Difficulty Rank: Bronze
Though she was new to the cursed city of blood, Noah Anderson decided to start somewhere small and take up a call for investigating supposed monster activity. Following the common pattern to a string of recent hauntings led back to an abandoned theater nestled in a quiet corner of the historic district. No one had ever been able to go near it even before the Holy Diver had rained ruin unto the city. Any attempts to repair the theater were apparently thwarted due to
something attacking people. Sandbags and old props nearly being dropped near innocents, furniture being forcefully thrown and shoved about leaving bruises on those unfortunate to be in their path, doors locking people in, it was enough to convince the people of Pax Septimus that a phantom had haunted the once lively halls. Countless mundane civilians trying to investigate (or entering on a dare, if it was some group of reckless kids) on their own wasn’t enough to stop this, perhaps the Walking Church will have better luck in exorcizing this ghost?
Even then, it seems she wouldn’t be alone. Her and her temporary companion would meet up a short distance away from the theater.
Still, Noah couldn’t help but allow some sadness to take hold of her at seeing the state of the theater. Her mind returned back towards all of the advertisement she’d been able to see of it from before the Holy Diver had done it’s damage, it was all still up online. If she had to compare it to anything, it was very similar to watching the damage reports of those hurricanes hitting the south. Just… a whole lot more real.
She shook her head, and considering what would await her in the theater, her head turned back to the whole idea of ghosts and monsters in general. Perhaps another might find it strange, but she’d taken to referring to them as demons in her own head. It just seemed to fit, for creatures that survived through human suffering. Ghosts, too, would fall under that paradigm. Under God, spirits of the dead returning from the grave… is simply not possible. Such things are, again, often demons, returning for chaos and discord, and whatever other evil they may be aiming to perpetrate. After all, what better way to inflict pain upon a grieving man, then to haunt him as the recently deceased?
She could very well be wrong, certainly… but most monstrous things that she’d learned about this new side of the world did seem to fit rather neatly into the ‘demonic’ category of her own religion. So, until proven otherwise, she would be operating underneath that assumption. She may not be as…
enthusiastic as her family, but if Noah saw a spade, she would call it a spade.
But, before she would walk into what was likely, as the media would call it, a ‘poltergeist’, Noah checked around again for any sign of her soon to be companion. It would be a bit rude to start early. And, given how she was quite literally glowing in the dark, she doubted it’d take much longer for this ‘Marrie Knight’ to spot her.
And spot her she did. Maybe it wasn’t wise to take on a mission immediately after training again, but this was supposed to be a simple job,
and she got a partner along to help. The glow from what she could only assume was said partner drew her in towards the girl in the nun outfit, a-... a nun outfit? Why was an esper wearing a nun’s habit? Marrie shook her head to dislodge the question, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen weirder, and with the giant she’d met at The Great Escape, church-based espers weren’t a total surprise anymore.
”Hey,” she asked as she waved at Noah, now only a few yards away,
”You here for the ghost hunt too?” She tried to think back to the name of the one who had taken the job besides her, but she was still too out of sorts from her daytime activities to remember.
”And, uh… Sorry, but what do you go by, again?” Having stepped even closer, Marrie was trying to block the light from the other esper by holding a hand in front of her eyes. Probably less offensive in the daytime, she figured.
Noah blinked, hearing who she could only assume was her temporary partner, and turned around. She’d been looking for her in the opposite direction she’d arrived!
“Ah-” A little embarrassing, but she brushed that aside and returned the greeting.
“Hello! And, yes, I am.” She took in her new partner, who looked just as techy as she’d thought she did from her profile picture! Headphones so thick that Noah was left wondering if the girl could even hear out of them, and two strange pieces of metal were on the sides of her cheeks. A blue zip up long sleeve with a rather stretched turtleneck paired itself with a black skirt and leggings. An interesting outfit, to be sure!
And, from the sounds of it, Noah’s newness to the esper scene was rearing its head.
“I’m No-” She coughed.
“Ah- Walking Church! That’s it…” She said quickly, rubbing the back of her head.
“Sorry, I’m a little new to all this… You’re Miss Knight, yes?” Noah asked, figuring it’d be best to make sure she had the right person. Or esper, as it were. Hah.
… And, some moments later, Noah realized she may be glowing a bit
too brightly, judging by her fellow esper’s actions.
“Oh, sorry about that.” She apologized, willing the glow to lessen to something a bit easier for the eye to handle.
Glad that Walking Church, as she was apparently called, had turned down the light, Marrie internally groaned once again at not having set up a good alias before her name got out.
”Yep, that’s me. Nice to meet you.” She had caught the near slipup, but not enough to guess at what Church’s name might be, just enough to recognize that she must be even newer than herself. With the strain lessened on her eyes she glanced around at the building, asking a question as she did.
”Do you have a battle plan to get in, or deal with anything hostile? I’m really hoping that we don’t have to fight anything, but I’ve yet to get that lucky here in Pax.”Noah hadn’t actually been thinking of a way in and had been mourning the state of the theater while she’d been waiting, but she certainly wasn’t about to say that out loud. She brought her hand to chin for a moment, and thought aloud.
“Well, with my own magic, it shouldn’t be terribly hard to avoid injury?” Her eyes widened slightly, and she clarified.
“Ah, I mean, I can grant us some defenses, and heal us both, if needed. I’ve got the three enhancement notes, and a lot of, uhm… white magic notes.” It took Noah a moment to recall the precise term for her notes, but she got it in the end.
“And with the Reveal and Magic Sense notes, I would think it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to spot the ghost? Or, at least, spot out its attacks before it can really harm us.” At least, so she hoped. She’d experimented a little with each note, and she still wasn’t entirely sure exactly what some of them did and didn’t cover.
But with the two of them together, Noah was hopeful that this job would go fine. Hopefully neither of them would get possessed like in those horror movies…
“And I was thinking that we’d just, ah, walk in? The entrance itself doesn’t seem blocked…” She trailed off, wondering if there might be a blockage on the inside. This ghost could move quite a lot around, according to the reports, so it was definitely possible they’d be stuck moving a couch or something out of the way.
White Magic, huh? That seemed to be rare, in Marrie’s experience. But Church was right, Magic Sense would probably be useful, and if they were going to try a peaceful approach, just walking in would be a good start. Though if it was blocked, that would change things.
”Sounds good.” She walked up to the door and tried it.
As the two had guessed, there was some form of blockage from the inside. But with a bit of elbow grease Marrie managed to pry the door open and slip inside. The inside of the theater was in as much disrepair as the outside. Holes in the roof faintly illuminated the main lobby, faded posters of stage performances lined the walls, there were worn seats and broken tables and lights long burnt out. It was a sad sight indeed.
And yet at the same time, it looked like someone was in the middle of
cleaning it before they arrived. Asides from the Walking Church herself, there were a few lights barely struggling to stay alight despite their circumstances. Some of the pieces of what’s broken around them appear to be repaired constantly, after a closer inspection. Perhaps after scaring many intruders away? But whoever this ghost was, they seemed to take proper care of their haunting grounds. Whoever this ghost was, there was no sign of them. Yet. The espers soon had the feeling they were being watched. Closely. Carefully. Quietly.
”Hello?” Marrie called out to the emptiness and to anyone or anything else that might be there.
”We’re here to lodge a complaint. Well, actually, we’re just here to talk to any ghosts who might be here.” If the ghost was there, it would make sense to follow Church’s idea and use Magic Sense, so she cast a simple Self Melody of just that. [Silver Self - Magic Sense: 48]
As the newbie to the job, Noah thought it best to let Marrie take the lead. She silently stood a bit behind the techy esper and observed the inside of the theater, an undisguised frown making its way onto her face at the sight of it all. Noah shook her head, and refocused. Though the casting of melodies was still a bit foreign to her, she could still do it fine enough. Putting together a Self Melody just like Marrie, Noah lined up and played Magic Sense, Reveal, and Full Extend to be completely safe… And, just in case it was necessary, quietly prepped and composed a defensive Melody afterwards, but did not cast it. [Silver Self - Magic Sense, Reveal, Full Extend: 180] [Prepped: Silver Touch - Shield, AoE: 90]
Out of all the kinds of people that ever entered this place, it
had to be espers. The blue one seemed harmless enough, but the walking glowstick, she seemed the type to burn heretics for breakfast. The being watching over them was prepared to strike back at whatever melodies it could only guess they’d conduct. Except their combined efforts only forced it into a more corporeal form.
Exposed. The small figure let a quiet gasp slip, and quickly rushed away to the stage in the back. Just somewhere, anywhere it could hide. Somewhere it could bide whatever time it had to plan. It certainly did
not expect someone to
force it to reveal itself!
“Oh- There!” Noah exclaimed, pointing directly at the ghost’s form. Honestly, she hadn’t really expected the note to be quite so effective! The most Noah had been hoping for was a vague idea of the ghost’s location, but being able to see it was a boon she’d not take for granted, alongside the knowledge of its power. And then, instead of attacking immediately as she’d anticipated, the ghost… ran?
Noah blinked.
“Huh, it ran…?” Well… she could only suppose that it was either as surprised as she was, or just didn’t like being seen- Ah, she’s on a job!
“Uh-! The ghost went through that door!” She told Marrie, before starting to run after the ghost and taking the same door and delving further into the theater, with Marrie hopefully right behind her.
The slight hint of the ghost’s location was helpful, but more so was Church pointing out its exact location and running after it. But… it ran? Why? Marrie didn’t know a lot about ghosts, but she had to assume there was little difference from people, if it was actually a
ghost. She sort of jogged, sort of walked after Church, trying to keep up but not so quickly as to scare the spirit further if that’s what was happening.
Once Noah and Marrie hurried into the main stage area they could spot a glimpse of the small figure ducking backstage, the undrawn curtains slightly blowing outwards as if it was just a gust of wind.
Noah herself wasn’t entirely sure on how to proceed. Her left arm had wrapped around back and grasped at the ethereal cross held to her back… but she didn’t draw it. Was she supposed to? Was this the time to fight? Or were they supposed to do something else, first? The ghost was definitely a monster, a demon, she knew. A really tough one, too. As espers, it was their job to take out a threat like this, right?
Why was it running away like that?
… Despite feeling the call to do something, be it from her religious roots or her newfound powers, Noah had never actually been in a fight before. She’d never initiated one, either… So some strong amount of trepidation and indecision overtook her. Noah was bound to the entrance of the theater. Her eyes focused on the curtain, but she didn’t make a move.
Unable to come to a decision, Noah elected to wait for Marrie to come up with something. Her temporary partner had been doing this esper stuff for a ton longer than Noah had, right? She had way more experience… She’d probably know what they’re supposed to do.
So, when Marrie caught up, Noah asked exactly that.
“... It ran behind the curtain, what should we do?”The blue-haired esper sighed.
”Well, that depends on if you’re the type to “destroy all monsters” or the type to give them a chance.” Marrie glanced over at Walking Church. If she had to guess, she’d bet on the former, but…
”I’ve never met an enemy that I didn’t at least try to talk to first, but if you want to go for the attack, I’ll back you up. You’re the one who can see it really well.”“Mm…” Noah tilted her head in thought. Certainly, the existence of something that survived off of the suffering of others wasn’t something Noah thought deserved to live. Partially because it just sounded like a demon, and partially because the idea of something harming others mentally and physically, and even killing them, for the sake of its own survival was… well, the idea of it utterly repulsed her.
But, as far as Noah knew, and as far as the reports she’d been told went, this ghost hadn’t actually gone out of its way to kill people. It’d thrown a bunch of large and heavy things at many civilians, but in spite of its actions, she wasn’t aware of anyone who’d been seriously injured. In other words, despite how much her heart was telling her to get rid of it as quickly as she could, her head was saying otherwise.
And the idea of at least trying to talk with it first… Noah wasn’t against it. It didn’t sound like something she’d try with every demon, but with a case like this, and with Marrie implying she’d done it a bunch before… There was no reason to not try, right?
Noah’s hand released her cross, leaving it on her back, and it returned to her side. She nodded to Marrie.
“I think we could give it a shot. But I don’t really know what to say…” She said, keeping a careful eye on the curtains.
Marrie smiled slightly, glad that Church was okay with trying the peaceful approach, not that it’d ever worked out before.
”Hmm…” She thought for a moment, and then spoke up towards the ghost.
”Hello? We’re not sure why you ran away, but that means we might have gotten off on the wrong foot? We’re hoping to have a talk about what’s been happening recently. People have been getting stuff thrown at them, dropped on them, stuff like that. Was any of that you?” Backstage, the ghost was rummaging through its effects for something. The two could barely hear things moving from behind the curtains. It wasn’t until Marrie finally spoke up that the sounds paused. The figure cursed under its (his?) breath. At least they weren’t going guns akimbo on him yet. After a moment passed, Marrie and Noah can feel the presence return, but remain hidden behind the curtain.
”Funny, isn’t it? You try to scare intruders away from your home but they only come back with more determination each time, and now they’ve sent you lot to deal with me.” It looked like he was peeking through the sliver of an opening, if they looked closely.
”I-If you’re here for the same reasons as they are, I demand you leave at once!” The young voice commanded.
Oh no. The ghost sounded like a kid.
”We’re, er, I, at least, am not entirely sure what reasons they were even here.” She looked at Church.
”It’s just that the possibility of people getting hurt has made it so we have to try to prevent that. Hopefully there’s a way we can all just… coexist peacefully? But that’s why we want to talk to you.”Noah’s mouth pressed into an ever thinning line the more noise came from behind the curtain. With the knowledge that Reveal had given her, Noah would not allow herself to be tricked by the demon before her. Not with its choice in voice, nor with its choice of words. The voice of a young boy to garner sympathy, and a phrasing that painted everyone else as the intruder… all to further sell the idea that it was some recently deceased child. Truly, a deceptive creature to the end.
But she did not voice such thoughts, however much her distrust of the entity might show on her face. Noah had said that she would try a peaceful approach with Marrie, and she wasn’t going to go back on that so soon. Instead, Noah backed her up.
“From the sounds of it, I believe there may be some kind of misunderstanding..” Noah started, her voice noticeably tense.
“I do not know exactly which ‘intruders’ you are referring to, but much of the recent ones have been innocent.” Noah had a small tendency to become a bit more formal in speech, in situations like this. Something she got from her mother.
Her head tilted slightly down, and continued with a firm tone.
“If they were not here to repair this theater, then they were investigating whether or not you existed. I can understand either of these things being distressing, especially if you hadn’t known what it was they were doing, but you must understand that they did not mean harm to you.” Noah paused, recalling the state of the entrance to the theater.
“... Before the two of us entered, it looked like the entrance to this place was in the middle of being cleaned. Would I be right to assume that you were the one cleaning up?” She asked.
Well. Suffice to say, he liked the blue girl better. The nun’s tone didn’t sit well with him. Of course, everything about her made him feel tense. The ghost was about to snark back at Noah saying no one meant any harm, when she brought the condition of the entrance. He perked up for a moment, then sighed. The small ghost moved away from the opening, then the curtains were finally drawn back, revealing a
young boy with an elegant blue cape draped over his shoulders, and a book in his arms. His face scrunched up in a quick frown, but he turned it into a smile once he looked back at the two,
”It’s as I’ve said. Why wouldn’t I attend to my home?” He reiterated, confirming the Walking Church’s theory.
”I’ve never really hurt anyone though! At least- I don’t think I went too overboard, maybe some bruises but that can always heal. I always figured scaring ‘em enough. Dunno how it even got to this point...” The boy frowned.
This was good, for once there was actual conversation. Marrie grew even more hopeful that this could be resolved without fighting.
”Okay, that’s a good thing.” A genuine smile lit up her face, taking the boy’s word that there was no serious injury intended.
”So if you live here, could you tell us more about that? Do you know when you first got here? Were you elsewhere before, or did you… you know, here?” A hand went to her chin in thought.
”The bad news is that it’ll be hard to get legal ownership for a child or a spirit, so we can’t exactly just handle this that way. But! There’s other things that could be done. If you’re cleaning up, would you want people to restore this place?”The young ghost turned more of his attention towards Marrie.
”I… I don’t trust anyone else to restore it. They might have different ideas, might try and modernize it, and it’d just- it wouldn’t be the same, you know?” He hugged the book in his arms tighter to his chest.
”It was my family’s. Me and my brother, we’d spend much of our time here, sneaking around to get the best view of the shows and playing pranks on the performers.” He wistfully smiled.
”But then, and I don’t know how but, a fire started and…well…”Noah brought a hand to her chest and closed her eyes, offering a silent prayer for the deceased. Whether or not the demon before them was telling the truth didn’t matter. What did matter was that lives had been lost in that fire and they deserved to be mourned all the same.
But, then, a thought occurred. A callous thought, especially considering the words in the air, but an important thought.
“… Forgive me, this is going to sound insensitive, but…” Her hesitation was clear in her choir of voices.
“If your parents are… ah, no longer with us… Then ownership of this theater would fall to you, by inheritance, and I… don’t believe there would be any reason you wouldn’t have full control over how the theater would be restored?” Noah shifted from foot to foot, and sent a glance to Marrie. Hoping her fellow esper would pick up the cue to take over.
Marrie paused.
”It might be hard to convince people of that, but it sort of makes sense. Especially if you were left a will, or something. The hard part would be finding people who would accept a ghost as a boss.” She wasn’t sure at this point if Church was being genuine with her idea, but she saw no reason to doubt it at the moment.
”If we could find some espers who were willing to be go-betweens for you and whoever else, that might work. Or if you have a claim to ownership of this place, we should at least be able to set it up so you can choose someone you consider worthy to run it.” She thought for a moment. Did she know any lawyer espers? She couldn’t think of any, but maybe she could find one through those she did know? It was at least worth a shot, if the boy wanted that.
”That-” The boy dropped down from the stage to approach the two.
”Is a fair point. But you’ve seen how things are right now out there, and for all intents and purposes I’m…” He motions down to himself.
”Magi or not I still fall under the monster bracket with the whole undead thing, so even if you’re both right, not everyone may be as merciful as you two.” The ghost sighed, then his face perked up slightly. He snapped his fingers, the subtle embers of a cyan flame sputtering as if he was a lighter.
”Wait. Right. Introductions. My name’s Oliver.”Noah nodded slowly when Oliver gave his name, tense from the demon jumping from the stage. An introduction… It wasn’t as though she’d be giving the monster her real name, just an alias, so Noah didn’t see a problem with responding in kind.
“... I go by Walking Church, in this form.” She said, trying to regain her previous calm.
”Nice to meet you, Oliver. Hmm… Maybe Maverick will be helpful? I dunno what the legalese would be, but…”Noah blinked twice.
“... Maverick?” Incredulity in her voices, Noah was put off balance once again as her head jerked to Marrie.
“Maverick as in Maverick Alternative? Like- the terrorist organization?” Wide eyed, Noah stared at Marrie. After a moment, her face twisted slightly, she coughed, shook her head, and recomposed herself.
“I… I do not think the government would be eager to help an organization like… well, that, transfer ownership of property…”Oh, right. They
were technically terrorists, weren’t they?
”That’s a good point, but they’re the most likely way to get this done legally. I’m sure they have plenty of people in there who could manage, but…” Was there any other way? Surely there were Freelancer lawyers, but without a way to pay for whatever would have to be done, Marrie doubted that they would be jumping on the chance. She turned her attention back to Oliver.
”Maybe it would be better to go with the other idea and try to get someone you trust to be the legal owner? Preferably someone who can see you, unless you have an effective way to communicate otherwise.” Oliver sighed.
”Ah, that’s the fork in the road, isn’t it? I can’t recall anyone that really knows me. Most I do is stalk the catacombs in my freetime and act as an ‘imaginary friend’ for the kids that live around here. I don’t really go far.” He frowned in thought, before looking directly at Marrie.
”Can’t you help me though? I mean if you want to, of course! You two are just the first I’ve revealed myself to in…years.” Marrie nodded twice without a second of hesitation.
”Of course. I want to help, I’m just not sure what the best way to do so would be. Do you have any alternative ideas?” Nobody who could work as a go-between for Oliver and the world of the normals was a problem. Church was also correct to point out that bringing in those who were legally considered terrorists might not be a great idea. Maybe the espers at the Great Escape would have some ideas, if the three who were there couldn’t figure out an answer.
Unlike Marrie, Noah didn’t say anything one way or the other quite yet. Instead, she asked what she believed to be the only real question.
“... Do you want us to act as that legal owner in your place?” Noah wasn’t even remotely close to familiar with the general esper scene, so she could only guess at things like this, but if trying to find another freelancer that would be willing to act as the go-between would really be so hard that Marrie suggested a terrorist group as her first alternative… Well, the demon before them probably didn’t have very many options
besides the two of them.
Oliver seemed to pause at Noah’s question. He glanced back at the nun, an expression of slight discomfort crossing his features for a second.
”I…” The ghost shook his head.
”If anything, maybe you can help me find someone? I’m sure if I focus I can appear less incorporeal...” He nervously frowned.
”Even so I, uh, I’d rather go with her.” Oliver motioned to Marrie.
Noah sighed.
“... Fair, I suppose..” As much as it pained her to say it, she felt similarly to the demon on that topic.
While Marrie didn’t know why Oliver seemed to prefer her, she was glad that he also seemed to like the idea of finding someone to help.
”If there’s no-one who knows you on a personal level, the next best thing might be to find out if there’s anyone who shares your vision for this place.” She gestured around at the theater as if Oliver had never seen it before.
”If you can’t think of anyone who showed up and seemed like a good start, then…” She put her hand on her chin in thought for a few moments.
”It could be dangerous to have you leave the theater to meet someone, both because I don’t know if that’s dangerous for a ghost and because you’d be more likely to get seen by someone who wants to be violent about the situation. On the other hand, staying here and bringing people in to meet you means possibly letting your situation slip to those who would try to exploit it somehow. It’s a tough choice.”A lightbulb was nearly visible above Marrie’s head as she punched her fist into her other palm.
”Of course! The safest way to get you to meet potential partners is if you can latch onto someone. Can you possess people, preferably with, like, dual-control from you and the person? For example, then you could go out and meet people who seem like good leads without them knowing what you look like or entirely knowing the situation with you being here. It’s a little bit dishonest, but anyone who would get upset about that probably wouldn’t be a good match for helping a ghost in the first place.”“Marrie you cannot be serious-””Hmm…” Oliver thought for a moment, then nodded.
”Y-Yeah, I can do that.”Noah could do nothing but shake her head in disbelief. There were many things that Noah would very much like to say in that moment, but most of those things were either quite rude or would most assuredly spawn some manner of argument. Something she was trying to be better about.
So, against her better judgment, with skepticism that may as well have permeated the room, Noah asked the obvious question.
“... And who, exactly, are we suggesting Oliver should possess?””Well…” Marrie shrugged and scratched the side of her head for a moment as she considered the possible outcomes.
”I mean, helping out like this would be good for my mental health, so I could be the person, at least to get him into contact with someone who would, you know, actually be able to help with the larger problem of fixing things up here.” How hard could it be? If Oliver and herself spent a few days working at it, the Great Escape should provide some good leads for helping fix the theater in a way Oliver would like. She wasn’t confident in herself enough to have been okay with looking on her own, but if the one who was supposed to make the decision was there too…
”Hopefully it’s not a ‘oh, ghosts take over a person completely’ thing, but even if it is, you’re here, Church. Not that I think Oliver will do anything bad, but the buddy system is a great concept.” For a few seconds, Noah stared blankly at Marrie. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath and muttered.
“Lord, grant me strength…” Her hand fell to her side, and Noah’s mouth formed a thin line before she spoke again.
“Alright, we can try that, sure. However,” Noah stressed.
“If this does work, I will be coming with you – both of you – whenever you two decide it’s time to start looking.” It was nonnegotiable. If it turned out that the demon could just force Marrie out of her own body whenever it wanted, and only pretended to not be able to, it would be for the best that Noah was actually there and present to do something about it outside of this singular instance. Better to have some kind of insurance than none at all.
”I mean- …Actually. At the very least I can just attach to you, that way I can still come without having to share a body. Hmm…” Oliver glanced around, before his eyes landed on the book he’s been holding the whole time. After thinking it over, he held it up for Marrie to take.
”My spellbook. It should suffice.” He explained.
Having Church come along was a good idea, to be sure. But Oliver mentioning that he didn’t actually need to
literally possess her was reassuring, deep down.
”Sure thing.” Marrie reached out and took hold of the book.
”If you don’t mind me asking, why do you have a spellbook?””Magi.” Hadn’t he mentioned that to them earlier? Oliver pointed down at the book.
”At least I guessed that’s the term people use nowadays.”Marrie paused, the book kept tightly in her hand. Magi? Ah well, hopefully that doesn’t mean things are going to be harder than otherwise. Why would it even matter, though, especially if nobody found out?
”That’s really cool. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to teach me any, heh.” She held the book in front of her face to look at the cover.
”So carrying this around will let you stick nearby? If it’s that easy, we can probably start now, if you want. I can only think of one place to start the search, unless you have better ideas already.”At the mention of him teaching Marrie spells, Oliver’s eyes seem to light up. But then he remembered:
”I dunno if it’s possible for someone to be both a Magi and an Esper at once. I’d be glad to teach you a few tricks otherwise. But, yes, after you!”The three left the theater together. Marrie led the group while her fellow esper and new ghostly companion trailed right behind her. Noah did still have one question left, though.
What was a Magi?
The rest of their trip, following that question, was occupied almost exclusively by Oliver’s
very enthusiastic exposition.
