The Phantom Crystal

Entity in the Tunnel Part 2

I’m outside of my body.

I can’t believe this. I glance down at my hands and then my legs. Every inch of me is completely transparent. Reaching up, I press my palm against my cheek. And yet I still feel solid.

What have I just gotten myself into?

I glance over at my body and my eyes widen. While my bangs were already white, now my entire head is fully white! And my skin appears paler and with less color under my jacket. My clothes appear to have gained a thin layer of frost near the shoulders and down on the calf of my jeans.

My jeans? Or should I say Phantom’s jeans? It’s still my body right? Just with some minor changes?

Then the Phantom looks over at me, a sharp smirk on his face.

I gasp.

My usual blue eyes are now Phantom’s crimson eyes. And they’re glowing!

“Thanks for lend, sweetheart,” Phantom says, flexing his (my?) hands. “I haven’t felt this good in eons.”

My mind races as I try to process Phantom’s voice coming out of MY mouth. Phantom looks over to Lux, his grin spreading wider and rolls his (my?) shoulders. Phantom spreads out his hands as they glow blue.

Lux finally smashes through the ice, a huff of a laugh escaping the large entity as he looks down at us. A predatory smirk widens across his face as he chuckles.

“Nice threads, Phantom,” Lux says, eyes flickering over to me. “And here I thought the Baggins’ clan was smarter than this. You were a fool to hand your body over to him like that, child.” Lux reloads his gun and points it at us as I shiver and Phantom moves to stand further in front of me. “Because I don’t plan on holding back.”

“Stay behind me,” Phantom whispers as Lux c***s his gun. “Just because you don’t have a physical form doesn’t mean that Lux can’t hit you. He’s a bounty hunter for GHOSTS. His weapons can still hurt you.”

I barely get a slight nod in when Phantom takes off. Into the air. He winds up and throws ice shard after ice shard down at Lux. The bounty hunter dodges them easily, laughing as he fires shot after shot at the flying Phantom.

I press a hand to my forehead as I stay close to the wall.

I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I just handed my body over to Phantom so he can fight. What if he loses? A sick pit forms in my stomach and I quickly shake my head. Better stay away from those thoughts until it’s more apparent.

My gaze shifts back over to the fighting entities. Phantom is easily dodging around, flipping and floating this way as Lux rolls this way and that way, even running on the walls of the tunnel as he laughs like the maniac he is.

The catches in my throat when Lux launches himself into the air.

HE CAN FLY TOO?

I clutch at my hair as Phantom twirls around Lux as the bounty hunter tries throwing some punches his way.

‘Stay calm, Jack. Just stay calm. Of course, he can fly. He’s a GHOST! Like Phantom.’ I squat down closer to the pipes near the wall as Phantom shoots Lux with a beam of snow and ice, shooting the bounty hunter past me and further down the tunnel. Phantom zooms by, shooting blasts of ice after ice. My eyes widen as I watch as large patches of ice cover the ground and walls. I sink further against the wall as Lux laughs and he pulls another gun out from a pouch on his thigh.

“You’ve always put up a good fight, Phantom,” Lux calls out as he tracks Phantom’s movements. “I‘ll definitely miss our little fights once I’ve captured you.”

Phantom chuckles, spinning out of the way as Lux starts firing the new gun at him, the weapon smaller than the others he's been using. Blasts of what looks to be large plasma-like balls slam into the walls and ceiling behind Phantom as he dodges around.

“You sound pretty confident of your abilities, Lux. But must I remind you of who always comes out on top during our altercations?” Phantom smirks as he throws a wall of snow and ice around himself as Lux fires more plasma at him.

Lux smirks and an uneasy feeling settles in my chest as the bounty hunter stops firing on the Phantom.

“True, but you were usually within the confines of the Ghost Dimension and always had that little assistant of yours to help you. But I don’t see you’re little imp buddy here and the body you’re possessing will give out eventually.”

Lux starts firing again once Phantom drops his makeshift shield. My hands fly to my mouth as Phantom takes a blast to the shoulder throwing him back against the tunnel wall. A distant pressure to my own shoulder forces me to look at my arm. I glance back at Phantom as he growls, holding onto his shoulder, my jacket completely ruined back the plasma. Snarling, Phantom puts his hands together and sends a beam of ice at the bounty hunter. Lux jumps and flips out of the way. The ice beam slams into the wall right where the bounty hunter was, causing the entire tunnel to shake and dust falling from the ceiling.

At the rate that these two are going, they're going to destroy the entire tunnel! And there are students in the building above me in class! They can’t be fighting here.

Frantically, I glance around for any way of leading the two fighting entities out of the tunnel. My eyes land on the door that Phantom and I originally entered through. There! If I can get Phantom to lead Lux back through there and out into the open, maybe we can lead him over to maybe the football field or even the park, AWAY from other students and professors.

Pushing myself to my feet, I manage four steps toward the exit when a familiar chill courses through my body. Spinning around, my mouth dries as I stare up at Lux as he looms over me.

“Going somewhere, kid?” Lux asks, grinning down at me as I take a step back. “You weren’t thinkin’ of bailing on your buddy the Phantom, were you?”

I glare up at him as my heart threatens to pound right out of my chest.

“Your fighting is going to send this place down on top of us! We need to take this to a place with more room.”

A yelp rushes from me when Lux suddenly grabs the front of my jacket. He lifts me until we are at eye level. He grins wolfishly at me as I struggle in his grasp, pulling at his hand. Cold tendrils of fear trickle through my veins as I stare into Lux’s soulless as he pulls me closer, his cold breath hitting me in the face.

“Why, princess? So you and Phantom can slip out of my grasp?”

“Drop him!”

I shout as Phantom rushes in and tackles Lux, causing the bounty hunter to drop me. I land on my knees, rubbing my throat as Phantom punches at Lux.

Well, that didn’t work. I press my back further against the wall as Lux throws Phantom off and the fighting resumes.

The tunnel shakes some more and I can’t help but cover my head as the pipes creak.

This really isn’t going well.

I jerk as Phantom lands roughly next to me, sliding across the floor.

“Phantom!”

I rush to his side and help him sit up. Phantom rubs at a cut right above his left eye as a bruise forms under his right one. I wince. How am I supposed to explain this to Gavin? Fear spreads throughout me. What am I supposed to say to Ian on Friday?

A dark chuckle echoes around the tunnel as a shadow falls over Phantom and me. Mouth drying, I glance over my shoulder, shrinking further into myself as Lux looms over us. Lux points his gun at my forehead.

“I would say that we are quite done here, Phantom, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t want this little human to lose his head, would you?”

My eyes widen as I glance from the gun back up to Lux’s face, his eyes gleaming dangerously. We’re so dead.

“You’re right, Lux,” Phantom says, voice calm as he rolls to his knees. “We are done here.”

My mouth falls open as I shoot Phantom a look of horror. He’s just giving up? Just like that? After all that work? Lux laughs.

“Never thought you would give up so easily, Phantom. You must really be losing your touch.” Lux barks out a laugh as he holsters his gun and pulls out a small cube-like object from one of his many pockets. “Right, so in—“

I gasp as Phantom tackles me and the two of us go start through the wall. My hands fist into his jacket as we pass through a darkness before we pop out outside the building. Phantom shifts his hold on me, putting his arms under my knees and my shoulders, before shooting into the air. I cling to him as Phantom suddenly zooms off toward the dorms. I chance a look over his shoulder just in time to watch Lux appear through the wall. He turns in our direction but he doesn’t follow.

“Uh, Phantom?” I ask, voice cracking.

“He’s not going to follow us, sweetheart,” Phantom says quietly. “He doesn’t like dealing with humans and he knows that the dorms will be full of them. Humans just make his job more difficult and since I’m inside your body, if he tries to take you, ESPECIALLY you, Jack Baggins, he knows that he’s going to have a lot of people hunting HIM.” Phantom looks down at me, a smaller more relaxed smirk on his face. “Besides, Lux always loves a game of cat and mouse. He doesn’t tend to rush these types of things.”

Crossing my arms, I lean back in Phantom’s hold.

“Was that supposed to make me feel better?”

Phantom merely laughs as we fly over Tamarak. Pouting, I glare off toward Lake Bemidji as my mind races.

If Rae finds out about all of this, she’s gonna flip. I clutch at my bangs. When did my life become one giant fantasy adventure? I tremble and shrub my face. I guess people weren’t lying when they said that college starts a whole new chapter in your life.

“I want a refund,” I mutter harshly into my hand. I feel Phantom’s eyes on me, gaze questioning but I keep my eyes forward.

Can I just sleep for the rest of this semester? Because I’m already mentally exhausted from all of this.