The question struck her as odd.
“No,” she said. “That’s the way I see the world.” Then, she glanced at Ryan, the sole source of her happiness. She added, “But maybe I could write a happy song.”
Looking at him, she suddenly felt a pang of envy. “Why can’t I be like you?” Nancy said. “I could just take off and play my music wherever I please.”
He set down his own guitar. “It’s not that easy. I was playing in the hotel restaurant earlier today. People didn’t like my music. Someone even paid me to stop playing.”
Ryan looked at her with intense eyes. “Maybe that was a sign. Not everyone in the music industry is meant to become a professional musician. Some are producers. Maybe it’s my job to bring great music out to the masses. Great music like yours.”
There he was again, charming her. And she liked it.
Staring his shiny lips, she found herself leaning closer to him again.
The wind started to blow harder, shrieking in the air.
Nancy was jolted from her trance. She knew that wind spirits were working for the Ocean King, spying for him.
The wind snuffed out the roaring fire, dousing it in fury.
She scanned the air. The wind was striking the trees, nearly uprooting them.
Ryan put a hand on Nancy’s cheek, stroking it softly.
Nancy longed to kiss Ryan again, but she pulled back. “I’m getting married tonight. If I marry the Ocean King, I’ll be bound to him forever and I’d never be able to escape.”
“Isn’t there any way out of it?” he asked.
His big brown eyes bored into hers.
Tearfully, she looked away. “I know of two ways. One: find my body before my wedding and give me a proper burial, or I’ll be stuck here forever. Two: I could try to escape tomorrow, on All Souls’ Day. It’s the only day that spirits can break free from their masters, unless they’re caught again. But that’s only if I’m not married to the Ocean King tonight, which would make my binding permanent.”
She looked up at the sky. It was beginning to bleed a streak of orange-red.
“Oh no,” she breathed out. “My spirit returns to him at dawn.”
She moaned. “What was I thinking I could escape? I can’t. I’m trapped here forever.” Thinking back on her life, she sighed. “I was a naïve girl. I shouldn’t have trusted total strangers to help me. But I’m stronger now. I know there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I should just wise up and accept reality for what it is.”
In her haste to escape, she had forgotten that, being a bound spirit, she could be out only until dawn.
Ryan pulled her in for a tight hug. “No, there’s always a way.”
Pressed against his broad, muscular chest, she felt his heart beat rhythmically. She was so warm in his embrace. She wished she could stay there forever, but no sooner than his warm breath caressed her cold cheek than her spirit begin to dissolve.
Ryan’s eyes grew wild. “Nancy! What’s happening?”
She tried to grab onto Ryan’s strong, but it had already started to happen.
With dawn’s reddish light shining on her, she was returning to her master, no doubt for an extremely severe punishment.
***
Chapter 8
Ryan raced back to the hotel. The receptionist had pointed out a haunted cottage beside it. Maybe Nancy was there.
As he ran, he thought about the sweet Nancy. She was so beautiful and so talented. He was going to make it his mission to make sure that she would have the chance to share her music with the world.
He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t falling in love with her. He was attracted to her vulnerability, and her sad situation. This was a girl who had never been given a fair chance at life. Ryan believed that everyone should have at least one chance to make their dreams come true. Nancy never had that chance.
Sweat dripped down his face as he crossed the highway and then emerged from the forest.
He stopped to catch his breath. The faint rays of the winter sun feebly broke through the dark clouds. It was too late to save Nancy. He wouldn’t get another chance until sundown.
To confirm his suspicion, he approached the cottage and peered inside. Nothing but old, rotting wood. The entire structure was dilapidated.
Despair filled him.
He thought about seeing Larry for advice, but he didn’t know where he lived. Fortunately, right at that moment, Larry was on his way into Moe’s Tavern for an early morning drink.
Ryan ran up to him and explained everything.
Larry listened with a sleepy expression on his face.
When Ryan was done, Larry wiped his eyes. “Dude, it’s barely seven in the morning.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
Larry opened the door of Moe’s Tavern. “There’s nothing you can do until sundown anyway, so why don’t you just come in with me and have a beer?”
Ryan shook his head. “I got a girl to save.” He sped back to the cottage, peering inside again.
Larry marched over to him. “Alright, I’ll bite. What exactly are you doing?”
“You know the legend of Nancy, right? Where’s her body? I need to find her body.”
“Her body?” Larry scratched his head. “No one knows where that is. But I do know this cottage is haunted. There’s nothing in it during the day, but during the night, some people have reported ghostly green lights.”
Without taking his eyes away from the window, Ryan asked, “Could her body be in it?”
Larry shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do until sundown.”
Then I’ll have to wait until sundown, thought Ryan stubbornly.
Larry sighed. “Alright. I can see you ignored my advice earlier and now you’re involved. You’re serious about the girl.” He lowered his voice. “Normally, the townspeople don’t bother the demons and ghosts, so no one really knows much about them. They just know their existence.”
He leaned in close, as though about to reveal a secret. “My grandpa, the one who saw the Ocean King, was a demon hunter in his time. You ever see the show Supernatural?”
Ryan nodded. “Sure, it’s shot in Vancouver.”
“Yeah, that’s the one. My grandpa was like one of the Winchester brothers, living an itinerant life, always on the hunt for the next supernatural creature. Anyway, I want nothing to do with the supernatural, but I am going to help you.” Larry took out an item from his pocket and handed it to Ryan.
“This is the Vial of Seraphim,” explained Larry. “When you need it, just remove the lid and shake out the liquid. It’ll come in handy.”
Ryan pocketed the small red vial. “Thanks, but what does it do?”
Larry shrugged. “Beats me. It’s a family heirloom. My grandpa handed it down to me in the hopes of my following in his footsteps and becoming a demon hunter, but that never happened. He received it as a reward when he helped an angel vanquish a cave demon.”
He was about to turn around when he stopped halfway. “Listen man. I know you didn’t listen to my advice before, but if you want to live, you should get out of here. Don’t mess around with the Ocean King. He’s a very powerful ocean demon. Nothing good can come of it.”
“There’s the girl….” Ryan said.
“The phantom girl is not worth it.”
“This one is,” insisted Ryan. “This one is.”
***
When Nancy returned, she was surprised to find her room empty. She had expected it to be crawling with the Ocean King’s minions, but no one was there.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
She sat in front of her mirror and began combing her hair, pretending that nothing was wrong.
“Nancy,” murmured a raspy voice from behind her.
Her stomach roiling, she turned around, prepared herself for the harshest punishment.
The Ocean King stood there, in human form.
The man was tall, and devilishly handsome, with short blond hair and crystal clear blue eyes. He was dr
essed in a formal black business suit, complete with a black tie.
“Are you ready for our wedding tonight?” he asked.
Resigned, she was beginning to think that she would never escape from him. She decided that she would play it smart. She would pretend that she was very interested in marrying him, so that he wouldn’t suspect anything, least of all that she had met another guy and he was trying to find her body to liberate her.
“Yes, my lord,” she exclaimed, getting up. She didn’t want to overdo it, but she knew that she had to perform convincingly. She must act like she was finally OK with becoming his bride. She must deliver an Oscar-winning performance.
The Ocean King seemed to have fallen for it.
He nodded. “Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have slapped you so hard. Let me see. Is there a bruise?”
He floated toward her, but Nancy pulled back.
“No, nothing,” she said.
That seemed to satisfy him.
He tried to justify his actions earlier. “You know how I don’t like human music. Reminds me of when I was alive.”
She nodded. “Yes, absolutely. I’m sorry I wasn’t more sensitive to your feelings.”
“It’s OK,” he said. “Now that we’re almost husband and wife, we should probably be more upfront with each other. You know, communicate better.”
Nancy nodded vigorously. “I agree.”
“And I don’t blame you for having left a while ago.”
Nancy’s heart started pounding fast. So he did know that she had left.
He adjusted his black tie. “You were angry. You were rash. You weren’t thinking straight. You just have too much desire in you to achieve your musical dream. We can’t have that, can we?” He looked at her like a father scolding his daughter.
She shook her head.
He took a step toward her. “That’s why I have to sap some of your energy, at least until after our wedding. It’s the source of your desire.”
His eyes began glowing bright red. That’s when Nancy knew something terrible was about to happen.
Without giving Nancy a chance to protest, the Ocean King raised a hand at her and immediately, a green aura bridged the gap between them. This was the bridge the Ocean King would use to transfer her energy to him.
He mumbled something unintelligible and blue energy began its transfer from Nancy to the Ocean King.
Nancy felt her energy zapped away, and along with it, her desire to leave him and pursue her musical passion. She was a rose being deprived of water and sunlight. All spirits came with a certain amount of energy and when it was empty, they would wither and fade away, never gaining entry to Heaven.
Feeling lightheaded, Nancy collapsed to the hardwood floor.
The Ocean King snapped his fingers and two cerulean water spirits appeared.
“Lift my fiancée onto her bed,” he commanded.
The two water spirits, who looked like large drops of water, did as they were told.
The Ocean King ran a hand through his short blond hair. “You’re never getting away from me, Nancy. When I first bound you to me, I intended for it to be permanent.”
***
Chapter 9
When the sun was finally slipping behind the clouds, Ryan was waiting patiently in front of the cottage, clutching a shovel he had borrowed from the hotel.
Five minutes later, the sun had set completely, and the dark of the evening was setting in.
The light from the Sunrise Beach Hotel allowed Ryan to see what was inside the haunted, dilapidated cottage. Still nothing. He was under the impression that the cottage came alive at night, especially that very night, when Nancy was supposed to be getting married to the Ocean King.
He stood in front of the door.
Alright, he thought. I’m going in.
He knocked on the door sharply. Nothing.
He grabbed the knob and turned it. The door creaked open.
He took a deep breath and walked in boldly.
When the dust settled, Ryan could see…absolutely nothing. The entire tiny cottage was vacant.
With the moonlight shining on him, he walked to the middle of the room and raised his shovel. He would start looking for her body by cracking the wooden floor open.
His shovel hit the wood with a loud bang and he immediately got to work. Ten minutes later, dripping with sweat, he managed to crack open the floorboard.
With anticipation, he waited for the dust to clear.
Would he find Nancy’s body buried underneath? Kim the hotel receptionist had told him that Nancy’s body had been taken from the church. Where else could the Ocean King have hidden it?
He looked down. He saw nothing. He had cracked open a section of the wooden floor that accounted for almost half the length of the cottage, but he had found nothing.
Desperation sunk into him. Nancy was getting married that very night. He had to find her body to give her a proper burial, or else she, along with her music, would be lost to the world forever.
Just then, he heard a noise on the beach outside. It sounded like music, but a very somber kind. It sounded like the funeral march.
Ryan’s ears perked up. Something was up.
He got up and ran outside.
Something was definitely up.
There was an event on the beach. At first, it was so bright that Ryan had to squint to see what was happening.
Eerie green lights were floating around a raised platform, a stage. The stage was decorated with wilted, rotting roses. Seated in front of the stage was row after row of various dignitaries, all murmuring to one another.
Ryan ignored the din of conversation and focused on the figures on the stage. A tall man in a formal black suit stood in front of a figure in flashy religious garments, complete with a collar that had a skull symbol on it.
Suddenly, the funeral march began playing louder and all the guests stood up, focusing their attention on a beautiful girl in a silky black dress.
Shrouded in the evening mist, she was beautiful.
Ryan realized what he was looking at.
It was a ghost wedding.
It was Nancy’s ghost wedding.
Ryan realized he didn’t have long. The guy with the collar was probably the priest. Nancy’s marriage would be legal in the spirit world soon.
In an attempt to conceal himself, Ryan crept closer to the location. He knew he had to be completely stealthy. One wrong move and he could be discovered.
The solemn music grew louder as he approached the stage.
Up ahead, he could hear the spirit priest starting the ceremony. “Dearly damned, we are here this evening to join His Majesty the Ocean King and his bride, Nancy, in unholy matrimony. Marriage in the spirit world means that the woman will serve the man forever, even if it’s against her will. And forever is a long time.”
Bells began to ring. To Ryan, it felt like a signal. Those bells meant that the ceremony could finally begin.
The priest held up two bells, one in each hand. “These Wedding Bells will ring one hundred times. When the hundredth bell has been rung, the bond that forever binds this spirit to this demon will be permanent.”
Ryan’s eyes widened as his heart palpitated.
Come on, he told himself. Think. What can I do to stop this?
Amid the ringing of the bells in the quiet night, Ryan thought long and hard. He realized that he couldn’t stop the wedding without identifying himself. But what could he do to stop it? He couldn’t stop it by force, even though he had a shovel in his hand. He was sure a mere shovel was no match for demonic power.
As the countdown drew closer and closer to one hundred, Ryan began to panic. He knew he had to do something.
On the ninety-fifth ring, Ryan decided there was only one thing he could do. He stood up and raised both hands.
“Stop,” he shouted. “I object to this marriage.”
The wedding guests gasped as Ryan revealed himself.
F
ifty pairs of yellow eyes stared at Ryan. He gulped. He felt like his heart would beat right out of his chest.
He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and bravely marched up the aisle and then up the stairs. His legs felt like they were buckling from under him, but he ignored them. The urge to save Nancy was the only source of strength he had.
Ryan looked ahead. Nancy was gorgeous in her silky dress, her long hair blowing in the wind.
“Ryan!” she cried. “You came!”
The priest stopped ringing the bells and glared at him with yellow eyes. “It doesn’t work that way. No one has a right to object at a spirit wedding, least of all a puny human.”
Poised and suave in his wedding suit, the Ocean King motioned for the priest to stop talking. “It’s my wedding, Irreverend. Let me handle this.”
The Ocean King smirked at Ryan. “How dare you ruin my wedding. You have no right to object. Why don’t you just run along before I lose my temper?”
Fists clenched, Ryan stood his ground. “Give me Nancy.”
“Or what?” The Ocean King laughed in his face. “There’s nothing you can do.” He turned to the priest. “Continue ringing.”
The priest rang the ninety-sixth ring, and then the ninety-seventh.
Adrenaline rushed through Ryan’s veins. He felt so helpless.
The Ocean King snapped his fingers. “Gentlemen. Escort our guest out of here.”
The wind picked up, battering Ryan’s body and blowing his black hair all over his face.
When the priest was about to strike one hundred rings, Ryan remembered the Vial of Seraphim that Larry had given him. He didn’t know what it did, but it was worth a shot. He desperately fumbled around in his pocket and took out the Vial, holding it up high.
“Wait!” he shouted.
That got everyone’s attention.
The priest stopped ringing the bells.
“I hold in my hands a very powerful potion,” he lied. Of course he had no idea what it did, but he had to play that card though. It was the only thing stopping the wedding.
He held the Vial up high. “This is the Vial of Seraphim. If you ring the bells one more time, I will unleash the potion on you. It will kill all spirits within a five-mile radius.”
The wedding guests gasped and started to panic. They stood up, some even attempting to flee the scene.
The Ocean King waved one hand dismissively. “You’re bluffing. I’ve never heard of a Vial of Seraphim.”
Ryan drew himself up to full height, even thrusting his chest out at the Ocean King. “Do you want to take that chance?”