Hailey and Kait appeared in the library. This was it. If she could make it past the memory, she’d quickly get back to her body. But this was what she’d dreaded for many days.

As the word gained resolution, she saw him.

Hailey’s hand shook. She didn’t want to see this, to watch her friend, fake or not, be shot again.

He walked out of the library, innocuously bumping into her past self.

She wanted to stop this madness, to slug the acting spirit in the face. But that wasn’t how she should deal with the past, right? She had to accept it’d happened, and take it rolling.

Her past self walked to the room where Abbie was waited for her but was distracted by a book.

Hailey felt it wasn’t regret, though. She didn’t regret doing these things anymore. She despised these things, wanted to rip them from her memory...but doing that was wrong. So she remained still.

Something grabbed her hand. Hailey flinched, only to realize it was Kait, smiling warmly. She’d seen her shaking hand and tried to help. For what it was worth, it at least made her feel better.

There was a daunting silence as, outside of Hailey’s view, the man picked up his backpack, which likely held the gun.

She hated this, feeling like she was powerless, standing still and just watching it happen. That wasn’t what she wanted to do, but that was what she was supposed to do.

He returned with the backpack and walked into the room.

Hailey hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated it. It felt wrong, not thinking about what she should have done. She wanted to...but had she ever done that? Wasn’t that what most people did when they regretted something? Play it over in their head, regretting their choices?

BANG, Hailey’s past self looked from her book in surprise, then dropped it and ran towards the noise.

This is wrong. The world flickered.

This isn’t how I want to do this. Hailey squeezed Kait’s hand in a death grip.

Kait placed a hand on Hailey’s shoulder. “Hailey, calm down.”

She didn’t react.

“You can get past this!”

No, she didn’t want to. Not like this.

“Just accept-”

As Hailey rejected her present actions, the world shattered into darkness and fell.

“Hailey! You can still-”

“No, I won’t.”

“What...?” Kait was surprised by Hailey’s calm.

Hailey gritted her teeth, readying for when the world would crash.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t like this...”

“Don’t...like?” Wouldn’t Hailey normally say ‘hate’?

“...so I won’t leave it this way.”

The world crashed.

Kaetha had already predicted that Hailey would fail, but it had anticipated more...of a fall. Kait seemed speechless as she held Hailey’s hand. Both of them calmly stood still, despite that Hailey had apparently rejected her past.

Kaetha revealed itself and walked to Kait.

“Wha-! Oh, it’s just you, Kaethy.”

“Who did you think it was?”

“A different spirit, maybe?” Kait said, unsure of herself.

“No matter. What happened here?”

“I don’t know, myself. Hailey’s just...froze up.”

“Interesting reaction.” The spirit folded its arms. “Kait, sorry to separate you two, but I want your help.”

“Sure, Kaethy. What do you need?

“I need you to track someone down.”

Kait woke from her sleep in Hailey’s empty room, then stretched, still a little drowsy. She repeated, “Number 5, 1227 Windy Lane.” out loud over and over as she walked out of the room.

Clera walked out of her office before Kait could walk down the stairs. “Hey, Kait, can I ask you something?”

“Number 5, 1227 Windy Lane. Err, yeah, but be quick. I really need to do something.”

“How is Hailey doing?”

“Huh? She’s doing fine, though I think it may take another day or two before she’s out, the way things are going.”

“Right...” Clera said skeptically, “You haven’t explained much of this to me. Do you have time to do that?”

Kait held up her hands to dissuade Clera from pressing forward, “Things really are under control. There’s no doubt she’s going to be fine.”

“Well, I’ve had enough of sitting back and letting things fly over my head!”

The worst time to be questioned, when the fate of a second root magic laid over her head. “No, really, Clera, I’m super sure everything’s going to plan-”

“Just tell me exactly what’s going on.”

“Fine, just come with me to Hailey’s room.”

“Thank you...” Clera sighed.

Once they walked into the room, Kait deftly grabbed a miniature dream catcher from the bed, then tapped Clera’s forehead.

“What was that about?”

“I don’t know.”

“Uhh, ok...?” Clera yawned, then sat onto Hailey’s bed, resting against the wall

“So, with my spell, I essentially dragged Hailey’s soul out of her body, then placed it into the Consciousness. And don’t worry, she’s still anchored to her soul, so when she’s finished with it, Hailey will return to her body. Then, because I wanted her to self-actualize, she was put into a dreamlike...”

Clera was asleep.

“Sorry about this...” Kait said with a wry smile before leaving the room. She had a job to purposefully botch, and that trumped her personal reservations.

Kait walked through the front door a moment later. “Number 5, 1227 Windy Lane. Nice, I think I remember it! Necromancer guy, here I come!”

She waved her broom about for wind and channeled the feeling of elation, activating a spell. Despite the appearance of a passerby, she blasted off on her broom.

Taylor hadn’t expected to be contacted again, while Mrs.Kukui was still busy setting up the next ritual, but it happened. A cheery voice rang in their heads, “Excuse me, mortals, I have a request for you.” Everyone in the room yelped in surprise. “I need to ask this ‘Taylor’ person...if that’s even your real name!” the spirit added in hopes to be funny.

“W-w-w-what!? But the ritual is over!” The Ritualist was quite shocked, never having seen a subversion in the ritual process for many years.

“You see, there’s a necromancer in your city that seems quite intent on taking a soul he stole from the Consciousness to essentially create unregistered life. I’m not sure why, but I’m sure its nefarious or something. Thus, I, Appenne, request that you all figure out where he lives and stop him! Preferably by releasing the reimagined soul in his possession.”

...

“I see you’re stunned. Well, hop to it.”

“Are you talking about my son?” Mrs.Kukui asked.

“Is he a necromancer?”

“Yes.”

“Logica, where does he live...? Got it. Does he live in apartment number 5, 1227 Windy Lane?”

“Yes.”

“Well, anyway, the spirit of witchcraft has sent her own disciple to stop this, but I’d like to see you all help.”

“Dangit, I knew he was up to something!” Taylor growled.

“I may as well come as well. I know the way there. Jaine’s probably just doing something reckless again,” Mrs.Kukui said.

Taila excitedly raised her hand and shouted, “Let’s not waste time, and book it! Show the way, Mrs.Kukui!”

Kait tried to find the apartment, but after floundering around the city with her broom for a few minutes, trying to find the place, she had only just then found the road. She’d been flying above the streets in the most densely populated spot in the town, where many of the buildings were about five stories tall, so the city-dwellers gazed in awe. No hiding she existed anymore.

She drifted closer to the sidewalks, flying about six feet over the passerby to see the addresses, checking each building sequentially, before she found it. “1227 Windy Lane, finally!” She drifted to the concrete below, the people parting for her, then ran into the four-story tall building.

When she finally found the room on the third floor, she wasn’t the only one there. Taylor, the fortune reader...Taila? and a woman in ritualist’s clothes stood in front of the door as Taylor searched through his pockets.

Taila saw Kait out of the corner of her eye. “Look! Look! It’s Kait!”

They turned their heads to her. Taylor pulled a hairpin from his pocket, “Kait? You’re here too?”

Kait nodded, “No doubt I’d be called to action, but I’m wondering why you’re here, Taylor.”

“Long story.”

“That makes two.”

“I don’t get it. Who even is this ‘Kait’ person?” Mrs.Kukui asked.

Taila was excited to explain to her acquaintance, “Kait’s a witch! A bonafide witch from the Crusades of Kallaran!”

“Spectacular, if this isn’t a joke.”

“Enough with the banter, everyone, we have a job to do...and I’m getting deja vu, standing in front of a door like this.”

Taila reluctantly shut up, and the other two stood in wait.

Taylor first knocked on the door, “Hello, this is Taylor. I need to talk to you.”

A voice came through the door, “Sorry, I’m busy, just go away.”

“Coming anyways,” Taylor said nonchalantly before tapping the door with the enchanted hairpin.

“Taylor, that won’t work.”

“Err, why?”

“That spell needs you to be open to the person’s thoughts and emotions. Symbolism and all.”

“That’s annoying.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can always brute force my way in.” Kait gently shooed Taylor from the door, then placed her hand on it. Instantly, she recollected a spell she could use to get in. A wild, unhinged expression crept onto her face, then she touched one of the door’s hinges and punched the door savagely. Taila yelped at Kait’s burst of savagery before seeing the door phase through its hinges and fall onto the ground with a loud thunk.

Jaine wrote in his journal, drawing various rune prototypes for the spell he would use to transfer Alchemia’s soul. He turned his head to the left, glancing at her jar. It wouldn’t be too complicated to place her in a body to revive her, but making the transplantation stable was a more difficult task. Typically, a patient with cancer might undergo a simple change from one body to another, but he found that a reimagined soul, like Alchmeia’s, didn’t work the same way. He was making good progress towards creating a new rune that could manage Alchemia’s eccentricities, however.

A knock sounded on his door, “Jaine, this is Taylor. We need to talk.”

What? He’d come all the way here just to talk? Jaine sighed. “Sorry, I’m busy, just go away.”

“Coming anyways.” Coming anyways? What did that mean, that he was coming in any-

His door fell to the ground like it’d been kicked in, revealing a savage-looking witch behind it. “HEY! What thistle-branded idea made you think it...”

Kait had stormed near him as he spoke, a maniacal smile on her face as she approached him threateningly. “Where is it?”

“Where is what? Why are you pulling my door-”

“The soul.”

Jaine instinctively lied, “What soul?”

“Don’t play games with me, necromancer.”

“I’m not going to.”

“The reimagined soul you stole.”

“Stole? How can you steal a soul?”

Kait suddenly lost her aggression, playing the good cop. “The only souls that should be on earth are the ones that were born. You stole a reimagined soul from the Consciousness itself, so I’ve been tasked with taking it back.”

“Suuureee. I see what game you’re trying to play with me...” Jaine smiled devilishly.

“Huh?” Kait emoted.

“You can hide thousands of those things on your chest, but I can’t save a friend.”

Kait’s eyes widened in surprise, “Wait, how do you-”

“Necromancers can see souls.”

“Not to intrude on an important conversation.” He just now noticed his mother over his heated conversation with Kait. “But did Jaine even do something bad? He’s my son, and we wouldn’t do anything...too unlawful.”

“Oh, well, thanks for implying I would do lesser unlawful things.”

His mom yawned. “I’m just saying, if you needed to, you would probably bend the rules.”

Kait continued, “I don’t know much more than that, myself, but I need to confiscate the soul.”

“Hold on, bucko, before we talk any more, why did you involve my mom in this? Or...those two.”

“That’s...I don’t know. They got here before me.”

Taylor raised his hand. “We were told by a spirit to see you.”

“Grrreat. So who wants to talk about this over tea and biscuits?”

His mom raised an eyebrow, “When did I raise you to be a Kilt?”

“Biscuits and tea are not exclusive to the Kiltans, mom.”

Mrs.Kukui shrugged as she hoarsely said, “If you say so. I want a caffeinated tea.”