Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 12
He turned in his seat to face her, trying to keep his expression neutral when he was really starting to get annoyed by her attitude. “What are you talking about?”
She rolled her eyes. “A Medium who thinks they can actually see a Wanderer?”
Nick drew in a deep breath. He remembered Lotus saying something about that term earlier. “You can believe whatever you want, but I saw the guy.”
Bonnie from Seattle jumped in. “A couple classes ago, we learned that a ghost must choose if they want help relieving their burden at the moment of their death.” She flipped a couple of pages in her spiral notebook. “They can either come to Limbo and get help or stay in the mortal world and try to resolve their burden alone.”
Having seen two of the horrific Stalkers just in the last two days, Nick couldn’t help but ask the first question that popped into his head. “Why risk it?”
“It’s the exchange,” Haeun groaned in exasperation. “Ghosts lose part of their memories if they come here…but they’re protected. Conversely, ghosts are supposedly able to remember everything if they choose to go it alone in the mortal world without the protection of a Medial Sanctuary.”
“I’m following you so far,” Nick began normally before he put some steel in his voice. He narrowed his eyes at Haeun. “I’m just not sure why me seeing a Wanderer upsets you.”
“Fellow travelers—”
“Well, Nick, it’s the ridiculous idea that you think you actually saw one of these ghosts in the mortal world. Even the Mediums with two affinities say it’s extremely rare for someone of their caliber to see one,” Haeun growled, her dark eyes boring into his. She began grinding her teeth. “It pisses me off that you think you’re some sort of special unicorn or something just because you have a penis.” She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. “Get over yourself.”
Nick contemplated telling the hostile woman that he had all three affinities, but he let it slide. What would be the purpose? He didn’t have anything to prove to her or anyone else in the class. He just wanted to concentrate on gaining the skills necessary to help ghosts ease their burdens and get on with saving Ben.
In the end, Nick waved the angry woman off and turned back toward the professor. “Please continue.”
The rest of his Intro to the Afterlife class passed without incident. Nick learned he needed to be part family therapist, part detective, and part crime fighter in order to be successful as a Medium. Professor Moonbeam reiterated that each ghost’s burden represented a new and distinct situation, so a Medium had to be prepared to wear several different hats.
He’d always been a decent listener, and Nick figured the detective work would sort of tie in with the troubleshooting he needed to do for work, but the crime fighting would be something entirely unfamiliar.
When class ended, the professor asked Nick to approach her podium.
“I wanted to apologize for allowing the other students to belittle your line of questioning during class. It won’t happen again, but I wasn’t sure if you were going to follow up your story with…um—” she glanced toward the exiting students and lowered her voice, “—if you were going to mention that you have all three affinities. And more spirit energy than any other student.”
“Nah, I’m not interested in showing off. I’ve got more important things on my mind. I appreciate it, but you don’t have to worry about me. And I very much appreciate you teaching this class.” Nick adjusted his shoulder strap. “Is there anything else you need from me?”
Professor Moonbeam’s wrinkled face brightened. “No, but thank you, Nick. Oh, I guess I should say I’m sorry for the encounter you experienced earlier today. If you ever want to talk about it, just let me know. It’s never easy when a Medium encounters a Stalker.”
Chapter 13
Anchoring
The walk between the admin building and his next class was a decent hike across the quad to the building on the far side. In the mortal world, Martial Hall was the McClendon Center for Computer Sciences. The newest building on campus, it boasted two floors, very modern architecture, high ceilings, classrooms in various sizes and shapes, and lots of new, expensive tech.
In Limbo, the building had a similar facade and footprint, but the interior bore little resemblance to its counterpart. The double-door entrance opened into a vaulted lobby, but instead of a series of hallways lined with classrooms filled with computer labs and massive touchscreen panels, there wasn’t a piece of technology to be found. Instead, he saw wide open rooms carpeted with blue gym mats, targets shaped like stalkers, and lots of scorch marks on the walls.
An arrow indicated that room 147 was to the right, and as he walked down the hallway, he noticed a small crowd of women standing outside of the room he sought. As he drew closer, Nick could see Jessica in the center of the group. Like always, she was a bundle of energy.
“I’m just picking up on this vibe that Nick might be like…an all-time great Medium.”
Several of the women surrounding Jessica giggled while others began talking amongst themselves. Their voices blended together and created a swell of excited female voices. When Nick was only a couple of feet away, one of the women spoke out.
“So that’s why you want to pair up with him, Jess. You think he’s going to be the one to help ease your burden, and you’re jumping in line to get a crack at him ahead of the others who’re closer to turning into Wraiths.”
Jessica’s smile faltered, and for a moment Nick saw true grief in her eyes. She turned toward the woman who’d just spoken with her usual huge smile firmly in place. “No way, Emma! You know that’s not true. I want to help everyone avoid that fate.” She lifted up her arm and rotated it to show the crowd her hourglass.
To Nick, it seemed like the silvery-blue sand was all still in the top chamber—exactly where it had been the first time he’d seen it on Jessica’s arm.
“See, I have plenty of time left. You know I’m not a line-skipper.”
Emma, the tall woman with stringy brown hair and sunken eyes, retorted, “Then why are you so focused on pairing up with this guy?”
“It’s because I know how hard anchoring can be for new Mediums.” Her deep blue eyes suddenly landed on Nick, and Jessica’s entire face brightened further, if that was possible. “Once Nick gets comfortable with anchoring, I know he’s going to ease so many burdens.”
Nick stepped into the center of the group and stood next to Jessica. A few whispers worked through the crowd and another round of light laughter.
Jessica was back up to her normal level of enthusiasm. “Okay, guys, obviously this is Nick.” She beamed up at him. “Nick, these are all of the assistants for Professor Walsh’s anchoring class.”
Including Jessica, there were ten women in the group. Nick introduced himself to each woman individually and did his best to memorize all of their names. Emma, the tall brunette who questioned Jessica, was easy to remember. Though she’d probably been very pretty once, now her bones protruded from pale, sallow skin not covered by her faded red flannel shirt, and her gray eyes seemed vacant and listless. He’d seen that look before on the homeless in downtown Seattle.
He could tell Emma had been a drug addict.
Right about the time he was shaking Emma’s hand, a group of women carrying notebooks and bags made their way past the ghosts to enter the classroom. One of them, a woman in her forties, grumbled as she entered the classroom, “The prof better not start over just because there’s a new guy.”
Nick bit his tongue. He really didn’t want this to become another situation like he had with Haeun in his first class, but he’d be ready to hash out any sort of disagreement with this woman if need be.
Maybe new students always got some light hazing in Limbo?
He remembered that the Dean had essentially fast-tracked him into this class, which was above the level of a brand new Medium. Technically, he shouldn’t be there. That kind of preferential treatment wasn’t going to do him any favors with the other students.
The classroom for anchoring was more than triple the size of Professor Moonbeam’s room. Chairs were arranged in two rows that faced the center of the room. One row was positioned near the north wall where the door was, and a second row was closer to the south wall. In the center of the room there were several blue gym mats on the floor.
“Pick a seat on this side, and I’ll sit across from you,” Jessica instructed.
Nick selected the end seat of the row on the north side of the room. Jessica hurried to the south side of the room and sat directly across from him. She bounced in her seat like this was the most exciting part of her day.
Shortly after Jessica took her seat, a woman dressed like she’d just stepped off of a western movie set walked into the classroom and stood near the blackboards on the east wall.
She had wavy, carrot-orange hair loosely pinned back to showcase an attractive—but tired—face and large hazel eyes. A blast of freckles touched every exposed area of her pale, almost pinkish skin. Her bright magenta dress had a corset laced over a shirt with frilly white material that sagged on her shoulders and made a valiant attempt to hide her avalanche of freckled cleavage.
If he had to guess, this woman had been a saloon girl in some dusty town during the 1800s.
In a sultry, thick Irish accent, the woman addressed the class. “Hello ladies, how are we?” When the professor’s hazel eyes landed on Nick, she did a double take. “Right, and I must not be forgetting our newest addition, Mr. Nicholas Summerland. How are you then, lad?”
“I’m doing good, and just Nick is fine.”
“Well, Nick, I’m Professor Mollie Walsh. It’s been a donkey's years since I seen a male Medium, especially one who’s such a right feek.” She added a flirtatious wink. “But I won’t be slowing down on your account.”
Professor Walsh moved to the center of the room and stood on the mats, her soft brown kid boots just peeking out from under the white frilly petticoats beneath her dress. “Rest assured ladies, we’ll be cracking on. When it comes to anchoring, Nick’ll have to give it a lash same as the rest of you.”
A few of the women on Nick’s side of the room, presumably the Mediums, nodded and whispered after the professor’s announcement. Most of them relaxed into their chairs, but a few of the students eyed Nick with a bit of distrust.
“What do you say, ladies?” Professor Walsh’s gaze landed on Nick again, and she raised her eyebrows. “And Nick. Shall we start our anchoring demonstrations?”
Several voices answered in a resounding, “Yes, professor.”
“Grand! Let’s see. Emma, can you and Fern show us how it’s done?”
A few moments later, Emma and a short round woman with shoulder-length black hair dressed in mint green scrubs were standing on the mats, facing one another with their hands out and determination carved into their features. They closed their eyes the moment their hands made contact. A few strands of Fern’s black hair glided back as if they were being blown by the weakest hairdryer in the world.
A series of thin, light blue vines grew out of Emma’s chest and coiled around her flannel-clad arms as they wormed toward the connection with Fern’s body. Once the light blue tendrils from Emma made contact with Fern, they sped up and raced toward the shorter woman’s sternum.
Half a second later, the connection between the two women broke with an audible snap, and Fern was thrown back onto the mat.
A couple of gasps and mumbles went through the crowd, but Fern was quickly back on her feet.
“Emma, you’re doing it arseways. You have to balance. Don’t put too much of your spirit energy into the connection.”
The tall brunette ghost ducked her head down in an apologetic bow to her Medium partner. Fern waved off Emma’s concern with an encouraging smile, and both women were standing in front of each other ready to start again.
The dark-haired Medium tensed her muscles when her hands met the ghost’s. They repeated the same process, but a few locks of Emma’s hair also drifted up after the women started.
When the light blue wisps came out of Emma the second time, they were fainter and moved much slower. The muscles in Fern’s face tightened as the tendrils crossed from Emma over to her arms, but the process continued. Eventually, the light blue vines marched up to the shorter woman’s sternum.
After the last of the vines buried themselves in Fern’s chest, the two women appeared to vibrate in place. Suddenly, they mashed together, and there was only one woman standing on the mats.
The faded afterimage of Emma overlapped the clear figure of Fern. Both women opened their eyes and broke out in smiles.
Seconds later, a shimmer of light came out of Fern’s chest and wobbled on the nonphysical Emma layer. In a flash, the two women were separated.
“Well done, you two,” Professor Walsh said, patting Emma on the back. “Do you see, class? I’m a bit of chancer putting together a ghost and a Medium with such a discrepancy in spirit energy, but it can work iffin’ you find that balance.”
Almost all of the women on Nick’s side of the room were leaning forward in their seats like they were next in line at an amusement park ride. There was a charge of energy—of anticipation—filling the space.
"Right then. I want the lot of you to pair off and start working on making that first connection with your partner. If you can hold it for more than a minute without the Medium being’ flung about the room like a sack of potatoes, I’ll be well impressed."
The demonstration and the professor’s instructions seemed to be enough for all of the other students. With the exception of Jessica, all of the women moved their chairs to the edge of the room, paired off, and found space on the mats to begin reenacting what they’d seen minutes earlier.
Nick met Jessica at the corner of a mat, but he was still confused. He knew they needed to face each other, hold hands, and close their eyes, but how was he supposed to control those light blue tendrils once they came out of the blonde’s chest?
Jessica must have sensed some of Nick’s confusion because she rested a hand on his shoulder. “You’re going to be great at this, Nicky. I can tell.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “Lotus told me how well you did with your first crossing into Limbo, so I know this won’t stump you for long.”
Nick gave the room another glance. Some of the Mediums were on the floor while others were in the process of anchoring with their ghost partners.
“I get that I have to position my body in a certain way, but what else am I supposed to be doing once my eyes are closed?”
“After I place my hands on top of yours and we close our eyes, my S.E. is going to reach for yours.”
Remembering what he’d seen from Teza and Emma, a puzzle piece fell into place for him. “The light blue vines. That's your S.E., right?”
“Yes? Wait!” Jessica clapped her hands and slapped his pecs as if she were high-fiving them. “You’ve already seen a ghost’s S.E. without even anchoring? Nicky, that’s unbelievable!”
“It is?”
“Yes!” She pirouetted and lifted her knee while punching the air at the same time. Her top shimmied up, baring a smooth strip of her stomach. “You’re totally going to have anchoring down in no time. Anyways, your S.E. needs to stay in your body while mine is reaching for you.”
“Okay.”
“Like Professor Walsh said, I need to start with a little bit of energy to not overwhelm your body.”
Thinking about the demonstration, Nick interjected, “Otherwise, I’ll end up on the mat like Fern, right?”
“Uh huh, but I’ll be super careful. You just need to grab onto my S.E. while it touches yours.” Jessica tapped her chin and added, “Oooh, think of it like a trapeze act. We’re swinging at each other, but I let go and do some amazing somersaults in the air, and then you catch me.”
Jessica’s analogy made this exercise fairly dangerous, but Nick knew a few tumbles wouldn’t hurt much beyond his pride. “I’m ready to start when you are.”
“Totes.”
They faced each other and clasped hands, with Nick’s below Jessica’s. She gave him a wink just before they both closed their eyes. If he wasn’t so focused on the task, he thought, he’d be flirting right back.
The moment Nick closed his eyes, he saw the pale white image of Jessica with a ball of light blue at her center. Thin tendrils crept out of the light blue center. Jessica’s S.E. snaked out of her chest and moved down her arms.
Once the blonde’s S.E. made contact with his skin, Nick was filled with a singular desire—pull. The sensation started from his chest and radiated throughout his entire body. He needed to pull Jessica’s S.E. because nothing else mattered.
She had to be his.
Nick fought the carnal instinct to send his S.E. out to capture Jessica’s. To surround it and give it a delicious pull back toward his chest.
Her S.E. was at his elbows.
He knew Jessica was being cautious, but Nick wanted to tell her he didn’t care about ending up on the floor. He’d gladly nosedive into the mats repeatedly if it meant being able to pull the heavenly sensation that was her into him.
Her S.E. looped around his biceps and roved over to the outer edge of his pecs.
Hold on. She’s almost there. Then I can finally pull.
Jessica’s S.E. touched his sternum, and there was a fraction of a second where Nick was hyperaware of his entire body.
The indigo purple color of his S.E. clamped down on Jessica’s energy like a mouse trap, and he pulled.
A heartbeat later, the pale image of Jessica zipped through Nick’s body. For an instant, he felt more connected to her than he had with any other person he’d ever known. Just as Nick was beginning to bask in the euphoria of how good it felt to have Jessica anchored to him, she shot through his back and was rolling on the mat.
Nick’s eyes snapped open. “Shit! Jessica, are you alright?”
The blonde was sitting on the floor with her jaw wide open and her eyes glued to him. “OMG! That was awesome! You’re an effing savage, Nicky!”
