He's a Mess of a Man

Book One ~ Chapter Two

Leviathan sat in the palace salon with Asra, the Countess, and Lucio in excruciatingly awkward silence. Countess Nadia had asked Loganne to take the Princess out into the garden. The tea had grown lukewarm and most of the snacks were gone. Countess Nadia was gently massaging her temples. Lucio was sulking at the tea tray. He kept reaching for cookies that he could not eat. Leviathan just stared at his own feet. And Asra sat ominously quiet and still. "So... My ex-husband is a ghost, and he's haunting the man I hired to investigate his murder. The man who confessed to that murder, Doctor Devorak, did not commit the crime," said the Countess, breaking the room's heavy silence.

Leviathan nodded nervously, "That is correct..."

"In that case... who did kill him..?" asked the Countess.

Lucio and Leviathan answered at almost the exact time, "No one did, Lucio told me–"

"No one killed me, alright?" yelled Lucio, "I'm not dead! It was just a little oopsie..." he mumbled. "Why is that so hard to understand?"

Asra finally roused himself enough to throw a dirty look at Lucio, "What's done is done. Now we need to figure out what to do about... this," he vaguely waved a hand at Lucio's ghost.

"What am I, some kind of curiosity? What have I done to deserve this treatment?" asked an offended Lucio.

Asra completely ignored him. His expression softened when he turned to Leviathan, "I'm so sorry for leaving you and Sandra like I did... I should've been here to help you."

Leviathan sighed, "I'm fine, but for Sandra's sake, yes... Yes, you should have been here. Why did you leave? What was more important than your own, many months pregnant, pertner?" he asked with an irritated tone.

"It's not important anymore," said Asra.

"Excuse me! What about me?" said an impatient Lucio.

Asra smiled serenely into Lucio's furious face, "Sorry. Did you say something? Because I didn't hear a word." Lucio could only gape at Asra in horror.

"You can't hear what he's saying?" Leviathan asked.

"Not at the moment, no."

Lucio looked, if anything, even more indignant, "What?!" he yelped, "Alright, we're gonna have some words right here, right now!" He squinted intently at Asra. His lips moved, but Leviathan heard nothing.

"... Rude," Asra mumbled.

Countess Nadia cleared her throat, "If we could return to the topic at hand, that would be wonderful." She turned to Leviathan, "I greatly appreciate your efforts to prevent Lucio from haunting the palace. However, permitting him to haunt you instead seems like a... temporary solution at best."

"I agree," said Asra, "But a permanent solution may not be so simple. Lucio's condition is unusual. Levi, your description of his goatish form is proof enough of that. Some sort of magic must've gone awry with him." Asra then stood up, examining Lucio minutely. Leviathan sensed a faint tingle in his aura.

"Uh... what exactly is he doing..?" Lucio asked nervously.

The hint of magic disappeared and Asra sat back down, deep in thought, "Well... we could bring him to the Magical Realms."

Lucio started waving his arms frantically, "Hey, hey! I'm not on board with any of this! I haven't heard a single word about bringing me back to life! That was the point of this whole thing in the first place!" he turned to Leviathan, "Tell Asra, Levi. Tell him what I want!"

He sighed, "Fine, I'll tell him in just a moment."

Asra groaned as he shifted in his seat. Just being in the same room as Lucio seemed to irritate him. "Let me guess, he doesn't want to go along with any idea of mine?"