Wingspan(Paranormal, Young Adult) MAJOR EDITING**

fifty four

Chanel POV

i skip ahead without making a sound.

i didnt have control over which one of the measureless planes of existence i was trapped in. with so many around it was easy to loose track of where i went and for how long.

i float ahead to the small clearing in the middle of the woods.

they looked to be different than the woods surrounding aislins school.

the trees here were a lot bigger, like giant seqouias. the bark on the trees was black, so was the ground and the short and prickly leaves. wind swirled from beneath the trees and lifted me high above the ground. the stench of decay and rotten moldy berries permeated the air. 

to smell but no longer taste was a strange oddity given how i loved food especially mushroom and sausage pizza. all things considered i was sure that whatever higher power in charge took great humor from my expense.

i couldn't see the sky. the area was silent but i knew i wasn't alone. i felt something with great power radiating in the clearing up ahead.

i've been waiting for this moment for so long i was practically giddy with excitement.

from experience i knew they never stayed in one dimension for long so if i was going to do something i had to do it quick or else id have to go around searching for them and i wasn't sure how long that'd take. 

what made them different than previous ghosts was how they moved with purpose never straying far from the pack instead of aimlessly wandering around muddled and disoriented.

the further i went past the watchful looming trees that went silent and kept track of my every move, the more i wondered what if i had made noise and scared the spooks into hiding.

i had learned that since i was sensitive to energy, primarily that of other entities, i recognized familiar wave patterns. though i wasn't cognoscente of what plane i had jumped into i could tell it was exactly where i needed to be.

my feet touched the ground as i floated onward.

a sequence of chanting entrances me forward past a field of burial vaults. 

My death hadnt involved some hot bad boy with olive green eyes and messy blonde hair to come and take me away with him and i sure as heck didn't see any tunnel that was supposed to be made up of my version of what heaven looked like. 

No.

instead, i had woken up dazed and unable to remember what day it was. it had taken some time but cemeteries didn't pose a personal threat. i had gotten over the fact that i was dead, not that it made being around aislin easier.

the ghosts i were spying on tonight, or was it morning, i wasn't sure. 

in order to keep my sanity knowing what time it was between one night and the next kept the cosmic order of things so far as i was concerned.

when i had a close enough view of the Circle Of Five i hid behind a corner stone that was wrapped in thick wavy moss to watch from a safe distance what the mystery of their invitation-only-soiree was because for good reason they didn't trust me enough to propose that i joined them and together we'd combine energy and have a seance in a cemetery because that wasn't ominous or ill-omened or just plain hair-raising. 

because really dude? ghosts having a seance was just so wrong in so many ways. 

to get a look-see i lean against the pink marble and turn my head sideways to get a better view and tried to ignore that annoying voice in my head that said i was all alone and how none of this sat well with me from the beginning but that ship had sailed and i wasn't going to leave until i was satisfied. 

either i was going to find out what they were up to or they would sense that someone was near and flee before i could find out what they were up to and how come they were being so secretive about it. 

call me crazy but i couldn't leave and forget about the chanting and the glowing lights that swirled around the Circle Of Five or the fact that my own energy was picking up each second that went by. 

i had a sneaky suspicion these ghosts had answers whether or not it had to do with starkhouse i wasn't a hundred percent certain. 

slowly mist drifted in the space between the trees that surrounded the Fab Five. 

a dim aura of light brought clarity to my surroundings. 

they stood in an open clearing with black trees circling around them. 

all of which were female and shrouded in red, purple, green, blue, and viotlet. the color extended down their arms to their conjoined hands until they were completely interchangeable. 

they lifted their hands and a rainbow beam of light shot up in the air and then faded.

with a jolt of surprise i move back behind the gravestone memorial and tried my best to keep still, my back right up against the marble covered in a blanket of moss with my feet side by side, not even daring to breathe in case they came by this way. 

though this body i was in didn't pump blood to keep me warm i could still feel anxiety and worry and it had made me paranoid to the point of closing my eyes shut tight and pretending that i was a rock.

i went back to the part of my childhood where everything was a game and the farthest i could count up to for hide and seek was my fist.

i peek my head out when i couldn't hear chanting. 

Darn it! they vanished before i could hear anything that would rule out starkhouse that would make aislin less closed off from the people who wanted to get to know her better. Lets face it; Aislin needed someone who could help her get out of her comfort zone and live. 

straight ahead footsteps started coming closer. heavy steps. i looked around to see who or what was walking towards me. the trees parted seemingly on their own, making a pathway.

"hello?" my voice echoed around me.

silence was my response.

"whose there?" i asked louder this time.

a form took shape in the light. it had to be at least five feet seven inches tall. about my height. i didnt speak again. not yet. we simply stared at each other.

i move from my hiding spot and see a familiar girl the same age as me. 

out of them all i recognized her as the one i overheard talking about something called the anchor. much like then she had the same look on her face; uneasy, agitated, bothered.

"i thought i said go away."

just her acknowledging me was progress.

one by one the rest of them appear. like a cluster of structured magnetic toys. they didn't speak as they advance towards me. there wasn't much they could do except threaten me and even that wouldn't stop me.

"don't shes harmless." the girl the same height as me says to her friends.

even when they had no choice but to deal with me they didn't say a word. not even a hello. the leader of the five leaves in an angry purple fog of smoke. the rest of them dematerialized in a puff of bright light.

"thank you." i look at the girl with short hair who had vouched for me.

without saying another word she walks away from me to a dirt path over to the young blonde girl who had stayed behind waiting.

smiling i watch them clasp hands and disappear in a flash. the terrifying yet beautiful girl vanished from my sight.

i had a plan. the next time we met i would find out what i could about this 'anchor' and what it had to do with starkhouse. then i would tell aislin and we could get started on phase two.