Page 19 of Into the Fire

Simon

Earlier that same day…

A customer came into the shop, and Pete went back up to the front of the store. Simon cleared away his lunch trash and closed his eyes, reaching out with his psychic abilities.

“If you know anything about the Ocean Visions Hotel’s magic or the ghost, please…tell me.”

Simon sent his request into the ether and waited. The shop’s layers of protective wards were designed to keep supernatural spirits with bad intent out while letting Simon communicate with the rest. He hoped that included protection against whatever haunted the Ocean Visions, and that his message carried to any ghosts who had stuck around the area.

He felt a stirring in the currents and waited. The ghosts sounded like the faint buzz of distant conversation. Simon wouldn’t blame them for choosing not to get involved so long after their deaths, but he hoped the need to help, protect, and pass on a legacy outweighed that inertia.

“Unlucky. Stained. Poisoned,” several voices spoke at once. “It feeds on death.”

“What does?” Simon asked silently. “Bad ghosts?”

“The old one that causes fires isn’t a ghost. It’s something older. Other spirits feed off it, and the dark ghosts it brings.”

“Old and powerful. Very bad,” the voices replied. “It hungers, and the fires feed it.”

“Does anyone know what it is? A creature? A curse? A magic spell?” Simon wasn’t sure the voices would know, but it didn’t hurt to ask. “You said another spirit feeds off the fire entity as well as dark ghosts. How can I stop it?” The implication that there were three different things at work also hit him.

“It has always been here and always will be. But for a time, it was bound.”

“Yes. Who bound it? How was it imprisoned?” Simon asked.

“We do not know who did the magic. It would be good to bind it in the hotel once more.”

Simon heartily concurred, but it was clear these ghosts didn’t know more about the actual process.

“And the smaller fires? Is it all the same entity?” Simon asked.

“Different. Feeds off the other one. Salamander.”

Simon knew he had his research cut out for him with dark ghosts and fiery salamanders.

“Thank you. I will do my best to protect the hotel and bind the fire ghost. Go in peace and be at rest.”

Now that the cloud of helpful spirits cleared, Simon sensed something else beyond the wards, a darker presence. It couldn’t get past the protections, but he had the clear idea that it intended harm. He thought of the warning about dark ghosts and other spirits that took energy from the main fire entity and wondered if this presence was part of that tangled mess.

“What are you? What do you want? How did you awaken?”

The presence remained silent. Simon hadn’t really expected an answer but took the moment to see what he could read.

The energy is negative, malicious. I can’t sense individual personalities, so it’s not a bunch of people’s ghosts gone bad. What is it, and will it go away if we can stop the fire spirit? he thought. Are these the dark ghosts?

“Be gone, and bother us no more,” Simon commanded the dark presence, adding a protective incantation for good measure. The energy withdrew but didn’t pull back beyond his ability to sense it.

If it’s watching us, it must think we pose a danger. Good. Simon glanced toward the counter, but Pete shot him a thumbs-up to indicate he didn’t need backup.

How many creatures are involved? There’s the strongest one, the main fire spirit. Then the dark ghosts, which aren’t really ghosts and not quite demons, but they’re bad news. What about the flaming lizard—the fire salamander—people keep seeing?

Simon went to his laptop and searched on “flaming lizard.” Disregarding some real amphibians with similar names, he let out a low whistle.

“Fire salamander. Who knew?” he muttered, and read some of the legends, resolved to use more accurate sources when he had the chance.

Born from fire. Icy cold. Poisonous. Very old stories. Linked to alchemy.

“What’s with the flaming lizard?” Pete asked, pulling Simon out of his research. “That’s a new one for me.”