Spirit's Lullaby

by J E Mueller

  I saw him surrounded, taking kicks and punches without being able to defend himself. My feet felt shaky. I tried to take a step and realized I wasn’t quite on the ground yet. There wasn’t time for an easy crash course so I forced myself forward, finding that the thought alone let me float. While there was a moment of relief, I had no time to dwell on it as I grabbed Madeline, and pulled her away from Danny, and gave her strong punch in the jaw, sending her several feet back.

  “I said I am learning. Patience is a virtue that you are lacking.” She quickly regained composure and tackled me again. This time I was able to actually use the momentum from the fall and wound up on top.

  “Drowned girl,” I said forcing her to look at me. “Your life is over, but your path isn’t complete. You didn’t deserve the death you received, but you can complete your path now. Who did this to you?”

  She hissed at me and tried to knock me off but I held her firm. Dealing with demons had prepared me for this.

  “Who did this to you?” I demanded an answer from her.

  Madeline struggled for a moment. My words working through her memories and I could see her eyes getting less dark. The centers remained black but the whites slowly returned.

  “Who?” I asked again, this time in a whisper.

  “He did,” she answered, not to me, but to her memories. “He didn’t want me anymore.”

  “Why didn’t he want you?” I had no clue what she meant, but her eyes were turning normal, her focus off her anger.

  “He wanted her instead. She wasn’t that much prettier. I doubt she could cook or tend the flock. He wanted her more. But I was already here….”

  Lover, husband, who knew. Either way, her fate was clear.

  “I need you here,” I said.

  She looked at me but didn’t seem to see me. “Who would want me now?”

  “I do. You’re strong and clever. You can do so much still,” I replied, having seen her tactics in full effect.

  “Clever?” She hung onto the question, confusion gripping her.

  “Yes, and strong,” I reassured her, not sure if anything I said could re-trigger her anger. “But we need your help. There’s a lot going on right now, and you can actually help with it. Finish your journey before you cross.”

  Madeline stared off into the distance. When she didn’t respond for a few moments I got up. She didn’t move so I left her be.

  Danny saw me approaching him. “Do you by chance have any weapons?”

  “I told him you had Mist’s old things,” Lliam stated as their fight continued.

  “Yes,” I replied, looking back at my body. I shivered seeing myself just collapsed on the ground. “But I can’t get it now, can I?”

  “You can handle your own stuff, you’re not dead,” Danny replied. “We’ll worry about details later.”

  I grabbed the small chest from my pocket – oh how weird it was to root through my own pockets – and brought it over. The word I needed to open it escaped me.

  I stared at them. “I can’t remember what word I need.”

  Danny shoved Sev away and rushed over. “Oh, crescat,” he said without hesitating. The chest grew, and I set it down. “I guess you wouldn’t know the story behind all of that yet either.” Sev tackled him to the ground. The wind was momentarily knocked out of Danny.

  Grabbing the daggers, I noticed how much they glowed. The encryptions were their own dazzling color, matching the purple I had seen at the shrine.

  Danny huffed, trying to talk as he grappled the spirit. “Just stab them. It’ll send them to the spirit realm. Don’t worry, they can come back once they’ve calmed down.”

  Just stab them? It sounded harsh and I had no way of knowing if they’d come back. But we were stuck in an endless circle of fighting. I wasn’t sure I could verbally immobilize them like I had with Madeline. I still didn’t know what had happened there or how that worked.

  With nothing more to lose, I shoved a dagger into Sev’s back and watched him vanish. Danny breathed a sigh of relief before jumping up and going to help grab Patrick, giving me an easy target. Patrick hissed and spat at me, but in a moment he was gone too. The dagger had barely been driven into his spirit form and he was quickly removed from our sights.

  I glanced over at Madeline who was still staring off into the distance.

  Danny nodded. “Send her too. She needs to rest.”

  “She seems harmless now though…” I replied, not taking my eye off of her.

  “Indeed. Thankfully, she is, but still, the spirit realm is there for them to heal. I have no doubt she’ll be back much sooner rather than later,” Danny replied.

  “Can’t Lliam just take her? Stabbing her seems cruel,” I asked.

  Lliam sighed, his eyes showing his exhaustion. “Yeah, yeah I can, but you have no idea how to get back into your body, and I really only have enough energy for one or the other right now.”

  Oh. I weighed my options but knew which I had to pick. I needed to be back in my body. So I walked over to Madeline. “Sorry, dear. Hope to see you when you’re feeling better.” It didn’t look like she even heard my words. With a brief moment of hesitation, I sent her off as well.

  I sat for a moment on the ground where Madeleine had been, wondering what had happened. The plot, whatever it was, was foiled and I was free to go back to sleep. But I couldn’t. Sleep didn’t sound safe. I didn’t know how to get back to my body – heck I didn’t even know how I had left my body. I could see it a short distance away. It just laid there, motionless, in a heap. My brain couldn’t grasp that I was in a way still alive and I had to try and push back the panic I felt rising in my gut.

  “Is this normal?” I asked, not sure which thing I was even asking about.

  “It is not normal for spirits to randomly drag you about and attack you unprovoked. It is not normal to be forced from your body without your full understanding of what is going on,” Danny replied, summing up both parts. “It is normal to have to send an enraged spirit off. It is normal for a guide to go looking for the spirit later to send it off. It is normal to return to your body after such a skirmish. It’s been a rough night, but you are well.”

  “I don't feel like I am well.” I took in the sight of my hands. “I look dead.”

  “You’re a spirit, you’re not dead. If you concentrate you can still see a thread attached to your body. It’s hard to see it, but it is there,” Danny reassured me and offered a hand up, “Let’s get you back. Shall we?”

  I sighed, unsure if I was ready to move again.

  “Listen to him,” Lliam insisted. “We’ll get you back in your body.”

  I tilted my head at him, but Danny responded before me. “Yes, we will.” He rolled his eyes at Lliam and for a moment I forgot what we were talking about.

  “Okay.” I took a deep breath and accepted the hand up. “How do I get back to… being normal?”

  “The best way is to tug on your cord a bit and reconnect,” Danny supplied as he walked me over to my body. “But that takes practice so we’re just going to shove you back.”

  “What?” I asked, stopping in front of my body.

  “Close your eyes, try and think of warmth, what you normally feel like, and in a moment you’ll be reconnected,” Danny supplied.

  I glanced at Lliam. “Is this going to be very unpleasant?”

  “Not terribly. You’ll feel a sharp pull of gravity that is really annoying, maybe disorientating, but it’s not bad. Oh, and you’ll be able to feel normal temperatures again.” Danny sounded happy about the last part.

  I had adjusted to the cold that had surrounded me at first, but I admitted I couldn’t feel anything right now. The wind was blowing gently according to the leaves, but it didn’t seem to touch me at all.

  “Okay, then.” I closed my eyes and tried to do as he instructed. It was weird trying to remember how I normally feel, but with what felt exactly like a shove I could feel the wind against my face, and for a moment my limbs felt like rocks. I
tried getting up but everything swayed. After a few seconds things seemed to adjust back to normal. Finally getting up, I noticed Danny was already back to normal and waiting. I wondered how many times he had done this.

  “Shall we get some rest, then?” Danny offered his arm.

  “I think I need a stiff drink after this night,” I replied, taking his arm.

  He laughed. “Oh yeah. This night was a bit nuts. But things are back as they should be. Well, closer. We’ll have a lot to go over tomorrow. First, rest.”

  With that, we walked back in silence.

  As we reached the building, Danny removed his arm from mine. He looked tired, but not upset.

  “If you find yourself in trouble again, Lliam can get me easily. Try calling for him. I’ll show you a great trick for that in the morning.”

  I nodded and yawned my reply, “Okay, sounds good.”

  We turned to see the door of the building opening and Lydia rushing out. Mutual surprise was on all of our faces.

  “What’s going on?” Lydia demanded, then her face softened as she took in our disheveled appearances.

  “I don’t even know,” I replied, walking up to her, “but it’s one hell of a story.” I glanced back over to Danny. “Tomorrow, then.”

  With a nod, he left.

  Lydia looked from me to his retreating form. “So, what happened?”

  “Almost lost a fight to restless spirits. It was pretty ridiculous. They shouldn’t have this power…” I replied as I dived into the story.

  By the end of it we were curled up in bed together.

  “I don’t even know what to do. This is all so out of hand, and yet I need to deal with it. I need answers that come with learning, and the learning is coming with terrible consequences.” I groaned loudly. “I didn’t expect any of this to be this complicated.”

  Lydia held onto me, snuggling against me. Her words were nearly muffled, “Well, demons are involved so ‘course it’s complicated. Don’t worry, I can help kick their butts.”

  “I know you can, and you will,” I replied tiredly. “Wish I had put more effort into this sooner, I could have learned so much before all of this.”

  “You’d be dead.” Lydia yawned. “You’re learning now because now is the right time. It sucks, but if anyone can learn things quickly and without fail it’s you.” The last part was more yawn than word.

  “Maybe. Guess we’ll see.” I sighed.

  “Mhm…” Lydia sleepily replied.

  I wanted to talk more, my mind filled with worries about what tonight had showed me, but for a change my body demanded sleep and I couldn’t continue to stay awake.

  Chapter 16

  The sun woke me up too soon. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I was still exhausted. Lydia was already getting up and ready to go.

  “What’s the rush?” I yawned.

  “Breakfast, praying, training,” she replied simply. “I’ve no idea what your plans are for the day, but I know I’m not needed.” She gave me a sad smile. “But, I do know I will be needed eventually. Demons have us trapped in this sanctuary and I will get us out of here and wherever we need to go next. I’ll be ready.” Lydia gave a determined nod and finished lacing her boots.

  “I’ve no doubt you will do wonderfully,” I replied, hoping this extra training would be enough. I had no idea what we needed to do to succeed at leaving here, but we were a ways away from that plan. Pushing the doubt aside, I decided to get up and get ready as well.

  After breakfast, I realized I didn’t know where to meet or even find Danny. I decided to take a chance and headed to the same shrine room we were in the day before. However, Lliam was.

  “Any thoughts on how to find Danny?” I asked.

  Lliam shrugged. “I can find her, it’ll be just a moment.”

  I looked at him confused, about ready to either ask him who he meant or correct him on his pronouns when he disappeared. I cursed the spot where he had been before closing the door behind myself and heading over to the shrine. It was beautiful. I had no idea how it could be created to do such things. It was infused with a special kind of magic. It made me think of my Aunt Juni and her runes. I had forgotten they were in my pocket and wondered if they would work on spirits.

  I’d test the theory another time. Instead, I rested my hand on the shrine and watched it glow purple. The color was deep and wonderful – one of my favorites for sure. It was still weird to think I had somehow become a special exception to the red, green, orange rule. One of the few. It wasn’t exciting or even bothersome. Just a fact that meant very little to me as I tried to retain all the new information being thrown at me.

  Of course, I was known for my speed. Not just my swiftness of movement but my ability to learn things quickly. This shouldn’t take much time for me to understand, but then what? Would I really be able to turn this mess around, fix the gates, and stop the demons from getting all the souls? Marella made it sound like they all knew about the balance and that just us mortals did not. So, why would they disrupt it? Could I even fix things and really begin practicing this new craft? Maybe a world without magic and demons would make things easier. I removed my hand from the shrine. Magic was a strange thing. Rewarding some, hurting others.

  I thought about what Marella said about the worlds without magic and with limited magic. Were they better off? It was a lot to ponder but just then Danny walked in with Lliam floating by his side.

  “Sorry to keep you.” He yawned. I spotted a half eaten muffin in his hand. “Hope you got some rest.”

  “Not nearly enough.” I echoed his yawn. I tried to shake off the drowsiness. “Hopefully you had no more trouble last night.”

  “None. Most know better than to mess with me. Sadly you are new to them, and an easy target.” Danny pulled something out of his cloak pocket and handed it to me.

  It was flat, round and smooth. I stared at the gray disc for a moment before looking up at him. It wasn’t an interesting object at all. “What is it?”

  “It’s a training tool I found while rooting through Mist’s old supplies,” he replied, pulling a dagger from his pocket. It glowed with the same magic mine did. “And this might just be the last one of its kind. Minus yours, of course. Sadly this one is dull.” Danny turned it over slowly. “It needs to be reinfused, but all the people with that talent are dead.” With a sigh he pocketed it again. “Anyway, shall we begin?”

  “Okay, what are we starting with? How do we start?” I asked. Excitement wasn’t the right word for how I felt, but a tingle of ‘finally’ passed through me. I was ready to actively do something with this magic.

  Lliam cleared his throat. I had forgotten he was lingering by the door. “Aren’t you forgetting an important fact?”

  Danny rolled his eyes and motioned for me to have a seat. When I did he sat next to me. “So, the spirit realm is a bit of an odd place. It has no time for masks or normal magics. It’s a place for the dead to go while they await their turn at the gate. Where they can go to rest, heal, and figure out if there is anything left for them to fulfill before leaving this plane and starting their next journey.”

  “Get to the point,” Lliam called from his place at the door.

  Again, Danny rolled his eyes at Lliam. “The point is that you may not look the way you do now.” He directed his full attention to me. “You may look how you did when you first received this magic, or how you mentally identify, since that is how your soul sees itself.”

  “And?” Lliam pressed on.

  I rolled my eyes at Lliam this time. His interruptions seemed useless. “So, instead of letting you do this at your own pace Lliam wants everything solved in a day so he can cross.”

  “Exactly!” Danny laughed happily for a moment before turning serious. “So, I don’t look the same. That’s not uncommon, but my appearance does surprise people.”

  It clicked, but I didn’t press. “That’s okay. How you see yourself is valid. You can’t change your soul.”

  “Thank y
ou for understanding. I didn’t think it needed to be made a bigger deal than it was.” Danny glared at Lliam. “How I see myself and how I live are different due to society. At any rate…” He motioned to the disc. “That will help you separate yourself and let you dive into the spirit realm with ease. It’s portable so you can take it with you while you learn.”

  “Hopefully I won’t need it long.” I smiled. “How does it work?”

  “Actually, it’s very simple. Close your eyes and see if you can feel the magic within it,” Danny replied.

  I did. It was very subtle. So much so that I might not have noticed without it being pointed out. I could feel it resting there. The magic felt cool and was easy to call to me without trying, and as soon as it reached me I felt the cold latch on, pull me close, and refuse to part with me. In that exact moment I felt myself being pulled from my body. Once more I was a crumpled heap, but at least this time I was on a pew instead of crashing to the hard ground.

  Danny glanced at me. “I’ll take that as a yes, you can feel it.” He laughed. “Okay, so we can skip the next step.” I watched him lean back and close his eyes. In a moment he was next to me, this time as a spirit. “So, now we’re still on the mortal plane, and this is where things actually get tricky.”

  “Things weren’t tricky before?” I stared at him in disbelief.

  “Oh, not at all. Once you know the feeling, the strange bit of magic connecting you to your soul you can switch back and forth with ease. Getting to the spirit realm itself on your own is an entirely different matter.” Danny chuckled.

  “Oh, joy is mine,” I sighed, trying to shake off the annoyance of the many layers to this learning. “What’s next, then?” I was determined to get there today.

  Danny considered it for a moment. “Well, there are two ways. One is to accompany a spirit, but Lliam’s a jerk.”

  “Hey,” Lliam called over. “I’ve been very helpful.”

  “True. You’ve been a very helpful jerk,” Danny corrected.