W is for Wisp

Wisp floated in the corner, having assured us that there was nothing we could do. We had asked Wisp about Death but Wisp had only told us that Death could not be summoned. According to Wisp there was no need to do anything more as once you had the idea to see Death, then Death would come. But there was something odd about Wisp’s words. As I have previously mentioned ‘talking’ in spirit form was done by images — you thought of the words you wanted to say and the words would appear to the person you sent them to. The font, colour and size would change according to the person ‘speaking’ or the mood of the speaker at the time. Wisp’s words appeared in a light, feathery handwriting just as they had before but now there were bold words beneath the messages. The large letters were faint, though, and try as I did I couldn’t make them out.
I puzzled away at this in the corner while I absent-mindedly flexed and relaxed my tentacles. I desperately wanted to see if I could pick things up but I didn’t want to show my abilities to Death before Death arrived. If I were an oddity in this world then I might be able to use that to distract Death.
‘Do you think Death can see into our heads before it meets us?’ I asked both Wisp and Jonathan. Wisp’s reply came through first, again in that strange double-talk.
‘Of course not. Why would everyone be afraid of having Death in their head if Death could do it before they meet?’
This time I managed to make out a couple of the bold words behind Wisp’s message: ‘TIME COME’. I tried to forget them as soon as I thought of them. It felt as though someone was crawling through my mind, prehensile feathers were tickling out the thoughts I wanted hidden. It was the worst betrayal, the most invasive horror that I had ever experienced. The touch of the being was gentle, so soft that I couldn’t be sure when it had started but I could feel who it was. The question that burned through me so brightly that it was very visible to my new inhabitant, the question that hurt with its fire, was ‘Why is Wisp searching my mind?’