The Wise One was waiting for them sitting in his chair, still with his pipe in his mouth.

"I am glad to see you again so soon, and... We are finally meeting in a more... Reciprocal way, my dear Hannah, and that delights me!"

As he said this, he came closer and mimicked kissing her hand.

His attitude slightly annoyed Lug who cleared his throat before speaking.

"The reason we came all the way here is to find out more about the disappearance of ghosts, do you know anything about that?"

The Wise One paused for a moment and stared at Lug with sorrow.

"Oh Lug, if you only knew the immense potential you hold... And all you're trying to understand is why ghosts disappear? Is that really the first thing you want to know? Not how you got this ability? Not how to master this power to become a superhuman? Ah... Don't worry I'm not disappointed, I knew before you came that you weren't quite ready yet..."

The Wise One had gone off into a monologue without even answering the question that was asked.

Hannah decided to react.

"Please, I would like to know where my great grandmother, Linette Parnac, is. Then we can hopefully take advantage of your knowledge to educate ourselves and make this new world a little less scary."

The Wise One looked at her for a moment, then laughed.

"Ahah, you're trying to flatter me. That's good, you quickly figured out how to coax me. Okay I'll answer."

He took his time, began to scrape the bottom of his pipe, then put it in his mouth and took a deep breath.

Then he spat out a thick smoke.

"Look at that smoke." he said.

The smoke, so thick at first, began to disappear little by little, after a few seconds there was no trace of it left.

"This is how ghosts disappear. A body made of psychic energy that eventually empties itself until it disappears. That is the fate of all ghosts."

He continued to smoke as if he had finished his explanation.

Hannah began to question the Wise One again.

"Okay thanks for that explanation, but where is Linette Parnac? She couldn't have just disappeared she has to be somewhere, right?"

"I don't know. Disappearance is just as mysterious to a ghost as death is to a living person. Maybe she's in Heaven, if she was lucky, if not... In one of the nine circles of Hell..."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"So we have no way to communicate with her?" Hannah asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"No. No way, unless you die in order to get to her."

Hannah stepped back a little, she looked like she was thinking.

As for Lug, he decided to continue questioning the Wise One.

"Are all ghosts doomed to disappear? How come? And what is the psychic body?"

These questions showed the attachment Lug had for his ghost friends. He must have never thought he could lose them.

"That, Lug, is a long story." replied the ghost as he crossed his legs and leaned on the back of the half broken chair.

"I have time."

Immediately a coffin that was on the side of the crypt began to slide across the floor to Lug's feet.

"Then sit down and pay attention, because I hate to repeat myself."

Lug sat down.

Hannah sat down as well, she was disappointed that she didn't get more information about Linette but she was curious to know more about the spirit world.

The wise man materialized a large board and chalk in his hand in an instant and began to write as he spoke.

"The living possess two bodies, the physical body made up of muscles, bones, blood... In short. You know what I am talking about. But in addition to this physical body, there is the psychic body, which is a double. That is to say that its form is the same but it is composed of subtle energy, that we call psychic energy. Do you follow?"

The Wise One turned around, he had also materialized small round glasses that he had placed on the end of his nose.

Hannah and Lug were sitting on the large wooden coffin, they looked attentive.

"Well, I'll continue. The organs of the psychic body are the glands : epiphysis, thyroid, thymus... etc. These glands produce psychic energy through food, sunlight, oxygen. And these same glands have psychic counterparts, that is what allows the ghosts to continue to produce energy to maintain their psychic body. In their case this energy is captured around them, because psychic energy exists everywhere in small quantities."

Lug raised his hand and cleared his throat for emphasis.

"Excuse me, if ghosts can maintain their bodies by capturing energy, how come they disappear anyway?"

"Why does the physical body die? Because their body doesn't have enough energy left. There can be many reasons for this. But I would say the main one has to do with the desire to exist. I have noticed that children disappear much faster than adults, poor people much faster than rich people, and animals much faster than humans. It always comes back to the idea of attachment. The soldiers in front of the cemetery have been there for over a thousand years. Why are they still there? Because they are carried by the mission they had when they were alive. Attachment is the main reason."

Lug began to think. He had seen very few ghostly animals, and it always struck him as odd how much more crowded the richer neighborhoods were than the poorer ones. It all made sense now.

"And the father yesterday, his son was missing. What did you tell him?"

"The truth. His son didn't want to be there anymore. He wasn't attached to the family fortune or status. So this young boy disappeared as soon as I explained to him that it was possible."

"As soon as he realized it was possible?" Lug repeated.

The Wise One was watching his two students.

Hannah looked confused and Lug thoughtful.

He figured he had said enough for today.

"Thank you for your attention, I think you have heard enough. We will resume tomorrow."

Hannah and Lug did not protest, in fact they were a little relieved that the lesson was over.

There was too much to process.

On the way home they did not talk to one another.

They greeted each other in front of the cemetery gate and Hannah headed for her car.

Between the time she had arrived yesterday and this very moment, her world had changed.

She saw many tents not far from the spot where she parked, and realized that this must be the army the Wise One was referring to.

She quickly got into her car and drove off.

Lug was not sad to see her go.

His head was too full to feel his heart.

He went home, ready to go back to sleep even though it was not yet noon.