Cuckoos and Chalk Marks

(Absolutely)

Sorenson caught each breath and froze it, melding it with the cylinder across the path. "Are you doing that with the temperature?" he asked as he worked. "It's very useful."

I let out another breath.

"I am," I confirmed. "It's a ghost thing. I have more control over than most ghosts do, but it can be...tricky."

I didn't want to admit my weaknesses to someone I barely knew, but I also knew Sorenson would eventually question why I wasn't using my ghostly abilities more.

"How fun!" He froze the breath and added it on. The cylinder was flattening and was about an inch thick and half a foot long. "Let's add a couple more inches to this, and then we'll try to have you belly across, alright?"

I froze.

I hadn't realized that was how I would be getting across. I had known it would be difficult moving on ice, but hadn't entirely registered that I wouldn't be able to walk on it.

I let out a breath that was shakier than I would have liked.

"Okay," I said.

Sorenson backed up, then ran and jumped. He arced, boosted himself with a burst of air, and landed on the other platform. The ice trembled with his weight when the wood shook. "Your turn!" he called.

The moment of truth had arrived.

I took one last deep breath, trying to keep the temperature cool so the ice didn't start melting in the middle of me trying to cross it.

I crouched down to the ground.

It was humiliating, trying to get across like this, but I didn't really have any other options at this point. I kept myself low and tried not to panic when I struggled to get a good grasp on the ice.

Bit by bit, I pulled myself across the ice and over to the other platform.

The ice cracked and crumbled as Skull reached the end, shattering just as he reached the platform. Sorenson reached forward and grasped his arms tightly.

The air temperature plummeted. I was dangerously close to falling, and even more close to getting kicked out of my body. It was taking all of my concentration not to accidentally possess Sorenson. I would have appreciated not dangling over the pit, but I would have also probably let my body go in the split second it took to take control.

And that was assuming Sorenson wouldn't fight back against said control.

Sorenson gritted his teeth, struggling to hold the other man. "Boost yourself up!'' he commanded. "I can't hold you for long!"

"I'm trying!" I shouted back. My legs dangled over the pit below. "It's not like there's a good place to put my shoes right now."

This wasn't like trying to climb up the wall in the first room. When my feet hit the side of the platform, they slid. Add in me trying to stop any other ghostly abilities from manifesting, and I was becoming all the more certain that I'd be dying for a third time-

I paused.

It was a stupid idea that would probably get me ejected from my body, but what other choices did I have? It was better than dying.

I tapped into an ability I hadn't used enough. Normally, it was used to pick things up without me touching them. I had intimidated more than a few people by crushing objects and threatening to do the same to their bodies. I did apply it to an object this time, but it was one I had on me.

My shoes.

I pushed up from below their soles, giving myself just the boost I need to hoist myself up over the edge. I went tumbling into Sorenson as I did.

Sorenson sprawled beneath him, panting. He grinned after a moment and tried to wriggle out from under Skull. "How exhilarating! How did you do that, old fellow?"

I rolled over. There was just barely enough room for both of us to lay flat on our backs on it.

"I used my ghostly abilities to push my shoes up," I said. I was simplifying it by a lot, but I didn't feel like explaining myself more.

Spoiler

So this isn't technically how Skull's "getting kicked from his body when he overuses his powers" thing works, but I feel like it might be fun to have him possess something instead of just floating around as a ghost. It wasn't intentional, but he's definitely getting to a point where he's going to get kicked out of his body.

Maybe the next room has something he can possess? I'm really leaning towards that suit of armor idea.

(Sure, that works! Let's do a suit of armor. Want me to describe the room this time?)

Sorenson chuckled, sitting himself near the edge of the platform and dangling his feet off. "Well, that's very, very useful. I'd have caught you if you'd fallen, of course, but I'm glad it didn't come to that. Not everyone enjoys vertigo as much as I do."

Spoiler

That would be great! Feel free to go ham with it. <33 I just kept the other ones simple because I was having a little bit of writer's block with the descriptions.

I pushed myself up.

I was starting to feel...distant, but I was hoping it was because of the vertigo and not because I was going to get kicked from my body in the next few minutes. I knew the chances of me staying in my body were slim. I had been manipulating the temperatures the entire time we had been stuck in this labyrinth, and had just used another ability on top of that.

I got to my feet.

"That would have been good to know when I was dangling over the edge," I said, still reluctant to share that I probably shouldn't have done what I had just done.

"Yes, well, I figured you knew that already." Sorenson shrugged, then turned to look the next door up and down. It was quite ornate, Rococo-esque with gilded filigree and mahogany wood finish. "This looks like a door in my old house," he chuckled. "Way over the top!"