4 Tia

August turned his eyes towards the door and headed there, the previous smile had been erased.

The soup was almost done, so Mandy chose to remain by the stove. It was a pity someone interrupted. Wasn't that the first time August smiled just now? It seemed almost elusive. Perhaps she was imagining it.

August meanwhile simply reached for the door, opening it. Yet, as soon as the door was open, someone fell on his chest. A head shorter than August, wearing a hooded cape.

"Help--" Came a weak girl's voice.

"Tia?!" August straightened her posture, holding her by the shoulders to see her face.

The girl looked feverish. Her breathing was hot, her green eyes lacked focus and her blonde hair stuck to her forehead.

"My back--" she mumbled, standing only because August was keeping her firm.

Hearing those words, August immediately started taking off the girl's clothes.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen Mandy only heard August's voice, his tone made her curious enough to put the lid on, turn the heat off and float towards where he was… Mandy carefully peeked.

And there August was, having pulled off the upper half of a girl's clothes-- only her bra remained. The door was still open, the girl's expression was dazed and her cheeks were flushed red.

"WHA--??!!" Mandy raised her voice in shock. Despite looking so… passive, as soon as a girl appeared August was already… already…

"Bring some cold water and knife! Fast!" August gave an order as he turned the feverish girl on her stomach.

Mandy was snapped out of her misunderstanding as soon as she saw the girl's back. There was something… on it. A festering black wound, oozing purplish liquid from it. Black veins spread out from it, covering the girl's shoulder blades.

Cold water and a knife! Rang in Mandy's confused mind and she rushed to the kitchen, got a huge bowl, turned the tap on.

Meanwhile, August got up and pulled on the outer door, having them fall shut. He turned on the light. His face displayed worry and fear. But rather than dwelling on his feelings, he rushed towards the room and pulled a leather suitcase out from under the sofa, then returned.

As he laid down the case right next to the girl, Mandy returned with the bowl and knife, floating them down on the other side from the case. The ghost's eyes were wide. There were many questions she wanted to ask but refrained for now.

August took the knife first and cut the strap of the girl's bra, having it fall on the sides. He was careful not to touch anything with his skin. Then he took the bowl and splashed half of the contents on top of the black wound, not caring that the water made the floor wet and dirty with the black goo.

"Cold!!…" The blonde girl shivered, raising up a bit. It seemed like she had almost passed out just now, but now she cast an accusing look at him.

"Don't bite your tongue," August said as he opened the case, taking out a vial with silvery liquid inside.

Tia gasped and leaned down, closing her mouth. Her reaction revealed that what would come next would be worse than being splashed with cold water.

Mandy floated a kitchen towel over, taking it in her hands, yet before she could start gathering up the water on the floor, August put out a warning. "Don't touch it with hands."

Mandy nodded, floating the towel down. From that, she reasoned that the black goo, whatever it was - could hurt her.

As soon as the silvery liquid reached Tia's back, she stifled a scream. The wound started to bubble up like there was acid poured on her back. First, the wound itself bubbled up with red foam, then the veins on her back popped as they bubbled up too. The girl kept stifling screams.

Mandy looked at it all in horror, trying to focus more on wiping the dirty water from the floor.

August was pale, his lips were tightly knit and he stopped pouring the silver liquid, closed the vial and placed it back. When Mandy's eyes traveled over to the suitcase, her eyes found a dozen vials with differently colored liquids and many boxes of various sizes.

Mandy floated another bowl over and squeezed out the towel to resume gathering the liquid up. A lot of it was sucked up by the girl's clothes, though, thus it didn't reach August and his suitcase.

As the bubbling stopped August took the remaining cold water and poured it right on her back. As the foam was washed off there was no trace of the black goo left - now there was a pinkish red wound on her back. Seeing that August let out a relieved breath. The wound was shallow.

August opened one of the boxes by twisting it - a lid came off, revealing a yellow ooze. He smeared it on the girl's back with practiced moves then took out a white tape from another box, covering the wound on top.

The girl's posture relaxed somewhat.

August took another box and this time opened it to reveal a black liquid. He dipped his finger in and started drawing on top of the tape. An odd circular shape, symmetrical on both sides. As he finished the drawing - it glowed up and the tape sunk into the girl's back. It seemed like the wound had disappeared altogether.

Mandy looked at the sight amazed.

Ding. The oven let them know that something had finished cooking.

August wiped the remaining ink on his pants and closed the containers, placing them back in the suitcase.

Mandy meanwhile-- floated back to the kitchen to take the muffins out from the oven. The floor was still wet, but she could come back in a minute… it was surreal that she left something like that to take muffins out, but she wouldn't let them get burned.

"Thank you, Gus," The blonde girl said, getting up.

The cut up bra fell off and August averted his eyes. "The shower is there," he pointed at a door further ahead then turned his back to her.

The girl nodded and took off her remaining clothes then headed there. On her way, she glanced at the ghost who took out some muffins and made a small smile and nod, before disappearing behind the doors.

Mandy exchanged the look, clearly awkward to be greeted by a naked girl, then returned to where August was. What was going on even?

August got some yellowish paper strips out from another box - they all had some scribbles on them - similar to the one he drew on her back, but different at the same time. He arranged a six of them around the location where the girl had been and where the liquid had passed. As soon as the last one was placed, they all connected with a transparent glowing string and very faint glowing scatters started raising from all the locations where the black goo was.

August closed the suitcase, for now, went to return the suitcase under the sofa where it had lied before.

"What exactly happened just now?" Mandy asked.

"I wish I knew," August replied.

"No, I mean - how, why-- what was that black goo?" Mandy had to start somewhere and that's where she went. Everything from just now… all of it - blew her mind.

"That's how it looks if you get wounded by a cursed weapon," August replied.

"And... you healed it with no trace remaining?" Mandy asked.

August shook his head. "No. I just patched it up somewhat. That will take a month to fully heal."

"It looked like it disappeared," Mandy stated the obvious. "Can you do magic?"

"...It's not magic," August said, frowning. "It's a skill. Anyone with a bit of aptitude and the right materials can learn that."

A muffled voice came from the shower. "Gus, can you lend me some clothes? And towel?"

"Yeah, wait," August said and got up. He got out a still packed-in towel, a t-shirt, and shorts. "Mandy, can you take them to her?"

Mandy nodded, but first, she took off the labels.

Mandy floated over to the bathroom and opened the door. The blonde girl had just turned off the water.

"I'll leave them here," Mandy said, placing them on top of the closed toilet lid and closed the bathroom doors behind her.

"Thanks!" the girl said.

Mandy felt awkward, but she replied with a small "Sure."

Moments later the blonde girl emerged from the bathroom - the clothes were obviously baggy on her body, but at least she was dressed now. There was no trace of the previous fever, she looked healthy and happy even. Completely out of place. Hard to believe that something so scary had just happened to her.

First, her eyes settled on Mandy. "I'm Talia, you can call me Tia," she said and reached out a hand for a greeting.

"Mandy," the ghost replied and took the hand. Obviously, the girl could see her and touch her. A small spark of realization settled in Mandy and she visibly relaxed.

The next words confirmed that realization. "Thank you for taking care of my brother. I was sure he would be living in a dump with junk food scattered around, haha."

"Ah, no problem," Mandy smiled. Her heart felt really light for some reason.

August was squinting at Tia but said nothing. Not that she was wrong… but… it still felt somewhat… like he was insulted just now.

"They smell delicious!" Tia's eyes moved over to the muffins and her stomach let out a small growl. Truly unbelievable that this girl had looked like she might die mere minutes ago.

"Ah, perhaps you'd like soup first?" Mandy asked

"Sounds awesome!" Tia rejoiced.

August got up from the sofa and let out a sigh. Mandy set the table quickly and poured some soup for both Tia and August. Like in the previous cases she took August's hand.

Tia looked at their hands and smiled a bit more widely.

August ignored that and started eating. Mandy, though… felt flustered and looked away. It felt like… there was a misunderstanding forming.

"Ah-- delicious!" Tia let out words of praise.

"Thank you," Mandy said, brushing aside her previous moment of embarrassment.

Tia had a curious smile and she was about to ask something, but August managed to ask first.

"So - how exactly did you get that wound?"

Tia's curious smile faded and her expression turned more serious. "I was on a task to purify one house. It seemed like your regular poltergeist or imp, but apparently not the case. A Hollie attacked me with a cursed spear. I barely escaped and here I am."

August's face was astonished, drained of all color.

Mandy was curious what 'Hollie' was, but it didn't seem like there was a space to pop in her question.

"Yeah, I know," Tia said with a wry smile. "I'm very lucky to be alive."

"Rather than that," August said, his expression very dark. "So careless I'm amazed you are not already dead."

Tia shrunk in her seat.

"Sorry," she said.

"You know what I'm talking about, right?"

She teared up and nodded.

"Do you want me to tell mom?"

To Mandy, it seemed like August suddenly turned into a demon lord of sorts. 'Telling mom' was like announcing the death penalty. Just how scary was his mother?

Now all color drained from Tia's face. "... anything but that."

Ah, apparently very scary, Mandy had to conclude.

"Then after the meal, you'll sign an oath. Let's see… severe diarrhea for a week if you forget to do aether reading before entering work location."

"Ugh." Tia pursed her lips.

"Also…" August continued, as if by the way. "I don't remember telling anyone where I moved?"

"Urk--" Tia shrunk.

August sighed. "I guess I'll tell mom anyways."

"I'm tracking your phone's GPS," she confessed.

A lot of new words were dropped, but as far as Mandy could tell August was bugged in some manner. "Why are you doing that?" The ghost couldn't help but ask.

"...he would hide from us otherwise," came a rather simple reply. Matter of fact.

Mandy cast a curious look at August then.

August ignored that look and resumed eating, so Mandy turned back to Tia.

"Why so?"

"Well, we did kind of kill his last girlfriend."

August turned a murderous gaze towards Tia. And Mandy shrunk this time.

Tia's speaking turned really fast all of a sudden. "Ah, don't be scared Mandy, that wouldn't happen to you, never ever never. He was dating a black widow and she would have eaten him if-- Ouch."

August had flicked Tia's forehead.

Mandy would have turned red from being mistaken for 'a girlfriend' if not the next part… eaten him?

"Don't misunderstand." He said to Mandy. "It's not that."

Tia looked surprised.

While Mandy felt like she learned something too big to the stomach and her expression was complicated.

"You all didn't let me write in peace," came the explanation.

"...Oh. That's it?" Tia looked at August aghast while still holding her forehead.

"That's it."

Tia peered at August intently. "So there's no grudge about your girlfriend?"

"No." August let out a sigh and scratched his head. "I mean, I was pretty upset, but, I know how her species is."

Tia let out a very long breath of relief, then smiled. "I see."

Mandy raised a hand cautiously like a shy student in school. "What is a black widow?" She had a feeling it was something related to spiders, but it wouldn't be that… right? She cast a mildly suspicious look towards August.

"A spider monster," Tia explained.

Mandy pursed her lips casting a sideways glance at August. Then rolled her eyes and slowly nodded. August's tastes were… peculiar.

"Her upper half was human," August noticed Mandy's judging look.

"Yeah, she was really pretty," Tia chimed in. "Long black hair, pale skin, red lips, enormous tits."

August coughed on the last one.

Mandy squinted. "Oh, so that's how it is."

August sighed. "Yes, that's how it was." No shame present.

Tia snorted and resumed eating, snorting from time to time, August did as well, looking like he wanted to choke Tia at each snort.

When August was done eating, he got up and went to open the suitcase once more, taking out a sheet of paper and the same ink he used before to draw on Tia's back, also a dip pen.

Naturally, Mandy floated after him to see what he would do. Her previous suspicious look had faded.

Tia stayed in place, she still had a bit of food to finish. Her look was a bit grim, though.

August brought all the things over to the table, placing them next to Tia.

Tia reluctantly finished her meal and took the pen.

August dictated. "I make an oath to hereby always do aether readings properly. If I break it, then I deserve a week--"

Tia's hand stopped before 'week' was written. Wouldn't that be, like, really bad, her expression seemed to tell.

August made an evil looking smile. "Should I call mom after all?"

Tia hung her head low but resumed writing. "Week of diarrhea." She finished with an almost teary look and placed her hand over the writing. The text started to travel away from the paper, traveling on her skin, then wrapped around her wrist like a snake and faded out.

"It still looks like magic," Mandy mumbled.

"It's not," Tia was the one who said it this time. "Magic is different."

Mandy's eyes shined over. She really wanted to see it now.

August went back towards his working place, leaving the conversation there.

"Eh-- Gus…" Tia stood up, aiming to follow August, but Mandy caught her by the sleeve and shook her head.

"Let August work," Mandy said. If the reason for August avoiding his family was them bothering him, then… as long as they were a bit more considerate of it, things should work out better, or so Mandy reasoned.

Tia looked at Mandy for a bit, then pulled Mandy in a hug. "I can see why he likes you."

"Eh--" Mandy turned red. There was no actual blood floating to her cheeks, but similar to how ghosts could smile without having cheek muscles, they could show any other expression.

"You can hold my hand while I eat those muffins," Tia said, letting go. "Gus isn't into sweets."

August had, meanwhile, zoned the two girls out as his fingers danced over the keyboard.

Mandy looked a little bit shaken by the suddenness of Tia's actions, but she nodded then.

Tia picked up a muffin. It was still warm-ish on the bottom part and her lips formed a happy smile. She took Mandy's hand and bit into the muffin. Her eyes sparkled over. "Sho goof (So good)!" she mumbled.

Mandy nodded at that and smiled too. They really had turned out good!

Tia savored the muffin without saying anything more and picked up another one to nom down after that. "Delicious, really," she said once she was done.

"Thank you! Would you like some tea?" Mandy offered.

"Sounds awesome," Tia smiled.

Mandy nodded and floated a kettle under the water tap to fill it up.

"So - how did you two meet?" Tia asked, taking a seat again.

"I was haunting this place and August moved in," Mandy replied, as she put the kettle on the stove to boil the water.

"Oh! How did that go?" Tia asked, her feet swinging excitedly.

Mandy tilted her head. "He ignored me for the first three days and pretended he couldn't see me."

Tia's expression turned sour and she looked towards August in disappointment. "I'm sorry for that child's actions." Tia was clearly younger than August, but she spoke almost like a mother apologizing for her child's actions.

"It's fine," Mandy replied. "He didn't have time for that."

'Such a good child' Tia's gaze seemed to convey as she looked at Mandy. "Gus doesn't deserve someone like you," she mumbled.

Mandy tilted her head, letting out a dry laugh. It wasn't like that really. But Mandy thought that Tia would be able to tell that soon enough without even Mandy needing to explain. "So, you are an exorcist, right?"

"Yep," Tia grinned. "The rest of our siblings are too." She made a proud expression. "We are the best in our niche."

Niche... Could it be? "Bringing back lost souls?" Mandy made a guess based on what August had told.

"Oh!" A look of surprise passed Tia's face. "Yep. We do other stuff too, but that is our best selling point."

"This might be an impolite question, but - did your body get stolen?" Mandy couldn't help but ask.

Tia's expression turned sheepish and she nodded. "Yep, that was me."

"Sorry." Mandy realized her mistake. Her curiosity got the best of her for a moment there.

"No worries." Tia shook it off. "That was the reason why I decided to become an exorcist. That was kind of the point where I realized how important the job was, so - it's… yep. I would have told you, if you asked why I wanted to be one despite the danger."

The kettle started letting out a whistling sound so Mandy turned the fire off and placed some tea leaves inside a pot and poured the water over them.

"Yeah, that wound looked really scary," Mandy lingered on the word 'danger'.

"Well, it was my mistake for not reading the aether. That's why Gus got so angry. Normally we just… well, read the signatures and if the reading tells something powerful is there we fall back and change plans."

Mandy placed a cup in front of Tia and poured some tea in there. She also put a sugar bowl nearby.

"Normally the job is more like… tedious, but not mortally dangerous," Tia added. "Gus never got a single scratch back when he took assignments, so… if you do it while preparing for anything then it's pretty safe." Tia added a spoon of sugar to the tea, stirring it slowly.

Mandy took a surprised glance at August. Preparing for anything, huh? That was hard to believe. An unexpected side? Or perhaps Tia was exaggerating.

"It's a shame he quit it completely when he got his first proper book deal," Tia said.

"...Not a shame," Mandy said, a bit lost in thought. "His writing is good. It would be a shame if he didn't write."

Tia smiled looking at Mandy. "Which one of his books did you read?"

"Autumn leaves of unrequited love and the two sequels to that one," Mandy replied.

"Ah, the family drama one. It's so twisted and over the top, though," Tia said.

Mandy smiled. "That's the fun part of it, I think."

"I mean, those characters made sense, yeah, but - they were all so dumb, I wanted to punch them all, like, stop doing stupid shit, dude," Tia said, half laughing while gesturing with her fists in a punching motion.

"Humans are like that often enough," Mandy smiled softly.

Tia nodded with a small shrug like saying 'fair enough'.

August's hand kept typing 'a' letter to hide the fact that he had stopped typing, as he had switched over to listening in to their conversation as soon as he heard Mandy mention the title of his book. He was surprised by what Tia was saying.

"Have you read 'White box'? That's August's first book," Tia asked.

"No," Mandy replied.

"I loved that one! Do read if you get the chance!" Tia said.

August's ears had started to turn red and he no longer typed the 'a' even. Had she read his books? That surprised, but the line of 'loved that one' felt flattering and embarrassing at the same time. Almost like the feeling of someone from your family reading your diary.

Since the typing stopped Mandy glanced at August. Well, that was a new expression he was showing. It was even… cute. A small smile settled on her lips. "August, do you have that book?" Mandy asked.

"I can give you a digital version," he replied, avoiding to look in their direction.

Tia noticed August's expression too, now. "Mom is a fan of the Autumn leaves, by the way, the rest of us prefer the White box," she said. "Okay, Sarah is torn between the two."

He had no idea they were reading them, August turned even redder. He let out a breath and sent an email to himself attaching his book on it. The pad made a small ringing sound to which Mandy responded by picking the device up.

"It's odd how you all are so keen on disturbing my writing time when you actually read the books," August said, lowering his head enough to hide it from the two.

"I never noticed we were distur--" Tia dropped the line. No, she had noticed. Okay. Whatever. She picked up her cup to sip some more tea. Moving on.

Mandy tapped on the email notice, meanwhile and opened the book. "Thanks!" She said.

August nodded and let out another breath, then continued to type, aiming to zone out their conversation again.

"Will you stay for the night?" Mandy asked, noticing that it was getting late on the pad screen. Not that August had a blanket or a pillow, even… Mandy felt like she had to order some, otherwise, eventually, he will get a cold sleeping on the sofa like that.

"Nope, I will call sis' to pick me up after some time," Tia said. "When the purification is done. Otherwise, I can't even take my stuff with me."

"By the way," Mandy put down the pad. "What is magic like, if what you guys do is not it?"

"It's something you don't need special materials for, well… I mean, you can amplify it with materials, but basically, it's something you can do by yourself if you have the talent or-- if you contract with an astral, or… if your body gets messed up in some strange way."

Mandy was tilting her head lightly, listening and nodding faintly. A fair bit of confusion was starting to form.

"I mean, we can also do small magic, like, blend in with the surroundings and lock some astrals within our bodies," Tia continued.

Mandy nodded once more. So that part was magic. She already heard that bit from August, but she didn't know that counted as Magic. At the same time - wouldn't her telekinesis also count as 'magic' then?

"But, yeah, other than that we use special materials and signs to alter things, but that's not… our magic, because we are just using the magic property of the material itself, well - to a layman it all looks like magic or esper abilities, but to someone on our side, it's not called that…because, ahh - well, if I order a dog to bite someone, I'm still not the biter… does that make sense?"

Mandy nodded. "So it's an insider distinction, but to normal people, you would all be mages?"

"Ha hah, well, most people would call us exorcists no matter how you look at it," Tia said. "We only use the parts of witchcraft that serve the means of helping normal humans against astral mischief."

Too many words that needed definitions were popping up and Mandy doubted the definitions she knew would fit. "Is there some sort of book about all this stuff?" Mandy asked.

"Yeah, there are a lot, but you'd need to visit our parents or a special library to read them. Not the kind of books any of us would dare to carry around," Tia said shaking back and forth a little bit.

Mandy let out a small sigh. Troublesome.

Seeing Mandy's expression Tia made a soft smile. "Well, I can answer your questions while I'm here."

"There's too much I don't know," Mandy let out another sight. "To a point, I'm not even sure where to start."

Tia made a troubled smile. "Yeah, well, if you were a human who suddenly developed seeing eyes we would pass you over to the guild, I hear transitioning takes a few years of evening courses. But… since you are a ghost… ummmm"

Mandy returned that troubled smile, guessing where this might be going. "I am an exorcising target, right?"

"If the owner of this place seeks out an exorcist, then that would be the case," Tia nodded. "But, I mean, as long as you have August, there's no way that would happen."

Mandy made an awkward laugh. "I don't actually have him… I'm just freeloading in this place."

Tia's eyes widened. Then she glanced at August, then back at Mandy, then she shook her head with a smile.

"What?" Mandy asked.

"You will see," Tia said and reached out to pat Mandy's shoulder with confidence. "I have faith in you."

Mandy made a confused face, but this was so beyond her that she didn't know what to say. Was the misunderstanding cleared or not? Or had a new one formed?

"So, okay, right - you wanted to know what is magic like, right?"

That had been Mandy's question before things got technical, so she nodded. The question itself implied something interesting, though-- her eyes shined!

"Like, can you close your eyes and count to ten?"

Mandy nodded and closed them, more excitement started to show in her expression. "One, two…"

As soon as Mandy closed her eyes, Tia started to slowly exhale. As she did so, she seemed to turn partly transparent, but the change was faint. If Mandy had 40% transparency, Tia only reached 10%, the real change was Tia's presence. She was there, but her presence faded like there was no one there. Her existence became soundless - neither her breathing or heartbeat could be heard. She was like an inconspicuous part of the environment. She was there, but so naturally, that no one would pay any special attention to her. Like a random grass strand on a football field. An existence easily overlooked as a part of the whole.

"Ten," Mandy finished counting and opened her eyes. She looked around curiously. Looked under the table, then around the room. "Is this a game of hide and seek?" She asked.

"Nope," Tia replied.

Mandy startled seeing that Tia was on the seat. "Eh!? How did you?"

"I was sitting here all the time, you just couldn't sense me," Tia made a cheeky grin.

"...okay, how is this different from invisibility?" Mandy asked, since to her it had looked like no one was sitting on the chair.

"Well, you would still see me if you took a picture or filmed the room," Tia replied.

"Can I try?" Mandy asked.

"Sure." Tia nodded.

A minute later Mandy looked at the room through the pad's lens and then she saw. When she shifted her eyes back to reality, she somewhat started to see Tia again as a very transparent silhouette. There, but not there-- yet the camera lens showed Tia clearly. Weird.

"You can probably see now," Tia said. As she spoke, Mandy saw that the transparency was fully dispelled and Tia had returned to normal.

"Magic is weird," Mandy said.

"Yeah, this one is," Tia nodded.

"August can do that too?"

Tia nodded again. "All of us half-ghosts can. It's our base ability, or talent or what have you."

"Are there people who can shoot lasers from their eyes or set things on fire or shoot fireballs?" Mandy asked.

"The 'set things on fire' ability is pretty common, fireballs can be learned, I haven't met anyone who actually shot lasers, but… probably possible," Tia said and nodded.

Mandy's eyes shone with expectation. "And those who can do magic live in a secret society and humans have no idea?" Basically a common book plot like that? Mandy made a guess.

"Nah, not really, we live normally among others actually," Tia said shaking her hand. "We just have something like a support network and stuff and some people in the media and other places. I mean, normal people can't even see you or astral beings. As long as we make sure no one does anything too crazy, it can be covered up pretty easily. And I mean, normies even help with that by thinking up their explanations of circular thunders and aliens and conspiracy theories." Tia shrugged.

Mandy squinted her eyes and pursed her lips. "So the crazy people talking about magic and stuff aren't really crazy."

"Half of them are, so - the other half can be covered up like that too." Tia had a sneering smile.

"On a more serious note, we even have a normal visit card website 'Galord exorcism services', you can look it up," Tia said with a shrug while still smiling.

Mandy took her up on the offer and typed it in. Truly. A white tone visit card site showed up and listed contacts and 'contact if' with a list of possible supernatural phenomena descriptions. Completely normal, too normal even, if the content is ignored. (Mandy had noticed that August's surname wasn't Gold at the time when she made the online shop order, she had forgotten to ask about it, though.)

"See, easy out in the open," Tia shrugged with a smile.

Mandy nodded, feeling kind of disappointed.

"It also helps that everyone has a different theory of things and that there are so many different religions that contradict each other, so… as long as we just do our own stuff, normies do their own thing and we coexist peacefully like this. Those from our side that try to do the 'big reveal' and stuff get sabotaged. All TV stations have magic erasure barriers in place, so trying leads to huge embarrassment."

Mandy nodded again. "Maybe a dumb question, but wouldn't a secret society make living freer and stuff?"

"History says otherwise," Tia replied. "You know about the witchhunts, right?"

Mandy nodded.

"People are people. They will find stuff that is hidden, they will snoop around closed communities. The more open, yet… nonsensical and crazy it all seems, the easier we can live. And it's not like science is wrong either way, so it also helps if all of us have the common sense of this world."

"It makes sense," Mandy said, resigned to the sad reality that there wouldn't be a secret community she might one day visit.

"Not like I don't get you," Tia said. "Harry Potter-like world seems so much more mysteriously exciting."

"Harry Potter?" Mandy asked.

"Oh! Either read the books or watch the movies, those are really fun!" Tia made a recommendation.

"Will try to remember," Mandy nodded.

"They are really inaccurate when it comes to the supernatural, but the theory is awesome. That book might have become a basis for another religion if it was written some centuries ago." Tia laughed.

A serious info-bomb had been dropped, but before Mandy could ask more, the faint light in the corridor faded out and Mandy's eyes were drawn by the change.

Tia followed Mandy's gaze and got up. "Oh, it's done," she said and ran over there.

Mandy floated after.

"It's all wet--" Tia pursed her lips while lifting up her clothes. There was no trace of the goo like it had never been there, but the water was just like it had been before. Some of it had evaporated, but the clothes were still soaked and wet.

Tia took out her cell phone from one of the pockets and brushed some water off of it, then made a call, asking her sister to pick her up. The only explanation Tia gave was that her clothes were wet, so she needed a lift. She gave the address and after sharing some minor details, the call was over just like that.

Luckily Tia's boots weren't wet, so she put them on and gathered up her wet clothes, draining some water in the bowl that was still here.

"Do you have a plastic bag of some sort?" Tia asked.

Mandy nodded and got one. Some of the stuff she ordered had been packed in some and Mandy had kept those thinking they might come to some use.

"Can I take some muffins with me?" Tia asked then after the wet clothes had been put in the bag.

"Ah, sure!" Mandy smiled.

"August, do you want a muffin?" Mandy called out.

"You can leave one," August replied, not raising his eyes from the screen.

Having that reply, Mandy packed the rest and passed them to the departing Tia. Mandy cast a scrutinizing look at the Blonde. Tia… well, just running downstairs dressed in a oversized shirt and shorts ought to be… fine, right? Mandy squinted. It shouldn't be right, but… not like Mandy had any better ideas. August didn't have a spare coat, as far as she knew.

Tia gave Mandy a hug and smiled. "See you later." She didn't comment at the expression Mandy made.

"See you," Mandy replied likewise.

"Bye August!" Tia called out.

"Byee," August replied, still not raising his face from the screen.

That seemed to be fine with Tia, as she turned around and left the apartment, running down the stairs. Mandy's expression became a little bit lonely as she closed the door, but she said nothing and returned inside. There was a book she was looking forward to reading, and she could also check out the Harry book after reading August's book.

As August was eating the muffin, Mandy thought of asking why he changed only his surname for the pseudonym. The answer was - "Spellcheck tried to turn 'Galord' into 'Gaylord' so 'Gold' seemed like a safer bet." Another disappointing reveal.