I lead William back to the atrium, where his team is awakening. As we approach, and my blue glow begins to illuminate the hallway we're emerging from, they begin to brace themselves for combat. Tremors run through their forms. Their fear of me is palpable. They seem to have half a mind to run out of the complex and never look back. I can sense all of this through my new haunt ability, even though we have yet to lay eyes on each other.
When William and I round the corner together, their brains seem to short-circuit under the struggle of comprehending what they're seeing. Of course, they come to the wrong conclusion.
"Unhand him, foul demon!" Timothy shouts.
They seem to have resolved themselves to free their leader from my despicable grasp. Amusing. Too bad I promised not to scare them anymore.
"My hands aren't even on him, and, ouch, I'm not foul, you're foul," I reply while sticking my spectral tongue out at Timothy.
"B-be that as it may, you're clearly exerting your influence on him. You've B-bewitched him. Why else would he calmly follow you?" Morgan demands.
"Guys, I'm fine." William tries to protest.
"Ah-ha! That's exactly what a mind-controlled goon would say. Do you even know who you are anymore?" Lorenzo proclaims.
"Ugh, mind control isn't even a ghost power. William, can I scare them just one more time, pwetty pwease?" I ask coquettishly while putting on my best puppy dog eyes."
William nods, "Yeah, I think you'll have to. They're a little dense." He says apologetically.
With William's consent, I decide to use my new domain, which is part of my Haunt ability. Deathly aura rapidly expands out from me and fills the ruins. Once again, a deadly presence presses down on the halls, far stronger than the aura of a rank-one ghost has a right to be.
The boys rapidly drop to their knees as fear overwhelms them. To their senses, I'm no different than the reaper from before, stronger even. I exclude William from the effect, of course, he's not being naughty like the other boys. He stands there awkwardly while his team acts like they're facing death itself.
"Will you boys behave now?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
The boys nod like frightened ducklings. I withdraw my aura as if it were never there. The boys continue to tremble while cold sweat coats their bodies. Their weapons lie forgotten on the floor.
"See, that wasn't so hard now, was it. Now we can be friends." I try to smile encouragingly, but my smile is just a bit too wide to be human. Whoops. I'm still a young ghost. I'm not used to how simple gestures like smiling can easily be exaggerated beyond human limits if I don't carefully control them.
"Friends?" Lorenzo asks skeptically.
It takes some convincing, but most of William's group finally comes around. The smarter ones noticed that I deferred to William for the final decision on spooking them, and they seem to think he has me on a leash or something. I'm most definitely not on a leash, but in the interest of keeping things peaceful, I don't correct them.
When they learn I was the same ghost that looked like a flaming snowman, however, I have a new problem.
"Master, teach me." Jeffries is kowtowing before me.
This is going to be a headache. Technically, he is way more skilled than me. I'm just more flexible, especially since I now lack the bones and ligaments that limit movement. I haven't even fully tapped into my flexibility since I can't get over the mental hangup of moving like a human, but it was still more than enough to compete with Jeffries' skill.
He's so earnest, though, that it feels wrong to tell him that I beat him just because I'm a ghost. My gymnastics training definitely helped with the movements, though. Maybe Jeffries can benefit. I take on the visage of a noble martial arts master.
"Okay, I will teach you what I know, but I can't make any promises. Ideally, you would've started these exercises extremely young, especially since you're a boy." I explain as if I'm about to reveal profound secrets.
"I won't let you down, master." Jeffries eagerly proclaims.
Over the next few minutes, I walk Jeffries through some basic flexibility and mobility exercises and tell him to return when he has reached certain ranges of motion. He has a very, very long way to go. I really don't know how an assassin can't even touch his own toes.
Light begins to fill the sky outside as dawn approaches. William's team is preparing to head out. I end up being the one to splint Casey's arm, as not a single person seems to have that basic medical knowledge.
"How do you normally treat injuries?" I inquire.
"We get healing from a healer, of course. What else would we do?" Timothy says, seemingly exasperated at my lack of obvious knowledge."
Ah, I realize, they are so reliant on magic, they don't seem to have developed more basic techniques. If they have developed the techniques, they aren't as widespread.
"And if you're in a ruin with no healer, what would you do when you start accumulating injuries?" I ask pointedly.
Timothy didn't have an answer to that, and he pouted.
Lorenzo seems to have a cooler head. "You make a good point. Having the ability to treat injuries in the field would be valuable. You seem to be knowledgeable. Can you teach us?"
I hardly have any medical knowledge myself, but I had to learn first aid and CPR as a part of my gymnastics team. Even that is quite a lot to the residents of this world, it would seem. I can't just keep giving things away for free, though.
"Okay, but you owe me two now." I say smugly, "Don't worry, you can pay me back nearly immediately. I will write a first aid manual for you, but in exchange, I need writing materials, both for the manual itself and more for my personal use. I would also like books on the magic here. That'll be enough to satisfy the debt for my medical knowledge."
"What would a ghost like you want with that anyway? Our magic is useless to you."
The response comes from Timothy again. I resist the urge to slap him so hard his ancestors feel it.
"I'm just curious, is all; where I came from, there was no magic. As for the knowledge I gave Mister Wannabe Assassin here." I reply, getting a weak 'hey' from Jeffries, "The price for that is getting more people to come visit my ruin. More weak people, that is.
"You want us to feed a haunting?" Timothy asks skeptically.
"Hello, ghost girl here, yes, I want you to feed my haunting."
"But it's dangerous to feed a haunting." Timothy protests
I give Timothy the look I reserve for only the most stupid people with the most stupid comments. As a popular girl back in high school, I think I mastered the scathing glare quite well. Timothy withers under my glare.
"It's my haunting. I'm the danger. I'm not going to harm anyone. That doesn't benefit me. Just like your group. The only one injured is that guy." I point to Casey, "And that's only because he foolishly jumped out of a window. They'll get a little scare and return to town perfectly fine."
"But," Timothy starts to interject again.
I cut him off, "No more buts. Does anyone else ever get the urge to slap Timothy?"
"Yes," Jeffries says immediately.
"All the time," Morgan agrees.
"Every single day," Lorenzo sighs.
"I thought it was just me," William says with surprise.
"If my arm weren't in a sling, I'd slap him right now." Casey declares.
Even Tanner seems to agree, but he hasn't worked up the nerve to speak around me yet.
Everyone laughs, even Timothy. The laughter helps break the residual tension between the living and the dead. I see the boys off, watching them disappear into the fog that is slowly melting away in the light of dawn.
I've got a lot of work to do to prepare for my next set of visitors. This time around, things did not go according to plan. Though it's not the worst thing to now have livings to do my bidding. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me.