Chapter 17

Fight.

He’d been prepared to fight Jacques knowing he would lose, so why take whatever this spirit had in store for him without a brawl? He had no room to draw a hand back into a punch, so he clawed instead…only to have his hand pass right through the ghostly torso as it turned to mist and separated. Gasping, Ignatius tussled with the phantom, but everywhere he touched, the figure flowed, turned to vapour one could not cling to or push away. Yet the hands on him felt real enough, especially when they bore him to the ground.

With curses, Jacques approached, quite surprising Ignatius, who assumed the man would flee. The big man aimed first a kick and then a punch at the apparition, and for one second, Ignatius believed Jacques had hurt it, but it only released him to twist, seize hold of Jacques, and fling him.