It's not fun when you see a ghost in your living room just because you used some summoning spell taught in your local witch gathering.

Mira looked at the hovering ghost and rubbed her eyes. Ghosts were only alive in books and movies. And TV shoes too. Not in real life. But the ghost before her kept giving her a soothing smile as if trying to not scare her. We'll buddy, she was already scared. Too scared to move actually.

"Hello! Nice to meet you!"

The ghost waved and Mira screamed. 

"No no no, calm down. I won't hurt you."

No one will calm down if you say that. If something, she was even more scared.

And today of all days, no neighbors were there. It was the day of the Town Carnival. Mira was a part of the local coven. She had just shifted to the town of Fishborough because why not? She needed a little space to run away from her past and this town had a job advertisement. 

And one day, she noticed another advertisement.

Want to join a group?

Do you want to socialize but you are scared and you tend to stay alone in the end? Join our "coven". We are a group of friendly girls and we like to empower others.

Now that coven should have alarmed her. But she thought it was just a funny choice of word. The first three meetings were all about female empowerment and uplifting stuff. Mira made friends too.

The fourth one was a crazy one. It was today.

Because of the carnival, Mira assumed that they were talking all crazy about summoning and all.

She came home and started cooking. Somehow she remembered the incantation and muttered it. Nothing happened then.

But when she washed her dishes, there he was, hovering and watching her.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you called me so I came. So sorry, miss."

Mira calmed herself.

"I called?"

"You summoned me."

It was official. Her local coven was of witches, not normal humans.

"And how do I make you go away?"

The ghost looked away from her shyly. Where did she summon this shy ghost from?

"Wait, let me ask."

Mira called the head of the coven. 

"You have reached Alina."

"Alina, uh, I have an issue."

Alina should have moved somewhere quiet because the hustle and bustle was noticeably less.

"I summoned a ghost."

"Are you sure? Those spells don't normally work."

"Can you come to my house? I'll send you the location."

Alina was watching the ghost with her in the living room.

"What should I do?"

Alina shrugged. 

"Why are you so clueless? You are the head witch. You should know everything."

"Who says the head knows everything? I'm not like Dumbledore."

Mira was speechless.

"Okay, okay," she then turned to the ghost, "Mr. Ghost, how can we de-summon you? What will make you leave our plane? The plane that allows us to see you?"

The ghost looked at both of them in turns.

"I'll leave happily if you listen to me. No can could hear or talk to me. Can you listen to me?"

Alina smiled.

"Yes, Mira will. I have some stuff to do. Later, ghosty and Girly bestie."

Mira wasn't surprised to see her leave.

"Sit here, let's get comfortable."

The ghost sat before her and started talking.

"I'm Nicky, the third son of Marko Salker. I died because of poisoning. When I woke up, I was floating and no one could see me."

That was sad.

"I followed my family. My sons lived well. My daughter suffered. I helped her when I could. Her husband wasn't a nice man. She separated from him and raised her children. I then moved away from them because I knew they didn't need me."

"Yes, they have their own lives."

Getting feedback from her put a smile on the ghost's face.

"I used to watch kids going to school but one day, I spotted a weird kid. He looked weird so I followed him. Guess what I found?"

"What did you find?"

The ghost smiled.

"He was a wizard. He could do magic. And you know what happened because of this?"

She shook her head.

"He was isolated. Bullied. His family hated him. He ran away. I felt bad for him and I followed."

He had a faraway look on his transparent pale face.

"He then worked odd jobs and became a well-known bookseller. I thought he was doing well and went to roam but when I came back to see him, he had changed. He turned into a villain in the eyes of the people."

"He killed people. I was scared of him. I sometimes felt he could see me. He was sentenced to hanging. But he disappeared the moment they hung him."

Whoa, that scared Mira.

"I saw him after a year. He was searching for a ghost. That's when I knew he could see me. He asked me about a female ghost. She was a child who used to play and talk with him. He told me that she was killed because she was in the way of some nobles. He wanted to find her."

"What happened then?"

"Kids reincarnate early. Knowing he couldn't meet her, he was sad. He was a magician so he could live for a long time. He waited but didn't see her again. I saw him die. He killed those people who bent the law. He suffered and died."

"Are you done then?"

The ghost gave her a spooky smile.

"I told this story to you. You have to give me back something. Or I'll make you my storyteller."

"I'll write a book about your guy. What else do you want?"

"I want to tell you about the undead vampire who kills people who go missing in his forest."

Mira wasn't a fool. He had lots of stories but she didn't want to hear them now.

"Then you tell me this when I summon you again. I've held my part of the bargain. Off you go."

The ghost disappeared. Mira felt that his tales were just tales. Fictional. If you had so much time alone floating, you tend to make up stories.

But something caught her eye.

"Missing report- twenty-year-old missing in the Forest of South. Contact for details."

Mira checked the archives. The missing cases, the reports, it was true.

The ghost had seen so many things. He could very well help in solving crime then.

Mira decided to do something. A summoning could help people who were desperate for a miracle.