Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 25
OMG. That sounds like The Matrix! Like Neo’s friends on the ship watching his every move and telling him when crap is about to go down.
Nick laughed out loud. “Wow. You have such an interesting way of making connections.”
He could feel a phantom caress against his cheek.
So, my endpoint detection sensors, my Matrix friends, tell me when bad things happen—or even if something suspicious is happening—so I can take a closer look and possibly stop an attack. However, I have thousands of sensors, and sometimes they report issues that are false alarms or just plain ridiculous. There’s no way I can keep up with all of this data. It’s a firehose of data.
Then, how do you manage?
First, I put a nozzle on the firehose. I use a SIEM. It’s a—well, that’s not important. It’s a tool that I can use to filter the useful and useless data into a single stream of useful data. Then, I use correlation rules to find patterns in the data that can point to specific issues or attacks. Finally, I fine-tune and use a SOAR platform to automate and respond to real issues, such as quarantining a computer, until I have time to address the problem myself. It’s like an automatic shut-off valve and sprinkler system in one.
Wow. You are super smart, Nicky.
Thanks, but I didn’t come up with all of these tools—I just use them.
Whatever. I think you’re brilliant.
He chuckled. I appreciate that.
So…connect this to your S.E. and the shock spell. How are you going to fix this firehose and protect the people?
Nick was silent for a few moments, his mind churning and turning over his endpoint
analogy. Finally, his mental power button turned on, and he began to boot.
My S.E. is the firehose. Instead of focusing on slowing my S.E., I’m going to focus on creating a nozzle so it’s a thin stream. To help with that, I’m going to correlate my S.E. speed with yours. We should end up at my fingertips at the same time.
He hesitated, thinking through the last part.
Finally, I’m going to automate the response to our combined S.E. not by trying to mold or force it into a dense sphere, but by creating a shell that it can fill by itself.
Inside of him, Nick could feel Jessica thrumming with excitement. She seemed to be holding her breath as he readied himself for one more shock spell.
He focused on Jessica’s S.E., allowing his to race along with hers while his will sharpened the massive flow into a devastating, high-pressure stream. When his right arm tucked back, Nick felt something distinct. It was like his elbow was being cradled and two invisible elastic bands were being drawn back on either side of his arm. Nick felt like his arm was in a large slingshot.
Nick and Jessica’s combined S.E. met at his fingertips at the exact same moment. The hollow sphere he fashioned out of his S.E., about the size of a softball, filled with their mingled energy into a pulsing, swirling, cohesive mass.
When he pushed his hands forward, Nick knew his spell would strike the target.
A crack of electrical energy sounded through the hall as the sphere, tinged with blue, erupted from Nick’s hands.
Boom!
The crackling magic destroyed the center mass of the Stalker target and created a sizable hole in the wall behind it.
You did it, Nicky!
Elation filled him.
Professor Hughes stomped over and examined the target. “Well butter my biscuit—you’ve got some spark!”
The gruff woman gave him a hard stare. “This doesn’t change my requirement, Desk Job. But if you hit a Stalker anywhere on its body with what you just cast—save maybe its limbs—and that mongrel's a goner.”
Nick pumped his fists. He was just about to line up in front of another wooden Stalker stand in when Jessica appeared in front of him.
“Time to go, Nicky.”
Knowing he made a promise and that he wouldn’t be able to recreate the spell without her, Nick pushed down his knee jerk reaction of disappointment. “Okay, but we might need to stay a little after tomorrow to show this to the Dean. Once we give our demonstration, I’ll run to the admin building.”
The blonde rested her hands on her hips, but she glowed with pride. “You stinker. I give you an inch, and now you’re making plans for staying after two days in a row.”
Nick pulled Jessica in for a hug. “Thank you. You made me look at this problem the way I should have been doing all along. You seem to know me so well.”
She flushed and tried to hide a smile. “Don’t think this gets you out of your promise.”
“I won’t break my promise.” He leaned in closer and whispered. “I seem to remember someone wanting me to be more bold the next time she visited my haven. I can’t wait to find out exactly what ‘bold’ means.”
The next day at work and his entire first class felt like torture.
While he was at work, Nick was able to fight off the restlessness of distraction by pulling up a lofi playlist that didn’t include any lyrics. The consistent tempos did their job, and he was able to focus on the action items from the penetration test.
Nick’s Theory of Shades class was a completely different story. He was pretty much useless during the role-playing exercise, his mind firmly stuck on showing the Dean his effective shock spell.
When class was finished, Nick pulled Professor Crawford aside and asked if he and Jessica could leave her practical class early to visit the Dean.
Professor Crawford was in the middle of a set of alternating lunges when Nick approached her. “Impress me with Verglas Spikes smaller than a set of steak knives, and then I’ll consider letting you skip out early.”
During the practical magic period, Nick stayed in an area near the professor in order to demonstrate his Verglas Spikes once they’d reached the appropriate size.
After his fourth failed attempt, he felt Jessica’s fingers on his arms. He took a deep breath, focusing on where her skin met his, and he felt a sudden calm.
He drew upon the same snowboarding experience for his visualization, but this time, his hand felt like it had been jammed into an iced over snowbank. The newly installed nozzle he’d mentally fitted to his S.E. while practicing shock spells sent a concentrated stream of S.E. to his fingertips.
When Nick opened his eyes, five pieces of pointed ice the size of .223 Remington cartridges were hovering over his fingers, spinning at a blinding speed.
“Look at you, rockstar!” Professor Crawford praised from behind him.
The professor’s voice sent a jolt through him, and the rotating bullets wobbled. Nick had to tense his fingers to regain control over the lethal-looking pieces of ice.
“Now let them fly.”
Nick did as she asked, and all five slivers of ice fired toward the mural-covered tile wall with a resounding crack.
None of the pieces of ice shattered when they made contact with the wall. Instead, they blew through and five holes the size of half dollars remained.
When Nick turned to ask the professor about their agreement, he noticed all the other students were staring at him, slack-jawed.
Professor Crawford jumped into action. She clapped her hands to grab everyone’s attention. “I’d say now’s a good time for everyone to swap partners. Shades, I want you to sever the anchor and boogie on down to the Medium to your immediate right.”
As the other students and Shades began following the professor’s instructions, Nick cleared his throat. “Does this mean I can be excused to see the Dean?”
The woman in the yellow leotard crossed her arms, one manicured eyebrow arched impossibly high. “I agreed to let you out early, but I didn’t say when. Since you’ve stopped attempting to anchor with other Shades and have been leaving Professor Walsh’s class, I think you should practice that skill now. Fresh energy, baby!”
Nick flexed his jaw. He wanted to explain his motivation for sticking with Jessica, but the professor was right about him needing to anchor with other Shades.
Don’t worry. We’ll get back together and show the Dean what you can do. See you soon, Nicky.
Jessica was standing in front of him a moment later. She gave him a happy wave and walked to a woman in her late forties.
The only remaining Shade was a ghost Nick hadn’t spoken to in a while, Emma. The tall, thin ghost looked sickly, like usual, with long, lank brown hair and sallow skin. She gave Nick a quick greeting before he turned back to Professor Crawford.
“Are there any mats we can use? I mean, like, gym-style mats, not these commercial kitchen ones.”
Professor Crawford halted in mid squat and narrowed her eyes. “No, they’d get soaking wet in seconds. Why?”
Nick looked between his new partner and the professor. “I don’t want Emma to get hurt. Even Professor Hughes got thrown to the floor when she tried to anchor with me.”
The professor in the yellow leotard rested her hands on her hips and tossed her teased hair. “It sounds like you need to practice controlling your S.E., Nick. There are countless gho—”
“I can’t hold it!” The Medium working with Jessica screamed.
The woman had icicles half the length of a foam paint roller vibrating above her opened palm. Her entire body shook as she struggled to point her hand in the direction of the wall.
Four shot toward her intended target, but the fifth went rogue. The misfired icicle bent around and rocketed in the direction of Nick, Emma, and the professor.
Professor Crawford took a step forward and raised her hand from her waist to her shoulder in a sweeping movement.
In an instant, a thick wall of ice rose up from the ground and reached eight feet into the air. The Medium’s last projectile crashed harmlessly into the wall.
The professor made another sweeping motion, and her wall of ice crumbled to the ground in marble-sized pieces. “What happened, Demi?
“I tried to feed more S.E. into my spell,” the Medium admitted, gazing at her shoes.
Jessica severed the anchor and appeared next to the Medium. She had a pleading look on her face. “You have to be careful. If you put too much S.E. in, you could hurt yourself.”
The woman nodded, but she began teetering. “I think I need to sit down.”
Nick, Emma, and Professor Crawford quickly moved closer to Demi and helped Jessica steady the woman. Nick was the first one there. He put an arm around her, and got Demi a little straighter.
“Thanks a bundle, Nick. Let’s get her to a bench in the hall,” The professor said, guiding the small group in the direction of the door.
Once Demi was safely set in place, Professor Crawford turned to Nick and the two Shades. “I’ll keep an eye on her, but I want you three to work together.” She pointed at Jessica and continued. “Tell Emma anything you think might help.”
All three of them agreed and moved to an empty spot in the room.
Once they were in position, Jessica grabbed onto Nick’s hands. “I know you can pull my S.E. without it reaching your sternum, but I think we should take it slower to demonstrate for Emma.”
“Sounds good.” He turned to the other Shade. “I hope this helps. Jessica throws the full force of her spirit energy at me every time we anchor.”
Emma stuck her hands in the pockets of her ripped jeans. “Yeah, I remember that from earlier.” She wrinkled her nose playfully at Jessica. “Not all of us have an S.E. over three thousand, though.”
Nick and Jessica anchored four times. Emma examined a different area of their connection during each iteration.
When Jessica severed the third anchor, Emma was shaking her head. “I can’t even imagine moving my S.E. that fast, but I’ll give it a shot.”
The idea of a ghost being thrown through his body still didn’t thrill Nick. This went doubly so when they were in a room without any safety precautions.
“I think I can control this aspect of my S.E. a little better than I could during my first week, but I want to do this as safely as possible.” Nick scanned the room, but there weren’t any obvious soft materials for them to use.
He was just about to suggest the idea of stacking up a pile of rubber mats when his eyes landed on Jessica. “Can you stand directly behind me with your arms out? That way you’re in position to catch Emma if our anchor doesn’t work.”
The blonde in the pink tennis outfit gave a single, confident nod. “You bet, Nicky. I won’t let her fall.”
Jessica stood behind Nick as he held his hands out for Emma to clasp.
The moment before the tall Shade made contact with Nick’s palms, he turned to look at Jessica. “Why don’t we have you get closer. You’d probably have a better chance of catching her if your arms were wrapped around me.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Jessica folded her arms around Nick’s midsection and gave him a squeeze. “Is this close enough for you, Mr. Safety?”
“Very funny, but yeah, I think holding onto me might be even better.” He turned back to Emma. “Ready to go when you are.”
The tall woman with greasy hair gave Nick a wink. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m not made of glass. I’d be fine even if we only had these rubber mats for me to land on.” She laid her hands on Nick’s.
The second he felt Emma’s hands touch his, Nick closed his eyes and tried to focus. A faded afterimage of the tall woman was standing in front of him. The pale blue S.E. came out of her body like molasses.
Nick tensed all the muscles in his core and chest. He wanted to avoid having this woman whip through him. He was so distracted by prepping his body for Emma that he almost didn’t notice the familiar warmth of Jessica’s S.E. racing down her body and onto his midsection.
He was about to say something, but Nick noticed Emma’s S.E. sprang forward as if she’d just pressed a turbo button in a racing video game.
Suddenly, both Emma and Jessica’s S.E. were working up his body in tendrils of warmth. Even as the vines of blue crossed and doubled back on one another, Nick could distinguish the two.
Besides being thicker and faster than Emma’s, Jessica’s S.E. still gave him a warmer, more intimate sensation.
Nick readied the energy behind his sternum. He tried to imagine the nozzle on his S.E. dialed to just let ten percent of his power escape. Beads of sweat were forming on Nick’s forehead as he tensed for the moment when his S.E. could pull.
“I can feel you getting ready, Nicky. I’m going to stop.” Jessica’s vibrant S.E. paused and then pulled away.
Seconds later, Emma’s S.E. crossed his pecs and was approaching Nick’s sternum.
Wait. Wait. Now!
He pulled. His S.E. dashed out of him and grabbed Emma’s tendrils of energy, but it didn’t stop there.
Jessica’s S.E. hadn’t fully withdrawn, and Nick’s pursued it like a farm cat after a fleeing mouse. He tried to pull it back, but in the end, Nick’s instinct to chase won out.
For a handful of seconds, Nick was anchored to both Jesscia and Emma. He could clearly hear two distinct voices.
Nick, we did it! I’m anchored to you. Wait, how’s Jessica here, too?
I think Nicky accidentally pulled my S.E.
Just as Nick was trying to grasp the idea of being two ghosts anchored to him, Emma stumbled out of his back.
In an attempt to prevent a fall, Nick spun in an attempt to help her. He was relieved to see she was still upright and staring at him with wild-eyed fascination.
“Holy shit! Jessica, get out here, and let’s try that again.”
A second later the blonde was standing in front of Nick wearing the same look of amazement that Emma had. “Are you alright?”
He looked between them. “Yeah, I’m totally fine. Why?”
“No one’s ever anchored with two ghosts at the same time. It’s not supposed to be possible,” Jessica said, stepping closer and putting the back of her hand on Nick’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay? The strain on your S.E. was probably intense.”
Nick shrugged. “I feel totally fine.” He turned to the other Shade. “Emma’s right, we should try that again and see if we can hold it longer.”
The infectious energy that normally came off of Jessica was now emanating from Emma. “Do you guys want to try it again the exact same way, or can we switch things up?”
“What do you have in mind?” Nick asked.
The tall woman reached out for Jessica. “What if we each take one of Nick’s hands, complete the circuit between the two of us, and we both intentionally try to anchor with him?”
“I don’t know. Nicky says he’s okay, but this feels a little dangerous.”
Nick held one of Jessica’s hands. “You have to believe me, Jessica, I’m totally fine. I’ll let you know if that changes.” He faced Emma. “I just want to make sure you’re able to land safely if this doesn’t work.”
Emma grabbed Nick’s free hand. “It’s great that you’re worried about me, but I am already dead, you know. Even if I fly through you, it’s not going to kill me again.”
He squeezed both women’s hands. “I get that, but I still don’t think you should be treated like shit.”
Emma’s jaw dropped. “Where’d you find this guy?”
Jessica beamed at Nick. “I know. That’s just the way my Nicky thinks.” She gave his hand a squeeze back.
They stood in a triangular pattern and attempted Emma’s plan.
Something allowed Emma’s S.E. to travel even faster. Nick strained his muscles and waited. At the last second, he pulled.
There was another blip where both women were occupying the same space as him. The connection lasted long enough for Nick to feel specific differences between Jessica and Emma.
Being anchored to Jessica was still a close, almost sensual sensation.
In contrast, the anchor with Emma was more akin to hugging a close relative. You loved them, and maybe shared some secrets, but that was where the connection ended.
As Nick was still processing the distinctions between the two women, Emma tumbled out of his back like a drunken patron being tossed out of a bar.
