Spirited Away

Starla, Alec, Marissa, and Therasia spent hours down in the fountain lair, discussing and demonstrating various aspects of their abilities. Though she has met others with abilities, she related to Therasia the most. Perhaps it was as simple as being around the same age. The three of them reluctantly went back home once it had become too late, but they made plans to meet up again the next day.

“You know who would love to meet her?” Alec asked when they were back topside.

“Karam?” Starla assumed.

“Karam,” Alec confirmed.

“That little pyro,” Marissa laughed.

Starla looked at her watch. “Egypt is just waking up right now, so I’ll contact him while I’m sleeping. As long as that would be okay with Therasia.”

“We’ve actually discussed it. She trusts me to only trust people she can trust.”

Starla giggled. “So, that’s a yes.”

After helping her into the guest bed, Alec slipped in next to her and fell asleep right away, exhausted from the day’s activity. Starla always had trouble sleeping like a normal person, so she sent her Egyptian friend, Karam a telepathic ping, knowing that her body would be forced to cycle itself down with her consciousness away. She waited for twenty minutes or so, but he wasn’t answering. Either he was busy or dead, so she decided to jump into his body and make sure things were okay. She found herself in an unfamiliar location. It was a busy marketplace that looked like it could have been in Egypt, but upon closer inspection, none of the products being sold were labeled with Arabic. She wasn’t completely sure because she had never studied it, but it appeared to be Greek. And her environment was an unusual shade of purplish-blue, like she was seeing the world through tinted lenses.

When she looked down, she saw her own body, wearing her own nightclothes, which was not correct. She should have been seeing the body of the person she was possessing. She walked over to a nearby motorcycle and tried to see herself in its mirror, but she had absolutely no reflection. This was not normal. As she was looking around, hoping to stumble across answers in the fruits and vegetables, she saw an old man who appeared to be watching her curiously. She looked behind her back, but there was nothing interesting. She moved to the right, and then the left. The man’s eyes followed her. “Who are you?”

He tilted his head to the other side and smiled. “Spyridon Colonomos. Don,” he amended. “And you?”

“I don’t know that I should tell you my name.”

“That’s fair. Let’s go back in time so we can prevent me from telling you mine.”

“You can do that?”

Don laughed exuberantly. Anyone in the market with decent hearing should have turned to look, but they didn’t. They could see each other, but no one could see them. “I cannot.”

“So you’re like me.”

“No. I’m older. You’re like me.”

“Semantics,” she said with a shrug. She looked back at the shopping people. “Where are we?”

“Greece; where I’m from. I came to check in on a friend, but my body is actually in Finland right now.”

“Ah.” She pointed to herself. “Canada.”

He nodded politely.

“Can you possess other people, err...?”

“Why would I be able to do that?”

“I guess we’re not the same.”

“No. But something drew us together. Right now, we are in the netherworld.”

“The whatnow?”

“I don’t really know what to call it, but...” He paused to scan the crowd and then pointed to a man in a gray tunic who was trying his damnedest to smell the oranges, but apparently failing. “That guy is dead.”

“How do you know?”

“Wait for it.”

As she watched, the man attempted to pick up the orange, but his hand passed right through the cart. “That’s sad.”

“Indeed.”

“So, you can see dead people?”

“Sometimes. It depends on which avenue I take. If I travel using the indigo world, I see ghosts. If I use the blue world, I don’t. I’m not sure how it all works. I can see them, but they have no idea I’m here, ya know, unless I want them to. Except for you. You could somehow see me by default.” He outstretched his arm. “Here, I’ll take you to my body so I can introduce you to my friends.”

“That’s not creepy.” But she took his hand anyway. Their surroundings blurred and zipped away from sight before revealing new surroundings. They were in a small apartment bedroom. Don’s physical body was lying in bed. It looked strangely stiff and uncomfortable, and she couldn’t figure what was wrong with it.

He seemed to notice this. “My body is in hibernation to prevent me from dying while my consciousness is away.”

“I wish I had that.”

“Oh, dear...”

As a boy came into the room snickering, Starla caught a glimpse of a young woman who was cooking breakfast. The boy approached Don’s body and tried to flick his ear several times, but it didn’t budge. Not even bears went under such kind of hibernation. Don’s spirit narrowed his brow and barked at the boy, “Hosanna. Stop trying to wake me up.”

The boy perked up and looked at Don’s spirit. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.”

“Do you make a habit out of physically assaulting me when I’m not here?”

“Um...no, of course not. Stop talkin’ crazy.” The boy was not very convincing. “Who is this?”

“You can see her?”

“You found another one of us?” Hosanna asked. “Rather, another one of you.”

“She found me,” Don corrected, but then clarified, “well, fate found us both.”

Hosanna nodded somewhat sarcastically. “Right. She should meet Valary.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Don said. “Val, get in here!” he cried.

“Yes?” the woman asked while opening the door with her back, a mixing bowl still in hand.

Before Starla could see Valary’s full face, something pulled her away from the scene. Karam had evidently responded to her telepathic call, and was pulling her all the way to her final destination in Egypt.

“Hey, Star,” Karam said. “Sorry I didn’t answer. “My husband and I were...well, we were in the middle of something.”

No, no no no no nooo, Starla yelled. But she couldn’t get back to Don’s apartment. She sent her consciousness to random places in Greece and Finland, but none of them were right. If she wanted to form a psychic connection, it would either happen randomly, or she would have to seek out someone that she had already connected with. But that was the problem. She had never actually connected with Don or the other two. She had only come across their vicinity. There was no way to return, and there was no way to contact them in the real world. She knew his last name, but that wasn’t enough to find him. She was certainly no private investigator, and it sounded like they traveled a lot. They were lost to her forever. The more she thought about it, the less she agreed with René’s policy of hiding, and the more interested she was in finding others. She wanted to know everybody. She didn’t want to be alone.

“What’s going on?” Karam asked after she returned to Egypt.

I don’t know. Starla took control of Karam’s head and shook it slowly and deliberately. “I don’t know,” she repeated a few times.