Chapter 20

Dio was pretty used to this place after living here for a while. The woman who watches over him works at the Smithsonian Museum, so she doesn't spend much time at home during the week.

On the weekends, she gives him her full attention.

Diana knows a lot about Greek history, but Dio doesn't. When she found out this about him, she lost a bit of interest in him.

When Diana suddenly said that he had seen the underworld, it changed everything. She is now waiting for him to learn something new.

That wasn't a big deal because Julia wasn't a bad person; she was just really into her work.

Dio's relationship with Julia is good, but the same can't be said for her daughter, Vanessa. From day one, he understood that everything she does is a cry for help.

After a month of observing her, he finally figured out why.

Julia spends a lot of time traveling, and when she's at home, she only does research or learns about Diana. This leaves Vanessa on the sidelines.

This is why she was on a path to rebellion.

So Dio tried to pay attention to her.

In fact, he would be happy to have her as a friend. At first, it worked, even when her mom pushed me away until she learned about the underworld.

Dio worked hard for weeks, but it was all over in an instant. Now she won't talk to him, which is a lot worse than when she was with Diana.

She still treats Diana like a family member by at least answering her questions and being nice. But she doesn't talk to me at all.

Dio looked around the room and then went for the stairs to the second floor. But he stopped when he saw Vanessa sitting on the steps with beer cans around her.

"Vanessa?"

Dio called out as she looked at him.

She was dressed in standard goth clothes—a black shirt with black pants—but her hairstyle had changed; she now had a blue mohawk.

"What do you want?"

Vanessa asked, and it looked like she was about to fall over.

Dio walked up to her, placed down his books to free up his hands, grabbed her hand, made her stand up, and picked her up gently as if she were a princess.

"Let's go to your bed."

Dio said it soothingly.

"Mmm,"

Vanessa mumbled, as she was already falling asleep on his chest.

Dio easily carried her upstairs to her room, opened the door, and got a surprise.

Dio was seriously expecting something like Dracula's dungeon, but it turns out her room is filled with pink plush toys and a few posters with Diana's image on the walls.

Dio carefully laid her on the bed and covered her. He was about to leave the room when he noticed the diary.

Of course, he wouldn't stoop so low as to read a teenager's diary, but one glance at the page was enough for him to read the one she left open, thanks to his enhanced vision.

"Dear diary, Mom forgot my birthday again."

There was only one line there. She now feels good about drinking at home and doesn't care about what will happen.

Dio thinks it's time to ask Diana for help, as things are getting dangerous.

Dio picked up a pen lying next to the diary, crossed out her words, and wrote his message.

"Happy birthday, Vanessa; I hope you'll realize that your happiness depends not on others but on yourself."

It sounds cheesy, but he's no poet. Dio left her room and returned to the stairs, where his books and her beer cans were lying.

Vanessa's mom has already forgotten her birthday, so she definitely doesn't need any more punishment.

After getting rid of the teenage crime scene evidence, he took his books and went to the second-floor shelves to look for an old Greek dictionary.

Obviously, he didn't find one.

So, Dio used what he had—a Greek dictionary and an online translator.

There wasn't much progress, and when he said "slow," he meant four hours of translation and a lot of patience.

It wasn't a perfect translation, but it was understandable.

What Dio thought at first about the book turned out to be true. He worked on translating parts of a book about ghosts for four hours straight.

There are different ways for a necromancer to use souls, but ghosts are not souls at all.

It is "natural" for them to be born that way.

They can't be created; a necromancer can steal someone's soul and bind it, but that doesn't turn the soul into a ghost.

The book didn't provide any additional information on how they are born, but there were plenty of theories on the Internet.

The most convincing one was that souls end up trapped in this plane of existence because they left unfinished business on Earth.

The good news is that they are almost harmless.

According to the book, that doesn't happen often because some are strong enough to move things or take over human bodies.

The book also mentioned that necromancers tame ghosts, not to use them in battle but to curse someone.

It seems they can somehow make a ghost torment a person.

That's a totally stupid use.

If Dio had to use them, it would be for spying; they are perfect secret agents since most beings can't see them, and they are almost impossible to hurt.

But their lack of intelligence makes that difficult.

Even though these four hours of research finally suppressed my fear of ghosts, Dio still wanted to know what his abilities could do with them.

Last time, when Dio encountered the homeless man, he didn't take any action because he was being watched.

But now, knowing there's no danger, he can try.

Then Dio waited a few more hours; it's not safe to do it before then.

The clock strikes midnight after he spends three more hours practicing his magic and doing schoolwork.

Finally, midnight.

When Julia got home half an hour ago, she skipped the kitchen and went straight to her room. At this very moment, she is lying in bed and calling someone at the museum.

Vanessa is still in her room, sleeping.

When he uses his super-hearing, he feels nervous and like he's doing something wrong, but that feeling quickly fades when he remembers that Superman listens to the entire world almost every day.

...

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