Luna. Chapter 77

(Lyra's POV)

Morgana arrived at midnight carrying a bag that clinked with glass bottles and smelled like herbs mixed with something I didn't want to identify. She was younger than I'd expected, maybe forty, with steel-gray hair and eyes that seemed to look right through you.

"Show me where the glasses were found," she said without preamble.

I led her upstairs to Asher's room, where the air still felt thick and wrong despite the cursed objects being removed hours ago.

Morgana stood in the doorway for a long moment, her head tilted like she was listening to something only she could hear.

"How long?" she asked.

"We don't know exactly. Weeks, maybe months."

"The contamination is significant. It's seeped into the walls, the floor, even the air itself." She stepped into the room, pulling items from her bag. "But it's not irreversible. Yet."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Keep your son away from this room until I'm finished. The purification process can be... intense. Children with psychic abilities sometimes have adverse reactions to the spiritual energy I'll be channeling."

I nodded, relieved that Asher was staying overnight at the hospital with Victor. Whatever was happening to my father, I didn't want my son exposed to it.

Morgana began arranging candles around the room, each one a different color. Black, white, silver, deep red.

"The soul trapped in those glasses," she said as she worked. "It's been feeding off the psychic energy in this house for months. Growing stronger, more coherent, more able to influence the physical world."

"Is that why my father collapsed?"

"Partially. Prolonged exposure to cursed artifacts causes physical symptoms as well as spiritual contamination. Chest pain, breathing problems, heart irregularities." She lit the candles one by one. "Your father is lucky. Another few days and the damage would have been permanent."

I watched her pull out small bottles of what looked like salt mixed with herbs, sprinkling the mixture in a circle around the room.

"What about Asher? He's been sleeping in here for who knows how long."

"Children are more resilient than adults when it comes to spiritual attacks. But they're also more vulnerable to influence." Morgana met my eyes directly. "Your son has been exposed to a level of dark energy that would drive most adults insane. The fact that he's functioning normally is remarkable."

"He said the angry man wanted him to help with something."

"Soul-bound entities are always looking for powerful psychics to use as conduits. Your son's abilities would have made him an ideal vessel for Marcus Nova's consciousness."

The thought made my skin crawl. "Could that have actually happened? Could Marcus have possessed him?"

"With enough time and the right circumstances? Yes." Morgana began chanting in a language I didn't recognize. "Which is why we're going to make sure it never gets that chance again."

The candles flared suddenly, their flames turning colors that shouldn't exist. The air in the room grew thick and electric, like the moment before a thunderstorm.

"What's happening?"

"I'm calling the contaminated energy to the surface so it can be expelled." Morgana's voice had taken on a strange resonance. "Stand back."

A wind that came from nowhere began circling the room, growing stronger by the second. The curtains whipped wildly, papers scattered, and I could hear something like screaming coming from the walls themselves.

Then I saw him. Translucent and flickering like bad television reception, but unmistakably there. A man in his fifties wearing the red star-shaped glasses, his face twisted with decades of rage and frustration.

Marcus Nova. Or what was left of him.

He was looking directly at me, his mouth moving in words I couldn't hear over the howling wind.

"He's trying to speak," I said to Morgana.

"Don't listen to him. Cursed souls will say anything to maintain their hold on the physical world."

But I found myself straining to make out his words anyway. Something about justice. About family. About promises that had been broken.

The wind grew stronger, and Marcus's image began to break apart. His face contorted with fury as he fought against whatever force was pulling him away.

"No," he seemed to be saying. "Not finished. Need more time."

"You've had thirty-five years," Morgana said firmly. "Time to move on."

The candles blazed even brighter, and suddenly Marcus Nova was gone. The wind died instantly, leaving the room eerily quiet.

Morgana sagged against the wall, exhaustion clear on her face. "It's done. The immediate contamination has been purged."

I looked around the room. It felt different. Cleaner. Like a weight had been lifted that I hadn't realized was there.

"Is he gone? Permanently?"

"From this house, yes. But soul-bound entities aren't destroyed by purification rituals. They're just sent back to their anchor point."

"The glasses."

"Which are now in Council containment, so he can't influence anyone else. For now."

"For now?"

Morgana began packing her supplies, her movements tired but efficient. "Cursed objects have a way of finding their way back into the world. Someone will eventually try to use those glasses again, and when they do, Marcus Nova will be waiting."

"Can't the Council just destroy them?"

"You can't destroy a soul-bound artifact without risking the destruction of the soul inside. And whatever Marcus Nova was in life, he was still a person once. The Council isn't in the business of committing spiritual murder."

I thought about that as I helped her carry her bag downstairs. The ethics of dealing with cursed souls, the balance between protection and destruction.

"Morgana, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"How did you become a witch? I mean, how does someone learn to do what you just did?"

She smiled, the first time her expression had softened all evening. "Same way you learn anything else. Study, practice, and a lot of mistakes along the way."

"Are you born with magical abilities?"

"Some people are. Others develop them through training. A few acquire them through exposure to supernatural phenomena." She gave me a meaningful look. "Like living with a celestial wolf and a psychically gifted child."

"Are you saying I might be developing magical abilities?"

"I'm saying you should pay attention to any changes you notice in yourself over the next few weeks. Purification rituals sometimes unlock latent abilities in people who've been exposed to significant supernatural energy."

Great. As if my life wasn't complicated enough already.

"The house is safe now?" I asked as we reached the front door.

"For the moment. But Lyra?" Morgana turned to face me, her expression serious. "This was just a temporary solution. The person who placed those glasses in your son's room is still out there. And they'll try again."

"With different cursed objects?"

"Or different methods entirely. People who work with soul-bound artifacts rarely limit themselves to a single approach."

I watched her drive away, leaving me alone in a house that felt empty and strange without the malevolent presence I'd grown used to. Safe, but somehow incomplete.

Like the calm before the storm.