There is Power in Death

Chapter 24

After an awkward moment of Benji bowing, then getting me to bow and Al completely zoning out at the sight of the castle, we have made it inside. Hectie lead us into what he calls the tea room, despite the room being completely devoid of furniture and cupboards.

"Nara, please bring the furniture and tea set into the tea room," he says out loud.

A voice responds with a quick okay and things pop into existence. There is a small round table and four chairs. A pink and blue tea set is sitting on the table, along with a tablecloth and some desserts. Hectie allows us to take a seat.

"A change of scenery would be quite nice, don't you agree?" with a snap of his fingers the room disappears, and is replaced with a dark meadow.

Hectie's appearance has changed too. Instead of his prince get up, he's wearing a button up shirt and dress pants. His shirt is coloured blood red, and his pants are a deep blue. His hair is a plain brown. If it weren't for his cold red eyes, he would look completely normal. As of now, he looks like a boy that would e in his first year of high school, but I assume it's just the appearance he chooses.

"I bet you are wondering why I brought you here, and the answer is quite simple," he takes a bit of a dark cupcake, "You three seem very interesting. Your link, and Alegra's way of escaping death is quite impressive, not to mention Alex's unbelievable powers , or Benji's way of hiding things. I want to become friends with you!"

Benji winces at the comment about them. I can tell that he's hiding something, but decide not to pry. I can tell that both of my friends are being very cautious. 

"Is that really it?" Al asks.

"Yup! Wait, no. That's not right. You're supposed to be scared out of your minds right now. Why isn't it working? Nara, send in a spirit. Now!"

A spirit appears next to him and he looks it in the eyes.

"Will you be my friend? I want to become friends with you."

The spirit looks confused for a moment before exploding. Pieces of it fly everywhere, landing all over the table and desserts. 

"What a pain, it doesn't work on you guys. That's not fun at all. I was hoping to terminate you, but I guess that won't be happening."

Benji is shaking and Al is staying calm. I try my best not to panic, which is hard considering the flakes of spirit still lingering around the table. 

"Sorry about that, I guess we won't be having any fun today. Even so, It would be fun to be friends with you. Since you guys are so powerful, powerful enough to completely unaffected by one of my abilities, I will be keeping tabs on you. This may serve to be useful, refuse to cooperate and I will separate you. Have we come to an agreement? Yes? Okay good."

He doesn't give either of us a chance to respond before moving us to the front of the castle.

"Well, it was a shame that I couldn't kill you, but we'll speak soon."

Hectie shoves us into a limo and walks off. Erin enters the car and starts driving.

"So that was interesting. What should we do?" Benji asks.

"Well, in all honesty, he seems cool. I feel like since he can't kill us, he will try to be friends with us again. Our best bet for now is to cooperate. Sure he tried to kill us, but even s, he didn't try anything else, meaning he really does want to be associates," I tell them.

"Well, I can't disagree, but that still makes me wonder something. Was there a different reason that he didn't try to kill us?"  

"I'm afraid you are both incorrect. The reason Milord didn't try again was because that was his most effective attack. It works all the time, no matter the circumstances. He tried killing you because your existence was interfering with his plans. He has been trying his best to take out all Phanters, but you kept killing them. When his power proved ineffective, he had two choices; to have a fit or ask to team up," Erin explains.

"I see. I do have another question though. Hectie mentioned something about Benji being good at hiding things. I think we deserve to know what he was talking about."

I want to punch Al in the face for bringing that up, and am about to when Benji stops me.

"Don't. He's right. You deserve to know. The thing is, I'm not dead."

"Benji, does this mean.."

"No, I'm not alive. I don't know exactly how it happened. I was living, and the next thing I knew I was nonexistent. Everything about me in the living world had been erased. All of my school pictures and mentions of me in the newspaper were suddenly gone. Everything in my room had disappeared and my parents didn't remember me. I mean, I was there, but nobody could see me. Not even the spirits could see me. It was like that for about a year until I met Maddy. I noticed that she wasn't being noticed by the public either. That was weird because she was carrying a scythe and in her uniform, any normal person would stare. I walked up to her and she started talking to me. She asked how I was able to see her and why I didn't look like spirit. When she brought me to HQ, she introduced me to Mr. Silvia. He did something to me and I was visible to people. I explained and was recruited. That's it about my story."

"What about that crazy clerk lady at the hotel?"

"She was able to see me, but forgot who I was every time we met. I decided to make a code and threatened her to let me stay there for free. I wrote it down and glued it to the wall, covering it with mod podge, or something like that, to keep it from being damaged. I'm sorry I didn't tell you it earlier, I just wasn't ready to."

"It's fine Benji. You're here now, and you have me and Al to talk to."

"Thank you."

The car stops and we get out. It dropped us off at HQ instead of our house. Talan and Maddy are talking about something before noticing us. They both come running at us.

"You guys. How are you still here?" Talan asks.

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