Chapter 12: Dark Spirits

Alice woke up early again this morning, though she was pretty happy that it was almost thirty minutes later than it had been yesterday. Welcome to the sweet, sweet feeling of sleeping in till 8 o’clock. It was magical.

Alice slipped out of her bed prepared for the cold, but was pleased to find she had aptly prepared the night before. Take that winter! Even freezing temperatures couldn’t beat a space heater, some Hanukkah themed fuzzy socks that Teresa had gotten her last year as a gag gift, and a good old fashioned hoodie. She opened the door, catching a whiff the ginger smell that still hung in the air from the day before, and began to plan what she would do for breakfast today when she was stopped dead in her tracks.

Nia was sitting on the couch, but she looked different from what Alice had come to know as normal. The previous few days Nia had pretty much always seemed full of life, vibrant, and active. But now, she was just there. She looked hollow and frail, staring up at the ceiling with colourless eyes. Her skin looked pale and thin, and her shallow breaths filled the room with a soft, haunting sound.

“Nia?” She didn’t respond. Alice wasn’t exactly sure what to do. It’s not like she was an expert on ghosts, or medical stuff in general. The only things she knew how to handle were small cuts and burns, she didn’t even know what was going on with Nia, or how to fix it.

“Nia?” Alice tried again, her voice was shaking even though she was really trying not to freak out. It’s not like there was anyone around who could help. She started to pull her phone out of her pocket when the girl blinked and shook her head.

The light returned to her eyes and her cheeks lit up with a rosy glow. She looked at Alice with her murky eyes shining and smiled. “Sorry, I didn’t sleep very well last night.”

Alice smiled back, even though she felt like Nia was hiding something, “That’s alright. If you want you can try to sleep a bit longer in my room, it's got black-out curtains…”

“Nah I’ll be fine, besides,” she rolled off the couch, “I couldn’t sleep now even if I wanted to.”

“I can relate to that,” Alice joked and she walked into the kitchen. There was a reason she never took naps, and that reason was that she literally could not fall asleep if the sun was up. Even in her room with the curtains drawn, she couldn’t fall asleep until the sun was down and the stars were out.

“Oh,” Nia hopped over the couch and followed Alice, “but I will probably need to rest for a few hours this morning just to like, you know, build up some energy. So I was wondering if you would wanna watch a movie?”

Alice started to dig through the cabinets looking to see if they had any other breakfast options than cereal. She’d love to just spend the morning chilling, but she did have chores to do. She’d left the dishes from yesterday to soak in the sink, so those still needed washed up. And, even though most of the apartment had been beautifully decorated by Teresa with colourful tinsel and wall decorations, the tree was still unfinished, so that needed to be done. She could put the dishes off till this afternoon, and she guessed she could do any last minute the shopping tomorrow instead of tonight, but they should at least finish the tree.

Alice pulled a bag of bread out of one of the cabinets and began digging around in the fridge looking for butter and strawberry jam. “I’ll make you a deal, we can spend the morning watching movies, but the tree has to be finished before ten.”

Nia looked at the tree, then back at Alice, then the tree again. “So we can decorate the tree while watching something?”

“The tree needs to be done by ten,” Alice repeated, setting the jam on the counter, giving up on the butter, and moving to pull out the toaster.

“Deal.” Nia rushed out of the kitchen, hopped back over the couch, slid over to the hutch under the tv, and pulled out all of Alice’s DVD cases.

Well, at least with Nia preoccupied looking for a movie Alice could make breakfast in peace. She pulled four pieces of toast and popped them into the machine, quickly pulling down the leavers as she moved back to the fridge in a final attempt to find some butter. She looked where the butter normally was, not there. She moved around her sodas and the containers full of leftovers, not in the back. She shuffled around the bag of clementines and bottle of ketchup and whipped cream on the top shelf, nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Nia?” Alice called, her voice echoing off of the interior of the fridge.

“Yeah?” She called back.

“You haven’t seen the butter, have you?”

“The butter?” She sounded utterly confused, which was understandable.

“Yeah, it was in the fridge and now I can’t find it…”

Within seconds Nia was by her side, digging around in the piles of leftovers, fruit, and sodas with her.  “You mean this butter?” She asked, pulling the butter from where Alice normally put it.

She stared at the butter, she had looked there. She was ninety percent sure of it. So how had she missed it? She pointed at the container that Nia was trying to hand her, “How did that get there?”

“It didn’t get there, it was always there.”

“No, I looked there, it wasn’t there a minute ago,” Alice was certain. There was no way she would’ve looked there.

“Well, that’s probably because it was invisible,” Nia looked at her like that should’ve been obvious.

“Why was my butter invisible?” Alice fixed Nia with her best accusatory look, she still hadn’t forgotten about her school book’s mysterious disappearance and reappearance.

The girl took a step back, holding up her hand defensively. “Hey, don’t blame me! I told you there were other spirits hanging around here, blame them.”

“Wait, the other spirits are still hanging around?” Alice had figured that they would just move on after a while, or that Nia had made them up because she was just a bit paranoid after the whole school thing. Was her apartment haunted!? Okay, she had to admit, she thought she’d been doing pretty well with this whole thing. Ghosts are real; alright. There’s one connected to you; solid. You’ll basically be living together from now on, oh and you’ll need training; stellar. But her apartment being haunted? Just fantastic. What else could make this better.

“Of course they’re still here. It’s not like spirits like this just move on to a different place after a while. And I’ve tried getting rid of them but they just keep showing up,” she growled.

Alice paused before she could start ranting. “Did you say ‘spirits like these’? What’s that mean?”

“I think I said spirits like this, not thes-”

“That’s not important. What did you mean?” Alice demanded.

“Well… they’re Shiki… which means that an exorcists put them here. Probably to protect you but you never know.”

“Wait, does that mean Mandie put them here?”

“Doubt it.”

“And if they’re hear to protect me why do they make my stuff disappear?”

“Well, even spirits get bored,” Nia suggested. “Honestly, I’m proof enough of that,” she laughed.

“Why don’t you think Mandie put them here?” Who else would’ve? It’s not like she knew many other exorcists, but even then, Mandie was the only one who knew where she lived. Besides, why would they have sent them here? To protect her, sure, but Nia was here as well. So what was the point?

“Well, Shiki normally only work with Seers, and Mandie isn’t one.”

“What’s a Seer?” Alice had thought that Mandie had gone over all the classes with her, or had Nia just meant to say Sensor?

“It’s a, uh, special group of exorcists who can, umm. Well, they’re like, really good at seeing spiritual energy as well as sensing things. So, I guess you could say they’re a special type of Sensory type spiritualist.”

“So, some Sensor exorcist is protecting me?” That didn’t seem likely. That actually seemed fairly impossible unless Jackson had sent them to watch over her. But wait, they had supposedly been here before Alice had even gone back to the school that night. Back before any of this had happened, before any of them had meet, so that couldn’t be it.

“Yeah, that seems like the most likely scenario,” Nia shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Like this was something normal and not completely impossible.

“But why?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“Are you sure?” She believed Nia, she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding something important.

“I told you I wouldn’t lie to you-”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always tell me everything,” Alice countered, harsher than she had intended. She was just tired of people not telling her everything.

The girl smiled, had she been trying to get Alice to snap at her? “You’re right. I promised that I would never lie to you, but I’m not always going to tell you the full truth if I think it’s for your own good. But, I’m pretty sure the Shiki have something to do with all the barriers woven through your apartment.”

“What barriers?”

“The invisible ones of course, that doesn’t seem to have any spiritual presence either… I sound like a crazy person, don’t I?” Imagine that, a spirit worried about sounding like they were crazy.

“Don’t worry, if anything I’m crazier one. After all, I’m carrying a conversation with an empty room,” Alice laughed. She’d really need to keep track of when Nia was physical or not, because she could just imagine getting into a heated conversation with her over the merits of some thing or another thinking that everyone else could see her, only to find out they all thought she had been talking to an empty room.

“Well, if it would make you feel better we could start working on telepathy,” Nia said as casual as if she was suggesting they watch tv instead of a movie. Like she hadn’t just told Alice that she’d be able to learn how to use one of her favourite childhood super powers. Hands down one of the coolest powers of all time, no argument.

“T-telepathy?” Alice managed to stutter without squealing like an idiot.

“Yeah, that way you don’t have to talk to nothing. Also, the toast is getting cold.”

Alice had forgotten about breakfast, but she did have a lot she needed to think about. Specifically the spirits and barriers that were in her apartment, and how only an exorcists could’ve put them there according to Nia, but, on top of that, she was still working on comprehending the shift in her life. She didn’t know if she could focus on a movie.

“Why don’t you look through my Netflix account instead, there’s a much larger suggestion,” she suggested to Nia as she put the toast back down for a few seconds to heat it up. She also probably wouldn’t need to pay attention to anything Nia picked because, well, she wasn’t saying she spent too much time binge watching Netflix shows, but she spent too much time binge watching Netflix shows.

“That’s is a much better idea,” within seconds Nia was scrolling through the various shows she could stream. Alice popped the bread back up, pulled it out before the heat could burn her fingers, and buttered them in a matter of seconds, taking a little longer to add a layer of strawberry jam to the top of each piece. Perfection.

She flopped onto the couch with Nia as she turned on the very first episode of How I Met Your Mother, and handed the girl her piece of toast, which was devoured within seconds.

“Don’t forget about the tree,” she teased, even though she didn’t feel much like doing it either. After the past few days she’d had she just wanted to relax. But she knew if she relaxes she would start thinking, and if that happened she would either freak herself out start contemplating the likely hood that she had actually gone insane. Best not to think then.

She pulled herself off of the squishy couch that was practically designed to make it so you couldn’t get up, and pulled out the remaining ornaments. Nia reluctantly followed, keeping her attention half on the show and half on the tree as she went. After a while they got a pretty good system going; Alice would pull out the ornaments and attach the hooks, then Nia would put them on the plastic tree. She wasn’t the best at organizing them, there were clumps of ornaments here and there, but overall they were pretty spread out. It looked pretty good if Alice did say so herself.

She’d need to check out the coloured lights later tonight, but right now it was a quite an appealing tree. It had candy canes and everything. She checked her watch, just after eleven. Well, it hadn’t gotten done by ten, but it was done and that’s all the really mattered. Of course she would also need to go and pick up a present for Nia, but she’d need to do that at some point when the girl wasn’t with her, which sounded impossible.

What even would you get a ghost? It’s not like they needed anything, she was pretty certain that Nia didn’t even need to eat but she wasn’t going not give her food. Should she ask? And even then, would it be in any way possible for the gift to be a secret, since they were together all the time. Alice doubted it, though, she could have someone else pick it up.  She could tell Billie that she hadn’t gotten Teresa a gift yet and ask her to pick up something. But there was no way she could ask her guardian to wrap it up for her without Billie getting curious and asking questions.

Though she always could ask Mandie or one of the others. They seemed perfectly willing to help her, and they at least would understand her situation. Now that she thought of it, she should probably get some gift for Mandie, Chase, Jackson, and Gale as well. She could always give them some of the cookies they’d made yesterday, but she felt like they deserved more than that, even if they were pretty delicious and amazingly decorated. But the group had practically saved her life, she didn’t know she would’ve done if they hadn’t shown up, and she didn’t want to think about it. On top of that, they were helping her understand the new world she was coming into, and how to use her powers.

Alice’s phone buzzed once against her coffee table, dragging her away from her thoughts and back to her living room. Nia lay across the floor with a navy blanket, engrossed in an episode that somehow revolved around a pineapple, the heater was still running, even though it was plenty warm in the apartment, and the smell of ginger and sugar still hung in the air. Alice picked up her phone and was immediately surprised by the name on the screen.

She didn’t know Mandie had her number, or that Mandie’s number had been programed into her phone, name and everything. Actually, now that she thought about it, she’d never gotten any of their phone numbers. Granted she had been tired and confused, but she had agreed to work with these people, she should’ve thought about it.

Lucky for her then that she had told mandie her passcode. She unlocked her phone and took a quick moment to look at her contacts list before she looked at the text, it probably wasn’t that important anyway. Once her contacts popped up she switched it into the group section, and low and behold, there it was. Ghost Party Squad. They had to be joking, right?

Alice click on the group and all of their names popped up. Apparently Mandie had programed everyone’s number into her phone while she had been sleeping, fantastic. She backed out of the contacts and opened up Messenger, swiftly opening Mandie message.

Hey Alice, we’ve got a small job in a few hours. It’s nothin big it’s just to see how you and Nia work together. Anyway, I’ll be by to get you at 3. Get some rest.

Well this was going to be fun. First job that wouldn’t include getting almost killed by ghosts. At least this time she’d be more prepared for what ever happened, or at least she hoped.

“Hey,” Alice didn’t think she’d get the girls attention on her first try, but to her surprise Nia hummed in response. “We’ve got a job.”

Nia turned to look at Alice, eyes wide, but not panicked, more like shocked. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope, Mandie just messaged me, we’ve got a small job.”

“Did she give any details?”

“Not really, just that it’s nothing big…”

“Well, that could mean anything,” the girl huffed and turned her attention back to the tv.

Alice’s brows furrowed with concern, “I feel like you may be exaggerating.” She certainly hoped so, because if the job at her school counted as a small job, then Alice wasn’t sure she was cut out for work like this.

Nia just laughed.

***

Alice stood outside wrapped up in her sweater, a black coat, and a white scarf with a plate full of cookies. After spending five minutes in the kitchen debating whether the group would like some Nia had walked in and made the executive decision to give them a plate full so Alice didn’t end up regretting not giving them any later. Which was probably for the best.

Nia stood by Alice, seemingly unphased by the cold even though she only had on the black and maroon sweater. She had gotten rid of the hat in exchange for a knitted, cream coloured scarf after Alice had told her to put on warmer clothes, at least she seemed to be trying to act normal. Though, Alice had a feeling that the girl didn’t actually notice the difference between hot and cold.

Alice pulled out her phone and checked the time, Mandie should be here any minute. As if on cue a black sedan pulling into the lot and stopped just in front of Alice. Mandie waved through the window as Alice went around and climbed into the passenger side, Nia appeared in the back seat as Alice sat down.

“Is Nia here?” Mandie asked.

“Yeah, she’s in the back,” Alice had forgotten that Mandie couldn’t see her ghost. She really did need to keep better track of that.

“Awesome, lets go.” Mandie pulled back onto the street and headed towards the outskirts of the city faster than was probably legal. Alice had never really been this way before, so she just sat and started out the window, interested in the world going by. Though, after twenty minutes Nia started getting restless in the back

“So what’s the job?” Alice asked, hoping that Nia was wrong in her assumption that a small job could be anything. Also hoping that a conversation might entertain her long enough for them to get where they were going.

“Oh, it’s just dealing with a dark spirit.”

“Umm,” Alice wasn’t sure what that meant. Or, more exactly, she wasn’t sure what exactly counted as a dark spirit. Were poltergeists dark spirits or where they in a category of their own? What about the spirits in her apartment, what did those count as? Was Nia a dark spirit? That one seemed less likely considering that she was helping them, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t.

“I should probably explain, shouldn’t I?” Mandie glanced at Alice and smiled. “Sorry, sometimes I forget what it’s like to be teaching someone from scratch. You’re probably the second person I’ve taught in the past ten years that’s starting from zero.”

“What about Chase and Jackson?” Alice asked. They had said they were outside of the system, which would’ve meant that they hadn’t had previous knowledge, right?

“Well, those two were kinda spirit fanatics when they were in college so they had a general idea of things.”

Alice couldn’t believe it, “Are you telling me that those two were ghost hunters?”

“Big time,” Mandie replied with a broad smile covering her face. “That’s actually how they got their powers, but that’s a story for another time,” Alice shot a look to Nia, silently telling her to bring this up later. She nodded with an evil glint in her eyes.

“Right, so, what are dark spirits?” Alice asked, wanting to get the conversation back on track.

“To put it simply, they’re the most common type of evil spirit you’ll find. So, if you’ve ever used a Ouija board, you were probably talking to one of them. In general, there are five different type of spirits-”

“Eight,” Nia corrected absentmindedly as she tried to touch the roof of the car while laying across the seat, it wasn’t going so well. She wasn’t even close, but she kept reaching.

“You have regular ghosts, which just kinda exist. They can’t really do anything and they aren’t really part of our reality anymore. Most people can’t see them, in the last century I can think of twelve-”

“Seventeen,” Nia interjected again.

“-or so people who could, so you don’t really need to worry about them, just don’t forget they exist. Aften them, you get Summoning Spirits, like Nia. They’re not very strong on their own, and they can only appear with the aid of their Summoner, but when teamed up with a skilled spiritualist they can easily be stronger than dark spirits. Which is what comes next in the power scale. These are the spirits of people who can’t move on after they die, their souls become corrupted and their remaining life force converts into dark energy. This is the normal type of spirit we dealing with, and they honestly aren’t all that powerful, they’re just annoying and tend to be found in groups. After them we have Curse Spirits-”

“Just Spirits actually,” Nia really was having a field day correcting the senior exorcist.

“-which we told you about the other day. And finishing up at the top of the list are the Poltergeists, which you’ve already dealt with, so I’m sure I don’t need to explain those to you.”

“She forgot the wraiths and phantoms,” Nia moaned as she gave up on the ceiling and sat up to look out the back window again. Alice made a mental note not to take Nia on any long car trips.

“So Nia is probably stronger than what we’re dealing with today?”

“Not on her own,” Mandie said as she turned onto a small paved road that reminded Alice of personal driveways up to mansions in British tv shows. “But with your help she shouldn’t have any problems.”

“What are we dealing with?”

“Not sure, didn’t really ask. Wasn’t curious after I ranked it,” she trailed off as she parked in front of a giant red brick house with at least fifteen windows on the front alone. Alice’s estimation of an old British mansion hadn’t been that far off. This was a mansion by all her accounts.

“Are you gonna keep gawking from the car or can we get out?” Nia asked. She really didn’t like being in here, Alice made another mental note.

Alice popped open the door and stepped out onto the gravel driveway. Why did all houses like this have gravel as the driveway? It seemed dumb.

“Are you gonna keep holding that plate or are you, oh I don’t know, give it to Mandie?” Her spirit taunted with a smile. Alice’s hadn’t even seen her get out of the car, or warp out of the car, or whatever it is she does, but she had forgotten about the plate of cookies. She set them in her seat and closed the door, she’d make sure to give them to Mandie later.

“This way,” Mandie called as she walked around the right side of the house. Alice rushed to catch up with her, Nia in tow. Despite the fears that had been whirling around in her head all afternoon she was actually pretty excited to start her first official job. Last time didn’t go so well, but she had a good feeling about this one. It was oddly confident.

She began to wonder if Nia had anything to do with that. Their energies were linked, and Nia had said their powers relied on a mutual trust. So it would make sense for their emotions to be linked too.  

As soon as they came around the side a huge backyard opened up before them, every aspect of it screaming ‘wealthy’. Like the house didn’t do that already. There was lush green grass everywhere, gigantic, perfectly shaped trees, hedgerows, rose gardens, tulip gardens, and too many ornate water features to count. He seemed to be compensating for something. Alice stifled a laugh as soon as the thought entered her head.

Mandie swung to the left, moving into the shade covered patio that was filled with sun bleached lounge chairs. Before Alice could look around any more a tall, somewhat rugged looking man in red flannel slipped through the sliding glass doors into the backyard. He looked confused to see the two of them at first, then smiled and almost too big smile at them as Mandie waved.

“Hey Mandie,” he called, returning her wave. “I didn’t think you’d gotten my message.”

“I always get your messages, Hal,” Mandie replied stopping sort of the man.

“I’m sure you do, but how am I supposed to know when you never respond to them?”

“We’re not getting into that again, are we?” Mandie groaned.

“Technically you brought it up,” he smiled again then laughed as Mandie grumbled something about him being the one that started it.

Alice couldn’t help but smile. First of all because this man’s, Hal’s, laughter seemed somewhat contagious. Secondly because of the way they were acting. The attitude, the banter, the grumbling. There was no doubt about it, they were friends.

“Can you just show us the problem so we can get to work?” She pleaded before Hal could launch a rant about how she should call him back more.

“Well, first you’ll need to tell me who we is,” his smiled was gone in the blink of an eye, now it was down to business. “You know I don’t like strangers in my house.”

“Oh, so it happened in your house this time?” So Mandie didn’t exactly know what the job was either. Well that explained why she hadn’t told Alice anything.

Hal frowned and folded his arms, adjusting his stance so he blocked the way to the back door. Alice’s heart skipped a beat as she saw Nia walk around Hal’s towering figure, stroll over to the glass doors, and look inside. Alice shot her a glare, she knew Nia wouldn’t see it, but the least she could hope is that she would feel it.

Mandie shook her head, “This is the new Summoner I was telling you about, her name is Alice.”

“So she’s the new one you tricked into joining your little gang,” he teased, returning to his jovial self even though his stance was still threatening. “Where’s her spirit?”

Where was her spirit indeed. Alice took in a deep breath of air, as long as Mandie didn’t make her answer this should go fine.

“Oh, getting into trouble I’m sure,” Mandie said with a deceiving smile. It was clear she didn’t want to upset him, Alice just didn’t understand why he didn’t want them in his house.

Hal raised a singular eyebrow. Mandie hadn’t deceived him for one second. “Can Alice summon her spirit?” He asked, blinking twice with disdain.

“No,” Mandie replied after a slight hesitation, “We haven’t gotten that far yet. We only picked her up a few days ago.”

“Actually,” Alice interrupted, her voice softer than usual. All eyes turned to her, glittering with surprise. “Um, Nia and I figured it out yesterday.”

“Really?” From the single eyebrow that raised on Mandie’s face Alice knew the exorcist didn’t believe her. She nodded in answer. “Alright then, show me.”

Alice took a moment to stable herself. She didn’t actually know if this would work. Sure, she’d done it once before, but that had been at her house, with no one else around. She hadn’t believed that she could do it then, but with other people doubting her the situation felt entirely different. Alice closed her eyes and concentrated, searching for the warm, prickling feeling in the darkness.

She felt nothing. Her power wasn’t there. She took a deep breath and tried again, but there was something blocking her. Locking away her energy. She didn’t know how, but she pushed on it. Either trying to push it away or create a hole through it, she didn’t care. She just needed to get past it.

What’s the problem? Nia’s voice sounded in the darkness.

I don’t know, Alice thought back, not knowing if her spirit could actually hear her or not. I just can’t feel my powers, they’re being blocked by something.

They’re blocked because you’re nervous. Of course Alice was nervous, two people were standing across from her doubting that she could summon her spirit, and here she was proving them right.

Just tune them out if you’re scared they’re judging you, Nia suggested, as if that would be easy.

Yeah, like it’s that easy.

It is, you have access to two different planes of existance, focus on the one they’re not in.

And just how do I do that.

The girl smiled. Alice couldn’t see her, but she could feel it. Just focus on me.

Alice tried, she knew where Nia was, she knew what it felt like to summon her. That energy that filled her with warmth and power. She concentrated on that. That feeling and nothing else. She just needed to tune them out right? Forget they were there. She could do that, she did it in class a lot. Before she knew what had happened, the barrier vanished and an endless stream of magic opened up to her.

She could feel it, all of it. The electricity that crackled across her skin, the coolness of the air in her lungs, and the warmth in her soul. Nothing else existed, nothing else physical at least. Apart from herself, the only other presence Alice could feel was Nia’s. She didn’t know how, she just knew that she could.

She turned her focus outward, concentrating on her hands instead of her soul. She could feel the energy building up without restraint. Allowing the gentle warmth to rise to her skin. This summoning felt entirely different, though it was exactly the same. The only difference: she could feel more. Her hands moved together like they were magnetized, left over right, just as Nia had showed her. The moment they touched everything was gone again. She felt hollow and empty, but the warmth returned only second after. She’d done it.

She opened her eyes and found Nia standing directly in front of her, giving her a small thumbs up before turning to face Mandie.

“What’s up?” Nia asked, but it was pretty clear she didn’t actually care about whatever Mandie was going to say because she immediately turned to Hal, “Nice house you got over there.”

“I’m surprised you like it,” Hal responded, unphased by the fact that this girl had just appeared out of thin air. “Most spirits hate it here,” he continued, glancing back at the grounds.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking,” Alice interrupted, unsure if she was about to ask a stupid question or not. “Why do they hate it here?” It seemed like a really nice place. Beautiful house, beautiful property, and, since her powers were activated, she could feel pleasant energy every.

“It’s holy land,” Mandie said, as if it would explain everything. It didn’t. Not one bit.

“Oookay.” Alice was pretty sure if she asked Mandie to explain further she’d either not get an answer or just be more confused.

Hal laughed. “Spirit’s are naturally repelled by holy land, I’m not quite sure why, but they are,” Hal explained.

“Really?” Alice figured ghosts would be attracted to places like that. She didn’t know why, it just sounded like they should. It should be easier to find a ghost in a cemetery than a school.

“Yeah,” Mandie replied, “Churches, cemeteries, temples, most spirits hate those places.”

“Why?” Alice knew she probably wouldn’t get an answer, but she was genuinely curious about it.

Hal looked at Mandie, Mandie just shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine.” Well, Alice hadn’t expect that. She was a professional, right? So, if Mandie didn’t know, then does that mean that it’s a completely unanswered question?

“It’s because we can feel that difference,” Nia spoke up.

“What difference,” Alice hadn’t expected to find an answer from Nia, though she wasn’t shocked by it.

“That there’s something else here. Something, different. It’s a spooky feeling actually. If you have any interest I could share the sensation with you,” Nia was joking, but Alice was curious.

“No thanks,” Alice answered. Maybe she’d ask Nia some other time.

“Fantastic, can we get to work then,” Nia asked, mumbling something about not wanting to be here when it got dark.

“Yeah, right this way,” Hal motioned for them to come inside. Alice still had no idea why he wouldn’t let them in without knowing who they were first. Maybe it had something to do with the house being on consecrated grounds, but she doubted it.

“So what’s the problem now?” Mandie shifted into business mode.

“Kinda similar to last time, but a little bit different,” Hal answered as he lead the group up the ornate wooden stairs running up the center of the house.

Last time. That meant mandie had done this job before. So that’s why she had decided to take Alice and Nia with her, it would be good to test them out a job she already knew how to handle. It’d be a good way for her to see their powers and how they work together. If anything got out of hand she’d know exactly how to deal with it. Alice was relieved. She didn’t even know she’d been holding her breath until now.

“That doesn’t give me much to go on.”

“I never give you much to go on,” he smiled as he lead them through a dark, candle lit hallway lined with dark wooden doors and oil paintings. This hall seemed a lot longer than it should’ve been. It seemed they’d been walking for ages when Hal finally stopped at a door--this one looked a tad bit darker than the others, but Alice wasn’t sure--and pulled out a ring of keys.

He unlocked the door and a weird, radiant blue light lit up the hall. It wasn’t the same soft glow from most of the powers Alice had seen before this. It was harsher, it made her nervous just too look at, and she could feel it. She could actually feel that it was off, that something was wrong.

Mandie entered the room with Nia right behind her, Hal motioned for a Alice to head in. She hesitantly passed through the light and came face to face with the weirdest room she’d probably ever seen. The walls and floor were stone instead of the wood and drywall she had seen in the rest of the house. The light was being cast by a sigil that had been carved into the back wall, it didn’t feel as strange in here, but it wasn’t much of an improvement. Alice had a feeling that she would throw up if she spent too much time in here. It was hot and stuffy, yet she shivered and felt like she wouldn’t be able to get back to the door even if she tried. But that wasn’t the weirdest part.

By far, what she had been expecting the least was to see a thin man chained to the wall with the sigil. He looked asleep, but something told her not to test that theory.

“So this happened in the house, yeah?” Mandie asked, moving uncomfortably close to the sleeping brunette.

Hal nodded, “Over the years it’s been getting closer and closer to the house, but I never thought they’d actually be able to pull it off inside.”

“Pull what off?” Alice was seconds away from considering the fact that she may have accidentally joined a cult. She’d rather get answers before they went any further than have a mid life crisis at eighteen.

“This guy’s been possessed,” Mandie replied with little thought, paying almost no attention to anything other than the man.

“You see,” Hal continued once he realized that Mandie wasn’t going to answer, “Spirit’s don’t like consecrated grounds, so they either avoid them or try to destroy them. Most opt to avoid, but some spirits, dark spirits, they tend to go for the latter option. However, it’s had for them to enter the grounds, they need to either be invited in or be carried in by a human host.

“Normally either way isn’t a problem, since you can just hire spiritualists to set up barriers around whatever object it is that makes the land holy-”

“But it this case we’ve no idea what it is, so we can’t do anything to protect it,” Mandie said as she moved away from the man. “The best we can do here is wait for someone to be possessed, and then deal with it. It’s not a good solution, but it works.”

“I think you mean it works better than anything else you’ve tried,” Hal corrected begrudgingly.

“Yeah that,” Mandie said, turning to find Nia leaning against the wall by the door. As far away from the sigil as she possible could be without leaving the room. “This is where you come in.”

“Is there anything I need to do?” Alice asked, this job had been for her and Nia after all, there must be something that Mandie wanted her to do.

“Summoning Nia was your part,” Mandie said with a smile, “Now we just need to see if Nia will actually be helpful to us.”

“And how do you test that?”

“I’m supposed to force the ghost out of this guy, aren’t I.” Nia didn’t seem enthused. In fact she seemed pretty resentful about it.

“That’s right,” Mandie gestured to the guy, “Show us what you got.”

Nia grimaced, allowing Alice to catch a glimpse of-- were those fangs? The moment she’d seem them they’d vanished as Nia moved towards the man. Alice blinked and shook her head, she must’ve imagined it. Nia was human, so there was no way. This room must be messing with her head too.

Nia approached the man without hesitation. No precautions, no second guessing, she just walked straight up to the guy. He was slumped against the wall, sitting on the floor though his upper half was held up by the chains connected to his wrists. She didn’t move down to his level, she stayed standing, looking down at him with a condescending smile.

“Afternoon,” she said, there was a hint of glee in her silken voice.

Alice had thought the man was asleep when she walked in, but his eyes shot open the moment Nia spoke. “What are you doing here?” He growled, his face twisting with an inhuman scowl.

“Oh, you know, just enjoying the view.”

The man, or ghost--Alice wasn’t quite sure what to refer to him as--was up in the blink of an eye, grabbing at Nia. She took a single step away, but the man didn’t stop moving. Before Alice knew what had happened the man was landing on the ground, hard. She hadn’t seen it, but the way he was sprawled on the ground there was no doubt about it, Nia had swept his feet out from under him.

She stood there like nothing had happened. “Did I say you could get up?” Her voice was harsher than before, but still held a gentle tone.

There was no response.

“Answer me,” she demanded, moving back up so she could tower above him.

“No,” he hissed between clenched teeth, Alice could tell he was making an effort not to growl, or attack Nia again. Was she really scaring him? Alice couldn’t believe it.

“Fantastic.” Nia said with a devious grin. “Now then, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to leave this body, and then you’re never going to come back again. Got it?”

The man scoffed. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, and you’re going to tell everyone you know to stay away from here.”

“And what if I refuse?”

“Well, then I’ll have no other choices but to force you out of that body, drag you off the grounds, and destroy you.” Her eyes were cold and shallow. Not an ounce of emotion showed.

The man braced against the wall. He was weighing his options, deciding if he really believed the girl’s threats. Alice didn’t. There was no way Nia could do all that without help. Even though she’d never seen Nia’s powers she had a feeling.

The man sneered, “I look forward to you living up to your expectations of yourself.” The temperature in the room dropped and the sigil on the wall seemed to dim. Mandie moved in front of Alice, but the she didn’t notice. Alice wasn’t paying attention, her eyes were focused on Nia. She could feel something shifting, she just didn’t know what.

Nia slammed the palm of her hand into the man’s chest, not exactly pinning him to the wall, but certainly making sure he didn’t move. After that, Alice wasn’t sure what she had seen. Either a light flashed between Nia’s fingers, or her hand flashed on it’s own. The next second the man slumped against the wall, eyes closed, breaths shallow, sweat lining his face. Did Nia just knock out a ghost?

Before Alice could ask what had just happened, Hal rushed past her and began checking over the man chained to the wall. Nia backed away, giving Hal more space than he probably needed, but didn’t offer to help or any explanation of what she had done.

“How did you do that?” Alice asked, still not sure what Nia had done.

Nia looked at her, her eyes were brighter, but they still lacked something that Alice couldn’t place. “I killed him, that’s all.”

“The ghost?” Alice was new to this sure, but she figured she’d at least have a good grasp of her spirit powers, considering they were linked and all that.

“The what? No, no no no no no no, no. If I’d gone one on one with that ghost I wouldn’t be standing here right now,” she laughed. “So I took the easier route, I killed him,” she pointed to man who was sitting up groggily with the help of Hal and Mandie.

“If you killed him then how is he alive?” Alice wasn’t sure, but last time she check dead people don’t still inhabit bodies.

“Well, I only killed him for a second,” she smiled, pride filled her eyes. “Physically speaking it’s hardly noticeable, it’s like having your heart skip a beat. Spiritually though… well, let’s just say it’s like rebooting your computer. It forced the spirit out.”

“Oh, awesome.” But wait, didn’t that mean that the spirit was just running around now? Free to do whatever it wanted? Nia didn’t think this out. “I think you’re forgetting something,” Alice hinted, hoping either Nia or Mandie would figure out what was wrong.

“What’s that?” Nia asked, Mandie was still preoccupied with helping Hal.

“The spirit.”

“What about ‘im?” Nia tilted her head, brows furrowed. Did she honestly not see it?

“Where did he go?”

“Oh, he left. Kinda zoomed outta here as soon as I kicked him out of what's-his-face over there.” Well that was a relief.

“Didn’t you say that the other spirit was stronger than you?”

“I don’t believe I specifically said that, but yes?”

“If he was stronger, why did he run?”

“Because,” Mandie said before Nia could speak, “She was holding dominance at that point and after delivering on one of her threats, albeit by a technicality, that spirit wasn’t going to stick around long enough to see if she could deliver on her others or not.”

“But if you’re-”

“Dominance only depends on who acts stronger, not on who actually is stronger, end of conversation, now let’s get out of here.” Nia rushed for the door out of the room, leaving the rest of them behind.

“Is she always like that?” Hal asked low enough that Nia wouldn’t be able to hear down the hall.

“Normally, why?” Alice asked, her voice defensive. There wasn’t anything wrong with being temperamental. Was there some special rule that said spirits tied to Summoners couldn’t be aggressive, sarcastic, or all around overbearing?

Hal shrugged, “It’s that, well, from what Mandies told me, spirits like yours tend to be more… I don’t know, docile.”

So there was a rule. Or, not necessarily a rule but definitely a stereotype. Alice hadn’t thought anything of Nia’s personality, just that she was some sixteen year old kid who had died. If their situations were reversed, Alice was pretty certain she’d be pushy and sarcastic too. But if it was so uncommon why hadn’t Mandie mentioned anything? Alice looked to the exorcists inquisitively, but she seemed adamant to not meet Alice’s eyes.

“I will admit that Nia’s a little… different,” Manide said. “But it doesn’t seem to affect her powers or anything, and you two still get along just fine, as far as I’m aware at least, so it’s really no big deal.”

“From what I saw it affected her powers,” Hal mumbled, not wanting to correct Mandie openly.

“Being strong willed enough to assert dominance over another spirit doesn’t have anything to do with her powers. It just means that she’s special.” It seemed like Mandie really didn’t want to talk about this, which may have been because she hadn’t spend a lot of time around Nia. But Alice couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding something.

“What does her personality have to do with us?” Alice demanded, any other way and Mandie would’ve brushed her off. She was learning that she needed to adapt to speak with Mandie. Just like she had learned that she needed to be gentle and kind towards Nia to get anything done.

Her spirit was like a brick wall: completely immovable. She wouldn’t be changed, Alice had realized that moments after she had summoned the girl. So she did with Nia what you would if a brick wall got in your way: she adjusted and maneuvered around it.

It was the same thing with Mandie. Don’t ask questions with her, demand answers. It was the only way you would get them. And don’t try to win her over with flattery. Actually, scratch that, don’t try to win her over, period. That was all there was too it.

“It’s complicated,” Mandie hesitated.

Alice leaned against the wall, trying to be somewhat threatening but actually just realising how light headed she had been. “I’ve got time,” she said in what she hoped was a threatening voice.

Mandie sighed, “I’m sure Nia’s told you by now that Summoner relationships are founded on mutual trust?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Summoner and spirit personalities have an impact on that relationship. In order to rely on each other completely they two parties need to have complimenting personalities, it’ll allow them to work better together-”

“So there’s a dominant party and a submissive one?”

“Yes. And, well, gently put, most Summoner types are dominant people. They take the dominant role in the relationship, which allows them to direct the flow of energy and role each of them plays in the situation. The spirit takes the other role, supporting their Summoner and acting when they are told to.”

She’d said most of the time, that mean there were exceptions. There had to be exceptions. “What do you mean by most?”

“By most I mean one hundred percent of all Summoners and Tamers I’ve met apart from you two,” Mandie said. “In your case Nia is taking the dominant role.”

“Is that how she was able to threaten that other ghost?” Alice asked. She still wasn’t sure how Nia had done that. She still felt that what she’d seen was impossible.

Mandie nodded, “You remember what Nia said?”

“When?” Nia often said a lot of things, Mandie was going to need to be more specific.

“Dominance only depends on who acts stronger, not on who actually is stronger,” Mandie recited the girl’s words perfectly.

Of course Alice had remembered that, she didn’t think she’d ever forget them. It was good life advice, advice she had realized she would need to apply to Mandie to get anything answered.

“Even though you’re the stronger half of your relationship,” Mandie continued, “Nia is clearly the one in control. She takes action without being asked or told, she argues with everyone, even you, and she changed the energy flow between the two of you to make herself stronger. But you still work perfectly together.

“She trusted you enough to teach you the Summoning ritual, she listens to you, and she keeps a constant watch on you. Even now, she’s got her energy surrounding you, making sure nothing happens to you.” Alice wasn’t sure if Mandie was even answering her question any more.

“So, what exactly does that mean?” Alice asked.

“Nia may be the dominant force, but it doesn’t affect your unity, and it certainly shouldn’t affect your trust. Your roles are reversed but you work fine together, so I don’t see any problem with Nia being like she is.”

“So that’s why you were so calm about her just wandering around earlier,” Hal interrupted, walking back into the room. Alice hadn’t seen him leave. In fact, Alice had been so focused on the conversation she hadn’t seen that both Hal and the an that had been chained to the wall had left. She should pay more attention to her surroundings.

Mandie nodded again, “Normally dominant spirits are pushed into submission because it’s better for the relationship. But, as far as I see it, you and Nia are fine as you are so I won’t change your roles. Unless you start to feel threatened or anything, then I’ll step in and knock Nia down a peg.”

From the way she was talking it sounded like Mandie genuinely viewed Nia as a threat. A real life threat that could blow up any moment.

“You won’t have to worry about that,” Nia said softly from the doorway. Alice twirled around to look at the girl, feeling like she had been busted talking behind her back. “I won’t do anything to hurt her,” Nia said, looking at Mandie with pained eyes.

“I know you won’t,” she replied. Leaving off the ‘because I won’t let you’ Alice had felt was coming next.

Nia smiled, “Awesome. So, can we leave now? I don’t like it here, and if we stay much longer I think I might throw up. None of us want that. Specifically me, I don’t want that.” She slipped back through the door and down that hallway before Mandie could say anything.

“Alright then,” Mandie huffed, “I guess we’re leaving.” She turned to Hal, “Thanks for the job, and just call me again if you have anymore problems. Though I have a feeling you won’t for awhile.”

“I certainly will. You can find your own way out, right? I should make sure Jacob is fine.”

“Yeah, of course,” Mandie said then waved a goodbye. Hal smiled then disappeared further into the darkness of the hall.

The moment he was gone Mandie turned to Alice, “I think there’s something I should tell you.”

“What?” Alice hadn’t been expecting Mandie to sound so serious.

They stood in silence for what seemed like ages, building the suspense in the room. “Never mind, it’s not important,” Mandie moved to leave the room, “Just forget I said anything.”

Alice rushed to catch up with her. She didn’t know how she knew, but it was important, and it had to do with Nia.

Author's Note

Comments, questions, concerns, and critiques are all greatly appreciated