#lilybeth

“Amora, how are you feeling?” Cobalt asked, softly from his on the floor at the end of Amora’s bed.

“Cobalt, shut up,” Amora mumbled, “you’re too loud.”

“Really you bastard?” Loki sighed, tightening her hold on Amora’s waist, “You do realize you are the reason this shit happened, leave her alone.”

They lay up in her bed, Loki’s arms around Amora’s middle and Amora‘s face hidden in Loki’s chest attempting to block out even light and sound, “Do you need anything, love, water, a snack?”

“I just wanna sleep,” Amora muttered.

“Okay, love, I’ll keep quiet,” Loki replied.

“You don’t have to stay…”

“No, I’m staying,” Loki added. “It’s a holiday, anyway, so I would be staying in bed anyway, and here I get to lay here with you.”

Amora giggled lightly, “I could leave if you want me to.”

Amora wrapped her arms around Loki’s middle, “I’ll take that as a no,” Loki cooed.

“You’re the only person I want around me, right now,” Amora muttered as Loki brushed her pink strands out of her face, “I don’t think I could deal with this alone. I would probably just lose it.”

Loki hummed, “Good thing I’m here then, mhm?” Amora nodded, snuggling into Loki’s chest, “I wonder what everyone else is doing today…”

Amora let out a little laugh, “What?” Loki asked.

“It’s not like you to think about other people,” Amora remarked.

Loki scoffed smiling, brushing her fingers through Amroa’s golden locks, “Maybe I’m changing.”

“Please don’t change.”

“Even for the better?”

“I like you the way you are,” Amora admitted.

Loki’s face instantly became hot before she buried her bright red face in Amora’s hair, “…Noted…”

On Hall Magnus currant colored sneakered stomped across the hardwood floor, marching to her room, Cassiopeia wasn’t angry per se she was just upset.

“It’s always Calliope missing practice,” she scoffed to herself before entering their shared room, “Calliope! What the hell!”

The blonde girl in a cyan sweater dress jumped as she sat with her double bass, “Why were you not at practice!?” Cassiopeia complained dropping her duffle bag full of her cheer stuff forcefully on to the floor.

“I didn’t feel good,” Calliope answered cowardly.

“But you feel well enough to play your bass?”

Calliope let out an anxious squeak as Cassiopeia sat down at the end of her bed, “Cal, be honest with me,” the blonde cheerleader in red workout clothes said softly, “do you like being on the cheer team?”

There were a few moments of silence as the twins stared at one another, “No,” Calliope sheepishly responded, “I hate it, actually… I’ve hated it the whole time.”

“Seriously?! Calliope, why didn’t you tell me?!”

Calliope put her hands up in defense of herself, “Cas, talking to you is hard, especially when you’re mad, which is like all the time. I feel like I can’t talk to you about how I feel most of the time. Plus, you love cheer, you love the cheer team, I didn’t want to tell you I hated it and not only make you mad but I didn’t want to destroy your vision of the cheer team since you created it with Ms. Thornton.”

“Calliope—”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s our last year and I should tough it out, but I can’t do it anymore,” Calliope added, “I wanna hang with my friends, play my double bass, and not have to worry about if the other girls on the team are going to make fun of the way my body looks when we are changing.”

“I’m sorry,” Cassiopeia sighed, dejectedly, “I thought you wanted to cheer.”

“I mean when you came to me first and went on and on about it,” Calliope let out a little laugh, “It sounded amazing, but now it’s not fun anymore.”

“I’ll tell Euphrasie, and we can gather all your cheer stuff, you don’t have to do it anymore,” Cassiopeia replied, getting up and stretching.

“You're not mad?” Calliope asked.

“I’m not happy about it,” Cassiopeia said truthfully, “But I’m not going to force you to continue to be a cheerleader if you don’t want to.”

Calliope smiled at her sister before Cassiopeia added, “I mean it's better for you to quit now instead of not coming to practice for the rest of the year.”

Calliope laughed awkwardly as Cassiopeia headed for the door, “Where are you going?” Calliope asked.

“I think… I’ll go for a run or something, maybe I’ll go shopping,” Cassiopeia answered before leaving their room, taking Calliope’s cheer bag with her.

Leaving Hall Magnus and the dorms, spotting Euphrasie with their sports bag on their shoulder, practice clothes clinging to their bodies, and speaking to one of their tennis teammates in the academy courtyard.

“Hey, Euphrasie!” Cassiopeia called, grabbing their attention.

“I’ll meet you there, Auretta,” Euphrasie muttered before turning to Cassiopeia looking at the blonde cheerleader with a large smile, “Hi Cassiopeia, what do you need?”

“Calliope has finally quit the cheer team.”

“Oh, dang,” Euphrasie sighed, “It’s for the best though, she hasn’t been enjoying it.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Cassiopeia remarked rolling her eyes, “Anyway, can you drop off Calliope’s cheer bag to Ms. Thornton?”

“I can, but I have tennis practice, so I’ll do it later,” Euphrasie answered, their hand out to receive the duffle bag on Cassiopeia's shoulders.

Cassiopeia sighed, “Is Ms. Thornton still on campus?”

Euphrasie shrugged, “I think so, I don’t kn—” they answered before Cassiopeia began to run off, “Hey where are you going?!”

“To see if Ms. Thornton is here!” Cassiopeia called back, “HAVE FUN AT TENNIS PRACTICE! TELL AURETTA I LIKED HER SNEAKERS!”

Cassiopeia raced herself up to Lilybeth’s classroom, finding her there at her desk going through some papers. At the same time, Mrs. Danielson stood in front of a desk, oddly enough smiling,  while having an “intense” conversation with a man, covered in tattoos, that Cassiopeia didn’t recognize sitting on top of the desk.

“Ms. Thornton…”

“Cassiopeia,” Lilybeth remarked, looking up at her classroom door, “What do you need?”

“Hello, Ms. Ivory,” Helvetica remarked.

“Hi,” Cassiopeia muttered giving the Literature teacher a shy wave, “Ms. Thorton here is Calliope’s cheer bag.”

“Oh?” Lilybeth questioned as Cassiopeia and over the duffle bag, “Did she quit?”

“Yeah,” Cassiopeia sighed, pouting.

“Oh, chickadee, it will be fine,” Lilybeth commented. “You still have all the others; it won’t affect anything. Don’t look so down.”

“I just… feel horrible, I forced Calliope to do something she never wanted to do for so long, and she couldn’t talk to me, and I feel like Calliope hates like ever—”

Lilybeth placed a hand on Cassiopeia's shoulder, sympathetically saying, “Cassiopeia, chickie, Calliope doesn’t hate you. She probably just wanted to see you happy because Cheer made you happy. Calliope is your sister, and she loves you. I doubt she could ever hate you.”

0Cassiopeia smiled slightly, “Thank you, Ms. Thornton.”

“Bethie, you coming?” That unfamiliar man called, leading Helvetica out of Lilybeth's classroom.

“Yeah, Ambrose,” Lilybeth remarked, grabbing her purse, “You okay Cassiopeia?”

Cassiopeia nodded following Lilybeth out of her classroom, “Have a nice rest of your day off, Cassie,” Lilybeth commented, following after her two friends leaving the young cheerleader still dejected in the hallway.

As she headed for the schoolhouse’s door, the romantic pings of her cell phone pulled her attention. Message notifications littered the notification bar on her lock screen, all from Roux.

Roux ⚽: I’m almost done at my mom’s

If you’re not busy maybe we could meet at Vixen’s and spend the afternoon in town

Make a little date out of it

Cassiopeia thought for a moment before responding: Sure.

Taking a ride into town, stopping in the little café that was a staple in Solostica. With its large modern windows and light sage building at the corner of a small intersection. Cream walls cover the interior, with a classic coffee shop vibe with an added botanical touch given the many potted plants all over the place and a large bush of different flowers over the bar. Cassiopeia plopped herself next to a table in a far corner of the shop next to a window, beginning to people-watch rather than get in the sizable line at the busy bar.

Odysseus and Lance sat at a nearby table across from Cassiopeia. It was obvious they had been there for a while. From what little Cassiopeia knew about the two boys they often played Dungeons and Dragons with their friends at the Vixen Café, maybe that’s what they were talking about on their little coffee date.

She spotted Iphigenie at the bar, in her work apron with her hair pulled back as she placed pastries in the dessert case. Iphigenie’s hair was tied up as neatly as it could be given its thickness and curls, so beautiful and graceful as she worked in the chaos of being a barista.

Cassiopeia shook her head choosing to look out the window for what felt like hours rather than stare at Iphigenie anymore. Instead of storming out of her dorm room, she should have grabbed her journal or even her purse, instead of only having her phone to play with, the people around her to observe, and a window to look out of.

“Here you go.”

Cassiopeia jumped at the sound of Iphigenie’s voice next to her, snapping her out of her daydreaming as she stared out the window. A drink now sat on her table, leaving her to look up at the ginger girl confused.

“I didn’t—”

“Odysseus paid for it,” Iphigenie commented, pointing back at the boy in the mask who gave the blonde cheerleader a wave, before turning back to Lance engaging in conversation with him, “It's a Mango frappe, you’ve ordered it before.”

“Thanks,” Cassiopeia muttered, her cheeks flushed.

“Enjoy,” Iphigenie remarked before beginning to walk away.

“Iphigenie!” Cassiopeia called, making the barista pause and turning back, “Can we talk for a quick second?”

Iphigenie shrugged, “I’ve already clocked out, why not,” she mentioned before sitting across from Cassiopeia, “What are we talking about?”

“Do you remember when we were kids?”

Iphigenie cracked a slight smile before nodding, “You, Calliope, and I would play all the time. Dad said we were the 3 musketeers.”

“Do you ever miss that time?”

“Being a kid and not having problems, yeah. That time of my life no,” Iphigenie answered, watching Cassiopeia frown at her response, “Cassiopeia, my parents going through a divorce.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Cassiopeia sighed.

“Why are you apologizing?” Iphigenie asked, letting out a little laugh and making Cassiopeia become hot.

“Do you remember why we stopped being friends?” the blonde girl innocently asked.

“Well I moved to Switzerland,” Iphigiene shrugged before thinking for a moment, “I thought you were mad that I moved, we just stopped talking, I took that as a sign that you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“No!” Cassiopeia chirped, “I-I-I just was a stupid kid! I would write you letters… I guess momma and papa never sent them, so when you stopped sending yours…”

“Classic,” Iphigiene chuckled. “When I came back last year I was shocked to see you and Roux together, I never thought you liked him.”

“I don’t think… I do,” Cassiopeia mumbled.

“Then why are you with him?”

Cassiopeia stared off into space for a moment. She’d been with Roux since starting at Hallows Academy after knowing him her entire childhood, but she never felt as if she loved him. As if it was an obligation to be his girlfriend after so long. She enjoyed his company and his kindness; however, days continued to pass, and Cassiopeia’s feelings for Roux hadn’t changed.

“Cas, you okay?”

“I need to break up with Roux,” she muttered.

Iphigenie blinked, “You came to that conclusion rather quickly.”

“I mean what am I supposed to do?” Cassiopeia remarked, “I don’t like him enough to be in a relationship with him, right?”

Iphigenie hummed in agreement, “Genie, would you want to go out sometime?” Cassiopeia asked with rosy cheeks. “Hang out like when we were kids,” she added.

“Hang out like we were kids? So play with dolls and annoy your older sister,” Iphigenie joked.

“I was thinking more like going to see a movie or just talking,” Cassiopeia giggled.

“Would be nice,” Iphigenie remarked.

“Iphigenie, I’m sorry I’m late!” Luther’s deep voice bellowed, “Loki wanted me to get some stuff for Amora—”

“Is she okay?” Iphigenie asked.

Luther shrugged, “Loki isn’t really saying.”

“Something is wrong with Amora?” Cassiopeia asked, rather compassionately.

“She fainted yesterday,” Iphigenie answered.

“I think she’s just dehydrated,” Luther muttered.

 Iphigenie got up, ready to leave with Luther, “We’ll stop by Loki’s room, then go to study hall, yeah?” he asked her.

“That’s fine with me.”

“Genie?”

“Yeah, Cas?” Iphigenie asked, looking at the cheerleader sincerely.

Cassiopeia paused with her cheeks all flushed, “Do you want to…” Cassiopeia trailed off

He could feel an energy between Iphigenie and Luther. It is so obvious just looking at Luther’s gaze, a guy who has always been known for a stern gaze behind a pair of circular glasses and fought with Roux on many occasions yet looks at Iphigenie, the most melancholic girl alive, with such soft eyes.

“… Never mind,” Cassiopeia awkwardly chuckled, “I hope we can be friends again.”

“Me too, Cas,” Iphigenie remarked with a smile, “I’ll see you later.”

“See ya,” Cassiopeia muttered, as Luther and Iphigenie headed for the door.

“Is it a good idea for you to become friends with Cassiopeia?” Luther asked opening the door to the café inadvertently letting Roux in.

“Oh come,” Iphigenie commented, “Cassiopeia is fine. She’s sweet.”

“Hey baby,” Roux cooed, kissing Cassiopeia’s cheek before sitting across from her, “I thought we could go to the shop on Elizabeth Street and—”

“Roux… We need to talk!”

“About what, baby?”

“I think…” Cassiopeia began rubbing her hands on top of her thighs, while also trying to make herself smaller. “I think we should break up.”

“What did I do wrong?” Roux asked.

She put her hands up, waving them in an X motion, “It’s not you!”

“Then why—”

“I don’t think I… love you.”

Roux blinked, before simply getting up and leaving. Cassiopeia was left wide-eyed and frozen before chasing after him, “Roux, stop!”

“3 YES, CASSIOPEIA! WE’VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR 3 YEARS!” Roux yelled, continuing to walk away from her.

“I’M SORRY,” She shouted back at him.

He turned around swiftly looking at her dead on, a mix of rage and sadness in his eyes, “YOU LIED TO ME FOR 3 YEARS! CASSIOPEIA I’VE LOVED FOR AGES AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS SORRY?!”

“ROUX I NEVER—”

“WHAT?!” He screamed, “YOU NEVER LOVED ME?! THAT MUCH IS OBVIOUS! THE GOO-GOO EYES YOU MAKE AT IPHIGENIE ARE EVERY OBVIOUS, I’M SURPRISED YOU DON’T MAKE LUTHER JEALOUS!”

Cassiopeia kept her mouth shut before Roux laughed wickedly, “At first I thought it was just because you felt bad for her or something because she was weird and barely had any friends when she got back. Then I was every time you saw her! It’s so fucking obvious you have a fucking crush on her and I OVERLOOKED THAT BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!”

“Roux, I’m sorry!”

“That’s all your going to fucking say?!”

Cassiopeia nodded sheepishly before Roux clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth and headed for the train station. Stomping his way back to the dorms, Calliope and Solomon were sitting on the porch steps chatting.

“Get out of my way!” Roux snarled through gritted teeth.

“Yeah sure man,” Solomon muttered, wrapping a protective arm around Calliope’s shoulder to pull her closer to him out of Roux’s way.

“Are you okay, Roux?” Calliope innocently asked.

“Don’t fucking talk to me!”

Calliope hung her head a bit, “What the hell, Roux!” Solomon exclaimed, standing up as Roux reached the top of the stairs, “She was just asking if you were all right, no need to be a dick!”

“I don’t give a shit!” Roux spat descending the stairs again just to get in Solomon’s face, “Both her and Cassiopeia are ugly little leeches!”

“Motherfucker, Cassiopeia’s your girlfriend—”

“NOT ANYMORE! THAT DUMB BITCH BROKE—”

Before Roux could finish his sentence Solomon punched him square in the face, making the Football captain stumble back a bit, “I let you get away with a lot,” Solomon lamented with dark eyes, “But you’re just an asshole that expects things to go his way! Cassiopeia never fucking loved you she barely even liked you that was obvious to everyone with a brain! We were with you because you made being in a relationship with her seem like something she needed to do because you are the captain of the Football team and she’s a cheerleader! Completely overlooked two people that have any sort of feeling for you, you dickhead!”

Roux huffed, picking himself out of the dirt as Solomon helped Calliope up and off the stairs and went inside while the sun was setting. The Football player stared at the darkening clouds for a long time, while sitting on the sits of the dormitory porch truly wondering when he first became such an asshole.

Meanwhile, up on Hall Osmanthus Loki sat on her own bed waiting for Amora to get out of the bathroom, replying to the many messages from Lance, Luther, and Odysseus all asking how Amora was doing.

The American girl came out of the bathroom with a towel in hand. She slowly piddled her to her bed, “Cobalt,” Amora muttered to the ghostly man sitting at her desk chair, “I feel better than I did this morning.”

“Good to hear, Chickadee,” He commented. “Tomorrow with enough rest you’ll be right as rain.”

“Thank you for worrying,” Amora noted.

“Of course,” Cobalt said with a nod.

“My brothers are worried about you,” Loki chuckled, shaking her phone in her hand before tossing it on her bed.

Amora smiled, “Tell Luther I said thank you for all the goodies.”

“You should really be thinking of me, I asked him to go get the stuff,” Loki replied, making Amora giggle.

As everything settled for the night and everyone but the few night owls in Solostica were down for the night, a sickly-looking disheveled man covered in filth and grim, wearing clothes far too big for him, and chains wrapped around his ankles and wrist hobbled his way through the quiet streets, taking him a few hours to stumbled his way to Hallows Academy all but collapsing at the front door before screaming:

“Attention: All students are invited to the first séance in the dormitory today, Friday, September 8th, at 16:00. It will be taking place in the storage room off the common area on the third floor (Hall Romanov). Again, all students are invited to join. There will be pizza afterward.”

-Euphrasie Head of Student Residency

Amora and Loki walked up the stairs of the dorms, the American girl’s heeled flats clicking against the steps as she walked up to the third floor.

“Do you think it will be a success?” Loki asked looking over her shoulder.

“Hard to say, it depends on what you believe in,” Amora answered, following behind her, “I like to believe that ghosts are real so something like the séance could work. Do you believe in ghosts, Loki?”

“I do,” Loki replied softly, “Do you?”

“I feel like I have to,” Amora began as they reached the 3rd floor, “I mean with all the fae and creatures that wonder about in our everyday life, I feel like it would only make sense for ghosts to exist.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I mean if something that is so inherently magical and whimsical exists, couldn’t be possible that something that is so inherently supernatural and paranormal exists as well? It would be odd to have one without the other if the two are synonymous of each other,” Amora explained.

“You can Luther would be fit to have conversations for hours with the way you are thinking,” Loki commented as they reached the setting area on the third floor.

“What about me?” Luther perked up, from one of the couches after Loki said his name.

He sat on one of the beige couches watching Lance and Odysseus play a round of Mario Cart on the TV in the living space. The larger brother looked over the couch to look at his sister over the bridge of his glasses, “What have I done now?”

“I wasn’t saying anything bad,” Loki scoffed, “We were just talking about whether ghosts existed or not and Amora was getting very philosophical.”

“Will I mean the existence of ghosts is based on personal opinion, but it wouldn’t be impossible for ghosts to exist given that they are very magical—”

“Brother Bear, as much as I love you, I don’t wanna have this conversation with you, it will make my brain hurt,” Loki remarked, leaning against the couch.

“Who’s winning,” Amora asked softly, as she rounded to be closer to Odysseus and Lance as they sat in the middle of the 3 large couches that were all in a U-shape, facing the flat-screen TV.

“Odis,” Lance muttered.

“Technically it’s someone named Maverick, from Marquis Island,” Odysseus replied, “but right here in this room, it’s me!”

“Odysseus, does everyone call you Odis?” Amora asked.

“No, Only the Holloway siblings call me Odis.” He answered, “I don’t even know why they do.”

“Odysseus Odis,” Luther commented, moving his hands as if to put the two names into columns. “Sound similar.”

“SWEET WE’RE PLAYING MARIO CART!” A boyish voice exclaimed before an olive-skinned blonde male vaulted over one of the couches and landed beside Odysseus giving him a little nudge, “You should have told me, dude, so I could take you down a peg!”

“Solomon you were studying,” Odysseus chuckled.

“Honestly, Mario Cart is more important than studying for my Forensic Science class,” Solomon scoffed before looking order at Amora, “Hi, I’m Solomon.”

“Amora,” she replied, sitting down on one of the couches while Loki sat on the arm next to her. She remembers Loki vaguely talking about Solomon. Her British roommate said he was friendly, but he can be a bit of a jerk when his best friend is around.

Euphrasie soon arrived with pizzas and all the items she would need for a séance, after Calliope joined the group around the TV, sitting quietly and keeping to herself. Euphrasie waited a few moments for a few more students to arrive like Iphigenie, before beginning.

“Thank you for coming, for the first-ever séance at Hallows Academy,” Euphrasie began, “we are going to take this box of séance items to the storage room then we are going to try and talk with ghost.”

“Euphrasie, I love you, but I only came to get some pizza before I went to work,” Iphigenie remarked, stealing a slice of pizza from one of the boxes.

“That’s fine don’t work too hard,” Euphrasie replied, before grabbing her box and heading to the storage room with her peers following her.

“Isn’t it a little late for that?” Luther asked as she walked by.

“One of the closers got sick during their shift and I was asked to help close,” Iphigenie answered.

“Want me to come so you don’t have to do all the walking alone?” Luther inquired, as Cassiopeia made it to the 3rd floor while a chocolatey red-haired dude had his arm around her shoulder.

“No, it’s alright,” she replied, “Thanks for the offer though.”

The British boy nodded, as she turned to walk away, “Text or call me if you need any rescuing,” he added.

“Thanks, Luther,” Iphigenie replied before letting out a little “Excuse me.” While passing Cassiopeia and the boy she was on the arm of.

“Get rejected, Luther?” The boy laughed.

“Roux,” Luther sighed, clenching his fist while having to urge to punch Roux in his pretty football player's face, “Screw off,” he muttered before being the bigger man and walking away.

“Hey, Roux!” Solomon interjected, “You going to join us in the séance?”

“That sounds stupid,” Roux scoffed.

“I thought it sounded like fun,” Solomon muttered a frown forming on his face.

“Dude, I don’t care what you do, but it sounds so stupid, especially since ghosts aren’t really,” Roux retorted.

“Stick around and maybe you will change your mind!” Euphrasie exclaimed, poking her head out of the storage room as Luther entered.

Roux looked to Cassiopeia who had only stood beside him in silence while her boyfriend had his little exchanges, “What do you wanna do?”

Cassiopeia shrugged, “What would it hurt, ghosts aren’t real, right.”

“You guys coming or not!” Euphrasie shouted.

“Yes, Euphrasie, Jesus!” Roux huffed, entering the storage room with Cassiopeia.

“Who is that again?” Amora asked Loki quietly, while Euphrasie began setting up the séance.

“Roux,” the British teen muttered in a disgusted tone, “If you do anything I advise, let it be staying away from him.”

“He can be nice,” Calliope whispered, from her place beside Amora, “sometimes.”

“Calliope, he’s only nice to you because you are Cassiopeia's sister,” Loki mumbled.

Amora looked over at Cassiopeia, ever since their first meeting anytime Amora as seen the girl always in red, the cheerleader has held a resting bitch face, but now, when she is cuddled up to Roux, she looks so small against his large frame and so miserable. Yet, every time Roux’s at her, he looks at her with a loving gaze, and she only smiles one of those smiles that is clearly fake, although Roux seems to not notice.

“She’s unhappy,” Amora commented to herself, out loud.

“What?” Loki asked as Euphrasie finished setting up the séance, with the Ouija board in the middle of the group of students, surrounded by candles.

“It’s nothing,” Amora replied.

Euphrasie cleared her throat before beginning to speak, “Oh spirits of Hallows Academy, we all come to speak to you today within this storage room. If you wish to speak with us, give us a sign.”

There is a large moment of silence, teenagers all looking at each other, as if nothing happened, “You could like… knock something down… maybe blow out one of the candles,” Euphrasie muttered.

After Euphrasie spoke something fell in the corner of the storage room making almost everyone jump, then look at all the séance items in the middle of the circle they formed.

“C-could you blow out the tallest candle?” The dorm resident asked.

The tallest candle’s flame is then extinguished, making the students gasp. The sounds of whispers filled the room, voices layered over each other talking all at once in shushed tones around the teenagers, yet it seemed like Amora was the only one who could hear all the noise.

The overlaying vibrations made her head hurt, “Amora?” Calliope asked, seeing the American girl's discomfort as everyone else was focused on the ghostly happenings in the center of the circle.

Loki looked over at her roommate seeing her with her head in her hands and her eyes shut tight, “Lovely?”

The overlapping voices continued to get louder as Amora’s head continued to throb in pain. She then looked up for whatever reason seeing the blurry silhouette of some individual standing in front of her.

The silhouette then approached Amora, standing right in front of her, along with the overlapping voice which continued to get louder and louder accompanied by a buzzing sound.

“Do you all not hear the buzzing?” Amora mumbled, unable to properly focus on anything.

“Amora? What’s wrong?” Loki asked concerned.

She can’t hear Loki, however, as the voice around her and the buzzing is so loud Amora felt as if her whole body was vibrating. With squinted eyes Amora watched the blurry silhouette reach out to her with one of their fingers, pressing the tip of their extremity into the center of her forehead.

The American teenager is then on the floor, unconscious.

“Amora!” Calliope gasped, while Loki immediately fell to her knees, to help her roommate.

Everyone’s attention is on Amora and by proxy Loki, “What happened?” Euphrasie gasped.

“I-I don’t know,” Loki stammered out, pulling Amora into her arms, “She just collapsed!”

“It’s the ghost!” a random student shrieked.

“Dude, shut the hell up,” Solomon scoffed, “Is she alright?”

Luther made his way over to his sister, taking Amora from Loki’s arms and picking her up and off the floor.

“Do you know if she ate anything today?” Odysseus asked.

“Maybe she’s dehydrated,” Lance added.

“I’ll call the Nurse’s office and tell them you’re coming,” Euphrasie remarked pulling out their phone.

Loki and Luther left the storage room, heading to the Nurse’s Office in the main building, where Amora stayed well into the night. While in between the land of being awake and in slumber, it feels like she is being watched. Once she was out of the land of sleep, she opened her eyes, face with a man.

With dark burgundy-brown hair, dusty pink skin, and heterochromatic eyes staring down at the blonde girl, left eye purple right eye pink. He had a tea-green glow to his whole body as he floated above her as she lay in bed.

Amora looked at him with wide eyes before he gasped, “You can see me!” The man remarked.

Her eyes got even wider, as the floating man above her put his hand up, “Please don’t start screaming!”

She obviously started screaming, which woke up Loki who was sleeping in a chair, “Amora! What’s the matter!” Loki exclaimed, coming to her side.

“DO YOU NOT SEE THE MAN FLOATING IN THE AIR!”

Loki paused and blinked, looking in the direction that Amora was pointing in as she screamed, “Lovely, it’s a dream, breathe.”

Amora stopped screaming, huffing out breaths and staring down the name as she snickered in the corner, “Go back to sleep, yeah, you’ll be better in the morning,” Loki remarked, affectionately rubbing up and down the blonde’s arms.

All she did was nod, sinking back into the bed she was in, as Loki took her place in the chair next to her, she could feel eyes on her. Not Loki’s, no she’s kind enough not to intentionally stare. No, it’s the eyes of that man, covered in a green mist, staring at her from the corner of the room.

And he continues to linger the next day, from the moment Amora woke, to being let out of the nurse’s office, to getting back to the dorm, he’s there with his 5’10 stature to the way he floats behind Amora at a good distance. He is just there, and the fact that it seems that she is the only one who can see him, Amora can only believe she is going insane, and she’s only been at Hallows Academy for a week.

“Gah,” Loki sighed, looking at her phone, “Lance wants me to come to his dorm.”

“Go, I’ll be fine,” Amora muttered while sitting in her bed.

Loki stood up from her bed, fidgeting a bit, “If you need anything text me okay.”

Amora nodded, before watching her leave their room hesitantly. Once alone, Amora pulled out her laptop and typed into the search bar: seeing people that other people can’t see.

Multiple articles, and definitions of hallucinations along with what could cause them waterfalled on her internet browser, “Chickadee, this isn’t a hallucination,” the man stated, “Put in Cobalt Thornton.”

“How do you spell all that?” She asked, before shaking her head.

“C-O-B-A-L-T T-H-O-R-N-T-O-N.”

When typing the name into the search bar, the top result was an obituary and an article from 15 years ago.

Tragedy Has Befallen Solostica: Hallows Teacher Found Dead

Solostica News Channel One Editor: Suzette Levi Writer: Nicolette Heri-Louis

Found deceased in his small home, on March 23rd, in the early morning, Cobalt Thornton, a Pre-Calculus teacher at Hallows Academy and a Solostian born and raised. Known as Mr. Thornton by all his students and Mister Blue by close friends and family. Respected for his passion for the field of mathematics, and tolerated for his stubbornness, it is shocking to find out that a well-respected man, who seemingly has no enemies, had been murdered.

Thornton’s death is undetermined as of this report. This case is a top priority according to law enforcement, Although Thornton’s wife, Primrose, stated at the funeral:

“The only thing that the sergeants have told me was that he couldn’t be cremated. Cobalt wanted to be cremated, that was his only wish! They won’t update me on his case, I don’t know how he died, but it must be made sure that he can’t be cremated, they're a joke!”

Cobalt Thornton is survived by his wife Primrose Mero-Thornton and his daughter, He was buried in Solostica Grand Church, yesterday, March 26th.

If you have any information about the death of Cobalt Thornton, contact Solostica Detective Matias Prescott at 020 9734 2648 or ask for him at the Solostica Supervise Office.

Below the article is a picture, of the same man that was now haunting her, yet less green, “So what? You’re a ghost?” Amora scoffed, looking over her shoulder at the ghostly man floating next to her.

“You honestly believe I am a figment?!”

“I am center I don’t believe you are actually a ghost, that you are actually haunting me!” Amora fought back.

Cobalt sighed, moving to the door, “There are plenty of old yearbooks around this campus, so why not go find one from before I died,” Cobalt suggested motioning to the door.

Amora sighed, staring at the article open on her laptop screen and then at the back at the ghostly man at her door, “Your little friend in orange might be able to help you,” Cobalt commented.

The American girl sighed, getting out her bed and heading out to find Euphrasie. Remembering that their room was on the 3rd floor, she made her way to Hall Romanov, knocking lightly on Euphrasie’s door where she could hear whispering before the door opened.

“Oh hey, Amora, how are you feeling?” Eurphrasie asked.

“I’m okay… I guess,” Amora replied, “I actually wanted to know if there were any old yearbooks I could look at.”

“How old we talking?”

“15 years or older,” Amora answered.

“Uh… Oh yeah! There are a few in the entertainment center from around that time… I think,” Euphrasie replied, “Come on I’ll help you look.”

“Thanks.”

The two seniors walked to the setting area in the 3rd hall, devoid of people now in time in the day.

“Why do you want to look at old yearbooks?” Euphrasie asked, opening the entertainment system shelving units.

“Something for my history class,” Amora answered, as the dorm resident pulled out a few yearbooks.

“Nice save, chickadee,” Cobalt noted, from his ethereal place around her.

“Thanks,” Amora muttered after Euphrasie handed her the small stack of yearbooks.

“If you need to borrow some just send me pics of the news you take so I know where they’re at,” Euphrasie stated.

“Got it.”

“Have fun,” Euphrasie chirped before heading back to her dorm room.

The chipper student had handed Amora some older yearbooks, that didn’t have Cobalt in them, as the pages were in black and white and from over 50 years ago. The last one she looked at was one from exactly 15 years ago, and thankfully in color flipping to the staff page and looking in the T’s their Cobalt sits, looking like the ghostly man that is sitting next to her, albeit less green. Even after finding him in the staff pages, Amora continues to flip through the yearbook, discovering a memorial page in the back of the yearbook dedicated to Cobalt.

“You’re actually dead,” Amora gasped.

Cobalt chuckled, with his legs crossed as he sat on the sofa across from her, his head tilted as his cheek rested against his fist, “I have no reason to lie about my mortality.”

Amora huffed, taking the yearbook she had in her lap with her back to her dorm room after putting the others away. She spent the next few hours at her desk, searching the web for answers about ghostly hauntings while making small talk with Cobalt.

“Okay! It says here that ghosts haunt those on the moral plain to so to curve boredom, and they are still on the moral plain because something is preventing them from ascending to the afterlife,” Amora explained.

“Ah, I have unfinished business,” Cobalt remarked, “…Yet I don’t remember what I would have left unfinished besides my entire life!”

“Mhm… do you remember how you died?” Amora inquired.

Cobalt thought for a moment standing in the middle of Amora’s dorm room, “I… don’t remember…”

“Someone says that if you help a ghost figure out how they died or tell them how they died this may help them ascend,” Amora read aloud.

“That sounds like a plan to get me out of your hair and free of this school, but how do we do that?” Cobalt pondered.

“Solomon,” Amora mumbled.

“Solomon?”

“He’s a classmate, he said yesterday he was studying Forensic Science.”

Amora got up from her desk and headed out of her dorm room if she could correctly remember Odysseus and Solomon were roommates, if she just went back upstairs hopefully, he would be there.

“Hi! Anore!”

Maybe she didn’t have to go back upstairs, as when she got to the stairwell, she heard Solomon’s voice yell something that sounded like her name behind her. When she turned around Solomon began to approach her, dressed in a nice dark suit.

“My name is Amora, but hi,” she said.”

“Ha… My bad, I know it was something like that, but I wanted to know if you were okay, ya’ know after yesterday.”

She looked at him confused which made him frown, from what Loki said and the fact that she didn’t know him why is so concerned? “Hey, don’t look at me like that!” He whined, “You went down yesterday like out of nowhere!”

“We barely know each other.”

“I can still be concerned! That’s a normal human emotion!” Solomon retorted.

“Well thank you, but I’m fine,” Amora articulated.

“Sweet!”

Solomon was about to ascend the stairs before Amora stopped, “I need to ask you something.”

“Okay, shoot!”

“How could I find out someone died?” She asked.

“Well, if it's someone recent the funeral home would have the records, my uncle owns the funeral on the island, I can look up whoever you need next time he needs my help,” Solomon answered.

“What if it’s someone older?”

“Mhm… the coroner's office might… can I ask why?” Solomon expressed.

Amora thought for a second, “It’s for one of my classes, I need to do a report on someone who died on the island, and the person I can’t find a cause of death online. I was wondering if I could find it from somewhere in town.”

“If it's someone from a long time ago, it should be recorded at the coroner’s office because that guy doesn’t get rid of anything, but he’s on vacation until next month… sorry, you may just have to say the death was undeterred in your paper.”

“Damn, okay thanks anyway Solomon,” Amora sighed.

“Glad I could help.”

Amora mopped back to her dorm, defeated, flopping onto her bed, unaware that Loki was in her own bed, “Overexert yourself?” she asked.

“No,” the American girl groaned.

“What’s wrong?”

“There is this thing I need, and the place I need to get it is going to be closed for the next month,” the blonde griped into her pillow.

Loki chuckled, “You could steal it… just break in and steal it,” she joked.

Amora lifted her head out of her pillow, looking over at Loki seeing her sit in her bed, her headphones around her neck as she read Shiley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Amora giggled at the thought. Her in her coquette fashions breaking into the coroner’s office just to get the records on the weird-ass ghost that keeps floating around her. She had only been at Hallows Academy for a week, and she’d not only been bullied and housed with Loki but been touched by a spirit and now talking to a ghost.

Although it’s not a bad idea… breaking into the coroner’s office.

“Chickadee don’t even think about it,” Cobalt muttered, watching Amora look up the address for the coroner’s office while Loki was in the bathroom.

“Do you want to ascend or not?”

“It’s a nice thought but we can wait a month and just ask for my records.”

“We? Ha! There is no we can wait!” Amora exclaimed, before turning to look and point at him, “You can wait because you've been dead for the past 15 years, I thought I was hallucinating this morning, I would much rather have you gone sooner rather than later.”

Cobalt hummed, “Will, I’m tied to this campus, so if you are going to get into serious trouble, I can’t help you.”

“That’s fine,” Amora mumbled.

The plan: wake up early on Sunday morning, go to the train station and get on the first train which would be mostly empty, enjoy not having Cobalt waking you, go to the coroner’s office, find the back window (which would thankfully be to the records room) thanks to images online, and take a brick and throw it through the window praying that the place doesn’t have a security system.

One had made it to the window and had a brick ready in hand the next morning, she discovered the window was open slightly. With the brick now in the grass, Amora pushed open the window more so she could squeeze her body in.

Once in the small records room, she stood still and waited before she exhaled. Thankful that no security alarms were going off. “His last name is Thornton,” she muttered to herself, attempting to find the filing cabinet marked for the T’s.

Once she found the cabinet, she searched for what felt like hours for the last name Thornton, her eyes beginning to hurt from the light coming from her phone and having to look at such a tiny print.

Thornton C.

“FINALLY!” Amora exclaimed, before covering her mouth, pulling the file out of the cabinet, and shutting the drawer quietly.

She only wanted to take pictures and then put the file back and attempted to as she sat the file down and opened it, but before she could even snap one picture it sounded like footsteps were approaching the records room.

Not wanting to take her chances Amora closed the file and made a B-line for the window she came in, leaving it the way she found it before dashing toward the train station and heading back to campus.

Returning to her dorm room, Cobalt was the only present, “Glad to see you aren’t arrested,” he commented.

“Thanks for the concern,” Amora replied, “I got your file!”

She sat next to him on her bed flipping open his file, seeing a simple report listing information she already knew along with this suspect time of death, yet the one thing she searching for was the cause.

Cause of Death: Undetermined

“WHAT!” The two of them shouted.

Amora’s eyes continued to scan the document seeing a note at the bottom.

It is very possible that Thornton died of a heart attack, yet to do not feel confident in stating that as fact given his age and health history. So, his death will continue to be labeled as undetermined and his death will be labeled as murder.

Cobalt sighed as Amora groaned, “I’m sorry,” she mumbled before lying on her bed and facing the wall.

She pretty much stayed like that until the following day, mostly because she had class, giving a basic “I’m fine,” response whenever anyone, mostly Loki, asked if she was right.

Cobalt was ever-present following her through her classes, he doesn’t bother her, in terms of speaking or standing/floating near her, yet her knowing he’s around is a huge distraction for her.

When she entered her Trigonometry class she took a seat in the back next to Iphigenie greeting her with a small “hi,” before laying her head down on the table.

“I see you are very smart, I’m impressed,” Cobalt praised as the bell rang.

Amora groaned softly in response as her teacher began by greeting the class before getting started.

“…Lily…”

Cobalt's voice sounded much softer than Amora had heard in the past 2 days, he sounded so broken, so sad. Amora raised, looking at Cobalt and seeing him staring at her Trigonometry, before realizing that the two of them looked similar, with the color of their hair and eyes being identical.

If Amora was closer, she could probably tell that they had similar features, yet she is more focused on the fact that Cobalt got closer to her standing in front of her as she taught.

“My sweet little girl… you’re all grown up…And you are a mathematician!” Cobalt laughed, “My baby, I had no idea… Oh, Primrose must be so proud of you!”

He placed himself behind her desk, seeing all the nicknacks that littered her desk including pictures of herself and her mother, a woman with a darker complexion with graying violet hair, and chocolate eyes.

“Rosey… I’m sorry I left. I didn’t mean to… God, my girls, my beautiful girls. I hope you know I love you both so much, God, why did things happen like this? I wish I was actually here, with you, Bethy,” Cobalt lamented.

“Amora,” Iphigenie whispered nudging her shoulder making the American girl look over at her, “Are you okay?”

“Uh?” Amora asked quietly.

“Amora, are you crying?” Iphigenie questioned.

Amora touched her cheek, damp and covered in her tears, no doubt caused by the dead man in front of her lamenting to his daughter as if no one could hear him.

“M-my,” she stuttered out with a frog in her throat, “My eyes are just watering bad.”

Iphigenie is smart enough to know that the girl next to her is lying, but if Amora wants to lie, why not let her?

It’s going to be a living hell if this continues… This is linked to Cobalt. It’s not only strange just having him around, but Amora can’t just leave, she was coming around, slowly coming to like being a Hallows Academy, and now she’s a physic! This is like a waking nightmare, and it is going to continue to extensive agony if Amora continues to force Cobalt to watch his daughter teach every time she’s got Trigonometry while he stands in his purgatory.

She’s got to help ascend… it is the right thing to do.