Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 6
Chapter 6
Deal with the Dean
Dean Tempest contemplated the hand she’d wrapped around Lotus’s wrist. The silver-haired woman’s cool, dry fingers tightened for a moment before she finally relinquished her grip entirely.
Lotus cocked an eyebrow at the other woman, fighting against the urge to rub her tingling wrist. Normally, the setup and delivery were exactly the same. Lotus would bring a new Medium to the Dean, and the Dean would pretend to chastise her for “not telling them about the exchange.”
After their little farce, Lotus then waited in the Dean’s office during the activation. Once the new Medium’s spirit energy level was revealed by the Origin Crystal, the Dean would determine and allocate the amount of returned time Lotus would receive.
Usually, the Dean held onto her wrist during the activation process of a new Medium, and immediately let her go once it was done. She’d follow this up by telling Lotus what ghost affinity the Medium had.
Something was off.
The rarely ruffled Dean took a couple of steps backward and appeared to find it a challenge to maintain balance in her stilettos. Her swirling silver eyes clouded over in contemplation. “Five years.”
Lotus blinked. That was very different.
The usual reward for bringing the Dean a new Medium was between six months and a year of her life back. Getting five years back was insane.
Why was the Dean giving her so much? What was different about Nick? She must have sensed serious potential in the guy, otherwise the Dean wouldn’t have given him that impossibly high number of burdens to resolve. Fifteen? In less than a year? As a novice Medium?
That was more than even she’d ever managed in a year, and she was a journeyman Medium.
Lotus had been apprehensive the first time she’d brought an applicant to the Dean. With her mortality clock showing decades of missing years, she desperately needed some of her time back.
The Dean’s recruiting offer had made Lotus feel…slimy. She didn’t want to steal life from another person. She wasn’t a vampire.
But her mortality clock kept climbing. The years sloughing off like skin cells.
What choice did she have?
Guilt settled in her stomach like sour milk.
During that first activation, Lotus had panicked. The Dean refused to tell her where the returned time came from. However, she had looked at Lotus with those eyes of quicksilver and said, “I give you my word that it doesn’t come directly from the new Medium.”
She needed a few additional reassurances during subsequent visits, but it became easier and more believable each time.
But five years? That was so much.
A look of confusion must have been carved on Lotus’s face, because the Dean let out a smoky chuckle. “The reward is commensurate with both his vast amount of spirit energy and his potential. He’s far more unique than you can imagine. Besides, it comes with a few strings attached.”
Lotus couldn’t believe the Dean’s unusual generosity. Why did the Dean think Nick was so special? She’d only met one male Medium before Nick, so Lotus knew they were rare, but the fact he was a man didn’t account for this type of a response. What was it then?
Asking the Dean was useless. Lotus already knew the enigmatic woman would only give her that eerie, mysterious smile she favored.
Still puzzled, Lotus stood to leave, but her rambling internal thoughts and questions came to an abrupt halt when a jolt of pain burst from her sternum.
Dean Tempest turned back to the window. Her mouth started moving. “Perhaps you’d better stay seated…”
The rest of the Dean’s words were lost on Lotus as another burst of pain—a sadistic mix of fire and high voltage—slammed into her.
She yelped and dropped to her knees on the Dean’s wood floor. Another surge of pain, and she fell the rest of the way to the floor, curling into the fetal position.
Lotus clutched at her chest as the pain suddenly eased. A heady wash of fatigue replaced it.
She rolled onto her back, eyes closed and breathing hard.
Dean Tempest turned away from the window, but she didn’t move to help Lotus. “This is why I suggested that you remain seated.” She curled her fingers, and Lotus lifted off the ground. “I imagine the spirit link between you and Nick was far beyond anything you’ve experienced with other recruits.” She floated Lotus the rest of the way back to a waiting chair.
With the initial shock of pain finally subsiding, Lotus let go of her chest, and felt the Dean’s magic release her. “You have no idea.” Lotus let out a long exhale once she was seated. Her heart was still hammering at her ribcage like a frightened bird.
In order for Lotus to get her time back, it was necessary for the Dean to make a temporary link between her and the new Medium. This started the moment the new Medium began the activation process and was severed once the Dean let go of Lotus’s wrist.
Typically, this severing was accompanied with all the discomfort of an annoying flick. In the six months that Lotus had been recruiting new Mediums for the Dean, she’d become accustomed to these minor nuisances and just figured the flick from Nick went unnoticed when the Dean stepped away from her.
This had been way more than a flick—more like a solid punch to the chest.
And why the delayed reaction? The Dean had released her hand at least a minute before the pain enveloped her.
“What happened?” Lotus asked, slumping.
“It’s Nick’s energy.” The Dean pulled her leather chair away from the desk and sat. “It’s affecting me as well. The pool of spirit energy inside of Nick is extraordinary. Most of it remains latent, but he has access to more spirit energy than any other Medium on record.” She steepled her hands and appeared to be lost in thought for a moment. The Dean shook herself. The swirling in her irises increased. “He has an affinity with all three types.”
Lotus nearly fell out of her chair. “That’s not possible.”
She was something of an anomaly herself. Over 97% of Mediums had a single ghost affinity, but Lotus fell into the other category—she had two. Having an affinity with Shades and Poltergeists meant that she could use both ice and wind magic while easing the burdens of those ghosts.
The Dean let out an uncharacteristic sigh. “A Medium with all three affinities shouldn’t be possible, but here we are.”
A series of rapid pops caused firecracker bursts of orange behind the Dean’s shoulder.
The silver-hair woman’s expression darkened, and she slowly turned her chair toward the window and the dome beyond. “They’re redoubling their efforts. Nick’s remarkable results haven’t altered my primary objective—I need more Mediums helping ghosts. You’ve stockpiled a respectable amount of returned time, but there’s plenty more I can offer you.”
Though she’d only been recruiting for the Dean for six months, Lotus had been a Medium for more than two years. In that time, she’d completed her foundational training, become accustomed to adjusting her spirit energy for anchoring, and had eased the burdens of over two dozen ghosts. Considering most Mediums helped an average of five ghosts a year, Lotus was considerably ahead of the curve.
However, her numbers had started to dip in the last couple of months.
Since she’d become consumed with recruiting, Lotus assumed this decrease in burdens eased was because she was dividing her focus. “You’d probably get better results if you offered a few months of time back as a bonus. Mediums would happily pursue that kind of incentive,” she suggested for the tenth time, knowing the Dean wouldn’t listen.
“I’m afraid the answer is still no, Lotus.”
“Whatever,” she whispered. The Dean’s answer never changed, but she couldn’t get her to expound further. If she was being honest with Lotus about not stealing time directly from the new Mediums Lotus brought, there had to be other methods for the Dean to access returned time.
How else would it be possible for her to return Lotus’s missing months and years during a Medium’s activation? The silver-haired woman had to have a reserve of time somewhere; it was the only possible explanation.
Why was she hoarding that reserve?
Dean Tempest held her hand in front of her desk. A drawer opened on its own. A piece of unlined stationery and a fountain pen floated out and waited in the air above the Dean’s desk. “Now, onto those strings I mentioned earlier.” The pen started scribbling on the stationery. “I’m going to enroll him in anchoring class right away.”
Lotus frowned. “Without a point of reference, he’ll be completely lost.”
“Hence my favor. I have no doubt that Nick will excel, but I need him helping ghosts relieve their burdens in a truncated timeframe. Make sure you’re available to answer any questions he might have and get him connected with several different ghosts.”
Try as she might, Lotus wasn’t able to stifle the snort of laughter before it left her nose. “You saw who we came in with, right? Jessica will make sure he meets the entire campus population within two visits.”
The Dean appeared nonplussed. “I definitely noticed.” The pen finished scrawling on the stationery and floated back to the open drawer. “The ‘she’ in question is precisely why I’m giving this order. Nick doesn’t have time to spend on a Shade who isn’t interested in easing her burden.”
The unlined piece of stationery folded itself, floated to the table, and landed in front of Lotus.
She placed the paper inside of her pocket and stood up. “I’m not going to drive a wedge between him and Jessica, but I’ll keep him busy while he’s here.”
The Dean turned back to the window. Another string of buzzes came from the dome. “Do your duty. I don’t need to remind you of the horrors we’re facing, but the war feels as if it’s reaching a tipping point.” She stood up from her chair. “For the sake of this Medial Sanctuary, I hope we’ve done enough for our side when that day comes.”
Another set of sparks flashed and disappeared on the dome’s surface. The guilt in Lotus’s stomach curdled further into fear.
Lotus walked to the side entrance of the Dean’s office. She needed to track down Teza, meet up with Nick, and travel back to the mortal world. She had used a large portion of her spirit energy to bring Nick to Limbo, but she should have plenty left to anchor with Teza for the return trip home.
But after taking her third step, she was hit with a feeling of exhaustion so strong it made her dizzy. Concern creased Lotus’s brow. Would she have enough spirit energy to do either?
Chapter 7
Current Status
Nick had played a few RPGs, so the concept of character stats wasn’t completely lost on him. Seeing them displayed in blocky royal blue letters on the flat surface of the crystal—under his name—was disorientating.
This sensation was further compounded when he saw a list of categories and labels that didn’t fit into any game he was familiar with.
Name: Nicholas Devin Summerland
Age: 24
Mortal Clock: – 00:000:00:03:43
Spirit Energy: 8,649 / 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
“Nicholas, I need to know more about your death in order for me to accurately catalog your entry.” Amelia had the olive green linen book open and a pen in her hand. “Your activation could trigger larger events in the future, so I need to begin recording data now. Any details you can share will be helpful.”
Nick’s legs felt like jelly. He was able to stand on his own, but he didn’t remember feeling this tired and sore prior to touching the crystal. Did the crystal drain him? His brain felt foggy and sluggish. Wait, what was Amelia asking? Was she saying something about him dying?
“What? Why are you talking about dying?”
The short brunette stepped nearer, closed an eye, and placed her pen in front of the one that was still open like she was trying to memorize his features for a sketch.
Nick wasn’t sure what he found more confusing: the orange crystal’s display or the short brunette pressing him about dying.
“Slow down. I thought you were the ghosts.” He looked between Jessica and Amelia. “Now, you’re telling me I died.” Nick spun around and gaped at the massive crystal. “Did that thing just kill me?”
Jessica rubbed the middle of Nick’s back, her hands moving in comforting circles and then altering course to surreptitiously rove over his muscles. “No, Nick, you’re not dead. What my friend is forgetting to include—in her very personal line of questioning—is how old were you when your heart stopped? Technically, all Mediums died for a brief period at some point. That’s what allows them to begin storing spirit energy.”
“Perhaps, we should leave the chamber. The power from the Origin tends to have a strong impact on newly activated Mediums.” Amelia pulled a small metal object out of her pocket. “Let me just grab something, and I’ll join you outside.”
The shorter woman walked back to the crystal, and Jessica guided Nick back toward the heavy doors. A clanking sound echoed from the direction of the crystal, but Nick didn’t have the energy to look over his shoulder.
“Feel any different, Nick?” Jessica asked once he’d crossed the threshold and was no longer in the crystal chamber.
He was still grappling with Amelia’s nonsense about him dying, but Nick did feel slightly less worn out once he was standing in the lobby…foyer?
“Yeah, a bit. I still think I could sleep for three days straight, but I can function.”
Amelia joined them. She spoke her name again, and the doors swung closed. A number of clicking noises sounded, like a series of locks engaging. She turned to Nick and scribbled inside of her book for a moment before ripping out the page.
Amelia closed the book and rubbed at the side of her face with a sheepish look in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to overwhelm you, Nicholas. You’re probably more like Lotus than you think. She died—”
The sound of a throat clearing from several feet away caused Amelia to stop.
“That’s sort of private information, don’t you think, Amelia?” Lotus asked, crossing her arms. Her tone was still fun, friendly Lotus, but her dark eyes were flat. And tired.
“Ah, yes. Sorry, Lotus. I didn’t mean to spill the beans.” Amelia’s whole face flushed pink, and she busied herself by brushing imagined dust off of her skirt. She cleared her throat and looked up. “Hi, Teza!”
A short, Hispanic woman with long black hair, an angular face, and a slight frame was standing next to Lotus. The woman’s eyes were darting around the building’s entryway as if they refused to settle on a specific spot.
She looked like she was just shy of twenty, wearing a yellow t-shirt that ended a few inches above her tight, worn-in blue jeans. A glint of orange light reflected off of her belly ring and added a sparkle to the area of exposed caramel skin.
The woman adopted a scowl when she looked at Nick. “Hey, pinche cabron, we need to go. You can ask all of your stupid questions when it’s just your time you’re wasting.”
“Teza, be nice. Nick’s reaction is normal,” Jessica lectured, like a patient big sister.
Teza snorted and rolled her eyes.
Jessica immediately switched gears, tugged on Nick’s shirt sleeve, and added, “Lotus, you know how to pick ‘em, girl. He’s got all three affinities! I mean, have you ever heard of that? His S.E. is over eight thousand! Amelia almost peed herself.”
Amelia dropped her book. “Jessica!”
“My what?”
“Spirit energy,” Lotus murmured, still looking thunderstruck.
Nick took a deep breath. “Can we go back to the part where you were telling me I died?” His eyes shifted among each of the women standing near him. “I feel like I’m taking most of this in stride, but what you’re telling me doesn’t make any sense.”
“If you want the truth, I won’t sugarcoat it. At some point, you died, Nick. Judging by the level of your S.E., it must have happened when you were very young, been extremely traumatic, or a combination of the two,” Lotus explained, finally uncrossing her arms. “What little Miss Loose Lips was about to tell you was that I had my experience when I was a little kid. As a result, my spirit energy is considered high…at least it was until you showed up, Mr. Giga-Stats.” Lotus shook her head, and some humor returned to her pixie-like face.
“That’s the thing…I never had a near-death experience. So something must be off.”
“Nicholas, what you’re saying is simply an impossibility. There’s never been a mortal with spirit energy that didn’t experience death in some way in order to obtain it.” Amelia bent down to pick up her book. “Perhaps you’ve repressed the event. You wouldn’t be the first mortal who wanted to forget something awful that happened to them.”
There had been plenty of traumatic events that occurred in Nick’s life, and he felt like he remembered all of them in vivid detail. His death wasn’t one of them, though. “Maybe this is a topic for another time.”
As the word “time” left his lips, Nick was struck by a weird sensation. There was a slight itch on both of his biceps. He pulled back his right sleeve and saw the same line of two-inch tall faded blue numbers he’d seen on Lotus earlier. However, his numbers appeared closer to the ones he’d seen on the crystal’s surface. The numbers indicated eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds.
Nick imagined this counter was part of the deal the Dean had mentioned, so he wasn’t too surprised to see the vague numbers rapidly rising on his right arm. Why did his left arm itch? He let go of the right sleeve and pulled up his left.
The exact same display appeared.
He let go of his shirt sleeve. “Why do I have two of these timers?”
