Thorn reaches out with one pale wooden hand. He tries to take the little flowers from me, as if he forgot that he’s an illusion. But he is, and his hand passes right through mine. He looks at his own fingers, and then - as if he can’t stop himself - he attempts to take the flowers from me again. Like maybe there’s a chance he just needed to try harder.

When it doesn’t work, Thorn pauses. Holding tightly to his staff. Taking a second to compose himself. We all stare up at him in surprise, and he gazes down at the white flowers with an unreadable expression on his face.

You saw her? he finally whispers, lifting his hollow eyes to our faces. You spoke with her?

“Yeah, there’s - a lot going on,” I answer, huddling closer to Aiden as the rain begins to pick up. “We have to catch you up, Thorn! But is it okay if we find somewhere to camp, first? Before it gets dark?”

I know of a place, he answers.

~~~~

The rain picks up as we hurry deeper into Thorn’s woods. The air grows dim beneath the dark clouds, and far overhead, the canopy lets out a steady, hushed roar.

Even with my new Team Ghost Office rain slicker over my flannel, I’m suddenly freezing. The rain spills right through Thorn and Kasey, but it’s getting me soaked. I’m starting to shiver beneath my clothes, especially with the wind sweeping against my back.

Aiden is walking behind me, watching the trees for anything unexpected. I feel him come up closer to me, and wrap his arms around me from behind. The warmth of him is a huge dose of relief, but I’m not sure how we’re gonna hike with him holding me like this -

My train of thought jolts to a stop as I glance over my shoulder. Aiden is still a good three or four feet behind me, with his hand holding his snapback in place against the wind. He’s holding me purely with his Heliomancer heat. It’s unbelievable how much it feels like a warm, gentle hug.

I let out a soft breath of relief, then cast him a grateful look over my shoulder.

He smiles at me reassuringly, his blue eyes shimmering with the magic he’s drawing on.

Bet we’re almost there, he mouths at me through the rain.

We are here, comes Thorn’s whispering voice, only seconds later.

He nods his horned head to a rain-wet wall of ferns and hanging vines just ahead of us. He limps right through it, followed by Kasey. Aiden comes up beside me and carefully holds some branches aside. We step past them together, then stop in surprise, looking around.

There’s a cozy little nook of the woods here, where the soaring treetops are knitted so closely together that the rain can only barely make it through. A huge, curving mound of mossy stone neatly seals off one side, sheltering a grove of old trees bearded with mushrooms and moss. Shining beds of wildflowers span the other side, which is open to the coastline. From here we have a very distant view of some boats out on the water, rocking gently in the rain. Their lights glow through to us, even with the fog.

The ground is blanketed with soft, thick grass, which I know will be comfy beneath our tent. The fierce wind is cut off by the rock wall.

“Wow, this is perfect, Thorn!” I turn around to beam at him. “Thank you!”

It was my honor, small one. Now, assemble your little shelter. We will speak when you are out of the rain.

Aiden and I make quick work of putting the tent together, then rush to get inside. Kasey slips through one of the walls to join us. We leave the tent unzipped and sit in a row at the very front of it. This way we’re sheltered from the rain, but we can still look up at Thorn’s face as he sits cross-legged outside, leaning down to see us.

Aiden’s heat dried us off as we worked, and he’s still keeping me wrapped in it. But I don’t want him to expend more magic than he has to, so I grab our sleeping bags and spread them over our knees. Aiden puts something together in our thermos while I’m busy with that. It glows briefly with his heat before he hands it to me, and I take a grateful sip of steaming tea.

Aiden releases his magical warmth, and the cold, rainy breeze breaks against my face again. But now it feels good, with him cozied up to my side.

When we’re all settled, we look up at Thorn curiously. He’s been very quiet ever since we showed him the flowers. I can tell that he wants to see them again, so I carefully take them from my pocket. I cradle them in my hands, protecting them from the wind and rain as I hold them out to him.

Thorn’s violet-lit eyes linger on the delicate petals, unblinking.

“You remembered something, didn’t you?” Aiden asks, watching him with searching eyes.

Thorn nods slowly, his wooden brow furrowed.

Little things return to me, murmurs his rustling, whispering voice. When I try to chase them down, they slip my grasp. But I begin to remember. I remember… she often wove herself garments from flowers like these.

Thorn stares hard at the flowers, then lifts his enormous eyes to us.

You have stumbled upon the bathing-place of a nymph, my little ones.

Kasey perks up, a victorious light kindling in her eyes. “So I was right? She’s part siren, part naiad?”

She is Coral, Thorn answers, then stops in surprise, like he only just realized what he said. Yes… her name is Coral. But we all call her Cora.

And then, with a sudden burst of old annoyance - I oft would say she is more of a coral snake, the way she can turn around and snap at you! Utterly unprovoked! A vixen, she! That much I recall!

Aiden, Kasey, and I exchange a startled look, trying not to laugh. Thorn barely remembers anything about Coral, but after all this time, he does remember that he was exasperated with her about some bit of backtalk she must have given him.

He hesitates, looking at the flowers again, his fingers fidgeting with the moss on one of his horns. Is - is she alright?

His hollow eyes immediately fill with worry when we all hesitate to answer.

Tell me, he says urgently.

I take a deep breath, then fill Thorn in on everything he missed. Kasey takes over for me at the end, so she can explain what she figured out about the effect Coral is having on her own forest.

As Thorn listens to us, his expression grows very serious. He sits very still, but I can see the worry written all over his face.

I fear you are right, little ghost, he tells Kasey, anxiously running a hand over his jaw. This is very unhappy news.

“I’m sorry.” Kasey winces, looking up at him with sympathetic eyes. “I didn’t want to be right. Not this time.”

Thorn slowly lowers his gaze to his lap.

I cannot even picture Cora, comes his whispering voice. But… I do recall that she carried a hydria, from which she would pour water.

I have no idea what that is, and clearly Aiden doesn’t either, but -

“Really?” Kasey’s brow crinkles with confusion. “Jamie and Aiden didn’t see her with one.”

No, Thorn says fondly. She misplaced it a very long time ago. I warned her not to be careless with it, alas.

“Why not just regenerate it?” Kasey asks, puzzled. “I do that whenever I lose my jacket, or my shoes, or my bralette.”

Now Thorn looks puzzled, too. What was the last one?

“It’s - nevermind. It's a human thing.”

Ah. I see. We cannot simply regenerate things as a ghost can, and what we have lost does not simply disappear. We are illusions. Our limitations are different, as are our powers. I am glad I require my staff to walk. I fear I may have lost it by now otherwise, and it is precious to me. My gift from Rose.

Aiden, Kasey, and I all think about that for a moment.

“Do you think if we brought that thing back to Coral, she’d be willing to talk to us?” I ask Thorn. “The - whatever it was you guys were talking about?”

Thorn stares at me in surprise, then brightens visibly at the idea.

“A hydria,” Kasey explains, when I look to her for the right word. “It’s a piece of pottery. A vessel for water-carrying.”

“Oh.” Aiden frowns deeply. “That - sounds like something that would be real hard to track down in an old-growth forest.”

You have magic at your disposal, fateling, Thorn reminds him gently. And what you seek is magical in nature.

“Yeah, but I’m-” Aiden’s bronze skin glows crimson with an anxious blush. “I just don’t know how... I’m still figuring out how to do even pretty basic stuff with my magic.”

Naturally, comes Thorn’s warm, whispering voice. You are young, and magic requires a great deal of time and patience and practice to learn. But as to whether you are capable, little one, and whether you have enough magical power - you are. You do. And I believe this is our best chance. Returning the hydria to Coral may restore some of her memories. She might be willing to speak with you.

“Okay,” Aiden says fretfully, then quickly adds - “I mean - I’ll try my best, man! Obviously I’m gonna try my best.”

He can clearly see the hopeful, pleading expression in Thorn’s eyes. He looks relieved when Thorn looks relieved, too.

“Any idea of where we should start?”

Thorn turns Kasey’s question over in his mind, running a thoughtful hand over his lichen beard.

Were the hydria lost in Cora’s own territory, she would have recovered it herself by now. There was a time when we could cross into each other’s lands, when we had more power. She must have left the hydria in another’s part of the forest. I know it is not in mine. I have combed my land for it, and I would have found it long ago. It would not be in the Sorcerer’s lands, either… So you must start with where you have not yet been.

Team Ghost Office listens in attentive silence. I can tell that Kasey is taking mental notes.

One more thing, Thorn whispers. As you’ve restored some of my memories, others have returned. I have recalled something that may be of interest to you. Though I cannot say if it has anything whatsoever to do with the matter at hand.

“The more information we have, the better,” Kasey says firmly.

I nod earnestly, lacing my fingers around the thermos. “Yeah, what is it?”

It is… a mystery, Thorn whispers. I have long sensed something in these woods. A being. Neither illusion nor ghost, and yet - a little spirit. It comes and goes as it wishes. I have tried to befriend it, but it is very shy. As soon as it senses me, it is gone.

Thorn pauses in surprise at our collective reaction to that. Aiden, Kasey, and I all just looked sharply at each other, our eyebrows flying up.

“We - we might have already met that spirit,” I tell Thorn, who’s obviously confused. “At the ruins of a farmhouse. It ran away from us, too.”

“Even you’re not sure what that thing is, Thorn?” Kasey asks.

I cannot even guess, small one. I have never met its likeness before, nor have I been able to get a good look at it. I can sense it is something very powerful, that is all. As I said, it may have no bearing on your work here. But if you seek to help our forest, you might look for the little spirit. I imagine it must be very lonely.

There’s a brief silence.

“Are - are you lonely, Thorn?” I ask, my heart aching.

No, he says reassuringly, casting a bright smile at me. I am not lonely, for now I have friends.

“Oh, we - of course we’re your friends! But, you know…” I wince guiltily at him. “We’re leaving the forest tomorrow morning.”

Thorn pauses, caught by surprise. So soon?

“We have to go back to work, and… you know. Human stuff.”

Ah, he whispers. Then yes, I shall be a little lonely again. Once I had my brethren to keep me company, and I was not lonely, but now, I… you - you will return, won’t you, my small ones?

“We promise!” I answer immediately, as Aiden and Kasey nod in earnest confirmation.

And you will help Cora? You will try to save her springs?

“We’ll do everything we can,” Aiden promises. “Starting with going home to look up a picture of a - a-”

“Hydria,” Kasey offers.

“-so that we know what it looks like. The point is, we will be back to help.”

I believe you, Thorn whispers, smiling with his hollow eyes again. I have boundless faith in you, fateling.

~~~~

We wanted Thorn to stay with us for the night, but he insisted that he can’t abandon his patrol. He and the other illusions are still fiercely committed to protecting the sacred grove. We’re missing him already, but he promised to rejoin us in the morning.

Aiden, Kasey, and I gather up in the tent. The rain spills down outside, tapping against the nylon walls, but it’s cozy warm inside. The soft golden brightness of Aiden’s fireflies casts a glow over our faces. Aiden and I are bundled up in our sleeping bags, sitting up to talk to Kasey.

“Aren’t we pushing it a little late, Kase-face?” I glance nervously at the open front of the tent, but the rain has made it dark, and I can’t guess what time it is. “You’re probably on the last of your energy.”

“I can afford to push it today, since I don’t have to come back tomorrow.” She smiles peacefully, casting her gaze around at our little tent. “I’m excited to get back to Will, but I don’t want to miss our last meeting of the camping trip. And I know what Thorn meant, about enjoying the warmth even if you can’t feel it for yourself.”

“He said he enjoyed the campfire, not the warmth.”

“Oh. Well…” Kasey shrugs her shoulders at me. “I said what I said. You know what I mean. It's snuggly in here.”

Aiden and I smile at her affectionately.

“So!” She claps her hands at us. “When we come back, we need to look for the naiad-siren’s hydria. That means we have to strike out in a direction we haven’t gone before. Into the land of an illusion we haven’t met yet.”

She points to the circular, embroidered pieces of magic laid out on the floor of the tent.

“We know about Thorn, Coral, the Demon, and the Sorcerer. That leaves two illusions unidentified, but we know that this one has already been destroyed.” She taps the brown, black, and silver piece of magic. “Means we only need to identify one more.”

“So when we come back, we’ll either be walking into territory that’s protected by something unknown, or by the Demon,” I realize out loud, flinching a little. “Or not protected at all. Cool.”

“And now we know that thing I sensed at the farmhouse is real and around,” Aiden adds, shifting his snapback over his glossy hair. “So… we’ll need to keep an eye out for that, too.”

“Okay, and even if we get the hydria,” I jump in, “We’ll have to cross the Sorcerer’s forest again to take it back to Coral. Assuming we can find it.”

"Right," Aiden finishes slowly. "So, if we can just - handle all that, we'll be fine."

We all look at each other uncertainly.

“Whatever!” Kasey says suddenly. She flings her dark hair over her shoulder, breaking into a wide grin. “You know what? We can do this! Think of the shit we’ve done before! Just because this situation involves a dark-side sorcerer, and-”

“Don’t start listing that stuff, Kase-face!”

“That doesn’t mean that we’re not capable! We can do it. I have faith in this team.”

She tilts up her chin, then puts out her fist.

“Team Ghost Office,” she says confidently.

Maybe it’s how brightly she shines, or the earnestness in her voice, but Aiden and I can’t help ourselves. We both put a fist to hers, breaking into matching smiles.

“Team Ghost Office!”