The next few days passed peacefully - with no more deaths reported, only a massacred pack of wolves found at the perimeters of the fief. It meant the wraith was moving.

At the end of the week, two huntsmen went missing after they went to the forest and never returned. Ravin and Captain Rogre searched for them for two days but found neither the men nor their bodies.

Ravin shook his head. Every day, he left the castle at the sunset to search for the wraith's tracks in the forests around the town and the villages, but every day he came back with nothing. He warned the villagers not to leave their houses after nightfall, but he refused to take Jules along.

"You're staying here. That's not up for discussion," the hunter got up to grab his bag. He took a book in a leather cover out of it and placed it by Jules' plate. "I've brought you something. It's Pritchard's spellbook. I used to learn from it," he explained when the boy started to flick through it. "I want you to find the Circle of Annihilation and memorise it."

"So I'll be able to help you with the wraith," Jules nodded with eagerness shining in his eyes. "I won't let you down!"

"You'll learn it by heart because I won't have you lounging around when I don't have time to train you," Ravin stood up and walked to the door. Having taken his reila, he stopped at the threshold. He took a piece of chalk out of his pocket and tossed it to Jules. "You have the whole corridor to practice in."

As he ate his dinner, Jules lay on the bed and started to thumb the book. The pages, old and yellow, rustled under his fingers. The circles were so much more complicated than the simple protective runes he and Ravin had drawn on the castle walls.

"What are you reading?" Rosalie appeared by his side. Jules reached for his blanket. "I don't like the look of it."

"It's the Circle of Annihilation," Jules pushed the book toward her. The circle, drawn in black ink, looked sinister on the old paper. "Usually, we send ghosts to the underworld, but this thing... It destroys the soul."

Rosalie pulled back, away from the book, her eyes widening with terror.

"No, don't be afraid," Jules closed the book. "It's not dangerous until I draw it with a rod, and fuel it with the magic contained in the night pearls."

"Jules, I don't want you to do this," the ghost girl shook her head. Her empty eyes pierced him. "No one deserves it. She was a kind person. She really tried to heal me!"

"Melissa is gone," Jules reminded. "The thing that is left, the wraith... It's not her. It can't be saved."

Rosalie went silent, and he opened the book again to read the descriptions written around the circle. As his eyes moved over the words, his eyebrows were rising on his forehead until they hid under his curly fringe. There was the six-arms star in the circle, and at the tip of each arm, surrounded by runes, there was the symbol standing for the night pearls. By its side, an attached character word read 'a ghost'. A little arrow linked it to an incantation. There were no additional runes. The incantation must work without any magical symbols, so he wouldn't need a rod to try it.

"Has Lady Lenster told you anything about summoning ghosts?" Jules stared at the formula, blinking as if he expected it to disappear before his eyes. "If I called you, would you appear to me no matter if I was here or outside the castle?"

"No one has ever tried to summon me," she slowly shook her head, peeking over his shoulder at the incantation. "You must try it one day. I would enjoy a trip to the meadows by the lake."

He nodded shortly before she dissolved in the air.

For the next few hours, Jules drew the Circle of Annihilation all over the floor, covering the corridors with signs and runes, until the chalk gave out. The first sketch's quality was so poor the boy asked the servants for a basket and a brush, and then rubbed the floor clean. With each attempt, the circles looked more accurate. Jules tried hard to memorise all the symbols so that he could draw the circle only peeking at the book from time-to-time.

He wiped his hands free of chalk, sat on the floor cross-legged and opened the book. He scanned through the page until his eyes focused on the incantation linked to the ghost written into the circle.

"In the name of the Mother of Light, the Highest Goddess Ziva, I call forth the ghosts of the ones who lived and died before me. Come to my aid..." he read slowly and clearly. Magic pulsed around him. Did he imagine it? "I call on Rosalie Ar-"

"Jules!" Ravin's voice came cold and sharp. "What the hell are you doing?"

Jules jumped up and slammed the book shut. He turned around to see his master striding toward him, his face tense and his eyes stern. Jules knew this expression. Goddess, he was in trouble.

"But it's in the book you gave me!" the boy showed the page to Ravin and tapped his fingers against the incantation. "You see?"

"I told you to learn how to draw the circle, not to summon ghosts," Ravin examined the chalk symbols he'd just stepped on. Then his eyes wandered to the other circles covering the floor. "I see you've had a busy day."

"I remember it almost completely," Jules motioned at the spellbook. "But why did we mine for night pears if we could just summon a couple of ghosts instead? We wasted so much time!"

"Hunters don't summon ghosts, boy. We help them to leave this world, not keep them here," the hunter's dark eyes pierced into Jules'. "Don't you ever try it again. When you open the gate between the worlds, you can never know what will squeeze through it."

"But what they haven't left this world? I wouldn't have opened anything while summoning Rosalie..."

"No means no," the hunter took the book from Jules and returned to their room.

"But you must admit my circles are good," Jules motioned toward the corridor. "You won't let me fight with the wraith. I get it. I know I would be useless anyway. But I'm good at runes! I can draw the circle for you! Let me do this much!"

"Jules," Ravin closed his eyes and rubbed the dark circles under them. "When you draw runes in chalk, you can correct them or re-draw them. But once you use a rod, it's impossible. If you make a mistake, you have to redraw circle, and no human can do that. Look at the pattern, at all these runes," Ravin opened the book and held it open for his apprentice. "Can you imagine how much magical energy would you consume drawing them all? You do it just once, and you'll need to rest for a few days until your Sixth Sense regenerates after all that effort."

"So if I made a mistake... I would ruin everything?"

"It's still too much weight on your shoulder," the hunter gave Jules' back a pat. "I'm sure you'll grow into a strong man and a powerful mage, but now you're just a boy."

Jules turned to close the door, but then he heard a light, fast footsteps coming from the staircase. He peeked out at the corridor. A maiden was running toward them, trying to jump over the circles he'd drawn, visibly afraid to step on them. She couldn't know they weren't potent until drawn with a rod, as it was magic that made them work.

"Captain Rogre demands your presence!" she stopped as she noticed him. "It's urgent!"

Ravin scooted to the guardhouse. Jules trotted by his side, trying not to stay behind. When they entered the yard several ravens flew up with a croak; the hunter ducked when one almost hit his head.

"Damned birds," he stamped his foot as a raven, wandering around and pecking at crumbs, didn't get out of his way. The bird cawed with indignation and flew away.

Jules followed Ravin closely as the man walked into the guardhouse and headed to the Captain's office. He knocked at the door, but then opened it and walked inside, not waiting for a response. The boy slipped into the room after him and froze.

By the desk, a dirty woman in ragged clothes hugged a little, crying girl close to her chest, while the Captain was wrapping them both in a grey, barracks blanket.

"It's Mrs Thatcher, the Chief's wife," Captain Rogre turned toward Ravin. The woman looked up at the sound of his voice. Her eyes, reddened and swollen, were like two grey voids.

"I see, but why are they here?" The hunter motioned at Jules to stay behind as he neared the woman. "What happened? Where's your husband?"

"She killed them all," her chapped lips barely moved as she whispered. "She came at night, killed and ate them. The whole village!"

The Chief's wife burst into crying and neither Ravin nor Jules couldn't understand her words anymore.