Having returned early he had returned to his normal school days the following morning, mostly because he wanted to check on Shaun and Emma who still seemed willing to share a lunch table with him.

“I thought you were supposed to be gone this week.” Shaun said, holding a sandwich in one hand and a can of soft drink in the other. He sounded colder than usual, though not enough that he sounded flat out uninterested and it felt like they were already emotionally distancing themselves.

“Yeah, some family issues came up and I had to come back last night.” He replied as casually as he felt he could with all that was going on. He toyed with his salad, pushing it about within his lunch box with the plastic fork. “Been up to much yourselves?”

“Nawh, nothing too special.” Emma replied, leaving her sandwich atop the tinfoil. She sounded far more genuine, but with Shauns tone he could only come to think that she was a far better actor.

The conversation ended there for a short time, until Shaun asked “So what were you supposed to be gone to again?”

“Oh it wasn’t anything too special. It was a week of tutoring in Dublin.” He said, not exactly lying, just choosing to leave out some details.

“Missing actual school for tutoring?” He responded, raising a brow.

“Yeah, it was for some of the higher level courses I'm taking. Stuff people can’t teach during normal class time.” He tried to explain, as much as he hated it, lying came rather easily.

“I see.” was all he responded and the rest of lunch had passed without another word. Once the bell had rang they went to their own classes and separate ways. A single goodbye shared between them he watched them leave, forever increasing the gap between them with each step.

By the time he had made it to Jaspers he was already standing by the gate waiting for him. “Come on, in.” He said rather seriously.

“No joke today?” He asked, turning through the gates to walk with him back inside.

“No time for joking today, no.” he replied stoically.

A laptop was set up upon the table in the living room area with a video call set up with Lara. Mitch took his usual seat and Jasper sat close to the door.

“So this has escalated quite badly.” Jasper said as he gave Lara a nod to signal her to explain.

“It has, people are becoming a bit obsessed with the idea of what’s happening here.” She began, having her kitten crawling over her shoulders as she talked. “Joseph messaged everyone last night that he is holding seminars at the manor every day from 7pm onwards, some people are already gathering.”

“Fairly early to be waiting around.” Mitch said.

“He’s accepting them now still, the little group chat they added to the app this morning has people messaging that they were showing up and got taken inside for some training.” She explained, holding her phone out to read some of the messages though it was rather blurry over a camera so she chose to read them aloud “Joseph let me in early and now we chillin’ with the boys in the lobby.” she said, closing her phone over “He is planning to study and activate this rune several times.”

“That would draw fiends to the area..” Mitch said, leaning his elbows on his knees “If anything bigger than a fiend catches wind of that it could come and massacre the place.”

“I trust we all understand how dangerous this situation is. We will have to put this investigation into turbo charge and put an end to this group before anyone gets hurt.” Jasper said.

“You could use a bit more serious terms than turbo charge, but I get it.” Mitch tried to joke, though it escaped his lips without the backing of his usual cockiness so he sounded rather concerned.

Jasper overlooked the comment and once Lara had agreed with them he continued “So the first plan of observation is over. We need you to get closer to Joseph, Lara. From there we will plant some doubt into the group, possibly driving some members away.”

She nodded in immediate response, seemingly taking notes from what he could see through the video call. “I can start on that yeah, but what are you two going to do?”

Without skipping a beat he responded “We are going to get to work on discrediting his theory. We will take normal jobs that have backed up a bit, and during them we will find a way to play off this whole cult as a hoax.”

“Ironic.” Mitch said quietly. Jasper gave him a confused look with a raised brow. “Ah, well isn’t it Ironic we are talking about shutting him down and proving a hoax, while we walk around actually searching for ghosts?”

“I guess you could look at it like that, yes.” Jasper replied, before turning back to the call. “For now, keep buddy buddy but make little comments here and there to implant doubt.”

“Alright, I’ll do what I can from here. See you later.” She promptly ended the call moments after a knock was heard off camera.

“Seems like she’s got a lot to deal with.” Mitch said, getting up from his seat “But I doubt we have any time to waste so how about we go prepared?”

“Calm down, take a minute to rest.” Jasper replied, motioning back to the seat “We can’t do our work until nightfall, so we can discuss the matter here.”

He closed the laptop over and returned to a relaxed position in his seat, clearly lost in his own thoughts as he had begun to stare into the distance out the window.

Mitch gave him some time to work out his thoughts and thought about the situation himself. It wasn’t like he was experienced enough in either world to be able to come up with why this would be some form of a hoax.

“We need hard evidence that this is fake.” Mitch said eventually, a hand placed against his chin as he rested his leg over the top of his knee sitting back. “I can’t say I really know anything that would disprove a rune with the feeling anyone gets from what it does to the natural magic of the air.”

“That can easily be described as hysteria from what they saw.” Jasper brushed off, waving his hand to dismiss it “What we need is a believable reason that this would light up if only certain people touch it.”

There was another long silence as the two thought about the conundrum at hand, though they would eventually be interrupted by Sophia who came from her art room. She locked the door behind her and approached the two. “Whatever you are discussing can wait while you both help me with dinner.” She teased. Her hands coated in speckles of different coloured paints along with the odd stain here and there on her floral dress.

Jasper shook his head as he stood and said “I will dear, let’s leave Mitch to deal with his homework.” Giving him a quick thumbs up before he left to follow her.

“Thank you, and of course” she said, heading into the kitchen where Jasper took a tight hold of her hand and pulled her close so he could have his arm wrapped around her.

“Not sure there is anything I can do here.” Mitch thought, reflecting over what he knew of science from his studies but even then he couldn’t find anything. He decided to rummage through his bag and get his science textbook to search for anything bioluminescent.

Later that day, work was the topic at hand while the two sat in the car together. “So, simple enough work tonight.” Jasper said as he tossed over the file. “The bigger problem here is what we plan to do about Joseph.”

Mitch had spent most of the day thinking about this, hell most of the time since Halloween and eventually came to the conclusion “We can’t do this with just us. I think we gotta ask for help.”

Jasper raised a brow but he didn’t laugh it off or dismiss him, instead he simply asked “Who would you ask?”

“I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think Joel’s family over in Galway might be the best help we could get.” He said, flipping through the pages of the file.

“Why do you think they would be able to help?” Jasper asked, though in a more curious tone.

“Well, they know modern science really well and want to adapt it to our work. Surely they would have some idea as to how to pass this off as some form of hoax with believable science. People won’t be able to deny it if we make it look real.”

“Not a bad idea, I will leave that to you to look into then.” Jasper nodded, sounding impressed but it was a grab bag on what was actually going through his mind.

By the time they had made it to the old forest, a classic haunting location as Jasper would call it, they had discussed mostly the points up until now and got a timeline straight of what had happened. Joseph had a small following online for his generic ghost hunting. Then he got big for finding a rune by accident, went as far as to show it off to the public and now he is trying to form some cult in order to study it, even when the world was mocking him for clearly being some form of scam artist.

The plan was simple so far, at least that's what Jasper liked to call it. Mitch felt it was anything but simple. They had to somehow convince the world that Joseph was in fact a fraud, despite him having real evidence. He had to hope the tech-sect as they came to call Joel's sub section was able to devise some form of clever solution that made scientific sense.

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

For now they had a job at hand, what was considered to be a haunting out in the woods they just assumed was a false flag. People were afraid of the woods and oftentimes saw things that weren’t really there.

Outside of a few imps scouring the area it seemed rather calm out here. “What are we looking for specifically?” Mitch asked, slapping the side of his flashlight a few times before it turned on properly “The file was pretty vague about the spirit.”

“It was just a sighting of forms in the woods. Could be shades, could be someone's imagination. We still need to investigate.” Jasper explained all official and stoic.

“Keep the stoic act for someone who hasn’t seen you eat shit and fall down the stairs.” He laughed in response.

All that got him was a nice slap on the back of the head and a “Watch it you.”

“I will do no such thing.” He mocked, laughing even louder this time as he ran ahead a few steps to avoid the next slap. At least some things never changed.

“Still, Better we check it out and confirm It’s nothing.” Jasper added at the end, shining his light about the darkened woods.

Most would find this to be a horrifying experience, lost in the dark with just a flashlight. Usually those who didn’t even believe in the supernatural would be nervous out here, finding another person out here was equally as dangerous as any fictional monster, and far more likely.

“Sure man, let’s hope It’s just a false claim. I would rather get some sleep tonight.” Mitch said, taking in the calm and quiet atmosphere of the forest.

“Don’t be so quick to pass off danger.” Jasper warned, holding up a finger as they focused and heard the cracking of a twig in the distance.

“Of course a twig is gonna break.” Mitch responded childishly “But what kind of ghost goes out and starts snapping twigs as they walk?”

“People are our other concern.” he said, shining his light towards the source of the sound though there was nothing.

“Seems like a strange place to hang around.” Mitch mumbled in response but helped survey the area “It was probably some animal.”

“Well if you are up for a bit of a scrap.” Jasper said as he took his dagger out and held it up to the bark of a tree.

“No need.” Mitch quickly responded, walking past him “It’s just a small surveying job, we can do that another day.”

“Alright.” he said, holding his hands up before slipping the dagger back into its holster.

Mitch took his notebook out of his pocket to flick through the pages. Skimming the writing while pacing behind him “not much here ends up living in the forest. Don’t they usually target more populated areas?” making sure to whisper.

Though his pacing soon found him walking into Jasper's back who said “Watch where you walk.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t stop in the middle of walking” He spat, walking around him before a hand was placed in front of him.

“We got a campsite.” Jasper said, slowly backing up with him so they stayed within the darkness of the forest. He turned his flashlight off and promptly leaned over to turn off Mitch’s.

In the distance there was a light, hard for Mitch to even make it out as a campfire from here. “You so sure about that?” He whispered, walking over to stand behind a tree.

“A simple test.” Jasper said as he leaned against the tree and after a few moments of concentration he left his own body “Come on, it’ll be fast so there's no need to worry. You need to practise as it is.”

“Alright, sure thing.” Mitch shrugged in response “If a bear gets us, it's on you.”

“Oh hush, there aren’t even any bears in Ireland.” He said before he made his way towards the campsite.

Mitch took a moment to channel himself, following after once he left his body propped up against the other side of the tree so it didn’t fall over. The shock of falling would certainly pull him from his projection while also being terrifying.

The two slowly approached the light in the distance, not having to worry about something as trivial as breaking a branch since they didn’t interact with the world the way everyone else did.

Jasper was right, of course, and a campsite was set up by a fire that was beginning to die out. Listening in they could hear some snoring from the tent and once they got close enough there were two men sitting by the fire on fold out chairs.

“Gotta worry about this?” Mitch asked, listening to their conversation but it was some inane conversation about several general topics.

Jasper thought about it for a moment before he said “You can stake out here a bit, perhaps our ghost will show up.”

“What about you?” He asked in response, planting himself close to the tent while surveying the area.

“I’ll search the area. A rune is far too dangerous to use now with people around.” He explained as he began to walk into the darkness “I shouldn’t be long. Try and stay around here but return to your body if you have to.”

Once he had left Mitch decided to listen in to the men's conversation, standing beside the tent where he could hear someone was sleeping inside.

They didn’t have much of interest to talk about, chattering about general work and family life with the occasional crude joke from time to time. “Throw some firewood on, it's getting cold” One mentioned as he passed Mitch at the tent.

Through the time he spent here he found his gaze shifting about the camp, mostly to the edges of his vision where he sometimes felt he saw a figure that vanished when he focused on it.

He brushed it off each time, understanding at this point that it was mostly his imagination and that giving in to paranoia was what caused him to panic in their early training.

It didn’t stop him from investigating, getting a shiver through his spine as he felt someone was staring at him. “God I hate this job sometimes.” He mumbled, feeling the strain begin on his body as his sphere of influence began to shrink.

Ultimately he decided there were no signs of a spirit around here. He couldn’t see anything, nor did he sense anything so this was probably a false alarm. “Figures.” He mumbled, making his way back towards his body.

It was common for false alarms to come through, people were fickle after all and outside of the occasional imp in the distance there were no spirits about here. He glanced at the imps as he passed and he had half a mind to pull out his dagger and make short work of it.

Ultimately it would be a stupid idea to do so and he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He grumbled walking past, knowing if he killed one there was no doubt going to be an increase in numbers not far off that would rush him for that source of mana that dispersed.

When he made it back to his body he took a brief glance at his body and around the area, though he couldn’t see much by the time he made it back as the sphere had shrunk drastically. “Best not to risk passing out again.” He thought before returning to his own body.

It was a very unpleasant feeling going from feeling essentially nothing, to feeling the cold nights air pelt against his sweat soaked body. It caused him to shudder and cross his arms in hope of preserving some form of warmth. If he had been out of his body for too long it could have potentially gotten pneumonia. He would need to be away for some time for that but still a grim thought.

Jasper still hadn’t returned when he looked over him, leaning back against the tree staring off into the distance. He waved his hand in front of his face to see if there was any reaction, which of course there wasn’t.

“Figures” he shrugged, leaning back against the tree next to him as he cupped his hands to blow some warm air inside.

It was some time before he heard “So, found anything?” from Jasper as he slumped forward and rubbed his forehead.

“Nice to see you too.” Mitch responded, shivering still “Can we talk about this in the warm car?”

“Of course, come on.” was the expected response, luckily for him Jasper was predictable when it came to personal health.

They often came prepared for most circumstances, knowing how hard it was to use this power Jasper had some towels in the trunk, setting one across the seat for Mitch to sit on so it wouldn't soak the chair.

“You alright?” He asked, sitting himself into the driver's seat where he turned the car on and subsequently the heating. “Will take a bit for it to heat up.”

“Just peachy.” Mitch stammered, using part of the towel he was sitting on to wipe his hands. “Just a case of hypothermia setting in.”

“Don’t be a drama queen, you’ll be fine.” He chuckled in response, adjusting the rear view mirror to check behind them.

Once the car was up and running they began the long journey home. “So, I found absolutely nothing out there.” Mitch responded after they got onto the main road. “Just a bunch of guys out camping.”

“I didn’t find much myself, save the odd imp scurrying about but normal people are in no danger of running into one of those.” Jasper reported.

“Though, I did feel like something was watching me.” Mitch said, weighing heavy on his mind but neither of them had found any evidence “So it was most likely an imp coming too close to the camp or something like that.”

“You are also naturally paranoid.” Jasper chuckled, slumping into a more relaxed and comfortable position behind the wheel. The car had finally begun to heat up and it was a bit more comfortable.

“Sometimes, not all the time. Either way, we gotta talk more about Joseph.”

“Nice deflection.” Jasper mocked, shooting a playful grin at him before returning his attention back to the road. “But, do tell. Do you have any ideas on what to do?”

“I think discrediting him is probably the best way to go about this. If we make him look like a sham, we could possibly get out of this situation without any death.” He reasoned, rubbing over his slowly growing stubble that he always meant to shave but barely took the time to do.

“I admire the passion for how you want to go about this, but prepare yourself for the worst. We might have to deal with him if everything doesn’t work out.” Jasper warned, a hint of concern to his tone. He may not overtly show it but he was always worried about Mitch’s wellbeing both physically and mentally.

“I’ll make sure that's the absolute last resort, don’t worry.” Mitch assured him, this was one of the few points he was overly confident on. “Normal people's lives shouldn’t be something for us to toy with and gamble away.”

“It’s not always that simple. But I get the sentiment. I’ll contact Rin when we get back and see what our potential options are if we don’t have any ideas.” Jasper responded.

There was about a half hour of silence as they both thought about their options. There was always something as cruel as publicly ridiculing him with some form of semi-plausible scientific explanation for what he had done, though Mitch had no idea what sort of explanation they could come up with for a mythical light.

“What about stealing the rune?” Mitch asked, while a crude plan and quite hard to pull off he reasoned “Though.. There's video evidence” he sighed, scrapping that plan before Jasper could even respond.

“Perhaps take a bit more time to think it over.” Jasper chuckled, giving him a slight glance with a cocky smile.

“I’ll give it some thought.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes before placing his hands in front of the heating element.

It was hard to think about it at the moment, feeling that if there was a solution so simple Jasper would have already come up with it. But he also could have been testing him. The family had strange ways of working, and human lives seem to be expendable resources that can be used for any purpose.

“Just rest up for now.” Jasper assured, heading back onto the main road towards Carlow “We can sort our plan tomorrow, think on it until then.”