Will bush's Arc

Chapter 4 of 26

The tall dark figure lowered its finger. It turned its head toward Kate under the cherry tree, slow and sure, and took one step into the clearing. The child ghost beside Will flinched back against the trunk. Will could not shout. He could not run at the figure without Kate seeing him first. If he moved into the open, the pale woman would come, and Kate would pay. He crouched by the child ghost. She was small, barefoot, her nightdress hanging past her knees. Her eyes were huge and wet. "What's your name?" Will whispered. "Lily," she said. "Lily Whitmore." She said it fast, like she was afraid she would forget. "Lily. Do you see the tall one?" She nodded. "He's going to hurt my sister. I need you to walk out there. Just you. Stand between him and her. He won't touch another dead thing where the living can see." It was a guess. It was all he had. Lily shook her head. She pressed her back to the bark. Will heard footsteps behind him and turned. A boy stood there, grey sweater, hands in his pockets. He looked at Will's blurred arm and did not react. "She won't go," the boy said. Flat. "She's scared of him." "Who are you?" "Ollie. I think. Most days." He looked at the tall figure, then at Kate. "Your sister?" "Yes." Ollie was quiet a second. Then he bent, picked up a stone, and weighed it in his palm. "Living can't see me either. I've been dead longer than her, shorter than you. I can throw." "Throw what?" "Anything loud. You said sound hurts the pale one. Bet it hurts him too." He nodded at the tall figure, now three steps from Kate's back. Will scanned the ground. The hooded girl's pack sat open by Kate's boot. A dark shape lay on top of a folded cloth, painted porcelain, a swallow with spread wings against a moon. Will pointed. "That. On the stones by the roots." Ollie took the porcelain swallow from the pack without touching the hooded girl. He walked past Kate, past the tall figure, and set the piece on a flat stone. Then he lifted his heel and brought it down. The crack was loud. Sharp. The hooded girl spun, knife out. Kate spun with her. The tall figure jerked as if struck and stumbled back two steps, one hand at its long ear. The collie barked. The child ghost bolted into the trees. Will felt the noise like a wave under his feet, and the figure kept retreating, farther, until the trees swallowed it. Ollie looked at the broken porcelain. "He's gone. Your sister didn't see you." He rubbed his sleeve. "But a dog is coming. It's been following me. It's bringing living people to the light down the ridge. You should move."