He hadn’t teleported in a while. You’d think having no flesh or blood would make fast travelling easy, but he was only non-corporeal when he needed to be, which lately wasn’t very often. In their current situation, however, time was of the essence. He had to get to Sean the ghost before he got to the others, and for that, he had to abandon his unconscious body in a bathroom stall near the classrooms, praying that no one would notice.
The ‘Scooby-Doo gang’ split up in two: Svea, Jacy and Shiro went through the forest towards the tower they had once used for a real life videogame-type adventure, while Iv and Hendrick took the underground tunnels, the ones leading to the furnace where they had to work as a punishment, hoping for another secret route where the ghost might hide. He decided to look for the trio first. He checked their live location on his phone, prayed for the best, and ended up a few meters off from where his friends were.
“I just don’t get it,” he heard Svea as the they were making their way through the trees, with Shiro in his fox version leading them. “How can he just act like nothing happened?”
“I didn’t even know about it,” responded Jacy.
“Exactly my point! It’s usually so easy to make guys be interested in me, so how could he just leave for the break instead of offering to stay here and figure out what that kiss meant?”
Oh. So it was about him. Truth be told, he had thought about their kiss. He liked her, but he wasn’t sure what he could offer her. He would never feel butterflies in his stomach or goosebumps on his skin. He existed in two different dimensions at the same time: the material and the immaterial. Like Svea, he wasn’t human, but unlike her, him and his body were practically two separate entities. If he couldn’t feel things physically, how could he justify his admiration? He’d much rather avoid that conversation.
“Well, you said you didn’t use any of your skogsrå tricks on him, so don’t expect him to be star-struck immediately. Maybe he has other things on his mind, and a relationship is just not something he is concerned with at the moment.”
“But it’s been months since we met, people usually figure their feelings out and what they want from the other in that time, right?”
“Well, usually, but…”
At that moment the fox made a sound.
“See, Shiro agrees with me.”
“Actually, I think he meant something along the lines of ‘Let’s focus on what we actually came here to do,’” said Jacy.
“What, you speak fox language now? Anyway, what about you? Any crushes?”
The fox ‘talked’ again. Nik realized they were getting closer to him.
“Not particularly, but we should…”
The light from Jacy’s lantern fell on him, which stupidly caught him off-guard. When he took a step back to hide behind a tree – stupid – a branch cracked. He forgot he was invisible, not silent.
He saw Shiro’s ears perk at the sound, then Svea asked where it came from.
“Probably just a squirrel,” said Jacy. “Right, Shiro?”
The fox – Shiro – looked straight at Nik. He must have known. After all, he wasn’t just a regular fox. Still looking at him, Shiro gave an answer.
“It’s fine, he says we can continue.”
“How do you even understand this?”
Nik decided it was better to go.
***
Being invisible had to come with a disclaimer, Nik thought – you couldn’t help but overhear things. He had the feeling as he teleported into the school’s underground tunnels that he was once again witness to a love confession.
“Is it bad if I say I’m glad that the two of you aren’t official yet?” confessed Hendrick as he was illuminating his and Iv’s path, bright blue light orbs shining from his inhuman eyes.
“Can’t help it if your heart yearns for something, can you?”
The two stopped and turned to face each other in the cramped space. They stayed like that in silence for what must have been a minute, then Hendrick asked:
“How many more human lifetimes do I need until you’ll be mine again?”
Nik had the feeling this confession held an entire unspoken history, and yet –
“I am human; you only bare the face of one. As it stands, all I can give you is now.”
Nik couldn’t tell who leaned in first for the kiss, but he could admit that he was envious of the fact that the two didn’t only sense the touch of their lips, but feel it, too. Every touch he gave or received was cold as ice.
He didn’t want to jump to conclusions as to how Shiro would feel about this, and was aware that it was more important to find the ghost. Yet as always, Sean found him.
&$(&%IAMHERE&^*%&
This time, it wasn’t just Nik who received the message. The two broke their kiss, quickly looked at each other, then ran towards the owner of the voice that had haunted Nik throughout the day.
***
“Finally, we meet.”
As soon as he entered the room, a circular space in the middle of the tunnel connecting the tower with the main building, Sean made his presence felt.
“You know, you could say I am your admirer.”
“What do you mean by that?” The voice was Hendrick’s. Nik didn’t even realize when the two came into the room, now holding hands, as he was too busy staring at the ghost. He could see Sean, but he wasn’t sure Hendrick and Iv could. After all, they couldn’t see him.
“Since we have company,” Sean went on talking to him, “might as well introduce myself properly. It took me some years to learn the trick, I should put it to good use.”
Nik watched his friends’ faces, capturing the moment when they finally saw what he had been seeing: a young boy in his old uniform, trapped between the here and the unknown there.
“Is there another presence in the room with us?” asked Iv.
Sean walked towards him. They were staring face to face, not even an arm’s length between them.
“There is,” Sean answered them while looking Nik in the eyes. Distantly, Nik realized that the other three – Svea, Jacy and Shiro in his human form – had also found the secret room, entering from the opposite side.
“This ghost is no ordinary one, however. It makes me quite envious. It’s not as if he is that much older than me, I would assume, and yet…”
Nik was frozen, caught between the need to stop Sean from spilling his secret and the realization that if he did, he would automatically reveal himself. He had a catch-22 situation in his hands. Fortunately for him, something drew Sean’s attention.
“My friend is calling me. If you’ll excuse me.”
And with that, he disappeared.
“What just happened?” asked Svea.
“Friend…do you think he meant Kyle?”
Hendrick’s intuition was right. Somewhere in the woods, people were approaching. Nik realized that the hide was over.
He made himself visible to the human eye, just to let them know to “Go into the woods. They are coming.” He disappeared as quickly as Sean did, not waiting to observe their reactions.
***
When he came back to himself, he was outside, right behind Jabari, who was clearly out of breath. Nik decided that if the others had seen him in his non-corporeal form, then Jabari should, too. So, cracking another branch to get his attention, he made himself visible again.
Jabari looked taken aback for a second when he saw Nik appear out of nowhere, but quickly regained his composure, as if he was only mildly surprised.
“Ghost?”
“But no ordinary one,” he added after nodding, thinking back to what Sean had said just some seconds before.
Jabari also gave a nod in acknowledgement. He seemed to understand that any explanation on Nik’s part would have to be put on hold, as there were more urgent matters at hand.
“I went to check on you when it was taking too long. I searched the common room where you said you’d be. Then I had a gut feeling…so I went into the bathrooms.”
Nik knew what Jabari would have seen. If he had found his lifeless body, then it made sense that he was barely surprised to see him in his non-corporeal form.
“I ran right back to your room after, and found that Kyle and Tyler had already left. So I deduced that they must have headed for the ghost’s lair. Did you find it?”
“We did,” answered Shiro as him and the others emerged from the underground tunnels through the woods. “Did you find out that Nik’s a ghost?”
“We don’t really have time for this…” Nik tried to argue.
“No! We will not take another step until we have an explanation.”
It was Svea who demanded answers, and Nik wanted to give them to her, because that might have been the only thing he could offer.
“Nikolaus died about 80 years ago. He…I…was killed. My parents were bad people who did bad things, or so thought those who murdered them. And they may have had a good reason for doing it, but what about me? What did I ever do? I was…am…only sixteen!”
If he could have cried, he would’ve. Instead, Svea seemed to do the crying for him, while the others listened with pity coloring their gazes. It was better anyway than them asking about his parents or doubting if he was truly innocent. It was those follow-up questions that kept him silent about his nature.
“We lived in a cabin deep into the woods. My parents died inside, but I managed to run. Not too far, though. I think I was hit in the head, though I can’t be too sure. Next time I woke up, my body was lying on the ground. I stared at it until the fairies showed up – the witte Wiwer. They preserved my body, out of pity I suppose. Somehow, they managed to bind it to my non-corporeal form. So I have lived like this ever since.”
“Sean was right; you are no ordinary ghost,” said Jabari. “You are a poltergeist…a more evolved one.”
Different ghosts gained different abilities as years passed. He was indeed a poltergeist by nature, but an odd one at that, thanks to those creatures in his home woods.
“Can we focus on finding Kyle and Sean now?”
They all followed Shiro, who claimed he could smell Kyle and his brother – “and one unwelcomed addition.”
The brothers were not that far away, but there was no sign of the ghost. Instead, Enrique was there, holding a baseball bat in his hand. Kyle and Tyler were staring at the boy as if he was possessed…because, Nik realized, he really was.
“He told me he was following someone – them. ‘I can accept her and Shiro being together, but they want to break his heart. That I cannot allow.’ That’s what he told me,” said Kyle while keeping his eyes glued on the boy who seemed entirely out of it. He was probably fighting off Sean’s spirit, but to no avail.
“And then all of a sudden, something changed in his demeanor. You’re in there, Sean, aren’t you?”
“Kyle, please stop joking with this ghost thing, you’re freaking me out!” begged Tyler.
The boy – Enrique, Sean – finally came to his senses, and said with a smile: “I am here.”
“All of you go. Ty, you stay with me. I’ll deal with this.”
The seven of them looked at each other. They couldn’t trust what Kyle would do, but staying there meant him and Tyler noticing that Nik also didn’t quite look like himself. So, silently, they decided to do as Kyle said.
“Just don’t say a word of this.”
***
They were gathered in the bathroom where Nik had abandoned his body. All seven of them tried to fit in the small stall, looking down at the slumped form lying on the ground.
“This is why you got sick when we were working at the furnace,” said Jacy.
“My body may have been preserved by the wood fairies, but it’s close to a centuries old, and would be completely non-functional if not for my spirit keeping it moving. I thought it best to abandon it then like I did know, but the low visibility due to the smoke made it hard for me to make sure you guys would see me at all times. So I had to use my body, knowing the risks.”
“You being a poltergeist also explains why you were so good at tennis – you control the objects around you,” concluded Iv.
Nik nodded.
“How do you think Kyle is going to deal with this?” asked Hendrick.
“We can’t predict if Sean will truly listen to what Kyle says,” said Jabari.
“Either way, we have to be prepared for the worst,” added Shiro.
Svea looked at him – the ghost him – and smiled, as if to tell him it would be ok. Nik wasn’t so sure, but they would have to try to keep everybody in Elysium High alive, himself included. And if the seven of them were the team fate had chosen for this, then there might have been a chance.
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