Gadalik was startled half-awake from the ringing of a bell. At first he thought it came from a dream, since the sound wasn't one he was used to… but then it rang again, jarring him enough to remember that his mother had recently bought them a telephone–and that he had added their number to his work listings. The spook quickly scrambled out of bed, briefly checking on his heavily-sleeping mother as he passed her messy bedroom at the end of the second story hall, before descending the stairs and picking it up right at the third ring. "Peakisan residence; Gadalik speaking."

  "Gadalik?" The caller sounded like a middle-aged man. "You're someone able to deal with ghosts, right?"

  "Yep. How can I help?"

  "Oh, good… My name's Hoss. You see, I just moved to this neighborhood a few weeks ago with my young daughter, but it turns out the house next door is haunted, and I don't know what to make of this whole mess."

  "Is the ghost violent, or hurting anyone?"

  “I can't say, since I haven't seen anybody go inside there–and frankly I'm too scared to check, myself. But there are destructive sounds coming from inside that are loud and sporadic. It's hard to ignore.”

  "Do you know anything about who lived there?"

  "No, not at all. I tried asking my landlord about it, but all he said was that they were ‘harmless’ as long as we didn't go inside their house, and recommended using earplugs at night."

  "Wait. Did he mean ‘they’ as plural?” Usually a singular ghost of unknown gender is referred to as ‘it.’

  “Not sure; that's just the word he used. But if there are more, I'm willing to pay for you to get rid of all of them.”

  Dealing with multiple spirits at once might be difficult if I'm alone, even with my increased powers… But I can’t just turn a blind eye. That's when a solution hit. "Do you mind if I bring someone to assist me?"

  "Uh… I'm not sure if I could afford to hire two spooks. I sought you out specifically because you're cheaper than the rest."

  "N-No, I'll have her pay sorted, myself.”

  "I see. Then do what you need to.” He provided the address and contact information.

  “Sounds good. I can be there around evening today.”

  “Looking forward to it.”

  When they hung up, Gadalik eagerly strode back to his bedroom and opened a dresser drawer beneath a professionally-shot picture of himself riding horses through the snow with a friend, then sifted through the letters and unframed pictures until he found the thin banded stack of business cards given from people he worked with in the past, including Albert's, Vincent's, Janna's, and… Here it is!

  He brought the last one with him downstairs and dialed its number on the rotary.

  So this is her place? Gadalik confirmed at noon, double checking the address. He dismounted his dappled gray stallion, who snorted as if unimpressed by the moderately-sized two-story home before them in the suburbs of a village just miles from home. With an uneasy gulp, he dared to knock on the door.

  It took a moment, but a woman with red irises and black hair answered. "Why, hello there, young man! You must be Gadalik. Please come in!”

  He tied his horse outside, adjusting its blanket to keep it warm in the light snowfall, then obliged her. The inside was organized, and decorated with enchanted items he recognized from books he had read.

  "Lucia, is that the spook-witch from the lake we heard so much about?" said a black-haired man sitting on the couch, his purple eyes seeming to recognize the green-robed teen whose steel-tipped staff was attached at the hip.

  "Yes, Akio. He called earlier about our daughter joining him for a job,” she replied.

  "How old are you, son?"

  "I just turned eighteen,” Gadalik said, grimacing at the reminder of both his heritage and the fight that had occurred on his birthday because of it.

  Lucia frowned, muttering to her husband, “A little old for her, don't you think?"

  "Only two years difference," Akio brushed it off.

  “...What?” Gadalik glanced between the two, not understanding how his age was relevant to anything.

  "Mom, Dad, who's here?" a familiar voice called from upstairs.

  "Come see for yourself," Akio invited her, and his wife couldn't suppress a mischievous snicker.

  Their daughter came down: a girl with short black hair. When her violet eyes met with the other teen's she stumbled and nearly fell down the steps with shock, flustered. After a second she rebalanced and composed herself. "Wha… What is he doing here?!"

  Gadalik shrank from her reaction. "Your mother didn't tell you?"

  “No! Unsurprisingly.”

  “It must have slipped my mind,” Lucia giggled.

  “Yeah, right.”

  "I-I'm sorry, Mira… I didn't mean to drop by unexpected,” the older spook said, backing up toward the door in preparation to leave.

  "Ugh, don't apologize. Why are you here?"

  "You said to call you once I found a job… Your mother was the one who answered. I thought she would tell you–honest…! But since she didn't, I understand if you don't want to take it–"

  "Of course I want to take it! Now… what is it?"

  "This family moved next door to a haunted house… It's actually not too far from here. The problem is there might be two ghosts–"

  "I meant: what is its pay?"

  Oh. "It'll be my rates… which are still on the affordable side. B-But I saw what you charge on your business card, so I'll make sure you get the amount you usually would.”

  "Seriously? Don't cut yourself so short! We'll split it evenly."

  "Oh, uh… alright," he stammered with pleasant surprise. "We can leave as soon as you're ready."

  Mira headed back up the staircase and eventually returned wearing her red-violet hood, with her silver kusarigama at her hip. He could scarcely see the gold of her pendant tucked under her black shirt. "Well? What are we waiting for?"

  "N-Nothing. Do you have transportation?"

  "Yeah, I've got a horse. Do you? We also have a carriage we can both ride in if you don't.”

  "I do! His name is Punsiv."

  "Good to know. C'mon." Mira went out back to retrieve her silver horse, and when she met with him in the front yard, she looked to and fro. "Where's your mother?"

  "She doesn't come with me for every job," he answered with a single-shouldered shrug, untying Punsive to mount him. After they were both aboard their steeds, he led the way toward the address Hoss had given him. It would be a five-hour ride at the least.

  "So you decided to stay a spook after all, then?" Mira remarked after a minute of traveling.

  "Y-Yeah. I feel like I can't catch a break from ghosts regardless of being on duty, anyway," he halfway joked. "I took your advice and wore a nullifier for a while. I enjoyed not being able to sense ghosts, but now I can control my ghost sense so it's not really needed–except maybe to stop me from seeing ghosts."

  "You couldn't control it before?"

  "No… There was a seal placed on me and it stunted my magic. It only weakened enough for me to control it just recently."

  "Did you have the seal last time I was with you?"

  "Actually, yes; I just didn't know about it. It was partly behind the surge that caused me to drown."

  Mira fell quiet at the reminder.

  "Thank you… for helping save me back then," he added genuinely.

  "O-Of course! I'm not heartless." There was a brief pause, during which the muffled clip-clop of hooves hitting the cobblestone path through shallow snow came into focus. "So… why didn't you call me before now?" Her tone was uncharacteristically soft, as if she feared his answer.

  "I didn't have a phone until my birthday a few days ago," he explained gently. "Besides, I never got a paying job since the one we shared at the lake."

  "What do you mean by that? You take jobs for free?”

  "N-No, I just mean I've dealt with spirits while I wasn't on the job. Like, I was getting horse riding lessons from Grace, when it turned out a girl she used to babysit died and had been haunting her."

  "Who’s Grace? Your girlfriend?"

  "What? No…! She's still a kid. Besides, I don't have a girlfriend. But that's because…" The sentence trailed off.

  "...You're gay?" she guessed.

  "W-Well… I don't really care about gender," he admitted. "But romantic love is… hard for me to feel. The only one I've ever felt attracted to was my best friend Gretel, and that wasn’t until years after we met. Of course we're only friends; she doesn't like anyone romantically… But I haven't felt the same about anybody since."

  "So… you're demi?"

  He thought for a moment, having never labeled himself. "Yes… And pan, like my father."

  "You have a father?! Where was he when we were at the lake?"

  "He's not legally my father; he's my adoptive mother's boyfriend. He doesn't live with us…”

  "...Huh. Your family is weird."

  Gadalik laughed. "I guess. But we're happy, and that's all that matters, right?"

  The two had continued chatting on and off, Mira never letting the silence drag on for too long before starting up another conversation, until the spooks reached their destination by evening: it was a city, and vehicles seemed to be more common in it. Gadalik dismounted his horse; as Mira began to do the same, he offered his hand to assist her. She hesitated, her violet eyes studying him skeptically, but ultimately accepted. He tied Punsiv outside and knocked on the door.

  "Daddy, there's someone out there!" a little girl's voice shouted from the other side of it.

  A blond man opened the door, sighing with relief to see his two visitors were wearing spooks' attire. "Right on time! I'm Hoss, and this”--he gestured to the girl waving excitedly at them–”is my daughter Claira. You're Gadalik, right? And the young lady is your assistant?"

  "Assistant?" Mira echoed, turning to the other spook. "Since when am I your assistant?"

  Gadalik closed in on himself. "I didn't mean it that way… You're here to help me, so I didn't know how else to refer to you."

  "Try 'partner' instead."

  "Well that might give off the wrong idea…"

  It took Mira moment to realize what he meant, and her face reddened. "Pfft. Whatever." Addressing Hoss, she asked, "So where is this haunted house?"

  "Right next door," the man answered, gesturing. "But first, why don't you take a moment to rest after coming so far–"

  "Come on, Gadalik, let's check it out."

  The older spook recoiled. "What? Wait! We don't know what we're getting into yet!"

  "I'm sure we can handle a couple of poltergeists," she confidently dismissed his concerns.

  He silently debated the risks, but when he saw her take out her sickle, Gadalik immediately blocked her way. "No,” he stated firmly, taking advantage of his authority over the mission. “It does seem like they're poltergeists, but they could be consumed. For all we know, they could kill us the second we step foot inside. Besides, we can't just annihilate every spirit we come across.”

  She seemed astonished that he stood up to her. After what happened on his birthday, he had become more assertive to avoid falling into unwanted situations. "Alright, then," she finally agreed. "What's the plan?"

  Gadalik looked to Hoss. "May we come in?”

  “Of course! Make yourself at home,” he answered, closing the door when they went through it. The man guided them to the living room and took a seat with his daughter, inviting the spooks to sit down.

  “On our phone call, you mentioned ‘destructive noises’ next door. Can you specify them?”

  "It's like bam”--Claira stomped her foot–”and pssssht!"--she threw her hands down and then widened them as if to mime shattering a glass plate–"a-a-all the time! But at bedtime, I hear her crying…”

  "Her…?”

  “That's really all we know about them,” Hoss admitted.

  "Then going in at nighttime should be safer…”

  “It's already almost dark. Might as well go in now,” Mira insisted.

  "...Alright,” Gadalik caved. “Thanks, you two, for the info. Your descriptions of the sounds were helpful,” he said to Claira, who beamed from the acknowledgement. “Ready, Mira?”

  "Finally, some action! Let's go!" She accompanied him next door.

  He lifted his hand to knock on the door at first, but reconsidered, opting to silently try the handle instead. Upon turning it, the door opened on its own accord. Mira pushed past him, but he caught her elbow. "You wait outside," he commanded quietly. "If I'm not out in fifteen minutes, come and get me, alright?"

  She crossed her arms, but thankfully matched his volume. "Why can't I come with you?"

  "Frankly, I don't trust you not to start a fight with the spirit.”

  "Trust?" Mira sounded hurt.

  "I haven't forgotten how combative you were with me and my mother when we first met you... We may have ended things on better terms, but if we're going to be in this together, I need to learn I can trust you first. So for now, just act as my backup."

  The violet-eyed spook looked away from him, guilty but too proud to admit it.

  "Can I count on you to save me if I don't make it out, like last time?" he added a bit more encouragingly, emphasizing the importance of her role.

  "...Yeah."

  Gadalik gave a grateful nod. He drew in a breath and cautiously went inside, letting his ghost sense roam within the radius of the home and detecting two spirits which were both upstairs. I'll explore the bottom floor first, then.

  It was dim, but the fading sunlight from the windows leaked across the soft carpeting in the living room thats slight parallel indentations indicated it had been vacuumed recently. Directly ahead of him a single fancy lamp stood tall beside a plush couch, the wall above which lined with photos that consistently depicted both–or either–a woman with long magenta hair and a balding man the same age with hazel eyes in various cityscapes and countrysides. The kitchen was on his left, its entryway within a wall making up the left side of a hall between it and the couch, ending in what appeared to be a backdoor; on his right was a staircase the same length as the hall.

  Gadalik neared the couch, glancing between the kitchen and the hall as he wondered which way to go first. That's when he spotted stitches in the soft fabric, ranging from professional ones of same-colored threads that were hardly noticeable, to hastily-sewn with threads of various hues and thickness, as if whoever fixed it up had run out of time or materials to maintain its original quality. One look at the lamp from this close and he could see cracks in the bulbous glass shade.

  He couldn't help wondering about the people in the photos in front of him. The spook still sensed the ghosts on the second floor, so he decided to go down the hall to find out more. The two appeared to be so happy together, and more pictures of them hung up on either side were in black and white, showing their bonds even as children.

  There were two doors on either side of him at the midpoint: a bathroom on the kitchen side, and a bedroom across from it that shared the living room’s wall. From here he could also view a bench-swing by the fence surrounding the yard through the backdoor’s window. He refocused his attention to the bedroom and opened the right-side door to a spacious room illuminated slightly from a window facing the backyard, then furrowed his brows when he saw its curtains had the same stitchings as the couch. The bed was made up, but unlike the carpet, it didn't appear to have been touched in a long time.

  Gadalik checked the watch under his long robe’s sleeve. It's only been five minutes, he counted, relieved.

  The teen carefully made his way out and into the bathroom. The shower curtain had been halfway ripped off the rod; the half still hanging had five parallel slashes through it. Claw-marks? Was that what happened to the furniture?

  The mirror was fragmented, but the missing shards were nowhere to be found, meaning someone must have picked those up as well. He pressed gently on the glass, and when it moved back under his touch, he found it doubled as a medicine cabinet; opening it revealed countless half-filled bottles of prescription drugs he'd never heard of.

  Ten minutes.

  With nothing else standing out in the bathroom, he went to investigate the kitchen. Its floor was made of checkered tiles, and while the sink was empty, the drainer and cupboards contained surprisingly few dishes. He remembered Claira’s gestures of breaking glass and figured they were the main cause of the sounds she had heard, but just like with the bathroom, there were no shards to confirm his theory.

  Suddenly his ghost sense alerted him to a spirit swiftly approaching. He instinctively summoned a shield as the spirit of an older woman with long translucent magenta hair flowing ethereally behind her phased through the ceiling to float face to face with the spook.

  "Oh, uh… Hi,” he greeted her awkwardly, forcing a friendly smile despite his rising discomfort from her glare. “I'm sorry for intruding… My name's Gadalik. I–"

  “Get out…” She interrupted his introduction with a low growl.

  Gadalik hesitated from her open hostility, instinctively taking hold of the staff at his hip after single-handedly unstrapping it from his hip. “I didn't come here to cause any trouble. I just want to talk–”

  "Get out."

  He flinched at her sudden volume, but held his ground. "I… I sense another ghost in this house. I'm assuming it's your husband–the man with you in the photos. Is he… still in his human shape…?" Or is he consumed, taking the form of a clawed beast?

  “Get out!” she wailed, levitating silverware from the dish drainer and angling the sharp ends of the forks and knives his way before they suddenly shot at him.

  The witch hybrid expanded his shield to protect his full body, bracing himself until he heard the last of them clink on the floor with the others that had ricocheted to form a semicircle in front of Gadalik, who locked eyes with the ghost once more. “Please… I don't want to fight.”

  They stood off for a few moments. Gadalik began to feel somewhat violated by her gaze, an odd sensation in his head that felt familiar though he couldn't quite remember why.

  Finally the ghost backed away and lowered herself to all fours. He assumed a more defensive stance, but maintained hold of his staff just to be safe as her form slowly grew larger and reshaped: her face elongated and its features dissolved; her arms shortened from shoulder to elbow, hands enlarging to resemble those of mole; her legs fused into a floating tail.

  That's when Gadalik recognized the monster standing before him: it was the same as the spirit from the beach resort. No… But how?

  Its missing mouth ripped open in a roar as it slashed at him.

  Taking a few breaths to calm himself as it clawed at the barrier, his initial terror subsided as the recurring nightmares he'd had of reliving this situation prepared him for this. "I came to terms with you… I understand you were hurting; so was I. But neither of us should have taken our issues out on the other! We were both in the wrong, and I'm sorry… There's nothing left for us to settle."

  It finally stopped attacking when it seemed to realize the spook was unfazed by it, and retreated a few paces. Then she began to change shape once more.

  Finally making the connection between the sensation in his head with the time Grace’s deceased friend had possessed him, Gadalik rummaged through his pockets for an exorcism tag. Usually he could identify them by touch, but to his dismay, his pockets felt empty. He pulled it open to look inside and saw nothing; at the same time the walls of the kitchen began to melt away into something wooden. It's too late–she's in my head, controlling my senses… I can only see and feel what she wants me to. He remembered how Grace had used his tags to free him last time, and cast a glance toward where the front door should be. “Mira!” he cried for help as a last resort, then froze when the scenery had finished transitioning into that of a blood-stained log cabin.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  On trembling legs, he faced the spirit again, and his heart stopped when he saw what she had become: a monster with four talons and bat-like wings, all tipped with long, curved claws. A single yellow eye floated in place of its head, and long-suppressed memories of it killing two robed adults, the claws raking through them to paint the wooden logs red, resurfaced from the depths of Gadalik’s mind.

  He stood frozen in the kitchen, his wide eyes staring with tears streaming down them. He didn't notice his breath had caught in his throat; he was in too much shock to breathe.

  "Get out," her disembodied voice sounded from everywhere at once.

  The world tilted and faded to black as he collapsed.

  "Gadalik… Hey, Gadalik…! Come on–wake up already,” Mira complained. “It's been two hours!”

  The older spook opened his striped blue eyes partly. He realized he was on Hoss's couch. "What… What happened…?"

  "You tell us! I thought you'd never wake up!"

  "Hm… I… met this ghost–a woman… and then…" He drew a blank.

  "Then what?"

  "I don't know; it's all a blur." He thought for a second. "Oh, there were two ghosts in the house! I only saw the one, though."

  "Two? Then that's one for each of us. But that doesn't explain why I found you curled up, shivering and sobbing on the kitchen floor after you called my name like you were dying. You were even stressed out in your sleep this whole time! And you really can't remember what happened?"

  Gadalik tried hard to recall the events after meeting the ghost, but all that came to him was an extreme sense of unease that he couldn't bring himself to confront.

  "Ugh, you're useless. Guess I'll have to go in with you next time."

  "She doesn't want us in the house,” he informed her. “She told me to leave repeatedly, and when I didn't…" He felt his entire body tense up to the point where he felt nauseous, and placed a hand over his chest as if it could slow his increased heart rate.

  "Hey, snap out of it! What did she do?"

  "I don't remember," he breathed despairingly. Maybe it was so horrible that I don't want to remember. Even the thought of going back inside is making me– The nausea overwhelmed him and he heaved, but managed not to puke.

  "It couldn't have been that bad," Mira argued.

  The older teen didn't answer, trying to redirect his focus to anything else around him.

  "Is everything alright?" Hoss approached with a tray of tea, offering them each a cup. "You seemed very upset when we carried you in."

  Gadalik accepted it but was still too shaken to drink. "Thanks–to both of you–for getting me out of there. Really. I just… I just need a moment."

  "Very well. We'll give you some space. Come, Mira, I'll show you the guest room."

  The spook watched her go before forcing himself to take a sip of tea, grateful when its warmth helped him relax. When he finally finished the cup, he lied back down on the couch and dozed off.

  A knock on the door roused him fully just a couple of hours later. Gadalik was feeling back to his usual self and stood up to answer until he remembered this wasn't his house.

  Mira followed Hoss out into the living room and the latter opened the door. "Hey, there, Hoss," greeted an older man in a nice dress-shirt and pants.

  "Burney? What are you doing here? I already gave you the rent for this month," Hoss said.

  "Word got to me that you hired some spooks to get rid of the ghosts next door." Burney peered inside, seeing the two curious teens staring back.

  "Y-Yes, sir. My daughter was worried about the ghosts and I thought they could help–"

  "The only ones who would need help are those poor kids behind you. May I come in?"

  "Yes, yes, of course." Hoss sidestepped out of the way and went to pull up some chairs for everyone.

  Once they were settled, Burney bluntly told the spooks, “Go home.”

  “What? Why?” Mira demanded.

  "The ghosts were previous tenants of mine, named Brian and Francine. Brian was a good bloke but he was chronically ill, and eventually became bedridden until he succumbed to his ailments. Francine, who had dedicated her life to taking care of him, died naturally not long after… presumably from a broken heart.” He addressed everyone when adding, “I have hired multiple spooks to get rid of their lingering spirits, you know."

  "If that’s true, then why aren't they gone?"

  "These ghosts in particular are a very frightening pair. According to the first spook I hired, you're dealing with mental possession."

  "Wouldn't be the first ghost capable of that," the older teen muttered. They all glanced at Gadalik, and he covered his mouth, not intending to be rude.

  "He told me that Francine does this to find your deepest fears, nightmares, and memories, and recreating them with illusions to scare you out of the house,” Burney went on. “After the second spook I hired was too scared to go back, I decided not to put any more through that again."

  “Whatever she showed them must have been awful,” Hoss sympathized. “Poor Gadalik really looked like a frightened child when Mira brought him to my door.”

  A child…? The memory of her second form struck him out of nowhere. The older teen leaned forward, clutching his stomach as it churned.

  "Gadalik?"

  "I remember now… It was like I was nine years old again… She had turned into the ghost that..." The sentence trailed off as repressed memories from so long ago resurfaced, the pain they induced feeling just as bad as when he'd first witnessed his parents’ deaths.

  Hoss placed a hand on his shoulder.

  "If I were you, I'd call this whole thing off,” the landlord advised his tenant. “Don't traumatize these poor children any farther.” He stood, said goodbye, and left.

  "...I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was asking of you two," Hoss apologized. "You're free to leave."

  "Daddy!" Claira called from her bedroom.

  "Be right there, Claira," her father replied. He excused himself to tend to her.

  "...Are you alright?" Mira asked the other teen.

  "I-I will be," Gadalik assured her, although he fought back the urge to weep. "But maybe you should sit this one out.”

  "What about you? Don't tell me you're going in there again!" When he looked away, she added, "Didn't you hear Burney? He said he doesn't mind the ghosts being there. Are you some kind of glutton for punishment?"

  "I have to go back in. I can't let those spirits terrorize anyone else… And if what Claira said is true about hearing her cry, Francine is suffering too. She needs help–and so does her husband.”

  "Then I'm coming with you," Mira decided.

  "There's no shame in leaving–" He paused when her words registered. “Wait. What?”

  She propped her hands on her hips. "You heard me. We're in this job together, right? I can't let you keep all of the pay for yourself!"

  If Gadalik wasn't feeling so depressed, he would have laughed at her joke. "You don't know what you're getting into…"

  "Uh, yeah, I do. Burney literally just explained it all. Get yourself together and let's go."

  By now, the sun had long retired, the moon taking its turn in the sky. Gadalik stood immobilized before the steps of the haunted house's porch. He planned on going in but his trembling legs wouldn't budge.

  Mira looked back at him from the door, frowning at his condition. "Maybe you're the one who needs to stay behind. You're shaking like a leaf!"

  The older spook sighed heavily and steadied his breathing. Then he joined her, giving her a nod to show he was ready. She opened the door, and they stepped inside together.

  The inside was pitch black, but he sensed that both spirits were once again on the second floor. Gadalik went for the staircase now, Mira following close behind with a flashlight in her hand. The steps felt endless, yet his sense grew stronger, and so too did his anxiousness. Everything they can show me, I've already faced before, he reassured himself. I can face them again. I have to…!

  "There's one spirit in the bedroom there," Mira whispered, pointing with the flashlight in one hand, her other clutching the golden pendant that allowed her use of the spook’s abilities her companion naturally had.

  Gadalik gave a nod to acknowledge her. Carefully, he opened the door to see wilted potted plants decorating the room and a wheelchair positioned by an open window. Paintings of different birds and landscapes decorated the walls, but his attention was drawn to a lump under the blankets on the bed. "Brian?" he asked quietly.

  The blanket suddenly fell and what slowly turned to face them was a translucent beast with large pointed ears and black eyes; a quadruped whose forelimbs were burley and hind legs short. A mane extended from the back of its head down its spine. It let out a low growl and stepped toward him.

  "He's consumed!" Mira cursed as she gripped her weapon.

  "Don't hurt him," Gadalik stopped her. He put a shield tag on his staff and used his own magic so that the bubble covered them both, just as the beast moved to rake them with its claws. Gadalik withdrew a disfigurement tag from his pocket and slapped it onto its paw during its next attack.

  Its form dispersed into a cloud.

  "It's going to be okay, Brian," the older spook promised. "We aren't going to harm you."

  "Gadalik…" Mira tugged the sleeve of his green robe.

  "Hang on. Just give him a second to reform.”

  "No–another ghost is–"

  "Get out." Francine’s voice struck fear into Gadalik’s core after their last encounter.

  "--right behind us," Mira warned him too late.

  Just then Brian's spirit reformed, but his limbs were more unnaturally contorted than before. His muzzle was longer, drooling floating wisps from between his long lipless fangs.

  "We can't handle them both at once," Gadalik said, trying his best to remain calm. "Mira, take my staff and run.” He held his staff behind him in her direction, but she didn't take it. “Mira?” He turned to face her, and his heart sank.

  His companion was staring wide-eyed at Francine, the chain of her sickle audibly rattling in her trembling hands.

  No! I can't let her possess Mira the way she did me! He glanced back at Brian who was still scratching at his shield from the front. We're trapped…! We need to run… We need to escape. We need to escape–

  He grabbed Mira by the elbow and then a flash of blue light engulfed them. The witch hybrid had intended to teleport them outside, but it must have been too great a distance; instead, they reappeared on the first floor at the bottom of the stairs. It didn't take long before he saw Brian rushing at them from the bedroom at the end of the second floor’s hall.

  Gadalik felt too drained from teleporting to move, and Mira was still dazed from Francine’s possession, too, so neither were in good enough condition to fight back. Thankfully the shield tag on his staff was still active.

  The monstrous spirit continued to strike the barrier as he'd done during Francine’s distraction. It roared with frustration when it held, then struck it again. The weakened teenagers could only brace themselves when its third attack shattered the battered barrier.

  Instead of killing them, though, they heard a whimper that grew more distant as Brian retreated to his room. Gadalik opened his eyes to find Francine had been herding him back upstairs. Then she rounded on the spooks and hissed, "Get out!"

  The hybrid hesitated, then snapped out of it and weakly scrambled to his feet, guiding Mira out the front door which then promptly slammed shut.

  "Are you two insane?" Hoss exclaimed, having emerged from next door after the roar had woken him. "What were you thinking, going back in there?!"

  The older spook winced from the scolding. "Someone has to save them…”

  "You two are the ones who need saving! You're just kids!”

  "I'm an adult," Gadalik corrected him.

  "Barely! If the experienced spooks Burney hired couldn't handle these ghosts, what makes you think you can?”

  "Are they gone?" Mira spoke up quietly.

  The others froze. "Who?" Gadalik prompted gently.

  She shook her head, coming to. "N-Nothing. Never mind. Let's just… take a break."

  Hoss brought them back to his place and Mira instantly took the bed in the guest room, still distraught. Gadalik settled on the couch.

  "I'll let you two recover for the night," the man said, "but in the morning, you're fired."

  A moment passed where nobody said anything. "...Alright. I'll send Mira home," Gadalik murmured. "But you're mistaken if you think I'm doing this for the money. Fired or not, I'm going to help them." His striped blue eyes met Hoss's challengingly.

  The man sighed heavily. "You've been defeated by them twice now. Don't you know when to quit?"

  "Next time will be different; I learned a lot from this encounter."

  "You're really going through with this?”

  He nodded.

  Hoss shook his head disapprovingly, but gave up his attempt to dissuade him.

  Perhaps an hour later Gadalik awoke to the sound of a cupboard shutting a little too harshly. He heard the kitchen faucet run, and sat up when he realized it was Mira getting a drink.

  Their eyes met and she quickly averted hers, power-walking to the guest room to avoid him.

  "Mira!" he whispered loudly. She froze before the door but refused to acknowledge him. "Mira, please…"

  She sighed through her nose and faced him. "What…?"

  He sat up, moving over and putting the cushion beside him. She reluctantly sat down. "About earlier… When Francine possessed you… Are you okay…?"

  "O-Of course I'm okay," she snapped.

  Gadalik wasn't convinced. "I don't know what you saw… but regardless of what it was, I do know how badly it must have scared you."

  She glared at the cup of water in her hands. Then her violet eyes flitted to his. "I'm not some–some wimp, alright? Nothing can scare me that bad."

  So she doesn't want to talk about it… Fair enough. "Hoss spoke to me earlier... He's firing us. I think it's for the best if you go home in the morning–"

  The girl snarled at him. "I'm not leaving!"

  "Mira…"

  "You wanna know what I saw when I was possessed?"

  He recoiled. Not if you don't want to share…

  "It was every past client who rejected me–fired me–telling me I'll never be good enough because I don't have natural magic…!" She sniffled, then shook her head. "I refuse to let that happen again."

  "I'm sorry… Truly, I am. But this just isn't safe."

  "And I suppose you're leaving?"

  He opened his mouth to answer, then looked away.

  "That's what I thought. If you're staying, then so am I."

  "We're fired either way. If you're doing this for the pay then there's no point in staying–"

  "I don't care about the pay… not anymore. I just want to prove myself for once. I'm not backing out of this, Gadalik."

  "But–"

  "I'm staying." She glared directly at him, daring him to tell her otherwise.

  "Hm… Then we're going to need a plan," he gave in. He was relieved when she visibly relaxed. "I've learned something from our last encounter: Francine can only possess one of us at a time. And she protected us when Brian attacked, which means scaring us out of the house is her way of keeping us safe from him.”

  "They said Francine was the wife taking care of Brian who was chronically ill, right? So her unfinished business must involve making him well again–which means he's the one we should be focusing on, not Francine," Mira realized. "What do you suppose we do?"

  "Hm. If I can get her to understand we're trying to help Brian too, maybe she will let us? That would be one less ghost to deal with."

  "And if she doesn't listen?"

  "That's where you come in. You'll be hiding as my backup; if she starts possessing me, use an stun tag on her, and we’ll both escape."

  "What about Brian?"

  "If we can't get past Francine, she'll stop us from saving Brian. Our best option in that case is to retreat."

  Mira pursed her lips disapprovingly but didn't argue.

  "Wake up! Breakfast is ready!" Claira chimed, prodding Gadalik’s arm. He groaned and sat up and rubbed the bleariness from his eyes.

  When the front door opened, the morning light blinded him more until he adjusted enough to see Mira come inside. "I tended to the horses," she explained.

  "Th-Thank you," he replied genuinely.

  The three met Hoss at the kitchen table, who welcomed them to the food. "Good morning, you two. Gadalik, I'm sorry for being so hard on you last night."

  "It's because Daddy cares," Claira chimed. "Right?"

  Her father huffed with laughter. "That's right."

  "So we're not fired?" Mira asked hopefully.

  "Oh, you two are definitely fired. I will not be encouraging you to get yourselves traumatized or killed."

  She frowned, then channeled her disappointment into determination. "Well that's not gonna stop us!"

  He sighed. "I thought not."

  After eating, Gadalik helped clear the table and then excused himself. "Thank you for your hospitality, Hoss. We'll be trying a new method to quell the spirits now, so please bear with us one last time. Mira?”

  "Jus' giff me a shec," she answered around a mouthful of her pancakes.

  He couldn't help but give an amused smile.

  The duo eventually returned to the haunted house, but this time Mira was the one who froze up at the porch steps.

  Who knew how bad being rejected so often could feel? he sympathized. I guess it really wears down on your psyche over time. I can't imagine how sensitive she must be to it by now…

  She caught him staring, then scowled. "What are you looking at all pityingly?”

  "S-Sorry!" he stammered. "Are you sure you're ready…?"

  "I was born ready. Come on!" Without waiting for a reply, she marched through the door.

  "Remember, try reasoning with her first."

  "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You just do what you can for Brian, Mr. I-don't-want-to-annihilate-ghosts."

  He chuckled. Glad she's okay enough to give attitude. That's when he sensed a ghost descending through the ceiling.

  Mira had already caught onto it. She stayed back, pulling a stun tag out of her pocket with one hand while clutching her weapon in the other.

  "Get out," Francine's voice echoed around them.

  The older spook gulped, trying to mentally prepare himself to witness the death of his parents all over again. "There's no need to fight. We know you're just protecting Brian, aren't you? Well, we want to help him too."

  "I am the only one able to placate him," she snarled.

  "Yeah? And how has that been working out for you?" Mira retorted.

  …And here is where that attitude might be a bad thing.

  "Get… out!" This time Francine's ghostly wail was forceful enough to blow the spooks backward, but they held firm.

  "Mira has a point: you can't keep this up forever. This is no way to spend your afterlife; not for you, and not for Brian," Gadalik reasoned.

  "I will not let you annihilate him!"

  "That isn't our intention…! I may have annihilated ghosts in the past, but that was always as a last resort… You've been in my mind. You must know how much regret I have for what you've shown me. We only want to help…!"

  She wasn't so easily convinced. "And how exactly do you plan on helping…?"

  "By using the disfigurement method, until he reverts back into his human form. That's when we can talk it out–"

  "That's what you did last time,” she pointed out. “It only made him worse! If you have no other means of helping, then get out!"

  "I'm not giving up that easily. I'll think of something else if you just let us see him–"

  The scenery morphed around him. He was in the log cabin once more, but the murderous ghost from his past was gone. On the floor lay his parents' bloodied corpses.

  Grief, fear, and loneliness overcame him. No… No, this is just a memory. It isn't happening…!

  But the smell of blood was sickening, and he felt trapped in the small cabin. He couldn't stand being near their bodies and so rushed out the door into the rain, feet sinking into the muddied earth. "Mira?" he yelled to the sky. "Mira, help…! I can't take this…"

  When nothing changed, he fell to his knees and hugged himself around his aching stomach, tears adding to the raindrops flooding the ground.

  "...out of it…" a familiar voice faded in. "...lik… Snap…!"

  "Mira…?" he recognized it.

  "Snap out of it!" The other spook shook him violently by the shoulders.

  He was back in the house, and Francine was stunned. "W-What…?"

  "Let's go before the spell tag wears off. Hurry!"

  "But Brian…!"

  "You said it's a no-go if Francine doesn't cooperate."

  Gadalik looked between Mira and the ghost, then finally at the staircase. He was still shaken by the possession, so it took him a moment to process the present situation. Then his grip tightened on his weapon and he quickly hauled himself up with it. "Francine! Francine, I have a new plan–but I'll need your help!"

  Mira shot him a doubtful look, preparing another stun tag as they awaited the first to wear off.

  "...You should have ran when you had the chance," the ghost warned them.

  "No…" He wiped his eyes. "I have faith in you to do the right thing… provided you're able to. I know you can see into our memories; maybe you can see into his, too. Make him remember his humanity."

  For once, Francine seemed to consider this. "...Very well. I'll give it a try.” She floated through the ceiling to the second floor.

  Gadalik stood up and took a step, but his legs wobbled and he leaned fully on his staff to keep from falling. I guess I'm more affected by those memories than I want to be…

  "You alright?" Mira asked him.

  “Yeah,” he breathed, although his stomach ached and his chest was tight. Tears were still falling despite how many times he dried them, even now that his mind was blanking in an attempt to move past the possession’s vision.

  She offered her hand to him for both physical and moral support. Gadalik took it in his free one after a delayed realization that it was there, and she didn't let go, the two ascending the stairs together.

  They opened the door to the bedroom wherein the Brian was on the mattress once again, this time with Francine stroking his mane from the bedside. The monster seemed calm in her presence.

  "He recognizes me… sometimes," the woman said softly. "But the longer he's been like this, the harder it is for him to see me. It's gotten to the point where he has enough time to destroy the house before I can manage to calm him down and repair it…”

  Gadalik gave a slight nod of understanding.

  "Can ghosts really possess other ghosts?" Mira whispered to her companion.

  "We have to hope so…” he replied. “It may be the only way to help him.”

  The ghostly beast sat up and turned to glower at the teens, a throaty growl vibrating the room.

  "Brian," Francine called to him, stealing his attention. She placed both hands on his shoulders and pressed her forehead affectionately to his. After a few seconds of silence, the growl resumed, this time directed at his wife. “It isn't working," she told the spooks.

  Gadalik tensed. What now…?

  "Instead of possessing him, why not cast an illusion for everyone, including him?" Mira suggested. "A ghost as powerful as you should be able to do that, right?"

  She blinked. “True… But unless I possess him, I won't know which of his memories I'd need to recreate in the illusions.”

  “But you do know that already,” Gadalik encouraged her. “I saw your photos yesterday. You've known each other since you were kids, haven't you? There's so much you've been through together; I'm sure you know him well enough to bring him back to his true self.”

  Francine seemed taken aback. Then she closed her eyes and the scenery around them changed. The older teen reflexively braced himself for the worst given his first encounter with her, but to his relief, the four of them appeared to be standing in the corner of the backyard instead.

  It appeared to be spring, and a young boy with hazel eyes sat alone on the bench swing, rocking himself with his toe tips that barely reached the dirt as he tossed birdseed at the grass and watched the squirrels eat it up. He looked towards the chain-linked fence when a girl with short magenta hair climbed it to the top and hopped down on his side of it. He grinned and ran over to greet her. She playfully taunted him, and he pretended to be angry in response, chasing her around the yard when she ran. They were laughing and enjoying themselves.

  In the next scene, they were a bit older, sitting on opposite ends of a classroom. Brian was scribbling on a sheet of paper instead of paying attention. He tore the page from his book, folded it, and passed it to his classmate, who continued to pass it in Francine’s direction. Halfway there, the teacher snatched it, and to its author’s dread, between reading it aloud to the class. Francine blushed and turned to her friend, whose face was just as red. Then she balled up her own piece of paper that had been ripped out of a sketchbook she'd been drawing in and threw it at their teacher. Both of them were punished by being sent out of the classroom, where they had a laugh and hugged.

  Then he was on the bench swing again in summer, easily kicking off the ground to gain a bit of height in his boredom as he once again fed the birds and squirrels. Francine jumped the fence, and like before, he happily got up to greet her–only for his legs to give out. She raced to his side, catching him before he could fall.

  The monstrous spirit who had been silent and attentive all the while suddenly let out a quiet growl, bringing Gadalik back to the present. The ghost of Francine narrowed her eyes solemnly, raising a single hand to soothe the beast.

  In the next setting, they were teenagers; Brian was waiting impatiently in the driver's seat of an old car outside of a school, then brightened when Francine knocked on his window, showing off a new driver's license and smiling the same way as she was in the picture on it. He switched to the passenger side and let her take the wheel, then obviously regretted it when she hit the gas and recklessly sped off.

  Now they were young adults in the many hotspots of each nearby city, going farther and growing older at each location until they reached the countryside. In the fields and forests, he t middle age, making their way up a hill to picnic at its top. On their way back to that same old car, Brian’s legs once again gave out.

  In the present, his spirit snarled in spite of his wife's attempts to comfort him. The spooks exchanged a worried glance.

  The couple returned to the house in fall, where Francine was helping him walk toward the bench out back. The two simply sat, embraced, feeding the squirrels together.

  Then it was winter. Brian had a walker and was slowly pushing himself to pass through the hall toward the backdoor, but didn't make it far before he collapsed. Francine later found him sobbing in that same spot and rushed to comfort him.

  They were still the house in the next memory, so it was hard for Gadalik to tell what season it was. Brian was alone in the first floor’s bedroom, gazing out the window longingly until Francine, wearing a white apron stained with different paints, entered the room. His hazel eyes focused on the canvas she had brought in with her, widening in awe as she turned it to reveal a painting of a bird. He sniffled, and the two hugged each other tightly.

  The following memories were similar in that they remained in the house and it was difficult to tell what year it was. The difference was that he had eventually moved to the second floor and more paintings and flowers were added around him. But despite Francine's obvious attempts to liven the place up, Brian became more and more bitter as he was limited to the bed and the window. Eventually, he could only stay in bed.

  The next scene, Francine entered the room to water the plants on the dressers and windowsill. When she turned around to see the bed that was now empty, she straightened its covers before breaking down and crying into the pillows… In the final memory, she was gone.

  The illusions faded back into the present. A chilly wind blew the stitched curtains away from the open window, and a dead leaf from one of the plants glided on the breeze to the carpeted floor.

  “We had a good life, Brian,” the old woman murmured.

  “For a time,” her husband added in agreement as the beast slowly reshaped into the hazel-eyed man. “I missed when we would travel…”

  “Me too,” she chuckled sadly, then reached down to pick up the dead leaf. “The house wasn’t too bad a place to stay in, though. We had great memories here, too.”

  "I felt the same way until I got sick…” Brian's voice gained an edge to it. "That's when this wonderful home became a prison.”

  Gadalik retreated a step and readied his weapon when the consumed spirit began to revert to a monster.

  “I want out… I want out!" he roared, tearing at the curtains with the claws growing from his transforming hands.

  His wife tried to restrain him. "Brian… You were too sick to leave. I tried to make the house as comfortable for you as possible. I had no idea you felt so trapped…”

  The partial beast relaxed some as she took his hand.

  "But you're still here… and you're not sick anymore…! We can travel again now–just the two of us," she promised.

  The monstrous features faded back to human. "Francine…"

  “My love…”

  They hugged. When they separated, Francine turned to the teens. "This is the first time he spoke to me since he died," she said. "Thank you… both of you. I'm sorry about the possession…"

  "Well… I get why you did it," Gadalik comforted her. But that doesn't ease the pain in my gut…

  "Come on, Brian. We'll visit the rest of the places we never got to see.”

  The two spirits flew out of the house together.

  Mira turned to leave, then looked back at her companion when she realized he wasn't behind her. "Are you coming?"

  "Huh…?" Gadalik was still distraught. "Oh… Yeah." He followed her out.

  "I saw them go," Burney greeted the spooks. He was standing with Hoss outside, waiting for them. "I heard Hoss fired you, but I will gladly pay you for your help now that I'm able to lease their home out again."

  "You'd better, after what we had to deal with!" Mira harrumphed. "Right, Gadalik? …Gadalik?"

  The smell of blood from the memory the possession had forced him to relive still lingered, and the older teen felt suffocated by it. The ache in his gut worsened and he doubled over and vomited.

  "H-Hey!" she tried again.

  "What happened to him?" Hoss asked, moving to his side and wrapping one of the spook's arms across his shoulders to right him.

  "He was possessed again, but only for a few seconds!" Mira said defensively.

  The older spook leaned on his staff to stand on his own. “S-Sorry… I guess I'm still upset from having my past brought to the surface like that…”

  Mira took Hoss’s place beside him. "So your parents didn't give you up for adoption after all, did they…?"

  "No… They were murdered by a ghost when I was nine years old. I was there when it happened–they were protecting me–and–" his voice broke and he bit back a sob. "All of this time… I've been focusing on the here and now. I have a good life, Mira–I do. But that's not moving on from the trauma; it's just… running from it. I never thought it would catch up. It's like I was forced to finally face it."

  "I'm… sorry you had to go through all of that," she said awkwardly.

  "But I'm sure you felt the same way about being rejected, huh…? It never gets easier…"

  "Don't say that. You just have to accept that that's how things happened, and keep going with your head held high."