As soon as Cerys spoke up, the spectral figure seemed to focus on her. He raised his knife then lunged forward towards the young blonde with unnatural speed. Fortunately he wasn't the only one with supernatural speed, and a couple of us sprang into action at the same time.
Cerys ducked back while Melanie moved to put herself between the ghost and her girlfriend. At the same time I used my demonic strength to launch myself up from where I was sitting on the floor next to Kaylee, to try and intercept the ghost before it even got to the wolfgirls.
I was expecting some sort of impact, but the figure seemed to be made of magic. And just like all the circles and spells and other magic I'd touched over the past year and a half, as soon as I came into contact with the ghost all the magic that supported him was drained into me. He vanished without a trace, while my momentum carried me into the wall next to the doorframe. The impact didn't actually hurt me, but my shoulder left a dent in the plaster.
The whole thing was over so fast it left all of us sort of startled or stunned, as we all looked around for any sign that the ghost might still be lurking nearby. There was no trace of the figure though, or the magic that was powering him.
Brooke turned on some lights as Kaylee asked, "What happened? Cass, are you ok?"
"I'm fine," I nodded. "I sucked all the magic out of him and he went poof, I think?"
Paige asked, "Is everyone else ok? Cerys, are you all right?"
The young wolfgirl looked shaken, but she nodded her head. "I'm ok. Just freaking out a little bit?"
"Are you sure that was your dad?" Kaylee asked. "He's not um, he's not dead is he?"
Cerys shook her head. She sounded uneasy as she replied, "He's not dead. He's in jail. I know that for a fact."
Brooke suggested, "Maybe we should verify it anyways, just to be sure? There must be something here that belongs to him, I could try and scry for him and confirm where he is?"
"If you really want to?" Cerys said with a quiet sigh. "I'm positive he's still in jail though."
She got up from where she'd been sitting on the bed and went to a tall dresser to the left of the bed. She opened the top drawer and had a quick look inside, then looked back at the taller blonde and said, "Pretty much everything in the top drawer here is his. His watch would probably have the strongest link to him? He wore it pretty much every day, and it has some sentimental value for him."
While our former leader moved to look at that our current leader asked, "So if he's still in jail that raises a bunch more questions. How can he possibly be haunting your mom?"
I asked, "Is it possible for someone to be a ghost while they're still alive? Or I guess put it another way, is there anything similar to a ghost that living people can do?"
"Astral projection," Kaylee responded. "In simple terms it's like projecting your spiritual self elsewhere. You're still tethered to your physical body, which remains behind while your astral self is out exploring. It's sort of like being asleep but dreaming of being elsewhere, except it's more than a dream."
Paige added, "Some people can do it naturally, but it's very rare. People can also learn how to do it, but it takes some practice."
"Except it shouldn't be possible for an astral projection to cause the kind of violent damage we've seen here," Kaylee stated. "I guess it might be theoretically possible, but only if someone had enough power and strength? That would be incredibly rare though."
"When you say the astral projection is tethered to the body, what's that look like?" I asked.
My girlfriend explained, "The descriptions I've read about astral projection call it a silver thread or silver cord? It's very important that the cord is never cut or severed though. Some stories say if that happens the body dies and the astral self ends up wandering free for eternity, while others just say if the body dies then so does the astral self. Either way it's extremely bad news if that ever gets cut."
Melanie had an arm around her girlfriend, but she was watching me. She asked, "Why are you asking about that Cass? What did you see?"
"The 'ghostly figure' was sort of outlined in magic?" I replied with a shrug. Then I pointed as I added, "And there was a thread or line of magic that emerged from him and stretched off into the distance, through that wall there."
Paige looked around to get her bearings then said, "I'm pretty sure that's north. Cerys, do you know where your dad's supposed to be in jail? Is it somewhere north of here?"
"Gravenhurst," Brooke interjected. She was still standing next to the dresser, holding Mr. Ainsley's wristwatch in her hand. "He's in Gravenhurst."
The younger blonde still looked very uneasy. Actually the best way to describe her expression was haunted. She nodded though and replied quietly, "Dad is incarcerated at the Beaver Creek institution. That's a federal correctional facility. And yeah, it's in Gravenhurst."
"That's around a hundred and fifty kilometres north of here," Paige said.
Kaylee asked, "So how did your dad learn how to do astral projection? And how did he get so good at it that he could break glasses and slash bedding?"
"And why do you suppose he's so angry with you?" Brooke added. "It seemed like he was intent on attacking you just now, he came at you as soon as you spoke up."
Paige frowned, "Those are some very good questions. He's obviously got a lot of anger towards you Cerys. Do you know why?"
Melanie still had an arm around the younger wolf. She pulled her girlfriend into a hug and asked again, "Are you sure you're ok with all this? If you need some time we can deal with the questions and stuff another time."
"It's ok," Cerys replied as she hugged Melanie back. She didn't sound ok though, she seemed upset, worried, maybe even a little afraid.
After taking a deep breath the blonde wolf answered Brooke and Paige's questions, "I testified at my dad's trial. My mom... She bailed him out of jail, then she refused to testify against him. Mom tried to convince me not to either, but I was done letting her cover things up and keep it all under wraps."
She sighed and added, "One of the prosecutors said my testimony probably added at least five years to his sentence. If I stayed quiet he probably would have had a year or two, in a provincial facility. Instead he got seven years in a federal prison. He probably wants revenge."
I remembered she mentioned some of that at new years, but Brooke and Paige weren't around at the time. And she didn't say anything about how long her dad was going to be in jail, or that she helped make sure he got a much longer sentence.
"That explains why he's so angry anyways," Brooke said.
Then Melanie commented, "That probably explains the timing of the hauntings too, right? Like between one and three in the morning? Mr. Ainsley's probably in bed pretending to be asleep, and I'm guessing there's nobody going to disturb him or interrupt during those times?"
"That makes sense," Kaylee agreed.
I had another question though, "If he's trying to get at Cerys, why was he haunting Mrs. Ainsley's house? Why scare her and smash stuff in her kitchen, when it sounds like she was on his side?"
The blonde wolf sighed and mumbled, "Maybe he couldn't find me, so he was lashing out at her? He beat her up the same night he hit me, he sent us both to the hospital."
That made me grimace as I realized I was probably being insensitive. I gave her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry Cerys. I didn't mean to upset you or anything."
"It's ok Cass," she replied quietly. "Who knows why he does anything? He'd lash out at both of us before, that's why I used to use sleep spells to knock him out."
We were all quiet for a bit after that, then Paige pointed out "We've still got two big unanswered questions. How did he learn astral projection? And how'd he get so good at it?"
Kaylee looked to Cerys and asked, "Did you have any information on astral projection in your hidden notebooks? Your mom mentioned your dad found them, maybe he's been studying your spell books?"
The blonde wolf looked more uneasy or nervous again. She shook her head, "I never had anything about astral projection. I never learned how to do it. But um... I assumed dad burned all my notebooks along with everything else that night? I guess it's possible he kept them, or hid them somewhere else? Except I doubt they'd let him take that stuff with him when he went to jail?"
"It's a long-shot but maybe he met someone in prison who's teaching him this stuff?" Kaylee suggested. "It's definitely not common knowledge, but I think that's more likely than him figuring it out on his own. Or learning it from a book he found in the prison library."
Melanie stated, "He's only been there for about two months. And the incidents here started at the beginning of December, according to Mrs. Ainsley. That was less than a month after he went to jail. It all seems too fast, like however he's doing this he's gone from zero to mastering it in a really short time, right?"
All that only seemed to make Cerys even more uneasy, and the two wolfgirls ended up hugging again while Melanie quietly apologized for upsetting her girlfriend.
Then Paige started to say something but ended up stifling a yawn instead. She grimaced, "It's past two in the morning now. Maybe we should try and get some sleep? Or should we all just go home? What does everyone want to do?"
"I told my parents I was sleeping over at Cass's place," Kaylee responded. "If I go home at half past two my folks will want to know what happened, they'll make a big deal out of it. It's honestly easier if I don't go home until tomorrow."
Cerys was still holding onto her girlfriend, but she gave us all an apologetic look and said "I want to get out of here. I can't sleep in this house."
I suggested, "How about me and Nina take Kaylee to our place then? Paige, can you take Melanie and Cerys back to their place? Then you and Brooke can head home too?"
"That sounds good to me," my girlfriend said. She moved closer and wrapped her arm around my shoulders.
The tall brunette yawned once more, so Brooke offered "Why don't I do the driving? You look like you're about ready for bed Paige."
"Mkay," our club leader agreed.
With the decision made, we turned out the lights again then we all headed down to the front hall and started putting on our winter boots and coats and stuff. Or everyone else did. I had a better idea, as I looked over at my little sister.
"Nina?" I asked my sister in a calm quiet voice. "If we go in through the front door we'll wake up our parents. Why don't we just teleport directly into our bedrooms?"
She frowned, "If they find out we did that we'll get in trouble. No magic at home, remember?"
I shrugged, "It'll be fine. They'll be asleep, they won't notice."
Nina thought it over then finally nodded. She got out of her boots and coat, and Kaylee did as well. That's when I noticed the other girls were all staring at me.
"So you can teleport now too?" Brooke asked me.
"Yes," I nodded once. "I don't do it often, but it comes in handy now and then."
"I bet," Melanie responded with a smile.
Kaylee and Nina and I bid the rest of the gang a good night, then we all picked up our boots and coats and backpacks and everything. Me and Kaylee were standing right next to each other, and I teleported the two of us straight to my bedroom. Meanwhile Nina returned directly to her room as well.
Then the three of us took turns using the washroom as we all quietly got ready for bed. I gave my little sister a hug and wished her a good night, then me and Kaylee both climbed into my small bed together. She left her glasses on my bedside table and the two of us cuddled up close under the covers.
"Thanks for letting me stay here with you Cass," she whispered. "I really didn't want to sleep in that house either."
I replied softly, "Neither did I."
"I hope Cerys is going to be ok," I added. "She seemed very upset after that encounter."
Kaylee sighed softly, "Yeah. Melanie will look after her. We still have to figure out how her dad's doing all that though? Like how he learned in the first place, and how he got so good at it, so quickly. Something doesn't add up."
"True," I agreed. "It'll be challenging to deal with him as long as he's in jail. We can't exactly go and speak with him while he's in there. Although, I suppose I could teleport him out of jail so we could confront him."
"That's a really terrible idea," Kaylee replied quietly. Then she yawned, "Anyways we should get some sleep Cass. There'll probably be another group meeting soon, to go over all this stuff."
I nodded, "Alright Kaylee. Good night."
"G'night Cass," she whispered back.
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As soon as Cerys spoke up, the spectral figure seemed to focus on her. He raised his knife then lunged forward towards the young blonde with unnatural speed. Fortunately he wasn't the only one with supernatural speed, and a couple of us sprang into action at the same time.
Cerys ducked back while Melanie moved to put herself between the ghost and her girlfriend. At the same time I used my demonic strength to launch myself up from where I was sitting on the floor next to Kaylee, to try and intercept the ghost before it even got to the wolfgirls.
I was expecting some sort of impact, but the figure seemed to be made of magic. And just like all the circles and spells and other magic I'd touched over the past year and a half, as soon as I came into contact with the ghost all the magic that supported him was drained into me. He vanished without a trace, while my momentum carried me into the wall next to the doorframe. The impact didn't actually hurt me, but my shoulder left a dent in the plaster.
The whole thing was over so fast it left all of us sort of startled or stunned, as we all looked around for any sign that the ghost might still be lurking nearby. There was no trace of the figure though, or the magic that was powering him.
Brooke turned on some lights as Kaylee asked, "What happened? Cass, are you ok?"
"I'm fine," I nodded. "I sucked all the magic out of him and he went poof, I think?"
Paige asked, "Is everyone else ok? Cerys, are you all right?"
The young wolfgirl looked shaken, but she nodded her head. "I'm ok. Just freaking out a little bit?"
"Are you sure that was your dad?" Kaylee asked. "He's not um, he's not dead is he?"
Cerys shook her head. She sounded uneasy as she replied, "He's not dead. He's in jail. I know that for a fact."
Brooke suggested, "Maybe we should verify it anyways, just to be sure? There must be something here that belongs to him, I could try and scry for him and confirm where he is?"
"If you really want to?" Cerys said with a quiet sigh. "I'm positive he's still in jail though."
She got up from where she'd been sitting on the bed and went to a tall dresser to the left of the bed. She opened the top drawer and had a quick look inside, then looked back at the taller blonde and said, "Pretty much everything in the top drawer here is his. His watch would probably have the strongest link to him? He wore it pretty much every day, and it has some sentimental value for him."
While our former leader moved to look at that our current leader asked, "So if he's still in jail that raises a bunch more questions. How can he possibly be haunting your mom?"
I asked, "Is it possible for someone to be a ghost while they're still alive? Or I guess put it another way, is there anything similar to a ghost that living people can do?"
"Astral projection," Kaylee responded. "In simple terms it's like projecting your spiritual self elsewhere. You're still tethered to your physical body, which remains behind while your astral self is out exploring. It's sort of like being asleep but dreaming of being elsewhere, except it's more than a dream."
Paige added, "Some people can do it naturally, but it's very rare. People can also learn how to do it, but it takes some practice."
"Except it shouldn't be possible for an astral projection to cause the kind of violent damage we've seen here," Kaylee stated. "I guess it might be theoretically possible, but only if someone had enough power and strength? That would be incredibly rare though."
"When you say the astral projection is tethered to the body, what's that look like?" I asked.
My girlfriend explained, "The descriptions I've read about astral projection call it a silver thread or silver cord? It's very important that the cord is never cut or severed though. Some stories say if that happens the body dies and the astral self ends up wandering free for eternity, while others just say if the body dies then so does the astral self. Either way it's extremely bad news if that ever gets cut."
Melanie had an arm around her girlfriend, but she was watching me. She asked, "Why are you asking about that Cass? What did you see?"
"The 'ghostly figure' was sort of outlined in magic?" I replied with a shrug. Then I pointed as I added, "And there was a thread or line of magic that emerged from him and stretched off into the distance, through that wall there."
Paige looked around to get her bearings then said, "I'm pretty sure that's north. Cerys, do you know where your dad's supposed to be in jail? Is it somewhere north of here?"
"Gravenhurst," Brooke interjected. She was still standing next to the dresser, holding Mr. Ainsley's wristwatch in her hand. "He's in Gravenhurst."
The younger blonde still looked very uneasy. Actually the best way to describe her expression was haunted. She nodded though and replied quietly, "Dad is incarcerated at the Beaver Creek institution. That's a federal correctional facility. And yeah, it's in Gravenhurst."
"That's around a hundred and fifty kilometres north of here," Paige said.
Kaylee asked, "So how did your dad learn how to do astral projection? And how did he get so good at it that he could break glasses and slash bedding?"
"And why do you suppose he's so angry with you?" Brooke added. "It seemed like he was intent on attacking you just now, he came at you as soon as you spoke up."
Paige frowned, "Those are some very good questions. He's obviously got a lot of anger towards you Cerys. Do you know why?"
Melanie still had an arm around the younger wolf. She pulled her girlfriend into a hug and asked again, "Are you sure you're ok with all this? If you need some time we can deal with the questions and stuff another time."
"It's ok," Cerys replied as she hugged Melanie back. She didn't sound ok though, she seemed upset, worried, maybe even a little afraid.
After taking a deep breath the blonde wolf answered Brooke and Paige's questions, "I testified at my dad's trial. My mom... She bailed him out of jail, then she refused to testify against him. Mom tried to convince me not to either, but I was done letting her cover things up and keep it all under wraps."
She sighed and added, "One of the prosecutors said my testimony probably added at least five years to his sentence. If I stayed quiet he probably would have had a year or two, in a provincial facility. Instead he got seven years in a federal prison. He probably wants revenge."
I remembered she mentioned some of that at new years, but Brooke and Paige weren't around at the time. And she didn't say anything about how long her dad was going to be in jail, or that she helped make sure he got a much longer sentence.
"That explains why he's so angry anyways," Brooke said.
Then Melanie commented, "That probably explains the timing of the hauntings too, right? Like between one and three in the morning? Mr. Ainsley's probably in bed pretending to be asleep, and I'm guessing there's nobody going to disturb him or interrupt during those times?"
"That makes sense," Kaylee agreed.
I had another question though, "If he's trying to get at Cerys, why was he haunting Mrs. Ainsley's house? Why scare her and smash stuff in her kitchen, when it sounds like she was on his side?"
The blonde wolf sighed and mumbled, "Maybe he couldn't find me, so he was lashing out at her? He beat her up the same night he hit me, he sent us both to the hospital."
That made me grimace as I realized I was probably being insensitive. I gave her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry Cerys. I didn't mean to upset you or anything."
"It's ok Cass," she replied quietly. "Who knows why he does anything? He'd lash out at both of us before, that's why I used to use sleep spells to knock him out."
We were all quiet for a bit after that, then Paige pointed out "We've still got two big unanswered questions. How did he learn astral projection? And how'd he get so good at it?"
Kaylee looked to Cerys and asked, "Did you have any information on astral projection in your hidden notebooks? Your mom mentioned your dad found them, maybe he's been studying your spell books?"
The blonde wolf looked more uneasy or nervous again. She shook her head, "I never had anything about astral projection. I never learned how to do it. But um... I assumed dad burned all my notebooks along with everything else that night? I guess it's possible he kept them, or hid them somewhere else? Except I doubt they'd let him take that stuff with him when he went to jail?"
"It's a long-shot but maybe he met someone in prison who's teaching him this stuff?" Kaylee suggested. "It's definitely not common knowledge, but I think that's more likely than him figuring it out on his own. Or learning it from a book he found in the prison library."
Melanie stated, "He's only been there for about two months. And the incidents here started at the beginning of December, according to Mrs. Ainsley. That was less than a month after he went to jail. It all seems too fast, like however he's doing this he's gone from zero to mastering it in a really short time, right?"
All that only seemed to make Cerys even more uneasy, and the two wolfgirls ended up hugging again while Melanie quietly apologized for upsetting her girlfriend.
Then Paige started to say something but ended up stifling a yawn instead. She grimaced, "It's past two in the morning now. Maybe we should try and get some sleep? Or should we all just go home? What does everyone want to do?"
"I told my parents I was sleeping over at Cass's place," Kaylee responded. "If I go home at half past two my folks will want to know what happened, they'll make a big deal out of it. It's honestly easier if I don't go home until tomorrow."
Cerys was still holding onto her girlfriend, but she gave us all an apologetic look and said "I want to get out of here. I can't sleep in this house."
I suggested, "How about me and Nina take Kaylee to our place then? Paige, can you take Melanie and Cerys back to their place? Then you and Brooke can head home too?"
"That sounds good to me," my girlfriend said. She moved closer and wrapped her arm around my shoulders.
The tall brunette yawned once more, so Brooke offered "Why don't I do the driving? You look like you're about ready for bed Paige."
"Mkay," our club leader agreed.
With the decision made, we turned out the lights again then we all headed down to the front hall and started putting on our winter boots and coats and stuff. Or everyone else did. I had a better idea, as I looked over at my little sister.
"Nina?" I asked my sister in a calm quiet voice. "If we go in through the front door we'll wake up our parents. Why don't we just teleport directly into our bedrooms?"
She frowned, "If they find out we did that we'll get in trouble. No magic at home, remember?"
I shrugged, "It'll be fine. They'll be asleep, they won't notice."
Nina thought it over then finally nodded. She got out of her boots and coat, and Kaylee did as well. That's when I noticed the other girls were all staring at me.
"So you can teleport now too?" Brooke asked me.
"Yes," I nodded once. "I don't do it often, but it comes in handy now and then."
"I bet," Melanie responded with a smile.
Kaylee and Nina and I bid the rest of the gang a good night, then we all picked up our boots and coats and backpacks and everything. Me and Kaylee were standing right next to each other, and I teleported the two of us straight to my bedroom. Meanwhile Nina returned directly to her room as well.
Then the three of us took turns using the washroom as we all quietly got ready for bed. I gave my little sister a hug and wished her a good night, then me and Kaylee both climbed into my small bed together. She left her glasses on my bedside table and the two of us cuddled up close under the covers.
"Thanks for letting me stay here with you Cass," she whispered. "I really didn't want to sleep in that house either."
I replied softly, "Neither did I."
"I hope Cerys is going to be ok," I added. "She seemed very upset after that encounter."
Kaylee sighed softly, "Yeah. Melanie will look after her. We still have to figure out how her dad's doing all that though? Like how he learned in the first place, and how he got so good at it, so quickly. Something doesn't add up."
"True," I agreed. "It'll be challenging to deal with him as long as he's in jail. We can't exactly go and speak with him while he's in there. Although, I suppose I could teleport him out of jail so we could confront him."
"That's a really terrible idea," Kaylee replied quietly. Then she yawned, "Anyways we should get some sleep Cass. There'll probably be another group meeting soon, to go over all this stuff."
I nodded, "Alright Kaylee. Good night."
"G'night Cass," she whispered back.
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