The cat gave them a haughty look that said- You aren't as good as one of my whiskers. Jay felt embarrassed once more, but he had to follow his Ghost Familiar, who was still following the cat demon.
"Do you want to see me drinking milk?" The cat turned around and asked. Jay shook his head, "Then go your own way!"
Jay, for the first time, pulled the Ghost Familiar away.
"No, no, I want to go!"
"We are going home!"
The way back was naturally quiet, and they didn't notice red eyes following their every move. The gaze followed them, and Jay felt the probing question too. He looked back but found nothing.
"Do you think someone's watching us?" He asked the ghost.
"Obviously," The ghost familiar looked at him as if he was an idiot, "We are living in a place inhabited by someone else and they would want to know about us, right?"
Jay felt that was right.
"Then who do you think is living here?"
"Spirits obviously!"
Jay's steps faltered, and he almost fell. He didn't notice the shrinking vines below his feet.
"What spirits? Like you?"
The ghost rolled his eyes and floated away from him.
"Hey, don't run away!"
"I don't want to get beaten up because I'm with you."
"Beaten up?"
Vines bound his hands and legs, and Jay found the ghost looking at him with sympathy.
"The spirits in the forest are Forest spirits; they are the guardians of the forest, they don't like being equated with the dead when they are full of life."
Jay thought this explanation would be fantastic, at least five minutes ago, when he wasn't bound like a forest mummy.
"Sorry, Miss, Spirit!"
"The spirit can be a guy!"
Jay felt that the ghost familiar was just making things worse.
"Mister Spirit, or if you are Miss Spirit, I'm so sorry for hurting your feelings. I will not do so again. Please forgive me."
The vines loosened and then vanished from his sight.
The experience left him in pain as the vines had tightened on him, and he was sure it felt suffocating.
"Let's go!" He knew better than speaking about bruises and facing the same kind of wrath again.
"What kind of familiar are you? You don't protect me when I'm in danger?"
The ghost shrugged his ghost sheet and answered in a rather nonchalant manner, "This is a life lesson. I'm teaching you to observe before talking. What if you run your mouth before High Level Magical People? They hold grudges so well that they will hex you for a hundred years!"
Jay felt that it was his mistake, but still, he wanted some care from the familiar because all of this felt confusing and overwhelming.
"Okay, let's go home, I'll cook your favorite noodles for you!"
Jay followed the ghost with his head down, thinking about whether he would be able to live here. Maybe the human world was not that bad.
"Come on, kid. New place, new things. It takes time to get familiar, so why are you so worried? Someday, you will have a job, and then you will quit on your first day? No, right?"
Jay shook his head.
"Everything in life, you need to work for, or that which needs your commitment, you have to fight for it."
Jay nodded, with renewed energy in his body and fire in his eyes. He was going to integrate into the magical world soon, and then he would be able to deal with every magical creature easily.
Poor Jay didn't know that his Ghost had been caught a few years back in a forest by a spirit, and that's how he remembered the lesson. There was no need to worry because spirits were the gentlest among their kind, and they would have released him after a minute or two.
"So, after so much shopping, we have a money card. Let's save it for a while. Hmm, what's the next big event?"
Jay didn't answer because he knew that the ghost was talking to himself.
"Ha, Harvest Festival! Yes, how could I forget?" The ghost then turned towards Jay, "Boy, there's going to be a Harvest Festival so we can sell plants and get more favors from people, favors add up, and we get a high-level person to vouch for us!"
Jay felt exasperated by this far-fetched plan, but he was not the one who was going to diminish the ghost's enthusiasm. Doing something was way better than doing nothing and wondering all day long.
___
They geared up for the festival by collecting plants in the forest. Every day, Jay went to get some flowers or herbs, sometimes alone and sometimes with the ghost, and they had collected a bag full of herbs.
But this day, Jay went alone, and the ghost was working on their stall board. Jay offered to help, but he was shooed away.
"How come you will have adventures if I'm always tagging along with you?"
Jay didn't believe it, but he had to go anyway. He walked and watched a rabbit enter a hole between two trees. Separating the branches, he noticed a small path, and after walking, he arrived at a small circular house. It looked really beautiful. He wondered how it stood so still.
He walked around and turned to go back when he heard a small whisper.
'Help'
A vine was struggling near his feet.
"What?"
The vine moved and pointed towards the house. Jay walked towards it, and the vine unlocked the door. Inside, he found that the house was transparent; he could see everything happening outside.
But the pressing issue was the bleeding cat demon on the sofa.
It was the same demon he had met in the shopping street. But the cat demon now lay motionless, barely breathing, and struggling to live.
He ran towards the cat and, seeing the wounds, he went to fetch the ghost familiar.
"Kid, he is cursed by an ancient spell. I can't do anything about it."