I was shivering by the time the birds set us down. It was humid, and the cold clung to my skin, nearly tangible.

"Are you ready?" I asked Bran.

He nodded. I led us into the forest.

Mist curled between the trees, illuminated by random slices of moonlight that slipped through the canopy above. Leaves crunched beneath our feet. Somewhere, an owl called.

"How close are we?" Bran whispered.

"Almost there."

I closed my eyes for a moment, checking in with my birds. The ghosts were just ahead of us, heading the same direction we were.

A stick cracked beneath my foot.

My birds sent wordless warnings to me, filled with fear and energy. The ghosts had heard. They were coming. We had to run.

I turned and yelled, "Go!" at Bran.

Something moved in the mists, white and flowing. Cold hands closed around my wrists. I fought, but their grips were tight as iron, and they dragged me away from Bran, who had not started running in time. Now he turned to try.

Too late.

As the ghosts forced me away, I craned my neck backward to watch Bran's struggle. He panicked as they grabbed him, beginning to thrash madly. Despair filled my belly. I began to turn away. Wherever these ghosts were taking me, whatever they planned to do, I wanted to meet it face-first.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the ghosts that held Bran flicker out of existence. He fell to the ground. I did a double take.

For a moment he stayed there, slumped against the ground as though unconscious. A few ghosts released me and headed his way. I wondered what he'd done, how he'd found their vulnerable spot. If I could figure it out, maybe I could escape.

Slowly, he began to move. He pulled himself to his feet. The next wave of ghosts was upon him now, but he faced them without fear, and when their hands brushed his skin they dissolved into nothing, like dust blown away by a sudden breeze. He ran toward me. More ghosts released me and turned on him as he came, but they also disappeared. The ghosts that held me picked up their pace. They also began to float higher. I gave a squawk of fear as my feet left the ground, and I struggled to pull away.

"Fyra!" Bran yelled. He ran into my legs at full speed, grabbing on and holding tight. The ghosts were unfazed. But now, with contact between Bran and me, I could access my power.

I called my birds, and they swooped down upon Bran, pulling him higher, so he could reach the ghosts that held me in their tight grasp. The instant he touched them, they melted to nothing. My birds caught me as I began to fall. They lowered us down to the ground. Bran instantly sat down, breathing hard.

"We can't stop now," I told him. "The ghosts are getting away with Reed and Lark."

"Just a second," he said, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Okay," I said. "If, after that, you don't feel up to walking, my birds can carry you."

"Thanks." After a moment, he put his hands on his knees and eased himself to his feet. "I'm all right, though. I'm ready. Let's keep going."

"Stay close," I said as we continued onward. "I don't know what you did or how you did it, and this is probably not the time for a lengthy explanation, but if you can make them disappear by touching them, it'd be best for me to stay within reach."

One of my birds squawked a warning, and a group of ghosts came suddenly out of the mist, headed straight toward us. I stopped walking. Bran stepped in front of me.

"Do you need me to do anything?" I asked.

"Just don't let them take me."

I nodded. These were new powers that Bran was using, so I figured that it wasn't entirely unlikely for him to keel over once he'd exhausted himself, and then he'd want me to help get him out of there. However, as he destroyed the ghosts one by one, he seemed to be gaining energy. His movements grew more sure. When he was done, he turned to me, a smile on his face. He wasn't even breathing hard.

"Shall we continue?" he asked.

"Sure."

I took the lead again, threading my way between trees and bushes and rocks. My birds told me we were almost there.

"Get ready," I told Bran.

After a moment more, we entered another clearing, and there they were. The ghosts held Reed and Lark in a tight grip, carrying them in a way that forced them to walk or be dragged. They had chosen to be dragged. The two ghosts that were not busy forcing them forward held Reed's pen, and Lark's violin and bow.

Lark and Reed's heads snapped up as we entered the clearing. A mixture of hope and fear flowed into their faces.

Lark said, "You came."

The ghosts released them and flowed toward us. For a minute, everything was cold, immaterial bodies, and sharp gasps, and the sound of feet on crisp leaves. Bran twirled in place, disappearing all the ghosts he touched. Reed and Lark looked on in amazement.

Soon, the ghosts were all gone.

Lark rushed to retrieve her violin and bow from the forest floor before the damp could do any damage. Reed picked up his pen and walked swiftly over to Bran.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Bran admitted. "Does it matter?"

"Maybe," said Reed, a shrewd curiosity in his gaze. "It might help us defeat the Magician."

"What did you feel?" Lark asked. "When you did whatever you did, I mean. How did it feel? What gave you the idea to do it?"

Bran shrugged. "I don't know. I just did it. They were grabbing me, and some sort of weird feeling came over me, like... like there was a loose thread. I pulled at it."

Reed and Lark both looked confused.

"That doesn't help us understand," I said.

"I know."

"What were those things, anyway?" Lark wondered. "Do we really believe they were ghosts?"

"It doesn't matter what we believe," said Reed. "We saw them. They're real, and they're dangerous."

"We don't know that yet."

He laughed humorlessly. "They tried to kidnap us. I think it's pretty clear."

"Did you have any idea why?" I asked.

Lark shook her head. "They didn't speak at all. They just grabbed my violin, and Reed's pen, and they carried us into the woods."

"They might have been planning to kill us," Reed said.

"Again," said Lark, "we don't know that. We shouldn't assume anything."

"Then what should we do?" Reed demanded. He didn't seem angry, but a certain tone in his voice hinted at some complicated, muddied emotion hiding beneath his words. "We failed. We came out here to find where the ghosts were coming from, and we didn't."

"But Bran did kill a lot of them," I pointed out. "Maybe that's enough."

"You think that was all of them?" Bran asked.

"Maybe. I don't know."

Lark shifted uncomfortably. "I don't feel right about claiming our supplies on an uncertainty."

"Then we tell them the truth." I looked to Reed. "What do you think? There's a fair chance that they'll be happy enough that we've killed a bunch of the ghosts, and they'll give us the supplies and send us on our way."

"Maybe," said Reed. "And if they refuse?"

Lark plucked one of the strings of her instrument, making a slight adjustment with the tuning peg. "We'll figure something out. Maybe Fyra's birds can help us find food in the forest."

Reed didn't look convinced, but he nodded. "Okay. We'll try."

"Fyra?" Lark asked. "Can you get us out of here?"

"I think so," I said, a bit uncertainly. "Bran will need to lend me a bit of energy, though. I'm exhausted."

Lark offered me a grateful smile. "Thank you for coming for us."

"You're welcome." I hesitated, then added, "But I couldn't have done it without Bran."

"And I wouldn't have come without your prodding," said Bran. "It was a joint effort." He held out a hand to me. "Are you ready?"

"I think so."

I took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. A strange, uncomfortable feeling came over me. I hadn't felt much guilt in my life. Now, though, I felt suddenly sick, aware that I was using Bran's power, leeching off of him, even after everything I'd already done to him. Maybe...

No. No maybes. I'd been in the wrong.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I didn't want Lark and Reed to hear. "I- I was cruel."

"I forgive you," said Bran. "And I'm sorry too. For everything."

I hesitated. I didn't really know how to properly forgive someone.

"It's all right," Bran said. "If you can't mean it yet, that's okay. I can wait until you do."

I shook my head. "No. I forgive you. And if I ever act in a way that betrays that, feel free to... I don't know, slap me in the face. Or something."

"I'll just tell you."

"Okay," I said. A slight smile broke out on my face. "Thank you."

He grinned back. "You're welcome."

His power flowed through me, and I closed my eyes.

Nice, Bran! Cool powers! If you want Bran to do more magical stuff, please vote!