My first few classes go by slowly, and without even eating lunch, I go over to his room where he’s at his desk eating a bowl of instant noodles. 

“Hey, Mr. Thorn… can I talk to you?” I ask him.  

“Yeah, and call me Julyan, please.” 

“Alright… so, I cast a spell this morning in my room, and I saw a spirit of what I think was your husband…” I say, “He gave me his ring, and I just wanted to return it to you.”  

I put the ring down on his desk and he picks it up, “I was looking for this… I thought I lost it…” 

“Julyan, his spirit needs to be settled. The ring can be used as a portal for him to move on to the next dimension.” 

He stands up slowly, “How would we do that?”  

“Well, I think the reason he’s lingering is that he wants to talk to you. Face to face. In this room, we could summon it and let him talk to you so he can pass on. 

Tears well up in his eyes, “Really?”  

I smile and nod, “Yeah. It's going to take a while to gather the items, but I can do it.”  

He jumps forward and hugs me, muttering a “thank you” into my chest. I rub his back as the bell rings.  

He pulls back, “Oh crap. Do you have a class sixth hour?”  

“Nope. I can stay in here if you’d like.” 

“That’d be nice…” He mutters, his face completely red.  

Kids start to filer in slowly as he goes back to his desk and sits down. I sit down at a spare chair and when everyone is and the bell rings,  

He stands up, shouting at them to be quiet, “Okay! I need to get this room organized today! I’ve been working on it during the previous classes, but I realized pretty soon that most of the stuff I’ve got is empty, broken, or unusable. If it is unusable, just give it to me so I can write it down to buy more! Also, watch for flying objects. I’ve got telekinesis, and I can't see where anything is going, so I’m sorry if I konk anyone in the head with a bottle of paint or something. ”  

I laugh as he continues, and when he’s done, he sits down and turns to me, “I’ve got bipolar disorder, so I apologize if I randomly get grumpy or happy.” 

“That’s alright.”  

I get up and help go through all his stuff, taking notes of anything that needs to be restocked. The hour goes by,  and then the rest of the day. And over the next few months, I collect the items I need for the spell, storing them in his room so I don't accidentally use them for something else. Some were rather simple to get, and some not so much. One of the simplest was a special spray paint that disappears once a spell is done. And as for the Dread, it went away for the most part, but it still makes me a bit dizzy from time to time.  

Finally came the time for the actual spell. I get permission at the beginning of the day, and when everyone is gone, he and I stand in his room where the Dread Aura is being generated. He kept fidgeting with his hands, unable to stand in one spot.  

“There was a lockdown… a guy with a sword came in. Mr. Torres got hurt protecting his students. But Redmund…” he puts his hand on the slight lump in his stomach area, “He had a training thing to do that day, so he sent his kids across the hall to the Magic lab. The kids did the right thing and locked the door, but he wasn't over there yet. The intruder broke into my room and saw us huddled in the back of the room, I… dragged their attention away from the kids and that's when Red rushed in. Red got stabbed and died right in this spot.” 

He sniffles and tears well up in his eyes, “It’s alright, Julyan. You’ll be able to talk to him one last time, and then he’ll move on. All you have to do is tell me when you’re ready, alright?”  

He nods and sits at his desk as I spray the symbol on the floor and then take out the rest of the items that I need. I place pieces of hematite, black obsidian, amethyst, black pearl, garnet, blue calcite, and other stones around the perimeter of the symbol. I add the petals of white carnations, hot pink roses, daffodils, baby’s breath, chrysanthemums, and others all around on the inside.  

I take the ring out of its box and hold it in my hand, turning to Julyan, “Are you ready?”  

“Yeah,” he mutters,  

I switch to my magic suit and walk across the room, turning the lights off, then return to Julyan. I take the ring off the box and place it in the middle of the setup. My tattoos glow and expand, and I hold my hand out, activating the spell. The symbol glows, and the Dread becomes visible, filling the whole front half of the room.   

The flower petals float off the ground and circle around the middle, and the ring floats up, and the figure I saw two months ago. He grabs the ring, and I stand behind Julyan.  

A warm smile spreads across his face when he sees Julyan, “Hey, babe.” 

“Red…” he wipes tears out of his eyes, “I miss you so much.” 

“I know, but you need to move on. I’ve been watching you ever since I died, and it's been heartbreaking to see you alone with nobody to cheer you up. You’ve pushed everyone away from you. Everyone except for Vincent. You might not see it yet, but you’ve already moved on. Jules. Vincent’s done for you in two months what I have for you in years. He loves you for who you are, and won’t judge you just because you have Bipolar Disorder. He’s fallen for you, and you’ve fallen for him. Without even knowing it.”  

I back up what he says by putting hugging him from behind, holding him close to me.  

“Our child will grow up without you.”  

“But they’ll have Vincent every step of the way.” 

Some of the petals flying around Redmunds feet start to disappear. 

Redmond notices and steps toward us, “I know I was taken away unfairly, but not everything in this world is. That man got what he deserved, and the world is all the better for it. It's going to be difficult without me, but I trust Vincent to be there for you. I will always love you, and so will he.”  

Julyan sniffs and nods, “I love you, too.” 

I stop hugging him from behind, and move forward, “Ready to wrap this up?”  

Red nods, “Yep. Let’s do this before these petals disappear.”  

Julyan steps back and Red tosses the ring. I catch it with telekinesis and mutter the ending of the spell. Everything, including Red, turns into a fine mist. It flows toward the ring, disappearing into nothingness.  

When the lights from the spell fade away, Julyan starts crying, “I’ll never get to see him again.”  

“But he’s in a better place now. He’s no longer stuck here in endless agony. If we hadn't done that, he would have stayed here until someone came to this exact spot and helped him. And he would’ve been in pain the entire time.”  

I give him another hug and let him cry. When he’s done, I take him to his car and we go our separate ways. Over four months, we start dating and he moves in with me. At the end of the year, we go to the Magic Emporium, where students from other schools and ours get their certificates to go along with their diplomas.  

And when Julyan goes into labor, I sit with him the whole time in the hospital, even though it hurts seeing him in so much pain. He had a boy that he ended up naming Samuel, after a famous figure in Magic history that Red talked about a lot.  

Surprisingly, Greyson spent lots of time with his brother after we married. Grey and Jules got along better than I could with either of them. But it's understandable since they’ve got something in common.  

It’s also heartwarming (and admittedly pretty cute) to wake up to him curled up to my chest every morning. He’s gotten so much better, and I've helped him through his depressive ups and downs. And three years later, in 2043, we seal the deal and get married. 

It may be hard or odd at times living with two trans people and a baby, but I love it because they’re my family. And as for work, I’m not nervous anymore after getting to know everyone.  

There’s no way to tell how he’d act next, but that’s the fun of it. He’s my husband, he’s Bipolar, and we stand together.