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Chapter 1

"Sky? Where are you hiding?"

"Sky?!"

"Hello, Mystic Mia. Thank you for joining me," said the woman in front of her. She was dressed in traditional acolyte garb and they were in a dark, candle lit room, so Mia thought she was being channeled.

"Hello," she replied. "Do I-"

"No." The woman interrupted her. "No, you don't know me. My name is Arcaine Elizabeth." She got up and relit a dwindling candle.

I nodded. "I don't mean to be rude, but… why have you channeled me?"

"I… need your help. I don't know where else to turn."

No worries. I'm not doing anything for the next… eternity. "Okay. What's wrong?"

Arcaine sat silently for a few seconds. "My daughter, she's… missing. I've waited so long for her, but she's not coming back. I thought you could help me."

"Of course." I said. "Tell me what happened."

"It was my daughter's birthday," Arcaine's voice took on the hardened tone of a well-recalled story. "She was seven. I took her out of Kurain, for a visit to a boat. She loved boats… being on the sea, feeling the breeze…" the woman's voice trailed off, into a wistful smile.

I was reluctant to pull the woman away from this happy place. "What happened next?"

"I turned around one second, and she was gone! I searched and searched, but I couldn't find her!" Arcaine shook her head. "I could swear… I heard her cry my name, carried on the breeze."

I left her alone to her thoughts for a few minutes, then asked: "How long ago was this?"

"Ten years ago," came the reply. "She is seventeen now."

"Do you…" I hated to have to ask this question. "Do you think she might be… dead?"

Arcaine shook her head fiercely. "I have tried many times to channel her. No attempts were successful."

I considered this for a few moments. Does that really mean she's not dead? I think Arcaine would be able to channel her if she really was. "I would love to help you, but I'm only a lawyer. I'm not a detective. I can't find her with no leads."

"I have an idea who took my daughter." Arcaine said. "Her… father."

Ah. It wouldn't be the first time a parent kidnapped a child. "So you're separated?"

"We were never really together. Her father is… well, as soon as he knew I was pregnant, he wanted to take my baby away from me. He said he didn't want his child growing up in this 'hippie colony'."

It all fit together. "You think he took her to keep her from growing up a medium?"

Arcaine's head lowered menacingly. "I know he did."

I tried to recap Arcaine's story. It was her daughter's seventh birthday, and she was kidnapped on a boat. If someone was planning to kidnap her like this, they'd need to know her birthday. This meant a family member or friend. This, added to the fact he wanted his daughter away from her mother, meant the kidnapper could well be her dad.

"What's her dad's name?" I asked.

"John. John Potts." Arcaine told me. "My daughter's name is Skylar. She looks like this." She handed me a well-loved photo – there was a white crease in the middle, and the corners were bent and frayed.

The little girl in the photo was adorable. Big, brown, down-turned eyes and a little nose that curved up at the end. She really was cute. She had long brown hair; a little tuft was tied up and stuck out on top of her head. Skylar certainly looked memorable, and I was sure if I saw her now I could recognise her. I kept a mental picture of her.

Arcaine took the photo and returned it carefully to her pocket. "I don't know where her father lives. Is there some way you can find out?"

I thought about it. "If I have a body, yes."

So Arcaine severed the ties between me and the medium that was channeling me. A few minutes later, she channelled me herself.

Time to get to work.

I stared up at the sign above the front door. The front door of the office that used to be mine. 'Wright and Co. Law Offices' it read. I opened the door.

"Mia?" said Phoenix. "Who's channeling you?"

I shook my head. "I'll explain later. I need you to access any criminal record for a 'John Potts'. And make it snappy." I ordered.

"Yes, chief!" Obliged Phoenix. I was dead and he still considered me his chief.

We went to the Police Department. Apparently there was a detective there named "Gumshoe", who would blab about anything. And apparently he always hung around outside the station.

Sure enough he was there. He was fiddling around with a giant, blue… waving thing. Phoenix approached him: "Hi… pal."

Gumshoe scratched his head. "What are you doing here, pal? Nothing's going on at the moment."

"Yeah…" said Phoenix apprehensively. "I need to know about… uh, you see, I, um," he stuttered.

I swooped in to save him. "We need to access the criminal record of a guy called John Potts. It's very important. I thought you'd be able to help us."

Gumshoe looked hesitant. "I'm not saying anything, pal. But I tell you what, I'll see if we have anything in the records department."

I smiled at him. "Thank you. I knew you'd be able to help us."

He trundled inside to look for the file.

"So." Began Phoenix. "Are you ever going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

I told him about being channelled and speaking to Arcaine Elizabeth; about how her daughter had been kidnapped by her father. Hopefully. I thought. Or we're screwed.

A few minutes later Gumshoe reappeared, holding a sheet of paper. "I had to photocopy it. I didn't trust you with the original."

I took it gratefully. "Thanks… Detective. It's great of you to help us." Before he could reply I was off. This was John Potts's criminal record, and it did have an address on it. Fingers crossed.

.~.~.~.

There was a car in the driveway of 22 Port Street. A rusted, green Ford from a couple of decades ago. Nice. Vintage.

The house itself wasn't well looked after, but it looked homely enough. The grass was unkempt, but the windows were clean. There were leaves crawling up the walls, but there was a child's swing set, rusting away in the corner of the garden.

I surveyed the windows. The big one at the bottom showed me the front room, obviously, because there was a sofa and a television set. On the first floor one of the windows looked into a dark room. I couldn't gather any details. But in the other first floor window was a… teddy bear? Could it be Skylar's room?

I opened the gate into the back garden. I tiptoes around the side of the house, and peered around. I felt sneaky, like a criminal. I guess I am trespassing.

Sitting on a bench looking out onto a river was a girl, or more accurately, a young woman. She had a book in one hand, but I couldn't see what it was she was reading.

What should I do now? Should I walk over boldly, or should I call to her?

Because I was a woman and I thought she would trust me, I called. "Skylar?"

She put down her book and turned her head.

I called again. "Skylar, over here!" She looked over.

"Hello?" she asked timidly. It must be weird, having a strange woman call to you from the side of your house. Even weirder if they're dead.

"Can I talk to you a second? I'm… lost."

She walked over cautiously. "How do you know my name?"

"I…" I opted for the truth. "I have something to tell you. It's… strange, but very important. I need you to trust me and talk to me."

She looked petrified. I lifted the photo of her out of my pocket and passed it to her. She took it tentatively from my hand and opened it. Her face crumpled. "W-Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of your mother's." I said. "She's been looking for you for ten years. I've helped her find you."

She gazed blankly at me. "My… mother?"

I didn't know how I was going to get her to believe me. "Yes. Arcaine Elizabeth."

She nodded. "I knew – I knew my last name was Elizabeth. I'm not stupid, like my dad said."

"I'll explain the whole story, but we have to be somewhere where your father won't kick me out." I told her.

She nodded. "He's out. You can come and sit over here." I followed her back to the bench.

I exhaled as I began to tell my story. I even told her at the end that I was really a spirit, being channelled, and that this was her mother's body.

"Wow." She said. "You're really a spirit?"

I nodded. "Yes. You can see your mother now."

And I left Arcaine's body. I watched as mother and daughter were reunited. Then I returned to the spirit world.

.~.~.~.

"Mia?" asked a voice, light and girly.

"Hello again. What's the update?" I asked.

"Well," began Skylar. "I came back to live with my Mum. There is so much I have to catch up on, but I always knew I was different. I can remember Mum telling me about spirit channeling when I was a child!" she blurted.

Arcaine laughed. "Mystic Mia… thank you so much for bringing my daughter back to me. I can't thank you enough."

I smiled. "Just seeing how happy you two are is worth it. I'm glad everything was sorted out in the end."

"Are you going to help other people now?" said Skylar. "I want to help you too."

"What?" I asked.

The girl's eyebrows furrowed. "You know – help others. You're good at it. And I want to help people too."

I frowned. "I wasn't planning to start up a business. I'm just a spirit."

"Exactly!" said Skylar exasperatedly. "My mother can channel you, and you and me can help others." She trailed off. "Before you found me I missed my mother. I had no way of knowing where she was… my dad wouldn't tell me. You and me can make other people so happy too!"

I was hesitant. "Well-"

"Don't well me. Not being rude or anything, but you're dead. You might as well work with me."

I contemplated it. It… didn't sound like that bad an idea, every once in a while. "Okay, if someone asks you for help, your mother can channel me and we'll do it." I was mainly humouring her.

Skylar looked over the moon. "That's great! I'm so lucky to have my life back. We can make a lot of people very happy too!"

And that was how I took on the role of private detective. It was hard not to like the idea, with Skylar's enthusiasm. And now I was dead, it's not like I have other plans! We'll give it our best shot, but it's not the easiest line of work; especially when you're doing it from the other side.