Silver Spirit Inn

5 - The Door Between Worlds

Mom bangs on the door and I assure her I'm all right before returning to the ghost. Ariadne floats about six inches above the floor, her form drained of color. She's transparent enough for me to see a vague outline of Great-Aunt Louise's kitchen table through her torso.

"I shouldn't be able to see you," I say. Not without activating my grave sight first.

The ghost humphs and crosses her arms. "When Louise said you were a powerful grave witch, she failed to mention you were an incompetent one."

"Hey!" I exclaim. We just met and she's giving me attitude? What the hell?

Ariadne tilts her head slightly and cocks an arrogant eyebrow. There are different types of ghosts in this world: residuals, which are non-sentient phantom records of past events; poltergeists, mischievous and sometimes malevolent non-human entities; vengeful ghosts, those who subside on negative energy; apparitions, which are semi-sentient spirits who tend to go through the same motions; demonic entities, which we don't touch; and intelligent ghosts. Ariadne is an intelligent ghost—and powerful if she can manifest without a grave witch's help.

She's short and slim, clad in blue jeans and a pale red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her long white hair is crimped in the late-90s/early-00s fashion and tied up in a high ponytail. Everything about her appearance screams Midwestern, but if she's displaying this much power, she might be manipulating her image. Her bare feet and hair sway slightly in the ethereal wind that courses through the spirit realm. If I was fully immersed, I could feel it too.

But believe me, you don't want to. It's not pleasant.

"Let's get a few things out of the way," the ghost continues. "One," she says, ticking off points on her fingers, "I'm bound to serve the women of your line for five hundred years. Two, you're not going to get a backstory out of me, so don't try. Three, the grimoire is also bound to the house, so you can't take it out of this room. Four, the door to the spirit realm opens at dusk. Five, no one but you and me is allowed to pass through the gate, so don't think about bringing your mommy along."

She pauses and stares challengingly at me. I don't know what caused her to be bound, but it may have something to do with her winning personality.

I take a deep breath, absorbing what she's just said. "So what are your duties, exactly?"

"I patrol the grounds and guide any wandering souls to the inn. I also keep tabs on our guests and report to the grave witch what their needs are."

"Why would wandering souls need to come here?" Great-Aunt Louise mentioned healing in her letter, but I want to hear what the ghost has to say.

Ariadne raises a sardonic eyebrow. "Because the way they died was traumatic?" she replies mockingly.

"Fair enough," I tell her, folding my arms. "It's Spirited Away in real life."

Ariadne stares at me; it's evident she doesn't get the Hayao Miyazaki reference. In a way, I'm like Chihiro, except no one's taken my name from me. My parents haven't turned into pigs due to greed and there doesn't appear to be a dragon anywhere on the premises.

Although that would be cool.

The dragon, not pig-parents.

"Fine," I say into the silence. "I have to be Dr Phil to ghosts. Is that it?" I have thick skin, but I don't think I'm cut out for hearing the terrible details of a spirit's death.

The ghost rolls her eyes. "There's more to it."

She understood Dr Phil but not Hayao Miyazaki. Okay. I guess I know what Great-Aunt Louise had on TV. "Then perhaps you can enlighten me?"