Sydney Sr arrived first. By then Vivi had managed to change her clothes (She was tempted to throw the bloody clothes away, but it could be evidence to what happened.) and was sitting in Sydney’s room waiting for her to wake up.
Arthur was still in surgery.
Sydney Sr came in so quickly that he would have slammed the door open if they were allowed to keep it closed. He zipped over. “Bloody Hell!” He made an aborted motion towards the bandages wrapped around Sydney’s eyes. He spun to face Vivi, looking more furious than she had ever seen him. “What the fuck happened?!”
“I…” Vivi averted her gaze. “I don’t know.”
“How do you not know how someone lost their goddamn eye?!” shouted Sydney Sr.
Vivi shrugged. “I just…blacked out or something. I’m missing several hours. I think I might have repressed whatever happened, post traumatic amnesia.”
“Oh, you have got to be-” Vivi chanced a look up and saw that Sydney Sr looked absolutely furious. “You need to leave. Before I do something that will get me arrested.”
Vivi wanted to argue and stay to make sure Sydney was okay and maybe try to explain what was going on to Sydney Sr…
Except she didn’t know what was going on, Sydney wasn’t going to wake up with the medications she was on, and she knew from experience that when someone a Scoville cared for was hurt they were incredibly dangerous. She and Mystery vacated the room. “I don’t think that could have gone worse,” muttered Vivi.
Mystery thought it could have. She could have tried to stay and taken the full brunt of Sydney Sr’s worried anger.
“…Lance and my parents will probably be here soon,” muttered Vivi. “I should get ready.”
There was Vivi who sat in on his religion lessons and then talked with him about them. Uncle Lance had even started picking him up later during the week. On the weekend, Arthur found himself spending a couple of hours talking about religion and then myths and then ghosts, and it felt so natural.
And then he started school. He should have entered in 7th grade, but the teachers told him that he tested high enough that he could skip a grade. Since Vivi was in 9th grade, that seemed like a good idea at the time. He didn’t think he’d make friends at school.
And then a couple of 6th graders sat at his table on the first day of school and spent the whole lunch speaking with him. And they did it the next day, and the next, and the rest of the week. Then the next week. Then they started meeting before lunch started. Then Lewis started bringing lunches for Arthur. Then Sydney started bringing comics and videos for Arthur to borrow.
And Arthur realized that he wanted to spend more time with them.
That was kind of tricky though. He spent most of his time after school learning from Mr. Yukino, and he didn’t really want to explain to Lewis and Sydney why he needed those lessons. They’d been so accepting so far, but he didn’t want to push them.
He guessed that they could maybe spend time with each other on the weekend, but he had no idea how to go about that. He guessed they’d spend time at someone’s house, but he didn’t know how to ask. Would their parents be all right with a strange kid spending time at their house?
Arthur only had one person he was comfortable with asking. “Vivi, how do you ask someone if they want to spend time with you?” he asked as soon as Mr. Yukino ended the religion lesson.
Vivi blinked and then grinned. “Arthur! Did you make a friend?”
“Maybe. Plural.”
Vivi squealed and gave him a hug. “Oh, I’m so proud of you! Talking to people and making friends!”
“They, uh, actually just sat at my table and wouldn’t leave,” admitted Arthur.
“But still, you talked to them. You didn’t leave or turn them away,” reasoned Vivi. “That’s wonderful!”
Arthur blushed. “I-thanks. I think?”
“So, what are they like?” asked Vivi. “C’mon details!”
“They…their names are Lewis and Sydney. They’re a boy and a girl. Lewis is really tall. Sydney’s small. Sydney talks about pretty much anything. Lewis adds to what she talks about. Sydney really likes comics. Lewis likes…Japanese cartoons.”
“Anime,” corrected Vivi. “Some people really take offense at calling anime Japanese cartoons.”
“Do you?” asked Arthur.
“Normally, yes,” admitted Vivi. “But you’re kind of a special case. You didn’t even know anime was a thing until a few months ago. Now, tell me more about these two.”
“Lewis likes cooking. Sometimes he’ll bring food for Sydney and I. Sydney says he should use his free time to have some fun, but Lewis says cooking is fun. He has to cook separate dishes for Sydney because she’s a vegetarian.” He grinned. “Sydney isn’t a very good cook.”
Vivi took a moment to memorize and appreciate the rare smile on Arthur’s face. “It sounds like you guys are getting close. Do I need to be jealous?” she teased.
Arthur’s smile was instantly wiped away and replaced with panic. “N-no! You’re my friend still! I just kind of want to be friends with them too!”
Vivi pat his back. “Relax. I’m joking. You can be friends with all three of us.” She grinned. “Actually, why don’t you bring them over here?”
“No!” Vivi and Ben both jumped at Arthur’s shout. He winced. “No, not yet. I’ll have to explain to them why I’m getting lessons from your dad, and I don’t want them to know about the…” Arthur swallowed. “It…It was a cult, wasn’t it?”
Whoa. That was the first time Arthur had ever acknowledged he’d been in a cult. At least around Vivi. He looked like he was about to cry. Vivi wrapped him up in a hug and rubbed his back for a bit. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re out of there. You’re safe. Nobody has to know about what happened to you if you don’t want them to.” She paused. Actually, if he really wanted to be friends with these two, he would probably have to tell them eventually. Maybe not now, maybe not even for a few years, but if Arthur didn’t want to lose their trust…he’d have to come clean. But for now, it was way too soon. “Is there any reason we can’t go to their houses or your uncle’s?”
Arthur sniffled. “There’s not room at the garage, and Uncle Lance will be working. And I’m a stranger. Their parents wouldn’t want me around their children without supervision, would they?”
Vivi chuckled. “Oh, Arthur, if that was an issue, no one would ever make any friends.” Her father had left them alone after all. “If it bothers you that much, you can ask if they want to meet up at the local arcade. I’ve been meaning to take you there anyway.”
“That’s where they have a bunch of videogame machines that you have to pay to play, right?” asked Arthur.
“Uncle Lance has been giving me…he called it an allowance. I don’t know why he’s giving me money.”
“Eh, some people make their kids do chores in exchange for spending money, and some just give ‘em money,” explained Vivi. “He might change that once you get more comfortable living with him and have more free time. Or if you really misbehave, but I can’t imagine you doing something bad enough to lose allowance privileges.”
“Um, well, I have money for that.” Honestly, Arthur hadn’t used any of the money Uncle Lance had been giving him. He didn’t have anything in particular he wanted to buy, and Uncle Lance was supplying him with everything he needed.
Vivi nodded. “Okay, so, just ask Lance for permission since you’ll have to go on the weekend or skip a class. Then ask Sydney and Lewis if they want to hang out outside of school.”
Arthur bit his lip. “What if they say no?”
“What if they say yes?” countered Vivi. “You gotta at least try.”
Arthur swallowed. “Right. You’re right. I’ll…I’ll talk to them about it.”
Arthur brought it up the next day before he could lose his nerve. “I want to hang out with you guys after school, but I don’t know if you’re allowed to have strangers over so we could go to an arcade, and maybe my other friend Vivi could come with us?”
Sydney and Lewis blinked at Arthur. “Wow, you talked even faster than me just now,” commented Sydney.
“Oh, uh, should I say it again?” asked Arthur. He wasn’t actually sure he could though…
“That’s okay. I think I got it,” said Lewis. He turned to Sydney. “Would you mind?”
“Nope, but how would that work?”
Lewis winced. “We’ll have to go to my house because I look after my little sister for my parents,” he explained. “I guess we could go to the arcade during the weekend if Sydney’s mom or dad wouldn’t mind looking after Belle.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay! I don’t mind going to your house,” said Arthur.
Lewis chuckled nervously. “Um, yeah, that’s, uh, because you don’t know. I live in a former funeral home.”
Arthur blinked. “Oh.”
“That’s got a cemetery right behind it,” continued Lewis.
“Oh…” Arthur was starting to get a bit nervous.
“It’s haunted,” interjected Sydney.
“The house or the cemetery?” asked Arthur.
Sydney nodded. “Yes.”
Lewis chuckled nervously. “I’ve lived there since I was a little kid, and Sydney’s been coming over for almost as long. It’s perfectly safe,” he reassured Arthur. “It just makes some people uncomfortable.”
Arthur nodded. Just hearing about it was making him uncomfortable. Plus, what sort of effect would he have on the haunting? What if he attracted something nasty? Or made the ghosts already there violent?
Sydney noticed the subject was bothering Arthur and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from the ghosts,” she promised.
Lewis nodded. “The ghosts are less active when Sydney’s around for some reason. We don’t know why.”
Sydney leaned in close to Arthur. “I think they’re scared of me,” she whispered conspiratorially.
Arthur blinked and studied Sydney. She was smaller than usual, skinny, no muscle tone, had a large pair of glasses, and pretty much no attention span. She wasn’t that scary unless you were afraid of talking to people. Actually, she was kind of adorable when she wasn’t being overwhelming.
She’d definitely take offense to that.
“I…” Arthur took a deep breath. “Vivi likes ghosts,” he admitted.
“Oh, right Vivi. You’ve mentioned her a few times,” said Lewis. “She’s a few years older, right?”
“She’s 14,” clarified Arthur.
“Okay, that might be a bit iffy,” admitted Lewis. “But I’ll ask my parents if she can come too. I’ll let you know what they say.”
Sydney’s hand shot into the air. “And I’ll bring videogames and comics and videos and DVDs! Maybe we’ll find something new you like!”
Arthur nodded. “Right…Thank you.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to say how much it meant to him.
It took a surprisingly short time to set up the first faux investigation at Lewis’s house.
“We have a limited number of cameras for recording video so we have to determine the best locations for them. Where would you say the activity is the most concentrated?” asked Hiro.
“My room, but that’s probably just because it’s my room,” said Lewis.
Hiro nodded. “A bit iffy, but reasonable. We can leave a camera in there, but I’ll need permission from your parents for it to run overnight.”
“Don’t forget the basement,” suggested Frigg from the kitchen. “Whatever’s down there is unpleasant enough that we put off going down there until Sydney’s around.”
“I knew it,” muttered Sydney.
“Was that where the bodies were prepared?” asked Hiro.
Frigg shrugged. “I’m not sure. We’re not the first people to live here, and one of the former occupants must have cleared everything out.”
“We’ll place one or two cameras in the basement and save the last in case we find something notable during the investigations,” decided Hiro. “You can also set up a few things ahead of time. I like stretching very fine and fragile thread across doorways and laying out a layer of powder on the floor, usually flour. We won’t be doing that this time, as I don’t think Lewis’ parents would appreciate the mess, but can anyone tell me what purpose these serve?”
“Should I answer?” asked Vivi.
“Let’s wait and give the others a chance to see if they can come up with anything,” said Hiro.
“To trip people?” asked Sydney.
“Bit of the opposite,” said Hiro.
“Ghosts would go through the thread, but people would break it?” asked Arthur.
Hiro nodded. “Correct. It will help you figure out if any activity in the room was due to a ghost or a human. Now, what do you think about the flour?”
“Footprints?” suggested Lewis.
Hiro nodded. “Yes. Humans and animals leave footprints. Ghosts don’t. In addition, air currents could shift them letting you know that there is a draft or something similar. You might learn or come up with additional tricks to help you out. There are all sorts of techniques.” Hiro paused to pull out a large sheet of paper, which he unfolded to show a complicated looking circle with various symbols and kanji along it. “This is a protective circle. It’s a good idea to set one up so that if you run into something particularly nasty you can retreat to a safe location to regroup. They aren’t full proof though. It’s best to find some way to escape.”
“Why is it so small?” asked Sydney.
“Because this is the biggest piece of paper I could find,” deadpanned Hiro. “They’re normally a lot larger to fit several people inside.” Ben barked. “And animals as well.”
“Not a lot of investigators use animals,” said Vivi. “But we’ve got Ben.”
“Animals are much more sensitive to spiritual presences than most humans, and dogs are often protective of their family. They’ll do whatever they can to keep you alive,” explained Hiro. He nodded to Lewis. “You’re at least as sensitive, probably more so, but the rest of the children can’t detect anything on their own yet.”
Sydney perked up. “Yet?”
“Ah. My family has a history of spiritual powers that manifest in our teens or early adulthood,” explained Hiro. “I have some sensory abilities myself, and I expect Vivi will someday as well.”
“It’s taking forever though,” muttered Vivi.
“There are also items I suggest you keep on you at all times: Holy water, salt, smudge sticks, pepper spray. That incudes you Sydney. We don’t know how your power works exactly, so I would rather you be safe rather than sorry.”
Sydney nodded. “So, now what?”
“Now, I show you how to set up the cameras.”
The quick demonstration and lecture went a bit over Sydney and Lewis’ head, but Arthur seemed to understand the procedure.
“Now, usually, you would have one member of the group watch the monitors for anything out of the ordinary.” Hiro nodded to Sydney. “No offense meant Sydney, but since you seem to scare away ghosts you would likely be the one on the monitors a good portion of the time.”
“Aw…”
“But not tonight,” continued Hiro. “This is just for practice, and we already know the house and cemetery are haunted. No reason to try and draw ghosts out.”
“Is that something we have to do?” asked Arthur.
“Don’t worry. It’s only small things,” said Hiro. “Asking if anyone is there, saying you mean no harm, simple nonthreatening things to catch their attention.”
“It’s harmless,” added Vivi.
“Usually. Which is why you have to watch what you say,” said Hiro. Couldn’t have her thinking there was no risk. He wanted her to have a long life. “Now, we’ll be moving to the cemetery. Everyone has their religious symbols?” The kids held up necklaces with religious symbols, mostly Christian and Shinto. “Good, always keep them on you during an investigation. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep them on hand during daily life as well.”
“Dinner will be ready before too long,” interjected Frigg.
“We won’t be gone for too long,” reassured Hiro.
Five minutes later, they were in the cemetery. Hiro could see the ghosts watching them curiously. “Usually, you wander around a bit, maybe focusing on any graves belonging to known ghosts or having a connection to the investigation.”
Lewis raised a hand. “Um, a lot of them look haunted to me.”
Hiro nodded. “They probably always will. You’ll need to do some research beforehand to determine which gravestones to focus on. I usually start by asking locals, looking up newspaper articles to determine how accurate their accounts are, and going through records to see how possible it is.”
“That’s a lot of homework,” said Sydney.
Hiro had to chuckle a bit at that. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.” He took out a camera. “Now, we’ll take a few pictures as we walk around since ghosts sometimes show up in photos.”
Arthur perked up. “Oh! That’s a pretty new model!”
Hiro nodded. “I prefer digital cameras. Some insist film works better, but personally I feel the two are equally effective, but digital cameras provide certain advantages. You can take more pictures. This is important because I recommend taking at least three pictures in quick succession. If the same odd phenomena appear in all three pictures with trackable progression, it’s probably a trick of the camera or a light reflection. It it’s only in one, it could be supernatural. You’ll need to examine it further to be sure. If you do use up all the space on a camera, you can go back and delete any that you’re sure have no supernatural evidence. The only downside is that there are no negatives and skeptics might claim you photoshopped something. Not much you can do about that.”
Hiro took a moment to take three quick shots of a grave where a young man’s ghost was floating. “Now, let’s see what we’ve got.”
All three photos were completely normal. Lewis looked between them and the ghost in confusion. “I had some warning,” said the ghost.
Hiro nodded. “Ghosts can prevent photo artifacts if they concentrate.” Hiro wasn’t entirely sure how they did this.
Ben walked over to a seemingly random grave and started pawing at it while the ghost floating about it pet him. Hiro took a few more pictures. “Ah. Looks like I got something this time.” He lowered the camera so the children could see the wisps of smoke in one of the pictures. “It’s not very impressive, but most ghost photos aren’t. If you get a clear figure, then there’s a good chance it’s a fake. Not that there aren’t genuine ghost photos that manage to capture clear figures, but that’s pretty rare since they usually require a powerful ghost or a ghost willingly expending large amounts of energy, which most won’t do for the sake of self-preservation.” The children nodded along. Good.
They spent another few minutes wandering around taking pictures and using a recording device to hopefully record answers to harmless questions such as ‘What is your name?’ or ‘Why are you here?’ “I think that’s enough,” declared Hiro.
Arthur looked relieved (Not that Hiro could blame him. Several of the ghosts had decided to follow him around.). Lewis and Sydney looked happy enough with their activities. Vivi looked annoyed. “That’s it? We hardly did anything!”
Hiro shrugged. “It’s not a real investigation. We’re not trying to figure anything else. You’re just learning the basics, and your friends are younger than you and will have to go to bed at an earlier time.”
“I miss our sleepovers,” muttered Lewis.
“Besides, the Peppers looked like they were almost done cooking, and I’d rather we didn’t keep them waiting,” finished Hiro. The mention of food caught Vivi and Ben’s attention. He knew that would work. The two ate so much it was next to impossible to not distract them with the promise of food.
Thankfully, the Peppers had produced enough food for an extra dozen people…and had made a few servings of less spicy food. Arthur was visibly relieved. “Thank you so much.”
“Oh, it’s no problem. We know not everyone enjoys spicier food so we’ve learned to make less potent portions when we have guests over,” explained Frigg.
“I think I will be taking some of that as well,” said Hiro. He didn’t mind spicy, but this smelled overwhelmingly so.
Ben was trying to beg food from Savina. “No.” She was completely unmoved. Looks like Ben was going to be sneaking food away. Hiro hoped he’d be able to come up with an excuse for the missing food.
When Lewis was 10 his parents told him he was going to be a big brother in a little over eight months.
Lewis…wasn’t actually sure how to feel about that.
“What if they love the new baby more than they love me?” Lewis asked Sydney as they raked leaves for a leaf pile to jump in. “It’ll actually be theirs. They just found me on their porch!”
Sydney shrugged. “I dunno. I mean sometimes people have kids and don’t love ‘em…So I don’t think you need to actually be related for them to love you.”
Lewis sighed. “I don’t know.”
Sydney stopped and studied Lewis. He looked unusually downtrodden, not like the upbeat, friendly, patient boy she’d gotten to know over the past few years. This was really bothering him. So she strode over and took his hand, making him look at her. “Hey, I don’t know much about adoption or fostering, but I remember you weren’t actually adopted ‘til after we became friends.” They’d had a big party. “They wanted you to stay. So they must love you.”
Lewis knew that was pretty rational, but he was still worried. “I guess, but they’ll have to spend all their time with the new baby.”
Sydney huffed. “Well, yeah, babies can’t do anything for themselves. They have to be fed and changed and…Well I guess they can cry and sleep and crap on their own, but they can’t use the toilet…” Sydney started taking apart a leaf. “And you gotta do everything for ‘em. If your other kids can take care of themselves, you let them.”
“That’s not fair,” muttered Lewis.
Sydney thought a moment. “I guess not. At least you have a mom and dad. If you only had one parent I bet it would be really bad.” Sydney brightened. “Besides, maybe Mom and Dad will finally let you stay the night on a school night!”
Lewis blinked. “Why?”
“Babies cry at night.”
Lewis made a face at that. “Babies sound like a lot of work.”
Sydney shrugged. “We’d go extinct without them.” That was a bit much. “I think you’re lucky. I’d love a little brother or sister, but Mom can’t have kids anymore.”
Lewis blinked. “Why not?”
Sydney paused. “They wouldn’t really tell me. I know there were a lot of problems when I was born, and we both had to stay in the hospital for a while.” Sydney had been born dangerously premature. She was still dealing with the effects even now. She wasn’t sure what had hurt her mother, but she wasn’t in the best of health either. Maybe being pregnant had made her health even worse. “I asked about adopting someone, but Dad said that we couldn’t afford it, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t approve of us anyway because he’s a bit crazy and Mom’s not in the best shape.”
“Oh…” For some reason it had never occurred to Lewis that someone who wanted a child wouldn’t be able to have one. “Am…I your brother?”
Sydney blinked. “Hm…I think so. We spend all our time together. I like your parents as much as I like mine. Do you like my parents the same as yours?” Lewis nodded. “Then I guess you’re my big brother!”
“You’re older than me.” Lewis paused. “Probably.”
“Yeah, but you’re like a foot taller than me,” muttered Sydney. She hated being short. “Oh! I know! Just think of the new baby as me! No, wait. That would be weird. Never mind. We’ll have to think of something else.”
Lewis couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Sydney pouted and threw a handful of leaves at him. Said leaves flew apart almost immediately and just sort of stuck to his jacket. Lewis threw some leaves back at Sydney. The impromptu leaf fight continued until Sydney accidentally scooped up a small pinecone with one of her leaf wads. “Ow!”
“Oh shit! Are you okay?!”
Lewis rubbed his chin where the pinecone had hit him. It might have left a couple of scratches. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Sydney grimaced. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t even notice that pinecone!”
“It’s okay. It was an accident,” insisted Lewis. Sydney still looked concerned. Lewis grinned, picked her up, and jumped into the leaf pile.
Sydney let out a surprised shriek. “Lewis!”
Lewis giggled. “Now we’re even.”
Sydney glared and punched his arm. “Jerk.”
“Weirdo.” Lewis flopped onto his back.
“Oh!” Sydney fell back too and started moving her arms and legs. “Leaf angel! Not as good as a snow angel, but not as cold, and as good as we’re gonna get down here.”
Lewis experimentally moved his arms back and forth for a few moments. It was kind of messy, but it worked. Lewis stared up at the sky. “Hey, Sydney?”
“Hm?”
“If we’re family, that means we’ll always be friends, right?” asked Lewis.
Sydney nodded, not that Lewis could see it. “Yeah!”
“And we’ll always be nearby?”
Sydney blinked. “Like…stay in Tempo?” Sydney thought a moment. “I wanna stay in Tempo. Are you gonna stay in Tempo? You could go to college.”
“I wanna be a chef.”
“You can still go to college.”
“Yeah, but you would stay here.”
“Yeah, regular school is hard enough. I don’t think I can do college.” Sydney sighed. “And I don’t know what I wanna do…”
“You could work at the restaurant.”
“I guess…” Sydney appreciated that the Peppers would have a place for her, but she didn’t have a lot of interest in the cooking industry. Still, at least she’d get to spend time with friends. “But I don’t think you should skip college just because I do. It’s just four years, and you can come back to Tempo during breaks.”
“…I’m afraid that we’ll stop being friends,” admitted Lewis. Even if it was broken up, four years was a long time.
“Why would that happen?” questioned Sydney. “We can call each other on cell phones.”
“We don’t have cell phones.”
“Mom says they’re the future and everyone’s going to have one soon.”
“…If I went to college and we had cell phones, could we talk every day?” asked Lewis.
Sydney shrugged. “Sure. Probably in the evening. I’m gonna have a job by then.” Sydney briefly thought about becoming a comic artist but was just enough of a realist to understand how unlikely that was.
Lewis sat up and held out a hand. “Pinky promise?” He didn’t want to lose Sydney.
Sydney sat up with a smile and hooked their pinkies together. “Pinky promise.”
It had taken months to reach the site of the energy flare. She’d had to find a way to cross an entire ocean and then more land than she cared to calculate. Still, she’d thought she’d be able to get something when she summoned HIS flower.
The red lotus shriveled into ash almost as soon as it bloomed.
Shiromori snarled as she threw the ash down. The first trace she’d found in over a century, and she’d lost the trail before she could even try following it. She punched the cave wall and started to stomp away. She at least knew what continent HE was on now. She could just keep looking and watching and waiting until-
Shiromori’s thought were cut off as she got a whiff of spiritual energy. She held up her hand and let a purple flower bloom. It was thorny, scentless, dry as paper. Its owner was most definitely dead. But not gone. Shiromori smirked. That had to be connected. She blew the rose, scattering the petals, and withdrew into the ground.
It took some time for the petals to settle in an empty lot. Shiromori popped out of the ground and glanced around. No ghost, but the petals had settled on a cracked heart.
Ah. An anchor. The ghost must have withdrawn inside of it. That made things easier. She placed a leg on it and held out a hand, four flowers bloomed, none of them the one she was looking for. She scowled at the useless flowers, took out her scissors, and snipped them off.
A brown-yellow mullein, the inside streaked with many colors, burning with a purification power that Shiromori would have to avoid.
A blue orchid, not yet fully bloomed with purple infecting its petals. Inconsequential.
An orange black-eye-susan, half wilted yet scented strongly and pleasantly. Perhaps a nice meal, but not dangerous.
Another purple rose, no moisture in its petals and thorns coating its stems. An angry ghost, but none of her concern.
Shiromori picked up the anchor, forcefully searching for the particular energy she wanted and forcing it to the surface.
A red lotus bloomed from the palm of her hand and did not wilt. A crazed smiled spread across her face. She finally had him.
And then the anchor started to glow. Shiromori’s grin dropped and she glanced at it as purple fire shot out of it and formed into a suited skeleton, glaring at her.
This was a high level vengeful wrath with fire powers. Shiromori was a tree. Her eye twitched.
Lewis simply wound up, lit up his fist, and hit Shiromori’s head as hard as he could. Her head snapped off and went flying. Lewis couldn’t really bring himself to care. He grabbed his heart, burning her arm as he did so, and put it back where it belonged. It floated and beat as it normally did, even if it was still blue and cracked. A sudden rustling sound had him rotating his head back towards Shiromori.
A tree had sprouted where Shiromori’s neck had been. A moment later, the rest of her head followed. A flower bloomed at her left shoulder before her arm grew back as well. She smirked at him and pulled out her scissors in a stance that made it clear she was willing to fight.
Lewis decided he was also willing to fight and got into a basic boxing stance with his fists on fire.
And then Shiromori remembered she’d finally found HIM. She looked between Lewis and the lotus before deciding she might not get another chance. She blew the lotus petals away and burrowed back into the ground to follow.
Lewis stared at the hole in the ground, wondering what the heck that had been before deciding it wasn’t important. He’d rather check his anchor over. The cracks didn’t seem too deep, and it was still pulsing. He opened it to look at the picture of him and Vivi and Sydney.
God, he missed them so much. Why didn’t they recognize him?
Okay, he was a skeleton, but there weren’t many people as big as him, and his hairstyle was the same. Someone should’ve recognized him.
Lewis noticed something moving on the ground and looked down to see a couple of flowers inching along the ground. He blinked and picked them up.
Call him crazy, but these two reminded him of Vivi and Sydney. They even somehow felt like the two of them.
More movement caught Lewis’ eye and he saw an orange flower inching away.
Arthur!
Lewis immediately and angrily stomped on the flower.
Several miles away, Arthur jerked violently as a horrible feeling shot up his spine. He looked around quickly to make sure nothing weird was trying to sneak up on him.
“You okay?” asked Sydney from where she was messing with her phone.
“Do you see anything weird?” asked Arthur.
Sydney frowned and jumped out the van to look around. “Nope. I guess whatever spooked you was just normal…”
Arthur slumped from relief. “Good.”
“…Or you were hallucinating from lack of sleep,” finished Sydney. “’Cause I seriously didn’t hear anything.”
Arthur chuckled nervously. “I’m not that tired.”
“Arthur, your bags have bags,” deadpanned Sydney. She glanced towards Vivi, who was out like a light. “Um, have you not been sleeping?”
“…No?”
Sydney huffed. “What do you have to work on? You finished your arm already!”
“I can do upgrades,” muttered Arthur.
Sydney nodded as she gave him that. “Okay, fine, but it couldn’t hurt to take a few nights off to get some actual sleep.”
Arthur nodded in agreement. “Yeah.”
Sydney sighed. She didn’t think he was gonna listen to her. She glanced at his laptop. “What’re you working on?”
Arthur panicked. He was working on a map of where to look for Lewis, but he couldn’t tell her that because it would knock Sydney out and, possibly, erase some of the map. Somehow. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Fanfiction!”
That was a horrible lie. Arthur didn’t write fanfiction. He was a horrible writer. Sydney knew this and decided that if Arthur wasn’t going to be straight with her than she was going to mess with him. “Huh. What about?”
“Uh, Transformers.”
“Oh…which universe?”
“The movies.”
Sydney made a face. “Ugh. Those movies sucked. You trying to fix ‘em up?”
“Yes!”
“How’re you gonna do that?”
“Um…” There were so many things that Arthur needed to fix with almost no idea how to do so. “No fanservice or sexism.”
Sydney nodded. “That would help.”
“No crude humor.”
“To make room for real humor.”
Arthur searched for something else. “Get Sam a new actor.”
Sydney snorted. “It’s a bit late for that. So, what’s the plot?”
Arthur blanched. “Uh…uh…” What did he say? “Cats?”
Sydney burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. I just-I just-”
Vivi sat up. “What’s going on?”
“Funny joke,” said Sydney as her laughs tapered into giggles.
Arthur blushed. Looks like he’d been caught. He decided to settle for minimizing the map. He frowned as he saw that Lewis was starting to disappear from his desktop photo. Again. “Okay, okay, there’s no fanfiction.”
Vivi blinked. “Since when do you write fanfiction?”
“I don’t. That’s the joke.”
“Hey, help me convince him to go to sleep,” said Sydney. “We can call Lance and ask for him to tow us back to town in the morning. Maybe stop for breakfast. I could really go for those fake hash browns from McDonald’s. And tofu bacon. Everything’s better with bacon. What do you think Mystery? Do you want some bacon?”
Mystery yawned. He was trying to sleep, thank you. Although if she was offering, he wouldn’t say no.
Vivi yawned. “Arthur? Could you get some sleep?”
He could, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want any more nightmares that woke him with screams and sobs and pain but no memories at all. “No, I’m good. I’m fine.” He closed the laptop. “I was just about to get back to work.” He jumped off the back of the van and walked back to the front.
Sydney groaned. “We gotta find a way to make him get more sleep. This can’t be healthy.”
Vivi yawned. “Yeah…”
“Is it possible for someone to die from lack of sleep?” Sydney questioned as she flopped down onto the mattress they kept in the back. “Or would you just go crazy? I don’t want Arthur to go crazy or die! Craziness is overrated…”
Vivi snorted and lay down as well scratching Mystery behind the ears. “I can drive us back when he’s done.”
Sydney gave Vivi a terrified look. “Vivi, Vivi, no. No, no, no. You’re driving is scary enough during the day. And we’re next to a cliff.”
Vivi pouted. “I’m not that bad…”
“You are, you really are,” said Sydney. She groaned and pressed her hands over her eye area. “But I still don’t have a license so I can’t do it either. So either sleep-deprived Arthur drives, you drive all crazy, or we just sleep here tonight and hope a police officer doesn’t drive by.”
The girls were silent as they listened to Arthur work on the engine. It quickly lulled them to sleep.
Mystery was checking the two over when something bright caught his attention. A few red petals flew into the van. He stared at the petals in horror as he picked one up and sniffed it. It was Shiromori’s scent.
Oh no…
Lewis had the odd ability to conjure up food and drink. It wasn’t filling, and he didn’t need to eat anyway, but it was the only way for him to taste anything anymore.
Right now, he was sitting and drinking some tea while he thought about what to do. He needed to find the Mystery Skulls again, preferably while they were out of Tempo.
Maybe he shouldn’t have crushed the Arthur flower. He probably could’ve used it to track Arthur.
Lewis glanced at the smear of ash on the ground. Maybe it made things inconvenient, but he didn’t regret burning it at all.
These flowers on the other hand…Lewis turned his attention to the two flowers. He kind of wanted to keep them, but it seemed like they would inevitably get set on fire. Downside of being a fire ghost he supposed. He turned them over in his hand. If they worked like the other flower, they would track the girls. That was almost as good as Arthur since the three were usually together when they were out of town. So, he could use these instead.
Much better.
…How was this supposed to work? The tree lady had blown that other flower (Who did that belong to anyway?) and gone after the petals. Lewis tried blowing on them. Didn’t work. He supposed that wasn’t surprising considering…no lungs. He guessed he could follow them on the ground, but that would take longer than he’d like and might damage the flowers.
He paused and glanced at his anchor. Maybe if he could feel the pull. He popped it open and placed it on the table. He winced. The flowers wouldn’t fit in there, but maybe some petals. He carefully plucked two petals from each flower and placed them on top of the photo before closing the anchor.
The anchor flashed orange, and the cracks disappeared. Huh, hadn’t expected that. He put his anchor back in front of where a hole had been ripped in his chest. He could feel a pulling sensation that he assumed would lead him to Vivi and Sydney. One way to find out.
Lewis dismissed the table and tea he’d made and floated down the hill. It would take a while to catch up to them, so he’d better get started.
As Lewis reached to road below, a light caught his eyes. He turned and saw a semi-truck heading right for him.
Lewis belatedly realized that he’d forgotten to check for cars. Oops. He temporarily dispersed as the truck slammed into him.
He could make this work. He spread his energy through the truck. The truck turned black and purple with fire licking around it. Lewis was briefly aware of the driver jumping out and decided to reform in the driver’s seat. He could feel the truck like he could the mansion he’d formed before.
Well, that had worked better than he’d expected.
Lewis checked the direction of the pull and slammed his foot into the gas, speeding off. “I’m coming Arthur,” growled Lewis. “You’re not getting away this time.”
“The house is disappearing,” announced Sydney, staring out the back window. “I guess the ghost made it out of ghost energy. Or something.” That was a powerful ghost. “We should be safe for now.”
“I’m not stopping until we get to town,” said Arthur. That was too close. They were almost killed!
Vivi frowned. “Will the van be all right? He might’ve fried a component or something.”
“Um…” Arthur thought a moment. “Well, it started fine. It’s not making any troubling sounds. Might have messed with some of the electrical components, but this is an older van, so they won’t have much impact on its function once it’s up and running. So, yeah, we should get home all right, and I’ll run diagnostics on it tomorrow when I have some free time.”
Mystery let out a whine. He knew that Lewis had not been in a right state of mind and had been dangerous to be around, but it hurt to leave him behind again.
Vivi misunderstood and pulled him into her lap. “It’s okay Mystery. We’ll be home and away from any spooks soon.”
Mystery laid his head on her shoulder, wishing he could tell her what was wrong, but she was still suffering from whatever Lewis had done to her memory…
Maybe he could go back later, try to talk to Lewis on his own, get him to see reason.
Sydney leaned over the chairs. “Any idea what that was about? I’m kind of confused about the whole thing. Guy put me in the attic which was full of boxes that just had more boxes in them. And what I swear was a copy of the bride from the Haunted Mansion from Disney World. I looked in a few rooms while I was looking for you, but they were empty except for one that had a bed in it, but it didn’t feel like a bedroom if that makes sense.”
“He wouldn’t have needed a bedroom,” muttered Vivi. “He wouldn’t have needed actual food either, but he had some in the kitchen.” She frowned. “Did he plan this? Or maybe keep some food for if someone came by?”
“Why would he feed someone he was going to kill?” asked Arthur.
“Maybe it was poisoned!” suggested Sydney.
Vivi felt nauseous for a moment. “That’s certainly a possibility…”
“Oh, geez, you didn’t eat any, did you?” asked Sydney.
Arthur spun towards Vivi, nearly driving off the road. “Vivi!”
“I didn’t eat anything!” insisted Vivi, deciding not to mention she almost had. “Why would he need poison though? He had really powerful fire abilities and clearly wasn’t afraid to use them.”
Arthur shuddered and Sydney scowled at the memory. “He said it was me he hated the most,” said Arthur.
“Seriously?” Sydney asked in exasperation. “What could you have possibly done?”
“I…” He glanced towards Vivi. “Maybe he was one of the guys from when I escaped the cult? Except that wouldn’t make sense. It’s been over 10 years, and they wouldn’t have announced themselves like that. They would have just given me a fatal injury before I realized they were there.”
“That does make sense,” agreed Vivi. She’d seen how Arthur fought. She hadn’t been at all surprised when her father had taken him on as an apprentice. “Plus aren’t they supposed to eschew material things, like fancy suits?”
Arthur nodded. “Yeah, simple clothes, preferably homemade. Nothing like…that.”
Sydney snorted. “He was like Ghost Rider’s better dressed cousin. Hey, you think that was the suit he was buried in?”
“If it is, then that kills the cult theory,” said Arthur. “They used shrouds. Always. No exceptions.”
Vivi hummed in thought for a moment. “Maybe he’s someone we’ve run across before who died later on?”
“We have pissed off a lot of people,” commented Sydney. She winced. “Wow, there could be a lot of potential angry ghosts out there. Heck, considering what some of ‘em were like, they’d probably kill themselves to try and become a vengeful ghost.”
“That’s so stupid!” exclaimed Arthur.
“It might not seem so stupid to them,” pointed out Vivi. “And if they could pull off a ritual…”
“Where would they get that sort of stuff in jail?” muttered Sydney. “I know there’s a black market for like cigarettes and period pads, but where would they get something like aconite or yew bark? I mean some of that stuff’s dangerous even outside of magic. It’d be easier to break out of prison, but then they wouldn’t have to kill themselves to get back at us! Or maybe they would. Arthur kind of leaves an impression. I wouldn’t wanna fight him. I’d try to find some other way around him,” rambled Sydney. “But that would be hard cause supernatural stuff would be attracted to him, but I guess that’s not bad because he can’t actually see that stuff or do anything about that.” She frowned. “Hey, why didn’t that ghost back there stay invisible then? He could’ve snuck up on Arthur and set him on fire and that would be that.”
“And now I’m going to see that in my nightmares tonight,” drawled Arthur. “Thanks.”
Sydney’s eye widened. “Oh geez, I didn’t mean-Ignore everything I just said!”
Vivi shook her head. “No, you bring up some good points. I’m starting to think the second theory is pretty unlikely. I’ll still look up if anyone we’ve helped arrest has passed away recently, but I’d like to consider other possibilities as well.” She frowned in thought as she considered a new train of thought. “Arthur, what if he’s someone you knew but who died when you were so young you can’t remember him?”
“That…I guess it could be possible,” admitted Arthur. “But I still don’t know why he would want me dead. And what could a three-year-old have done to convince someone they need to die?”
“Pooped on his books,” suggested Sydney.
“Ew…No.”
“Ate his pudding?”
“That seems a bit much.”
“Stole his cat?”
“We never had any pets.”
“Spilled spaghetti sauce on his favorite white shirt?”
“Where are you getting these things?” questioned Arthur.
Vivi chuckled at them as she tapped her leg in thought. Something occurred to her. “Did he ever actually say your name?” Arthur shook his head. “Lance says you look a lot like your dad…”
Arthur winced. “Ah. That would make sense. Uncle Lance and Dad come from old money so a fancy suit and tie would not be out of place.” Arthur considered the options for a moment. “Maybe he was someone with a relative in the cult.”
“Huh, I didn’t think the suit looked that old,” commented Sydney. She frowned. “But have suits changed that much? And who wears a cravat nowadays anyway?”
“What’s a cravat?” asked Arthur.
“It’s like a fancy tie, bunch of cloth,” Sydney tried to explain. “Some characters I know wear ‘em, usually guys with money or class or both.”
“That fits,” said Vivi. “We can ask Lance if your dad ever pissed off someone enough for them to want him dead.”
“He wouldn’t know if it had something to do with the cult, but it’s a good place to start,” agreed Arthur.
Sydney made a considering sound. “You know…This makes a lot more sense. That ghost was pretty powerful. He would have had to have been dead for a while, right?”
Vivi nodded. “Generally speaking, it takes a while for a ghost to become that powerful, and we’ve only been doing this for a few years. He must have died before that if he’s at that power level, unless he used some sort of ritual.”
Mystery sighed. That was the case with most ghosts, but Lewis was a huge exception. He suspected a combination of a sudden and violent death, Lewis’ own powers, and the location. It was steeped in spiritual energy that he suspected had belonged to the demon. Energy the demon had been cut off from when Mystery sealed it in Arthur’s arm. He had noticed that the coloration of the cave had been darkening when they’d left, but had thought the energy was simply dispersing.
Lewis must have instinctively absorbed the energy and sped up his formation and development without realizing it.
And he’d come back as a vengeful wraith. Clearly, he thought Arthur had been fully responsible for his death. An understandable mistake, but Mystery couldn’t help but feel annoyed at Lewis. He had been a medium in life. He’d seen possessions. He knew Arthur attracted nasty entities. He still thought Arthur killed him even knowing all those facts. The only explanation Mystery could come up with was that Lewis was not able to think straight due to becoming so powerful so quickly after losing his brain.
Mystery wasn’t sure this could be fixed. There were purification rituals…No, that would require Lewis being willing to let go of his anger. Mystery would just have to make sure Sydney and Arthur stayed close to each other for the foreseeable future. At least until he found a way to calm Lewis which didn’t require Arthur being killed.
Mystery was brought out of his thoughts by Sydney picking him up. He let out a yelp. “Don’t worry Mystery. We won’t let that big, mean ghost hurt you.”
He was the last person Sydney needed to worry about.
Vivi ran up and rang the doorbell. Arthur and Ben had just caught up when Lewis opened the door. “Hi Arthur.” His gaze averted towards Vivi. “And you must be Vivi.” His eyes dropped to Ben. “Ah. You didn’t mention anything about a dog.”
Arthur facepalmed. He knew he was forgetting something.
“Don’t worry. Ben’s very well behaved,” said Vivi. “Plus, he’ll let us know if any ghosts show up!”
“We’re not gonna see any ghosts while Sydney’s around,” Lewis said matter-of-factly. He still moved aside so they could come in. “We’re watching anime in the living room. Don’t get too loud. Belle’s not sleeping, but I don’t wanna startle her.”
The walked a few feet to the living room. Sydney was playing peek-a-boo with a giggling baby while an anime with girls running around in indecently short skirts were fighting a monster. Arthur quickly averted his eyes.
“Fluffy doggy!” And Sydney was suddenly dashing towards them.
Lewis intercepted her, grabbed her, spun them in a circle, and flung her over his should as she giggled. “C’mon, you know you shouldn’t surprise dogs like that.”
Sydney pouted and made grabby motions towards Ben. “But the fluffy…”
Arthur glanced towards Ben and was surprised to find the dog had recoiled and looked like he was trying to make himself look smaller and…was he scared?
Vivi gave Ben a confused look too. “Ben? You okay?”
Sydney winced. “Oh shit. Did I scare him? I’m sorry doggy!”
Lewis set Sydney on the ground. Ben inched forward a bit. “Hold your hand out,” suggested Vivi. Sydney listened. Ben sniffed cautiously at her hand. After a moment, he licked at her hand. Then he pushed pressed his head into the palm of her hand. Sydney giggled and pet him. Vivi smiled. “That’s better. He usually doesn’t startle very easily…”
Lewis grabbed Arthur’s hand. “Come meet Belle.”
Arthur let himself get dragged over to where the baby was starting to make crying sounds. She calmed down as Lewis came into sight. “Arthur, Belle. Belle, Arthur.”
Belle held her hands up towards Lewis, seemingly not caring about Arthur. Lewis carefully picked her up, holding her like she was the most precious and fragile thing in the world.
Arthur guessed that’s what she was to Lewis. “She’s…small.”
Lewis chuckled. “You should have seen her when she was a newborn.”
Right she would have been even smaller then, wouldn’t she?
“Would you like to hold her?”
Arthur blinked and studied Belle, who was rapidly falling asleep. He’d never been around a baby before, not even his younger siblings. He wasn’t entirely sure how to act around them outside of being careful and quiet.
Belle was…new. And helpless. She had to depend on others whether she wanted to or not, and honestly she probably didn’t know any better. She had pretty much no experience when it came to life. Innocent and blissful.
And his hands were covered in blood.
“No!”
Lewis gave him a startled look, and Arthur realized that definitely wasn’t a normal reaction. Thankfully, Vivi came to his rescue. “He’s got some weird phobias,” said Vivi, which was technically true. “Very personal. He probably still hasn’t told me all of them.”
Arthur nodded. “I’m a mess.”
“So, Arthur’s odd fear of infants aside…” Vivi pulled out a ouija board and a camera. “We can do ghost photos, watch tv, or play videogames.”
Lewis narrowed his eye. “You are not using a ouija board in here.”
Sydney shrugged. “It probably wouldn’t work anyway.”
“Please don’t summon any angry ghosts,” added Arthur.
“I’d put up protections,” protested Vivi, but she put away her ‘supplies’. “So…I guess that leaves tv and videogames.”
“Do you mind if we stick to tv?” asked Lewis. “I kind of want to keep my hands free.” He shifted Belle in his arms a bit.
Arthur glanced towards the TV and winced. “Can we watch something else? Their clothing seems…improper.”
Sydney snorted. Lewis gave her a deadpan look. “I didn’t say anything.” Sydney grinned and pulled out several DVDs and videos from somewhere. “I got all sorts of awesome shows!”
Arthur stared at the various children shows in Sydney’s hands. “Um…” He glanced toward Lewis, who wasn’t making a move. He glanced toward Vivi, who was looking at him expectantly. He looked at Sydney, who was still grinning. He pointed at a random cover. “That one.”
Sydney turned it around to see what he’d chosen. “Ooh. Batman. Good choice.”
Batman? “That’s a comic, right?”
“They can turn comics into cartoons,” Sydney said nonchalantly. “I got Spider-man, the X-Men, and Superman too,” she said nonchalantly as she ejected a video and put in the Batman video. She then dragged him onto the couch as they all sat down.
Arthur…wasn’t sure how he felt about Batman. The man was obviously meant to be highly trained, even if he didn’t move quite right (Animation limits?). Vivi, Lewis, and Sydney made a bunch of ninja comments. He fought mostly normal people, a few super powered people.
It reminded Arthur a little too much of what he’d been trained to do before…before Tempo.
Arthur suspected he was going to be splitting his life into Before Tempo and After Tempo.
“I’m not sure I like Batman,” Arthur decided. The man used fear as a weapon. That was only possible because of his implied training.
Sydney pointed to her shows. “We can watch something else.”
“How ‘bout Scooby-Doo? I love that show,” said Vivi.
The videos were switched and they watched the old cartoon instead. Arthur decided it was much preferable. It had scary monsters, but they were all men (or women) in masks. Not real. Just a bunch of teenagers running around and solving mysteries that Arthur felt were needlessly complicated. “Why do they bother pretending to be monster? Most of these guys could get away with whatever they’re trying to do if they would just lay low.”
“That would make more sense,” agreed Vivi. “I’m honestly not sure why the police don’t investigate them more. Play some ghost noises to keep away anyone paranoid and that ought to be enough for most people.”
“Maybe ghosts are a fact of life in this universe,” said Sydney. “So when they see the monsters, they just go ‘Oh, looks like we’ve got a monster. Better stay away so we don’t get eaten.’ Oh! Or maybe people have been pulling this sort of stunt for so long that it’s just become a fact of life, and people are only just now are figuring out that most of these are guys in masks, and the Scooby gang is one of the inadvertent forerunners in the start of this new age!”
Everyone stared at Sydney as she finished coming up with her impromptu theory. “Welp, that’s another fanfiction idea,” commented Lewis.
“I’d go with the first one,” said Vivi. “There are some movies that actually have ghosts and monsters.”
“Oh yeah…” Sydney pulled out another video with Shaggy and Scooby in a cauldron with Frankenstein’s bride and a little mummy girl standing next to it. “The Ghoul School!”
“Do you have Boo Brothers and the Reluctant Werewolf?” asked Vivi.
Lewis nodded. “Those were fun.”
“I’d have to ask Dad, but I think so,” said Sydney. “They show on Cartoon Network all the time though so I might be mixing ‘em up.”
“Wait. These are movies?” Arthur glanced between the Ghoul School cover and the tv. “This show has movies?”
“Yep, several,” answered Vivi. “They still release new movies and episodes regularly, although the setting is adjusted for modern times and I think they might be doing reboots.”
“It’s a well loved show, and the people who watched it as kids grew up and still loved it and wanted to be a part of it,” added Lewis. “I’m sure we’d all do the same with the shows we love if we had the chance.”
Sydney cackled. “Oh fu-dge yeah!” She pulled a small notebook out from her back pocket. “I have ideas!” She opened it to a random point and Arthur could see a picture of Spider-man kissing some lady in a black suit. “Spider-man and Black Widow! They don’t have anything in common yet, but you could have them run into each other and then start hanging out and then start dating!”
Arthur had no idea what Sydney was talking about. Who was Black Widow?
“I don’t think it’s quite the same thing,” said Lewis. “Scooby Doo doesn’t have a lot of background information so you can do a lot of original stuff with it. Spider-man and the other Marvel comics have a lot of backstory, so it would be tricky to make something like your idea work without radically changing things.” He grinned. “Plus, I like him and Mary Jane as a couple.”
Sydney paused and nodded. “True. Peter and Mary Jane are a tried and true couple. Spider-man/Black widow can be a What-If issue.” Sydney paused and then grinned. “Or…Mary Jane can be Black Widow.”
Arthur was so lost. Lewis glanced at him before turning to the TV. “Maybe we can watch Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School after this,” suggested Lewis.
“Sounds good to me,” said Sydney. “Oh! Don’t say anything. We don’t wanna spoil anything for Arthur.” She giggled. “Plus, I kinda wanna see your face.”
Arthur blinked at everyone else’s grins and wondered if he should be worried.
In the middle of the next episode, Belle started whining. Lewis took a moment to try and calm her and check her over. “I’m pretty sure she’s hungry,” he concluded.
Sydney jumped off the couch. “I’ll get it.” She ran to the kitchen.
Arthur watched with fascination as Lewis worked on calming Belle. From what he remembered of his family, his younger siblings had mostly been left on their own when they cried unless they needed to be changed or fed.
…Lewis was probably doing a better job than Arthur’s parents.
Sydney came back in with a bottle of formula that she handed to Lewis. Lewis started feeding Belle.
…Lewis and Sydney were probably doing a better job than Arthur’s parents, and Sydney was…Sydney.
How could two adults be worse at taking care of a child than two middle school students?
It made Arthur feel just a bit bitter. And then Ben decided to plop his head onto Arthur’s lap. Arthur took advantage of it to pet Ben until he felt better.
“Time for Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School!” proclaimed Vivi as the episode they were watching ended. She shot up, switched the videos, and sat back down with a grin directed towards Arthur that made him feel very nervous.
The movie started innocently enough. “Where are Fred, Daphne, and Velma?”
Vivi shrugged. “College, I guess.”
“Or getting started on their own careers,” added Sydney.
Something about this made Arthur uncomfortable. He ignored it. “Who’s the talking puppy?”
“Scrappy Doo, Scooby’s nephew,” explained Lewis.
“How come he can talk more clearly than Scooby?” asked Arthur.
“Maybe Scooby just has a bad lisp?” suggested Sydney.
“And how come he’s walking around on his hind legs?” continued Arthur.
“I think Scooby’s too top heavy to do that for more than a few moments,” reasoned Vivi. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Scrappy lost the ability when he got older.”
And that was good enough for the moment…and then they reached the premise of the movie.
“It’s a school for monsters?!” Arthur shouted, startling the others on the couch. “Why is there a school for monsters?!”
“I guess their dads couldn’t homeschool them,” reasoned Sydney.
“But-but-aren’t they dangerous?!” Belle started whining, and Lewis and Sydney hushed Arthur.
“Well, not necessarily,” said Vivi. “Let’s take a look. Vampires survive off of human blood. Obviously, that would make them predators, but they don’t necessarily have to completely drain a person. They can just take a small amount from several different people, and honestly, it’s not clear how much they need to survive. They might not need all that much, and they could find willing donors. The only problem would be if the bite itself transforms someone into a vampire, but that’s a modern invention. Even if there were side effects from the bite, modern technology would let you remove blood without needing to bite someone.
“Frankenstein type monsters are actually pretty misunderstood. In the original novel, the monster, he was named Adam by the way, was just as intelligent as a person, had emotions and empathy. He tried to find human friends, but was rejected for how he looked. Any violence he exhibited was mostly in self-defense with some violence towards his creator, who pretty much abandoned him, so I can’t blame him for being upset.
“Werewolves are a bit tricky since the transformation varies. Some have to do with making a deal with the devil, which is obviously a bad thing, some with not attending mass for seven years, which seems unlikely considering the various religions in the world, and getting bitten by another werewolf, which would make it a disease. You don’t shame someone for having a disease because that’s not something you have control over. The main problem is that they’re violent when they transform and can spread the disease, but most don’t want to be violent and isolate themselves to keep from hurting anyone.
“Mummies aren’t inherently evil. In fact, mummies coming back to life is a recent idea thanks to movies, so I don’t think they’re an actual type of monster you’d run into. However, I imagine that if you did, they would behave the same as they had when alive, and, well, I guess there might be some differences in morality due to culture, but they should still be decent.
“Ghosts are more often than not harmless but capable of affecting their environment and scaring people. Not that they can’t harm the living. That’s just pretty rare. A lot of the time, they behave as they did in life, but some are influenced by how they died, which can make them angrier, sadder, or more frightened than they were when they were alive.
“Anyway, you got good monsters and bad monsters, just like you do humans,” finished Vivi. It was at this moment she realized everyone was staring at her, including Ben and Belle. “This is the sort of stuff I like.”
Sydney held up a hand. “I hear ya!” Vivi returned the high five.
“You sure know a lot about monsters,” commented Lewis. “Is that why you wanted to try and talk to the ghosts in the house?”
Vivi nodded. “I’ve never actually seen a ghost or anything like that before, but I really want to! I want to become a paranormal investigator so I can see all sorts of ghosts and monsters!”
“That would make an awesome comic book!” commented Sydney.
“But that’s dangerous!” said Arthur. “What if you run into something awful? And you get possessed?! Or what if someone hurts you?! What if you die?!”
“What if we’re in a car crash or fall down the stairs or get mugged or get bitten by a dog?” Sydney suddenly said. She glanced towards Ben. “No offense.”
Ben let out a huff.
“I think Sydney’s trying to say that all sorts of things could happen to you every day,” explained Lewis. “If you worry and try to avoid everything, you won’t be living much of a life.” Sydney nodded.
Arthur thought about that. If he wanted to avoid everything dangerous…Well, considering Sydney’s list he’d have to stay inside all the time. That would drive him crazy. “Okay, but…” Arthur turned towards Vivi. “Don’t do anything really dangerous, okay?”
Vivi nodded. “Yeah, Dad wouldn’t let me go on my own anyway. I’d need to get a few other people to go with me, preferably someone with experience.” She grinned at Sydney and Lewis. “You two interested?”
Lewis and Sydney stared at Vivi for a moment before exchanging looks. They turned back to Vivi. “Sure,” they both said.
“Whoa! Really?” asked Vivi. She hadn’t expected them to say yes.
“I’m kind of interested in ghosts too,” explained Lewis. “But only ghosts. I’ve never paid attention to the rest of that supernatural stuff.”
“I wanna learn magic!” proclaimed Sydney with stars in her eyes.
Arthur frowned. “I’m not sure how I feel about magic.”
“It’s science we don’t yet understand!” said Sydney. “Or at least my dad said something like that while pretending to be The Doctor.”
Arthur frowned. “Doctor who?”
Sydney laughed. “Exactly!”
“Huh?”
“What about you Arthur?” asked Vivi. “I know you and the supernatural don’t get along, but I wouldn’t want to leave you out.”
Sydney suddenly hugged Arthur, making him jump. “I can keep the ghosts away!”
Lewis nodded. “She’s really good at that for some reason.”
Vivi frowned in interest. They’d made references to ghosts not liking Sydney a couple of times before. “Do you have some sort of power that affects ghosts?”
Sydney and Lewis exchanged another couple of looks. It was kind of amazing how they could have a conversation without actually saying anything. “I scare ghosts for some reason,” admitted Sydney. “I’ve punched a couple by accident since I can’t see ‘em.”
What.
“That…” Vivi frowned in thought. “Well, it would definitely be good for keeping people safe or getting rid of negative entities, but it might hinder the actual investigation. You won’t get any evidence of ghosts if the ghosts have all been scared off.”
“You…You scare ghosts away?” Arthur was having trouble believing it, but when he thought about it…
Nothing strange ever happened when he was around Sydney and Lewis. In fact, a lot less happened when he was at school with them. He’d just been thankful that no one had found out about his tendency to attract ghosts and the like and hadn’t stopped to wonder if there was a reason for it.
“Y-You’ve been keeping away ghosts that hurt me this whole time.”
Sydney nodded. “Yep!”
Vivi frowned. “But how would you know about that in the first place? You just said you have no sensing ability whatsoever.”
Sydney froze up. “Er…” She gave Lewis a nervous look. “Help?”
Lewis sighed in resignation. “I’m a medium.”
Vivi gasped. “Really?! How strong is your sensory ability? Which senses do you use? Do you have any empathic abilities? Is it connected to growing up in a haunted house?”
Lewis blinked at the assault of questions. “Yes, I’m not sure how strong, I think all my senses, I don’t think I’m empathic, and I don’t think it has anything to do with this house. I was a medium before the Peppers adopted me.”
“You’re adopted?” questioned Vivi. “I guess you wouldn’t know if it runs in the family then.”
Sydney blinked in surprise. “That can happen?”
Arthur finally got the nerve to talk. “Did you see ghosts when you started sitting with me?”
Lewis winced and nodded.
“Is that the only reason you sat with me?” asked Arthur.
“Well, the first day, yeah,” admitted Sydney. “But just the first day. We liked hanging out with you. I mean…We could’ve just sat on the other side of the table and not said anything to you.” She nervously started messing with her glasses. “But, well, I’d understand if you were upset because that’s sort of an ulterior motive. Not that it’s a bad ulterior motive! At least I don’t think it is.”
“What Sydney means is that we’d like to think we’re friends now,” explained Lewis. “You don’t always plan to become friends with someone, and I think that’s a good thing because that means you get along and like each other enough for it to just happen.”
“So…You planned to keep me safe and ended up becoming my friends?” questioned Arthur. That…actually didn’t seem too bad. The two hadn’t wanted to take advantage of him in any way. They’d just seen someone in trouble and decided to help. He smiled. “Thank you. I don’t think I would have made any friends otherwise.”
Sydney slapped his back. “Hey, come on! You’re a cool guy!”
Arthur’s heart twinged. He considered correcting Sydney, but he didn’t think he was quite ready for that. Instead he shook his head. “I attract ghosts and monsters. Most people are scared away.”
Sydney frowned. “That sucks.”
Lewis frowned. “Are you a medium too? It sounds like ghosts are attracted to that sort of thing.”
Arthur shook his head. “I attracts ghosts, but I can’t detect them at all unless they’re visible to the general population. That happens a lot more often around me though. I think I might be giving them power boosts, which is probably part of the reason they’re drawn to me in the first place.”
Vivi made a thinking sound and looked between Arthur and Sydney. “You know…your powers are pretty much complete opposites. They might cancel each other out.”
Arthur thought about not having to deal with ghosts anymore. “That would be nice.”
“I don’t think it works quite like that,” argued Lewis. “The nastier stuff stays away when Sydney’s around, but more normal ghosts still stick around. They just usually keep their distance.”
Sydney nodded. “You’re the expert.”
Vivi hummed. “Have you seen any ghosts today?”
“Kurt. He’s a little boy.” Lewis nodded towards the stairs. “He’s watching us and the shows through the railing.” He noticed that Arthur was looking nervous. “Don’t worry. Kurt’s harmless. The most he’ll do is hang onto your clothes.”
Vivi squealed happily. “That’s amazing!”
“You’re okay with being able to see stuff like that?” asked Arthur.
Lewis shrugged. “I’ve never not been able to see them. This is normal for me. It does get scary sometimes, but we’ve learned some tricks.”
Sydney shrugged. “I’ve never been scared of any of this stuff.” Maybe if she could see these sorts of things…Then again knowing that she was effectively living ghost repellant seemed to dampen the impact of anything that might be considered scary, including ghost movies. Like how bulletproof skin would make you less afraid of guns, but not completely fearless because other people can get shot. Especially if bullets ricochet off your skin.
Hm…Would she need to worry about ricochet? Ghosts and bullets were two very different things.
As Sydney mused on the nature of her odd ability, Belle started whining again. Lewis started bouncing her and checked her. “She needs a change. I’ll be right back.”
“Um, so…What do you do when you’re looking for ghosts?” asked Arthur. He didn’t really want to go hunting for ghosts, but they’d probably end up coming to him anyway. Might as well get it over with. Besides, he could probably stick close to Sydney.
Vivi smiled. “Well, we take precautions, like holy water, protective talismans, warding, that sort of thing. Then you set up cameras and microphones. Someone might be watching and listening to those. Then you wander around in an organized manner to see if you can come across anything unusual, possibly with camcorders. It helps if you have a medium. After you decide you’ve been there long enough, you head home and review the footage and recordings for anything unusual. Then you take everything unusual that happens and try to explain it rationally, like wind, gas leak, vibrations, that sort of thing. You’d be surprised what can make someone hallucinate. Then if you have something you can’t explain, you have a ghost! Then you gotta figure out what to do about the ghost. Some you can leave, some you can’t. It varies.”
Sydney raised a hand. “Question! Why can’t we just have Lewis look around and tell us if there are any ghosts hanging around? I’d even give him space!”
“She has a point,” noted Arthur. “Especially if…if I was near Lewis.” He wouldn’t like it, but he’d had to put up with worse.
“Yeah, that would make things faster, but we’d need physical proof for whoever hired us so we’d need footage or audio,” explained Vivi. “Plus, what if the ghost decided not to talk to Lewis? Some are pretty crafty.”
“You sure know a lot about this stuff,” commented Sydney as she reached over to pet Ben.
Vivi puffed up proudly. “I come from a very long line of paranormal investigators.”
“That explains so much,” deadpanned Arthur. He’d been wondering why Vivi’s father was actually teaching her this sort of stuff and kept ghost photographs…and martial arts? “Wait. Why do you need to know how to fight if you’re dealing with ghosts?”
Vivi shrugged. “Dad says that you run into something physical enough that it’s a good idea.”
“What’s a good idea?” asked Lewis as he sat back down with a much calmer Belle.
“We’re gonna be ninjas!” Sydney proclaimed happily.
Lewis blinked. “Huh?”
“Vivi’s family does paranormal investigating, and they sometimes run into…actual monsters?” That made Arthur nervous.
Vivi nodded. “Basically, and ninja is a good way to explain some of my ancestors.”
“Cool” squealed Sydney.
“That is pretty cool!” agreed Lewis before frowning. “I don’t think I have the right body type for that though.”
The other three kids and Ben turned to look at Lewis. Taller than some adults already, broad shouldered, starting to build up noticeable muscle. The kind of guy you’d expect to see on the football or wrestling team. Unless you were one of his friends, in which case you would expect to find him in the manga or cooking club.
“Well, I’m not very good at ninja stuff either,” admitted Vivi. “Although if you’re interested maybe you guys can learn a bit of basic self-defense at least.”
“That would be awesome!” declared Sydney.
“We usually spend the day after school here so I can look after Belle,” said Lewis. “I guess maybe one of my parents could take the afternoon off.”
“You could bring her with you,” suggested Arthur. “Vivi’s grandmother lives with them and is retired, and Mrs. Yukino is there some days. They wouldn’t mind, right?” Arthur asked Vivi.
“Mom would love to take care of Belle for an afternoon,” said Vivi.
Lewis thought for another moment before turning to Arthur. “What sort of teacher is Mr. Yukino?”
“He’s tough and pushes you so you’ll grow, but he’s fair,” said Arthur. “I think learning a bit from him would be a good idea. Even if you don’t need to fight a ghost, it could come in handy if you ever get into trouble with a living person.” They wouldn’t be learning how to kill after all. All in all, pretty reasonable.
Lewis looked a bit thoughtful. Sydney elbowed him. “C’mon, this sounds fun.”
Lewis glanced at Sydney before nodding with a smile. “Okay, we’ll give it a try.”
Vivi grinned. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
