The Septic Curse

Twenty-One

"...So, despite how badly I got my ass kicked, I did it VERY heroically!" 

Marvin claimed at the dinner table. He had a bandage on his forehead and his left arm was wrapped up, but otherwise, he was okay. 

"'Heroically'? Bro, you didn't even chase the guy off! Chase did- Chase... Chase chased the guy out. Heh." Jackie got sidetracked for a second, but quickly shook it off. 

"Hey! No fair! I put the tracking spell on Sam, I found out that the guy helping it was alive, and I found out the helper's name! Well, not really... But it's something to call him." Marvin harrumphed defensively. 

"Really? You didn't mention zhat." Henrik glared but focused his attention on Chase as the other spoke up. "He went under the alias 'Starless'. We didn't get a good look at his features, and his voice sounded like he had been crying, so we still can't tell who he is." The fatherly ego muttered, "but he is very, VERY protective. Beat the shit out of Marvin for scaring his brat-friend."

"Scaring it? THAT'S why he attacked me?! How did you know??" Marvin startled, clearly insulted that his life wasn't even worth a teardrop from that brat. "It was pretty obvious, Marv. You said that it was screaming and banging on the windows but not coming in- that was a cry for help. And then you said they stared at each other. They have telepathy, remember? And then those sniffles you heard must not have been Starless, but Sam." Chase thought it was rather easy to figure out. 

"...I really fucked up this time, didn't I?" Marvin sighed, putting his head down on the table. "Yeah... Maybe don't scare the kid next time?" Chase suggested, being very helpful. "No shit, Sherlock." The magician hissed back at him. "Hey, I'm just saying, bro. A little less violence goes a LOOOONG way." Chase shrugged, going back to eating.

"What, do you want me to talk to it?! HEY, SAM! WHY DON'T YOU COME DOWN AND JOIN US FER DINNER, EH?!" Marvin snapped, calling up the stairs just to be funny with it. "Seriously, what do you want me to do?!"

"Uhh..." But the others weren't looking at him anymore. 

Marvin turned in his chair to see what was up, only to see Sam standing behind a chair and leaning on it, looking longingly at the cookies behind the pot of mac 'n cheese. 

"...Well don't just stand there, sit down!" The mute seemed to be the only one not speechless in this moment.

"Uh, James? I don't think poltergeist can eat." Chase pointed out finally, "I don't care what the kid has done- eating in front of it like that sounds like a shitty thing to do." "Can't it pick stuff up? If it can pick stuff up, I'm sure it can do more!" Jameson argued. 

"I don't zhink zhat's how it vorks..." Henrik hummed, turning to Marvin for confirmation. The magician, having read as much as he could in the book he was given, was quite knowledgeable on them now... But still not an expert. 

"It's not. It doesn't have a physical body, so it can't digest. It uses a form of light magic to be able to lift things with its mind, and a less energy-consuming version of that interference spell to trick the world around it into thinking a specific part of it is physical- even if its invisible." Marvin explained. 

"So, couldn't it use magic to eat as well?" Jameson 

"Well, yes. It's not that poltergeist can't eat- it would just take so much energy that they'd be out for over a day. It also wouldn't want to use that magic while in its visible form because then it will reveal its true appearance anyways. So even if it technically CAN, it won't do it in front of us." Marvin nodded to Sam, who was sitting now. The ghost had its eyes locked firmly on the cookies. 

"I can see that the kid is tempted to take the risk and eat everything on this table." Chase chuckled, actually wondering if Sam was going to do it. Yeah, he was still mad at the little fucker for the fire incident and was definitely set on getting rid of it, but he still felt bad for the little thing...

"Zhe child looks famished. Probably didn't eat much before it died... Hm... Marvin, zhat could be zhe cause of death..." Henrik muttered, his eyes softening with pity, "no child should have to starve to death..."

But before the room could get gloomy, Sam suddenly was on the other side of the table, about to snatch up the cookies. "UH-UH!" Chase hissed, bolting up and snatching them away before it could touch them. 

Nobody thought Chase would react so strongly over cookies.

...

And of course, he didn't.

He calmed down instantly and pulled out a plate from the pile, scooping some mac 'n cheese along with some peas onto there. Then he put an arc of cookies on the plate, ten cookies in total. He then pulled out another ten cookies and put them on top of the first arc. 

Putting the plate down on the table, the father instructed, "make sure to give the food and ten of the cookies to Starless. If you want a plate of your own, come back. Just make sure that he gets some food in his system... And keep him company, okay? I don't think he's... Okay right now." He didn't know why he was doing this for the two that had been tormenting his family...

But he knew what it felt like to lose someone. And to blame it all on someone else and go to whatever lengths it took to have that person dead... But he also knew that even if that goal was accomplished, it doesn't make you feel any better. 

He didn't know what he thought of the two currently. All he knew was that he wasn't going to let them go like this. Starved, agonized, and depressed. If they died in combat or because of one of Marvin's spells, that was okay. But not like this. 

Sam snatched up the food and disappeared. 

A few minutes later, Chase figured it wasn't coming back and moved to sit back down, only to hear a hiss. He turned back around to see the ghost standing there again, bouncing on the balls of its feet happily. 

The fatherly ego chuckled, shooting Marvin a warning glare as the other reached for the book. It was a bit off-putting, really, to see the kid look so happy yet so blank. Due to its eyes having no pupil, and the inside of the thing's mouth being as snow-white as the outside, Chase felt like he was looking at an unfinished drawing of someone smiling. It was weird. 

He put some mac 'n cheese on another plate and blinked in shock as Sam gestured excitedly at the peas. "What? Ew, gross. Who LIKES peas?" Marvin scrunched up his face in disgust. But Henrik and Chase actually looked quite proud. "Tis a good zhing, mein freund. Zhe child vould be very healthy if it ate like zhat vhile it vas still alive. It is good zhat it likes its vegetables!" 

After making the thing a plate, it teleported off again. 

"Yeah... It's probably not going to be able to do anything until really late at night tomorrow." Marvin huffed in amusement. Chase smiled as he continued eating, but for some reason... That feeling came back again. His heart clenched and he felt as if he had a lot to be sorry for. 

But how could that be if he just helped them? Even if there was something he was supposed to be sorry for, why would he be feeling it after that?

Maybe it was just pity, and he was overthinking it.