Ghostfinders 02 - Ghost of a Smile

it, one step at a time. Because JC was trusting him to protect Kim, and though he would never admit it, Happy would fall in his tracks before he’d let JC down.
    Kim looked at Happy, and at JC, both of them fighting with everything they had, both of them dying by inches, all for her. She became so furious she forgot how frightened she was. She moved forward, through Happy, who smiled unexpectedly at a sudden feeling of peace and happiness and the smell of elderflowers, and then Kim went on, right into the midst of the ghosts. She blazed with a sudden light, fierce and incandescent, like a living star. It was the same golden glow that shone from JC’s eyes, only taken up to the next level. The blazing light stopped the ghosts in their tracks and forced the curling fog back on itself. The dead withered, and retreated, turning their faces away from her, away from the proud, shining light, lurching back into the protection of the ghostlight, which in turn fell back, back . . . The ghosts abandoned Happy and JC, who stood utterly still, mesmerised, in awe of what Kim had become. JC stretched slowly, as the living warmth welled up in him again, and crusted frost cracked and fell away from him. He stumbled back to join Happy.
    “I never knew she had so much life left in her,” said JC. “Where is all that energy coming from?”
    “My love for you, darling!” said Kim, not looking back as she drove the dead before her, blazing with the light of worlds beyond ours.
    JC smiled and nodded, and waved encouragingly to Kim; but he wasn’t sure he believed that. When forces from the afterworld reached down to touch him, had they perhaps also touched Kim? And if so, for what purpose?
    Kim was blazing so very brightly, and the ghosts had all disappeared back into the fog. But the ghostlight was no match for Kim’s unearthly glow.
    “That can’t be good for her,” said Happy.
    “She’s strong,” said JC. “Stronger than she realises.”
    Suddenly, the air-conditioners kicked in, sucking the fog out of the room. The air began to clear immediately, and, without the ghostlight to draw on, the ghosts quickly faded away and were gone, becoming shadows, and less than shadows. In a few moments, the fog had lifted, sucked entirely away, leaving behind a perfectly ordinary-looking, entirely empty floor. JC strode forward to join Kim. She was still glowing, but not as fiercely. She turned to meet him—a man with glowing eyes and a woman who glowed. Happy had to look away. It was too much for him, too much for any human to look upon. Or at least, that was what he told himself. He glanced back sharply as Melody came charging through the swing doors. She took one look at JC and Kim, staring into each other’s glowing eyes, and looked away.
    “Nice work with the air-conditioning,” said Happy.
    “No problem,” said Melody. “I’m not entirely sure where the fog’s gone, but that’s a problem for another day.”
    “And hopefully another team,” said Happy. “Because once I’m out of this building, they will not see my twitching arse for dust.”
    Melody glanced quickly at the glowing couple. “Did I miss something?”
    “Something,” Happy agreed.
    They glanced cautiously at JC and Kim, surrounded by a golden glow, with glowing eyes only for each other.
    “Makes you wonder if this is how we’ll all feel, when we finally meet the New People,” said Happy.

SEVEN
    LET LOOSE THE BEAST
    They took their time, going up the stairs to the next floor. The mission and the building had taken a lot out of them. JC led from the front, as always, but even he had trouble maintaining his usual enthusiasm. He stopped little more than half-way up the stairs and sat down abruptly. The others immediately seized the opportunity to do the same. Kim hovered uncertainly beside JC, looking him over worriedly, and he gave her the best reassuring smile he could before leaning tiredly against the cold stone of the stairway wall. He looked down at Happy and Melody, sitting side by side some steps below, shoulder pressed against shoulder, their two heads tilted together. They looked even more tired than he felt. But they were all tired, battered, injured. They’d all spilled some blood. No time to rest and recharge their batteries, no time out to get their heads round everything that had happened. No-one said anything because there was still work to be done, so . . . what was the point? Even Happy had cut back on his usual whingeing, if only