Young Writers Society

Sophie continued to be preoccupied with her reflection, not noticing Skull coming to her. She was too enchanted by her beautiful mask and lost all sense of any reality or happenings around her. Like a cautious puppy, she inched forward over the mask, feeling more than the times before where she had touched it that it could not come off. Sophie almost felt as if it was a part of her.

Everything was forgotten, any danger or anything else. She just wanted to know who had put that mask on her and what it meant. The others wore masks too, but Sophie was convinced that hers was the most beautiful.

As this beautiful feeling slowly faded away, much like a song that grew quieter and quieter at the end, this certainty burst and Sophie let go of her bubble of security. It was like a stop sign for everything around her, for only now did Skull's words reach her ears.

"Not yet today. And it doesn't look like there's much left here... Maybe we should look first for some water or something to eat?"

As soon as she spotted the mirror, Violet immediately headed in that direction. She was dying to know what her mask looked like.

Violet stood beside Sophie -also admiring her reflection- and smoothed her hair down. Her mask was small, but it was a vibrant red and rich gold. The edges around her eyes poked out like flames.

"Okay, this is pretty cool," she said, tilting her head and getting a full angle. "Whoever put these on us has good style."

Skull asked if Sophie had gotten into the alcohol.

"Not yet today. And it doesn't look like there's much left here... Maybe we should look first for some water or something to eat?" said Sophie.

"Good idea," said Violet. "Hopefully they'll be in good condition."

Susan

Susan hovered awkwardly by an invisible Vankous as they stared out onto the mildly chaotic scene in front of them. Sophie, poor girl, seemed to be very out of element in this world. Susan almost wanted to go give her a hug but she seemed to be finding some way to keep her sanity for the moment and she was supposed to be invisible so she stayed put in the shadows with Vankous.

Speaking of Vankous, thanks to his selective spell she was able to still see him and she could see him size up the surroundings. He didn't say anything, probably in the interests of not being discovered by the rest of the group, but clearly something about this place was eliciting some sort of feeling in him, and it wasn't a good one.

Susan just instinctively knew she had to be ready for a fight. It wouldn't be much longer now.

I looked around the room.

I seriously doubted we were going to find anything good here. This place had been abandoned for awhile. If we were lucky, we'd find a can of something that we could split into several tiny little portions. I frowned. I hated rationing. It was a necessity, sometimes, but not one that I liked to rely on.

But before I could give any insightful remarks on the possibility of finding food or water, I suddenly realized someone was missing.

"Where's-"

My gaze landed on a figure lurking in the shadows. I narrowed my eyes. I could see Vankous standing there, but where was The Phantom? They had been right by each other so far. I had the Sight. If she had become a little more ghostly than before, I should have been able to see him.

"What did you do to her?" I demanded, looking right at Vankous.

Sophie was a little confused about how the situation had suddenly changed. A cold shiver had managed to upset her. She did not know what had happened. Violet and Skull seemed to be preparing for something and Sophie didn't know exactly what was coming.

"What's going on?"

She tried to hide her fear a little, but it didn't quite work. Her legs were shaking too much and if that mask wasn't firmly in her face, it would probably have fallen off long ago.

Sophie wasn't sure whether she should go ahead to build up her courage or run out to get away.

But outside there could also... things could be there...

Sophie swallowed and approached Skull.

"I think I'll stay with you."

Sophie thought about what she should say next.

"You´ll protect me... I mean... I'll protect you."

Vankous

Vankous froze as Skull turned towards them. He very nearly let out an audible curse. He hated it when people did that. Forget getting startled everytime Harry did that, the damn Celestial could see through everything, but him getting spotted while Susan clearly wasn't just made it more embarrassing.

At this point, Vankous had two options. He could step out of the shadow and try to deal with this before it blew up unnecessarily, or he could pretend like he'd never heard Skull and see if that would convince the man that he'd never seen Vankous in the first place. Was the second option childish and irresponsible? Yes. Was it exactly what he was going to do? Also yes.

I was torn between replying to Sophie's comment and further questioning Vankous. I wasn't used to people relying on me—or, at least, openly relying on me. Most people hid those plans between dismissive remarks and comments on how our interactions were only out of necessity. Even my...friends didn't ever word things that way.

It was...nice.

I snorted.

"I don't need much protecting," I said, glancing at her, "but I appreciate the offer."

I turned back to the darkness.

"I know you're there, Vankous," I said, voice low and dangerous. "You did something to The Phantom, didn't you? So I'll ask you again: what did you do to her?"

For a moment, Violet thought that Skull was crazy for talking to a blank wall, then she realized that the Phantom and Vankous were nowhere to be seen. She leaned across the countertop to see if they were hidden behind it, or under it. Violet didn't see any ghosts or mad scientists (she presumed that Vankous was) but she saw a much better offer: a knife block on the lower shelf.

Finally, some good luck! Violet stretched her hand out and grasped the edge of the block and pulled it toward her. Before it could fall off, she grabbed the first handle and pulled it out, pushing the block back where it was.

The blade was smooth and -Violet lightly tapped the point -yes, still sharp. She tested its weight and found it easy to handle. She turned back to the others, flipping the knife around her fingers.

"I don't think Vankous did anything to her, Skull," she said, leaning against the counter. "I noticed that they stayed close to each other the entire time we woke up here. I'm pretty sure they already knew each other."

Violet propped the knife against her lips and tilted her head. "Maybe he's a ghost too."

Susan

"Vankous," she hissed in his mind. "How much longer do you want to keep up this horrible charade?"

"Long enough," came the reply, "I think only our bone faced friend can actually see us. As long as everyone else successfully convinces him that he is hallucinating, we should be absolutely fine.

"And what happens if something starts attacking the place in the middle of all of this?

We cross that bridge when we get to it," said Vankous making it pretty clear he wasn't letting this go too easily.

Susan just shrugged knowing that Vankous, or anyone else for that matter could currently see her. She only hoped that Vankous knew what he was doing at the moment. This Skull person seemed to be on the very edge of snapping.

"Knowing each other doesn't make it any better," I said. The air temperature plummeted. I could feel the very beginnings of a creeping miasma around me—not yet touching anyone else in the room—but I fought the urge to make it stronger. I couldn't get kicked out right now. "That makes it worse. Ghosts like The Phantom aren't natural. They don't just pop into existence after someone dies. You have to do something to make them that way. Vankous looks like a scientist. You can do the math."

I raised a finger and pointed at where he was standing.

"He's right there," I said. "If you can't see him, he must have figured out how to harness the powers of ghosts. I have the Sight. I can see ghosts when others can't. If I can't see The Phantom right now, it's because she's not here. So where is she Vankous?"

Wow.....

I don't get why everyone is so worked up on this.

I mean if they attack they attack.


shut up now is not the time for your remarks about everything.


oh, come you know I'm right.


I mean look at you your Katherine whoever dared to attack you would've been dead by now.

let me out...


so I can show them who you really are


shut up!

I need to see if I can look around to find something to defend myself

You and me both know that you don't need a weapon, Katherine.

Shut up I need to at least look semi-normal

why are you trying so hard to fit in? huh

You know you are not really human-like right?

so I glanced around as I saw everyone was on guard.

"So what's the plan if we do go under attack? I need to know now, that most of you will be able to hold your own"


I wasn't even looking at them.
I was too caught up in what was going on with Skull.
Is he talking to himself?

At least you know you aren't the only one...

That's not nice to say

I slowly took one step closer
If I can just get to least touch him, I can try to get a view of what he looking at.

You haven't done that in years, Katherine...
Are you sure you are up for that?

I know what I'm cable of and what I'm not.

Violet glanced over to the space Skull pointed at and closed her eyes. Placing her hand over her chest, she breathed in deeply, concentrating on her aura. Her aura heightened her senses. She smelled the must and heard Katherine steadily walking closer to Skull. Through the blue haze in her mind, the room came into focus, showing the tables, chairs, and people.

There was Vankous, standing exactly where Skull said he was. Violet could only see his silhouette, but she recognized his aura: crackling and fizzing.

"You're right," said Violet, still concentrating on her aura. "I see Vankous." She opened her eyes. The blue haze vanished, and the space where Vankous stood was empty. "I could try to find the Phantom with my aura, but it's harder to detect ghost-types since they're, well, not physical."

Sophie continued to be a little confused. It seemed like so many things were happening at once and suddenly it also seemed like people were seeing something that wasn't there.

Sophie stared at where Violet and Skull were and tried to make out something. But apart from some cobwebs and a bit of dust on the floor, there just seemed to be some kind of cold aura there. At least that was the feeling that came over her as she stared there longer and listened to Skull talk about "the Sight".

"Ghosts are real," Sophie muttered to herself, turning to the others, "When I was little, I saw one sitting by the campfire when I was in the forest with the family!"

Just at that moment, it seemed to her as if she saw that green-lit hunter sitting by that almost dead campfire back then. A shiver came over here, but not because she was afraid of him but afraid of the unknown of what was to come.

"So there is someone here?"

Sophie waved her hands back and forth. It seemed as if she were a zombie. Only it looked more like she was partly trying to scare someone away than catch someone. She stumbled forward, eyes closed, and landed in the corner where everyone was staring.

Sophie didn't know if there was anything there, but it seemed to her as if she had fallen through something, like mist or very cold water, when she was lying on the floor.

"Ouch."

Vankous

Vankous nearly let out an audible curse as Skull proceeded to involve more people in his delusions. Okay they weren't delusions, but Vankous chose to ignore that fact. It was a good way to go about life when you were trying to do this sort of thing.

The fact that multiple people were just staring right at him was starting to get a bit unnerving. For once he wished that Hardy was here to do something about it. Usually the Celestial got in the way of fun, but he couldn't deny that a Harry would've been useful right about now.

He glanced at Susan. Even though he couldn't see her, he knew that she could see him so he gave her a questioning glance.

"So umm, what do we do now?" he thought directing his thoughts in her direction. Before she could think her answer back one of the others, the girl that had been stumbling around looking very out of her depth kept stumbling towards them.

Susan

Susan barely stopped herself from letting out a shriek as Sophie stumbled towards them and then right through her. It wasn't like the first time someone had done that to her, but having this happen with no prior warning was something she was never going to get used to. Not when it reminded her of exactly why she was able to be in this state in the first place. Mentally chiding herself for letting her thoughts wander in that place she turned around to face Vankous.

Can we please stop this before everyone focuses on us instead of the room around us and gets ambushed?

"We can figure that out later," I said to Katherine, eyes still on Vankous. "I know how to improvise and defend myself."

I wouldn't have survived this long if I hadn't—excusing how I was only around right now because I had been given a second chance after being a ghost. My first true death hadn't been fighting-related, anyways, so it didn't count. I could handle myself.

"Someone is there," I said, confirming Sophie's guess. "Right next to you. And seeing that we all know he's there, you can drop your invisibility, Vankous-"

I paused. Something suddenly occurred to me.

Vankous had just looked to the side. Sophie, admittedly, was right near him now and could have been who he was looking at, but the timing didn't match up. Vankous was also looking up instead of down at Sophie.

Almost like he was looking at someone next to him.

Feeling a rush of...something I couldn't quite put my finger on, I marched over to where Vankous was standing and shoved my hand right into the spot next to him. My suspicions were confirmed. Something—or someone—that I couldn't see was standing right next to Vankous.

And there was only one person he had been with.

I opened my mouth, ready to declare that I was onto the two of them, but then the door swung open.

There was a low growl.

I turned, pulling my hand back.

There was a wolf in the doorway, but it didn't look normal. It was far larger, with matted fur and what almost looked like vines growing off of it. It almost would have looked sickly, if it wasn't for the fact that it was so muscular and large.

And for the fact that it was eyeing all of us like we were its prey.