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Charles clocked it first, since he’d been actively talking to Crystal at the time, but Edwin wasn’t far behind. They turned almost in unison to see why she’d suddenly stopped walking.
“Oh, this is delicious,” Crystal’s voice said, her head tilted at an odd angle, her eyes pure white. “We haven’t tasted anything this strong in eons.”
“Crystal?” Charles said hesitantly as he approached her. “You still with us?”
Whatever had gotten hold of Crystal looked at him with her eyes and a curious smile. “And this one has a pair of pet ghosts! Even better!” The more she said, the more voices Charles heard underneath hers, speaking through her.
“Charles, you may want to step back,” Edwin said, a hand on Charles’s elbow. “Whatever is happening, it does not seem friendly.”
“It calls us ‘it’!” the voices coming from Crystal said, cackling wildly. “We are far more than either of you ever could be, and she is far more than she ever was before. You would do well to respect us!” A stray tear escaped Crystal’s eye and slid down her cheek.
“Right, got a play here, Edwin?” Charles said, stepping back.
“A ward might do it,” Edwin said, looking over Crystal analytically. She seemed to be fighting back against whatever had hold of her, evidenced by the tears now flowing freely, and the way her expression flickered and changed. “It would at least give her some leeway to free herself, if it doesn’t do the trick entirely. This should only take a moment.” He stepped forward and set a hand on Crystal’s shoulder, muttering an incantation.
Crystal’s face sneered, her lip twitching menacingly despite the crying and the desperate furrow in her brow. “It thinks a mere ward can contain us! We are many, and it is but one! It will learn—“
There was a crack, and a flash, and Crystal crumpled to the ground, sobbing. Charles went to his knees next to her, an arm around her shoulders, and she clung to him. Her eyes were melting back to normal, much more slowly than usual, and her body jerked every so often as she fought her way free with the help of Edwin’s ward.
Finally, she heaved in a huge breath, and eased off of Charles a little, all the power gone from her eyes. “Holy shit, thank you,” she said, looking up at Edwin. She scrubbed at the tears with one hand and sniffled.
“What happened?” Edwin asked, his tone betraying none of the worry he’d felt on her behalf.
“It was so gross,” Crystal said with a shudder. “It was like falling into a fountain that hasn’t been cleaned in forever, or like being swallowed. It was really old, and hungry. I couldn’t… it was trying to make me part of it, or my powers, anyway.”
“Think it’ll come back?” Charles asked, rubbing her shoulder soothingly.
“I don’t know,” Crystal said, sniffling again. “I could sort of fight it off on my own, but that ward made it way easier.”
“I can enchant an object with something similar,” Edwin offered. “A piece of jewelry, perhaps, so you can have it on you at all times?”
Crystal nodded, moving to get up off the ground. “That would be great.”
Charles stood, too, and smiled. “Let’s get back to the office, then, get that sorted.”
Crystal felt something prod at the back of her mind, and did her best to shove it back out.