Chapter 81

I shriveled into the wall and pawed at the pocket of my sweatshirt, grasping for iron. I had this ghost magnet thing down. I'd passed ghosts through me before, but even so, experience didn't make it any less frightening as the Saelis stomped toward me.

"Come in," I whispered as softly as I could.

The bar blurred behind a black cloud of incoming smoke. It funneled into my mouth, clawing at my throat and tongue.

Images flashed through my head of random events in this Saelis's life, but mostly I felt what it felt - a desperate, raw hunger for the parasite inside me. It pinched my organs out of its way and tore at them with ghostly claws for a taste. I clenched my teeth against the ripping pain.