“Mannn, can you believe it? Two murders already, and it isn’t even lunchtime yet! Whoever killed these two has some explaining to do… Got you a coffee, y’know, so you could do your spirit medium thang.” Liz puckered her lips as she outstretched her right hand to Ace, who graciously took her offering while sighing deeply.

“That’s where the first issue lies. I’ve been trying to connect to the spirit world this entire time… Nothing, not a thing. Egh…” One sip was all it took for the green-haired gumshoe to offer the cup back to Liz. Dissatisfaction was painted all over it, and his partner gave a slight chuckle, her arm rubbing up and down her neck.

“Whoops… Haha, judging by the reaction, wrong coffee?”

The two quickly exchanged cups, with the blue-haired detective walking over to the bodies and sighing. “No ghosts? I wonder why… Were you able to at least identify what killed them?”

“No wounds. Or, if there are any, they must be microscopic…” Ace took a lengthy sip of his coffee, shutting his tired eyes briefly as he heard Liz walk over to him.

“We know this is a murder, right?”

“Not a duel. No paperwork has been filed for one.”

“Gotcha. Still, that makes this case even harder to crack. No wounds, paperwork, or even a pair of ghosts to tell us about the culprit. Do you have anything to go off of, Ace?”

Ace sighed, shaking his head negatively as he pulled out his flip phone. “Nothing. I’m going to send this to Ocktober, and see if she can dig something up while we’re down here.” His fingers glided across the number pad as the evidence photos were sent the way of their woman in the chair.

“Oh, she’ll be thrilled we’re already sending work her way! Is that little nerd even up?” Liz peeked her head over Ace’s shoulder to read over his phone messages. A mischievous grin appeared across her lips as she saw the typing icon flash for Ocktober. “Woah! She is awake!”

“I doubt she slept,” Replied Ace. A gentle smirk formed on his face as his text message notification went off, then another, andddddd another.

“Awesome. Dead bodies before noon.”

“Ever think of starting a conversation off with a ‘Hey, how are you?”

“I’ll get to work analyzing them.”

Liz wrapped her arm around his chest as he slid his phone back into his pocket. A sigh escaped his now tightly curled lips as he tilted his head down to look at her. “What has you so restless this morning?”

“I don’t really know… I think it might be the air around us. Doesn’t the atmosphere feel chipper? Like excitement and anxiety are twirling around the air simultaneously to form this… Bi-polar tornado.” To this comment, the green-haired detective raised a brow to his partner.

“I can’t say that I do feel that… Maybe it’s seasonal depression.”

“Ace, you and I both know I’d call it if that’s what I felt! This… This feels different.” As if he was being punished for calling out her sensation as mere seasonal depression, she formed a fist, then dug a knuckle into his ribcage playfully.

“Hey! What was that for?”

In response, all Liz offered was her tongue as she blew a raspberry.

Bzzt…

Bzzt…

Bzzt…

The whimsical air was whisked away quickly as Ace answered the call. His comrade quickly tapped into his head psychically to hear the call. “What do you have for us, Ocktober?”

“Good morning to you, too, Ace. Doing anything? Not at all. I especially wasn’t hoping to enjoy my classless day or anything…” From the phone speaker came an unapologetically annoyed voice, which soon descended to boredom. “You two coming back to the Occult room?”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Liz and Ace shared a questioning glance as the latter shrugged. “If you’ve got something worthwhile to show us.”

“From how it sounds, anything I show you about this case is pretty worthwhile. Seriously, you couldn’t find a single clue?” The sassy voice teased from the phone.

“She has us there…”

The detective let out a peeved sigh. “We’ll be right up.”

Ace let the call go as he tipped his head towards the elevator. Liz went ahead, pressing the 6th-floor button as she flashed him a smile. “Hm… No wound means we don’t have a cause of death. Natural causes? No, of course not. Our handsome investigator thought long and hard as the elevator took him up… Up where? Perhaps to the truth? Or… A floor full of even more unknowns!”

“Tch. When did you take up narration? You made a good point, even if you were spouting nonsense.”

“Well, obviously… I’m the brains behind our operation. You’re the eye candy.”

“Two high school students don’t die of natural causes. We know for sure there’s a killer. Still, how does one die without a weapon wound? Poison, perhaps? But assuming it was poison, why wouldn’t a spirit exist for me to communicate with?” Ace’s thumb and index finger slowly traced his chin back and forth, only snapping out of his trance when the elevator stopped. The door chime and a gradual opening brought them to their destination.

“After you.” The blue-haired punk bowed as Ace brushed past her, only to be stopped by her arm shooting out. “Ace, look around us.” Her expression had changed entirely from playful to deathly serious.

The detective turned to examine the floor they now stood on; his face morphed in disgust as he slowly exited the elevator. What should’ve been an ordinary high school hallway was now host to a wall of pulsating flesh. Its new meaty interior squelched as the detective duo trudged across it. The pair’s progress halted as they reached the occult classroom door. The typically heavy wood now appeared like a heavily decayed tooth, heaps of blood spurting out of it the second Ace touched it.

“I don’t like this. It’s someone’s ability… But I don’t sense anyone around other than us.” Liz closed the gap between her and Ace, practically breathing on top of him as he wiped the blood off his hand onto a handkerchief. The sound of a man screaming in agony caused them both to jump as one of the fleshy walls sucked itself inside of the collectively growing mass of tumored tissue.

The detective’s eyes shifted up to the psychic’s, causing her to let out a disturbed sigh. “You can’t be serious…”

“I don’t see any other way further.”

“It’s a trap! C’mon, you don’t need to be a psychic to see that!” Scolded the blue-haired psychic, her outstretched arm pointed to the new path in disbelief.

“I know,” her partner replied blankly. He pushed past her, slowly descending the newly formed corridor, both hands resting on the firearms attached to his hips. “Liz. Can you try to make contact with Ocktober?”

“Trust me, I tried. The only person whose head I can get into right now is you–AACK!” Ace’s head quickly shot around as Liz began to dry heave. Without any hesitation, he hurried over to her, crouching down to his knees as a horrible coughing fit started.

“Oeugh! Gck! Hurk… HURRRRGHHHHHH!” The detective’s teeth clenched as his manager started violently vomiting. His concern quickly doubled into panic as he noticed she wasn’t puking fluids but clumps of knotted-up black hair.

“Liz! Talk to me!” He yelled, breaking his usually stoic demeanor.

“Ace! It won’t stop coming out…”

His eyes widened as she spoke to him via telepathy. All he could do was watch as her violent puking session continued, his arms gently wrapped atop her shoulders as more escaped her throat like a rope down a cliff.

“Just let it all out, Liz. I’m here, don’t keep any of that in!”

The amount of hair finally slowed to a crawl as she hacked up one final long strand before collapsing in his arms. “Are you o– dammit.” The strain on her body left her entirely unconscious, or so he thought. As mere seconds later, deep laughter came from her throat.

“You know, boy, you shouldn’t be sticking your nose in people’s business.” Any concerns he may have had were instantly wiped clean as he heard the deep voice come from Liz’s body.

“A spirit? You don’t need to use Liz Beth’s body to communicate. I can hear you perfectly fine outside of possession. I’m a spirit medium.” In spite of his calm demeanor, one hand remained fixed on a gun to his right hip. His eyes narrowed as “Liz Beth” came to her feet.

“I know who you are. Ace Spade, the spirit detective. I’m aware that you could speak to me… But that also means you can shoot me with those guns of yours, isn’t that right?”

No words came from the detective’s mouth as his eyes met “hers.” Her usually amber eyes now shone a deep crimson, and her body twitched sporadically as if in pain. “You look pissed. That’s why I’m going to stay in this body for now. I don’t want you to fire on me! Consider this a warning more than anything. No more sticking your nose in things that don’t concern you. You’ll get someone hurt!”

“So you’re the one responsible for those bodies this morning?”

“Didn’t you hear anything I just said?! You’re pissing me off.” The spirit caused Liz to float into the air and clap her hands. Another scream came from the living tissue that surrounded them as Ocktober stumbled out of the now wholly rotted tooth that hid the occult room. Her eyes were entirely white as all color had been sucked from them.

“Ocktober?! You son of a–”

“Shoot me. I dare you.”

Teeth clenched, fingers on the trigger, Ace was ready to blast away. His chest heaved up and down as his aim dipped down to the floor. “Goddamn you…”

“Listen, boy. If you don’t back off, I’ll possess you and kill both of these bitches, then slide the barrel into your mouth… BANG! Ahaha!”

“Whatever. Just let Liz and Ocktober go. Hurt either of them, and I’ll blast you with every bullet I’ve got.”

“My dear detective, if you fire any bullets out of that gun, it won’t be me hurting these chicks. Be a good boy and stay out of it. End of discussion!” The floor underneath the trio ripped open as the formation of a giant toothy grin appeared below them. It opened wide before Ace could think to try something, swallowing them all whole…

“AHH!”

Ace shot up from his back. Sweat dripped from his entire body as he let out panicked breaths.

“Ace?! What’s wrong?” Liz dropped the plates of dinner she had and rushed to his side. The punk knelt beside the sofa and took his hand in hers. “Hey. Ace, come on, stay with me here. What happened? Did you have a nightmare?”

As his eyes scraped across the familiar occult club classroom, his breathing slowed to a crawl as he shut his eyes and let out another exhale. “I-It’s nothing. I don’t even remember…”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

His eyes widened. The deep voice in his head was unforgettable.

“You know how it goes. Those who get possessed lose their memories of the possession. That’s how it needs to be! I’m in your head now, Ace Spade. Keep following my orders… Or your body is next.”