Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 26
This time, Emma dropped to a knee from the force of her expulsion, but she was still grinning from ear to ear. “That was longer, right?”
“Totally,” Jessica said out loud. “I’ll sever, and we can try again if you guys want to.”
“Hold up.” Nick said, grabbing Emma’s hands with a thought still forming in his head. “Jessica, I need you to try something for me.”
What are you doing, Nicky?
Just trust me.
“Emma and I are going to anchor. I want you to help hold my S.E. back.”
“I’ll try,” The blonde replied, sounding doubtful.
The tall Shade nodded and grabbed onto Nick’s hands. They launched into the anchoring process.
When Nick flexed the muscles in his chest, he felt another force pulling his energy toward his back.
Good! Keep it up.
It was torture to wait for the tendrils of Emma’s S.E. to reach his pecs, but Nick held himself in check. At the last second, he let the force behind his sternum out and willed it to be only enough to pull Emma in.
Nick blinked his eyes open. He saw other students practicing their Verglas Spikes. Emma was gone.
Holy shit, we did it!
Nicky, you’re amazing!
Are you sure the anchor is secured?
One hundred percent.
Nothing to worry about.
He wasn’t sure how it would feel to move around with two ghosts anchored to him, so Nick took a few tentative steps around the room. After taking a dozen steps, a loud clap grabbed Nick’s attention.
Professor Crawford was jogging towards them, her expression a mixture of concern and confusion. “I’ve seen enough. Nick, Jessica, and Emma, sever your anchors and go to the Dean’s office. Now.”
Chapter 30
Three’s Company
Unconsciously, Nick sensed he needed to shield the two Shades from whatever might be coming their way. He’d completely forgotten his intention to see the Dean in order to demonstrate his shock spell. He positioned himself in front of Jessica and Emma as they left Glacier Hall and headed to the physical plant. If there was a negative consequence for what they’d done, he wanted to take the brunt of it.
Based on what Jessica and Emma said, and Professor Crawford’s reaction, he was preparing himself for an ass chewing at the very least. Nick steadied his nerves and pulled open one of the large doors on the front of the building.
Once Nick and the ghosts climbed the left staircase, the three of them were greeted by a frazzled Amelia.
“The Dean’s expecting you.” Her eyes darted around the book-covered area near her desk, and she lowered her voice. “What happened?”
Nick played with the idea of telling her the truth, but he decided the Dean needed to know before anyone else. “Nothing wrong.” He turned to Emma and Jessica. “We were just helping each other.”
They entered the Dean’s office. The silver-haired woman was in her customary position—standing behind her desk, staring out the windows.
She raised a hand and three chairs pulled away from the table. “Have a seat and tell me what happened. We’ll start with Emma.”
After they sat, Emma recounted her attempts and eventual success in anchoring with Nick. In her version of the events, she took on more of the responsibility for what happened than what actually transpired.
When Nick attempted to interject, the Dean held up her hand. “Nick, you’ll have your chance soon enough.” She turned from the window and looked at the group with her swirling silver eyes and unreadable expression. “You may continue, Emma.”
The ghost concluded her version of the events with Professor Crawford telling her and Jessica to sever their anchor in order to report to the Dean.
Once Emma was done, the Dean nodded and turned back to her window. “Jessica, your turn.”
The blonde shrugged. “It happened exactly how Emma described with one exception—she wasn’t the only one making suggestions on how we could experiment.”
Dean Tempest drew in a deep breath. “That’s not what I asked for, Jessica. The three of you have supposedly performed an unprecedented—and potentially fatal—act. It’s my responsibility to understand who needs to be held responsible.”
Nick shot up to his feet. “It’s my fault, okay? You want me to help fifteen ghosts in order to save my friend’s life. Currently, I can’t anchor with anyone other than Jessica. And to top it all off, I need to show you that I can use the shock spell ten times.”
He glanced at the nervous women at the table. “I was the one who encouraged them to anchor with me at the same time. For nearly three weeks, I’ve been spinning my wheels, but I was able to make some massive breakthroughs during the last twenty-four hours. One of those being that I might have found a way to anchor with more ghosts.”
The Dean turned from the window, and her heels clicked against the floor as she walked toward Nick. She stopped inches in front of him, scrutinizing his face. “I’m aware of your progress. I’ve been informed of all the attempts you made to anchor with other students as well as Professor Hughes. While you may not believe it, your progress has been rapid. From my perspective, you’re far more valuable to me alive, Nick.”
She took a step back and shifted toward the two seated Shades. “Be absolutely transparent with me. Did either of you sense a strain on his S.E. or vitals while you were anchored?”
“No, none,” Emma quickly answered.
Jessica slowly got to her feet and stood next to Nick. “Before we established a firm anchor, I asked Nick several times if he was okay. He always answered yes. I would have severed the anchor immediately if he was in any apparent danger.”
The Dean crossed her arms. “Show me.”
Nick nodded and anchored with Jessica without the pale vines of S.E. leaving her body.
Dean Tempest’s eyes widened, but she didn’t interrupt them.
Emma finally left the table once Jessica was anchored with Nick. The tall woman placed her hands on top of Nick’s, and she was able to anchor with the Medium a few seconds later.
After the anchor with Emma took hold, Nick slowly opened his eyes.
You guys okay?
Of course, Nicky.
Fucking great!
Good.
He stared into the Dean’s swirling irises. “Satisfied?”
She gave him another examination, but the corners of her lips curled up for a fraction of a second. “Yes, that’s enough for now.” The Dean seemed to look through Nick. “Both of you sever the anchor.”
The Dean turned and began walking back to her window. Once both women were standing next to Nick again, she cleared her throat. “Emma, please tell Professor Walsh that she’s going to need an additional Shade for Monday’s anchoring class. When you’re finished, meet us in Martial Hall. Unless I’m greatly mistaken, Nick’s going to be authorized to take you to the mortal world before he leaves today.”
Dean Tempest waited for Emma to leave before she spoke again. “Nick, the method with which you and Jessica are able to anchor without her S.E. touching your body is called instinctual anchoring. Your spirit energy level accounts for part of this phenomenon, but it’s not the entire explanation.”
Nick and Jessica exchanged looks of bewilderment.
“There have only been three incidents of instinctual anchoring over the last seven millennia. I’ll ask Amelia to compile what she can for you, but there are precious few documents about this. What I do know is that instinctual anchoring allows you to anchor with Jessica instantly.”
Nick reached for the blonde Shade’s hand and felt her soft palm met his.
“I need to ask you a favor, Nick. Two, actually.”
“Shoot.”
“First, during your anchoring class, I want you to attempt to anchor with as many other Shades as possible. While Emma’s spirit energy isn’t as high as Jessica’s, she’s still in the top sixtieth percentile.”
Nick looked at Jessica and was happy to see relief and more of her normal excitement on her beautiful face. His own heartbeat began to return to a normal cadence.
“Done. I need to start helping these women if I want to save Ben.”
“Splendid. For the second, I’d ask that neither of you breathe a word of your ability to use instinctual anchoring to anyone else. In fact, you need to avoid anchoring in this manner in front of anyone but me.”
This felt like a performance. Nick had expected Professor Hughes to stick around while the Dean watched his demonstration, but he hadn’t expected said demonstration to draw an audience.
The gymnasium-style room inside of Martial Hall had at least fifty people waiting inside. Most of them were standing around a single figure.
Apparently, Emma had arrived with enough time to draw a crowd.
“I’m not bullshitting you. Nick was able to anchor with both of us at the same time.”
Excited pockets of conversation sprung to life around Emma. Ghosts and Mediums alike seemed electrified by the news.
Nick snapped his head around in the Dean’s direction. She’d wanted to keep the instinctual anchoring quiet, but hadn’t said anything about his ability to anchor with two ghosts.
As if she was reading his mind, the Dean nodded. “I wanted to wait until Monday, but the other students and ghosts finding out was inevitable.”
Nick did what he could to ignore the chatter. He was here to prove he could protect ghosts like Jessica and Emma. Nick wanted to fire off his required shock spells and leave with Jessica.
Walking past the crowd, Nick and Jessica stopped by the line of targets near the far wall. When they were in position, he whispered to her, “I’m going to do my best to avoid grabbing your S.E. before it touches me.”
She gave him an energetic nod. “Sounds good. Then you can blow those targets away, Nicky.”
They took up the normal posture of a Medium and a ghost anchoring.
It was agony for Nick to wait. The moment Jessica’s delicious pale blue tendrils of energy touched his skin, Nick had to battle against the gnawing sensation to race out and snatch them.
He could do it so easily.
But he forced himself to wait until the appropriate time. Once Jessica’s S.E. reached Nick’s sternum, he succumbed, reached out, and pulled her in.
Nick immediately felt the tactile sensations. This time it was at the top of his pec while at the same time something caressed the unbelievably soft swell of Jessica’s breasts.
I know that was hard for you. We’ll play the Dean’s game for now. Sound good?
Sure.
The rubbing lowered, and Nick could have sworn he felt a hardened nipple graze the side of his palm as the same sensation occurred on his pec.
The front of his pants tightened.
Sorry. I think we got carried away.
Let’s get this over with, and we’ll pick this up at my haven.
Knowing what was at stake made it easier for him to push away horny thoughts. Nick sighted his first target and prepared to send the S.E. to his hands.
“Wait.”
He looked at the Dean.
“You’ll be traveling to the mortal world with two Shades. I want to see you execute the shock with both Jessica and Emma anchored to you.”
“Fine.” Nick tried to mask his frustrations and brighten his face when he turned to Emma. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
The tall Shade slipped through the crowd and joined him. “This is so exciting, right?”
“Yep.” He tried to broaden his smile. “Let’s give ‘em a show.”
With Jessica’s help, it was becoming easier to anchor with Emma. It helped that the temptation to tug on her S.E. didn’t feel the same as it did with the blonde beauty.
Whoa! That was super smooth.
I think it’s a timing thing.
Like Nicky said, let’s put on a show.
Nick adjusted his stance and took aim at the target. He positioned his hands, and an overwhelming sense of confidence rushed through him.
The energy pooled up in his hands at exactly the right moment, and the same slingshot sensation surrounded his elbow when Nick dropped his arm to the side.
He fired the spell forward and the center mass of the Stalker was obliterated. A blackened char blossomed out to cover the rest of the target.
Once the cooldown kicked in, Nick walked toward the next target in total silence. He glanced toward Professor Hughes and the Dean’s severe faces, but didn’t want to get distracted by the gawking reactions from the other women.
Nick’s second shock spell found its mark, as did the others while he calmly marched down the line of targets between cooldown periods.
For the entire demonstration, the room remained silent.
Finally, Nick found himself in front of the tenth target. The cooldown period was almost up, and he was relieved to almost be finished with this. He put his hands in position.
“Make your final spell more precise, or wait until next week to try again with twenty targets,” Dean Tempest said at the last minute.
He quelled an angry grunt. Scanning the nine targets down the line, Nick noticed they were all similarly damaged. A hole larger than a basketball blew out the entire center of each wooden Stalker.
You can do this, Nicky.
Doing his best to picture the baseball-sized hit he saw Professor Hughes and a few Mediums land, Nick tightened the muscles in his chest and mentally adjusted the nozzle to better control the S.E. being sent to his hands.
Nick dipped his elbow down and the tension on the invisible slingshot stretched further. He threw his hands forward, and the white ball of electric energy narrowed.
The results were devastating. The diameter of Nick’s shock spell had decreased. The centermost portion of the Stalker target was missing a hole the size of a softball. However, it appeared that the force of his spell had become more concentrated. The hole in the target continued through the wall behind it. Nick could see the brighter, more vibrant shade of orange of the dome indicating his spell had blasted entirely through the wall.
“Shit,” Nick breathed. Without knowing it, his legs were moving. He ran out of Martial Hall.
Where are you going, Nick?
You didn’t do anything wrong. You did exactly what the Dean asked.
I don’t give a shit about that. I need to make sure no one was hurt.
Seconds later, Nick skidded to a stop outside of the building. As he suspected, the spell continued through the target and exterior wall. Nick could see a softball-sized hole in the wall about five feet from the ground.
Thankfully, there weren’t any Mediums or ghosts in the area. Nick surveyed his surroundings, and noticed a pockmark scar in the wall of the building next to Martial Hall.
It didn’t appear that the spell blasted into this structure, but Nick was stopped in his tracks when he moved to get a closer look.
“Impressive, Nick. For the safety of others, I suggest you find a way to diminish the power of your shock spell while in the mortal world.”
Nick spun around and nearly fell down when he saw Dean Tempest standing next to him. He was still reeling from the shock when the Dean motioned for him to follow her in the direction of the admin building.
“As promised, you’re authorized to travel to the mortal world with both Emma and Jessica.” She cleared her throat. “For reasons we’ve already discussed, your primary objective will be easing Emma’s burden.”
No way! Wait. Jessica, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take over.
It’s no problem, Emma.
Nick finally found his words. “Thanks, and I’m sorry about the buildings. Is there anything I can do to help repair the damage?”
The Dean waved him off. “I’ll have one of the Master or advanced Journeyman Mediums restore both structures to their original condition.”
A few minutes later, Nick was standing near Jessica’s large wooden desk near his normal entry into Limbo. He gave a cursory thought to the idea of another ghost needing to man the station while Jessica and Emma were with him, but there were far more important things on Nick’s mind.
Are you two ready?
Hell yeah!
Of course, Nicky.
Nick dropped into a squat with his hands in front of him and felt for the Earth’s magnetic field. An instant later, their S.E. synced up with the field, and they were floating between worlds as a group.
Heartbeats later, Nick opened his eyes, and they were inside of the server room. He reached for his phone, and an avalanche of questions rushed out of Emma.
Why’s this room so cold? What are you holding? Are those metal and plastic things in front of you part of an audio system?
The alarm went off on Nick’s phone. He ran for the door.
Jessica, I need you to help me out for a second.
Totally gotcha. Emma, we’re at the college where Nicky and Lotus work. He was holding a smartphone, they’re super high tech, and everyone has one. They’re like if a pager, a camera, a video store, and the entire internet had a baby.
Being temporarily relieved of his role as a tour guide of all things modern, Nick was able to concentrate on dashing through the admin building and escaping out the dock with the necessary bins for a Thursday night pickup in tow.
Breathing heavy and slowing his pace as he headed down the trail, Nick tuned back into the conversation happening between the ghosts anchored to his body.
So, Nicky fights bad guys online and makes sure the school’s computers don’t get viruses. But it’s really hard because people get all kinds of hunting emails…fishing? Wait, which one was it?
You’re telling me, Nick’s whole job is making sure computers don’t get sick from a virus? That sounds made up. How could a person spend their whole day doing that?
There are plenty of places that employ entire teams to manage the security of their network. And it’s phishing, Jessica.
Ooh, okay. But why is it phishing, Nicky?
The bad guys are trying to lure people into giving them information or access.
Sounds way over my head.
Nick chuckled and came out of the woods. As he crossed over to Mocha Magic’s parking lot, a rare piece of litter caught his attention.
