Chapter 2

Everyone looked at Thalassa and Ellie in surprise.

"Mom, you have a sister?" Trucy asked in surprise.

"Had," Thalassa corrected. "But not many people knows."

"Maya, you said she's your relative, right?" Phoenix asked.

"Yes," Maya answered.

"So how come she's a Gramarye too?"

"I can explain that," Ellie smiled, but Apollo, Trucy and Thalassa knew immediately that it wasn't a happy smile even though she seemed very happy at the time. "After all, if you really know the truth you probably don't want to let me stay anymore."

"Then tell us, so we can decide," Phoenix looked at her intensely. In his pocket, he gripped his magatama, ready to see if Ellie was hiding something.

"I'll start at the beginning," Ellie started. "My grandmother is a Fey."

"That's the beginning? You get to the point so fast," Trucy commented.

"I'm kind of a straightforward girl," Ellie shrugged. "Anyway, she was supposed to be the next Master because of her amazing spiritual power, even though she's actually from the Branch Family. The Master herself wanted to give the position to her, not to the original candidate of the Main Family. However, Gramma has the spirit of a traveler. She hates the idea to be 'trapped' in Kurain Village, bound by the duties of the Master, so she left, giving the Master position to her older sister."

Ellie looked around. "Do you have any water? I'm thirsty, thanks to someone who made me wait for three hours in the train station," she eyed Maya who smiled sheepishly. Skye chirped angrily at Maya as Apollo gave Ellie a glass of water. She gulped it down immediately.

"Anyway," Ellie continued, giving Skye a berry as she did, "Gramma traveled a lot to her town now. There, she met a Japanese traveler named Hajime Kimura. Well you know that stuff… they fell in love, traveled together for a while, then they came back to that city and the boy proposed the girl, then they married and had a child… a son in this case, my father." Ellie looked up as she watched Skye flew around the room. "My father was a bit of a traveler too, and he asked to travel by himself one day. My grandparents agreed, of course. So he went and he met my mom."

Thalassa cut in at that point. "Galatia Gramarye. She was a fine woman. Pretty and wonderful, as people usually said. But she lacked magic, one thing that Gramaryes love very much. So my father refused to let her get seen in public and she decided to be our chamberlain. One day she went out to take a walk and met a guy… Thomas Murray, Ellie's father. He fell for her instantly. At first my sister had no interest in him, but she finally fell for him too. My father didn't approve, of course. He thought our husbands should be performer, too," Thalassa rolled her eyes at the statement, "and Thomas wasn't. But Galatia was… headstrong. Knowing my father wouldn't approve, she actually planned to elope." Thalassa giggled a little. "It turned out that her plan worked. They had such a beautiful baby."

"And what happened about your parents now?" Trucy asked, curious.

Ellie smiled, faint and sad, as she hung her head. "Mom was killed when I was still a baby. Dad couldn't bring himself to look at me because I resemble Mom too much. When I was five he died in a car accident. My grandparents raised me."

"I'm sorry about that," Trucy said quietly.

Ellie shrugged. "It's okay. I'm okay now."

"Okay, but what's the connection between that and what you said, about we won't let you stay any longer?" Apollo asked, earning Trucy's glare for being insensitive instantly. "What?"

"Well, that's the complicated part," Ellie started to twiddle her thumbs. "Do you know what power the Feys have?"

"Yeah, they can channel the dead, right?" Apollo asked. "Maya almost give me a heart attack every time she channels her sister."

"Hey, it's not that bad," Maya protested. "I did it a lot and Nick never complained."

"Because I've been used to it, Maya," Phoenix raised an eyebrow.

"Well, here's the thing," Ellie continued. "I'm also a Fey, so naturally I'd have the power to channel the dead, right? Actually, wrong. I don't know why, but because I'm also a Gramarye, I can't channel the dead. Instead, I see them."

Phoenix, Apollo, Trucy and Thalassa looked at her in disbelief.

"I want a proof," Apollo finally said.

"Not only I can see them, actually I can also give others that ability," Ellie said again. "I can't prove it if you don't see for yourselves."

"I don't want any connection with the dead," Phoenix retorted. "Having two friends who can channel the dead is creepy enough."

"I don't want it either, I hate ghost stories and stuffs like that," Trucy said, clinging to her father.

"I don't think I'd be fond of ability like that," Thalassa said without hesitation.

"Why don't you do it to Polly?" Pearl asked. "He's the one who asks for proof anyway."

"What?" Apollo looked a bit confused. "Wah! No! I never said that, when did I ever said that?"

"Just a few moments ago," Maya replied with a huge grin across her lips.

"Why not Maya or Pearl?"

"We've known for quite a while that her power is real," Pearl explained. "Some of the spirits channelers in Kurain Village also have the same ability, though usually they could still channel the dead. Mystic Ellie, however, could only see and not channel."

"Pearl, please, I hate that title," Ellie mumbled.

"But I didn't mean I want to see the dead – " Apollo was still protesting, his voice went high-pitched.

"The only way she can prove if she can see spirits is to give you that ability itself," Phoenix cut in. "Now do you want some proof or not?"

Apollo looked at him, then at Ellie, then back at him. "… Yes," he said hesitantly.

"Then so be it," Phoenix leaned comfortably at the couch, chugging down grape juice like water.

"But – "

"Shut it, Polly," Ellie sighed. "Skye, a little help here."

The bird leaped and landed on Ellie's head.

"You name your bird 'Skye'?" Apollo asked.

"Yeah, is there something wrong?" Ellie asked back.

"No, it's just that I have a friend with that name as a surname… never mind."

"Okay, then, let's start," Ellie took a deep breath. "Close your eyes."

Apollo did.

Ellie took another deep breath, then she did what was unexpected. She kissed Apollo's right eyelid softly.

Apollo froze for a moment as Ellie took a step back. Then his eyes snapped open, he blushed, and yelled, "What was that?"

"What? That's the only way I can make you see spirits," Ellie said innocently, sitting on a chair and drank her water. She then gave Skye a grape. "Uh, that really takes much energy… You can see the spirits now, but I made it so only your right eye sees ghosts, so if you don't want to see them just cover it up."

"I haven't seen any ghost, how do I know you're not just making things up?"

"Easy. Look at the kitchen."

Apollo shifted his gaze to the kitchen and yelped. A bald man, probably in his mid-sixties, was standing near the sink. He looked just like any other old man Apollo had seen before, expect that he glowed in eerie white glow and his legs seemed to melt into nothingness. the old man looked at him and smiled, then he vanished.

"What was…"

"Yup, a ghost," Ellie nodded. "A friendly one, that is. Only passing by, Phoenix, don't worry. He went away just a moment ago."

Phoenix, who looked pale at the news that he had a ghost in his kitchen, sighed in relief.

"Okay, I saw it, now I believe in you," Apollo looked at Ellie. "Now can you make me not being able to see the dead again?"

Ellie shot him a weird look. "Oh, I haven't told you about this, have I…"

"About what?" Apollo asked, having a bad feeling all of a sudden.

"It's not the kind of ability that you can throw away just like that… Once you have that ability you'll have it forever. So, no, I can't make you not being able to see the spirits again."

Apollo's face went pale and he slumped back at the couch. "… I'm so dead…"