Bewitching Monsters

Ghost - Part 4

After the night I learned about Caera's past, things were a lot calmer around home. In fact, she started doing nice things for me. On warm, sunny days she would open the windows for me; on cold mornings I'd wake up to a toasty home, a fire already stoked to a comfortable blaze.

"I have to go into town today," I announced, knowing Caera would hear me, wherever she was. I wrapped my shawl around myself and made sure I had all I needed in my bag. "Hopefully it'll only take a few hours, but I really don't know. I'll be back by dinner for sure."

Outside, I pulled the broom charm off my necklace and tossed it up in the air. From charm to full-sized, I hopped on my ride and started flying down the road to town. I didn't have the most advance broom, but it was perfect for my needs: simple size adjustment enchantment, a comfortable little seat, easy speed control, and a basket for my things.

Arvos was an amalgamation of old and new. Most main hub-towns had to be to accommodate all the races. Many were sensitive to the advanced magics that science had honed—most notably the light grid. That's the reason I picked a rustic home in the middle of the woods. While having no running lights and no personal access to the Mind was a pain, I already set a deal with one of the fae cafes, Honey Cup, to compensate—a charm for Mind access without purchase. Today I was bringing them their replacement charm.

"Bright day, Witch," the manager greeted me.

"Sweet day, Neighbor." Neither of us called the other by name—we knew better than to ask. She'd yet to give me another name to address her so I used the standard placeholder. "I have your new charm."

"Ooh, sweet indeed." She skipped around the counter and took the bells out of my hand, then switched them with those above the door.

I took my usual seat near the back. Pulling out my tablet, I said a silent prayer before checking my mail. For over a week I had been doing research and trying to contact court officials, necromancers, and the Maardugos family. Part of my plan was set a couple days ago; now I was just waiting to hear back from Annika Maardugos—the woman Caera served. She was still alive, but her age made it difficult to travel. Thankfully, she finally responded to my last message inquiring about a virtual meeting since a physical one would be difficult for both parties. She agreed for tomorrow night at eight; perfect, because the other part of the plan would happened tomorrow afternoon.

After finishing up a few other tasks, I packed up and headed out. Just outside the café door, though, I ran into a familiar elf courier. "Sorry," I said reflexively when I almost walked into him.

He chuckled and adjusted the bag on his shoulder. "Quite alright, little Witch. In fact quite fortunate. Here," he took out a package and handed it to me. It was strange since I hadn't ordered anything. "This saves the trip out to the woods. Though I must admit, I much prefer delivering to you at home than in town."

A flush rose to my cheeks as I glared at the same smirk he wore when we first met. "Don't expect that to be a common occurrence," I bit. I dug out a couple coins to tip him and dropped them in his hand. "Thank you for the package." He stepped aside and bowed to me. I gave him a small curtsy and walked past him. Just as I summoned my broom, a whirlwind whipped past me, throwing up my hem of my dress. I quickly tugged it down and turned back to the now-gone fae boy. Damn air elementals.

The next day I was a complete mess. I had a hard time staying asleep all night and ended up sleeping in. If it wasn't for Caera shaking my bed so much around eleven, I would have slept through the important visit in a couple hours. After that, I spilled tea on my shirt, overcooked my breakfast, and couldn't do anything decent with my hair. None of it mattered though. Today was about Caera. As long as everything else went well, I could handle some bad luck.

Ten minutes early, a knock came to the door. "Can you get that Caera?"

The door opened and two sets of footsteps entered my home. "Hello, Miss Witch. Spirit," greeted one of the men.

"Welcome, Mr. Saund, Mr. Grove," I bowed. They were a court magus and necromancer respectively. "Would you like any refreshments? Or shall we just jump into work?"

"Just Grove is fine. And work, if you please. Your case is rather... interesting." Grove pulled up a chair to sit down at the table, but Caera pulled it out from under him, making him fall on his ass.

"Caera!"

Grove chuckled. "It's fine. I'm glad to see she has so much strength still. You have everything prepped?"

"All set." I hauled over a small crate and dropped it on the worktable with a heavy thunk. The contents rattled. "This was all I could find. Hopefully it's enough."

Mr. Saund nodded. "We'll try first. If not, Grove should be able to locate the remainders." He opened the crate and dumped out the contents—Caera's bones. He arranged what was there in anatomical order and the metal tongue bar in front of the lower jaw. "If you will, Miss Caera, please merge with your bones here. Grove will help if required."

Hissing filled my ears. "Please, Caera. Trust me."

After a minute, Grove nodded to Saund, who then started casting the release spell for the bar. None of us were sure if this would work. No one had ever died with a tongue bar still enchanted. Dispelling one postmortem was a leap in new territory. Mr. Saund had been so fascinated with this predicament that all he asked in return was compensation for travel costs.

On and on the process went. Saund adjusted his spell as we went along, working around the old, modified spell; then again after Grove found a couple more bones in the woods. I could still hear soft hisses and moans, but I wasn't getting the impression Caera was in distress. Surely Grove would mention if she was—he knew better than I did. Still, it made my gut sink that this was taking so long.

Then we heard a new voice.

It was just a quick, clipped sound but it was certainly someone talking. I exchanged looks with the two men and they clearly had heard it too. "Caera?"

There was a choked laugh. "Dear Witch," she cried joyously, "you returned my voice. It's been... so long."

Grove erupted in laughter. Saund joined in and even I let out a few chuckles. But what hit me more was the tear-jerking bliss in her voice. It tugged at my heart. Warmth surrounded and filled me, making me flinch. "She's hugging you," Grove explained. It was a sweet feeling.

I would soon become very familiar with her phantom hugs.

After the men left, Caera was a complete chatterbox. She talked about everything. If it wasn't for the joy singing in her tone, I might've been annoyed. It was a struggle to not ruin the surprise when she kept asking me what I was doing when I was setting up for Annika's call. And with my first plan ending in success, Caera wouldn't have to possess me to talk to her.

When the call started and Annika's hologram appeared, the ghost went silent. Then Caera started crying in jubilation. I explained what had happened all those years ago to Annika while Caera composed herself. Once the two of them started talking, I excused myself and stepped outside to give them privacy.

It was a mild night. The sky was clear and the stars were bright. I paced around my garden, thinking about how it would look once everything was growing. This was the perfect place to do my work. Just a tad lonely...

Gold eyes watched me from the tree line. I tried to ignore them, but they kept following me even as I rounded behind my house. Think I'd rather stick with lonely than with whatever was out there monitoring me. Time to go check on Caera and Annika.

I walked back in when they were saying their goodbyes. I was surrounded with warmth again as Caera hugged me. "You've done so much for me, dear Witch. I could never repay you enough."

"As long as you can pass in peace, that's enough for me." The words had an acrid taste as soon as they left my mouth. I didn't want her to leave. Sure, at first I wanted to help her so she wouldn't annoy me anymore. But now I'd grown to enjoy her company. I wasn't going to force her to stay. I couldn't.