u201d<\/em> she added, casting a quick look at me. Bile bubbled up in my throat. I gulped down a mouthful of cocoa to force it down. The liquid burned its way down my throat but did little to settle my nerves.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s she saying?\u201d my brother asked. I shivered, forgetting that he couldn\u2019t hear her\u2014or at least had never admitted to being able to hear her, even when she wanted to be heard.<\/p>\n \u201cShe took a closer look at Leviathan\u2019s army,\u201d I told Matt. \u201cShe came across a few interesting things in the doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIllusions,\u201d Phelan said softly, \u201cand what else, \u00c9riu?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWraiths,\u201d<\/em> she said. \u201cAnd worse, Uncle, things like I\u2019ve not seen, but I can feel them.\u201d<\/em> Her gaze flicked toward Leinth, who drew up silently in Phelan\u2019s shadow, a latecomer to the party, it seemed, for all that she was early for wrangling with Leviathan beyond the walls. \u201cShe may be able to identify the rest with more precision than I could.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Leinth gave an uncomfortable grimace. \u201cI would if I\u2019d been paying more attention to the army than to him. I\u2019m sorry. I just know that none of it felt right.\u201d A visible shiver ran through her, her lips pressing tightly together in a thin, white line.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t good, is it?\u201d my brother asked, looking at Phelan.<\/p>\n \u201cNot at all,\u201d Phelan said grimly, shaking himself. \u201cNot at all. I suspected that something wasn\u2019t what it appeared, that it was somehow a little too good to be true…but this is a little more than I expected when I said I had a bad feeling about this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt always is,\u201d I said, staring into my mug. \u201cSo what are we going to do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n Matt answered with a shrug. \u201cShore up the defenses, post a stricter watch, let the Hunt know what\u2019s going on\u2014and pray,\u201d he added, almost as an afterthought. \u201cA lot of praying. Whether that army\u2019s illusionary in part or not, that\u2019s still a lot of spirits and ghosts to contend with and I, for one, am not looking forward to that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The last time I\u2019d seen Phelan as pale as I saw him that moment was when Matt and J.T. had fished him out of the Grand River, half-drowned and bleeding from a half-dozen wounds\u2014including the ones that had left the … Continue reading