Chauncy Higgs breathed heavily, staying close to his father. His Gellerite drawn, he felt unsettled by the lull in the fight.

  “Is it over?” He whimpered, eyes searching the surroundings.

  To him, every tree blanketed in fog looked like the Banshee, every branch ready to tear him open.

  “Easy now, buddy…” Mickey’s eyes glowed, his technique suppressing the fear in his son through Suggestion. “It’s gonna be alright. Just keep your head and trust your witch. She’ll pull through for you, and we will be out of here in no time.”

  He trudged along, towards the bright Resolve signatures of their Diamond fellows.

  “And hey, if you show her how cool you were fighting a serious Banshee, she might offer up a kiss like Joe’s witch.” He snickered.

  “Trust me, you don’t want her to start acting like Winona.” Tornado Joe looked to them. “You’ll hardly be able to hug your own mother, let alone talk to the other witches.”

  “She has terrible taste.” Mickey smacked his arm, becoming concerned at the blood it left on his hand, “Hey you all good? You’re bleeding, bud.”

  “The smokes are working to staunch it.” Joe puffed out. “It’s shallow anyhow. I’m good.”

  “She hasn’t tried to drown us.” Elroy brought this discussion back to the hunt.

  Mickey nodded, lighting up his own cigarillo, “It’s odd behavior. She must be looking to wear us down first. Strike when we are flustered.”

  Mickey studied the men from the shadow of his hat. The older Gun was wavering on Resolve at this point. He had been using Suggestion on all three of his companions for the entire fight, clearing the dread of the Banshee and reining in their focus. It took extra to keep Chauncy together. Spirits like Persephone had a severe effect on the mental state of all but the most experienced and balanced Six-Guns. Joe and Elroy were good, but without Mickey’s Suggestion they would have succumbed to the Banshee’s evil eye. Mickey knew this, and it had turned this hunt into an endurance test for the older Gun. Looking between them, Mickey felt obligated to keep them alive at any cost.

  Joe pursed his lips, finding the break in the Banshee’s aggression concerning. To his mind the spirit should be ready to strike again. The Ghast Rounds would have obliterated her corporeal form for now, but there was much more to a Banshee than that. The risk of an attack from the water had skyrocketed. Joe wasn’t as familiar with spirits as Mickey; but he knew what the smart move was, and this spirit was smart.

  He couldn’t let her go for Mickey or Chauncy, they wouldn’t survive. Joe had to make himself the target again somehow. He recalled Lou Cobb during their confrontation with Geld. Lou had dropped all intentionality, basically surrendering to the beast. That was the key, that was divine inaction at work. He hoped he would survive to thank Louey for giving him the idea.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Alright…” He breathed out, loosening his shoulders, “I trust you, Winona…”

  Mickey understood exactly what was happening, his eyes wide as he looked to the Diamond in the delta poncho.

  When Tornado Joe’s Resolve Stall lowered, precisely the moment he let his guard down, several pairs of hands gripped his ankles. He felt a tugging as he fell into the water. His body began to turn over as if he was in a deep lake. Countless hands and arms gripped him, each one bloated and blue. Joe performed the Rite of Release again and reformed his Resolve Stall.

  “Joe!” Chauncy panicked and dove in after him. Elroy and Mickey both looked over in shock.

  Tornado Joe surfaced with a gasp. He was no longer sinking in the deep, the water was shallow enough that he could stay on his hands and knees. Looking around, Joe could see he was no longer in the same part of the bayou. This place didn’t feel like the bayou at all. The water was opaque, but lacked the grime and algae. There were no trees around him, none made of bark and branches. What surrounded him in all directions, as far as the eye could see, were trees of corpses. Countless men mangled and mutilated, a grim forest of trophies. The blood seeped and dripped continuously. Tornado Joe’s mind strained against the horrifying display of cruelty.

  “Breathe, Joe…” He told himself, lacking any Suggestion from Mickey. “This can’t be real...”

  Chauncy flailed about behind him, coughing and sputtering. He turned to face the younger Gun, eyes wide.

  “How the Hell did you get here?” He grimaced.

  Chauncy caught his breath, on all fours. “I-I followed you in! I couldn’t let her take you.”

  “Great, now she took both of us instead.” Joe snarled, “This ain’t good.”

  A flicker of movement caught his eye. He looked to his left, turning fully to get a good look at the lonely structure in this swamp of corpses. A manor sat in the water, seemingly abandoned and decrepit. The signs of neglect were evident in the crumbling wood and broken glass. Every window was busted, impenetrable darkness within. From a second floor window, a beautiful woman walked by. Her hair shone in the darkness, her skin was like porcelain. She left his view. In the cross-shaped attic window, the horrifying visage of the Banshee, that mouth unnaturally agape, frightened Joe with its sudden appearance.

  Instinctively he reached for his pistol. True fear set in when his hand swiped at nothing. The holster was empty, he was unarmed. Heart racing, his eyes snapped to Chauncy. The younger Higgs didn’t have his gun either. Two Six-Guns, sans guns. Joe’s confidence was wavering fast.

  Chauncy could see the panic on the blue eyes of the Diamond. It didn’t bode well for him, he was counting on the Diamonds to get it done. Chauncy knew he had to try his family’s technique. Suggestion did not require a hand sign, but it required focus and intentionality, something he had been lacking in the face of the horrible spirit. He gathered himself, eyes glowing, and focused on giving Joe his confidence back.

  The Suggestion quieted a storm of fear in Joe’s mind. The influence of the Banshee weathered away in the face of Chauncy’s Resolve spell. He looked back to his junior Gun, feeling a new appreciation for Hearts.

  “We just have to survive.” Joe told him, “Buy time for the witches. I believe that Persephone has brought us here to wear down our spirits. She’s toying with her prey.”

  The thought sent chills down Chauncy’s spine, but he knew it was critical that he maintain his Suggestion on Joe as long as possible. If she got Joe, she got both of them. Chauncy knew that. Joe’s confidence reassured him, in turn letting him maintain that confidence with Suggestion. This symbiotic relationship would be tested in the face of the Banshee.

  Joe offered a bloody hand, “We just have to play her game for a while. I think we have to go in.”

  With fear suppressed by Suggestion, Tornado Joe entered the corpse of a house in the strange place under the bog. In times like these he focused on something which made him happy, to offset what was distressing him. His mind was on Winona Grey, as it nearly always was.