Visible Ghosts

3

Zane and I spent the weekend rereading the files on the case and trying to pinpoint where the money could be going. My best bet was the associate professor and the dean. The dean was double dipping in laundering money and then earned cash from the drugs he sanctioned on campus. The bastard had already caused four overdoses that could be traced back to JH14. Who knows how many more deaths were because of him.

We also spent the time cementing our new alias. Sang and Zane Roberts were adopted siblings of Phil Roberts. Technically we were not Academy but we knew of it. We are in college to finish up some degrees that we've wanted. In our time away from school, I worked for Phil at the hospital as a nurse or at the tackle shop at the pier. Zane was a consultant for an agricultural firm whose initiative was sustainable irrigation.

A lot of our backstory was similar to our real story besides the fact that we've been with Phil since we were kids. Phil didn't adopt us into the Academy until we were 15, when we escaped New York and the gang that had stolen us as children off the streets.

My family abandoned me when I was 12, after years of abuse. My stepmother hated me. She thought of me as a devil spawn. My birth mother was a witch that seduced my father into getting her pregnant when she was 15. She died giving birth to me and as a result I ended up in the care of a no show father and monster of a mother.

But for all the evil they inflicted upon me, they are also the reason I survived being left to fend for myself in the dead of winter in the middle of New York City. They packed up their bags and followed my father's job to Illinois. I was living on the street for a month before one of Luca's men found me huddled behind a garbage bin.

They took me in, clothed me, and fed me. That was where I met Zane, in the spiderweb of the New York Italian mob. I was with them for two long years. We were trained to become whoever they needed us to be. Our ghost status was quickly revealed when they ran a background check on us. My over sensitive hearing and smell from hiding from my monster of a mother helped improve my rank. I wasn't bothered as much. The older men knew to leave me alone or Luca would find a way for them to disappear. Over those two years, I lost most of the innocence I possessed. I've lied, I've cheated, I've beaten and tortured, I've killed.

What Luca didn't realize at the time was he was training Zane and I to leave and never look back. When we finally found the courage and supplies we slipped away right before my 15th birthday. For almost a year we covered our tracks and led Luca on a wild goose chase. Eventually, Zane and I were able to fake our deaths. Car went over a bridge, bodies weren't found until days later and by that time they were too chewed up and bloated to get accurate readings on fingerprints. We didn't have dental records but since that day Luca hasn't been out of New York.

I still keep tabs on him to ensure they aren't coming after us again. It's been 6 years and we haven't had a problem but I still get the occasional nightmare that they've somehow found us.

Phil found us when we were in Charleston. We were helping a family evacuate out of a burning building when emergency services arrived. What we didn't know at the time was the family that we helped were adopted by a member of the Academy. Phil took one look at me and Zane and ushered us into his car. Burnt smokey clothes and all.

Imagine his surprise when he stumbled upon two ghosts that were skilled in weapons, tracking, and thievery. Many of the elders tried to get us to join other teams. They especially didn't like that I wouldn't join a bird team. Even at 15 my stubborn streak was a mile wide, I dug my heels in hard enough that they finally relented and left Zane and I to be our own team.

To present day, this is the first time we will be working with another team on an extensive undercover mission. Even if they don't know we're working with them.