The dreadful morning sun slipped through the cracks in the curtains and spewed across the floor, indicating that the day had just begun. As much as Mitch would prefer to stay in bed and sleep the day away after a long week of work and school he had no such privilege.
His phone began blaring moments after with an alarm that was titled “School.” that was accompanied by the most bland and uninspired default alarm tone that most had come to loathe.
“God… I am so tired.” He grumbled, pulling himself upwards to sit atop the bed and stare across at the plain wall. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” He added, running a finger along his pillow as if saying his goodbyes to a loved one in a cheesy romance movie.
He still felt rather awkward about last night, the walk home had been tense with Jasper clearly upset with Mitch for what he had done. Though they shared their usual pleasantries and goodbyes, he could tell there was a bit of tension between them now. That was something he would have to work on resolving later. Right now he had more pressing matters at hand.
His suitcase was already packed and waiting at the end of the bed with his clothes for the day sitting atop it. Changing into his jumper, jeans, and runners combo he took a moment to check himself out in the mirror. Running a hand along his chin to feel the prickly stubble that was a result of skipping shaving in favour of more sleep, he had no choice but to leave it as it is now so he could catch his train.
“I'll make some time when I'm there for it..” he mumbled, turning away from the mirror now to grab his suitcase and shoulder bag. Walking downstairs after, he would find his father in the Kitchen having a cup of coffee.
“Morning Mitch.” He said as he leaned against the counter, holding his titular “worlds best dad” mug, that every dad on the planet seemed to have. It must have been some form of initiation into the world of being a dad. Were you even considered a dad without one?
“Mornin.” Mitch said, grabbing some bread to slip into the toaster with a clicking noise.
“You are off for the weekend now too?” His father asked in a coy tone. He knew his weekend classes as an attempt to study up for medical college. It was only a half lie as he did spend a lot of time studying with the hopes of making it into a good college and becoming a doctor, but these weekend classes were far from normal study sessions. “When will we get to see the ever popular Mitch spending time around the house with us?” He teased, drinking from his mug once again.
“Sadly, I'm not sure.” Mitch mumbled with a hint of guilt, as he took a seat at the kitchen table “I need these weekend lessons if I'm gonna get into the college course I want. Just not enough time to get everything done on a normal day.”
“Well, be sure to text when you can.” He said as he placed the mug atop the countertop.. “We'll hopefully plan a vacation or something together come around the time off you'll all get for halloween.”
“That sounds good.” Mitch said happily “You thinking Wexford? We haven't been there in years.”
His father nodded “Yup, always one of your mothers favourite getaway spots.”
Once the toast popped out, Mitch hopped up to grab it, covering it in some jam and sitting again “I'll have to say goodbye to mom before I go, is she home?”
“Sadly not.” His father said “She wanted to be here to see you off, but she got called into work in an emergency.”
“Damn..” he mumbled “I'll have to call her on the train then.” With his hectic life having him out of the house often, his mothers equally hectic work life had her out of the house just as often. Usually leading to them missing each other on days like this.
“Be sure you remember to.” He said “Work can be a bit overwhelming so if she doesn't answer at first don't worry, she'll call you back.”
Mitch nodded, after a bite of toast he said “My classes start at 11 today, and end at 6, so I wont be able to answer between those. I take it Mike and Mari are still sleeping?” referring to his younger brother and older sister who luckily led very normal lives so they could afford to sleep in on a saturday morning.
It was met with a simple nod “I'll be heading back to bed myself to watch some movies once you leave.”
“Lucky for some, eh?” Mitch joked.
“Can't say I envy you.”
“Can't say I envy me either.” Mitch chuckled, soon finishing his toast and picking up his suitcase “I think it's time I go.”
“Try not to have too much fun.” His father mocked in return “Be sure to message your mother. Let me know if you get there safely.”
“Will do, I'll have time on the train.” he said as he rubbed his eyes. Heading out of the house now he took a right onto the road with his school on it, going down for some time before a left turn down towards the train station. It wasn't too long of a walk which was nice, especially with having to leave so early just to get to the school on time.
Walking towards the train station at the end of the long road, he would pass a primary school that would remind him of his days as a kid. Mostly when he would attend, a much more care free time. The largest worry he had was his mother finding out he was stealing snacks to feed the stray dogs she told him specifically not to feed. It reminded him specifically of the time she did find out, which always made him chuckle. Waking up to go to school, they opened the door to a series of strays waiting outside their door.
He tried desperately to deny that he was feeding them, and even went as far as to blame his sister, who just laughed at it all. He was in some serious trouble then, grounded for a month.
“Those were the days, ey?” he asked no one in particular, turning his attention from the school to the station. Though he often reflected on his younger years with a fond nostalgia for not working with spirits, he also felt he led an incredibly interesting life. Not only was his work impactful, it was also something that he could take pride in knowing he did a good job.
Taking his phone and finding the email for his train ticket “Like hell I'm paying nearly 30 bucks for a return ticket. Ten bucks online is most I'd pay for an hour trip.” he mumbled, typing his online booking reservation into the machine which would then print out his ticket.
Being a weekend, there weren't many people at the station this early, but a handful were waiting along the old platform. A ticket inspector was already walking around before the train was planned to come.
While typing in his mother's number, Mitch just flashed his ticket to the inspector who took it and punched a hole into it “heading off for a weekend away?” he asked.
“I wish, weekend classes.” Mitch said, taking his ticket back and slipping it into his pocket.
The inspector just nodded “Sounds lovely” he joked, heading off to the next passenger.
Once he left he turned back to his phone, hitting the dial and holding it to his ear, waiting for his mother to answer. He wasn't expecting her to answer at first since she was at work, after being called in for an emergency.
“Hello?” he would soon hear on the other end.
“Hey mom, wanted to say hi before I got to weekend school.”
“Well that's good.” She said, with a hint of joy in her tone “What will you be studying today?”
“Nothing all too special” he said “It's gonna be some biology, and then some maths in the afternoon.”
“Sounds boring.” she joked, but she always spoke quickly. “Got any plans with your friends for after classes?”
“Nawh, nothing yet” he said as he fidgeted with his ticket in his pocket as he talked to her “We will probably make some plans when we get there. Get some food and watch a movie later.”
“Well that's good, I have to run back to work. Be sure to call later before bed.”
“Will do, see you then.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too, mom.” he finished, hanging up after and putting his phone away.
It wasn't a long wait for the train after that, pulling up to the platform he just got on, always moving to one of the middle carts because it acted as a little meetup spot for a cousin who would get on at the next stop.
While he sat alone he was left to reflect on what had happened the night before, it was hard to get it out of his mind, especially with how serious Jasper was after the fact. “Outside of a single nurse checking up a day, and food, no one is to even interact with her.” echoed through his mind. He was demanding when ordering Devan around and he made it very clear the consequences for not following these limitations. He had seen him serious before of course, but this was something else.
This was mostly how his train rides went, the last three weeks since he started having to travel up to dublin. Sitting in thought about the week before and what they had done up until now, sometimes he would manage to sneak in a bit of studying. That was until the train stopped at Kildare, where he would hear a familair “Hey fucker!” as a girl sat across from him.
“Hey Saoirse.” he said as he took his attention away from his thoughts, looking up to the slender girl with long black hair, dressed in the same outfit she always wore. A blazer with jeans.
“How you doing?” she asked, placing her elbows on the table between them and adjusting her thick rimmed glasses.
“I'm good, wish I was sleeping right now,” he joked.
She would nod in reply “I'm sure everyone in class wishes that.” She had brought her own suitcase and carry bag, having already shoved her suitcase with Mitches on the overhead shelf.
“At least it's a short enough train ride up, not as bad as the ones coming from Cork and stuff.” Mitch mentioned, putting his phone away.
“Yeah, but then it's the luas ride, and walk to the accommodations, then to the school which is probably another hour in itself.” Saoirse said as she sat back down.
“Ahh well, no use complaining now, we gotta do it” Mitch teased, leaning and staring out the window at the large fields of greenery.
“All you ever do is complain.” she rebutted.
“Touché.” he chuckled, checking his phone for the time despite having just put it away. “Should be there in around a half hour. Think Joel will be there already?”
“No doubt.” she said “Joel usually goes up on Friday and stays overnight.”
“No idea how he isn't dead every time we see him, being up that early after working late.”
“Most likely some Jolt tonics.” Saoirse shrugged “only real explanation on how he has so much energy too.” A popular energy drink that the family seemed to have had some hand in creating given the commercial store bought version didn’t have the same… well, magical properties of exhaustion removal as theirs did.
“Yeah, but they stop being as effective the more you use them.” He said, thinking aloud now “Unless he's chugging them.”
“Not so sure on that one, he’s always chugging coffee too. A lot of it has to come from that.” She responded, shrugging once more “we only see him two days a week, he could sleep normally those days.”
“An elaborate ruse?” Mitch chuckled.
“Of course, just to trick us, ya dip.”
“Would it surprise you?” he asked, Joel came across as the type who would put a lot of effort into a long running joke only to reveal it at the dumbest time. As a group he had only known the two for a few days at best with how often they got to see each other.
Of course they were his cousins, they were all family there and almost everyone was related in some way to share the gift, but his family was so big it was hard to remember everyone… Along with the fact barely anyone ever came to visit them out in Carlow and the ones who did vanished into Jasper's office for hours at a time before vanishing as swiftly as they arrived.
“How's your uh.. grandfather doing?” Mitch asked, needing a moment to try find his name. He had come up a few times in passing conversation last weekend.
“He's doing well.” Saoirse nodded “It's coming up to time to appoint the new head of our sect, he's been taking us all in one by one for interviews about it.”
“Think you'll get it?” He asked, cocking a brow.
“I hope I'm even worthy to be honest, it's very rare for a woman to be the head of our family.”
“Well hey, that doesn't mean there isn't a chance.”
“I can hope, but it would also be another stress on top of everything else.” She said, drumming her fingers on the table “I'm not sure what I want at this point.”
The conversation devolved into idle chit chat for the remainder of the ride, the pair stepping out of the train carrying their bags and cases. Leaving the train station itself they would cross to the Luas station, a dart system running through the heart of the city.
Swiping their travel cards they hopped on to the packed tram, it was always packed early morning on the weekend so they stood by the door, holding onto the rail above.
“Can't say I'm looking forward to this.” Saoirse sighed “had to go to school all week, now we gotta do more.”
“Think of all the interesting things we get to learn.” Mitch assured, idly leaning back and using the handrail to keep himself upright.
Once off the Luas they walked through the main streets of the city, going to the large Trinity college that they would be taking classes in, or, rather, they would be taking classes in a building on the campus hidden at the back.
Standing by the front arch they just looked up at the large college, buildings spanning across a large campus, and walls keeping the buildings enclosed. Outside the walls on the main street there was construction going on down to the right, causing a lot of build up of traffic. To the left it leads into a thinner street lined with stores, going towards the shopping centre and park the area was known for.
They waited around for a few minutes but Joel didn’t seem to arrive. “I guess he might be at the classes already.” Mitch said as he took a step in, motioning for Saoirse to follow.
She nodded in a brief acknowledgement that she was paying attention and they made their way through the large campus that had been a staple of the city since before they were born. At first he was amazed by the sights of the large buildings and statues strewn about the place but after the first 2 weeks he became desensitised to it and would quickly make his way to the side alley near the back right corner that led down to the dorm hall they would stay in, and school building.
On either side of the building were very small dorm houses, made to hold maybe upwards of about 30 students each, max, with the school itself being three stories tall and quite wide. Despite its size it was still somehow obscured by all the buildings and the college itself of course so it was easy enough to take their classes out here. Especially on the weekend when there was no need to come back here, or even to the campus unless you lived there.
They split up and made their way into the separate dorm houses for men and women where Mitch had his room as number 15. Wandering the identically made halls that could be confused for an endless loop if not for the signs he came to his room and pushed open the door. He tossed his shoulder bag onto the bed in the compact box room, which had a window out onto the main campus, a single bed, a study desk, old portable TV across from the bed that he had brought up himself from jaspers, and a cabinet for clothing items at the foot of the bed, on the other side of the door.
Setting his suitcase at the side of the study desk he sat down, having placed it just under the window so he could look out over the main campus as best he could. Even on the weekend this place would have a lot of people coming and going through the main campus.
While he stared out at what wasn’t obscured by the large buildings surrounding them he couldn't help but think back to last night and the face of horror Lara had when he confronted her. “Would she even accept?” He thought, not even sure how long they were going to be giving her to come to her answer.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging on his door followed by a loud “Ay, nerd, time for class!”
“I never get a moment to myself, do it?” he thought with a light hearted chuckle. Standing up and walking over to pull open the door, he would be greeted by the last of their trio; Joel.
“You are always so slow.” he teased, Mitch always had to look up at him, as did almost everyone as he towered at six and a half feet tall. “you ready short stuff?”
“Shut up, giant.” Mitch said as he jokingly shoved him out from the door, turning to lock it once he stepped out “How you been man?”
“Doing good, good.” he responded, toting the same casual trousers and jacket combo, though his had the logo of a band he liked plastered across the T-shirt under his open jacket. He had short black hair, and a thin face, along with a scar on his cheek he would always brag about, claiming he got it on a dangerous hunt to make it sound exciting, but the two knew he got it from playing with a switch blade trying to look cool as a young child. “Forget to shave?” Joel joked, pushing him as they walked.
“I didn't forget.” Mitch replied. “I just didn't have time, unlike you with all your free time to be playing with knives.”
“Touché,” he laughed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.”So, how you been doing?”
“You know by now, It's the same thing every week, we hunt, nearly die, get little thanks for it. Money is nice though. You?” Mitch explained.
“Oh we have been doing the same old, same old.” Joel smiled as they passed his room. He needed a moment to make sure that it was properly locked, as he did every single time they passed it. Not once has he left it unlocked to date.. “I'll have to get you over some time to see them, it's pretty amazing how efficient my father is at this stuff.”
“When would we even make time for that though?” Mitch asked “We got weekend school, normal school, and then work on normal weekday nights. I don't ever have any time to be able to do anything!” At least finding comfort in the fact his venting was to people who were in a similar boat here.
“whenever we get some time off,” he replied simply. “Holidays happen, even for us.”
“I guess.” was all Mitch said as they walked out of the dorm building and made their way into the main building. Inside they went past the reception to go into the assembly hall that was close to the entrance.
This is where each weekend would start, with chairs lined up in the hall and often a speech from the supervisor of the classes. Though there were children of all ages, they were still separated into classes. Mitch and Joel would sit with those of their age up the front right of the hall. Saoirse would be sitting here already waiting.
“Bout time, what takes you guys so long?” She asked.
“Kissing behind the gym, of course.” Joel laughed, “Too many people to do it in the dorms!”
Mitch shoved him lightly in response, “Shut up you.” Taking a seat afterwards next to Saoirse where Joel did the same on the opposite end.
There would have been some laughing from across the way that caught Mitch’s ear, a familiar laugh from the last few weeks he had been coming here. Aoife and her cronies, a girl around his age that had claimed several times to be better than them all several times over. There were people like this everywhere of course, but Aoife took it to a whole new level of being an elitist snob.
She was apparently from one of the bigger families in Dublin and attended both week day classes and weekend classes. It gave her one hell of a superiority complex that annoyed Mitch to no end.
Soon enough, as the girls were laughing the room would come to a silence, forcing them to do the same as some hushed the room. An older man walked down the middle of the room, hunched over with what looked like a head of cotton, his fluffy white hair standing up like he had walked through a hurricane. His chin speckled with white hairs, touting a full and very nice suit.
“Good morning” He would call out to the half empty room. Being the weekend class it often was much smaller classes that couldn’t begin to fill this hall, “I hope you all had a good week.” Mitch always wondered why speakers would ask how everyone was doing, as if they cared about the reply.
Getting up to the top of the hall, he turned to face them all “It is good to see you all back again. To start off the weekend I would like to take a quick moment to go through the family creed.” a ritual as he called it, one that was done every week as a way to drill in the family code so they would never forget it.
Starting to pace through the aisle between the rows of chairs he took a look over each student “To be a member of the family, is to be a member of the collective workforce that is protecting man.” turning back to pace towards the front again, gazing over the other side “You won't be thanked by who you are protecting. In fact, they don't even know who you are. But know that your work matters, and your effort will uphold the balance.”
Though most were bored of this speech by now, it had a more... empowering effect to Mitch, making him feel that all his hard work was worth it. “Here, you will learn to control, subdue, and pass spirits,” the old man continued “we will ensure that you have the tools to go out and protect the world's balance.”
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He finished with the line that was considered to be the official creed of the family. “What is the family?” he asked “The family is a collective, of souls that work behind the veil of society, in order to protect it from the greatest threat there is.”
He continued onto a tangent about general rules to be followed around the school that eventually led into one of his many life stories that he shared, always claiming they had a message to them. Zoning out, Mitch looked around the room, there were kids ranging from no older than ten, up to others of his age. Though they were all grouped into classes by age, the only graduation system was once the school thought you were ready, you would be allowed to take a final exam. This could take years of study, or only a few months for those who are truly gifted. Jasper often claimed that under his teaching he would be sure to graduate in under ten minutes.
After the old man finished his rambling, which would take upwards of a half hour, he said “And now, you may leave for your first classes. Be safe, and work hard.”
They would all stand, and bow before turning and leaving in single file. Mitch took out his notebook where he kept the schedule crudely glued on the inside from his hoodie pocket. “Well, looks like we have general studies In the next building over the lecture hall.”
“Out of the way lessers.” Aoife said as she shoved Mitch out of the way to make a wider gap for her followers to slip through behind her. A certain satisfaction to her tone as she always seemed to have while being an absolute thorn in anyone's side.
They felt like some form of caricature of highschool assholes as one of the two behind her said “Always just in the way.”
Mitch composed himself once he was shoved, having to catch his footing again. He wanted to make some form of witty retort about the three, but he knew that would only cause more problems down the line.
She seemed to have it out for Mitch, often singling him out for her brand of doucebaggery and she often would explain it along the lines of not liking his family sect for, as she called, ‘wasted potential.’ Though she also was crude and aggressive towards everyone in these weekend classes that didn’t study every day like she did.
“Ignore ‘em.” Saoirse sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. “Hard to think we are related to them.”
“I say we go do some Haunting 101.” Joel added, doing what he did best and ignoring the situation.
“I'm surprised he didn't mention the ball.” Saoirse said “Especially when it's about your family.” shoving Joel gently.
“It's about your family?” Mitch asked him as he watched the girls leave to make sure they wouldn’t cause any more trouble, “The invitation didn't have much information on it.”
“Guess you don't hear much of what goes on, in the middle of nowhere.” he teased “But my dad is finally being recognised as the leader of his own sect of the family.”
“So like how me and Jasper are our own sect in carlow?”
“Exactly, we will be in charge of Galway, like you guys are of carlow. So I do hope you guys come along.”
“I dunno.” Saoirse teased the group leaving into the courtyard now “Sounds a bit boring if it's just about you.”
“As if you have anything better to do.” he mocked in return, leaning over to poke the top of her head a few times.
“I am a very busy person!” she said with a childish pout, walking ahead to lead them through to the ‘lecture hall’ which was no more than a general classroom they were calling a lecture hall because it is technically on college grounds.
A woman would already be standing down by the board, waiting for the class to settle. She was in her own casual clothing, her blonde hair short and neat, with a pair of rimmed glasses and a cross around her neck.
She waited for them to settle before she said “Welcome back once again.” often sounding more aggressive than she was. It was certainly alarming on the first day of class when everyone thought she was ready to snap at a moment's notice and even had one student beg for forgiveness just from her tone alone when she addressed them.
There would be sheets left out for them with some basic course material on it since they weren't allowed to keep books as what they learned here was very sensitive material.
“Today we will be going over the basics of what a spirit is, and what a passing entails.” Mrs. Martin said, drawing up a crude image of a cartoon ghost over a dead stickman that was shown by having 2 x marks over its eyes.
She didn’t have the best drawing skills, but it's not like she needed them when she could get the point across with something simple. “A spirit is what we form when we die.” she said as she pointed to it “can anyone tell me what the spirit is composed of?”
A few hands would raise, Mitches and Joel's included, but she pointed to Joel and said “Go ahead.”
“The spirit, or soul as some call it, consists of our body's natural magic, and when we pass it leaves our body to dissipate.” he said, always sounding very confident in his answers.
She nodded “That's true, the spirit also contains all our memories, and by extension, until it passes as well, it is us in our most basic form. Normally a person will pass naturally once their soul leaves the body. But there are some occasions where it will not.”'
She picked out one of the other students who had their hand up and asked him “What would be a reason a spirit lingers?”
“The most common reason is having unfinished business.” she said
“While technically correct, it goes deeper than that” she said as she began to draw more diagrams, one of a stick family “Unfinished business is a broad term” she continued, pointing at the family “A very common one is a strong emotional bond with their family, often times not being able to see a loved one before death.”
That hit close to home as Mitch remembered dealing with the spirit in the manor, and his intense feeling of betrayal and loneliness when his family left him connected to that respirator in his own little prison until he passed away.
Moving on she drew some money bags. “Another common reason is greed. Some people cling to material possessions and the thought of losing them is strong enough to keep them here.”
The next drawing she had up was that of a knife stuck into a stickmans back. “Hatred is the most powerful reason someone lingers, and by far the most dangerous.” putting the marker down she turned back to the class “Though all spirits that linger will eventually become imps with enough time, those who linger because of an emotion as strong as hatred will become an imp far faster than any other reason.”
She left a moment for those who were taking notes to finish, then erased it all off the board “Can anyone tell me what an Imp is?” she asked the class.
This time, almost everyone would raise their hand. Not a big surprise seeing that everyone would have first hand experience with them, as long as they had the ability to see spirits it was impossible to not see one eventually.
“Saoirse” she called as she pointed “Tell me, what is an imp.”
She sat upright, composing herself as she felt nervous with so many eyes on her any time she was called out “An imp is what a spirit becomes once it absorbs enough magical power to transform. It's a chrysalis between spirit and fiend, where the mind begins to numb and lose its memories. They become more animal-like for this period and seek out to consume more natural power, which they can get from any creature that is dying.”
“Very good, spot on.” Mrs. Martin said, continuing her tangent “As Saoirse said, the Imp is very animalistic, they lose sight of who they are and often just become a creature bent on consuming. But why?”
Aoife was eventually called on as she rejected the common answer of 'for food.' “So Aoife, tell me, why do they consume so much?”
“Like Saoirse said, this period is a chrysalis stage, unlike a butterfly that would eat before entering its cocoon, this cocoon can move and feed itself. So they continuously need to consume so they can eventually become stronger, and transform into a fiend. Where they get a form of sentience back, and become strong enough to interact with the physical world, which are the types of spirits we get called in to deal with.” She spoke with such a smug tone that it made Mitch’s blood boil to hear her actually being right.
She nodded to his explanation and turned to draw a crude diagram of spirit, to that stumpy shadowy imp he had seen on jobs, and then the big bad shadow creatures that were known as fiends “Exactly Aoife” she said as she drew. It clearly filled her with pride and somehow, though he had no idea how, made her appear even more smug. “The more natural magic the imp consumes, the stronger it gets, and then in turn, becoming a fiend where it can interact with the physical world.”
“But what if we close them off?” a student asked “so they can’t get at people who pass.”
“It's a good question. But can anyone tell me why it wont work?”
The class fell silent, as always when it came to a hard topic, the only ones with their hands raised would be Mitch and Aoife next to each other. Both had hands-on work in the field with their rather strict mentors “Mitch, tell me.”
“The main reason it wont work is even if they are segregated, and blocked off from getting magic, all living things be it spirit or living, absorbs the natural magic of the world around them. While we vent it naturally through using it to keep our bodies functioning, a spirit or fiend does not. So over time, while segregating them would slow the process they would still gather enough power. In some extreme cases they would even resort to cannibalism if they can’t find a natural source of power.”
“Very good.” she said “And correct, It is a process that has been tried in the past when the former head of the family Desmond Wright thought there must have been a more humane way of dealing with imps.”
Opening her book on the desk she told them “Follow along on your sheets. When he found that Imps could be herded like cattle if the right force was used, he sought to corral them away and leave them isolated.”
“But why miss?” another girl would ask “Don't we want to pass the Imp's to the next life?”
“Yes.” she said simply “But not all Imp's are born from a person passing. There are some naturally occuring demons in the world, who are considered to be the natural inhabitants of the spirit realm. Those are who Desmond sought to isolate. Let them continue to exist as long as they don't hurt others.”
The sheet came with a very old photograph of what Desmond might have looked like, as he passed on before cameras were even invented, according to the line under his picture.
“He found that when they were put away in closed off areas, they would live as a pack. Almost showing a kind of kinship to one another. But over time, a problem arises. One of these imps suddenly became a fiend overnight when they were not being monitored.”
As she explained there were a few artist's renditions of the events on the sheet, the transformation was a piece called “Rise of a leader.” depicting a shadowy figure towering over a group of smaller imps that bowed.
“The imps began to listen to its commands.” she said “It was sentient enough to control the others, and in turn used that power to break out of the enclosure they were in. Which led to the disaster that claimed many lives of the family members that lived nearby. Which caused the fiend to absorb enough power to transform twice over, becoming the first recorded case of an arch demon that we have documented.”
The illustration for the arch-demon was titled “an evil reborn.” depicting a titan that towered over the family members that tried to oppose it, still shadowy in form, its eyes pierced the blackness, staring directly at the reader. While pitch black, its form resembled that of an almost orc like creature from fantasy novels, large muscular features and sharp fangs.
“This creature claimed many lives.” She explained “Many founding family members were killed by this creature, and when it was finally slain, the family was left in a state of panic. Desmond was first on the scene, along with the first to be killed, so now the family had to rush to appoint a new leader before everything fell into even more chaos.”
Lastly she pointed to the arrow of the arch-demon “If enough power is amassed an arch-demon is born. A powerful creature that could threaten to level an entire city if left unchecked. Oftentimes they will use their control over imps and lesser fiends to create an army that can easily overwhelm anyone who has gotten in their way. We have only recorded cases of ten arch-demons within our annolds of history.”
Though he had read this story before, something didn't sit right with Mitch about it. Which led to him blurting out without raising his hand “How could they have not known how aggressive these creatures were? Surely we had knowledge of them from even before the family started, so why choose to let them live, even if secluded?”
Mrs. Martin nodded, not scolding him for the outburst she said “That's a good question, but the same can be said for any aggressive species. Why do we let wolves live, if they are known for attacking as a pack?”
She let the question sit for a moment, then continued to make her point “Animals can be just as unpredictable as these creatures. They also provide a natural part of the spirit reals ecosystem. We just cannot get to every single spirit in time and imps help cull their own numbers by consuming mana before it forms into one.”
Though that led to another confusing thought as he kept his hand up this time, waiting to be asked to speak. “Then how did we distinguish between those formed by passings, and those who are natural?”
“That's something you will learn in advanced demon studies, if you choose to take that class. But I'll go over it briefly since you asked.” She explained, turning back to the board once more to begin another drawing.
When she finished it showed the short form of a hunched over creature, but only one. She pointed to it as she said “All imp's look identical in most or less every single way. The way we tell them apart is the aura they exude. A normal imp will just smell of natural energy, they have no distinct scent. Whereas one from a failed passing will have the scent of humanity. It's a very hard thing to describe, for those who haven’t been on haunts yet, you will experience it with time.”
She would often refer to what magic felt like through sensing it, as what it smelt like. Most assumed it was just a slip of the tongue at first, but as time went on she seemed to always refer to it as such.
“Are there any other questions?” she asked the class.
Joel would raise his hand as he said “This case of the first Arch-Fiend documented. What about the second, which seemed to show signs of a greater intelligence?”
“Yes, that story is a very important part of the family history. That is a topic for tomorrow though. Now I want you all to turn over your sheets to the questions on the back and begin working on them.”
“Now we go back to the basics of a hunt.” she said as the first question was to put the steps in proper order. The choices range from “find the final resting place.” “Prepare holy water.” “scouting rune.” and other steps they often took in passing a spirit.
“The first step should always be...” she called out, leaving it open for them to chime in.
The first often being Joel who said “Preparation of course, making sure you have all your gear before you even leave the house.”
She nodded “simple but it is always the first thing you check, leading onto easily finding where your target is, so the best way to do this would be a scouting rune at the designated area.”
She continued to go over the steps that they had all practised before. But the biggest difference that Mitch always noticed was that they didn't take time to find the final resting place, or even soothe its hatred before they would pass the spirit.
He had stopped asking, as the first time he was told that was an old tradition that only few still cling onto, and the reasons for doing so were just superstition. This way was much easier, and time effective.
He always felt it was a little cruel to not at least clear the spirit's mind of its grief before sending it on, but he wasn't in charge of how things were done around here. He could only practise what he thought was the right way to do this, back home with Jasper.
Once general studies came to a close, they were all dismissed for lunch. Joel immediately grabbing Mitch by the arm “Food time nerds.” He said with a grin, no matter who you were, to Joel you were a nerd.
“Where are we gonna head for lunch?” Mitch asked as he was pulled along.
“I'm always a fan of some fast food.” Joel said.
“How about the usual?” Mitch asked.
“Yeah I think something like sandwiches would be good.” Saoirse said “We can get take out for dinner and chill at the TV room later.”
“Sounds good to me.” Joel nodded, walking out through the main campus again where they would be surrounded by the sea of people visiting town for the weekend.
Mitch always felt that it was like being lost in an ocean, so many people, all leading different lives. He often wondered what they were up to, seeing a random person and wondering what their story was, where they work, were they in love, did they have any plans for that day?
Something that he would never know but always peaked his interest.
“Ay, earth to Mitch!” Joel said, shoving him lightly “No time to be spacing out, we got stuff to plan!”
“Ah, yes!” he said shocked, regaining his balance as he caught his footing “What are we planning?”
“what to do after class.” Joel began “We were thinking maybe bowling, a movie, or just exploring the city.”
“Well all three sound pretty good.” Mitch thought “But I think if I had to choose, I would love to go bowling.”
“Are you both 30?” Saoirse asked, leaning forward to look over at Mitch. “Bowling is boring, the arcade is more fun.”
“Well then let's just go walk about town.” Joel said “easy peasy, we might even find something cool. Maybe check out those new tech shops that opened up.” He was clearly excited at that idea, being the technophile they made him out to be.
For lunch, they would stop in a small restaurant that did all day breakfast that was just outside the campus. It was somewhere they ate often enough, enjoying the options to customise their meals, and it was cheap enough.
Once seated with their food, Mitch would be the first to dig in. Joel waited as he held his, asking “How's your grandfather, Dude?” They often asked how Saoirse’s grandfather was doing as he was quite sick and people often were curious about what he was planning to do for an heir.
There was a silent moment as he had to finish what he was chewing. “He's good, gets to enjoy the weekends off cause I'm not there, sleeps in every day.”
“Sounds good” he chuckled, always seeming to be interested in them which was the polar opposite for anyone else he talked to here. “But there's one thing I've always been wondering.”
Once again Mitch stopped eating, finishing what was in his mouth “Yeah?” he asked, slightly muffled.
“I was looking over the roster for families. Like mine is going to be official in Galway, meaning we are the go to family there, and look after Galway in terms of hauntings. Ya know?”
Mitch seemed confused, but nodded “Yeah, what about it?”
“When I was looking through them, I found you and Jasper, an official family in Carlow. But, you guys are the only two on the family name. Usually it has everyone that lives or works in the house, what gives?”
“Ah, yeah...” Mitch mumbled, putting his sandwich packed with meat down “Well, the easy answer is we are the only two members of our family sect left. Jasper told me that before I was born, he, his father, his grandfather, and others lived together in that house and worked together. But over time, people passed, until it was only Jasper left...”
“Then you came along?” Saoirse asked, leaning forward in her chair to add her two cents to the conversation.
He nodded “Yeah, my dad didn't inherit any of the family powers. So Jasper thought our family line was going to end there. Until he found out my parents had been sending me to therapy due to seeing things. He used that as an excuse and took me in, gave the green light to the therapist, and then taught me all about this hidden world.”
“That's crazy, man. Must suck, not being able to talk to your folks about it.” She said, taking the last bite of her chicken caesar wrap.
“It does suck, they think I'm at weekend grinds, so I can get into college to become a doctor. Which is my plan, but not why I’m here of course.”
“How did Jasper do work before you were ready though?” Joel asked, mostly poking at his full english with a fork while focusing more on drinking his coffee. “Isn’t it a law that you have to have a partner to take jobs?”
“You would think, and so did I. But apparently he got the go ahead to work alone, then he was told to train me up when he reported I was around.” Mitch shrugged.
They would return to silently eating for the time being, packing up and heading back to class once they had finished.
“So, what's everyone taking today?” Mitch asked once they stood at the front gates. The school functioned on a strange level, where the first half of the day is a general course of what needs to be known to do their jobs, and the second half of the day is a choice, between a handful of major classes that they would like to learn more advanced details in. Such as learning about demons and spirits, runic magic, altering one's own spirit projection, and a handful of other core concepts to their job.
They were free to pick and choose which ones they wanted to go to as long as they attended one of them. While they thought it over, Mitch was the first to chime in “Well I wanna know more about runes.” Remembering back to the doors in the manor.
“Don't see why not, we did spirit altering last week.” Joel said “Can catch up on some runes.”
Though Sophia stepped away as she said “I'm sorry, I'm going to take demonology this week. I haven't been on many hunts yet, so I need to get up to snuff.”
“No bother, no bother at all.” Joel nodded, slapping her back in the same manner he had hit Mitch. “Go on without us, try not to die.”
Mitch walked with him, waving Saoirse off “Lets meet up at the main entrance after class to go exploring town!” he shouted, which received a high held thumbs up.
“Looks like it's only us.” Joel said.
“Is this where we go to kiss behind the gym?”
“Of course, let's go.” Joel mocked, stepping away and sipping from the coffee he had bought to take with them to class.
Joel's hidden power they always said he had was it was impossible to weird him out and any attempt to, would be met with equally strange responses at least oftentimes even stranger. Many times they tried to out weird him, but never had it actually happened.
“Think we will learn anything interesting?” Mitch asked, going back into the central building where Runic studies would be held on the top floor.
“I'm gonna imagine a crash course on what runes are like every week, then an in depth analysis of a new rune they'll hand out for us to learn.” Joel said.
Heading into the class it felt comically empty with around fifteen students at max speckled throughout the room.
As always, near the front, they would see Nikki. At 14 years of age she seemed to excel at everything, being seen in most advanced classes, and even scoring in the top 10 percent in almost all of them, considered a prodigy that would be the next head of the family at this rate.
Oftentimes she did not concern herself with conversation, focusing only on her studies and anything she found to be important,conversation was not one of those things.
The two would take their usual seats, in the middle of the room where they could both pay attention, and slack off just enough that they would learn. Mitch was rather relieved to see that Aoife didn’t bother coming to this class so he had some respite, albeit brief.
Soon, their teacher would walk down the middle of the lecture hall. An older man who comically resembled something of an old wizard in books. He wore long robes and had a beard that reached down to his stomach with a head of scruffy hair that he kept hidden under a hat that at least wasn’t some pointy mage hat but just a simple farmer's cap.
“Good morning class!” he called out. “Or, afternoon now.” taking a seat at the desk at the front of the hall “Fairly empty class today, seems everyones always more interested in demon studies and spirit handling.”
He was a much more casual man, despite his appearance. Most lectures felt more like conversations until he started writing. “Congrats Joel” he said, spinning his chair to face the board. He was a rather powerful mage and even without the use of runes he had the whiteboard marker float up and begin drawing out the basic rune for today. “It's a big thing for a family to be deemed independent.”
“Yes, yes, thank you sir.” Joel said “It's not really to do with me though, all the hard work came from my dad.”
Mitch could only chuckle at how annoyed he started sounding, most likely because literally everyone who wasn’t Aoife had been congratulating him for the success of his father.
“Of course, but you surely have helped with haunts and other such small jobs.” he explained “everyone has done something to help the family do so well. Now, here's a story for you about the family.”
The class would all silently groan as they knew his stories could last forever, and oftentimes had no real point when it came to the lecture. “When I was younger..” he began to trail off.
He even stopped drawing the new rune at this point, until Nikki raised her hand and said “Sir, you stopped drawing the rune.” in one of the rare occasions she would speak.
“Sorry!” he said as he turned back to the board with a nervous laugh “I lose track of myself at times.”
The new rune that he drew was the same circle, containing a small star inside with its points each pointing towards a line leaving away from the circle. “This rune is easy to use, hard to master.” he began explaining “You most likely have seen this rune before somewhere. It's one of the most common we use. But does anyone know what it does?”
For once the class would be quiet, as it was a vague and unfamiliar rune, even if they had seen what it looked like before. Mitch though, did recognise it. It was one of the runs on the door to the library and it was even on some of the locked family rooms.
“Don't feel bad about not knowing.” he said, pointing now at the star in the middle “This is a buffer zone. So what it is, is think of the power button on your computer. All it does is turn everything on.”
He placed his hand on it, though being on a whiteboard it didn't light up. “Putting my hand on this and channelling stores energy.” removing his hand and drawing another smaller rune, connecting it to one of the points of the star. Drawing a few more he connected one to each side of the star.
He placed his hand back on the star and said “Now when I activate the buffer zone, it stores up enough energy to fill the star itself. Then spreads out to any rune connecting to it” drawing a line to each “So it is used to activate several small runes at once, that need very little power to work.”
The room would remain quiet as everyone rushed to take notes, the teacher, also known as Erin, waited patiently for them.
Mitch had already taken a drawing of this rune from the door at the library so he could now write around it what it did. He couldn’t help but notice the runes that were transcribed into the floor. He stared at them for some time trying to discern what they were, but they were small and scattered around the desk.
Once a few moments passed, he resumed. Taking out a pointer to aim at the star “A common thing that is done is connecting this to a scouting rune” moving the pointer along the board “and then a destruction rune.” the latter of which was just used to make sure the runes would be unreadable, and not able to be activated again once it was used. “For today you will all be practising making this rune. Once you get it down, we will move onto attaching it to the next rune. Then we will test how many runes can attach at once”
The class fell silent as everyone was passed out smaller wooden boards to carve into for practice as it was hard to make runes work on a surface as thin as paper, it needed some depth for the mana to pool into.
Everyone took out their knives and began to carve. Mitch always felt bad, using this handcrafted, ceremonial dagger that had been made for him, to carve chunks out of wood. But he knew this is part of what it was made to do, as runes couldn't be made using a normal chisel because it lacked any magical property.
Joel worked like a machine as always, carving out chunks at a time as he followed a pencil sketch of the rune he had put onto the wood in the time that it took Mitch to get his board ready for carving.
Once class had ended, the two went to the designated meeting spot to wait for the Saoirse. They had to hand back over the slates of wood on the way out, not allowed to take them home with them for obvious reasons.
“It's just a hunk of wood, I don't see why we can't take it home.” Joel said as he placed his back against the wall.
“It's also a hunk of wood with family secrets on it.” Mitch replied, standing beside him and resting his bag on the floor.
Joel huffed, like a frustrated child “Nothings stopping me drawing them on walls as it is. Not like this reduces the risk.”
“Maybe it's cause then you are in trouble if someone finds it, whereas they could get in trouble if we let it slip with something they gave us?” Mitch thought aloud, alway checking over his shoulder to make sure people weren't listening in. But in the heart of the city, everyone was too occupied with their friends, or plans that they could almost freely talk most of the time without anyone ever listening in.
“You'll understand when you get older, huh?” Joel asked.
“You'll understand when you get older.” Mitch repeated in a more mocking tone.