The Phantom turned and roared. He began to lose shape, like he was melting. As his skin bubbled, I realized he was melting into a burned man. Then, the Phantom lost his form, becoming more of a two armed, two legged blob than a man. His limbs began to warp, then pulse and bubble. It was impossible to maintain the illusion of his humanity. 

For the first time, the Phantom didn’t only have eyes for me. Instead, he was completely focused on Castor. The irises of his eyes seemed to bounce around, but they always came back to Castor.

He charged right at Castor, moving faster than I’d ever seen the Phantom move. He slammed into Castor—and was blocked only by Castor’s sword. Castor pushed him back.

But it wasn’t enough. The Phantom flew forward towards him again, arms out to strike. Again, Castor blocked. But this time, the Phantom seemed to ooze around the sword, literally melting over the blade towards Castor. 

No, towards the stuffed bunny clasped in Castor’s other hand.

“Ori—” Castor started, but the Phantom’s ooze surrounded his throat. He was choking. He couldn’t get any words out, couldn’t summon his Constellation.

Castor, knowing he was trapped, locked at me. He seemed resigned. He knew what he had to do. He had to trust me, or die. 

He spiralled the bunny through the air toward me. It rose, flying away on Castor’s wind. The Phantom shrieked and slammed into Castor—and suddenly Castor was stuck inside the gooey Phantom. Unable to move. Struggling to breathe. 

Castor tried to wrench himself out of the Phantom, but as with quicksand, the more he moved, the more the slimy Phantom overtook him.

I looked around for the bunny. It dangled above us from the edge of a broken wooden beam. Its button eyes stared down at me as it swayed back and forth. I could use a targeted fire attack, but it would probably envelop the whole ceiling and kill us all. A large water attack would do the same—bring the roof down on all of us—and there was no guarantee it would destroy the heart. I was weaker at water anyway. I’d have to do a small fire attack. 

The Phantom crept towards me—and then stopped shrieking. He twisted and I could see that Castor, still gasping for air, had stabbed through the Phantom straight into the floor. The Phantom was stuck.

“Go,” Castor gasped.

I raised one hand. “Small fire, small fire, small fire,” I murmured to myself. I opened my hand and a small flame flew towards the rabbit. It missed. Jesus Christ.

Again. I could hear Castor choking. He wouldn’t last much longer. I had to get this next one. 

I stood up and just as I shot off a third small flame, something grabbed my foot and pulled. The flame went wild and hit the wooden beam. The fire caught and began to spread slowly across the ceiling.

I looked at my foot to see a hand stretching from the Phantom. And more were reaching towards me. The Phantom had grown four new arms and all of them were coming straight towards me.

The hands grabbed me—in my hair, on my arms, my leg—and dragged me back towards the Phantom. I screamed as I slid closer and closer to him. I kicked at his hands, his melting hands, but my feet went right into him. The Phantom pulled me back and I flew into his goopy body, landing right next to Castor.

Castor had faded—he was on the verge of passing out. With the little maneuverability I had, I reached out and scraped the Phantom’s goop off his mouth and throat. He gasped in air and began to come around. He wasn’t quite able to speak, still breathing deeply, but he jerked his head at the stuffed animal. I twisted to look.

Castor’s wind hit the bunny and I knew I had one shot, one chance. The wind pulled the bunny free from the broken wooden banister and I reached out a hand. The stuffed bunny dropped. I called on my fire. A small, deliberate strike. It flew at the bunny and I’d never prayed so hard that something would work.

The fire flew and for a moment, I was sure I’d missed. But then it connected. The plush bunny burned, turning to ash. The ash rained down on us.

The Phantom spasmed. He shook and became more and more liquid. He fell, taking us with him as he completely fell apart. We hit the ground and the Phantom splattered everywhere with one last screech. We were completely covered with liquid and goopy creature bits.

Castor and I looked at each other. I smiled, so freaking relieved that it was all over, but he just sighed and turned away.

“Hey, I just saved your life,” I said.

Castor stood, brushing the slime off of himself.

“You saved your own life,” he said.

Before I could respond, loud applause began behind us.