Lost Spirits

And Now It's Pouring Rain

A/N: There is a time skip here of about a week.

Mellie had been terrified by Maura's skin being stolen. She hasn't been so mad in a long time. Needless to say she went a little Boggart. Over the next week, Malik's life became torture. Things went missing left and right, even if they had been in his pockets a few minutes earlier. Notebooks were ripped to shreds in his locker. His shoelaces were tied together in almost every class. Homework answers got erased or scribbled on. Gum in his hair. Spitballs hit him from nowhere. Mysterious wind messed up his clothing or hair and stole things away quite often. Once his backpack had even been found up on the roof somehow! None of it could be traced back to Mellie, she was always in class or in the bathroom when it happened. And how on earth would a sweet, regular girl make a magic wind steal away his homework?!

It had been raining ever since that day. The weirdest part was that the forecast hadn't even called for rain. Every day had been a downpour. On the plus side, Nicole hadn't seen what-his-name, the one who had stolen Maura's shawl. He hadn't been in any of her classes though Maura was in her fifth period and Mellie in her third. Her parents had been happy that she had been able to make friends.

Unfortunately, today was the one day her parents wouldn't be able to pick her up from school. Instead, Nicole would have to take the bus home and trek through a forest in order to get to her neighborhood. If she complained of having problems with it, her parents said she could get a ride with a friend or they would rearrange, but for now, the system would stand.

The girls met up after the last class of the day. Nicole looked up at the sky. "Not looking forward to walking home in that." she grumbled.

Mellie sighed a bit, "I'm not looking forward to moving Maura into my apartment in this rain." Thinking about all those boxes and trying to get them to the apartment they would now be sharing made Mellie sigh more.

"I'm definitely not a fan of this cold," Maura complained. She didn't actually mind the rain, she just wished she could have some of her seal blubber in her human form. That would be so much warmer.

"That's what's bugging you, not the rain?" Nicole exclaimed. "Hey, about that new apartment, where is it? I live at 4067 E Lakeshore Avenue. If you guys live nearby, maybe we can visit each other's houses from time to time."

"Cool! I live at 770 E Sunset Street room 217. It's kinda close!" Mellie exclaimed

"Nice." Bus route 34 came around the corner. "That's my bus. See you next week!" Nicole called as she ran off.

Maura waved to Nicole when she noticed something: a short, beanie-wearing boy following Nicole onto the bus. Maura didn't see his face, but she knew that greenish skin all too well. She nudged Mellie's arm. "Hey, we've got trouble."

Mellie cracked her knuckles as she flickered out of view as an illusion double took her place, "I got this!" A key was pushed into Maura's hand from an invisible source, "You start moving your stuff, I'll catch up later after I take care of some.... business."

Maura just stood there for a second looking from the key in her hand to the fake Mellie and back to the key. "Well that's new..." she said to herself. Then she walked to her apartment to get her things before going to Mellie's, the clone following her and helping carry her bags.