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The Tricksters’ army split apart from the students of Mulcture Hall, following her down the stairs to the basement. She walked at a regal, steady pace – the kind of walk her grandmother had used. With pain creaking in the deepest marrow of her bones, she strode across the roof and down the stairs, not letting herself turn her head to see if they were actually following her. Harriet summoned up all her strength, trying to convey an aura of strength and calm. One after another, they started bowing to her. Finally, one of the ghosts dipped her head in Harriet’s direction. She tried to convey that she was tough and strong, like her grandmother. Harriet paused, not daring to do anything that might endanger this grab for power. Some of them looked at Leah, and then back at Harriet. There was a pause, as they all took in what this meant. They must not have noticed that Rufus and Vini had been destroyed. “The Tricksters are gone,” she said, voice raised. Then she was going to pretend that Norma had never existed.

She would use her gran’s advice to get what she wanted, one last time. Harriet gulped, and then summoned Norma’s confidence. The nearest ghosts fell silent, and the quiet travelled like a wave through the rooftop until everyone was staring at her, waiting to hear what she had to say.

She shouted at the top of her voice, “LISTEN TO ME, NOW!” Even at her most furious, Harriet had never been like them. They were out of control, in a way that could only be isolated and contained. She saw now that there was a reason those ghosts had been inside.

She could restore the basement to how it had been before she’d broken it open. That was a kind of barrier, wasn’t it? If her power could shield people, then it might be able to keep them imprisoned, too. Harriet’s power had shielded Leah and Claudia from Norma. There had to be a way the ghosts could be locked in the basement again, even without Qi’s lightning power. None of them would even be out here if it wasn’t for her. Harriet recognized most of them from the basement. The majority were lying on the roof, stoned on the rich energy they’d taken. There were only a few weak ghosts still fighting.