Chat With The Undead

"Do we make a good team or what?" Lilly said as they walked out of the academy after class.

Jason shrugged. "It was mostly Miles; he came up with the plan."

Two of their fellow students walked past, shooting approving glances Miles' way and smiling. Miles couldn't understand it—he hadn't done anything extraordinary. All he had done was think outside of the box a little in Captain R's class and punch a couple creatures the previous night. But all day people had been looking at him differently, as if he was superior, or just different than them, and that was before Captain R made a big show of him figuring out his puzzle. Miles didn't want attention, he just wanted to do what he had to do and go back to living a normal life. Was that really too much to ask for?

Miles decided to voice his thoughts. "I'm not even doing that much different. I just happened to have an idea."

"An idea that impressed the hardest person in the world to bloody impress," said Caspar.

"And you saved me and the new kids from those monsters," Lilly added.

"Oh, and you found Spirit," Jason chimed in.

The others nodded and Miles attempted to change the subject, not liking to dwell on things he did or didn't do. "We should go and visit him again."

Caspar laughed. "He's not our bloody pet, mate. He's a ghost."

"He might have answers," said Miles.

"What is it with you and answers?" Caspar asked. "Sometimes we're all left in the dark and there's nothing we can do to change it. It's just the way things are."

"But what if the spirit thing knows something?"

"Why would it tell us if it did?" Jason argued. "And besides, we got in enough trouble last time we went into the basement without permission. Why would we go back again?"

"I think Miles is right," said Lilly. "I mean, ghosts aren't supposed to exist. It being here must mean something."

Caspar thought about it. "So, let's just say we find Spirit. What then? I mean, the thing isn't exactly talkative."

Lilly looked at Miles, who said, "I can get it to talk. We just need it to get that we're not trying to hurt it, we just want to understand it."

Caspar gave in, and Miles could see in his eyes that he was already hungry for another adventure. "Alright, lead the way, captain."

Miles, Jason, Caspar, and Lilly walked back into the academy, where they ran promptly into Ms. Lisa.

"School's over," she said smugly.

"Think we don't know that?" challenged Caspar.

"Watch your tone with me, boy," Ms. Lisa warned.

"Sorry," Caspar said, not looking the least bit sorry. "What I meant to say was that another teacher has already informed our ignorant selves that school has ended, and we understood them perfectly, believe it or not."

Ms. Lisa narrowed her eyes menacingly. "Yet you are returning to this building. Why?"

"None of your—"

Miles cut Caspar off, saying, "We came for extra tutoring with Ms. Lukeson."

"Yes," agreed Lilly. "We four just can't seem to grasp the concept that 300 million alveoli make up the human lung."

Ms. Lisa frowned at the mention of her fellow teacher. "I don't recommend you go to her for extra lessons."

"Why not?" asked Miles.

Ms. Lisa opened her mouth, closed it, then settled on, "Science isn't worth it."

"Turns out you're not wrong about everything," Caspar muttered. "But we are required to pass the class, no matter how pointless, so..."

"Fine, go on then," Ms. Lisa frowned. "I'll be watching you all, though. You four are troublemakers if I've ever seen any."

Miles, Jason, Caspar, and Lilly got away from Ms. Lisa as fast as they could, going up to the second floor to mislead Ms. Lisa and not cause any more suspicion.

"I hate her," Caspar said once they were on the second floor. Miles and Jason murmured their agreement. Lilly was still on the staircase, peeking down every couple of seconds to see if Ms. Lisa was still there.

After what seemed like eternity, Lilly breathed out a sigh of relief. "She's gone."

"About bloody time," Caspar said. "What was she doing there for so long anyway?"

"Probably thinking of tomorrow's torture of a class," answered Jason.

The group descended back onto the first floor and this time were able to make it into the basement without being spotted. Miles opened the first door on the left and stepped through it, hearing the others follow behind him. Sure enough, the ghost that Caspar had dubbed "Spirit" sat sprawled in the corner of the room like a blue glow in the dark room. Miles took a deep intake of breath, as he always did when he saw Spirit. The creature sort of disturbed Miles when he looked closer at it—a figure of a boy that looked a year or two (maybe more) younger than Miles and his friends. The boy had the permanent indent of a scared look on his face, the only reason Miles trusted it to not attack them.

"Are ya reading its mind or did you fall asleep?"

Caspar's voice dragged Miles out of his thoughts and caused the ghost to shrink back even further, a feat Miles had deemed impossible.

"Right," said Miles, suddenly noticing the fact that everyone in the room was staring directly at him. It made him uncomfortable, like he was expected to give a speech but had none prepared. "Okay." The word came out sounding like a declaration, earning a snicker from Caspar.

"I get you don't talk, or just don't want to talk, and that's okay. I'll do the talking. All I need you to do is listen," this time Miles' voice came out softer, and the creature relaxed a little. A little. "My name is Miles. These are my new friends, Caspar, Jason, and Lilly." Caspar raised his hand at the mention of his name, and Lilly and Jason followed suit. Miles continued. "We go to school here, I guess. We were sent here because we can do things that other people can't. We have special abilities, and we're learning how to use them to fight for our freedom, I guess."

"A little less guessing, maybe?" Jason advised quietly.

"Right, yeah, thanks," Miles whispered back, before addressing Spirit again. "Look, you don't have to tell us anything, but we were wondering who you are, and how you got here."

The ghost regarding Miles for a couple moments more before opening its mouth slowly.

"Myyy.... nameee.... Bennn...," Spirit's voice came out as almost a hiss, seeming to elongate the end of every word.

"Your name is Ben?" Lilly said. "Should we call you Ben, then?"

The creature took his time forming more words, and regarded Lilly for even longer before deciding it was safe to speak up once more. "Myyy....nameee wasss.... Bennn. Nowww I ammm.... nooo longerrr...," Spirit's voice seemed to falter, eventually fading away. It was probably tired from talking. Miles suspected he'd run out of conversation topics with the walls a long time ago.

"Okay Ben, how are you, you know... here?" Miles asked, struggling to word the question correctly.

"Dooo nottt... calll meee Bennn." Spirit hissed. "Thattt isss nottt myyy nameee anymoreee..."

The ghost seemed to stutter less and less as it kept talking.

"So we can keep calling you Spirit?" asked Caspar, who had apparently become fond of the name.

Spirit did not respond, so Miles took it as a yes.

"So Spirit, how did you become like..." Miles didn't know how to properly ask the question burning in his mind.

"Deaddd?" the ghost didn't even flinch that time.

"Well... yeah."

"I wasss broughttt hereee sooo I coulddd stayyy safeee frommm theee evilll mennn."

"Well that obviously didn't work out too well, ay?" Caspar said, earning him a glowering glance from Lilly. Spirit acted as if he hadn't heard him and continued.

"I starteddd tooo learnnn tooo useee myyy powersss innn self-defenseee. I gottt prettyyy gooddd attt ittt tooo. Thennn I wasss killeddd."

Miles felt Lilly let out a long sigh—she seemed to have taken fondly to the ghost.

"Necron found you?" Miles guessed.

But Spirit shook his head, or at least that's what Miles thought he was trying to do.

"Necronnn coulddd neverrr comeee innn onnn the academyyy groundsss. Theee wholeee placeee isss lockeddd frommm theee insideee."

Miles glanced over at his friends. Jason and Lilly were still listening to Spirit, but Caspar was staring right back at Miles and Miles knew they were thinking the same thing. If the grounds were locked from the inside, how did the Necron men get in the previous night?

Spirit looked down at the floor, tearing Miles from his thoughts. "I wasss killeddd byyy someoneee innn theee academyyy."

With that, Spirit took off through the ceiling, leaving Miles and his friends staring at each other.

"Someone in the academy?" surprisingly it was the mostly-shy Jason who broke the silence.

"Why would someone kill a fellow student?" Lilly looked horrified.

Miles shook his head. "I don't think it was a student. No, it would like to be someone in the inner circle at the academy."

"Like a teacher?" asked Jason.

Miles nodded.

"That's crazy," said Lilly. "No teacher would kill a kid!"

"Miles is right," Caspar said. "There's a sort of force field barrier around the academy grounds, the one Spirit was talking about. Necron wouldn't have been able to get through Doc's barrier if a staff member didn't disable it."

"That just doesn't make sense," Lilly said. "What teacher would kill a student? I mean, that's insane!"

"Can you really not think of one teacher who might want to kill us?" Caspar asked.

Lilly put a hand over her mouth as she realized who he was referring to. "You can't possibly mean Ms. Lisa."

Caspar shrugged and Jason lowered his head in thought, so Lilly looked over at Miles for support.

Miles sighed. "She's mean, but I don't think she would actually kill a student, no matter how much she threatens to."

"Thank you!" breathed Lilly, probably feeling relieved that not all of her new friends were crazy.

"But," Miles continued, "when I did first see Spirit, it was in Ms. Lisa's classroom..."

Jason lifted his head. "And when Ms. Lisa found us down here, she was furious. Maybe too furious."

Lilly walked out of the room and over to the stairs, saying, "She's always furious, that doesn't mean anything. You guys are insane. That's a serious accusation!"

Miles, Jason, and Caspar followed her up the basement stairs and out of the academy.

"What if she is the traitor Spirit was talking about?" asked Jason. "What are we going to do?"

Caspar punched the palm of his hand enthusiastically, but Miles shook his yet. "Nothing, yet. We'll keep an eye on her, just until we know for sure she's really the traitor."

"What if there isn't actually a traitor?" Lilly asked. "I mean, we're basing all of this off of words from a ghost, right?"

"And on how those Necron blokes busted right in last night," Caspar added. "Maybe Ms. Lisa lifted the force field at just the right time so that they'd both make it through."

"That still isn't enough," Lilly sounded determined, turning to face the three boys.

"No, it's not," Miles agreed. "Not yet."

Lilly let out a sigh. "Well, I'm going back to my cabin. I've had enough conspiracies for the day. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Lilly broke off from the group and headed toward the girls' cabins.

"We should go to the teachers with this, right?" Jason asked after Lilly was gone.

"You're bloody crazy," Caspar replied. "They'll think it's all a load of codswallop."

"Yeah, Caspar's right," Miles said, shaking his head. "They won't believe anything we say unless we have proof."

"Okay," said Jason, "so how do we get proof?"

Miles and Caspar looked at each other and smiled.

Caspar nodded at Miles, who said, "We have a plan."