“You’re fucking kidding me,” I muttered.
Kevin Sloan kicked a rock near his feet and rolled his shoulders into a vague motion resembling a shrug. He was wearing a hoodie and one of those vests named after South American mountains. You know the vest I’m talking about. The one that all the New Yorkers down by Fidi wear, except it’s pristine clean because they don’t actually have time to do things like hike.
“You didn’t tell me it was going to be Jain fucking Hallow.” He gave the girl a sideways look. “This is a bad idea.”
My attention shifted to the girl—the freaking girl who had been a ghost only moments ago. She was panting, her hands still placed over her stomach.
“Oh, shush.” She turned to me. “Jain,” she said, then immediately winced. “You probably don’t know me. I’m—” She let out a pained gasp, then held her breath.
“Fuck,” Kevin immediately knelt next to her, dragging a duffel bag closer. He rummaged through it, bringing out bandages, ointments, and balms. With practiced hands, he rolled up her sweater, revealing her stomach. It was bruising, something ugly, red, blue, and darkening by the second. “Fuck it, Ang. This is bad.”
“I’m Angelica,” she finally managed. She looked completely at ease as Kevin rolled her sweater up higher, revealing the lower part of her bra. He checked for wounds, but the swelling was concentrated around the middle of her stomach.
“I know,” I said, tearing my eyes away from the wound and trying to focus above their necks. It felt wrong to keep watching, like I was being a voyeur somehow. “We were in AP Chem together. And I saved you two from the school fire. You were unconscious at the time.”
Her pained eyes glittered, then fixed Kevin with a glare. “Oh, did you now?”
Kevin swallowed and tried to change the topic. “Your stomach. What should we do?”
Angelica’s concentration broke, and she looked down, causing another pained grimace. I saw her suck in a breath, almost willing the pain to go away. “Leave it. I think it’s just a normal bruise. It’ll fade on its own.”
“It’s not a normal bruise, child,” Wol said from his spot on my shoulder. “It’s a wound you sustained while projecting. It will remain until your spirit heals.”
Kevin seemed to notice Wol for the first time. “What the shit. Did that cat just talk?”
“Rude,” Wol commented dryly.
Hwari chose that moment to wade out of the shadows near my feet. ‘Hello,’ she ventured shyly.
“Two?!” Kevin yelled right next to Angelica’s ear.
Angelica winced. “Now you see why I asked him for help. He has familiars, Kevin. He’s a practitioner. A real one. He could help—” she hissed in pain.
I couldn’t stand it anymore. I strode forward and knelt on the side opposite Kevin. “Move your hands,” I ordered.
Kevin glared at me. But Angelica placed her hand on his and gently pried them from her stomach.
I spoke without looking at either of them, looking at her stomach and the contours. It was flat, yes, but Angelica must have worked out a lot because she had one of those parallel lines running down the sides of her abs. That meant contours, meaning that it wasn’t really a flat surface anymore.
“Wol, will one of those painkiller sigils work in this situation?” I asked. “One of the ones I devised.”
“Yes, but it won’t heal, Practitioner.” Wol leaped down from my shoulder. “Not unless you couple it with the healing sigil. But I’m assuming you’ll be using the block sigil instead.”
“Yeah. I want to just get rid of the pain for now. So no long-term effects?”
“It’s not a physical wound, so there would be no long-term effects.”
I looked up to make eye contact with Kevin. “I need something to write with.”
“What? Like a pen?”
“No, something that’ll leave a mark on her skin. Like a marker. But it’s better if I can use my finger,” I said.
“What’s a sigil?” Angelica asked.
“A magic symbol that’ll make the boo-boo go away,” I answered.
She laughed, then almost leaned forward in pain. “Ow. Ow, ow, ow. Don’t make me laugh.”
Feeling bad, I explained, “Think of it like medicine. Except it’s magic and done by writing. Kevin, I need something to write with.”
Kevin gave me another scowl, but looked to Angelica for permission. She nodded. He threw me a bottle of iodine from the duffel bag.
I took it and dabbed some of it on my finger—just enough so it wouldn’t start dripping. Taking a look at her stomach again, I tried to envision the shape the sigil would take, and how I would have to adjust the angles so her stomach muscles wouldn’t distort it too much. Then I pressed a finger right above the wound.
She shivered.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Cold.”
“I’ll be quick.” My voice was thick.
The waves of jealousy rolling off of Kevin were nearly a physical sensation.
My fingers made quick, longer strokes, combining the sigil for Pain and Block together. I hadn’t practiced in a month, so I hesitated a bit before finishing. But muscle memory kicked in, and I felt the bond between Wol and me fill up with power. I quickly put the finishing touches on the sigil and fueled some of the power into it.
“Oh wow,” Angelica said. “That feels better already.”
I wiped my finger on my hoodie. “Welcome,” I muttered.
“How come you can’t heal her?” Kevin asked petulantly.
“Because I coupled this sigil with the Block symbol. If I put healing, it’ll interfere. If I had more tools and something to write with other than iodine, maybe I could pull it off. But it’s best to block out the pain and let her recover on her own.”
“But your cat said it’s not a physical wound,” Kevin said.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“A spiritual wound like this will heal with time. But only if you do things that heal the spirit. A hug from a loved one. Favorite foods. Sleep,” Wol said. “And I am not a Cat, child. You shall refer to me as Wol, if you must.”
“I—”
Angelica placed a hand on Kevin’s chest, stopping him. “Jain. Wol. Thank you.”
“Okay,” I said, taking a conscious step away from the two. I leaned on one of the pillars, making sure to keep one foot pointed towards the exit. A small part of me said that if they had been some predatory creature—say, a vampyr, for example—kneeling like that in front of them was basically an invitation for them to feed.
The me from a month ago would not have done that.
I already felt tired.
“I think I’m owed an explanation,” I muttered.
“What do you want to know?” Angelica asked.
“Everything. First of all, how the hell can you two see stuff? Who awoke you guys? Secondly, what are you doing here? Who were those guys? What the fuck are you two doing?”
“Whoa, Hallow,” Kevin said. “Calm the fuck down. Alright?”
I felt so much anger right then that I wanted to jump at Kevin and start punching away at him.
It was that tone he always used. Whenever someone called him out on one of his ‘jokes’, he’d spin it around and make it your fault for overreacting. ‘I was just joking’, which was the equivalent of ‘just a prank, bro’ for him and his stupid friends. I heard that tone way too many times, and way too many times did the teachers roll their eyes and do the same to me.
“Explanations. Now.”
Kevin narrowed his eyes. I could see him thinking.
“It started a little over a month ago,” Angelica began, her voice quiet. “I… It started in the hospital. I could see people. No, that’s not right. They weren’t people. Not anymore, anyway.”
I felt my face pale. “Ghosts.”
“Yeah,” she turned to Kevin. “It was the same for him too.”
Kevin slowly nodded.
“My parents thought I was crazy,” Angelica laughed. “Tried to send me to a shrink. Put me on pills. That sort of thing.”
The word ‘parent’ sent a hollow pang through me. I shoved it down.
“Honestly, it was pretty scary at first. And it took me a couple of days to put two and two together that I wasn’t crazy, and that I wasn’t hallucinating. That everything I was seeing was real. Ghosts, and… other things.” She shivered. “I didn’t know things could visit you in dreams.”
“Nightmares,” Kevin muttered. “Every fucking night. Of… of people, you know? But not people at the same time. So much fucking…” He clenched his fists. “Bullshit.”
“How does almost being put in the looney bin get you here? In an abandoned construction site? In the middle of the night?” I asked, getting impatient.
“Internet,” Angelica answered smoothly. “There’s a lot of resources on there for some people. If you know where to look. That’s how I knew what you were right away.” She pointed to Wol and Hwari. “A familiar, plus you were able to see me while I was astral projecting. You had to be a practitioner. I just didn’t expect the first practitioner to be from our school. But it’s good. Now you can help us.”
“I’m guessing now is the part where you two tell me about the two guys and how you found yourselves in trouble,” I deadpanned.
“We didn’t find ourselves in trouble,” Kevin snarled. “Trouble found us, Hallow. Do you ever get sick of that ‘I’m always right’ attitude of yours?”
I forced myself to face Kevin, feeling the familiar nervous butterflies flutter around in my stomach. The same feeling I always got when I confronted bullies. The nervousness never really went away; it never got easier. But I learned to accept it in stride long ago.
“Like how I’m sick of saving your ass? This makes it twice now, Sloan,” I shot back.
“You little—” he stood up.
“Kevin! Stop!” Angelica pulled on Kevin’s sleeve, and the jock halted, breathing hard.
I forced myself to take a deep breath too, turning halfway so I wasn’t directly facing them. “You were about to talk about what happened back there.”
Kevin sat down, and Angelica launched into her story again.
“Remember how I said there are resources on the internet? Well, there’re a few groups in New York that help people like us.”
“Dabblers,” I said.
“Liberi,” Kevin said through gritted teeth. “Not Dabblers, Hallow. Liberi.”
I frowned. “Liberi? What is that? Some kind of dessert?”
“It’s how we refer to ourselves. It means ‘Free’ in Latin,” Angelica explained.
“Jesus,” I whispered. “What is this? Some after-school Dungeons and Dragons club? Why do you guys need a Latin Name?”
“Because there’s power in numbers. And being able to see means being seen,” Angelica said, heat entering her voice. “Do you know what happens to people like us, who can see but have no way of defending themselves?”
I didn’t say anything. No need to answer that.
“Being part of a group means you get access to knowledge. Tools. Ways to protect yourself,” Angelica said. She hugged herself. “I can’t say I know what it was like for you, but I do know that Practitioners have families who teach you this stuff. Us? We’re just awakened one day by a freak accident and left to fend for ourselves. So yeah, we have a name for ourselves because it gives us a sense of belonging. Are you really going to pick at that? Because from the rumors I hear, most practitioners don’t care about what happens to people like us. I was hoping you’d be different.”
I took another breath and let out a long exhale, rubbing my hands over my face. Some of the tension in my shoulders disappeared. “Okay. Sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that. Can I—Look, I came here because you asked for help. I’m here to help. It’s just cold, and it’s been a long day for me.”
She didn’t speak right away, just to make sure I got the message. “Apology accepted.”
“The two guys?” I asked.
It was Kevin who started. “People have been going missing.”
I blinked. “People? Missing?”
“The Liberi members,” he said, with a look at Angelica. She did a little hand motion for him to continue. “Aight, hear me out. We’re not like your typical organization, right? No one really knows each other unless you’re friends. And it takes a lot to be friends. So there’s no real membership list; we just know each other by our IDs and emails and all that shit. You following?”
I nodded.
“It’s more like a forum. You ask questions, people answer, you try shit, and it works or not. But the people who leave bullshit answers gain a reputation quickly, and the opposite is also true.”
“Like that website. With the upvotes, and the gold and stuff.”
He gave me a crooked grin. “Exactly, man. So the more upvotes you have, the more trust you have in the website. And if your ID is too new, or has bad karma, no one really listens to you.”
“Uh huh, I’m following.”
“Well, we have these titles for the guys with lots of Karma, who have been around long enough for them to gain a reputation, you see? They’re called Adepts,” Kevin continued. “They’re the ones who post the most and know their shit. They’re the ones who taught Ang how to astral project. Said she had a gift for it.”
“A jinx,” Wol muttered quietly next to me.
I made a note to ask him about that later. As far as I knew, only familiars contracted to practitioners could unlock jinxes. “And these Elders are going missing?” I asked.
“Exactly,” Kevin shook his head wearily. “It’s… It’s crazy, man. They’re all going offline. They’re not answering DMs, they’re not answering emails, or moderating the forums.”
“Any chance they went on vacation?”
Angelica shook her head. “You’re not understanding the scope of this. We’re a community, Jain. When someone goes on vacation, we know. Kevin and I are newbies, but the other guys? They’ve been at this for years. They have friendships. They meet up and share tips. They don’t just disappear off the grid like that.”
“Maybe it’s an extended vacation.”
Kevin let out a frustrated sound. “You’re not fucking listening, Hallow!” He turned to Angelica. “I told you, no one’s going to believe us. It’s my fucking parents all over again. Just treating us like we’re crazy.”
“Whoa, whoa,” I held up my hands. “I’m just saying, that people going AFK on online forums is not like… it’s not exactly a missing persons case, is it? And as Angelica said, you guys are only a month in. What if this happens from time to time? It honestly sounds like people could just take a break.”
“That’s the thing. What would you say if I said it’s just people from New York?” Angelica said.
I opened my mouth to argue, then stopped.
“New York City,” Angelica clarified.
“That’s…” I stalled, looking to Wol.
“It was your idea to come, Practitioner,” Wol said dryly. “And I have no thoughts to share on this matter. Yet.”
I squinted at him, then gave up. “Okay? And what does that have to do with the two guys?”
Kevin and Angelica shared a look.
“We’ve been looking into stuff,” Kevin said, his voice growing quiet. “And it’s not just the Liberi, man. It’s everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“Preternaturals. Goblins, boggarts, ghosts… they’re all experiencing the same thing,” Angelica added. “Word is that the ones who are still around are going into hiding.”
“Which makes it fucking difficult to figure out if they’re part of the problem, or just hiding on their own,” Kevin said.
I frowned. “What are you two trying to suggest?”
They shared another look.
“This is going to sound crazy,” Angelica began.
“Crazier than you guys seeing dead people?”
“Touche,” Kevin sneered.
“I think the government is taking them.”
I stopped. “What?”
Kevin groaned. “Ang, c’mon. It’s not the government. It’s probably some evil wizard organization or something.”
“What?!” I repeated, a bit louder this time.
Angelica glared at Kevin. Obviously, they had this conversation before. But instead of chastizing Kevin, she turned to me. “That’s what I was doing tonight. I was astral projecting to try to get in contact with one of the Liberi who taught me how to project in the first place, and I saw those two guys snooping around her place.”
“That was an empty building, I’m pretty sure,” I said.
“She’s unhoused.” Angelica smiled at me as she said it. Angelica got up.
“Easy,” I said.
She got up, leaning on Kevin for support. Making sure she was steady, Kevin began packing up all their stuff.
“I want your help,” Angelica said. “We want your help.”
I wanted to say ‘yes’, but there was a little tightness in my chest. A vestige of preservation instincts? Something else? But I didn’t want to just blurt out yes, not when I had my own crap going on.
I looked at their faces.
Angelica’s expression was unreadable.
But Kevin? I knew Kevin. He’d bullied me for the better part of the last four years. He’d made me hate high school. His callous laugh, good-looking face, perfect blonde hair, and good grades—I hated every single ounce of him and then some. He’d hidden my backpack, thrown my house keys in the toilet, sprayed water on me when I was taking a shit in the bathroom, and…
And he looked scared.
Wol tapped me on my shoulder.
I looked to him.
He gave me an imperceptible nod.
Hwari circled my ankle, giving her assent too.
“…Fine, I’ll help.”
Angelica’s face melted into relief. “Thank you.”
Kevin said nothing.
“I’m going home,” I said.
“How can we contact you?” Angelica called out. When I didn’t answer, she yelled out, “We’ll be waiting for you at school, Jain! Okay?!”
I shoved myself past the metal doors and kept walking.
…Government conspiracy or evil wizards.
Jesus, what was next? Aliens?