Prologue

"He didn't succeed."

The man sighed. "A shame. He was the only one whose spirit was fiery enough to go after that girl. I guess we have to seek another man."

"Not really, brother," the girl shrugged. "Why don't we just go by ourselves? It can be fun, seeing a town we've never seen. Besides, I heard that girl was cute."

"Really?"

"Yup. Besides, that horny boy's so cute. I want to see him. Oh, and the girl's still young."

Her brother nodded. "Better, then. Much more time with our little sis after we resurrect her."

"And, if we want to, much more time to live! I mean, c'mon, man. You don't want to have an eternal life?"

"We must die anyway. Grow up, little sis."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Can we approach her now? Maybe to scare her a little bit? Oh, I know! Let's just kidnap her!"

"We can't do things recklessly! They're a bunch of people working with the law enforcement. We have to make a plan first."

"Humph. Fine. When will we go after her, then? Make a deadline."

"… about a year?"

"That's so long!"

"If we show up too early they'll be suspicious! Besides, that guy's still in coma. Wait a little longer until he wakes up, so they'll think that he was the bad guy, again, not us! That way we'll have much safer approach. As long as you keep your mouth shut."

"Fine." The girl snorted. "But waiting is so boring! Why don't we do something while waiting?"

"Like what? Killing others?" her brother asked mockingly.

The girl blinked and rushed to a bookshelf, took a large, large book that was even larger and thicker from the thickest law book you can get, and flipped through the pages then smiled triumphantly. "Actually, that's a great idea."

"What in the world?"

"Yes, darling brother, that was a great idea. You know, maybe if we have the same ability as that girl, it'll be a lot easier to approach her. You see, according to this book, if one gets sprayed by seventy seven different man's blood, then one will be able to see the dead. And, ooh, one can even control the dead if he wants to! Of course, with much practice it is, and it's really, really exhausting. But controlling the dead? How awesome would that be?"

The man rubbed his chin. "Hm… even though your idea sounds crazy, it seems rather interesting. Control the dead? That's one ability one would love to die for. So, you're ready for some hunting?"

Elisa Murray got insomnia. A lot.

And unfortunately this night she got that again.

Ellie sat up and looked at the sleeping Kailani beside her, clearly annoyed. That little bluebird had just woke her up from her slumber.

Ellie sighed and looked at the clock. She almost screamed when she saw the time. One A.M wasn't a good time to wake up when you have insomnia. She really wanted to scream but she knew she shouldn't. She was sleeping in the agency, below the same roof Phoenix, Apollo, Trucy, Thalassa, Pearl and Maya were sleeping. She didn't want to wake them up. Especially not at one in the morning.

She huffed. The reason why she got insomnia a lot was probably because she was such a light sleeper. Even the slightest noise could wake her up from her deepest sleep. Though she slept like a corpse (not moving at all, face paled slightly, never snore or sleeptalk except when she was sick), she'll wake up just like she didn't go to sleep.

She stood and walked to the bathroom. She thought about waking Kailani to accompany her, just in case there was a ghost coming, but she shook her head. Nope, Kailani would be mad. Besides, it was just a bathroom! What was the worst thing that could possibly happen? But she sighed anyway. She wanted a company. She really missed Skye. That blackbird wouldn't be mad at her because she woke him up in the middle of the night. Ellie groaned. She really didn't need to think about that. Grieving for Skye yet again was the last thing she needed.

She reached her hand out for the door handle. How long had it been since the burning bridge incident? Four months? It felt much longer than that. And she missed Skye, a lot. Sure, Kailani was okay, but she wasn't Skye. Ellie just didn't know why she thought having Kailani instead of Skye would be a good idea. In fact, she wondered why she accepted Kailani from her grandmother in the first place. It looked like a good idea at first… but not really, no. Kailani wasn't as alert as Skye. Sometimes Ellie had to yell in surprise when a ghost suddenly appeared in front of her just because Kailani didn't act as her shield like she should be.

Ellie opened the door and closed it behind her, locking it though she knew no one would come in. It was a habit. She reached to turn on the lamp, letting herself shrouded in darkness for a moment.

In that moment, suddenly she felt a tugging sensation in her stomach, a sensation she always felt whenever she was about to see a ghost. But the tugging felt different. Weaker than usual, yet more intense. Then the light flicked to life.

And she screamed loudly.

In front of her was a spirit. His face was bloody, a gash visible at his temple, and his throat was slit open. He opened his mouth and spoke in hoarse voice,

"Help me… please stop the pain…"

Ellie dropped to her knees, her body trembled in fright. She never saw such a bloody spirit before.

Suddenly, the door was banged hard. "Ellie! You okay in there? Open the door!"

"Please stop the pain… please stop it…" the spirit was crying now. "Please…" then, he gasped (if he was breathing) "But, but don't use your gift. Don't! Or you'll be hurt!"

The door crashed open. The spirit looked at Ellie one last time, muttering the word 'please' one last time, and vanished.

And just like that, Ellie fainted.

A/N: There, the prologue is done. Just like I promised, I write a sequel for Blackbird. If you haven't read Blackbird, I suggest you to read that first. This story will make more sense if you read that first.

I know, this chapter isn't really that long, so I'll make sure the next one will be longer. I'll update as fast as I could. And Skye's death in the first story is important! That's why I make this story's title 'Beyond the Grave'. Besides, if the two titles are read together they'll be 'Blackbird Beyond the Grave'.

And I guess that's it. Reviews please, I really want to know what's on your mind.