Pan sat alone on the edge of a shuttle. She had a blanket, a paltry attempt to stop the feeling of water running out her fingers and toes. It didn’t help.

Away, on the sand, Alban, the crew, and Pan’s friends worked on the Volanter. She had died. Between the fight, the injury, and whatever had happened to make her stay behind had ended in her death. Pan had whittled away at what remained of her life.

More crew flowed on to the beach and prepared to gather everyone for a trip off planet. The Ischyros had finally fixed itself and come to their rescue. They would ferry everyone home, with Era as prisoner – with their pictures, videos, records, treasures – and the body of the Volanter.

Pan got a little time to herself. In that time, she tried it all. Her powers faded. She’d lost time message, portal making, and healing. She could still levitate an object, but that ability weakened fast. Pan would be left with her first powers: ghost seeing and reaping. Eventually, they would go too.

Pan looked at the water and saw Brynn. Pan thought she should leave the ghost out there to gloat, but she slid off the shuttle’s edge and walked. Step by step, she crossed the beach and arrived at the water, where it met the sand in a seam. She held the blanket around her shoulders and stared. Brynn looked faded, as if erased from a drawing. She wasn’t sharp as ghosts used to be to Pan’s eyes.

“You got what you wanted,” Pan said. “You must be so happy. No more reapers.”

Brynn shook her head. “What I wanted was for you to be a reaper, to live free, to do the things I wished I’d let myself do, out in the wider galaxy.” Brynn gestured at the sky. “Helping the Scaldin. I wanted you to kill the Volanter because I knew you could. You wanted this.” Brynn pointed at Pan.

Pan’s face twisted with disgust. “No. You tricked me.”

Brynn smiled weakly. “No. I played it this way because you couldn’t let go of the guilt. And, trust me. This outcome was much harder to get to than the original one.” Brynn paused. She gestured vaguely towards her own heart. “That moment in the cell, I finally got it. You don’t want total freedom. You want challenge, restraint, and little problems to work your way out of.” Brynn shrugged. “So, now, there are no more reapers. You can have children, and they won’t be reapers. The only way they could come into being again would be another random mutation – some circle, unknown even to the Volanters.” Her voice sounded distant.

Pan bowed her head. “You thought I wanted this? To have little problems? Well, not having an education and not being arcane are big problems. Big, freedom-restricting problems.”

Brynn waved her hand in denial. “No, Pan. You don’t understand. I freed you.”

Pan’s face twisted with disgust. “Free? You got my powers taken from me. Alright, I’ll admit that you weren’t going to send me to the land of the Volanters, but you took everything. I’m done. I’m nothing but a frail artist.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Look at this, Pan.” Brynn held a circle on spectral paper. “This is the circle for ghost seeing. Remember ghost seeing? Close your eyes and remember it. Imagine this circle.”

Pan glanced behind her. Sotir and the others hadn’t noticed her absence yet. Pan turned back and sighed. She closed her eyes as Brynn had asked, and she remembered ghost seeing. She remembered the first ghost she saw, the ghost she’d taken the power from. Pan remembered how it felt to view the spectral beings. It gave her a rush, a thrill of fear. It fed her curiosity and gave her a reason to learn to draw.

I am going to miss it.

“Ah, there you see,” Brynn said.

Pan opened her eyes. A circle faded from the sand. It matched the one on the paper.

“You’ll get the hang of it, and all the others.” Brynn smiled, as the conjured paper fluttered to dust. Brynn appeared as clear as she had in life. She was the spitting image of living Brynn, courtesy of Pan’s favorite circle – the ghost sight. “See you’re free. You can use any of them. You just have to learn. That’s the challenge – to learn the spells and perform them the way a Volanter would. I know you aren’t afraid of a little hard work or of starting over.”

“I could learn all of them. I have that book.” Pan’s eyes darted to Brynn’s. “I guess I owe you an apology.”

“I don’t really need it. I’m done haunting you. I’m done manipulating you. I can’t promise everyone else is, but I am.” Brynn gestured to Pan. “You would have been a great reaper. But, you can be great unbound too.” Brynn looked seaward.

“What kind of ghost are you?” Pan asked. “If you’re a ghost at all.”

“I’m a ghost. Do you remember when you asked me if whether others wanted me around?” Brynn stared far out to sea. “They don’t get to decide. I do, and I am finally good enough.”

“You planned this elaborate scheme to help me so you could…feel good enough?”

Brynn still looked out to see, looking satisfied.

Pan was speechless.

Brynn made a small, simple motion, as if she presented herself. “Now, watch very closely. This is the last you’ll see of me.”

Light filtered around Brynn and started to come through.

“Watch very closely,” Brynn said again.

Pan felt tired. She sat on the sand, but she kept her eyes on Brynn.

Brynn sparkled, like the time messenger, and Pan squinted against the light. She tried to keep her eyes open and watch the entire process, but Pan soon couldn’t see through the light. She grabbed the hem of Brynn’s dress, just to have some connection, and surprised herself with how real the fabric felt. Pan looked up at Brynn and watched her mentor fizzle away into sparks and light.

The world seemed to dim, but it was only an illusion, left behind by the lack of Brynn’s light. Brynn had gone. Pan’s hand remained outstretched, holding nothing.

“Pan!” Sotir called. His feet pounded over the sand.

Water lapped at Pan’s knees, and she laughed. If Sotir looked into the past, he would see that Pan wasn’t about to dive into the sea and let the waves take her. But, when he looked at just the scene as it appeared in the present, he might feel a certain panic. His distress shouldn’t entertain her, but it did.

Sotir grabbed Pan’s shoulders. “What are you doing?” He hugged her from behind and tried to drag her away from the water.

“I was saying good-bye to Brynn.” Pan let Sotir pull her away from the waves. She looked over her shoulder and saw Sotir’s face near hers.

“Brynn’s ghost? Gone?”

Pan saw a flicker of hope in Sotir’s eyes. He would love if Brynn just disappeared. Pan smiled ruefully. “Yes, gone.” And irreplaceable. Pan averted her eyes and looked beyond him to the horizon. She no longer smiled. “Do you have that book of Volanter circles handy? I want to have a look.”

Sotir just nodded.