Page 55 of A Tempest of Shadows

A ghostly figure floated past, but unlike the poltergeist, this one didn’t interact with us. The tendrils of the woman’s ankle-length dress floated behind her as she passed with her head bowed.

Another figure, this one of a young man who was barely a teenager when he died, passed through a tree. Ellery sidestepped in time to avoid having him go through her.

“The ghosts can’t throw things at you like the poltergeists,” she said. “They make you feel as cold as ice when they go through you, though.”

She shivered and absently rubbed her arms as if she hadn’t managed to avoid it going through her.

“I know,” I murmured.

“Have you ever seen the ghosts and poltergeists before? I know sometimes they travel closer to the roads, and the poltergeists like to throw things at the carriages and passersby, but not everyone has seen them.”

“I’ve encountered them before, but not often.”

“You do know if you die here, you stay here. There’s something about this land that traps anything that doesn’t naturally belong in the Revenant Woods after it dies. That’s why you never see any of the animals or creatures who live in the woods as spirits.”

“How do you know that?”

“From years of being here and watching.”

I studied her as she moved before me. Her pants weren’t completely formfitting, but they fit her well enough that they emphasized her taut ass. My fingers flexed as I imagined grasping it and pulling her on top of me, slipping inside her…

No! This is a business arrangement.

But if it wasn’t, I would thoroughly enjoy fucking her.

“And what are the poltergeists?” I inquired. “Why are they different than the ghosts?”

“From what I can tell, they’re the spirits of those who were angry when they died in the woods.”

“I would assume most spirits are angry or terrified when they die here. I’d be furious if something killed me.”

“So would I, and when I was younger, I believed the ghosts were the ones who were scared when they died. As I got older and watched and learned more, I came to the conclusion that it’s more individualized. The poltergeists were angry immortals before they died; that anger followed them into the afterlife and turned them into poltergeists.”

“Farley didn’t seem too angry.”

“Not today, but he can be. They all can be, but they also like to have fun.”

“And they clearly love to scare the shit out of their unsuspecting targets.”

She chuckled as she climbed over the log and turned to face me. As she did so, a ghostly skull flew past her head and crashed into a nearby tree before erupting out the other side.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Ryker

My hand went to the knife at my side as my teeth ground together. That thing nearly hit her.

The skull rose from the ground, shook itself, and darted into the trees. It vanished almost immediately.

“What was that?” I demanded.

Before Ellery could respond, three floating blobs emerged from the trees. The one in front held a man’s skull in its hand; it used its small fingertips to flick the see-through head up and down.

“Sometimes the poltergeists like to rip the heads off the ghosts and throw them at travelers,” Ellery said. “In their hands, those heads become corporeal. Don’t ask me why; the rules in the woods are far different than the ones we live with outside of the forest.”

“They’re good weapons,” the ugly one in front said. His dry, raspy voice reminded me of leaves crunching beneath my feet.

“We’re not here to bother you,” Ellery said.