Chapter ONE - Weebly

path of escape. Folter looked at the thieftaker once,
perhaps weighing another assault. Instead, he ran up the
wharf back toward Purchase Street.
With the harbor at his back and the air heavy with
moisture, Ethan had enough water at hand to cast an
elemental spell. He spoke it quickly under his breath
—“Imago ex aqua evocata”; illusion, conjured from
water—and at the same time made a small flicking
gesture with his hands, directing the charm so that the
image formed directly in front of Folter.
Instantly the air around him felt charged, as it did
when a storm came upon a ship at sea; as it did any
time he conjured. Ethan felt the hairs on his neck and
arms stand on end.
The old ghost appeared at Ethan’s side, glowing a
rich reddish brown like the moon when it hangs low in
the night. His eyes gleamed like brands, and they held a
hint of annoyance, as if Ethan had torn him away from
something too important to be interrupted for a mere
illusion spell. Not that the ghost could refuse him. He
was Ethan’s guide, a spectral guardian of the powerladen
realm between the living world and the domain of