Mitch lay in bed in the early morning where the strands of light snuck through the window at the perfect angle to shine directly on his face, staring at the ceiling as an annoying jingle blared from the phone on the nightstand next to his single sized bed. Dragging himself to sit up, he rubbed at his eyes which by now had amassed at least several layers of black bags. “Mornings suck,” he mumbled to himself as he felt around at the desk beside the bed which had a bottle of energy drink on it with a bright blue liquid inside. He knocked a few notes off the desk in his attempts to clutch the bottle with shaking hands, before finally pulling the bottle over, undoing the cap and downing what was remaining of the content.
It would take a few moments for the full effects to kick in, but he could already feel his tired brain snapping to attention. “Much, much better...” he said, getting up to turn off the fan he had pointed directly at his bed for the unbearably warm summer nights and closed the window he had left ajar.
Only then did he pick up the phone from his desk and turn off the alarm, revealing a text from Jasper asking if he got home safely.
He was always happy to hear from his grandfather, even if it was a simple joke at his expense, in Mitch's book that did show he cared. “Got home fine, unlike some lazy, old geezers I have things to get done today.” he quickly replied, putting his phone down and going into the ensuite bathroom.
After a short while he was in his uniform, tucking the phone into his pocket and snatching his bag from beside the desk he left the room to go downstairs. It was the busiest time in his home where everyone was getting ready for school or work. His younger brother was sitting at the kitchen table eating some cereal, while his older sister was making a pot of coffee. “Morning Mitch.” his father said as he slipped past him into the kitchen, fixing the tie on his work suit, while he could hear his mother on the phone as usual taking call after call from another room.
“You look like you've been hit by a truck,” his sister, Sarah, said with far too much morning enthusiasm to him as she poured a cup of coffee for herself and their father.
“Come on, I actually slept for once,” he lied, throwing some bread into the toaster.
“Maybe you just naturally look this bad,” she teased.
That got a light hearted chuckle from their father, who chimed in, “I dont think you've slept a solid night since you were about four, Mitch.”
“Guess I got it from grandad,” Mitch explained, there was always a tinge of guilt that he had to constantly lie to his family but he understood it had to happen.
Once his toast was ready, he sat down at the kitchen table beside his younger brother, Liam, and dug in. The sound of the front door opening and closing was the signal that his mother had once again left due to some form of emergency.
General chatter broke out at the dining table. Sarah talked about college, while Liam talked about all the games he and his classmates would play during break.
Mitch was mostly in listen-only mode these days, with each morning like this feeding into the sadness caused by all things he did that he had to keep to himself. The childish part of Mitch wanted to bring up all the times he almost died, and how any morning may be the last they would ever see of him before any records of his existence would be inexplicably expunged.
There was a chasm between himself and the rest of his family that he was never allowed to bridge, not for his own safety, but that of his family.
Through the background noise, his father waved a hand in front of him to wake him out of his daze, “You okay there?”
“Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just a bit tired!” he said quickly, blinking a few times as he returned his mind to the present, turning around to fetch a butter knife from the table.
“I asked how was it at grandpa’s last night?” his father repeated.
“It was good,” Mitch replied, looking while intently staring down at his buttered toast, “We took the train out of town to go sightseeing.”
“Sounds fun,” Sarah chimed in, between opening her laptop to work on an assignment and pouring herself more coffee. She was a demon that turned coffee into work. “What time did you get back?” she added with a pointed look in his direction.
Probably the most asked question thrown his way, and one he never wanted to answer honestly “Well, we were out pretty late so everyone was asleep when I got back. Not really sure what time though since I crashed as soon as I got in.”
“He needs to stop keeping you out so late on school nights,” his father sternly remarked between taking sips of his coffee
“You and grandad are always heading out of town,” Sarah mentioned, “Haven't you two already seen all the sights there are in Ireland at this point?”
“Yeah, we have seen a lot,” Mitch smiled. “It's pretty cool.”
“Well, be sure to enjoy the time you spend with him,” his father said with closed eyes and a raised finger. “I didn't get to know my grandfather that well.”
“Don't worry, dad, I enjoy all the time I spend over there,” he replied while hurriedly grabbing his bag from the floor and heading out, “See you all later!” Mitch shouted over his shoulder before anyone else could throw more lectures or difficult questions his way.
Heading through the main gates of his school his footsteps on the gravel were drowned out by the chatter of the students that were just waiting around. The main doors were already opened for students to come in, though most students dragged their feet to get more time to talk before classes started
The main building was huge and divided into several sections which the students would walk between to get to classes. Registration was always first, a short, ten minute lecture with their home room teacher to take role calls and give any updates needed.
School was the perfect place for Mitch to reflect on his recent adventures and mentally go over the long checklist of things that needed to be done before his next nightly excursion. Often enough he was so deep in thought, the person sitting next to him, Leon, would call out for him when his name was called. He wasn’t necessarily a friend but they occasionally talked during the initial period about mundane stuff like movies and sports.
Today, the topic of thought was Jasper, and the work they did together as a whole. “It's been almost five years now,” crossed his mind as he thought back “not too long ‘till I'll be a full fledged hunter.”
A grin crept onto his face when he remembered what Jasper told him recently: “If you can learn how to do these without my help, then I believe you are ready to take the exam.”
It was an exciting feeling to know his hard work was finally going to be paying off after all.
Though he had been studying under Jasper for five years, last night was the first mission that he took the helm on.
His musings were cut short as the intercom came on, with a repeating beeping that signalled the end of registration. The next class was led by Mrs. Baxley, who demanded absolute attention and would often pay extra attention to Mitch to make sure he couldn't zone out by throwing most class questions his way.
While his poor sleeping schedule made concentration difficult, this didn't mean he was falling behind, because he spent a portion of his free time studying by himself outside of class, and often reading ahead on most subjects so he could answer the teachers questions without having to pay too much attention. Such examples were when she threw to him “Mitchell, Are there any parts of the human body that get oxygen directly from the air and not from the blood?”
He had to take a moment to recall the papers he had read through but nodded and responded with “The upper layers of the skin cells and the front surface of the eyes get enough oxygen from contact with the air.”
She accepted the answer though not all too pleased about it since she knew he was often slacking off.
He passed all the most important subjects without much effort, but he would sometimes get sent to the principal's office for falling behind on his homework or being consistently late.
Waiting outside the last class before lunch, his thoughts were interrupted by a “You good?” from the same boy that always bailed him out during registration. He was a tall, bulky guy with black, fuzzy hair. “You seem more spaced out than usual today.”
Mitch looked confused, leaning with his elbow onto the radiator beside the door to the class. “Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” he said mechanically, his words almost drowned out by the increasing chatter of all the students waiting for the different classes.
“Look like you haven't slept in weeks,” Leon said as he stood close.
“Basically.” Mitch said bluntly, keeping it short.
“Right...” Leon said with a shrug “So... watch anything on the telly?”
“No.”
“Play any games?”
“Not my cup of tea.”
“Music?”
“No.”
The awkward silence that followed didn't last long as the teacher opened the door to let students into the next class. “See ya,” Mitch said passively, walking in ahead of him.
Lunch was the time when he would get most of his work done where other students had accepted that Mitch liked to eat alone. For anyone kind enough to insist on trying to strike up a conversation, the large headphones he wore was his last bastion.
When he first started school other students would have sat with him and struck up conversations about absolutely anything during that excitement of being in a new school where they could make new friends. While he appreciated the gesture, even his younger self understood the severity of his job, and what would happen if he got anyone else involved. So he would act cold, uninterested, and often show no sign of interest until people would leave.
Over the last few years of school, his classmates had mostly accepted the fact that he would rather be left alone.
The main thing he was dreading this year were his final exams,because not only were they hard enough to require a lot of his attention, but he also had to worry about the large party students often held to commemorate their graduation those were always difficult to get out of as his good natured classmates made it clear they wouldn't accept a no for an answer.
Slipping out his phone under the desk he checked Jasper's response. “When you've worked as long as I have, you can sleep in until whenever you want.”
Before the teachers that wandered the lunch hall could notice, under the desk he sent back “you technically aren't retired.” turning his phone to silent and putting it away once again.
Chuckling at the remark, he wondered if his grandfather was his only true friend in this life.
After lunch it was a triple class of Religion. Working away on the sheets that had been handed out he waited for the sound of that final bell. A loud ringing that most would long to hear, often meaning the end of the day for some, but not Mitch, that was merely the starting shot of a deadly race.
Heading out to the streets he checked his phone once again, taking it off silent to see a message from Jasper “I’ve lived long enough to sleep in, one day you’ll get there!” He couldn't help but laugh at how much of a child his grandfather could be.
The walk to his grandfather’s was long enough that he got to stick on his headphones and enjoy some music. Funky beats and hard rock was what he needed after a day of zoning out in the back of a class.
A direct left outside onto a zebra crossing that he used to cross, walking down to the right along the thin pathway. The streets were flooded with students now, from all years and classes. Home was the place to be for most, though some were greeting friends and heading out to the park. He could hear the chatting and laughing even over his music.
Turning right at the end of the path into the general housing district that while quieter, was still filled with students happily returning home.
Seeing the other students returning home, to a house with a waiting family often filled him with a sense of envy that he definitely felt bad for having. Wishing he had it so simple that his only worry would be some form of exam, or a little family issue here and there.
He shook the thoughts out of his head, reminding himself that his life had its own privileges. He got to see sights that no one else got to witness. He got to deal with the area of the world most thought to not exist. Hell, he got to engage with literal magic. Some would kill for that ability.
A large gate stood on the other side of the road, which led to a manor that had stood for some time, built long before even Jasper was born, handed down to him from his father, who in turn inherited it from his own.
There were some rumours spreading among groups and local barbershops, the best being a crazed cat lady filing a formal complaint with the city council board about a curse preventing her from sleeping a full night. Children would whisper that Jasper lured people into his home and they were never seen again. Mostly children trying to scare each other, but Jasper didn't mind, finding the rumours quite amusing. It was also a boon, seeing as people would steer clear.
Mitch pressed the buzzer off to the side of the gate and waited, tapping his foot impatiently while stuffing his headphones into his bag.
The gate opened automatically, which was odd. Usually Jasper would come over the intercom with some form of tease, or any dreadful joke he had come up with that morning.
A few seconds into the gate being fully swung open came Jasper's voice crackling into existence,“Are… you waiting for a formal invitation?”
“The invitation is usually a terrible joke, so let's hear it,” Mitch shot back.
“Oh, I just thought you were a big enough joke just by yourself!”
There was a brief moment of silence, before Jasper burst out in barking laughter over the intercom. “You absolute child!” Mitch huffed before heading inside.
Walking up the path towards the large manor he looked around at the unkempt grass which hadn't been cut in years; weeds growing out through the cracks in the path, and a large, gnarly tree on either side that had grown to near the height of the manor itself.
It had always been this messy, as far back as he could remember he would often wrestle with weeds while playing in the garden, back when he was a small child and Jasper first brought him here. Jasper always said that he would like to get the whole place tidied up, but he just couldn't trust anyone from the outside to come in, and he was at the age now where it was just too daunting of a task.
Even though Mitch had offered a few times to help clean it all up, Jasper would still refuse on the basis of wanting Mitch to have time to himself; to be able to live out his life and spend time with friends, or lack there of. He appreciated the sentiment, but often when he had free time he just spent it at home catching up on missed sleep, or homework he hadn't had time to finish.
“I can get you the number of my gardener since you're this struck with admiration” Jasper shouted from the main door, watching Mitch stare off into the ever growing pile of weeds.
Mitch shook himself free from his daze and yelled back "This place might look nice if you actually had one!”
Jasper laughed and motioned to come inside “You plonker. Come in.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, jogging up the steps of the patio to come in through the large door to see the interior of the giant manor, a large set of stairs on either side of the hall leading to the second floor, along with several doors below that lead to the kitchen, guest, living, art, and then two smaller rooms on either side of the front door which were essentially smaller living areas.
“So, what's the scoop today?” he asked as he closed the door behind him, looking at the photos that were on the walls of the main hall, all of which being of his late family that he never had the chance to meet after he developed his powers.
From what Jasper had once told him, he knew that the organisation they belong to, commonly referred to as ‘The Family’ were hoping that someone from his actual family gained the power, otherwise it may have been the end to their sect of ghost hunters.
“Ah, homework first,” Jasper said as he gently nudged him to the side “Could be out all night with this one, so there won't be time to get it done in the morning.”
“Can you at least fill me in while I do it?” Mitch asked as he swung his bag to the ground, walking to the room on the right of the front door which led into a small, circular space with a lot of windows. The sun shining through the murky windows gave it a ghostly appearance. The windowsill was lined with plants, which unlike the garden were in far better shape.
“Fine, yes,” Jasper said as he followed in behind him, walking to take a seat on the armchair closest to the window, and rotating it to face the outside view. “We can have an early dinner and then get started on today's job once you finish.”
“Sounds good,” Mitch replied, taking a seat by the table and pulling out his books “I got half of it done during lunch hours, so it shouldn't take all that long.”
“The usual then,” Jasper said as he continued staring out the window. “Well then, tell me, how much do you know of the factory along the main entrance to the town?”
“Not too much, other than people say it used to be a big part of the town's export,” Mitch said, opening up his science textbook, having specifically chosen to study biology, a topic he was naturally good at which also helped with his goal of becoming a doctor.
“Well, tonight we will be heading out there, par for the course I know,” Jasper teased with a hearty chuckle. “But since it will be in the general area, we can't have you walking about where any Joe Schmoe can recognise you.”
He nodded in agreement without looking up from his book “So what does it sound like we will be dealing with?”
“From what they have told me over the phone, it sounds like it may be a case of another lesser fiend,” he continued while taking out a notepad where he had written down the most important parts “My informant from The Family told me that there were cases of imps gathering around the area. A humming was heard during the night which people online were spreading through social media.”
“Certainly sounds like the presence of a lesser fiend at least” Mitch said, holding a finger over a particularly dreary paragraph he was on and writing it with his free hand “I'm amazed anyone trusted that shady ass advertisement you put out.”
“People who are desperate will reach out, and most don't believe in ghosts. The ad gets played off as a scam, to anyone not desperate enough to reach out.”
“You are also sure this doesn't break any family code?” he asked, looking up from his book “this is basically putting what we do on display.”
“Not at all,” Jasper said dismissively, waving a hand at him “there are tons of fakes and hacks out there these days, we just do our work while looking like hacks, we help the deceased, and help a family out in the process.”
“We also make money off of grieving families if the situation calls for it.” Mitch shot back with a raised eyebrow.
“True,” Jasper nodded “but it's not paid to us, they pay the family as a whole. Then the money is transferred to us, so it essentially can't be traced back to us by normal people.”
“That wasn’t my point Jasp, but I’d rather not get into that rabbit hole.” Mitch replied.
“Well luckily tonight it is an investigation, so no need to worry about the ethics of this one.” Jasper assured.
As they continued to talk about general ideas for this hunt, the side door would open to reveal Mitch’s grandmother, Sophia who had been living here with him since before Mitch was even born. She was a tall and slender woman with long, blonde hair that had begun to lose its colour at the roots with age. She was an avid collector of dresses with floral patterns, and today she wore a white dress speckled with red roses.
“You two already talking about work, I don't think anyone could consider that a healthy relationship.” she asked as she went over to take a seat beside Jasper. “It just never ends with you two,” she said with a sigh as she looked between the two.
“There's no rest for the wicked,” Jasper teased, swinging his chair from its outward view to face Sophia.
“Unless it's afternoon, then the wicked get to sleep in,” Mitch added.
“Ey, save the sass. I put up with enough of that from your father,” Jasper spat sourly.
Sophia chuckled quietly, watching as the two bickered over the minor details of who was more annoying. “You are both children sometimes,” she said as she lay her hand atop Jaspers.
Jasper looked up, about to say something though getting cut off as she said “You act like a child with him, don't try and deny it,” squeezing his hand.
As if to prove her point, Jasper huffed in exasperation and took a gentle hold of her hand, standing and pulling her up with him. “Well, should we get a start on dinner? We have a job tonight.”
Sophia gasped as she was pulled up so suddenly, almost losing her footing, though Jasper helped her regain balance by pulling her into a hug. “It shouldn't take long anyway,” she said.
“Feel free to take your time, Mitchell,” He said, walking to the door with his arm around Sophia, looking back once they were at it. “Should be done in about an hour and a half, but we can always reheat it.”
“Nah, I should be all done by then, not much left,” he said and waved for the two to leave.
When he was alone, he placed his phone out beside his book to play music while he worked, mostly just looking back through the book to find the passage where the answer was, and occasionally needing to draw out some diagrams.
When he was finished he placed his books away and realised he had a bit of time left before dinner was ready so now he knew exactly how to effectively kill a few minutes: rummaging through the manor again.
He had often tried to explore the place as a child but found most rooms were locked, or a snapping Jasper would lift him up and carry him away, saying he was too young to be let inside most rooms. But as he got older Jasper became more open to his exploration, even initiating a challenge for him to make it into some of the locked rooms, meaning there was some way that he just had not figured out yet.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Reaching the main hall again he looked up at the large set of stairs on either side up to a balcony that overlooked the main hall. Doors on both the far left and right side going to the other parts of the home that he noticed earlier, along with a disproportionately large door in the middle of the balcony which Jasper said lead to the library, where the family kept most of its records and works. Jasper said this used to be the family's ballroom, hundreds of years ago when they were still a widely recognized branch and would host luxurious parties for all to attend, he would explain in a voice that betrayed bitterness.
Mitch’s personal goal was always to get into that library and study what they had inside, but Jasper had clearly gone out of his way to make this task next to impossible. Walking up the stairs he stood at the door and ran his hands over the runes that were carved into both sides of the double doors along with needing 2 keys to unlock both sides. “I'll figure you out eventually” he muttered to himself as he continued to stare at the runes.
He moved back to lean against the bannister and took out his notebook again, flipping through the pages to see if he could find a drawing visually similar to one carving in particular: a star shape with a semi-circle around. The subtle glow of mana pooling in the crevices indicated that it was still fully powered after all these years.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Jasper was consistently pooling mana into these runes whenever he wasn’t around or were they just so perfectly formed that they have maintained that mana since the day they were made.
Searching his notes he wasn't able to find anything like it and scribbled down the design on a new page to study later. “Don't even know what to call this..” he grumbled “still need 2 keys even if I do figure this out.” he noted as he studded the two comically large keyholes to either side of the star shape.
Once he was done drawing it, he snapped his book closed and placed it back into his pocket. Heading down the hall now to enter a longer hallway through the door, which had a long wall with windows allowing the sunlight to seep into the impeccably maintained hall. The left side had 4 doors that were all equally placed apart; three of them guest rooms that belonged to old family members according to Jasper and one bathroom.
He ran his hand along the windowsills as he walked down the hall, glancing out the window onto the busy street where cars and people were going about their day. Eventually he turned his attention back to the two leftmost doors that had the same runic symbols across them as the library did. The last room had a plain door, but whenever he checked inside all he would find was a single bed in the right corner, with a dresser against the left wall, other than that it was completely empty.
Continuing down the hall was a dead end with a single night stand and a flower pot on top. Inside the drawer were a few packs of matches for the candles that lined the wall, but since the mansion was fitted with electricity these days they were never really needed.
“Really should clean this place out gramps,” he said to himself before turning back and walking to the main hall once again, this time going to the left side where it opened up into another long hall that went all the way down behind the library. On the left hand wall there was only a single door with wood so aged it was almost completely black that was always locked.
As usual he ignored it and walked ahead down the hall, the light of the sun spreading down the hall from the window at the end causing it to glow as if meticulously painted. When he got to the end of the hall all that was left down the right corridor was a set of carpeted stairs with a few stands and flower pots resting under the windows along the way.
Coming up the stairs he got to the third floor, which was mainly bedrooms with the master bedroom being furthest away and the biggest in the house.
Most of the rooms around here were locked these days, Jasper once told him. Each with name plates on them of people he had never met before. “Jamie.” “Mary.” and “Kalem & Viktoria” were the names on some of the doors. These were the residents who once littered the hallways and crowded the library, back when this part of the family was at its height. He had never even heard Jasper talking about them, and always felt it would be a sore topic to bring up.
Close to the master bedroom, there was a nameplate “Mitchell.” A room that Jasper had personally prepared when he found out that Mitch could see spirits. This was his personal space and, in his opinion, much nicer than any of the guest rooms. It had a nicer bed under the window so he would be able to look out into the small forest behind the house. Across from the bed was a study desk which had a bunch of sticky notes plastered all over it.
From saving up some money that Jasper would give him per hunt he even bought himself a small flat screen TV to rest on his study desk when he wasn't using it. A set of drawers were at the foot of the bed next to the open door, where he would keep a change of clothes and a spare school uniform for if he ever stayed the night.
Realising he left his bag downstairs he just threw himself back onto the bed. It was a comfy bed, soft and warm, it strangely felt more like home these days than the bed back with his family.
“If I could tell them...” he assured himself, staring up at the roof “Maybe if they just knew...”
As he stared at the ceiling he got lost in the thoughts of possibilities that could never, ever be allowed to happen. Eyelids becoming heavier, he thought back to the most precious memories of his past. Remembering a time when there were no secrets. Days that he would spend sitting in the living room watching movies with microwaved popcorn, mom and dad laying across the couch together, his sister sitting on the armchair and himself on the floor closer to the TV so he wouldn’t miss a thing.
“Mitch, dinner time!” broke the silence, causing him to jolt up in his bed with a gasp.
“I'm coming!” he shouted back, sheepishly looking around to notice that it had suddenly become dark outside. “Damn.. must have fallen asleep,” he muttered.
Opening the door revealed Sophia waiting on the other side, smiling brightly at him “Come along sleepy head. You can be as heavy sleeper as your grandfather at times” she said, motioning to follow as she began walking through the hall.
The runes on each of the other bedroom doors glowed brightly as they passed, each one being a unique rune that he was going to have to solve eventually.
“Did you sleep well?” Sophia asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Yeah... Though I didn't mean to fall asleep,” he replied.
She nodded as she returned her focus ahead. “It's best you get some sleep, It's always going to be a long night with your work.”
He followed her down into the long hall of the second floor, the moon being full tonight shining brighter, luminating the halls.
“Have you and Jasper already eaten?”
“Not yet, Jasper had a client come over suddenly. He's been in his office since,” she explained, turning the corner to the hall Jaspers office was in.
“We're gonna wait for him?”
“We will but you know him, said he would be done by the time I got you. So we will be waiting at least five minutes.” She replied.
They came down the last flight of stairs to the first floor, heading behind the right hand staircase to enter the dining room through a door under the stairs. A long table running down the middle of the room, with paintings all around the walls. While he didn't know much about his family that used to live here before he was born, he did know that this home was passed down to Jasper from his father, who inherited it from his father, and so on. Which would explain the almost ancient decore most rooms had going.
The only rooms that had any sense of a modern touch was the tea room having a radio and television, Mitches room. He had never seen inside them but he assumed Jasper’s office and his bedroom with Sophia also had some modern elements to them, perhaps the art room too.
While waiting for Jasper the two sat and began to have some small talk “How’s school going?” Sophia would ask cheerily.
“It's dull, but I get to relax there.”
“What about your studies, are you able to keep up?”
“Yeah, believe it or not I am getting good grades.”
She nodded happily, placing her elbows onto the table and leaning her head on her hands to stare right into Mitch’s eyes “You always were a smart kid. Hard to believe you are related to Jasper.” She mocked.
“Ah now, don't make it go to my head,” he chuckled heartily. Fidgeting with one of the utensils left on the table for him.
“You'd be just like your grandfather if it did. Stubborn old git.”
After a short while of small talk, they would hear some chatter from outside, too faint to make out what they were saying. They heard someone leaving through the main entrance moments before Jasper came into the dining hall.
“Sorry about the wait,” he said heading over and standing next to Sophia, “want a hand bringing the food in?”
“That would be nice, yeah,” she said as she stood up to lead him through a door into the kitchen.
Sophia placed a jug of water down on the table, holding her plate of food in the other hand. Jasper holding two, he placed one down in front of Mitch.
“Be sure to eat up lad, we have a long night tonight!” he said in his usual commanding voice.
Sofie went above and beyond with today's dinner. It was a traditional meal of slow cooked chicken, creamy, matched potatoes, an array of all kinds of vegetables, and a large pitcher of dark gravy with a scent that made Mitch's mouth water.
Taking cue from Jasper, Mitch joined his hands to say a silent prayer before their meal.
Once their prayer was complete, Jasper said “Tonight we have a peculiar case. If we are lucky, it could be a quick mission but don't expect it to be. I imagine it will be a long one.” Though Jasper painted a picture of another all-nighter, sometimes a mission was as simple as a false alarm and they would be back in time for desert. Mitch was taught to never assume anything to avoid hindering the investigation, but he was really tired today and couldn't help but to hope today was one of those good days.
“It should be easy enough?” Mitch asked through a mouthful of mash, earning himself a stern look from Sophia.
“Yes, we talked about it earlier but it's mostly just cases of imps being seen gathering. The humming could be explained away by such a phenomenon.”
“And they think it could be someone who passed within the factory, if it is a fiend?” Sophia asked.
After a pointedly loud gulp, Mitch interjected “It is hard to even tell in this case since we have no clues to go off of who would have passed here.”
Jasper nodded, placing his fork down for a moment “It's an empty factory. We should have no issues getting in, performing an exorcism and getting out.”
“Not like last night’s horror show then,” Mitch joked.
Jasper nodded again, this time with some frustration showing on his face while pouring a glass of water “I would say two, three hours provided all goes well.”
“Then you can both come home and get some proper sleep” Sophia prodded.
“I wish,” Mitch sighed, pouring himself some water with the jug Jasper handed him “Gotta be up early tomorrow to get to study.”
“Shame, that,” was all Jasper had to say.
“It IS a shame,” Mitch replied exasperatingly “Gotta do normal school all week, work at night, then go to weekend school, what a joy!”
“It's hard now. But it will help you down the line,” Jasper reasoned without acknowledging the outburst “The Family as a whole can’t leave you up here without making sure you are learning the proper procedures.”
“I know, it just doesn't feel fair,” Mitch sighed. “I'm constantly doing something. Falling asleep upstairs is one of the biggest wastes of my free time, but I don't get enough sleep to keep going, and I can't keep drinking potions to substitute sleep.”
“I know it's hard now,” Sophia said as she placed her hand on top of his “But in the future, you will thank yourself for working this hard.”
He fell silent, just looking at Sophia and nodding in defeat. Returning to eating his food the rest of the dinner passed with sporadic small talk.
Once Jasper finished he stood and said “Thank you for the food dear, but I think it's about time we get going, wouldn't you agree Mitch?”
“Yeah, I guess,” he said as he stood too “Thank you for the food, nan. Would you like a quick hand with the dishes?”
“No, no, it's fine” she said with a bright smile “You two have work to do. Be careful out there.”
She got up and walked with them to the front door, waving them off. The two waved back to her before getting into Jasper's car. Mitch took a few moments to collect himself and bring focus back to the task at hand.
Mitch had the car ride to read over the layout of the building through the files they had and to prepare for an emergency evacuation if things went for the worst. While not specifically mentioned, he knew that Jasper was going to quiz him on it when they got there.
To no one's surprise as they got out of the car Jasper asked “What is the layout like?”
“We got two floors, a concrete base with metal beams keeping everything held up. The area is about 230,000 square feet. We got a handful of emergency exits around along with the obvious main entrance, back entrance, and an employee entrance by the parking lot.” Mitch began to recite as if he were taking an oral exam. “The storehouse area has five storeys and most likely the remnants of the automated dispatch system. We gotta be careful since visibility will be quite low inside.”
Jasper nodded along, clearly already familiar with the file. “Alright, so what is our plan of action?”
Mitch knew he was being given the chance to make up for last time and took a few moments to think by the side of the car. He had to remember the order they were taught to follow. “First of all is investigation. We would have to find the final resting place, but seeing as this is a group of imps hanging around we don’t need to find that. What we could do is investigate and leave a few trap runes as we go just in case something tries to sneak up behind us.” He reasoned, waiting for Jasper's response. His spirit sense wasn’t as strong as someone like Jasper, but if it was him in charge then this would have to be a hunt that catered to his skillset.
“The place also shut down in 2010 so it has been some time. The inside is most likely decaying and some parts of the walls and support beams may be a bit fragile.” Mitch continued to explain. Not giving Jasper much time to think on it he made his way to the employee entrance that was near where they parked.
“Alright.” Was the only response he got from Jasper who followed behind him and reached into his pocket, taking out a key for the old rusted door he handed it over.
Mitch took it and looked it over for a moment. Inserting it into the rusted lock he twisted it and to their surprise the lock could be heard clicking.
It granted them entry, perhaps not in the way they wanted as the lock seemed to be the only thing holding the old metal door in place at this point. Unlocking it caused it to tip inwards and collapse, slamming into the ground which created a loud bang that echoed through the factory along with creating a storm of dust from the shockwave.
Both covered their mouths with a sleeve and turned away to keep the dust wave out of their eyes. “We really should have gas masks for this.” Mitch mumbled while walking inside when the dust settled.
“No use complaining about it now.” Jasper replied, still coughing once the dust settled from the residual dust all over the place.
The echo of the crash reverberated through the factory into the distance until they thought it was going to die out, but instead of dying out it stayed at its point of low humming of metal all around them.
“Be on your guard. I am sure you can guess this isn’t normal.” Jasper whispered.
“Really need the whisper, we let everyone and their grandmother know we are here?” Mitch replied in a similar hushed fashion.
“They know where the sound came from, so if we move fast enough we can avoid any altercation until we have a layout of the situation.” Jasper responded in a matter of fact tone and stepped inside to take a trip down the hall towards the staff room.
Even without being able to sense individual spirits it was easy to feel that this place was crawling with them. The sheer overwhelming energy was enough to cause Mitch’s head to begin hurting when he stepped inside.
“Hey, Jasp.” He said as he held his head for a moment, it was bearable but definitely worth mentioning. “This is giving me a bit of a headache.”
Jasper stopped to think about the implications and said in his usual gruff serious tone when they worked “If it gets worse, let me know. For now it should be fine if it's only mild.”
Mitch nodded and followed along in their investigation. The employee lounge was as barren as one would expect, devoid of anything. No chairs, tables, or even cupboards. They only knew it was the lounge from the sign on the wall outside. Not too far from there was an entrance out onto the factory floor that they both spent a moment to peek through as entering an open space like that with so many imps around would be suicide.
Of course they saw a lot of the imps out on the floor scurrying about but something felt very off about it. The fact that they hadn’t eaten each other already at this point meant there must have been something to feed off of recently.
“Could have sustained themselves off of animal corpses.” Jasper said as he quietly closed over the door as best he could so this one wouldn’t fall. “Though we aren’t close to the woods or anything like that so perhaps they recently fed on each other and now exist during the calm.”
“Still strange to see imps look so calm.” Mitch whispered as they backed up quietly into the long hall again.
Remaining close to the ground they silently made their way to the stairs. Most of the corridors down here led to the main hall where the imps were congregating so it was best to avoid those.
At each intersection Jasper stopped and felt the walls to search for a spot to place the first rune but always shook his head and moved on. By now the humming was starting to get to Mitch and his head was pounding.
Though he felt he could take it despite the warnings that Jasper had given him. It was only a small headache after all. The humming itself was coming from the main hall but there were traces of it coming from outside the building.
The two shared a silent nod as they began to ascend the stairs where they found themselves soon on a walkway that overlooked the factory floor and led to the manager's office.
Below them they saw several imps scurrying about the floor past the indentations of old machines that used to be manned by the large quantities of workers. Some would seem to even be socialising, or so he thought until they snapped like animals and batting at each other with claws caused them to back away.
Some would circle one another and seemed to be judging the abilities of those around them. “I think we set up a rune along here.” Jasper whispered as they snuck along close to the floor. Each step had to be carefully placed not to alert them, seeing as the room was filling up more now that the ones who went to investigate the crashing from the door were returning.
Mitch nodded in response, the walkway to the manager's office only had one thin path that would lead directly there so it would be easy to funnel them all down that way and catch them in a trap.
It was a simple plan, but effective. Before making the rune they came up to the manager's office to make sure nothing would surprise them from behind. Inside was just as empty as the rest of the building, aside from some rats and dust that coated every other inch of the room along with a few remnants of a desk and an empty filing cabinet and shelf. Mitch once again stared sceptical at the large filing cabinet and moved to stand out of its range.
“You are far too paranoid.” Jasper whispered, unsure of how to even tackle such a paranoia.
“I'm not gonna be another victim.” He responded in the same hushed tone.
The humming continued to grow louder in Mitch’s head which was becoming more painful with each passing minute, but seeing as it didn’t bother Jasper at all he assumed that this was just natural.
Jasper moved back out onto the walkway in the darkened factory that was mostly illuminated through holes in the roof that moonlight managed to seep through and create beams of lunar light across the floor of the ground below them
Jasper seemed quite confused from the expression on his face and following his gaze Mitch saw that the imps from below had all gone, some stragglers leaving through the main entrance which left the room completely silent.
Jasper seemed to have said something while he began carving the rune into a wooden block he removed from his Jacket but Mitch couldn’t hear it as the humming got even louder to the point it blocked out any other sound and caused his head to begin to pound.
Collapsing to his knees he held his head within his hands and spat “It's gotten worse!” quite loudly to try and hear himself over the humming but even then he could not.
His vision began to get blurry as he watched Jasper. Dropping the half finished wooden block he quickly turned to him and reached within his jacket.
The sound bouncing about within his head made it hard to focus but he did notice a figure approaching. It was more than just an imp, a larger humanoid shape approaching from behind.
He raised a hand to try to warn Jasper but it was already too late. Jasper had been busy searching for a small wooden plate in his pocket and as he held it out to Mitch the fiend grabbed him and with his lowered guard managed to pull him over the edge, both falling to the ground below.
The wooden plate hit the floor nearby with some of Jasper's residual mana welled up inside of it. Mitch crawled towards it to see what the rune was, pushing through the pain that was bouncing around his skull, each bounce causing it to echo and hurt more.
He couldn’t recognise the rune itself but he trusted Jasper and put his hand atop the sigil, pooling his own mana into it which finished the rune.
Suddenly a wave of relief washed over him as the loud humming became a distant murmur at best. Looking around he saw a thick blue bubble of mana had formed around the rune that he kept his hand atop.
There was no time to worry about Jasper as a new problem promptly arose. Looking around him, through the walls on every side of the building vague silhouettes of humanoid forms coated in long robes that only showed the screaming faces below began to float through the walls. Forming a circle around the entire factory floor at his level he watched as the bubble itself warped and contorted from all sides.
He could make out the humming and it was only natural to assume they were the cause of this. He had very little time to think and got to his feet, staring around at the figures that were slowly approaching. The closer they got the more the bubble would ripple and it was clear it was not going to last if they got too close.
He was panicking at first, turning and desperately trying to come up with a solution before his senses finally came back to him. “I have been trained for this, no time to panic!” He thought.
Taking a moment to compose himself he took a look at the situation. “What are the steps?” He asked, taking out his notebook from his pocket and flipping it open to the first two pages. “Assess the situation, check.” he said as he noted the soundwaves from the spirits. “Create a situation in which appropriate countermeasures can be deployed. Also check.” The bubble was enough to suffice. “Engage appropriate countermeasures. Not check.”
Watching the spirits once more they began to become clearer as they were about half the room away from him now. Each resembling the spirit he had watched pull Jasper below it was safe to assume these were projections, so perfectly safe to dispatch without the ritual.
“Sound waves… Sound waves…” He mumbled, furiously flicking through the pages in search of the appropriate countermeasures that he was sure he had seen recently.
Rune after rune he scoured through his notes with no discernable entry on a fiend that could be using soundwaves, but he did eventually stop on a rune that was used for dampening mana in the surrounding area along with a rune that briefly deafened the user for use in scenarios like this.
While Jasper may not have finished whatever he was working on on the other slate he had set down, that meant Mitch had the other side of it to begin his plan which he would only have so long to complete.
“No time for mistakes.” He thought, grabbing the other, unfinished slate from the floor and flipping it over. His dagger pulled from his pocket he began carving chunks out of the wood as the spirits inched closer.
The bubble had begun to be less malleable and the ripples became less and less noticeable with cracks beginning to form in its stability. He had no time to worry about that now, in fact it meant he needed to hurry it up.
The ground around him would begin to shake as he struggled to draw the rune within the small canvas he was left with. Grasping the rails along the walkway he shouted out “I am trying to draw a rune!”
The rumbling continued for mere moments after he shouted that into the factory below. Shaking his head he turned to the slab again and finished etching out his rune, dropping it to the floor and placing his hand atop it to pool his mana.
Lighting up it began to pulsate while the spirits were now dangerously close. The shield rune had become a standard bubble that was cracking, not malleable anymore so it couldn’t absorb the sounds for much longer.
Watching them get close enough that he could reach some of them when the bubble dropped he activated the dampening rune which would send out another shockwave around the room. With its effect being to absorb mana around him into the rune it would also activate the smaller rune he had placed onto it to deafen him for a few moments just in case the humming didn’t stop from that.
Without a moment's hesitation he took his dagger in a clenched fist and ran ahead to stab the first shade in the chest, twisting the blade and proving his hypothesis that they were just clones by evaporating instead of returning to those fairy lights.
Turning once more he flipped the blade in his grasp while raising his hand to slam it down into the head of the one next to him. In splitting the chain even with the deafening rune fading he couldn’t hear any humming anymore.
Moments later, one by one, the other shades would begin to fade away and with one last screech from below the fairy lights from presumably the spirit below formed, illuminating the room as they began to sink into the ground.
This was no time to relax, however. Grabbing the slab from the floor he ran and shouted down “I’ll be down there in a second!” preparing for the inevitable invasion of the imps. There were no signs of them in the staircase, or in the hall but it was only a matter of time before they got here.
Jasper was waiting for him below in the factory floor, setting up a trap rune when he entered. “See that, I got two of them.” In a boastful manner.
Jasper only chuckled at it, reaching over to pat his head a few times with his free hand. Of course he couldn’t leave it at that and needed to be a child about it. “Well, seeing as I took out the host, I got all the shades with it. That’s like what… 8 in total?” flashing a smirk in his direction.
While he was sour about it, he had no time to respond as the Imps could be heard rushing back. “Now, watch this one.” Jasper said as he set the rune down by the door and pooled his mana into it.
It glowed but did nothing at first. Jasper grabbed Mitch and moved away from the rune, letting the first Imp rush through the door which activated it, causing a light to erupt from the centre like a pillar from the heavens.
Jasper placed a hand over Mitch’s eyes and his own before a screech of pain was heard, followed by several more screeches of pain when the light expanded and engulfed the whole room.
“Could have given me a warning it was going to be a flashbang!” Mith said as it faded, needing a moment to collect himself. Once he had the two took advantage of the confusion and began to dispatch the handful of Imps that were left.
“Notice that there are far less here than what we saw coming in?” Mitch asked as he pierced the heart of the first, a twist and pull of the dagger causing it to dissipate.
In the commotion Jasper would shout back “It was most likely disguising its projections as imps!” as he stomped one down into the ground and pierced it through its head.
Finishing off those few that arrived they turned into the corner to see some stragglers approaching. Having the rune ready on the slate, Jasper activated it once more and kicked it down the dusty hall. Activating while it was sliding it caught the remaining imps from below, a series of screeches echoing through the halls as they dispersed any imp they came across until they made it back to the door they had knocked over.
“I feel like keeling over and dying.” Mitch mocked, stumbling out of the door towards the car. The fresh, non dust filled air was a welcome feeling to his lungs that no doubt by now had its own layer of dust coating them. Jasper got into the car and with both windows down they drove off back into the town.
“We finished in time for dessert.” Jasper eventually said once he was back on the main road.
Mitch had to check his phone, but it was less than an hour in there seeing the fiend was incredibly aggressive. “I could go for some cake.” He grinned in return, leaning his head out the window to cool down.
They were only a few minutes away from the manor but something felt off when they returned. Closing over the windows as the gate slid open there was a tall shadow standing by the front door.
Mitch’s expression tensed as his mind began to search for possibilities for what it could be but at this distance all it was was a vague blob. Jasper noted his expression and said “Don’t strain yourself there.”
A roar of laughter followed Jasper opening his door, slipping out of the car to approach the figure. “Can I help you?”
Mitch continued to watch as he got out of the car. The closer they moved the more he could make out and it was a person standing in a suit. “I was waiting for you to return.” He said, turning to face the two revealing his rather scarred face.
“Could you not have knocked?” Jasper asked, a hint of annoyance in his tone. “You could have scared the life out of my wife.”
“I haven’t been here very long.” He tried to assure, holding out two envelopes in a black gloved hand. “Just here to deliver invitations to The Family ball."
Jasper seemed quite shocked at the invitation, reaching out and taking them to examine the wax seal before nodding in response “Well I guess that is important business. Still could have just knocked and waited inside.”
“Water under the bridge.” He said, passing Jasper and looking Mitch over as they passed. “I do not believe we have formally met. I am Nick, Rin’s retainer.” He said politely, offering a hand.
Mitch nodded in response and took a firm grasp of his hand “It’s a pleasure. I’m Mitch.”
With a strong shake he let go and continued down the pathway. “While attendance is optional, I would not turn down a personal invitation from Rin.”