Chapter 20. JONA'S SPELL

Alexa's pov

We left the cemetery and wandered through the dense forest heading back to side B. We could hear the trapped ghosts growling from a distance.

"Billy, can you see them? I mean the trapped souls." Kyra asked.

"No. Not yet." Billy responded.

"But we are gonna start seeing them soon," Robby spoke.

"We should be ready to fight like last time," Billy said.

"I guess I left the weapon bag back at your dad's apartment," I said, recalling I had dumped the backpack inside the closet in the apartment.

"Ooh shit!" Robby exclaimed.

"How are we going to fight them?" Malachi asked.

"Grab something from the forest. A wood or anything that can be used as a weapon." Billy said, and we all started collecting wood that could fight and continued walking through the dense forest quiet

"They are pretty close now." Billy finally spoke.

"How close?" I asked

"Close that I can smell them. It's like they are all over the place." Robby responded.

"Yeah, we are still on their territories," Billy said.

We were still talking and walking slowly when the trapped ghosts covered in fog started hauling around us. They were roaming freely in the air.

"Guess we should run," Malachi said, and we immediately started running. The roaming ghosts followed us, and once they were past us, they landed on the ground and stopped before us. We stopped running and held on to our fighting woods tightly.

"Guys, we should stick together. We are not losing anyone else." I said, and they all nodded in agreement.

The trapped ghosts took threatening steps forward.

"Kyra, we got this," I said, looking at Kyra, who was looking frightened.

"Yeah, sure." She said.

We started fighting against the relentless trapped ghosts. It was a pretty hard fight because we were outnumbered.

"This is a losing fight. We should not be fighting." Malachi said after a trapped ghost knocked Robby onto a huge tree.

"We can't give up yet...we have to...." Billy got interrupted by a ghost woman that grabbed him by the neck and started muttering in a foreign language.

"Guys, help!" Billy begged. That was the second time to see Billy scared. The first one was after he was shown the ghost devil's faces.

I wanted to go and help him when another trapped ghost stood in my way. I started fighting it with my piece of wood, aiming at its face. I knocked on his forehead. The ghost lost its control and fell to the ground giving me a chance to glance around. Kyra was struggling with two ghost women while Malachi was struggling with a huge ghost man. They looked to be doing great and so I focused on Billy who was now being trapped by the ghost woman.

"Help me, Alexa," Billy said politely as soon as I got to where he was getting trapped and threw me his slaughter knife. I grabbed the knife tightly in my hands and stuck it into the ghost's neck.

"Useless. The neck stab does not affect me." The ghost woman said in a deep voice and pulled the knife out and threw it on the ground.

"Alexa, here," Billy said and threw me a bottle that had a green liquid.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Jona's spell. Pour some on the knife and stub her." Billy responded. I collected the knife from the ground and without questioning I started lacing the knife in the green liquid. I removed the knife from the liquid and sealed the bottle and without warning, I stabbed the ghost woman in the neck, and immediately she released Billy as its body started disintegrating.

"Ooh, wow! I wasn't sure it was going to work. Thanks to Jona." Billy said.

"We should go help the others," I said, looking at Kyra, who was being strangled by the two ghosts she had been fighting earlier. Malachi was getting trapped while Robby was still lying down unconsciously.

I ran to help Malachi while Billy went to save Kyra. I stabbed the ghost trapping Malachi in the chest using Billy's knife and its body disappeared immediately, startling Malachi.

"What was that?" Malachi asked.

"Some Jona's spell," I said and ran to help Billy and Kyra who were surrounded by a dozen of trapped ghosts. They were already losing the fight. Since they were many to stub before they trapped Billy and Kyra I decided to sprinkle the whole green liquid around all of them. I wasn't sure if it was going to work but luckily it did and all the trapped ghosts disappeared in thin air.

"Ooh, my God! Thank you, Alexa." Kyra said, breathing heavily.

"Thank Jona. It's his spell that saved you." I said.

"He's an angel," Kyra said and chuckled.

"Angels be in heaven, but he's not. It's like he's in hell than anywhere else. So he's not an angel." Billy protested.

"Then he's a saviour," Malachi said.

"Like Jesus Christ, huh? Not." Billy said and laughed.

"He's is just smart. Super smart, Billy." I said.

"Oooh, Robby," I said, recalling he was still lying down unconsciously.

"I'll go get him." Malachi proposed and walked to where Robby was lying.

"Hey! Come on scent master." He called, tapping gently on his shoulders.

"Robby? Come on, boy!" He called again loudly, and Robby lifted his head.

"Ooh, thank Goodness! I thought you were gone." Malachi said.

"Gone where?" Robby asked.

"Who knows? Maybe heaven...maybe hell." Malachi responded, and we all laughed.

"Yeah, that's funny, new kid," Robby said and stood up.

"Anyway, what happened?" He asked.

"You got your ass kicked," Billy said and laughed sarcastically.

"Don't laugh at me, Billy, coz I remember seeing you almost shit yourself as that ghost woman trapped you. "

"You were like, '' help me, guys! Help me, Alexa, please." Robby imitated Billy's voice and reaction, making us laugh hard.

"I have never seen you that scared, Billy." He added.

"Yeah, very funny, Robby., Billy said and faked a laugh.

"We should get moving. " Billy said firmly.

****

We continued walking around the dense forest. The growling sounds had now ceased and we had nothing to worry about as we had gotten rid of many trapped ghosts.

It was already dark when we finally made it out of the dense forest about three hours later, and we could now see familiar sides of side B. I could see the happiness on everyone's faces, which I completely understood. Crossing over had been a hell of a ride, and it did cost us three friends. We were lucky to have made it back.

"Whoo, finally! We are here." Robby exclaimed. We could now see the gates to side B.

"Lucky it's dark, and no one is gonna see us walk back," Billy said.

"Yeah. You are right." I said.

We walked and finally reached the entrance gate. Billy looked through.

"We good to go. One guard is sleeping, and the other just walked to the washroom." Billy said, and we all walked inside.

There was no one outside, so it was quiet. We hurriedly walked towards our rooms.

"It's dinner time," Robby said. I glanced around and saw people sitting at the Side B diner where we always had our meals.

"We gotta get moving before someone sees us., I said, and we continued walking.

We finally made it to Billy's room, which was the closest to the entrance and we all walked inside.

I took a seat on the comfy sofa and relaxed my body. Billy hopped on the bed as the rest took the other sofa.

We all looked pretty worn out.

"God! We should get something to eat. I am starving." Robby said. It was already two days since we ate last. I presumed we all could be dying of starvation.

"Yeah. I know we are all starving. No idea when I last ate." Billy said.

"Maybe we should grab dinner before the diner closes or before the food gets finished," Malachi said.

"Yeah, you should. I would love to take a shower first. I feel so dirty." Kyra spoke, reminding me that we lastly showered the last time we were on side B.

"I guess I could use a shower, too," I said.

"I'll be in my room," I said and stood up.

"See you at the diner, guys," I said and started walking away. I opened the door and to my surprise Lorna, Peter and three guards were standing there.

"Um....guys, they are here," I warned my friends, then stepped back inside, and Lorna and Peter did the same. The guards remained by the door.

"Hey, Lorna. Hi Peter." Billy greeted nervously.

"How can we help you, elders?" Robby asked.

"Guards take them. I'll deal with them tomorrow." Peter commanded. The guards stepped inside and handcuffed us.

"Why are you handcuffing us? " I asked

"You know it. Don't act dumb with me, Alexandria." Lorna said.

"What did we do, Miss Lorna?" Billy asked, ignoring the pretence warning.

"Guards take them away and make sure you lock them," Peter said. The guards dragged us out of Billy's room.

As the guards dragged us away, I could see people staring at us and murmuring amongst themselves. Some talked loudly, asking where we had been and why we were being handcrafted. We ignored their inquiries, and so did the guards and the elders.

The guards walked us to an isolated building used as a prison on side B. It had a few rooms sectioned as real prison cells.

"Get inside." After opening one of the cells, the guard commanded, and we all walked inside; the guards locked the grilled door.

"You should give us some food. We are hungry." Robby said.

"Yeah, we are starving, please," Kyra said.

"Good night. I'll see you in the morning." Lorna said, and they left with the guards.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, holding the cell grills. This was yet another nightmare.