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Chapter 42: 42—Demon hunt [2] Noah stood awkwardly as Madeleine studied him. His Wraith form was almost exactly a copy of him. So it was a tall demon with a head of black fire, standing over a petite girl in leather clothes, carrying a bandage-wrapped staff on her back. "We look like we’re about to go to a Metallica concert," Noah muttered, walking away from the circles of red glowing symbols around the tree. Slumped against the tree, looking as pale as death, was his real body. His black hair covered his face and his body was limp. Madeleine turned from the Wraith to his body. "Yeah, you’ll die if they separate the Wraith from... that." "Don’t call my body ’that’," Noah corrected, his eyes scouring the trees around them in the meantime. "Hide my body before the ghost girl gets here." Madeleine handed him a necklace with a blue gem. "Touch it against this symbol." Noah moved forward immediately, but she grabbed his hand before he could press the gem against one of the red symbols. "Not that one," she said, guiding his hand to the right symbol. The moment the gem made contact with the floating symbol, all of them disappeared with his body. With their light gone, the circle of trees grew darker. Noah nodded, thoroughly impressed. "Neat trick." They both walked away from the spot, Madeleine explaining the situation in the meantime. "Okay so when the ghost girl gets here you’ll hold her while I cast a Clarity spell. It should be able to clear her mind enough for us to speak." "That’s not going to be easy," Noah advised. "We ghosts can do this whole intangibility thing." Madeleine rolled her eyes. "I know, but if you use life drain while you hold her she’ll have to resist and can’t phase through you." "I’ve never used Life drain on purpose, now that I think of it," Noah muttered. "Don’t be such a Debbie Downer—" "That’s such a lame thing for a young person to say." "—Anyway!" Madeleine yelled. "How are you feeling? Any urges to snap my neck and eat my soul?" Noah grimaced. "Can you not say that? I’m okay, I actually feel better than usual." "Mikaela’s energy must be working well," Madeleine said. She looked away briefly. "So about the incident in the house..." "Don’t worry about it," Noah said, "You were just making sure Mikaela was safe, right? I’m surprised she didn’t kill me for taking her energy." "She doesn’t know about all this stuff," Madeleine explained. "Her family’s kind of distant, very disliked, relatives. They’re the only normal part of my life." Madeleine leaned against a tree, staring at the moon somberly. Her golden eyes glowed at night. "That’s nice," Noah said simply. They both waited silently for the ghost the next few minutes. Just when he was considering walking around to catch the ghost’s attention, he felt an electric feeling in his belly. "She’s coming," he told Madeleine immediately. The girl pulled out a black ballpoint pen. It was what she used to draw the symbols for her spells; not quite as impressive as Hadrian’s dagger. Noah sensed the girl’s approach even though she was invisible. His sense for the supernatural had grown a lot recently. He turned intangible instinctively just as the ghost’s tiny fist came charging at him. The blow passed through his head. With a sharp movement he grabbed the girl’s arm and immediately tried draining her energy. But it didn’t work. The ghost’s foot slammed into his jaw with a rising kick, then she turned intangible, disappearing briefly, before reappearing in the middle of a spinning kick that sent him flying. Noah phased through the grass, shooting out of the ground the next second and grabbing her scarred neck. "Sorry about this," he muttered before trying to drain her energy again. This time a cold rush of energy ran up his veins, like ice water mixing with his blood. The ghost’s pale eyes widened. She threw multiple punches and kicks at him while her mouth was open in a silent wail. He blocked all of them while regulating his energy drain, doing his best not to hurt the dead girl. Madeleine wasn’t making that easy though. She was far slower than Hadrian at drawing those red symbols. When she was done, the symbol disappeared, transforming into a brilliant rush of white energy that washed over Noah and the ghost girl. A wave of peace surged through him. Suddenly his grip around the girl’s neck felt too rough and tense, and something inside him melted away slightly. He shook his head, blinking rapidly. Stop. You aren’t the target. The ghost girl was now fully placated, blinking at him in confusion. Noah quickly let go of her and set the girl down. Her white sleeping gown was stained with many black smudges, her face and neck were covered in scratches, her wrists were red and swollen. "Are... are you okay?" Noah asked hesitantly. The girl nodded then opened her mouth but no words followed. She touched her mouth and a frantic light began to fill her dark eyes. Madeleine rushed over and knelt, holding the girl’s hand. "Don’t worry about it. Some ghosts can’t speak. Just... um, I shouldn’t have said that." The girl’s eyes jumped between the both of them, hyperventilating. Then she suddenly fell through the ground. Intangibility? He jumped into the earth after her. Under the dirt was pitch black and boundlessly empty. There was probably no way he could catch her but he trusted his gut. Following his supernatural sense, he was able to get close to the girl even if he couldn’t see anything in the darkness. "Breathe! Breathe to go back up!" He yelled into the darkness, quietly hoping she could actually hear him. After a few seconds he felt the girl’s position moving upward rapidly and followed. They both shot out of the ground with two separate rushes of wind that buffeted Madeleine, making her stare up as Noah chased after the girl. The ghost was screaming, her voice silent as she tumbled through the air. Noah streamlined his body and quickly caught up to her, grabbing her and yelling over the rushing winds. "Hey! It’s okay, you’re okay. We’re here to help, we’ll do anything we can." The girl looked up past the rushing wind and her fluttering brown hair, tears running down her face. Then she nodded meekly. Noah turned to the ground rapidly approaching, grimacing.