Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 29
Nick turned the heavy brass knob and pulled the door open. There were no visible hinges, but the door let out a creak as it revealed three black walls. “Thanks, Lotus.”
She’s fading. We have to hurry.
“Please call me when you’re done.”
He hung up and stepped into the tiny space at the back of the shed. Nick held onto the knob as he pulled the door shut. As the last beams of sunlight danced across the surface of the wall, he noticed the same telltale wobbling effect that he’d seen in the server room.
A second after the door closed, Nick felt the force reach through his ribcage. It pulled with an unnatural power that he couldn’t hope to stop.
Pain roared to life within him, but Nick couldn’t seem to draw in the breath to vocalize the sensation. For a brief, agonizing moment, it felt like the invisible force was attempting to yank out several of his ribs through the front of his chest.
In a flash, the force was gone, and Nick was finally able to shout through the residual pain in his chest as he slumped to the floor.
Jessica's voice cracked inside of his head, and she began sniffing. Shhh, it’s okay. Emma’s safe. You did it.
Nick lost track of time, but the blonde Shade continued to comfort him. Finally, the pain gradually began to leave his body, and he was able to focus.
What the fuck was that?
Emma’s S.E. ran out, and the Celestial Beings pulled her back into Limbo. But don’t worry, she’s safe. We reached this portal in enough time.
Good, but damn, it felt like part of me was being pulled with her.
In a way, it was. When we’re anchored, our S.E. mingles. What you felt was the pain of having S.E. ripped out of your body.
Nick felt the twin sensation of Jessica’s hand running down the side of his face as his hand caressed her soft cheek and chin. That was quick thinking, Nicky.
With his feet steady, Nick turned the doorknob. A blast of morning sun assaulted his eyes. He blindly pushed the door closed behind him and took cautious steps toward the Q60 with his eyes squinted half shut.
Once he was in the car, Nick pulled out his phone again. It was ten to seven.
Shit. There’s no way I’m going to get to work on time.
Nick noticed the text notification at the top of his screen. He had six messages—all from Lotus.
Lotus: Are you okay?
Lotus: Don’t go easy on Emma when you see her again.
Lotus: Did the pain go away yet?
Lotus: I can talk to Jared for you if you want.
Lotus: This is taking longer than it should. Please tell me you’re okay.
Lotus: You’re scaring me.
Nick fired up his car and called Lotus.
She picked up on the first ring. “Asshole! Why didn’t you answer my texts?” In direct contrast to the last conversation, Lotus’s voice was overflowing with emotion.
“Hey, I’m fine, but I’m going to be late.”
“Hmph,” she sniffed. “Glad to hear you’re feeling better, but I’m still pissed at you.”
He chuckled, and a wave of soreness went through his ribs. “Stop. It still hurts to laugh.”
A few minutes into their conversation, Nick learned why Lotus was worried about him. According to her, a normal Medium would be subjected to about a minute of excruciating pain when a Celestial Being pulled a ghost out of them.
Since he had gone radio silent for nearly twenty minutes, Lotus said she thought he had encountered some additional complications. This led to all of her texts and near-panicked reaction when he called.
Nick ended their call around the time he reached Tacoma and knew without a doubt he was going to be late. His mind flashed back to Lotus’s late arrival weeks earlier, and Nick started forming a plan.
He pulled up Jared’s contact and called his new boss.
The conversation went smoother than he’d anticipated. Jared really was too nice for his own good.
After Nick explained he’d visited Seattle the night before to support an old college friend going through a rough patch, and promised to stop by Mocha Magic to pick up apology snacks and drinks, Jared nearly sounded happy that Nick was going to be late.
Jared closed the conversation with: “As long as you’re here before nine when Margaret’s math conference starts, we should be fine.”
Once he hung up, Nick checked back in with Jessica. Hey, how’s your S.E. doing? I don’t need to worry about rushing to another portal, do I?
No, Nicky. I’m totally fine. I have plenty left, and I will always tell you when I’m low. I anchored with you last night because I wanted to spend more time with you.
Nick felt hands rubbing his shoulders. Even though his hands were on the wheel, he still experienced the sensation of touching Jessica in the same way.
That’s nice.
Yeah, you like that?
He sank deeper into his seat. Wait! You never told me how much of this is you, and how much I’m doing on my own.
Jessica’s voice giggled in his head. You’re no fun. Fine. It’s both of us, and our subconscious desires.
That doesn’t make sense. How can we both want to touch each other in the same spot at the same time?
No silly. The massaging sensation ended. Let’s say I really want to touch your face. The dual caressing moved to Nick and Jessica’s chin and cheeks. My subconscious reaches out to yours, and your subconscious gives mine an answer. If they agree, we make contact in the same way.
So it is you. At least, you’re the one starting it.
Another giggle from Jessica. No. I just used myself in the example. You’ve done plenty of reaching out, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.
You and me both. He thought for a moment. If your S.E. doesn’t run out, why don’t we turn tonight into a date? I seem to remember someone telling me to try banana peppers on my next Hawaiian pizza.
You remembered? And a date. Really? Ahh, Nicky. Yes, I want tonight to be a date.
Nick started one of his favorite upbeat playlists, and they chatted about movies as he continued driving south. Before he even realized it, Nick was getting off of I-5 in Silvervale.
The small lot in front of Mocha Magic was packed. When Nick walked into the small purple building, all of the tables were full, and there were four people waiting in line.
If the large number of customers was causing Tina any anxiety, she wasn’t showing it. The plump woman was just as gregarious and cheerful as she’d been on Nick’s previous visits. She called orders out before customers reached the counter and seemed to have an inside joke with each one of them.
She seems fun. I can see why she has so many customers.
Nick couldn’t stop himself from smiling. I think this is Lotus and Jared’s favorite place. I don’t know about the coffee, but Tina’s baking is amazing.
I’ll have to remember that.
The line continued moving forward at a steady pace, and Nick let his eyes wander around the shop. Additional customers came in to replace those that left, and by the time he reached the middle of the line, Nick’s gaze landed on some pictures he’d already seen a couple of times before.
Something about the picture on the far left kept tugging at him—a brass pig.
Nick’s eyes widened. In the picture there was a tall brunette sitting on the pig. She wasn’t as skinny, and her complexion was much healthier, but there was no doubt it was Emma.
Jessica, are you seeing this?
It’s Emma! She’s in a lot of these pictures. Look Nicky, she’s dressed like a witch in that group picture over there. And she’s one of the three girls standing outside of the Space Needle in the picture behind the counter.
With only two more customers in front of him, Nick decided to do a bit of reconnaissance. He pulled his phone out and surreptitiously snapped a picture of Emma and the other six women near the brass pig.
I’ll see what I can find out with a reverse image search, and we can show this to Emma next week. If nothing else, we can come back here with her to see all of these pictures. One of the ladies in these pictures is bound to be Beanie.
Sounds like a plan. Ooh, Maybe Tina can tell you.
She probably knows, but I don’t want to freak her out. As far as she’s concerned, there’s no way I’d know about someone’s nickname.
Finally it was Nick’s turn.
“Hey, Mr. No Coffee! Here for the office?”
“Guilty. Please tell me you still have at least one peanut butter blondie for Jared and a couple of almond bars for me and Lotus. We’ve got a conference’s worth of technology to oversee today.”
The woman with the gray curls crossed her arms. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. You need to give me some feedback on your coffee soda.”
He hesitated for a half second. “It was…not my thing. Sorry. I know you were trying to be nice.”
Tina waved away his apology. “Psst. No worries at all. That just means I’ll have to try a bit harder next time. Give me a sec, and I’ll get your whole order, Nick.” She shot him a wink and began grinding some espresso.
Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to ask some benign questions, Nick made a production out of looking at one of Tina’s pictures. “That’s you in those witch photos, right? You’re the one second…no, third on the left in the group shot.”
The gray-haired barista snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, back when I was forty pounds lighter. In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, my friends and I made a whole production out of thinking we were witches, a la Bewitched. It was silly, but we had fun.”
“Oh, so you don’t meet anymore?”
Tina put the drink holder and sack of baked goods on the counter. “We still keep in touch, but most of us drifted apart when college rolled around.” Her voice dropped a little. “Also, one of our members—my closest friend—passed away. It was never the same after that.”
No way! Nicky, do you think Tina is Beanie?
It’s very possible. Let’s not get our hopes up just yet, but we definitely need to bring Emma here.
Emma still didn’t have her memory back, but Nick felt like a massive puzzle piece had just fallen into his lap. The problem-solving portion of his brain was firing, and he was getting excited.
As he was walking toward the IT department, a thought occurred to him.
Lotus goes to Mocha Magic all the time. She’s really close with Tina, so she might have heard Tina say something about her friends. Maybe even Beanie specifically.
Yeah! You should ask her.
Jared was standing in front of the help desk when Nick opened the door.
“Legolas has returned with sustenance. Yes! I love the late rule.”
Nick chuckled and set his purchases down in front of his coworkers. “I’m sorry about that, boss. I won’t do anymore mid-week favors for friends up north from now on.”
Lotus slowly pulled her iced latte out of the drink holder and cleared her throat. “Nick, do you think I could talk to you in private?”
Jared’s eyes went wide, and a grin wrapped around his face. “I’ll just be in my office…with the door closed.”
Once their boss was behind his door, Lotus reached across the desk, grabbed Nick’s arms, and seethed. “You promised me you wouldn’t use that portal to visit Limbo.”
Perplexed, Nick narrowed his eyes. He leaned closer to her. “What are you talking about? I didn’t go to Limbo.”
“Then why the fuck is Jessica anchored to you?”
Chapter 34
Peppermint
It took a couple of seconds for Nick’s brain to catch up with the miscommunication that was causing Lotus to get understandably pissed at him. When he figured out the issue, he actually started laughing at his stupidity.
“Oh, so this is funny. I can’t believe that I tru—”
Jared burst out of his office like a Middle Earth soldier ready to take on a whole army of orcs. “We’ve got big problems, people. Apparently, Margaret was a little too successful with her advertising for the conference, and there are more than double the number of attendees. They’ve overloaded the access point in Franklin Hall, so half the room can’t get online. We need all hands on deck.”
Lotus shot up from her chair. A few seconds later, all of them were hustling across campus to prevent a catastrophe from happening.
As Nick began configuring a secondary access point for the guests, Jessica spoke.
I know this is a stressful time, but I wanted to apologize for causing trouble between you and Lotus.
Nah, it’s my fault for not telling her about you when I called this morning. Once I get another chance to talk with her, we’ll be able to sort this out.
Your fingers are moving so quickly. This is really interesting, Nicky. I’m glad I got a chance to see you at work.
Jessica’s comment caused Nick to grin at exactly the wrong time.
“What are you smiling about? The projector bulb in the main conference room just burst,” Lotus growled. “I swear, it feels like this whole conference is cursed.”
During the course of his morning, Nick would come to agree with Lotus’s verdict on the conference—it was like the gods of technology had decided to curse it.
Once Nick installed the access point, he was called to help with unblocking a random port the new math app was using. Then that turned into helping the attendees set up two-factor for the convoluted math app. And on it went until he noticed the attendees were breaking for lunch.
When it became clear that the IT department had been given a temporary reprieve, Nick tracked down Lotus after she had lunch and handed over his almond bar from that morning as a peace offering.
“Thanks,” she mumbled and took slow, satisfied bites.
They were sitting at an empty table inside of the conference’s main room. Nick scanned their immediate area and leaned close when he was confident no one was listening. “I didn’t break my promise because I didn’t go in.”
Lotus drew in a deep breath. “Don’t lie to me. Especially when I can see the evidence.”
“I’m not.” He lowered his voice further. “I anchored with Jessica and Emma last night, but Emma was the only one who was running low on S.E.”
She stopped chewing and slowly turned to look Nick in the eyes. “That’s impossible. The strain of two anchors should have ripped you apart.”
“Nicky’s telling the truth,” Jessica quietly squeaked.
“Shhh!” Lotus’s eyes widened. She hurriedly spoke through clenched teeth. “You can’t talk here. It’ll cause all kinds of confusion and problems for me and Nick.”
She’s right, Jessica. I appreciate what you’re doing, but I’ve got this.
Alright, Nicky. I’m just frustrated because you didn’t do anything wrong.
“Lotus, I’m not lying. You can pop into Limbo and ask the Dean, Emma, or any of the other students if you don’t trust me.”
She picked the almond bar up again and considered it for a moment. “Fine,” Lotus broke the remaining treat in half and handed Nick a portion. “I’m still…frustrated with you.”
Nick accepted the offered snack and nodded. “I can live with that.” He bit into the crumbly crust, sweet almond filling, and sugary top.
This is amazing! Can we go back and get another one?
He smirked and moved the almond bar from one hand to the other with a glob of almond filling coating his finger.
“What?” Lotus asked.
“Jessica likes it too.”
Lotus narrowed her eyes. “Figures she would.”
Without warning, Lotus leaned over and popped Nick’s finger into her mouth. Her tongue performed small circles around his digit as she slowly pulled her head backwards, greedily sucking.
When she was done, Lotus stared at Nick’s chest. “Stop trying to steal my stuff.” She stood up and walked away.
Nick and Lotus didn’t talk much for the rest of the day. He decided to give her some space after she rebuffed him a second time. She was hurt, but it was clear Lotus wasn’t nearly as angry as she had been.
Unfortunately, Nick didn’t have a chance to test his theory at the end of the day. Once 4:30 came, Lotus hurried for the door while Nick stayed to make up for the time he’d missed in the morning.
As Nick created accounts for new instructors in Active Directory, he started considering his upcoming weekend.
How’s your S.E. doing?
Good. I have plenty left.
Still want pizza?
Yes! But you can get the banana peppers on just half of the pizza if you’re not sure you’ll like them.
Don’t worry, we’ll go whole hog on the peppers. There’s a place in Tumwater I know. We’ll head there after I finish. Oh, and I have another idea.
What’s that?
Since this is sort of like a date, I was thinking you might like to wear something different.
Jessica giggled. You don’t like my tennis outfit?
I like it very much, but you seemed to like the idea of wearing something else when you visited my house the first time. So I figured, why don’t we stop by the mall first and find you a new outfit or two.
She gave a quick sniff. Oh, Nicky. That’s so sweet. Are you sure?
Yeah, I want to do something nice for you.
Thank you so much. I promise I won’t take too long. Besides, it’s not like I can try things on.
Less than an hour later, Nick found himself walking through the “Misses” section of a nearly deserted Macy’s department store.
I like the dress on that mannequin. Can you see if they have a size 4?
He approached the rack of dresses and began pushing hangers back as he searched for size 4.
Darn it! Okay, can we check the back wall? They might have some other cute dresses. I’ll try to keep this quick.
Relax. We can get whatever you’d like.
Five outfits and two shopping bags later, Nick left Macy’s.
Nicky, I didn’t need all of these clothes.
He shook his head and placed the purchases in the back of the Infiniti. You said you liked all of these. Besides, you’ve been wearing the same thing for twenty years.
Now I feel selfish. You spent all this money on me, but didn’t do anything for yourself.
