Gadalik turned over in bed until he realized the sun had risen. He had barely slept at all.

If I can't sleep, I should be up doing something, he decided. But what…?

To his relief, he heard the phone ring.

He rushed downstairs to pick it up before it could wake his parents. "Peakisan's—err… Khatri residence. Gadalik speaking."

"Khatri?" a familiar girl's voice sounded on the other end.

"Grace!" He felt relieved to hear from her. "And, uh, yeah. My father made everything official between us. We took his last name."

"That's great! I'm happy for you."

"So how have you been?"

"We've been good, but I think the wards have run out of magic, though."

"Have there been any new ghosts?"

"Not yet. But we don't want to wait around for one… Instead of buying more tags, do you think you could come and recharge them for us? W-We'll pay you!"

"O-Of course! I'll be there as soon as I can."

Gadalik dismounted his horse and knocked on the door to the farmhouse after traveling nearly all day, arriving around evening. He retreated a step as it opened, and looked up at the tall man who answered. "H-Hello, Gavin… Grace called me. I'm here to recharge the wards."

His yellow-green eyes stared into Gadalik's striped blue ones for a moment, before he stepped aside to let the visitor in. "I'll take care of Punsiv," he said, moving past the spook to lead his horse to stables.

"Is that–Gadalik!" A girl with red hair and eyes rushed to greet her friend, then hesitated and backed off a bit, controlling her enthusiasm.

The spook was a bit amused by that. "It's nice to see you too, Grace," he chuckled.

"You look different… Are you letting your hair grow out?"

"I have, for a month now… Is it that noticeable?" He pulled his striped green ponytail, which now reached his mid-upper back, over his shoulder to see for himself.

"It looks good," she complimented him.

He felt his cheeks warm slightly. "Th-thanks."

"My dad took the wards down and left them in a stack on the living room table."

"Okay. I'll get started right away."

"Would you like a drink?"

"Th-that would be nice. Thank you." Gadalik watched her head to the kitchen, then focused his attention on the tags. The marking on the bottom that indicated their effectiveness had vanished, meaning they had no more spiritual power left to work.

I've practiced ward spells before… This shouldn't be a problem, he encouraged himself. I've read all about enchantment. It should be the same as enhancing spell tags, except it relies solely on my magic.

He picked up a tag, holding it face-up in his palm, and closed his eyes both out of fear and to not be distracted. Then he finally used a ward spell, pouring his magic into the tag as he had done to enhance other tags before.

When the spook opened his eyes, he saw the tag was glowing. The effective marking was slowly becoming visible. Far too slowly. Gavin came back in and eyed the tag curiously.

At least it's working… "This might take a while," he warned them.

"Take as much time as you need," Grace said as she returned and placed his drink on the table. "You can take a break anytime, too."

"I appreciate it."

"Is there anything we should do in the meantime?"

"Y-yes, actually. Gavin, could you keep an eye out? Without the tags, you're vulnerable right now. I'll check with my ghost sense periodically, but if we want all of these tags re-enchanted, I'll have to use all of my energy on them instead…"

The man nodded.

"I'll…keep you company, Gadalik," Grace said.

"Thank you." The older teen moved on to the next tag, starting a separate stack for the re-enchanted ones. He paused between each charge to activate his ghost sense. So far, so good.

As the stack of re-enchanted tags grew higher, he felt more drained. He once again stopped to check his ghost sense. There was nothing.

He sighed with relief, picked up his glass, and moved toward the kitchen to refill it. He staggered as soon as he stood.

Grace caught him. "Are you okay?"

"I will be… I… I just need a break." He grasped his staff in his free hand to lean on.

Grace took the glass from him. "I'll get it. And I'll bring the mattress down, too."

"Oh… Alright. I appreciate it." He thought for a moment. "But first, give your dad the recharged tags. They're not enough to cover your whole property, but it'll provide protection on at least half of it."

She nodded, accepting the wards and taking them to her father.

He watched as Gavin left to set them up around the southern side of the property and his daughter came back inside. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked her friend. "You don't look so good…"

He wanted nothing more than to recharge the remaining tags, but he was completely drained of magic until he could rest to restore it. He placed a hand on his chest where the seal stunted his use of magic, narrowing his eyes with solemnity. Grace took his glass to the kitchen and returned with the water, which helped him a lot. Then she went to her room to retrieve the mattress, setting it down on the floor. He took to the bedding instantly with a wholehearted "Thank you…" The sooner I rest, the sooner I can finish recharging the tags. He closed his eyes and sleep overcame him.

Gadalik sat on a picnic blanket alongside a girl with short black hair and violet eyes. She was leaning on his shoulder as they watched the sky together on the cliff of a mountainside.

He was comfortable being there with her. Their fingers interlocked between them, a feeling that had taken getting used to at first, but was now something he missed when without her.

He wished they could stay this close forever.

Then she stood up and turned to leave.

"Mira?" the older teen called, confused by her sudden change in demeanor. She seemed cold, distant, and didn't answer as she began walking away.

"Mira!" He tried to get up but found he was stuck in place as she continued to get farther away. "Mira, come back!"

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Gadalik cried out as he awoke, sitting up immediately and biting back a sob. Tears were running down his cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Grace prompted gently, having heard the commotion and gone to check on him. "Who's Mira?"

He froze, then roughly wiped his eyes. "She's… Well…"

"I don't know what we are anymore," Mira had said in one of their final conversations.

More tears rolled down his face, and he growled with frustration as he tried to wipe them again, this time leaving his fists palm-facing over his eyes as they wouldn't stop falling. Why am I this upset…? The whole reason she left me is because I didn't love her…

Grace crouched beside him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's alright…!"

"Gadalik's awake? Does he sense a ghost?" Gavin asked as he came in. He hesitated at the sight in front of him.

Gadalik took a breath and activated his ghost sense. "There isn't one," he reported, sniffling and drying his face on the sleeve of his dark green robe to meet the man's gaze.

"Alright. Then continue recharging the remaining tags."

The spook nodded and got up to sit at the table again. He picked up a tag and tried to output magic into it, but nothing happened.

Gavin looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

"I-I just need a moment," Gadalik stammered.

"Maybe he should take a break to calm down?" Grace suggested.

Gavin frowned. "Every second we spend idle, we also spend in danger of a ghost."

"But, Dad…"

"N-No, he's right," Gadalik said. He breathed to steady his nerves. "I can do this."

"I'll leave you to it, then. Report to me if you sense a ghost." The man turned to leave, his long, curly yellow-green hair braided from the waist down trailing behind him as he left.

"Don't worry about him," Grace said when her father was out of earshot. "Take a break if you need to."

"I'm okay," Gadalik said, having calmed down enough to be able to focus clearly on the tag as it began to glow in his palm.

"...Do you want to talk?"

I can't break my concentration… "Maybe later."

She still seemed worried as she watched him recharge the tags.

Recharge; stack; sense. Recharge; stack; sense. Gadalik kept that pattern going until the last tag was ready to go. "Gavin," he called, too weak to stand. "I finished."

"I'll give the tags to him," the girl offered, taking the stack and heading outside.

The spook yawned and lied down on the mattress once more, dozing. He woke himself up before he started to sleep again, though, as he was scared of what he might dream–or rather, his reaction to it. He sat up and sighed.

Grace had returned and sat next to him. She occasionally opened her mouth as if to ask a question before changing her mind each time.

Gadalik noticed. "Something wrong?"

"N-No… I just worry about you overdoing it. And about your nightmares."

Nightmares, plural? That's when he remembered the first time he had been to her place; he had dreamed of the moment his rib was fractured by a monstrous spirit. She probably thinks I have nightmares often… Which…isn't entirely wrong.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it…?" she pressed. "My dad's setting up the tags right now. It's just us here."

He exhaled through his nose. "Mira was my coworker, who became my girlfriend until a month ago. But we could hardly call our relationship romantic… That's why she broke it off with me."

"It sounded like you want her back."

"Well… We dated for six months. I'm just…not used to being without her."

"Have you tried reaching out to her?"

"She made it clear she wanted space at first, so I left her alone. I decided to give her a call recently, though, but she refused to talk to me." He looked away. "I feel like everything we've been through means nothing anymore…"

"I'm sure she loved you in the moment."

"I know she loved me. And I tried to love her, but I just…didn't. I tried my best, hoping I'd learn to love her eventually. But 'eventually' didn't come soon enough for her." He felt a sting in his chest. "Even if I didn't love her romantically, I still cared about her a lot. I guess…I really miss her. If only we had more time, maybe I would have fallen for her… I…" His eyes watered and he wiped them before tears could fall.

"Gadalik…"

"Ugh… What's wrong with me? How could I be in a relationship for half a year and not love her? Am I broken…?"

"No–don't say that…! Love isn't something we can force ourselves to feel…"

He sniffed, then tried to regulate his breathing. "...Yeah. You're right… You either feel it, or you don't. So if it doesn't come naturally then I guess it isn't meant to be… The problem is, love doesn't come naturally for me."

"What about Gretel…?"

"It took me years to develop a crush on Gretel. Nobody who would ever love me would want to wait that long for me to return their feelings…"

"That's not true…"

"Huh…?"

"I… I can wait."

Gadalik stared at her in shock when the implications of her words sank in. He shook his head. "Trust me: you shouldn't. I really hurt Mira every time we went out, every time I rejected a kiss…and I didn't even know it," he laughed humorlessly. "I…I don't want to hurt you. Besides, you're still young…"

"I'm fifteen," she said somewhat defensively.

"And I'm eighteen. You'd be surprised how much a difference three years can make."

She averted her gaze, somewhat hurt.

He winced guiltily. "I'm sorry… I care a lot about you. I just…don't want to lose another friend."

"Well, I'm here for you, Gadalik… I always will be. You won't lose me that easily."

He softened. "Thank you…" That's when his ghost sense flared up. He stood and grabbed his staff, turning to ask her, "Do you think your father finished setting the tags?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"There's a ghost…about a quarter-mile north of here. Gavin set up the southern side first, so if he hasn't finished the northern side, he might be in danger. I'm going to check on him."

"I'm coming with you," Grace decided.

He hesitated, not wanting to risk her getting caught in the potential fight with the spirit. But he didn't have time to argue. "Fine. But hold on to this, and keep a shield spell tag active on it," he instructed, handing her his staff and a few shield tags. I have magic to defend myself with, so l'll be alright without it.

They arrived at the scene to find Gavin standing off against a ghost that resembled a svelte human with scythes for hands. Its face only contained void-like eyes that were too large for its head.

It lunged at the man but he deflected it with a ward tag.

No–the ward tags will instantly be depleted that way! He can't keep this up! Gadalik rushed between them, casting a shield spell to defend against the ghost's next attack. But his magic sparked and the shield glitched out of existence.

I didn't get to sleep… I haven't recovered from recharging the tags, he realized with dread.

Before he could regain his composure, the spirit batted the spook aside with one scythe and sliced at Gavin's leg with the other in one swift motion; the latter fell back and couldn't get up, blood pooling from his calf.

"Dad!" Grace cried, running to his side and removing the wrap from her shoulders to bandage his wound.

The spirit roared and slashed at the now-defenseless spook.

Grace let out a battle cry, quickly getting up and swinging the staff at the ghost to protect him. Its claws collided with the shield. It recoiled and rounded on the girl.

"Grace, you need to run, and get Gavin out of here," Gadalik said. "I don't want you getting hurt!"

"I don't want you or Dad to be hurt, either," she argued. "I have your weapon, so I'll fight!"

The shield should hold, and she has more tags if it doesn't. "Fine… Right now we need to focus on driving it behind the wards that are already set," the older teen instructed. "Gavin, show me how far you've gotten."

The man pointed. "I had to use the tags to defend myself, so we're out of them now."

This is bad…! Even if we manage to get it behind the set wards, if it isn't dealt with swiftly, it'll just come back… He took a breath and charged at the ghost, hand outstretched as he cast a ward spell. It repelled the spirit toward the set wards, but not nearly as much as it would have at his full strength. He cast another one, but this time it failed and he felt too weak to keep standing.

Grace followed his lead and swung at the ghost until it retreated behind the incomplete wards' barrier.

I have no choice but to rely on her for this, he realized. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few confinement spell tags. Then, from his other pocket he withdrew the same amount of exorcism tags. "I'm going to give these to you, Grace," he said, handing them over. "Use them in order. There's a five-second timeframe between them, or it won't work. A ghost can still move while it's confined, so don't forget to keep your shield active. Think you can handle this?"

She nodded with determination. "First, this one…" Grace attached the confinement tag to the staff and stabbed at the ghost through the barrier.

Its body became tangible.

"Then this…" Attaching the exorcism tag, she repeated the motion, except the ghost dodged this time. She stepped past the wards to pursue it.

"Grace, get back here! It can hurt you now!" he cried.

"First, this one…" the girl repeated to herself. "And now…" She managed to plunge the spear-like tip of the staff into the ghost a second consecutive time.

Its body dissolved into nothing.

Gadalik couldn't help but respect her bravery, and her success even moreso. Exhaustion caught up to him, however, and he staggered.

Grace was still staring at the spot the ghost was last in, as if making sure it was truly gone. Then she went over to the older teen and returned his staff, before helping her father to his feet.

Gadalik propped himself up on it, barely able to keep standing on his own. With what little strength he had left, he collected the tags Gavin had used up and followed the two back to the farmhouse.

The first thing they did was properly treat Gavin's injury. With that taken care of, Gadalik managed to fall into a dreamless sleep.

When he woke up he recharged the recollected tags, and Grace joined him to finish setting the ward barrier.

"You did great to annihilate that spirit," Gadalik praised her. "That took a lot of courage."

She blushed slightly from the praise. "I did what I had to, to save you guys."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah… Still a bit shaken, but I'll be fine."

"I wish I could have done more… There's a chance I could have saved it instead. But we weren't given a choice except to fight…"

"Are you okay?"

It was strange that he wasn't as torn up about annihilation this time around. Maybe he was beginning to be desensitized to it… No… It's because I understood that that was our only option. "...I'm alright."