by Joshua Chou
Both of his teammates glanced at him. They looked to the Wraith about to run them over, and then back to Ethan. Winston and Nora nodded.
Winston started running to the right of the street. “Get some!” he shouted.
Ethan dashed to the left with blade in hand. “Gabriel!” he commanded.
Both of their Sols materialized and glided with their respective master. Nora fired. Each shot seemed to be infinitely small in comparison to the Wraith’s body, but the bullets seemed to stun it.
The Wraith bellowed once more, but its bellow was too late. Gabriel and Sir Kay conjured their respective spells from both sides.
As predicted, the spells weren’t enough to kill the Wraith on the first volley. Ethan and Winston kept using magic anyways.
The sloth-ape writhed and swung about wildly. It tried to hit Winston, who managed to dodge and keep using lightning magic. The same occurred whenever Ethan became the target.
Every now and then one of the two would hack and slash with the melee weapons they had while having their Sols keep attacking.
From there, the brute got clever. It realized where the bullets were coming from, and started charging at Nora. As she was reloading, Nora averted her eyes for a brief moment.
“Heads up!” shouted Winston.
Ethan commanded Gabriel to charge. His Sol then flew at Nora and picked her up. As he grabbed her, the Wraith swatted Gabriel away like it was nothing.
Although he hadn’t physically felt the pain, Ethan felt the entire side of his body in pain. The feeling was so intense that he crumpled for a moment. Winston kept pounding the Wraith with lightning meanwhile.
“Come and get it!” he shouted.
After some labored breathing, Ethan conjured back Gabriel and commanded him to keep attacking. Ethan’s Sol fired up one more burst of ice magic and threw it at the Wraith.
Once the blow connected, the Wraith stopped in its tracks. Its body shimmered and bubbled like a piece of gelatin in a microwave oven.
Nora took the chance to run at it. She whipped out a talisman and mashed it against the dark monster’s forehead. Under the mask, the purifying fire flared between the eyeholes as the Wraith was exorcised.
In one brief flash, the Wraith dispersed into smaller wisps of black mist and scattered into the open air. All that remained was an unconscious Wraith victim.
She checked for a pulse in the comatose man. “Still alive,” she called out.
There was a moment of silence. The beast was vanquished. Their battle was over.
Well done, said Iris. Wait, what happened to Mr. Walker?
The other two classmates saw the person kneeling on the other end of the street. Nora sheathed her revolver and ran over to Ethan. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Are you okay?”
Winston also realized that his comrade hadn’t gotten up yet. He also ran to him. “Dude, you okay?”
Ethan’s side still burned, and he hadn’t the breath to speak.
“I’m going to have to lift up your shirt,” Nora said.
Ethan rolled over to his unhurt side. Nora lifted up her classmate’s shirt and undershirt to check for damage. She firmly pressed her fingers against the ribcage and along Ethan’s side.
“What are you doing?” asked Winston. He sounded genuinely concerned.
“Stand back!” she said. “He might have broken bones or internal bleeding!”
“Nothing’s broken,” Ethan grunted.
“Hold still!” Nora retorted. After checking for a few intense minutes, Nora sat up.
“What’s wrong?” Winston asked.
“Nothing,” Nora said. “I can’t find anything wrong with him.”
Nothing? asked Iris.
Ethan picked himself up. Both Winston and Nora were surprised to see him arise so quickly.
“I just felt pain,” he said as he rolled his hoodie and undershirt back down. “That’s all. Nothing to worry about.”
“You sure, dude?” Winston asked.
“No signs of broken bones or other forms of injury,” Nora noted. “I didn’t see you get hit by the Wraith earlier.”
Ethan took a sharp breath and stood upright. “I would know when I’ve got something busted in me.”
When someone’s Sol suffers damage, said Iris, the person experiences pain as well.
“Wait, so we can get hurt too?” asked Winston. He glanced at Ethan, and realized his own dumb luck. “Sure glad my Sol’s not a walking light bulb.”
Ethan couldn’t help but laugh. His side still hurt, but he managed to choke out enough air to laugh.
“Fair enough,” he said. "You’re the lucky one here. Mrs. Iris, are we done for tonight?”
There was a moment of silence. I’m sending Nikita and Liam to you now. We’re done for tonight. All of you did well.
Out of the corner of Ethan’s eye, he saw that Nora almost looked like she had something to say, but she decided to hold it in.
“We’re coming back now, ma’am,” she finally said.
As everyone stood and started heading back, everyone turned to face Ethan. “Good job, everybody,” he said.
“All we did was kill an ape,” Winston remarked. Although he held his recently used club in hand, he seemed very eager to use it again.
“No, everybody did their share,” said Ethan. “We managed to take down an ape with little to no fighting experience. Imagine what we could do tomorrow.”
The two classmates glanced at each other and back at Ethan. Winston slowly nodded. “If there is tomorrow,” he said.
“Thanks for the pep talk, Ethan,” said Nora.
“So how was I?” asked Winston.
“I think you did good for your first fight,” said Ethan “Took down a big Wraith on your first try.”
“Thanks, man.”
The trio began to lumber back to the rendezvous point. Ethan had to take it slow to not push his aching side. Winston matched his pace to make sure he didn’t need someone to lend a hand.
Ethan looked to Winston once more. He knew Nora was watching, and she wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he didn’t say anything now.
“Winston,” said Ethan. “About your brother—“
“Forget it, man,” Winston interrupted. “I know a Wraith hate his spirit. If he was that far gone, you did what you had to do.”
Their newest member began to turn away. Ethan tapped Winston’s shoulder. Winston looked back.
“I wanted to say I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.”
“Like I said, forget it.
“But there’s more,” Ethan continued. “What if something else caused Hector to get possessed?”
That got Winston’s interest to pique. He raised an eyebrow at the mention of it. Nora continued to watch all the while.
“I mean I still deserve part of the blame,” said Ethan. “But we found a capsule in the autopsy. Do you know if Hector was on meds?”
“Not that I know of,” Winston replied.
“Whatever the pill was, it made hector get possessed by a Wraith.”
Winston mulled that over. He looked to Nora, who was beginning to understand what was ailing Ethan’s mind. She had her attention set on Ethan as well.
“Then we better find out who it was,” said Nora.
Ethan fumbled. He wasn’t quite able to walk on his own yet. Winston picked him up and slung one arm over his shoulders.
“Thanks, Winston.”
“Don’t mention it.”
As they walked back to Iris’ car, Nora watched the boys come closer. This was almost unthinkable a week ago, and here they were almost like they were the best of friends. For a new initiate to the paranormal affairs at work, Winston did a good job.
Yet she was alone, even in a group. Ethan and his new friend were walking ahead of Nora without looking back.
Nora kept the most neutral expression she could. Her problems were hers. There was no need to ruin this moment between new friends, even if watching them punched a hole thro
ugh her heart.
Chapter 16 – Gray Pills
Going to the hospital was an odd errand, even for Ethan.
Last night was Winston’s first real patrol. Winston was certainly happier for it. A bit of that was prevalent even this morning. But he put his serious face on when Iris called for the three to report to the Command Room.
Iris summoned them almost immediately after they returned. She told Ethan, Nora, and Winston went the hospital to pay Liam a visit.
“Did his shoulder get dislocated again?” asked Winston.
“That shouldn’t happen,” Nora retorted.
Winston cupped one hand around his own shoulder. “I’m just saying that it happens more often than you think. One wrong jerk, and pop! Arm’s messed up again.”
Iris cleared her throat. All eyes went back to her.
“Liam is having a medical examination today,” said Iris. “He insisted on going alone, but I want you all to escort him back here. And he needs to read this document as soon as possible.”
She handed off a packet wrapped in a blank folder. A.X.E.L.’s insignia was printed on it. Winston held the folder under his arm and tucked tightly.
The three of them had no objections. Ethan left first.
After a trip through the public bus, Ethan, Nora, and Winston arrived at the State General Hospital. The front desk welcomed them in and showed them to Liam’s room.
The room smelled like antiseptic and bleach. A freshly made medical bed was placed in the room and a number of unused life support machines were stationed at each of its sides.
Two visitor chairs were placed before a wide window opposite of the entrance.
Winston noticed another visitor sitting in one of the chairs.
“Um, hi,” said Winston.
It was a girl with dyed red hair that reached down to her shoulders. She wore a navy blue trench coat, black cargo pants, and scuffed combat boots. She also wore a headband that held her bangs up around her face.
Whatever the reason she was here, this visitor did not look pleased.
“Are we in the wrong room?” asked Nora.
She remained silent and continued to glare with an expressionless face.
The door to the room opened again. Liam entered. To everyone’s surprise, he cleaned up significantly for this hospital visit.
Liam’s beard was trimmed neatly. Their senior wore a dress shirt with EM Academy uniform trousers. He still wore a sling to cradle his left arm. Liam glanced around to assess the situation.
“What are you guys doing here?” he asked the trio.
“We, uh,” stammered Winston. He eyed the other visitor from the corner of his eye.
“Iris told us to pick you up,” said Nora.
The other visitor stood up. Even from across the room, her height rivaled that of Ethan’s.
There was an intimidating way that she carried herself. Every hint of her said that she was itching to beat something in with a bat. Everyone but Liam was intimidated.
“Is that it, Liam?” she said.
Liam turned to her. “Yeah,” he replied. “Thanks for stopping by.”
“I don’t have time for this,” she said with a scoff. “Solve your own problems next time, ‘kay?”
The other visitor brushed past everyone else in the room. She stopped to glance at Ethan especially. She had a pair of hazel eyes that cross-sectioned his whole body when she looked at him.
“What are you looking at?” asked Ethan.
“Nothing.”
Ethan kept a straight face, but internally buckled at this stranger’s stare. Everyone watched as she walked past and bluntly shut the door behind her.
When he was sure that the rude girl was gone, Winston dared to speak. “Who the hell was that?” he asked.
“A friend from school, sort of,” said Liam. “You know the Wraith attacks recently? She knew a few guys that got lucky or knew victims. Oh, did you bring what I wanted?”
Winston held up the packet. Liam took it with his good hand and flipped through the pages. He took a minute to skim through its contents.
“Interesting,” he said. “She could’ve told you all this earlier, but whatever.”
“Told us what?” asked Winston.
“The lab results came back from Mr. Ikutsuki’s lab,” Liam replied. “More of that Wraith-inducing crap. We’re seeing more of them pop up around town.”
***
The group of four promptly returned.
Iris sat waiting for the rest of her team to get seated. She held a mug of steaming coffee in one hand.
If she’s drinking coffee for lunch, Ethan thought, then this must be serious.
This wasn’t new, so Ethan was used to watching her give the cold shoulder to their group.
Even Ethan forgot that winter was approaching. A bleak and cloudy sky outside foretold of colder days. Meanwhile, every monitor on the command room’s console was configured to ill suit the changing mood.
Each monitor came with a screensaver loaded onto their massive screens. Ethan found that the screen closest to him displayed a lush meadow filled with sunflowers, when his desk only displayed a field of wild grass before.
He turned away. Everyone else was seated in the Command Room. Ethan took his usual spot, which happened to be across from Winston.
Their leader put down her mug. Now that the whole team was here, Iris could begin.
“Nikita found more reports of the gray pills,” she said.
Liam handed off the folder he had. He kept it in his hands for the whole ride back to the dorm, and read the pages as if letting go would set the whole thing on fire. Ethan took it and looked inside.
More photographs of half-digested pills. These were the results of autopsies, evidently from other Wraith victims. Ethan hadn’t considered how far the damage could spread, but here he had evidence that the problem was worse than he initially thought.
“One of our patrols uptown found a Wraith victim with the pills,” Iris continued. “It seems these were disguised as meds for treating mental illness.”
Ethan handed off the folder to Nora. She scanned the contents within and grimaced at every picture.
“That’s disgusting,” she remarked.
Nora handed off the folder to Winston. He read through the files and glanced at the pictures. Ethan could tell from the gaunt expression on his face that he was thinking of his brother.
“So Hector took one of these and died because of it,” said Winston. “He’d never do drugs though.”
“We didn’t say that he did,” Ethan remarked. “But we can’t deny the possibility that he ingested this stuff either.”
“I certainly hope not.”
Winston clamped the folder shut. He handed it back to Iris. She took it and set it inside her briefcase.
“And I’d like you all to take note of something,” said Iris. “If you see someone with a history of medication, check for signs of Wraith possession. They could be at risk already.”
“So how do we find ‘em?” asked Winston.
Ethan waved to get Winston’s attention. “People who are possessed by Wraiths leak black mist,” he said. “Most people don’t notice, but if you have a Sol, you can see it.”
Winston glanced at Nora. “Then how can she see it? She’s not like us.”
“I’m born with it,” Nora replied snappily. “Like a 6th sense.”
Winston shrugged to himself. He turned back to the rest of the group. “Then we use the magical sticky note?”
Iris rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, pretty much,” said Ethan with a smirk.
Winston erased the look of dread across his face. He even smirked for good measure.
***
Ethan looked around the lobby. A large cardboard box on the lobby desk was waiting for him.
It finally arrived, he thought. More than a week late, but it arrived.
He turned to see if anyone else was in sight. The meeting ended, and almost the whole A.X.E.
L. team had gone their separate ways today.
All there were other EU students either minding their own business or sleeping around. None of them paid any mind to the semi-cop with a cardboard box.
Ethan tore open the packaging with the teeth of his room keys. He peered inside.
“Perfect,” he muttered to himself.
This was something he ordered a while back. Ethan had nearly forgotten about it, but his delivery arrived. It was a plastic model from the Gundam series.
Something no one else knew about Ethan was his little Gundam collection. He had been building it up in his room since the start of freshman year.
The robots were well designed and eye-catching, and something about the intricacy in building one out of dozens of different parts really made Ethan feel like a kid again.
He looked inside the shipping box. There was no mistaking the white and blue color scheme of the iconic robot on its front. Ethan had ordered it to build it in his free time. Hopefully, he could finish building it before sundown.
No sense in waiting much longer. He got to work immediately.
Ethan sat down at a lobby table and removed the Gundam from its packaging. He scratched away at the shrink wrap and opened the box within.
He got a good whiff of brand new General Purpose Polystyrene plastic. There was a distinct smell of freshly forged parts straight from the factory. The shrink wrap helped pack that inside the box. Ethan got a good whiff of it the moment he lifted the lid.
Many robot parts were laid out before him. These were suspended in plastic frames to distinguish the different pieces from each other.
An instruction manual in Japanese was included. The language didn’t hinder the building process. Ethan could make do with interpreting the pictures with the instructions.
Time passed faster than Ethan had anticipated. That was to be expected. Ethan always lost track of time while tinkering away with Gundam sets.
If there was one thing he wouldn’t mind doing while sitting in one place for hours on end, it was building something new.
“Ethan? Got a minute?”
He nearly jumped at that. Ethan turned around while cradling a torso and half-formed arm in his hands.