« Where are you going? »

Elliot is stopped by the man sitting on the seat next to him. He’s a middle-aged European man, wearing expensive wood-and-gold glasses. The boy replies immediately:

« Not far! I have to help a friend. »

He looks at the little girl by his side for a long time, sighs, then answers:

« A friend? Okay, if you want. »

His interlocutor didn’t notice the ghost, who’s clearly right there. How is it possible? He pushes away the blanket over his head and grabs his phone. The children go away quietly.

« Was that your father? » Mahana asks. Elliot hesitates, then replies:

« No, just some kind of secretary accompanying me home. I’ve been told that my father is someone important in Japan, but he doesn’t know I exist. »

« That’s unfair. » The ghost points out, pensively. He then adds:

« I didn’t have a good relationship with my parents, but then I was lucky enough to go up the social ladder. »

« How old are you? » Elliot asks.

« 252 years old. »

He gives him a doubtful look. His tone is so disturbing, so familiar. It reminds him of something, but what? Soh'ina is lying. Elliot knows it. Why?

« Where should we look? »

« A Bible is a religious book. We must find a priest. »

They walk carefully between the rows and examine each face. The boy discreetly holds the girl by the arm, motioning at her to keep silent.

« Don’t you think he's dangerous? » He whispers in her ear. She does not answer.

« There! » The ghost exclaims, pointing at a man with his transparent finger.

The uniform he was forced to put on for this flight came with a clerical collar, typical of a Catholic priest. All airlines have dedicated clothing to deal with special cases, but more for marketing reasons than out of respect.

« I thought you didn’t know anything about this, yet you found it right away. »

« I have a lot of experience, kid! I can recognize influent people wherever they are! » He brags, pedantic. They approach the religious man, who sleeps deeply.

« Where could it be, do you think? »

Elliot peeks around then starts searching. He sees a leather-bound book in the bag. The boy pulls it out carefully, until a beautiful Bible comes out.

« Here it is! » He whispers, waving the book. The ghost rips it from his hands and frantically turns the pages.

« What the... »

His smile disappears. He closes the book and places it on the priest's chest. His body changes. The apparition grows to become a slender adult, his face almost impossibly beautiful.

« Did you find something? » Elliot asks. He steps back. The shapeshifting scared him. Mahana is just fascinated. What just happened didn’t overly worry her. It’s a ghost. Everything is possible.

« We are in a flying machine, right? » Soh'ina asks. His voice has become cavernous, threatening.

« Yes, it's an airplane. »

This new voice makes him feel a jolt. He feels like he’s heard it before, but where? Why can he remember it? Mahana pulls on Elliot's shirt again.

« I would like to go back to my seat, now. » She implores.

« Okay, let's go back to our seats. » Soh'ina watches them, then asks:

« Can I come with you? »

The two children agree with a nod. Elliot's caretaker went back to sleep. Mahana's brother begins to wake up instead. He shouts a « Whoa! » when he sees the ghost tumbling towards him. The little girl rushes forward and puts her hand over Ashton's mouth, to keep him from screaming.

« Apparently, only children can see you. » Elliot points out. The boy knows that on their way back they met another child, who was fully awake yet did not see anything. The kid kept a straight face. He’s careful not to reveal this to the ghost. It’s undoubtedly important. Soh'ina smiles and answers:

« I don’t know why. Actually, I just realized that I forgot many important things. »

« It's a ghost! A ghost! There’s a ghost on the plane! » Ashton keeps repeating. The little boy pushes at his sister, trying to break her embrace.

« You'll make Mom angry! »

« But it's a real ghost! She has to see it! »

« She won’t see anything! She'll just scream at you. Shut up! » Surprisingly, he obeys. Silence returns. She gently releases her grip.

« He'll stay with us for a moment. He has nowhere to go! » The little boy gets up to touch it. His hand goes through the creature. The little boy's face lights up.

« That's weird. You could open a door without a problem. Why does his hand go through you? » Elliot asks. He puts his own hand inside the ghost’s chest, to see how it feels. It's soft and cold. A little electric, too.

« I’m not a ghost, I’m an astral projection! I don’t know what happened. Everything was fine. I was going to the gardens. I talked a little with the archivist, who told me about this new tree he just designed. I went down and you were there in front of me. I feel like I'm forgetting something important. It's as if I've known you forever. »

« Me too! » Ashton adds, to the astonishment of the two others.

« I did not arrive here by chance. I appeared right in front of you! It has to mean something. »

« You don’t look surprised. » Elliot's aggressive tone makes him smile:

« I’m an Eloah. I’m used to that. »

« An Eloah? What is that? » Soh'ina gives him a mischievous look. His mouth stretches in a grim smile, as if he had just managed a mental checkmate:

« A child of El! It’s the name given to those who acquire the power to perform astonishing feats through sheer will. We just have to think of something to make it happen. Since my Enlightenment, nothing can surprise me! »

« You mean you're an angel? » Mahana interrupts. This conversation fascinates her, even if she doesn’t understand much.

« I don’t know what is closest in your culture. Where I come from, it’s something that happens naturally to some people. One can live forever and act upon the world with all kinds of wonders. »

« You’re a magician! » Ashton breathes.

« That's the idea. » Elliot goes on. His gaze grows more severe.

« But what’s happening today... I must admit that I have never experienced anything like it! » The apparition drops his head in his hands, as if he were going to cry.

« I don’t know where I am, but I’m starting to have a theory about it. »

« Which is? »

Elliot doesn’t look away from him. He scrutinizes the movements of his whitish aura, which caresses the floor and the seats. It's as if it were investigating the place.

« As El is my witness! I’m somewhere in another dimension. How could it happen? Did someone do something to upset the Ahura Mazda? »

Mahana stares at him insistently:

« I can’t understand a thing to what you’re saying! » The ghost smiles and answers gently:

« I must be scaring you both with this story. Wait, now that I'm thinking about it, do you have a map of this planet? »

The little girl puts her finger on the built-in touch screen. A world map appears with the position of the aircraft. It’s now flying over British Columbia, moving deeper into Canada. Elliot presses a button to zoom out until an image of the entire Earth is visible.

« That’s… that’s amazing! » His voice is getting stranger and stranger. He’s faking his surprise like a bad actor.

« These mountains! Everything’s changed, but I recognize the place! Here, it’s the Ur basin and there, the Ippa range! We are on Mû! » This last word echoes. Soh'ina glances at the children. He’s expecting something to happen.

Ashton looks at him with wonder. The little boy doesn’t understand anything to what’s happening but finds it fun to be so close to a real ghost. Elliot puts his hand on Mahana's shoulder. He pulls at her uniform to make her look at him. His face is ashy. He points towards the back of the plane, motioning the girl to follow him. She gets up and goes through Soh'ina’s body. He does not protest. On the contrary, he smiles. As they move away, the ghost turns around:

« Where are you going? » His voice has grown sinister.

« I have to talk to her about something. In private. »

« Oh… I see. I imagine it's destined to happen at every generation. » Elliot feels a vibration in his spine. It's pure terror. He goes behind a curtain and draws it again behind him. The little boy grabs Mahana by the waist and looks straight into her eyes.

« Please, I need you to be honest with me. » The little girl becomes crimson. Her cheeks are burning.

« Okay. » She answers in a shivering voice.

« Does he scare you? »

The little girl is surprised at first by this question. It’s not what she was expecting. Mahana then becomes aware of the tremor in her hands. Her body shudders. She feels like she’s angry. Why?

« Yes! » She breathes. He carefully moves the drapery aside and points at the ghost’s head.

« Look! »

Mahana watches. She notices very quickly the two horns of whitish smoke coming out of his skull. His aura has become as bright as a neon lamp.

« I saw them appear when he saw the map. I can’t stop being angry when he’s in front of me. It's like I'm burning inside! I don’t know what he is. I don’t know where he’s come from. I don’t even know if he's a ghost, an angel or a demon. All I know is that we’re in danger! »