Night is a soft black blanket wrapped around the Ghost Office, woven through with strands of fog. The river is thick with slushy ice. The whispering of its movement is louder for the scraping and pushing of its frozen pieces.

Moonlight paints the walls, but Aiden makes a handful of magic fireflies, anyways. He knows how much I love them. They’re drifting around the rafters by the time that Kasey and Will arrive.

Will gazes up at them with fascination in his leaf-green eyes, and I catch myself doing the same. I’m so used to them, now, but they’ve lost none of their magic.

It feels good to be back at the Ghost Office, plotting the course of a new mission. Only this time it’s different, because Will is joining us, too. He’s nervously toying with his blonde hair, but Kasey casts him a smile, and he seems to steady out a little.

We haven’t told him everything about Aiden and Ariana, or their connection. But Kasey spent last night giving Will the rough outlines of what a Guardian is, enough information for him to help us with the mission. He knows that Guardians are each linked to their own Guardian Tree, that they’re people with special abilities, and that their job is to help others. He knows that Aiden is a part of this strange, unique legacy.

“You know, Will,” I say quietly, as we stand looking at the fireflies together, “You absorbed all that information about Guardians way more easily than I expected. You don’t seem thrown off at all.”

“You forget that I myself am a product of magic.” Will smiles at me, sort of shy. “And one thing I have learned from my very long time among humans is that they are quite endlessly full of surprises.”

I like that, and I return his smile.

Kasey leans over the workbenches, then laughs when she sees the two huge cookies that I brought, one for me and one for Aiden.

“What?” I ask, crossing to join her. “You ghosts might not have to eat, but Aiden and I do! Besides, it’s brain food.”

Aiden looks down at the gigantic cookies, a skeptical eyebrow arched. “This is brain food?”

“Okay, you know what? If you don’t want yours, Aiden, I’ll have it!”

I reach for the cookie, and Aiden swats my hand away. I smack his shoulder, and he gives me a shove that’s intended to be playful, but sends me crashing into the workbenches, rattling all the glass bottles and jars.

Aiden catches my wrist before I can topple to the ground. “Oh - shit! Are you okay?”

“You brute,” I groan, rubbing my elbow resentfully.

“I’m sorry!”

“Bicep - boy - buffoon.” I poke his chest with every word. “Big, dumb bastard-”

"I'm sorry, okay?"

“Boys,” Kasey says sternly, and we both stop. She lets out a heavy sigh, pressing her fingers to her temples. “No wonder nothing got done around here before I was the manager.”

“You're right, we should just get started,” Aiden says, pointing at Kasey. “And we should also, um - forget any accidental violence that occurred here?”

“Couldn't agree more,” Kasey answers, watching as I hop up lightly to sit on one of the workbenches. “I think the victim is fine, anyways.”

Aiden leans back against the workbench next to me. Will comes to stand with Kasey, and now we’ve formed a sort of huddle.

We tend to do our best thinking this way.

Kasey kicks us off.

“So, we know that the Guardian Tree draws its power from the roots. But the problem comes down to portability. The whole point of a battery is that it can power things without being connected to the original source, so you can move around with it. No matter how we actually make the battery, that’s going to be an issue. Will and I can’t carry anything, much less a whole fucking tree.”

“Well…” Aiden’s expression grows serious, thoughtful. “The Guardian Trees were spread by taking cuttings from the original Tree and replanting them. So, presumably, cutting a small piece from the Tree doesn’t drain that piece of its power.”

“Right.” Kasey nods. “I thought of that, Aiden. But we can’t even carry a piece of the Tree around with us. It’s a physical object, so we can’t pick it up, or-”

“Wait a second,” I interrupt, suddenly cold inside. “Are you guys talking about cutting a piece from Aiden’s Guardian Tree?”

Kasey’s eyes flit to me. “It’s just an ide-”

“Aiden.” I twist to face him, and he looks at me. “Didn’t you say that if any damage came to your Tree, it would hurt you, too? Can’t you…?” I remember that night beneath the Guardian Tree, when I set a hand on the bark, and Aiden shivered. “Can’t you feel what it feels? And you said that if it dies, that wouldn’t be good for you, right?”

Aiden winces, reluctant to answer.

“Ah… yeah. Almost no Guardians survive the fall of their Tree. When the Tree goes out, it usually takes the Guardian with it.”

I stare at him in silent dismay, feeling the color drain from my face, my eyes very wide.

“There have been a few, rare exceptions,” he continues. “Guardians who outlived their Trees. But - generally speaking…”

“Alright, but we’re not talking about killing Aiden’s Tree,” Kasey jumps in. “We’re talking about taking a small cutting from one of the roots.”

My eyes are still on Aiden. “Won’t - won’t that hurt you?”

He hesitates again. “It would hurt, yeah, but if it would help Will and Kasey, I could-”

“No,” I cut in. “No.”

Everyone stares at me, startled. Not by what I’m saying, I think, but the firmness with which I said it. Even I’m not used to hearing myself talk like that. It’s Aiden who does the inarguable voice. I’m more one for gentle nudges.

Not in this case.

I love Kasey, and I would help her at almost any cost, but not by hurting Aiden. I won’t sit back and let anything happen that could compromise the health of his Tree. Nor will I let Aiden put himself through physical torture so we can break a piece from it. That's opening a door that needs to be kept firmly closed. No exceptions.

I honestly don’t give a flying fuck about anybody else’s opinion on this, not even Aiden’s. He would give away every part of himself for his Guardian responsibilities, if he thought he had to. I won’t let him. I know when he’s given enough.

“No,” I say again. “We’re not doing that, so just move on.”

Kasey nods, understanding, and so does Will.

I realize only now that I’ve set a protective hand on Aiden’s arm, because he gently works his fingers beneath it, gets me to loosen my unintentionally fierce grip.

“Easy,” he says softly. “It’s okay. We won’t do it, alright?”

I retract my hand, then knead my palm awkwardly. At least no one seems upset with me. Aiden is looking at me with nothing but warmth in his blue eyes. He’s biting back a smile, actually.

“It would not work, regardless,” Will says, clearly trying to make me feel better. “We can’t carry a root cutting. We can’t touch anything.”

“Except each other,” Kasey adds, with a wink at Will. 

He blushes furiously, but smiles at her, fidgeting with his suspenders.

“Right, we - we can only touch other ghosts. And we can’t quite ask Aiden to make a ghost of an object, can we? They can only be made from people.”

There’s an immediate silence.

I have a feeling that Kasey, Aiden, and I are all thinking the same thing. We know for a fact that ghosts don’t have to be made out of people, because Ariana made a ghost out of a moment, and contained it to the locket.

“Aiden,” Kasey says slowly, “Could you make a ghost out of an object?”

Aiden runs a hand over his accidental but extremely handsome beard, sinking into thought.

“I don’t know. Maybe? I did stuff during our last mission that I definitely never thought I could do, so… I wouldn’t say that it’s impossible, necessarily.”

I’m proud of Aiden for extending himself even this much credit. Smiling widely, I lean over to press a kiss onto his cheek. He smiles back at me, gives the sleeve of my flannel a little tug.

Kasey is beaming, obviously excited by this news, as is Will. Aiden watches the twin smiles spread across their faces, and hastily adds some qualifiers.

“I don’t know for sure, though! And anyways - if we’re not taking a piece from my Tree, what would I be turning into a ghost?”

Kasey blows out a frustrated breath, running a hand through her hair. “Don’t suppose you know any other Guardians who’d be willing to let us kill a piece of their Tree, Aiden?”

“No. I’ve never even met another Guardian, besides my mom. There used to be a lot more of us, but that’s in the past. We’re an endangered species, I guess. The Trees started falling all over the place, and they took the Guardians with them. There are very few of us left, and I don’t just mean in this state or this country. I mean in the world.”

“Makes sense, unfortunately,” I put in, nibbling my lip. “There were about six trillion trees before humans showed up and started cutting them down. We’ve got about half of that left, now, and we’re expected to lose half of what remains in like, a hundred more years. Even with activists trying to protect them, even the really dedicated protestors who put themselves in the line of fire just to slow it down… the whole process is going faster and faster. Cutting tech has come a long way since Will’s time. And cutting is only one way of bringing down a tree. There are lots.”

This is why I'm so grateful that Aiden’s Tree is on protected land. If it had happened to be one of the trees behind the middle school, the ones that Ripley tried to save, but ultimately couldn’t...

Will is troubled by what I said. I can see it in his green eyes. Kasey also sees it, and takes his hand.

“That’s fair true,” he says, in a faraway voice. “I recall what the forests once were. Dense, rich, wild. Even the virgin forest that lives on now looks thin, by comparison.”

I try to picture it, the way it would have been during Will’s lifetime. An endless sea of roots, boles, moss, branches, leaves. An intricately connected and uncountable variety of organic life. Untamed rivers of pure, sparkling water. Graceful trees growing hundreds of feet up into the sky, eating up sunlight and breathing out oxygen. Entire ecosystems living in the rainwater ponds within the valleys of their branches.

Dreamy beds of flowers, woodrose, elderberry. Beds of pine needles, several feet deep. So many birds in the sky, so many fish in the rivers, just - so much. A staggeringly rich and diverse collection of biomass.

Most of it irreplaceable, and most of it gone. In a lot of places, all that remains of that vast ocean of trees are the roots of the fallen, sunk deep into the earth, where human hands don’t come after them.

Actually…

It dawns on me slowly, then all at once.

“Oh,” I say, and everyone turns to look at me.

Kasey quirks an eyebrow. “Got something, Jamie?”

“The roots,” I say slowly, working it out as I speak. “The roots can outlive the tree. They can go on existing for ages after the tree falls, assuming they’re not dug up and removed. In some cases, anyways, depending on the species of the tree. But it seems likely to me that a tree with actual magic powers would be one of them. So - the roots could still be there, even if the tree is gone.”

Kasey, as usual, understands before anyone else.

“Oh, my god.” Her mouth drops open into a huge smile. “Jamie, you fucking gem! We don’t need to hurt a living Guardian Tree! We need to find a dead one.”

~~~~

There’s another silence, and then Will says what we’re all thinking.

“How on earth are we meant to do that?”

It’s a valid question. Roots exist in their own subterranean kingdom, and with no tree to signal their location - a stump, at best - this is not going to be easy. The cemetery was lost under a healthy layer of growth, but roots run deep. And this time there won’t be a half-fallen church to mark what we’re looking for.

“Aiden,” Kasey says, “Can you sense someone else's Guardian Tree, when you’re around it?”

“No," Aiden answers, with so much certainty that I’m kind of surprised. I have no idea how he can be so sure about this. But he uses that voice no one can argue with, and I know he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it.

As one, Kasey, Will, and Aiden all turn to me.

“Wh-?” I stare at them, taken aback. “You guys think I know how to find it?”

“Duh," Kasey says. "Help us out, plant boy."

I go quiet for a moment, thinking it over.

“Okay, well - here's the problem. I don't know what we're looking for. The way I understood it in the dream, each Guardian Tree is unique, suited to its particular climate and location. Right, Aiden?”

“Yeah.”

“So… that means we can’t know what the Tree looked like, which makes everything harder. A root can be thinner than a needle, or thicker than a human body, or they can be huge, underground networks, spanning acres and acres of land, sharing water and minerals with connected trees miles away. And even if we did know what the Tree looked like, that doesn’t necessarily tell us what kind of roots we’re searching for. A baby tree - let’s say eighty years old - can grow out of a rhizome mass that’s literally a million years old. What’s above doesn’t always tell you what’s below.”

“We don’t even know what town to look in,” Will points out. “All we know is that it cannot be Ketterbridge, for the Tree here lives on.”

"You're both right." Kasey's eyes are narrowed, the gears in her head turning. “We can't find the roots without an approximate location to work with, at the very least. Which means... before we can find the Tree, we’ll have to find the Guardian.”

Aiden’s eyebrows furrow. “But if the Tree is dead, then the Guardian is dead. And they could have died hundreds of years ago, for all we know. How do we just - find them?”

Kasey smiles in a way that tells me she’s already cooking up a plan.

“Yes, Aiden. The Tree is history, so the Guardian is, too. Good thing we have an archivist, a plant expert, a historian, and an actual piece of history on the team, right?”

Aiden nods slowly, then frowns again.

“Except - Guardians operate outside of the margins of history. We don’t let our names make it into history books or historical documents. We’re not even supposed to make it into a newspaper, if we can avoid it.”

“We don’t have to know their name, to find them," Kasey explains. "We just have to find a town that’s had a number of odd, unexplained occurrences. Those things make it into the papers, even if the Guardian doesn’t. If we find something that can’t be explained by anything other than magic, we could figure out what really happened, and trace the incident to its source. The Guardian. Then we'll know roughly where to look for the Tree.”

Again, there’s a silence, but this one shorter than the first.

“Are you telling me that we might have to solve another centuries-old mystery?” I ask, and Kasey’s smile broadens. She turns to Aiden, her dark eyes full of enthusiasm.

“How about it, archivist? Think you can dig us up some strange historical happenings to sift through?”

I could have guessed Aiden’s answer. My Companion Plant has never been good at resisting his curiosity. An intrigued smile to match Kasey’s is already rising on his face.

She sees it, and breaks into an all-out grin.

“Well, then,” she says, “Sounds like we need to pay a visit to the archives.”

Just like that, a new hunt begins.