Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 11
Nick peeked with one eye.
“You feel it, don’t you? The pressure and the warmth of the light?” Lotus asked, her eyes already glowing purple while the front of her hair floated. “Just close your eyes again and feel for the tug in your sternum. If you can, press out from there to meet the light.”
He closed his eyes again. The orange light was still there. It seemed to end a couple of inches in front of his chest. The pressure ratcheted up a little more.
Nick could sense something behind his sternum. Was that his spirit energy? Whatever it was, he felt an intense attraction between it and the orange light.
The moment Nick concentrated on the power in his chest, it sprang forward with the speed of a champion greyhound let loose on a racetrack. He only had a flash to notice, but the color of the energy coming out of his body was a distinct indigo purple.
As the purple energy from Nick’s body collided with the orange light, Nick felt a forceful tug at his chest. The pressure inside of the server room cranked all the way up to vertical takeoff, and he felt the massive pull forward.
Nick’s initial reaction was to fight against the sensation. “Damn! Is this normal?”
“Fuck me, you got it on your first try!” Lotus giggled on his right. “Yes, it’s totally normal. Just go with it, and I’ll meet you there.”
He stopped struggling and allowed light and energy from his chest to guide him. A moment later, Nick felt the same freshly-dried-fabric sensation of going through the portal.
For a few blissful seconds, Nick enjoyed the weightlessness of floating. He was still being compelled to move forward, but it was weirdly comforting to be free of gravity.
The flight ended nearly as soon as it began, and Nick found himself in Limbo in front of Jessica’s cheery face. For some reason the pain in his leg intensified.
“You’re here!” The blonde, in her usual pink tennis outfit, hopped from one foot to the other and seemed to vibrate with excitement. “I can’t wait to show you to your first class. Technically, summer classes started over a week ago, but you should be totally fine.”
“Actually, he needs to visit the Origin first. We had a little run in with a Stalker,” Lotus interrupted from behind Nick’s left shoulder.
“Shut up!” Jessica’s eyes tripled in size, and her white smile fell away. “Is your leg okay, Nicky?”
Wait, how did Jessica know his leg was injured? Was he limping?
Nick looked down. A light stream of black smoke puffed from the spot where the Stalker had shoved its monstrous head through his leg. “What the hell?”
“It’s the residual damage that thing did to your spirit energy,” Lotus explained, crouching close to Nick’s leg. “Let’s get you to the Origin before your first class starts.”
“Ooh, ooh! We can go together like we did yesterday,” Jessica suggested without skipping a beat. She wiggled her way under Nick’s arm. “Go ahead and lean on my shoulder, Nicky.”
The pain in his leg was still ramping up, but he didn’t need any help walking. He thought about pulling his arm back, but stopped himself when he saw the determination to help in Jessica’s eyes.
“We have to make sure you’re 100% by the time you get to Anchoring class. We’re going to be partners, remember?”
Nick couldn’t stop himself from chuckling at Jessica’s one-track mind. “Just don’t get your hopes up. All of this stuff is still really new to me.”
Jessica gave his hand a squeeze. “No way. You’re going to be amazing. I just know it.”
He was thinking of a compliment he could give in response, but Lotus spoke up, her voice a bit flat. “Let’s go. You guys can play pattycake later.”
Chapter 12
A Medium’s Role
By the time they reached the physical plant, Nick was glad he hadn’t turned Jessica’s offer down. He was still walking under his own power, but she was definitely adding some stability to his strides. Not to mention, wrapping his arm around her toned waist and occasionally feeling the soft press of her breast against his chest was probably going to help with his recovery. Probably.
Amelia’s desk was somehow even more full of books than it had been the previous day, but she immediately got up to lead Nick to the Origin Crystal when she saw the small puffs of smoke emitting from his leg and his now pronounced limp.
Lotus helped Nick recap their encounter with the Stalker, while Amelia opened the massive doors to reveal the navy blue carpet and the huge orange crystal at the back of the room.
“Just touch the Origin, and it’ll heal the damage done to your spirit energy,” Amelia instructed, her eyebrows creased in concern above her cat-eye glasses.
The idea of reliving the Origin’s shocks and intense heat he’d experienced the day before didn’t exactly thrill Nick, but he needed to do something about the pain in his leg. Nick reached out to the flat face of the crystal and prepared himself—only there weren’t any shocks or extreme temperature shifts.
For a second, Nick was convinced he’d done something wrong. But then the pain in his leg started to lessen, as if someone was slathering burn cream on the wound. The smoke dissipated and vanished entirely. When the pain was completely gone, he looked up at the crystal’s display.
Name: Nicholas Devin Summerland
Age: 24
Mortal Clock: – 00:000:00:56:02
Spirit Energy: 8,004 / 8,649
Affinity with Shade (Ice): Yes
Affinity with Specter (Fire) : Yes
Affinity with Poltergeist (Wind): Yes
Affinity with Mortal (Earth): Yes
Medium Rank: Novice
Number of Burdens Eased: 0
Spells:
None
“Why did my spirit energy drop?”
“Traveling to Limbo always costs a Medium about a hundred S.E..” Lotus screwed her lips to one side. “And I’m guessing your injury can be blamed for the rest.”
Amelia cocked her head to the side and pressed the bridge of her glasses. Her chestnut hair was in its same off-center updo, but this time a pencil was jammed through the messy bun. “You’ll automatically start recovering your spirit energy once you get back to the mortal world. Most Mediums are at full strength after five or six hours of rest.”
“Good, I guess.” Nick turned to Jessica. “Do you think I’ll still have enough S.E. for class?”
All three women exchanged looks and began laughing.
“What?”
Lotus wiped at the corner of her eye. “Considering most Mediums have an S.E. total just under a thousand, I’d say yeah, you’re going to be okay to practice some anchoring in old Professor Walsh’s class.”
Nick was still thinking about Lotus’s comments when they entered the admin building, walked up the stairs, and headed toward his first class. Both of his tour guides were with him until they were a couple of doors away from 228.
Suddenly, the dark-haired tech stopped. “I’ll catch up with you at the portal when you’re done with your third class. I’ve gotta jet.” She turned around and strode in the opposite direction.
After Lotus’s abrupt departure, Nick shifted his attention to room 228.
It was a small classroom just outside of the skybridge that led to Ember Hall. It had a couple of windows on the western wall letting in a brighter shade of orange than the light being generated by the fixtures on the ceiling. There were twenty wooden desks—the kind with the attached seats—arranged in a semicircle facing a podium and a blackboard. The strong scent of patchouli wafted from the open door.
As he entered, Nick saw five women sitting at random desks. Four of them were either in their thirties or forties and looked a bit nervous, but the fifth woman was younger and seemed bored out of her mind.
“Hey all! This is Nick, the guy I was telling you about,” Jessica announced to the quiet classroom.
The professor, a woman in her late sixties with wild, bushy gray hair pushed back by a tie-dyed headband, looked up from the podium and gave Nick a warm smile. She had a pleasant, gently-wrinkled face and wore a billowy dress with an extremely colorful pattern. Chunky necklaces and bracelets, mostly Native American-style turquoise and silver, adorned her tan skin.
Her voice was soft and soothing. “Welcome to class, Nick. So glad you could join us. I’m Professor Blossom Moonbeam, but I don’t get too hung up on titles as we are all children of Mother Earth. Have a—”
“Um, I thought this was a women’s academy. What’s he doing here?” The bored woman asked from her position near the windows. She was an attractive Asian woman with short hair and a scowl on her face. Though she was sitting with her legs crossed, Nick could tell she was petite and fit. A matching set of black, tight yoga leggings and a long-sleeved shirt sheathed her slender body.
“Haeun, let’s be constructive,” Professor Moonbeam implored with her palms in front of her. “There’s enough hostility in Limbo already.”
The Asian woman scoffed and crossed her arms. “How do we know he’s not just some sort of creeper who snuck in?”
“Nick’s not a creepy guy!”
Jessica’s sharp outburst surprised Nick. “I appreciate that, Jessica, but it’s okay. I know I’m a bit of an oddity here.”
But she wasn’t done defending him. “He’s sweet, and he took on a Stalker like a total badass.” She gazed up at him with her huge blue eyes and practically vibrated in place.
His heart did a little dance in his chest.
A few gasps escaped the lips of the other four students in the room. These were soon followed by a couple hushed exchanges and nodding heads, but Haeun let out a huff. She narrowed her eyes at him and pulled her desk closer to the window.
“Groovy. Nick, if you wouldn’t mind, please have a seat, and we’ll begin a journey together to explore today’s topic,” Professor Moonbeam instructed in her calming voice.
“Sure.” Nick turned to Jessica. “See you in the next class?”
“You know it,” the blonde replied with a huge smile before practically skipping down the hall.
Nick entered the room and walked toward a seat in the front while another round of hushed chatter and stolen glances followed him.
Professor Moonbeam delicately cleared her throat. “Fellow travelers, let me address Haeun, and possibly, some of your concerns about Nick. Regardless of what you might have heard, men can be Mediums too. It’s rare, but does happen.” She gave Nick another kind smile. “He’s an anomaly, but Nick has spirit energy just like all of you.”
The quiet conversations stopped.
“No pressure at all, Nick, but would you care to say a few words of introduction before we drift into today’s rhythm?”
While he’d only been back in Silvervale for less than a week, the town wasn’t large. Also, he’d grown up there, gone through school there, so he did know a fair number of people that hadn’t moved away. However, he didn’t recognize any of the women.
A thought popped into his head, and it just came out.
“This might sound kind of weird, but how did you guys all get into the server room in order to get to Limbo? I had to sneak in the back of the admin building. Silvervale’s not huge, so we should probably coordinate where we’re all parking if we want to avoid making other people suspicious.”
The other students appeared confused for a moment. Then the giggling started.
“Are you serious? You mean, you don’t even know that part?” Haeun groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Please, professor, send him to Medium preschool or something.”
Beads on Professor Moonbeam’s wrists clacked together as she waved her hands in the air. “Fellow travelers, please. Remember we all start the journey in different locations.” Once the giggles died down, she looked at Nick. “I got you, Nick. You see, this academy has many doorways. We don’t usually get into the details, but I’m willing to bet each one of these lovely souls came here from a different location. However, all of their portals lead to this academy. Like theirs, your waiter’s room portal leads here.”
Nick frowned. “Waiter’s room? Oh, server room.”
Professor Moonbeam nodded. “My apologies. The server’s room.”
One of the women sitting close to Nick spoke up. “You said Silvervale? As in the town south of Olympia?” When Nick nodded, she continued. “I’m from Seattle.”
Another said, “Just outside of Eugene.”
Salt Lake City and Bozeman were added to the list, and Nick understood the professor’s point.
When it became apparent that Haeun wasn’t going to volunteer where she was from, Professor Moonbeam drew in a cleansing breath and clapped her hands a couple of times. “Thanks for sharing, fellow travelers. Okay, can someone please remind the rest of the class where our journey ended last time?”
The woman who had indicated that she was from Seattle spoke up. “We were discussing the different types of ghosts, and the elemental abilities we’ll gain by anchoring our spirit energy with theirs.”
“Well said, Bonnie. Does anyone remember the types, and what their corresponding elemental abilities are?”
“Shades, the most common type, grant the use of ice. Specters are the next most common, and they have access to fire,” the woman in the middle of the room answered. She looked around and swallowed before adding, “The rarest, thankfully, are poltergeists. They’re associated with wind.”
Professor Moonbeam cocked her head to the side. “Well done, Gracie, but I’m feeling a little lost here. You included ‘thankfully’ in your description of poltergeists. Would you care to elaborate on that point?”
Gracie seemed a little mousy, but she was able to gather some courage. “Well, considering they’re the victims of a violent murder, I’m thankful they represent the lowest number of dead individuals.” She was staring at her lap by the time she was done speaking.
While the professor seemed to be digesting Gracie’s response, Nick found himself dumbfounded. If what his classmate said was correct, did that mean Teza’s life ended in an unspeakable way? Teza had been murdered?
Professor Moonbeam broke Nick out of his thoughts. “Thank you for your considerate perspective on the origins of poltergeists, Gracie. When we break the connection circle with our fellow humans, the Earth’s harmony is thrown out of balance. It is a real heartache for the soul.”
The professor moved away from her teaching podium to the blackboard. With a flowing hand, she rapidly wrote “Shade,” “Specter,” and “Poltergeist” with several inches between each word. “Gracie beautifully illustrated the elements associated with each ghost type. Our journey today is to discuss in detail how each ghost type sloughs off their mortal coil.”
She placed her chalk next to “Shade” and began speaking and writing simultaneously. “Shades pass away naturally, by their own hand, or because of a blameless accident.”
Haeun spoke up, suspicion in her tone. “Wait a minute. I thought Specters were the ones who died because of an accident.”
Professor Moonbeam turned away from the chalkboard and looked at the woman in the back of the classroom. “I understand your confusion, Haeun. However, there is a slight difference. Shades can come into being after a blameless accident, but a Specter was killed by another person. This homicide could be caused intentionally, or it could be completely unintended.”
“I don’t know. How can an accident ultimately not be someone’s fault?”
The professor closed her eyes and rocked back and forth. “Can any of you control a flood?”
“No,” Haeun conceded, her tone still pissy.
The professor inclined her head. “That’s a prime example, but the same could be said for someone slipping off of a hiking trail because they were gazing at the way sunlight drifted through the wondrous leaves above them. There are any number of different ways a poor mortal could meet their end.”
“Got it,” Haeun mumbled, and shifted her gaze out of the windows.
While the professor continued writing the distinct differences between the three types of ghosts, Nick copied what he was seeing on the board into his notebook. Remembering the examples Jessica had given him the night before, he added Jessica, Heather, and Teza’s names next to Shade, Specter, and Poltergeist.
After Professor Moonbeam echoed Gracie’s comment about how Poltergeists were the product of a terrible death, she moved onto the most common types of burdens a Medium needed to help a ghost relieve.
According to her, most ghosts wanted forgiveness from another person. This could be because of a recent argument, a long-standing disagreement, a misunderstanding, or something that was fundamentally mishandled throughout the ghost’s life.
While these quests for forgiveness were common, each case was distinct and could range in difficulty. For example, the spouse of a Shade was equally likely to immediately absolve their partner as they were to hold tight to a grudge.
Nick’s mind flashed back to his morning encounter at Chevron, and the old man calling out to his son. He raised his hand and spoke when the professor nodded at him. “I know this is a safe zone.”
“That is an excellent alternate term. However, to be precise, this academy is a Medial Sanctuary,” Professor Moonbeam corrected with a smile.
“Right, this is a Medial Sanctuary for female ghosts, but there are places like this for men too, right?”
“Yes, Nick. There are numerous Medial Sanctuaries for only men, as well as locations throughout Limbo for both men and women.”
“Then are there some ghosts who visit the mortal world without a Medium or avoid a haven? I saw a Stalker take a ghost—an older man—back to Limbo, but I don’t think there was another Medium anywhere near us.”
Nick’s line of questioning earned him another round of whispers. Eventually, Haeun piped up. “Are you one of those Mediums?” He could practically hear her eyes rolling.
