Chapter 6: Who's She

Alice drifted in and out of sleep, listening to the conversation that floated on the edge of her consciousness.

“Have you ever seen a Summoning Spirit exorcise a poltergeist without help from their Summoner before?” The voice was modulated, but pleasant. It belonged to Gale. He sounded relaxed, but Alice detected a hint of concern. Why was he worried? Had something happened?

“Not like that,” Mandie’s smokey voice replied, she also seemed anxious. “Spirits that work with Firsts have been known to learn some incantations, but I’ve never heard of one casting high level spells right off the bat. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Alice summoned a Curse Spirit.”

Curse Spirit? What’s that?

“That’s impossible,” Chase’s voice chuckled softly. “Curse Spirits aren’t Summoner material, they only work with Tamers last time I checked.”

“That’s not true. I’ve heard of a Possessions Summoner being linked with a Curse Spirit,” Jackson blandly countered. “Alice’s could be an anomaly like that.”

Anomaly?

“It’s very unlikely that would happen unless Alice came from a long line of Summoners, which she doesn’t.” Mandie’s voice seemed further away than before.

“Hey Alice,” a snarky voice filled Alice’s mind, drowning out the others. “You should really wake up. These exorcists are making assumptions and it’s kinda annoying.”

Alice shot up, eyes wide and fuzzy with sleep. The room spun as the blood drained from her head, forcing her to lay back down. Alice heard giggling.

She looked to her right and saw a young Asian girl sitting on the table next to her, laughing quietly into her thin hand. She had soft, delicate features and long black hair that covered part of her porcelain face and dark eyes, but the mischief in her face was unmistakable.

“What are you laughing at?” Alice asked, sharper than she her intended.

The girl stopped and wiped a tear from her dark, brown eyes as she sat up. “You.”

Alice recognized that arrogant tone. It was the same as the girl from last night, and the one that had woken her up. She thought back, but the only thing she could remember clearly was a voice. “You’re the one who told me to wake up,” Alice figured she had nothing to lose, though she wasn’t entirely sure if she was right or not. She tried, unsuccessfully, to remember what all had happened the night before, but kept coming up with blanks.

“Well, yes, but that was a few hours ago. I wasn’t expecting such a shocked reaction to happen now. Honestly I was fairly certain I hadn’t gotten through to you-” the girl trailed off in thought.

“Alice?”

She sat up, slower this time but still startled, and turned to see Mandie standing in the doorway to what looked like the kitchen, the other three stood slightly behind her. They all looked confused.

“Yeah?” Alice’s eyes were suddenly heavy with sleep, and a headache began to pulse in the back of her mind.

“Who were you talking to?” Mandie asked, eyeing Alice skeptically.

Alice pointed across from her to where the girl was sitting, “I was just talking to-” she looked at the table, the girl was gone. “The Asian girl,” she paused, expecting her to magically appear just as she had disappeared.

“So she’s Asian, that’s not what I was expecting,” Mandie commented while walking out of the kitchen and taking a seat at the more diningroom-like table on the other side of the room. Near what Alice could only guess was the front door of whatever building they were in. The others followed behind her.

“Yeah, she was sitting right there. Didn’t you guys see her when you first walked in?” Alice asked as she gently stood and walked over to the table everyone was now sitting at.

“News flash numbskull,” the girl flickered into view in the chair next to Gale. “They can’t see or hear me, only you can.”

“Wait…” Alice looked back at the coffee table the girl had been sitting on. “How did you?” This was so confusing. Who was this girl? What on earth was going on here? Why couldn’t the others see her?

“Alice,” Mandie called her frazzled mind back to the present. “I know you must have a lot of questions right now, but I need you to answer something very important for me.”

Alice hesitated, then sat down in the chair next to Mandie, the chair farthest away from the girl who’d laughed at her but now seemed completely uninterested in everything going on. “What is it?” She asked not wanting to take her eyes off of the mischievous girl for a second, afraid she may disappear again.

“Is she surrounded by a black haze?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!” The girl slammed her first on the table, her eyes focused with deadly intent on Mandie. She didn’t even seem to care that none of them could hear her. “What, does she really think I’m one of those monsters! God, she’s gotta be a real crappy First to come to the same conclusion as that blue eyed idiot over there.” She seemed more hurt than anything, but that didn’t stop her from exuding copious amounts of anger into the atmosphere.

The air grew harsh and rigid, but Alice could only see a faint shimmer around the girl, it definitely wasn’t a dark haze. It looked golden. Or maybe green? Orange? She couldn’t quite tell. It was harder to focus on than a small dim light in dark room, but it was there, she couldn’t deny that.

“Not black no. It’s...” she squinted her eyes, trying to focus on the colour. “It’s, more golden than anything. I think. I can’t really make it out.”

Mandie paused, staring at the chair where the girl sat like she was trying to see something she knew she wouldn’t be able to. “Well,” she turned her attention back to Alice, “at least it’s not something I’ll have to deal with right now.”

“What exactly would you have to deal with if it was black?” Alice asked, knowing all too well what would happen next.

Mandie brushed her off, just like she had predicted. “It’s not important. It’s certainly nothing you need to be worrying about.”

“Well I feel like it’s something I should be worried about because of her reaction and the mention of monsters,” Alice crossed her arms, she wasn’t going to budge on this. She wanted to know what was going on, and she was going to find out whether Mandie liked it or not.

“Woah, wait. Reaction? Is she angry?”

Alice looked at the girl again; her black hair was being lifted and ruffled by some force that Alice could neither see nor feel, nothing but rage shone in her eyes--even their mischievous glint was gone--and she had yet to take her eyes off of Mandie. “You could say that, but I’m pretty sure livid is a more accurate word.”

“Well that’s something I wasn’t expecting.” Alice never thought she would hear those words come out of Mandie’s mouth. Even in their short time together Alice had come to the conclusion that Mandie always knew what was going on, why it was going on, and how it was going on. To hear that there was something happening that Mandie hadn’t expected was almost impossible to believe.

And apparently Alice wasn’t the only one that felt that way because both Gale and Chase beat Alice to the punch in asking Mandie what she meant.

“If a spirit is surrounded by a dark haze it means they used what you might refer to as magic when they were alive. If these type of people come back as Summoning Spirits after they die they gain huge boosts in energy from their residual powers. Of course, in order to access these powers they often have to sacrifice their morals or, in rare cases, their memories. These spirits gain unimaginable powers, but they also become corrupted and incredibly volatile, which makes them a danger to anyone around them.”

“Curse Spirits,” Chase mumbled.

Mandie nodded, “That’s exactly right. Curse spirits are the most dangerous type of spirit for a Summoner to be linked to because they can overpower their Summoners energy and natural life force. In a normal relationship the Summoner should be the dominant force and the spirit should be submissive, with a Curse Spirit this relationship is reversed, allowing the spirit to control or even kill their Summoner. As I’m sure you can imagine this creates tons of problems that people like me would rather not deal with. So, as a general rule, we try to exorcise Curse Spirits shortly after they’re first summoned, that way they weaker and have less time to cause trouble.”

“What does any of this have to do with the haze?” Alice asked, trying to break Mandie’s habit of not actually answering the questions you’ve asked.

“The haze is a result of corrupted spiritualist powers. Only exorcists know what it stands for, and only spirits affected by the corruption would be enraged by my question. You’ve told me that your spirit isn’t affected, however she appears to be angry at me for asking. Do you see the paradox?”

Alice nodded dumbfoundedly. Mandie’s explanation actually made a lot of sense. It also explained why the girl mentioned monsters, because from Mandie description it sounded like Curse Spirits were more terrifying than the ghosts she’d been attacked by the previous night. Of course, it didn’t make sense for the girl to know what Mandie had been asking about, but that was the least confusing thing Alice had to focus on right now.

“However, I do also need to consider that you may be completely wrong. But, seeing as I can’t actually see your spirit right now I’m just going to have to trust your amature guess. Moving on from that, how do you feel?”

“Uh, fine, I guess.” Alice hadn’t really had time to think about how she felt. With the girl teasing her when she first woke up and Mandie being all concerned shortly after, she hadn’t really focused on herself. Her head was filled with a persistent pounding, her body throbbed with hints of pain, and her lungs slightly burned every time she took a breath.

She can’t say she had been expecting better, not after the few non-hazy events she could actually remember from the night. “I mean, I’m still worn out from last night, and I guess my head hurts a little,” Alice lied.

Mandie had a skeptical look in her eyes, though she seemed pleased enough. “Well, since I guess you’re not dying we should get to business.”

“Oh boy,” Chase sighed, rising from his seat, “I’ll make the tea.”

“I’ll get the cups,” Gale followed suit.

“I’ll find the sugar,” Jackson finished, then all three boys walked into the next room.

“Business?” Alice asked, watching the boys disappear into the next room over. “What business do we have?”

“Simply put, the business of you. You’re a Summoner, which means you’re part of this world now. Even if you try to avoid this life it’ll always find you. That’s the first thing you’ll have to accept if you choose to carry on: there’s no turning back,” Mandie responded blandly, almost like she had given this speech a thousand times in her life.

“Choose to carry on, what do you mean by choose?” Alice asked. She’d assumed that she was just part of this now, that there was no way out of it. That’s how things like this always worked, you see a bit of magic and by the time you realize what you’re looking at it’s too late to turn back. But Mandie… Mandie was offering her the choice?

“You have a choice in front of you that very few people in my line of work are presented with. You have the chance to turn away from this world, you can go back to being normal, you can’t regain your ignorance of ghosts, but you won’t be haunted by them like we are.”

“How is that possible?”

“You were, well, lucky is the best way I can think to put it. Because of the events of the first time you called your spirit, the Summoning Ritual went uncompleted. The bond between you and your spirit hasn’t formed completely, meaning it’s not too late for you to turn back from your powers as a summoner,” Mandie looked empty. Her eyes had aged hundreds of years in those last few seconds, and all senses of compassion and youth had drained from her face. Just what was she suggesting?

“Turn back from my powers… What do you mean?”

“Your bond is incomplete and your contract has yet to manifest and bond you two together. Meaning I can sever the connection between you two very with little chance of danger. Only if it’s what you want though.”

She could turn back? She could turn back! She didn’t have to be a part of this. She could go back home like nothing had ever happened and carry on with her normal life. She could… Alice saw the look on her spirit's face. Sad, disappointed, angry, shocked, lonely. Betrayed. That word filled Alice’s mind. Betrayed.

A moment ago she’d been about to destroy her spirit just so she could gleefully go back to a world of ignorance. Now she felt nothing but shame. She’d been seconds away from getting rid of someone that was, arguably, alive. The same someone who had saved her life from almost certain death only hours earlier. All because she hadn’t wanted to deal with the responsibility.

Alice took control of her emotions. “It’s a tempting offer, but I refuse. I want to stay a part of this. I’m already in this far, it’d be wrong of me to back out.” The girl smiled.

A sparkle returned to Mandie’s eyes, “I was hoping you would say that.” She stood, pushed in her chair, and smiled, “Now we really need to talk business, but first we need to complete your guy’s bond before it gets stuck like it is now.”

“Wait,” Alice shot out of her seat and followed Mandie as she moved throughout the room, moving furniture closer to the walls. “Our connection can get stuck like this? How do you even know it’s incomplete?”

Mandie just looked at her with an ‘oh you’re adorable face’ after she finished single-handedly moving the couch Alice had been sleeping on. “I saw the connection from, but if you want more proof than that you can just ask your spirit her name.”

“What?”

“Names represent more in the world of spirits than they do in our world, so learning your spirits name will give you more power. It’ll give you slight control over your spirits action as well, but it will mostly be the basis of trust between you and your spirit, which is very important if you want to be a good Summoner.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Alice sighed, realizing that Mandie would only make the connections between her questions and the information  if she was asked for them.

“It’s simple really, you won’t be able to hear your spirits name until the bond between you is completed,” Mandie replied as she finished moving the last piece of furniture out of the middle of the room.

Alice looked at the girl, who’d moved to the couch right after Mandie had moved it. She shrugged, “She’s right. I’ve told you my name about five different times since Mandie first said our bond was incomplete.”

Alice hadn’t heard a thing out of the girl since she’d yelled at Mandie. “Can you say it again?”

The girl shrugged and said her name. Alice could see the girl’s lips move, but no sound reached her ears. Or, she couldn’t say that, sound had reached her ears, she just couldn’t grasp it. Oddly enough, not the weirdest thing to happen in the past twenty-four hours.

Alice looked back at Mandie, “Can’t understand it, can you?”

She shook her head. “It’s really weird. I can hear the sounds, but I can’t understand them.”

Mandie nodded, “Names are an important part of the contract between Summoners and their spirits. In order to understand the name you must first understand your spirit.”

“Alright, so how do we complete the bond?” Alice asked, assuming it had something to do with Mandie clearing all the furniture out of the center of the room.

“By using a ritual,” Chase announced cheerfully walking in front the kitchen, carrying a tray that held six different ghost themed porcelain mugs. Including, but not limited to, one that read ‘Not a ghost but dead inside’, which Chase promptly picked up after he set the tray down on the table. Gale and Jackson had followed closely behind, the latter of which carried six spoons, a container filled with white sugar, a bottle of honey, and a small carton of milk.

“Fantastic, that’s all the information I needed, thanks for enlightening me,” Alice sassed as Gale passed the other cups of tea around the room.

“Well, that’s essentially all there is to it,” Mandie said, then took a sip of her tea. She instantly moved over to the table, grabbed a spoon, opened the container of sugar, and proceeded to add four heaping spoonfuls to her drink. She stirred and took another sip, appearing to be satisfied with the end result she continued.

“Basically, we need to restore the link between you and your spirit,” Mandie babbled absentmindedly as used the chalk to cover the floor with expertly drawn symbols and signs. “Right now, your connection looks like it was formed about a century ago, which it obviously wasn’t. If you were an experienced summoner this type of link would be fine, but you’re not, you’re a novice who, for sake of the argument, doesn’t know the first thing about controlling her powers. Which is why it seems like you can’t connect to your spirit, even though you technically can.”

Alice shifted uneasily on her feet, she’d never liked being told she didn’t have the ability to do something. “So, how do we restore the connection?”

Mandie paused for a moment, then finished drawing the last symbol on the ground to complete an intricate triangular design, tossed the chalk back to Gale, and turned towards Alice. “Well let’s see if I can remember this correctly: your birthday and full name, wax, clay, cloth, something sharp, dirt from a graveyard nearby, and, oh yeah, most importantly the blood of a virgin.”

“Wait…. What?” Alice stammered, more shocked by the ease with which Mandie recited the list than the actual content.

Before Alice could even think about what she was trying to ask both Chase and the girl burst out laughing. At least Gale and Jackson seemed to be just as confused as she was by Mandie’s list, though it was probably for different reasons.

Mandie just smiled, “well, at least some people appreciate my jokes. But in all seriousness I just need your birthday, full name, and a drop of your blood.”

“Umm, Alice Raven Cathal, 18th December 2000,” she responded, still dazed with confusion.

“Cathal? That’s an interesting name,” Mandie said plainly as she searched through the desk for what Alice guessed was a needle or pin. She held one up successfully from the cluttered drawer and walked back over to the group. “Your hand, if you will?”

Mandie held out her hand and Alice placed her’s on top. The exorcist casually flipped Alice’s hand palm up, pricked her finger, and dabbed a spot of blood onto a small square of paper before Alice knew what she had done.

She looked at where the blood was building at the tip of her finger, it didn’t even hurt. She sucked the blood from her finger and watched Mandie place the piece of paper in the center of the triangular design.

“Now if you could tell your spirit to stand inside the triangle we can get started,” Mandie smiled.

***

She was insane. Certifiably insane. If that First thought Nia was going to put one foot inside that ensignia she had another thing coming. She may’ve been dead, but that didn’t make her an idiot. She still had a basic knowledge of magic rattling around in her mind--even if she didn’t seem to have much else in there--and from what she could tell this spell was used to enslave spirits, not connect them to Summoners.

Of course, she guessed it was like one in the same thing. But, enslaving a spirit to their Summoner would put a whole different strain on an already difficult relationship. And, despite having saved her on two different occasions, she could tell Alice didn’t trust her. Mandie didn’t trust her either, of course she couldn’t really blame the exorcist for that. But a Summoner’s powers heavily rely on trust between each party. Mandie had to know that! So what the hell was she thinking?

Was she intentionally trying to sabotage Alice’s powers, or was she just being overly cautious? No, it definitely had to be intentional. The girl looked at the marks, they weren’t just any run of the mill symbols, they were ancient and probably considered unreadable by the Society. Far more advanced than anything the blue-eyed idiot would’ve learned about at the Academy, and definitely too dangerous to teach to people who aren’t certified exorcists.

Okay, so maybe her knowledge covered more than just the basics, but that’s beside the point.

There was the possibility that these were the only spells Mandie knew how to cast. That she didn’t even truly know what this spell did. But that didn’t make sense either, she was a First. She had to be smarter than that.

The girl looked up to see Alice staring at her. “What?”

“Can you get in the triangle?” Alice asked. Actually, it was less like asking, more like telling, but at least she was trying to be nice about it. The girl couldn’t blame her, there was no way she could know what she was asking. Blatant refusal it was then.

“If you ask nicer.” Well that wasn’t what she had intended to say. Oh well, can’t go back now, she was just going to have to make this work. She could swing this, right? If she was lucky the current parameters of the Circuit might not even affect her.

“What?” That probably came out harsher than she had intended. Always good to give the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this.

“What?” Mandie asked, apparently she hadn’t been expecting this either.

“If you ask nicely I’ll do almost anything, I don’t much enjoy being told what to do though.” Could she’ve been nicer than that? Probably. Was she going to apologize? Definitely not.

“Alright,” Alice said softly, “Would you mind stepping inside the triangle?”

Throw in some more advanced vocabulary and this girl could rock a future working with spirits. Oh wait… Nia paused, how had Alice adapted to the situation so quickly? It was almost scary how quickly her mood had changed. The others certainly wouldn’t think so, but any spirit would’ve agreed with her.

“Well,” she shrugged, “I guess I can’t refuse.” The girl stepped inside the magic circuit, she just had to hope that it wouldn’t work like she expected it to. That wasn’t very likely.

Mandie snapped the moment after she entered the triangle and the spell activated. The paper Mandie had used to spark the power connection between Alice and the girl evaporated, and a burning sensation rushed along the girl’s skin. Well, the spell was what she had thought it was, that sucked. At least she now knew that even though Mandie couldn’t see her she could still sense her, that was certainly something.

Pain began to dig into her, grabbing hold of whatever spiritual power it could. This was going to be a blast, she could tell. An instant later the spiritual chains that bound her to Alice began to take on a physical form. They manifested around her wrists, ankles, and neck, each more powerful than the one before it. She could feel Alice’s power pouring into her through the chains, disrupting her natural resonance. This was fine. She could handle this. She just needed to assimilate the energy, no problem.

She bit her lip as the symbols of the Circuit burned into her back. Great, the sigil was rejecting her. Just awesome. What else could go wrong? Well, at least she couldn’t die, that was a plus. But that thought vanished an instant later as she stifled a scream, the chains were digging into her skin, red hot with the amount of power that was pouting through them.

She pulled against the chains. Everything was fine. Just fine. Absolutely fine. She just needed to focus. Assimilate the power, transfer it somewhere, give it something to do other that scorch her. That’s when it hit her. All she needed to do was focus, she’d pulled it off before, but that had been with a spell lined out, she’d be doing it blind now.

Alright. She blocked out the pain, focused her mind, and allowed the pure energy to pour through her body.

***

The design flared with bright light then faded, leaving the room with a cold desolate feeling. Once Mandie hade activated the spell Alice hadn’t been able to see anything inside the triangle, not even her spirit. All she could make out were flashes of colours held back by a seemingly invisible barrier. But now, the barrier was gone, the sigil had vanished, and her spirit stood promptly in front of her, looking different then she had a few minutes earlier.

Alice couldn’t place what exactly had changed, she just knew that the girl looked different. Her inky hair seemed a bit longer, which was impressive because it had reached down to the middle of her back before. Her eyes looked darker, closer to the shade of brown you might find in a dark cave than their original dark chocolate appearance. And they were definitely more mischievous. In fact most of her features appeared more rigid than earlier, and her skin had significantly darkened to a more natural shade.

But then there was one thing Alice couldn’t help but notice. She couldn’t remember what the girl had been wearing before, but now she wore the exact same things Alice did, down to the smallest details. From the small tear above the right pocket in her jeans to the one of a kind maroon and gold sweater Alice had inherited from her mother before they’d separated.

Alice wanted to ask how her spirit had done it, but the girl spoke before she could get a single word out.

“Holy crap I’m physical. I didn’t think that would actually work,” she paused when she noticed that everyone was looking at her. She scratched her head and looked around the room like she was expecting to see something other than four people staring at her. “What’s so interesting?”

“How old are you?” Mandie asked. That was an odd question, even by Alice’s standards. There were thousands of questions brisling in her mind, but Mandie had managed to choose one that she hadn’t even thought about.

“That depends, are you going to attack me?” The girl’s eyes gleamed hauntingly as they fixed on Mandie, she obviously knew what game the exorcist was playing.

“Now why would I do that?” Mandie asked playfully. Was she trying to taunt the girl? That wouldn’t end well, even Alice could tell that from the look in her spirit’s eyes.

The girl stifled a laugh, “Even the blue-eyed idiot over there knows why you would attack me,” she said as she leaned against the couch.

At first Alice thought her spirit had been talking about her, but then she noticed the girl staring at the boys who had remained suspiciously quiet behind her for the entirety of the morning. She looked them over noticing, for the first time Jackson’s brown and blue heterochromic eyes, Chase’s brilliant hazel irises, and Gale’s averted gaze.

He was technically the only one with blue eyes, but why was she calling him an idiot? As if on queue, her spirit spoke again.

Her eyes settled directly on Gale, “In case you were wondering, it’s you. You’re the idiot. Oh wait, maybe you can’t understand me. Co-noto ce nah qua, cet tah. Tahn di so quoille. Was that better?”

He met the girl’s prying eyes, “I heard you the first time.”

“Oh good,” the girl purred, “but the real question is, could you hear me the second time,” she smiled happily, ignoring the fact that Gale was moments away from storming out of the room. Why on earth was she being like this? It’s not like he’d done anything to her.

“Oh wait! I’d almost forgotten to ask-”

“Why are you teasing him?” Alice couldn’t help but interrupt, even if it was a little out of character for her to raise her voice like that. She guessed her spirit recognized this abnormality as well because she didn’t continue speaking, she just looked at Alice, her face covered with confusion.

The girl quickly recovered, but refused to meet Alice’s gaze. “It’s not really important,” she mumbled, then promptly moved back to their previous topic. “So anyway, I’m sure my point is clear as to why I may have assumed that you would attack me.”

“I’m not going to attack you about your age,” Mandie replied, “That’s a promise.”

The spirit perked up, “A promise. Wow! I feel so much better now, why don’t I just tell you everything about me?” Alice didn’t know why, and the sarcasm certainly wasn't helping, but she felt like the girl was bluffing. She had a sneaking suspicion that there wasn’t much her spirit would be able to tell them other than, ‘yep, I’m a ghost’.

“Would  you feel better if I said I’d stop her if she tried?” Alice asked, not expecting a serious response from the girl.

“I mean, on one hand I’d like to see you try, but on the other, yeah, it does make me feel better.” Alice was impressed with the girl’s response, but not because of the actual answer. So far she’d tried to get in arguments with everyone else who had talked with her, Alice had been the first person to get a honest answer out of her. That certainly had to be cause for some celebration.

“So,” Alice hesitated, not exactly sure what she should say, “How old are you?”

The spirit eyed the senior exorcist before turning back to Alice, “Just over sixteen.”

“Well that certainly explain the bravado,” Mandie retorted without missing a beat.

“Hey!” The girl seemed so personally offended that Alice couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s so funny?” She demanded.

“You,” Alice responded simply.

The girl blushed then looked away. So ghosts could be embarrased, good to know. “So,” Alice prompted, trying to get them onto an informational topic. Well, she guessed that knowing her spirit was sixteen was informational. But there had to be more important things to go over right now. “I have about about a million and twenty six questions, should I just start asking those now or hold off for a bit?”

“Exactly a million and twenty six?” The girl teased before Mandie could respond, “I feel like some of your questions may be either repetitive or arbitrary.”

“Regardless,” Mandie interrupted before the girl could get any further, Alice had a feeling that her spirit was going to be a lot like Teresa in a conversation aspect. “We have actual business we need to discus before you get distracted with your questions.”

“Like what?” Alice asked, this was about the third time Mandie had said they needed to get down to business and she had yet to see any form of ‘business’ occur so far.

“Like what they’re going to do about you,” the girl said plainly as she hopped up to sit on the back of the couch. “You’re a Summoner now, they can’t just let you do your own thing. Most likely you’ll be brought into the system.”

Update her question count to a million and twenty seven. “What system?” Alice asked.

“The system of exorcists of course,” Jackson said, “Did you think all of us were just freelance spiritualists who just happened to be working with each other?”

Alice scratched her cheek, “Maybe not in so many words, but yeah generally. Though, now that I think about it that is a pretty stupid guess.”

“Nah, I’d say it’s pretty reasonable,” the girl commented, “I mean, who’s ever heard of a society of exorcists?”

“Oddly enough they are a society,” Chase chimed in with his usual carefree tone.

“That’s enough of that,” Mandie said, stopping the chatter before it even started. “You don’t need to be brought into the system, you can remain an independent, though I’m afraid that will severely limit your options.”

“Well, what are my options?” Alice didn’t want to make any decisions before she had all the facts, and she had a feeling she was about to get an information overload. As if learning that ghosts were real and that you were part of this ghostly universe wasn’t enough for one day.

“If you decide to enter the system you’ll have a few options which include entering the Academy, which Gale can tell you more about, working part time at an Exorcist Hotel, training with a specialist either here or out of state, or traveling overseas  while you learn to control your powers,” the words rolled off Mandie’s tongue like she’d said then thousands of times. But Alice found herself hung up on one tiny detail.

“What’s an Exorcist Hotel?”

“They’re hotels that exorcists run in locations that are high in spirits,” Mandie replied. Seeing Alice’s confused face she continued, “Some places naturally attract spirits, which can often lead to dangerous situations for people that don’t know how to act around the higher level ghosts. Spiritualists find these places and set up little hotels or bed and breakfasts there so they can watch over the people in the area and keep some of the more dangerous spirits in line. They’re great places to do training since you’ll get great hands-on experiences and it’s often close one on one teaching.”

“Alright…” Alice was still a little confused, but she think she understood the basic concept. But why did they choose to run hotels of all things? That could wait, Mandie wasn’t done.

“Of course there is also the option of you not going into the system and staying out here for your training. That way you get more time to decide what you want to do.”

“I could stay out here?” So far that sounded like the best option. There was no way she’d be able to explain to explain any other options to Billie. And it wasn’t like she could just skip out on school to go train to be an exorcist of all things. It just wasn’t practical.

“Of course you could. Though I can’t guarantee you’d get the best training,” Mandie mused. “You’d be the only Summoner in the group, so it’s not like any of us could help you hone your specific skill set. I’d help as much as I could of course, but my priority is currently Gale, especially since he falls under my particular expertise.”

“Your expertise?” Did exorcists have specific skills? Well, obviously, since she was the only one in this group that could summon spirits, but did that mean that Mandie and Gale had the same powers? Or did it just mean that Mandie’s abilities were better suited for training Gale instead of helping summon and control a spirit?

“Energy control,” the girl said. “She’s specialized in controlling magic and casting spells, not really your area I’m afraid.”

“Exactly right,” Mandie eyed the girl suspiciously. “You’ll still need energy training of course, since Summoning a spirit requires immense amounts of focus and control, but after that I won’t be able to help you much.”

“Alright,” Alice was almost a hundred percent certain she’d stay here for her training, it may not be the best but she knew she’d never be able to bring herself to leave here. The thought of explaining everything to Billie made her shudder, and there was no way she could just leave Teresa. Although she was curious about her other options, even if she was certain she would leave. “So, what about the Academy?”

“The Academy? Well, that’s more of Gale’s experience now, I haven’t been there in ages,” Mandie gestured to the blue-eyed brunette.

“What? Oh, um, well It’s basically just a school,” he said, more flustered than he had probably hoped for. “You go for five or six years and learn a lot of different parts of the trade while you focus on whatever you specialize in. Which, for you would be summoning rituals and energy control. It’s actually pretty boring,” he rambling, obviously feeling more comfortable, “except for the whole ranking part, that’s pretty fun.”

“Ranking?”

“Yeah, all of us are ranked by how strong we are, of course grades are also factored in. It’s a friendly competition,” he laughed, “For the most part.”

“Right well, that sounds-” Alice hesitated, “-fun.”

“So,” Mandie prompted, “What do you think?”

“I definitely want to stay, there’s no way I could leave. Not with everything going on in my life. I mean, if that’s fine with you guys. I don’t want to be a burden or anything.”

Mandie smiled, “It wouldn’t be a problem at all. In fact our groups are actually supposed to made up of five people, so you’ll actually help us more than anything else.”

“Oh, fantastic,” Alice smiled, it was always nice feeling wanted.

Then Mandie did something that Alice had never expected, she turned to the girl. “And you, what do you want to do?”

Alice didn’t know why she was so shocked by this. It made perfect sense, after all, she was still a person, even if she was dead. It was rightfully her decision just as much as it was Alice’s. But what if they didn’t make the same decision? What if the girl wanted to leave? For all Alice knew she could’ve died around this town, if that was the case she honestly couldn’t blame the girl for wanting to leave.

The girl looked at the exorcist casually, “Anywhere but the Academy is fine by me,” then turned back to staring out the window.

“Why not there?” Alice asked. Not like she had any intentions of ever going there, but she couldn’t think of any reason why her spirit wouldn’t want to go there.

“I’m just not a big fan of exorcists,” she replied without turning away from the window.

Well that made sense. After all, she was a ghost.

“So…” Alice prompted after a few moments of silence, “Can I get on with asking some more question?”

“I don’t have time right now to answer a million and twenty-six of them, but I’m sure I can answer a few for you,” Mandie smiled.

Alice frowned, she deeply regretted her earlier comment, and she was pretty sure it would be held over her head forever. Regardless, she powered on, hoping that if she just ignored Mandie’s taunted she would eventually stop.

Now, what did she want to ask? Sure she regretted her exaggeration, but she really did have a lot of questions. And each seemed more confusing than the next. Where should she start? What did she really want to know?

“Are all of you exorcists?” She asked, she figured it was as good a place to start as any.

Mandie stifled a laugh, “Good start. I am, Gale’s on his way to being one, but he’s still an apprentice, but Chase and Jackson aren’t. They’re just spiritualists who decided to stay out of the system like you did.”

The girl sat up from where she had been laying on the couch, “And you just let them do that?” Mandie nodded in response. “Man, you’re pretty generous for a First,” she mumbled.

What was that about? What’s a First? Ah, well, on the list of importance that was actually pretty far down. She made a mental note to ask about that later. “So, I guess the next logical answer is what are all of your skills?” Mandie had mentioned that she would be the only Summoner in the group earlier, and her spirit had told her that Mandie’s specialization was energy control.

“That’s a bit harder to explain, but to start, there are six different type of classes that exorcists, and by extension spiritualists, are categorized into. There are the Mages, Fighters, Links, Sensors, Supports, and Hunters,” Mandie started, pausing to take a sip of her tea, which Alice had completely forgotten about. But she could focus on her tea later.

“Does that mean all of you are Mages?” She asked. It seemed like a fairly logical assumption, especially because she was pretty sure she’d seen all of them cast some kind of spell. But from her spirits reaction she assumed it wasn’t that easy because, even though she’d mostly stayed out of the conversation, she was now trying to cover up her laughter by faking a cough. And failing at it.

“Um, not quite,” Mandie was chuckling also, “Gale is actually the only actual Mage here, though Chase would also be classified as a Mage if he were an exorcists.”

“Alright,” she needed to remember not to make assumptions outloud any more. “What about you and Jackson?”

“Jackson is our resident Sensory expert, and me, well that’s a bit harder to explain. So why don’t I explain all the classes first?” Mandie offered.

“That would probably be helpful,” Alice agreed.

“So, starting off we have our Mages. As I’m sure you guess, Mages are spell casters. Their focus is on the inner and outer workings of our magic and how they can use it to their advantage. Like how Chase attacked the ghosts last night with a spell. Moving on we have Fighters. These are people who can increase the amount of spiritual energy inside their bodies to make themselves resistant to spiritual effects, or make themselves stronger against ghosts. Unfortunately there aren’t any Fighters in our group,” Mandie said, though she didn’t really seem that upset about it.

“Moving on from there,” Mandie continued, “We have the Links, which is that class you fit into.”

“Wait what? How can you tell?” Alice asked, she’d figured it would be harder to classify people into different classes. Hell, Mandie had even said it was hard to explain, shouldn’t that mean that it’s hard to place people? Alice had just learned about her powers, how could Mandie already know what group she’s in? What if she was actually Mage? Or a Fighter? Actually, she doubted that she fit into either of those groups. But what said she’d fit into this one?

“The Linked class is made up of people who work with, or are linked to spirits. This is the group Summoners, Tamers, and Connectors are put into, for obvious reasons I’m sure. Of course every now and again people fall into this category that aren’t a type of Summoner, but they’re few and far between.”

Okay, yeah. Alice definitely belonged in this groups. She guessed it made it easier to guess someone's class when there’s a class made specifically for that type of person. Hadn’t she said she needed to stop making assumptions? It didn’t seem to be going well so far.

“Going on from there we have our Sensory class, which is made up of people who specialize in seeing spiritual energy. Whether it belong to ghosts, humans, or it’s just ambient power it’s their job to see it, classify it, and keep tabs on it. And believe it or not, Jackson was actually the first one to guess that you were a spiritualist,” Mandie said happily.

Alice looked at the quiet man. His eyes may have been slightly hidden by his dark brown hair, but she could still clearly tell that they were two different colours. Was that a result of being able to see energy or was it what allowed him to see? Either way, it was pretty cool. “Support was next, right?” Alice asked, wanting to show that she was still paying attention, not just zoning out.

“Exactly right,” Mandie said with surprise, she probably hadn’t expected Alice to remember. “This group is that hardest one to place since a lot of the people who fall into this group also belong to other groups or they don’t exactly fit into this one exactly, but it’s the closest match. These people specialize in many types of magic normally, but their skills are specialized to the point that they don’t fit into the Mage category. Though lots of Mages do dabble in the Support area…” She trailed off in thought. “Sorry, I just realized something. Anyway, Supporters specialize in barrier spells, healing abilities, energy disruption, energy concentration, general magics, and deciphering.”

“That is a lot of things,” Alice stuttered. Not only was it a lot of things, but they were also super specific. For goodness sake, Mages were just, unsurprisingly, magic uses. But Supporters? They not only had to be Mages, they also had to specialize in all these things? It was unreal! How could anyone fit into this group?

“It is a lot,” Mandie agreed, “But almost every exorcist has a basic knowledge of all these things because it makes life a lot easier. Especially because it’s so hard to find people in this category.”

“I can understand how barriers and healing would be helpful, but the others? Are they really important?” She wasn’t making an assumption, she just couldn’t see how deciphering could be helpful when dealing with ghosts.

“Well, energy disruption doesn’t seem like it would be helpful, but in reality it can neutralize almost any spiritual threat without affecting spiritualists. Spirits powers heavily rely on natural stability and a constant flow of power. If that power is disrupted, the spirit can’t use it. Energy concentration does the exact opposite, but still helps neutralize spirits. If a Supporter focuses they can concentrate magic around them, that gets rid of a ghosts natural flow of power and provides any exorcists around a nice power boost,” Mandie responded lightly.

When this conversation had first started Alice had just figured that she was asking easy enough question that the answers were extremely simple. But now that the question were more complex, complex to the level that the three boys were listening intently, and Mandie was still answering questions without pause or mistakes.

She really did appear to be one heck of a teacher. Smoothly rolling out answers without even taking time to think. She understood ny why Chase had told her she’d pick things up in no time. Though her spirit didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the conversation.

“Okay,” Alice said, this was all making sense, “But what about the deciphering? How does that help?” She didn’t think she’d ever understand how that was important.

“Deciphering was probably a poor choice of words,” Mandie still let the words roll out of her mouth, “I guess you could call it more like language expertise. They need to know every language that spells could be cast in and they need to know each counterspell, or at least some way to nullify it. A deciphering skill allows them to understand languages, which can help with spells, counterspells, talking with foreigners, or communicating with spirits.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly. That’s why it’s hard to find people specifically in this class, but it’s easier to find people who dabble in at least one aspect of it.”

“Like with how Jackson made that barrier in the room even though he’s Sensory,” Alice said, remembers some of the hazy events from the night before.

“Right, or like how I can speak Mandarin, French, Portuguese, English, obviously, and Navajo.”

“Navajo?” Out of all the things in that list that was the one she hadn’t expected. She didn’t know why, it just didn’t seem like Mandie.

“Yeah, that was my second language. I am a Native American after all,” Mandie said.

Well that made sense. Alice felt like an idiot though. She’d thought that Mandie had been Indian or something, not Native American. She should amend that, she shouldn’t just not make assumptions, she should toss out all her previous ones. That sounded like a good idea. The best idea actually.

“Right, before I sound like more of an idiot,” Alice mumbled hurriedly, “What’s the last group you were talking about? The Hunters or whatever?”

Mandie smiled, and for some reason Alice felt that she knew what she had been thinking. She probably hadn’t been the first person to wrongly assume Mandie’s culture. Alice just looked away.

“The final group is the Hunters, though they aren’t exactly their own group. It’s a classification reserved for people who are fully qualified in more than one type of ability. For instance a Hunter could be someone that double as a Fighter and a Mage, or it could be someone specialized in sensory, magic, and support.”

“So it’s a special group reserved for people who are over achievers,” Alice clarified.

“Or people that are just extremely talented, yes.”

“Great, and I’m assuming this is your classification.” This was the first assumption Alice actually felt safe making. In fact she was ninety percent certain of Mandie’s response.

“Yes I am.”

Make that one hundred percent.

“Though the real question is what are my two specialties?” Mandie teased with a wicked, fox like grin, and Alice felt like the exorcist was going to make her look like an idiot again.

“Well, since you said you train Gale because you have the same specialty I’m assuming you’re at least a Mage,” Alice knew it wasn’t a very ambitious guess, but it was the only one she felt safe making.

“That’s obvious enough. But what else?” Mandie pried.

Alice really didn’t want to answer. “Honestly, I have absolutely zero confidence in any other guess I could make.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting,” Mandie mused.

“Why’s that?” Alice asked. She was expecting to get teased or something for giving up, but the exorcist seemed happy about what she’d said.

“These boys have been guess in my classes non-stop for the past two years and they’ve yet to get it right. But they won’t stop because they have ungodly amount of determination, but you decided to quit while you were ahead.”

“What’s so interesting about that?” What’s wrong with not liking to be wrong? It’s not that she was quitting, she just didn’t feel like she could make a confident guess with the information she had right now. That’s just smart thinking.

“It’s just not a very common trait in our line of work. I’m sure even your spirit would-”

“No I wouldn’t,” Alice was startled by the girl interruption, a few moments ago she was fairly certain the spirit hadn’t been paying attention.

“You wouldn’t keep guessing if you got it wrong?” Mandie clarified.

“No, I probably would. It’s just that I wouldn’t be guessing.”

“Is that so?”

“Want me to prove it?”

“Oh, I would love that.”

“Alright,” the girl rolled off the couch and walked up to Mandie. “You’re classed as a Mage Sensor with a Fighter affiliation.”

Mandie took a step back from the girl, but she still sounded calm as she spoke “How in the gods names in did you know that?”

The girl stayed where she was, but couldn’t stop a smile from crossing her lips. “It was fairly easy to figure out. You’re definitely a Mage, but you said your specialty was energy control in general, not just magic, so that Means you’re a Sensor since that’s the only other magic one that doesn’t technically require magic. As for the Fighter affiliation, well, that was a tough one, since you said that there weren’t any in this group. However,  you do show some aspects of being a Fighter, specifically the ability to bend energy to make yourself more effective against ghosts. So, since you have some of their powers, but you said there were no Fighters in the group, that means that you have an affiliation.”

No one could speak as the girl just stood there looking pleased with herself.

“I see,” Mandie managed to say after what seemed like ages.

The girl laughed, “I told you I wouldn’t be guessing.”

“I guess you did,” Mandie paused, “But how did you know I bend energy?”

The girl looked back at the exorcist, she’d been distracted again by the window. “I’m sorry, what was your question?”

“Bending energy, how did you know I can do it?” Mandie demanded.

Confusion covered the girls places for a split second. “Oh, I saw you do it last night.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Just because you're sick doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” the girl grumbled.

“You’re sick?” Alice asked. Mandie had seemed perfectly fine, so why would her spirit say that?

“How did you know I was sick?” Mandie rounded on the girl, eyes wide, she looked like she’d just seen a cat sprout wings and fly away.

The girl smiled, the mischievous glint had returned to her dark eyes, “Magic.”

“Okay,” Mandie faltered, “Yeah, just a little though,” she recovered. “It’s not serious or anything, I just can’t fully control most of my powers right now.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Alice stammered.

“Ridiculously so,” the girl responded.

“I thought you said it wasn’t serious!”

“It’s not,” Mandie strained, “As long as I don’t use my powers I can’t lose control of them. So it's perfectly safe.”

“Well…” The girl looked like she was having too much fun.

Mandie rounded on her, “You be quiet, you’re not helping at all!”

The girl looked Mandie square in the face and smiled, the glint in her eyes spread to her lips, “I’m not trying to.”

Mandie was speechless. In the silence Jackson slyly slipped Chase a tattered twenty that was clearly covered in tears, stains, and writing.

Mandie looked at the two men, “You two bet on this?”

“Not this exactly,” Jackson responded.

“But something along these lines you could say,” Chase continued as he shoved the worn twenty into his pocket.

“Unbelieveable.”

“What’d you expect?” Chase asked.

“Us not to make bets?” Jackson finished.

Alice was still a little unclear on what had just happened, but, from the look on Gale’s face, she figured it was best not to think too much about it. It would probably be a daily occurrence since she had chosen to work with them. She better get used to it now.

“Now, Alice, do you have any other quick questions? Because I should probably be getting you home soon,” Mandie said.

Oh crap. Alice had been so focused on all this stuff that she’d completely forgotten that she wasn’t at her house, and that Billie had been expecting her home last night, and that Billie was probably freaking out right now because she had no idea where Alice was, and that she’d bailed on Teresa. How was she going to explain last night? Scratch that, how in the hell was she going to explain the girl? Oh hey everyone, this is a ghost and I’m her Summoner. Yeah, that would go well.

How had she gotten so wrapped up in this that she completely spaced everything. She didn’t even know what time it was! She hurriedly searched all of her pockets, finally finding her phone in one of her back pockets. She pulled it out a checked the screen, dreading to see how many missed calls would be on there from Mandie.

The screen lit up. Well, it was good to know it was eight in the morning , at least she’d gotten about eight hours of sleep. Apart from that, she was surprised to see her notifications empty except for a single text from Teresa.

Covered for you. You owe me,

What were you up to last night?

Thank god Teresa always covered for her without being asked. Knowing her she’d just told Billie that they were spending the night at her place. Teresa was a saviour, this way she still had time to get back to her apartment without causing suspicion. Alice needed to remember to buy Teresa coffee sometime during their break.

It didn’t matter what the occasion was. Any debt with Teresa could be repaid with coffee, though Alice didn’t know if there was enough coffee in the world to make up for accidentally bailing on her last night. She’d work on that later.

“I do have one last question yeah. And I’m honestly shocked I didn’t ask this earlier…” This had somehow fallen into the same category of ‘extremely important things she had carelessly forgotten in the past hour.’ And she really felt terrible about it, more than she arguably should have.

“What is it?” Mandie asked.

“Actually, it’s not for you. It’s for her,” she turned to her spirit.

“Oh, right, yes, that,” the girl rambled.

“There’s no need to be like that,” Gale soothed, “I’m sure you’ve got a very pretty name.”

Nia glared daggers at him, “Oh shut it Purison boy. I’m not nervous, I just don’t wanna give you that level of power over me”

The blood drained from Gale’s face, “How did you know I’m a Purison?”

“The same way I know that those two,” She motioned towards Chase and Jackson, “Are middle second class spiritualists. And that she’s” she looked towards Mandie and paused, then turned back to Gale, “Well I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I’ve already made my guess on that.” The girl paused, “Either way, I don’t feel particularly inclined to give any of you my name. Well, except for Alice of course, but that’s just Summoner courtesy.”

“We’re gonna learn it one way or another,” Mandie said casually, “You might as well just tell us now.”

The girl looked at her and shrugged, “Fair point.” She turned to Alice and fixed her with a serious gaze, then smiled her mischievous grin, “My name’s Nia, and it’s a pleasure to finally technically meet you.”

Author's Note

New Edit: lots of things changed

I'm always open to review, criticism, and comments.

Reviews

[Krizito]

Okay..so I read every chapter and I'm like 'Wow!!!'...yeah, it was that gripping - not forgetting "charming" with the humorous Nia." In all honesty, I'll say I like this. Recently I've tried to garner way much reviews, I've forgotten what it feels like to read just for the fun of it. I don't know much about 'plot progression and 'character development'...I just know I liked your story and Nia :)

[Zoë]

Awwwwwwe :) Thank you! Nia is definitely my favourite character too. In fact, I basically created this whole story around her because she was a character I liked a lot, but couldn't fit into any of my other stories. I hope you'll take the time to read more once I've written and posted it, and thank you for reading everything I have so far!

[Krizito]

Of course I will. So,if you could post sooner than later - really not the most patient fan of sustained suspense ;)

[Zoë]

Right. I'll try to post chapter 7 tonight since I finished it the other day. Sorry if it takes a while to post anything after that, I'm still in school and I don't get chances to write that often.

[Krizito]

No problem, 'genius' is at one's own pace ;)

[Zoë]

haha, well thank you for the compliment :)