Jack made it to school just in time, and Jenny was already waiting for him in the back corner of the room. As usual, Professor Edward Newgate was not there, and would most likely be late to this early morning class, though no one blamed him since he was already nearing eighty years of age. Jack crossed the front of the room, turning left before proceeding up the stairs that made up the center isle. He turned in the back row, and saw Jenny, along with a boy who was sitting on the desk next to her, facing her with a flirtatious look on his face. Jenny was beautiful, so this was not unexpected, and actually happened all the time, however, Jenny was not good at dealing with these kinds of situations, so Jack usually ended up dealing with them.

Jack approached, his usual emotionless face brought to bare against the boy, approaching without hesitation.

“That’s my seat.”

jack spoke with a voice that reflected impatience, and caught his attention, along with Jenny’s, and she smiled. The boy turned to protest, but saw his irritation, and decided not to poke at him, standing up, and dusting himself off. Jack was irritated before he even came to school, the usual excitement of his new life coming to a pause as he had to sit through a lecture on something he already understood. He didn’t really want to go at all, but, if nothing else, it gives him some time to learn more about his magic from Ellis, and Jenny may kill him if he drops out of school. The boy turned to face Jenny as he left, flipping his long, blond hair back out of his face in a gesture that Jack only saw as feminine.

“Catch you later.”

He left, bumping Jack’s shoulder as he passed, but Jack just ignored it, and proceeded to sit down next to Jenny, placing the supplies in his hands down on the desk in front of him. Jenny was smiling with her usual mischievous look seeping through her expression, and Jack wondered if she made him chase off guys just to entertain herself, but shook the thought away, she doesn’t have any reason to do that.

(Unless she she’s jealous of Val, and wants you to fight for her too.)

Ellis talked for the first time since before the magical enhancement, stating something Jack thought was ridiculous, Jenny was definitely the jealous type, but there was no reason for her to be jealous of Val.

‘I doubt that. If that were true, then this would be something new, but she’s always been this way. She just needs my help as a friend sometimes, even though she won’t ever ask for it.’

(So? Doesn’t that mean she always wants you to fight for her? Girls like to be pursued by the ones they like, and fighting for them is one of the most obvious ways of pursuing them.)

Jack looked over at Jenny, who had put away her mischievous smile, and had removed several items from her school bag, such as a laptop, notebook, pen, and pencil, arranging them in an orderly fashion in front of her. Noticing his gaze, Jenny paused, looking over at him with taunting blue eyes filled with amusement, shifting herself into an awkward position, and crossing her legs as if Jack was making her uncomfortable.

“Jack, if you look at a me that way, a girl might get the wrong idea...”

Jack accepted the remark with grace, and let out a sigh in response before going to remove his own belongings out of his bag, and realizing he didn’t have it. Returning to his previous position facing forward, letting the light from the window to his left fill his vision with a bright glare and causing him to squint until his eyes adjusted.

‘Ah... I left it at home. I suppose I don’t really need it, but it would be nice to have a book or laptop I can hide behind, but I’m far enough back that no one is likely to notice.’

(Notice what?)

Jack had an idea, one that came to him shortly after his previous magical enhancement, something new that might make things a little nicer for Ellis. After he emerged from the pain, a whole new world opened up to him, including a sharper mind, basic control over his magic even after it leaves his body, dramatic increase in strength, speed, and dexterity, and finally, the ability to feel the separation between his conscience, and Ellis’s. At first Jack didn’t think about it much, but after a while he realized he could push them apart, and found that Ellis’s was linked to his own by a series of small magical threads.

‘Ellis, I have an idea, but it’s pretty risky. If it works you may be able to have some more freedom, but if it fails, something bad may happen.’

(What’s your idea?)

Jack leaned back in his chair, separating himself from the world around him as the teacher entered quickly, and immediately began the lecture, catching everyone else’s attention. Jack focused, going deeper into his mind until he could feel his own conscience along with Ellis’s, and he reached out, brushing his thoughts against her.

‘I think I can pull our minds apart, not completely since you still need my magic to survive, but enough for you to move around a little.’

(Yeah, I noticed too, but I don’t really know what will happen since no god has ever done this with a human before. I am up for it, though.)

Ellis gave her consent, though she did seem a little concerned, so Jack decided to do this as carefully as possible in order to avoid any tragic mishap. He felt the minds leaning against each other, two orbs that were pliable, and similar to water balloons in texture, connected by small threads of magic. Jack carefully used his conscience to push on Ellis’s, slowly stretching out the magical threads further and further, but they didn’t break, and soon Ellis’s mind was not even touching his. It was successful, Ellis’s conscience moved around in his mind, testing out her new freedom and limits.

(Jack, I think it worked!)

Ellis sounded excited, and Jack smiled to himself, thinking about how easy it was, and thankful nothing went wrong, when something began to appear in the corner of his eye. Jack turned to look at what it could be, and, to his left, against the wall, a decent sized blur began to come into view, shimmering as it slowly materialized. Jack leaned forward, trying to assess whether the blur was a threat or not, when the blur began to take a shape, and the vague figure of a person began to appear.

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Slowly but surely, a humanoid figure was coming into focus, hovering just in front and to the left of Jack who looked on in amazement. He recognized the person, though he never thought he would see that face again, he was certain of who it was as the haze disappeared. Jack stumbled over his words, and the object of his shock looked around, uncertain of what was happening before looking at Jack, surprise reflected in their eyes as well. Jack finally collected himself enough to speak, and whispered under his breath.

“Ellis?”

The figure in front of him turned her head, looking at her surroundings as long, blond hair tumbled back and forth in response, and her ruby eyes darted around in confusion. Her petite body hovered in the air, apparently not visible to anyone else, judging by he lack of reaction in the room, except Jack who could only stare at the girl. If he had to sum up her appearance, covering everything from her frilly, white clothing to her smooth, fair skin, she was definitely the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

(J-Jack? What the hell happened?!)

The girl’s mouth moved, but her voice sounded from inside Jack’s head, confirming his suspicions, and pulling him out of his stupor.

‘Ellis.’

Jack thought to himself, and Ellis reacted, which made relief flow over him, and wash away some of his worry before he continued.

‘Looks like I gave you more freedom than I thought.’

The ghost-like girl stared at the familiar face, her mind still trying to absorb all of the new information, biting her lip a little as she thought. It was an incredibly cute gesture, but Jack was too preoccupied to have any sort of reaction to it as he curiously thought about the possibilities of this newfound ability, and what it could mean for Ellis.

(Jack!)

Ellis flew at him with her arms opened wide in an attempt to give Jack a hug, but passed right through him, and came out behind him, disappointed. Jack, however became even more excited, because even though she passed through him, he still felt something, though it was very faint, it was definitely there. This meant many things, but the first and most important one was that Ellis was really there, and when is conscience got more magical power, he would be able to give more to her, and, hopefully, give her a real body someday.

(Yay! I’m free!)

Ellis, who was reading his thought process, immediately perked up, and confirmed his hypothesis, loudly celebrating while flying around over his head.

(No offense to you, but your head isn’t really girly enough, I was starting to feel encroached upon by your boyish thoughts! Look, I even said encroached!)

Jack smiled dryly, thinking encroached, while out of Ellis’s character, wasn’t necessarily masculine or feminine, but didn’t want to rain on her parade, and kept silent. Ellis flew further and further, exploring the classroom, and happily having one-sided conversations about Jack with people that just blankly stared ahead without even realizing she was there.

While she was entertaining herself, Jack figured he should focus on making the threads more effective. They were now much longer, stretching a good twelve feet, and have gotten darker becoming a hot pink rather than it’s previous very light pink, and even caught fire. Jack focused on his flow of magic, and summoned one on each fingertip, keeping his hand below the desk, and to his left side, while studying them. They floated, as if in water, small flames flicked and waved along it’s length, and Jack found that he could control their movements.

He could easily maintain them subconsciously, and decided to try something else, dispelling the current threads, and preparing himself for the next step. Focusing hard, Jack began recreating the threads, but this time, he concentrated on making more, pushing them out from the base of his index finger, and moving upward, all the time spinning and weaving them together. Slowly but surely hundreds and hundreds of threads emerged, twisting and wrapping themselves around each other to create a rope about as wide around as his finger, which burning brightly. Jack had to quickly dispel it immediately after it was created because it shined like a hot pink beacon, and burned a deep, black gash in the ground, which, luckily, didn’t catch on fire.

This new rope-like ability was really dangerous, and Jack resolved not to use it unless he had to, or was somewhere far away from any possible casualties. Jack looked up from the deep wound in the ground, and back at Ellis, who was still roaming around near the door, when she suddenly froze. She immediately turned back in his direction, and rushed over with an incredible speed, a look of panic on her face as she came close.

(Jack! Jack! It’s really bad! We’re in big trouble!)

Ellis’s words caused Jack to tense, subconsciously preparing his magic for a fight while consciously identifying anything or anyone that might be in the way.

‘Don’t panic, just tell me.’

Jack’s thoughts were calm, as he tried to settle Ellis down enough for her to relay the circumstances to him.

(It’s him, that guy, the one from before.)

Ellis had calmed down, and was speaking more coherently now.

‘What guy?’

(The one you saved from the ghoul!)

She pointed behind her to the door, and sure enough, standing there was the guy he had saved earlier that morning, bandages covering his body. He looked just over twenty, with short, dirty blond hair, and a look of almost excitement that appeared when their eye connected. Not wanting to make a scene, the man snuck up the far wall, up to the back row, and walked behind the students’ chairs, with minimal struggle, until he came to Jack.

Acknowledging the beautiful girl next to him with a quick nod, he turned to Jack, a mixture of suspicion and determination in his eyes as he passed Jack, leaning against the wall in a comfortable position. Ellis puffed her chest out in an “intimidating” manner, and floated up so she was looking down at the man. This seemed to be more of a subconscious reaction than an intentional one and made Jack wonder what kind world she was raised in, being this way at only sixteen.

“I need to talk to you.”

The man spoke in a hushed, but forceful tone, not threatening, but not submissive either, and crossed his arms, assuming a defensive stance. This man clearly remembered Jack, and had obviously found a way out of the hospital just to talk to him as soon as possible. Jack frowned, not wanting to talk to this person now or ever, since he had no explanation for what the man had seen, and no real reason to. It’s not like this man could take this to the police, or try to physically make Jack, and if he tried something against Jenny, Val, or even Fae, though he didn’t have any real obligation to her, then he would die before he knew what happened.

Jack looked up at him, and shook his head slowly, not being necessarily rude or nice, but simply informing him that he had no desire or obligation to talk with him. The man paused for a second, expecting this response, and already having a backup plan created in his mind, which, with Jack’s answer, had been implemented. Jack was relatively introverted, and only had a couple of close friends, which left his largest weakness exposed for all to see, and that weakness was... overly curious extroverts.

The man walked over to the chair next to Jenny, and sat down, which was actually the first time someone had sat there without having Jenny in mind, and leaned back in his chair with a slight creaking noise to make himself comfortable. Jack was irritated, but didn’t drive him away, since he wasn’t bothering Jenny and was probably hoping Jack would say something.

“Name’s John.”

The man said as he tilted his head back, and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply in a way that resembled a yawn, but kept his mouth closed. Jack ignored John’s comment, and turned his gaze to Jenny, who had never looked up from her work, either completely enraptured or really good at hiding her curiosity. The man smiled when Jack didn’t respond, and thinking he might regret this later, laid out the gist of his plan.

“I’ll be the one annoying you from now on.”