Page 136 of Squad Ghouls

“Guys!” I shouted, and Browyn, Harri, Larri, and Barth appeared like they’d been waiting. “Buy us a little time?”

We needed to get Gerald to another protection circle. Right now.

The whole house shook with Andrew’s fury, sending things in different rooms crashing as the squad tried to stall him.

I ducked under Gerald’s other arm and we sped toward the dining room. The table and chairs had been pushed against the walls to make space for the protection circle.

Ted was already standing there, pretending to salt the ground.

We all gathered in the middle of his salt circle and Ryan and I dropped Gerald. He staggered, finding his feet and cupping the slashes that were bleeding on his leg and chest.

“You appear to be bleeding,” Ted said drily.

“Fuck you,” Gerald growled. “How are we going to stop this thing?”

“Don’t you know anything about vengeful spirits, Ger?” Ryan said. “You need to let them get their revenge.”

I saw the realisation wash over Gerald’s face.

Barth ran into the room. “Incoming, lads! He’s mighty mad!”

Andrew whipped into the room behind him and Barth phased through the floor just in time to avoid him, the tip of his feather brushing Andrew’s foot.

“How about we just push him out of the circle and be done with it,” Ted suggested. “Andrew doesn’t want us, only him.”

“You dare!” Gerald growled.

“What are you going to do about it?” Ryan asked. “You need us. Without us you would have already been smeared across the floor.”

Andrew smashed against the salt barrier and Gerald flinched back.

“What do you want?” Gerald asked hastily. “Money?”

“It’s not up to us,” I said. “It’s what Andrew wants.”

“HE WANTS ME DEAD!”

“Your demise can come in a multitude of ways. You don’t have to take everything so literally.” Ted rolled his eyes.

Andrew continued to rage against the barrier, looking for a weak point.

“I don’t know how long that barrier is going to last,” Ryan said.

“Just tell me what you want. I’ll do it!” We could all hear the sincerity and desperation in his voice. He was scared and he wanted to live.

“ExorSquad needs to end. Now,” I said.

“It already is! The police are crawling all over it!”

“With no plans to start it back up somewhere else,” Ted added knowingly.

Gerald sneered. “You really were thorough.”

He smirked. “Isn’t that why you hired me?”

He snorted and faced me. “I promise never to revive Exor.”

“Under any other name,” Ryan put in.