CHAPTER 179

"Well, I think that's what's happening. They came out of the gate, but they aren't fully here, it's why they pass through everything. The house can't properly kick them out because they aren't fully inside it. When Quetzalli zapped that one, it was forced to absorb all that energy, which made it manifest like Jenny did. Once it was fully here, the geas booted it out!"

"I didn't see Jenny manifest, but I'll take your word for it." Dana looked at Quetzalli. "Do you think you could do that again, but on a bigger level?"

Quetzalli shook her head. "Not with my horn busted. I can do short bursts like before, but only one at a time. Oh, I know! We could do that thing you did, from that time you had me get naked."

Beth had no idea how to process that statement, but Dana's face lit up.

"Yes, that's right! If we can wire you into the house itself, you'd have plenty of juice to manifest an EM field, I bet that would work! We'll have to bypass the breaker outside, so—"

"Just go do it. I'll see what I can do about the Jabberwock. Go!" Beth followed the others out of her room and down the stairs, and they split at the bottom. Beth swallowed the lump in her throat as she ran into the office and saw that the bookshelf had been ransacked. It might take her too long to bring in Sofia from the Library, so she decided to strike out on her own.

On her way out the ruined door, Jenny manifested momentarily to take down a rogue spirit, then vanished with a giggle. Out front, the fight with the Jabberwock appeared to be at a stalemate. Even though the thing had been blinded and crippled, it continued to move about, and currently had Abella pinned under one of its clawed feet. The whole front yard was full of snow and ice, and Yuki stood by the ruined front porch, moving her arms about as if performing a dance while giant icicles lifted from the snow and launched themselves into the Jabberwock's body.

"How is that thing still alive?" Beth asked.

"That's just it, it isn't alive," Yuki responded. "It can't think for itself, and all the souls inside are determined to keep piloting it until there's nothing left." She sent another volley of ice at the Jabberwock, knocking it off of Abella. "Even if we destroy the head, the spirits can move the body. We need to take them out."

"Any ideas how to do it?"

Yuki spun about, her cheeks dark with frustration. "Yes, of course. I'm just doing all this other shit first because it's been a slow day."

Beth held up her hands in surrender. "Where's Tink?"

"No idea. Abella found me, so I came right away, and—" Yuki's eyes widened, and she summoned an icy barrier over her head that shattered when the Jabberwock's tail struck it. "I'm kind of busy!" she shouted, then turned her attention back toward the beast.

On the other side of the yard, Suly was tearing his way through a group of souls that had him cornered. It was almost like the phantom army knew that he was the only thing that could hurt them right now, and the sheer volume of them kept him occupied. Beth ducked back into the house to avoid the battle out front, her mind whirring with ideas.

She stepped back out front and put her hands around her mouth like a megaphone. "We need to get the Jabberwock out back," she called.

"Why?" Yuki asked.

"Just do it!" Beth disappeared back into the house and then ran out back. Dana was unspooling the wire from the giant cable that Tink had left outside, and Quetzalli stood just in the doorway, her nervous eyes locked on the gate at the back of the yard.

"Are you done?" asked Beth.

"Almost." Dana had ripped the cover off the fuse box and was carefully pulling out one of the wires. "This is the 220 line, so if I can just—"

There was a pop, a flash of light, and then Dana was on the ground, huddled up in a ball, her fingers curled up. Her body spasmed a couple of times and then she got back up and shivered.

"I'm not exactly following safety guidelines," she stated, then stepped on top of a rock and used a wire nut to attach the wire to the line she had just exposed. "Ugh, my teeth still feel like they're wiggling in my head. Quetzalli, I think you're up."

"Okay." Quetzalli grabbed the other end of the line which had been stripped, and then touched it with her finger. There was a zap, and the air was briefly electrified. "I think you've got it."

"Good, we'll go to the second floor and then I'll plug you in." Dana looked back at Beth. "If this works, we'll clean house, but they still might come swarming back in." When Beth looked down the hill, she could see an ominous mass of shadows milling about by the door, as if waiting.

"Good. You'll want to be inside, because—" Beth was cut off by the sound of tiles being shredded from the roof, and then the Jabberwock's tail flipped over the side, dangling over their heads for a moment. The tail vanished again, then reappeared, this time with Abella dangling from the edge of it. The gargoyle yelled and pulled, but only succeeded in ripping a chunk of tail off before she tumbled to the ground. The Jabberwock roared up above, and then scrambled away.