Thomas Book: The Phantom Gate

The Phantom Gate
The Phantom Gate is the 2nd in a series of books featuring Thomas Book as the main Character.

1. Dr. Phantom has built the Phantom Gate (it looks like the St. Louris Arch).  This gate is a portal through which the living can see and speak with their dead loved ones. The gate is something like a fly trap in that it does attract the spirits of the dead to it so that they can communicate with the living. They can appear and communicate once but then they are trapped within the gate itself.

2. Dr. Phantom has made a deal with something on the Other Side to return the soul of his young daughter in exchange for one thousand souls. He builds the Phantom Gate to get his daughter and collect the fee he must pay the 'thing'.

3. The 'Thing' says that for the soul of his daughter to cross back through the Phantom Gate, he must give of his own soul. Dr. Phantom tries to cheat the 'Thing' by giving not of his soul but of another. This screws up the transference once the Thing realizes that he's been cheated.

4. When the girl materializes on this side of the Phantom Gate, she is part-wraith and her touch can suck the life (or the soul) right out of someone. Not knowing that her touch is harmful, she runs to her father, the Doctor, and hugs him. The touch sucks the life from his body and Thomas tries to pull her off of him.

5. Even touching her dress knocks Thomas back like he's touched a live wire and he lays on the ground with his soul partially detached from his body. The girl, freaked that she's just killed her father, runs off into the night leaving Thomas partially dead.

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This book introduces the following concepts:

1. The Shadowlands
2. Wraiths
3. The House of Blackwell