Nameless Ghoul

Hypothesis

Itzal wanted to speak to Shay the following morning, but he was unavailable. Sunshine had slept in, spending a lazy morning in bed.

He thought that he might have had a break from the bad dreams while his soul caught up with being reinstated into his body, but alas; it was wishful thinking. The usual show reel of memories interspersed with creative new ways to torment him made for a restless night. He tried his best not to wake Sunshine, but each time he woke with a start, he felt her snuggle into him or hold him tighter, so she must have woken too. She looked tired when he finally woke up for the day, so he crept out of bed silently and left her to sleep in peace.

He grabbed a coffee from the canteen as he noticed it was quiet on his way past, and he wandered outside for some fresh air. As he walked through the gardens, the crisp winter air woke him up properly and the caffeine helped push him the rest of the way. He heard a voice calling his name and when he looked back, Omega was striding towards him.

“Morning, Itzal,” he said with a smile. “Did you sleep ok?”

“Hmm, so, so,” he responded as he took another sip of the coffee.

Omega chuckled. 

"Oh, busy night, was it?”

Itzal dropped his eyes and felt his cheeks flush.

“No, I didn’t sleep too well, is all.”

Omega looked like he cursed himself as he nodded.

“Were you okay after yesterday? You seemed a bit rattled when we were leaving. Sunshine said you’d done too much, but it didn’t feel that way to me.”

Itzal silently cursed him for being so astute and so nosey. He debated whether to tell him, but seeing as he couldn’t talk to Shay, he would see what Omega thought; he was a wise soul and attended a lot of the meetings about these types of things with Terzo, so his opinion would be valid.

“Okay, but it’s going to sound crazy,” he said, shaking his head. Omega raised his eyebrows. "I thought I saw Santos in the last store we were in, and I thought I scented him, too. But then I lost track, and there were so many humans there and there were too many smells and I lost the scent. Sunshine tried to tell me he's gone now and I know she’s right. I felt stressed and it’s only been a couple of days since I came back, so it was probably paranoia. But I just can’t shake this feeling that it was him.”

Omega thought on it for a few minutes.

“Well, if you want my opinion? I won't lie to make you feel better, and you might not want to hear this, but I don’t think you’re crazy. I think it’s possible.” Itzal wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly. If he was honest, he'd expected the same reaction that he'd got from Sunshine. His heart rate picked up, and he waited to see what else he had to say before jumping in. "Secondo said that they weren’t sure what kind of binding spell Santos used. It wasn’t the one the Clergy uses. The Santos family was into all kinds of fucked up shit, so who knows what kind of magic he had access to? I guess it is plausible that he could have bypassed the dying when you die part somehow. Hypothetically.”

Itzal’s brow furrowed. Omega was right. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but it was what he needed to; that he wasn’t overreacting and that he wasn’t losing his mind. Of course, that was still possible, and he hoped with all of his heart that it was the case and that he was overreacting. Because the alternative?

He didn’t even want to think about Santos still being out there somewhere.

“What should we do?” he whispered.

Omega shrugged.

"There isn’t much we can do at the moment. I heard that Secondo is sending ghouls to check on the church and figure out what’s happening. So until then, we’ll just have to sit tight and wait. I know it’s hard, but try to enjoy the next few days. Yule is the nicest time of year here. It will be the best one you’ve had, I bet.”