We held a wake for Ryan since I couldn't exactly go off telling his mother that his disembodied spirit spoke to me in my dreams. I could be committed, and, then, where would this story go? Anyway, the following week was touch and go for everyone. Kayla was an emotional mess and Jamie accepted a challenge from a teacher to not spar for days (abnormal at best- the guy has a death wish, I tell you) and pass a test that he would, under normal circumstances, not pass. However, based on the feelings I- and Jamie- kept getting, I knew Ryan was around watching over us. All would be well.
I didn't actually hear anything from Ryan until almost a week after his wake when his family's house (and his, still-living body- I guess his alcoholic mother, Aileen, discovered that he was breathing before they started to do any burial rituals to his body) nearly burned down. Kayla, the poor thing, had to rescue him. From what I heard, she almost died, but a mysterious, blue glow surrounded her. Somehow, she was able to escape safely. I wouldn't find out until later that this was Ryan supposedly sacrificing his chance at life to rescue the one he loved- his real trial. I wish I hadn't gone home that night. I would've helped Kayla rescue our mutual friend. After the trial was passed, Ryan informed me that he just had to wait for a certain day when he needed someone to kiss him, in order to come back to life.
Now, normally, I wouldn't trust a guy when he tried to tell me something like that, but with Ryan it was different. I believed him. He needed living energy- I just knew it. It was my innate spiritual senses kicking in- not that I would be telling anybody about them for a while. On the given day, Monday, after school, I dragged Kayla to Ryan's new apartment. This one wasn't trashed by his mother and her drinking buddies yet. I secretly intended to make sure that it stayed that way after remembering the state of the old place during several visits to care for Ryan's body.
We let ourselves in with the key Aileen had given Kayla- apparently potential girlfriends get this privilege in Aileen's eyes. I imagine it is so Aileen can cover up her neglect of Ryan by letting someone else share in his caretaking.
We walked to Ryan's new bedroom and I uncovered him to find that the golden hue that Ryan had explained to me had already crawled all the way up to his shoulders during the day. "You've gotta kiss him, Kayla. Otherwise, he won't come back." I looked at her, wishing she would hurry up. I mean, we did still have about six hours left, but why wait? Maybe I should tell her to wait for a few hours just to make him sweat. I would love to see his reaction to that.
She hesitated with the cutest look of innocence on her face, like she felt dirty for getting ready to kiss a comatose guy. "Why does it have to be me? Why not you? How do you know all of this, Bella?"
"Kayla, I know that this is seriously fucked up, I mean, we had a wake and everything, but I need you to not question me right now. Please kiss him. I will explain everything later." I still hadn't told her- or anyone for that matter- about my powers or the Cullen's. I wasn't ready to. For now, it would be only my burden. Maybe, one day, I'll feel comfortable enough to talk about my experiences, but I needed to keep this close to my chest for now in order to hold myself together. I still had too many open wounds regarding the Cullen's to speak openly about my time with them.
Kayla clicked her tongue at me in the most condescending way I could imagine, kind of like Alice would when I wouldn't agree to be her Barbie doll. Then, as if pretending the moment didn't happen, she knelt down next to him. "Fine. Today, I'll let it slide, but I'm going to want answers soon." She turned her head away with a smug smile.
I wanted to growl at her and say some not-so-nice things, but I am a fucking lady. "What the fuck." I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes instead before saying loudly. "We'll see."
She ever so slowly brought her lips down onto his and I could almost feel the love radiate throughout the room. They might not even know it yet, but they loved one another very much.
What Kayla thought Ryan and I had together was nothing compared to this. Our new friendship couldn't hold a candle to this old, childhood love. Admittedly, I was jealous of what they had. I couldn't imagine myself finding something like this. I am damaged. I am drawn to and stuck within a very supernatural world. I would be lucky to find anything like this. The force of their love almost brought me to my knees. I smiled for them until I noticed something odd.
It might just be me, but it seemed to almost take too long for Ryan's spirit to make it back into his body- almost like it didn't quite stick right. I mean, it is kind of an unnatural process, right? Coming back to life must take a lot of energy and time… I ignored the thought after his body started to move. Kayla pulled away from him, but only just. We both heard him whisper, "I can't believe it takes me actually dying to get a kiss from you, Kayla." Then, Ryan sat up and looked directly at me with knowing eyes. He would not be taking no for an answer when he asked about my past and my powers now. "Thank you, Bella. I can only imagine what the last few weeks would have been like without you around."
I smiled, their happiness was infectious. I swear it wasn't my own. "You won't be getting rid of me any time soon. It seems that you guys really need me around here. You're stuck with me now."
He laughed. "Yeah, I'll admit it. We sure do need someone like you around to keep us in check. It was fate that sent you here. I can feel it. You're going to be with us for a long time, Bella. I hope you don't mind it."
"Not at all." I said before we all gathered around and watched some TV, chatting into the night. I didn't even remember that I'd promised to call my mother. Tomorrow, she was going to be pissed.
After a thorough reaming from my mother over the phone the next morning, I stormed to school in a cloud of my own rage. Stomping through the courtyard, everybody gave me a wide berth. It wasn't long before I found Ryan lazing on the roof once again. He wasted no time. "What has you so ticked off, Bella? You start your period or somethin'?" He asked in that stupid 'I know this will piss you off, but I'm totally innocent' voice.
I rubbed my temples trying to assuage the oncoming headache. Sometimes, especially when I get angry, my spirit energy acts up, and it takes so much concentration to control it that it gives me a migraine. "Shut up, Ryan."
He jumped down from his ledge to my level and sat next to me. "There's something wrong. Tell me about it. Maybe you'll feel better." I shrugged. It couldn't hurt. Besides, I needed to take my mind off of things to prevent the headache. "My Mom is pissed that I didn't check in last night. I don't think that she realizes that by the time I get home it's already nine o'clock, and I've been awake for seventeen hours. Staying up to finish homework isn't possible, so my grades suffer… I'm frustrated is all." I said all in one breath. "On top of that, the argument happened before I had any coffee this morning, and you know how I get."
Ryan laughed at me and nodded at my last statement. Then, after a brief moment of thought, he piped up. "You know that you can always stay with me and my Mom for free, right? Just help us keep the place clean, and we will foot the rest of the bills. She won't even notice you're around."
"Are you sure you don't want to ask her first? I don't want to impose." I asked tentatively. I had intended on keeping the place clean, but I was going to do it out of kindness and friendship not obligation.
He nodded. "Yeah, the alimony my Dad sends is the only steady income we've really got, anyway. I do odd jobs and whatnot, but nothing really big. My mom hasn't worked in years, Bella. He and I've been her free ride for a long time, Bella. I can be yours too. I'll even get you a house key just like Kayla has." He chuckled merrily.
I laughed and nudged his arm playfully. "Now I feel special."
"Hey, Bella?" That serious tone had my attention quickly. When he saw that he had my full attention, he continued. "You were able to talk to me while I was a spirit. I didn't know you very well- we were just starting to be friends and all, so I shouldn't have been able to do that. Or, at least, that's what the people in the underworld said." I nodded for him to continue. "How was that possible? What are you?"
My eyes closed. How do I explain everything that's happened? Best start with the easiest bits. "Well, I'm human, but I'm also a spiritually adept person." He blinked. It would've been comical if I weren't feeling so high strung right now.
"So, you're a witch or something?" I almost laughed. Almost.
"Not quite. It's not magic, it's… but, no, I mean…" I sighed. "What I mean is that I have control over my inner spiritual and life energy. It's kinda like chakra, but less hoodoo sounding." I growled at myself and my stupid explanations. "This is so hard to explain."
A new female voice entered the conversation before I could continue. "Maybe I can help." She had shiny blue hair and bubble gum pink eyes- contacts I told myself. When she smiled, her eye teeth were huge, but she had the gentle demeanor of a kitten. She was wearing red hot pants and a black leather jacket and holding a silver briefcase in her hand. It didn't look like a regular book bag to me. In fact, it gave me a tingling feeling in the back of my neck- like it had its own spirit energy. Is that even possible?
As I assessed our surprise visitor and her mysterious briefcase, Ryan's eyes practically bugged out. "Brittney?! Is that you? Am I dead again?" He scratched his head in the lamest cartoony way I could imagine even pinching himself a couple times to verify that he was indeed still alive. I began to cackle, finding the entire situation strangely hilarious. It must have looked like I had lost my mind.
I was interrupted by Ryan poking me in the face, looking back at Brittney. "I think we broke Bella."
I sobered when I heard those words. "I'm fine. This is just... so surreal. Not even six months ago I was... and now. UGH! I should just tell you so that I don't have to censor myself every five minutes."
Brittney waggled her finger in my face. If she wasn't careful, it was going to get bitten off. "Not to worry, my dear. I have the video tape of your adventures over the last year. The underworld was very interested in your particular case. Why don't we get comfortable and watch the highlights so that Ryan is on the same page as you? It will keep me from having to explain a lot too."
So, we sat down and watched essentially a mix tape of my last school year. It was comprised of all the best moments and scenes. We saw me move to Forks and meet Edward and the gang, the run in with the nomads, the romance between Edward and me, and the wolves- ending with Jacob imprinting and leaving me alone.
That's when it happened. Finally, a single tear dropped from my eye. It was the first tear I was able to shed for my lost love in Jacob. I hadn't been given any closure from him, especially after Old Quil started training me.
Now, I was weeping openly. I went through all of that for what? I have nothing to show for it, but scars and a gaping pit in my chest that nothing can fill! No. I have nothing but a bleak future and spiritual powers that I don't fully understand. Nothing seemed to be going my way since the Cullen's left. I wish I could go back. I wished it every day up until I met Ryan at college.
My tears subsided quickly and I apologized for embarrassing myself. "Bella, seriously, it's no big deal. You're only human. Uh, spiritually adept as you may be. You know what I mean. You've been through a lot. Let it out." Ryan urged.
I shook my head, wiping the tears from my face. "No. Really, I'm fine now."
Suddenly, we were all interrupted by a toddler that started talking on the briefcase slash laptop screen. "Well, it's about time. Ryan, now you understand more about the world you live in and it's dangers. It's time that you undertake your new job in order to repay the underworld for bringing you back to life.
"J-job?" Ryan stuttered out, confusion written all over his face.
The toddler nodded. "Yes, coming back to life generally leaves people with more of a connection to their ki and the world around them. You will likely be able to sense the supernatural more now that you have been intertwined with it yourself. Thus, with your already present skill set, you more than qualify to be Earth's next spirit detective. Do you accept? Yes?! Brilliant! Let's begin your first mission immediately. Brittney, you take it from here. Carl out."
"But, Master Carl, sir! Why do I have to...?" Brittney stammered scrambling to find something to say that would stop the man from dropping the chore into her lap, but found no success. The screen went black, and she growled for a moment with fire in her eyes like she was ready to give Carl a good whack upside the head. Then, she turned to us and explained our mission. Why us? Because I heard the whole damn thing. We were in this together. Like peanut butter and jelly or some shit.
Brittney went on to explain that we needed to obtain three artifacts of value to the underworld from three demons that just so happened to be in town. Very convenient, very convenient, indeed. It's like there is no danger anywhere in the world but in and around this particular city for some reason- like some lazy writer only dealt with what they knew and nothing else. Not that I'm complaining. Let's face it- anything that involves a commute is a bitch. By this point, we all know how I feel about my drive and subsequent walk to and from school, right?
So, after Brittney had us fully equipped and trained on the spirit detective gear she happened to drag along with her (this woman's briefcase is like Mary Poppin's carpet bag, people), we set off in search of our three demons. Of course, thanks to me, we found the first demon in record time. This demon's name was Kyle, he is actually a demon trapped inside a human body. Years ago, Kyle was injured and on the run; his only choice to survive was to use the strength that he had remaining to transfer his essence into an unborn human child.
Over the years, he has grown into two separate personalities: the human the demon. You can only tell the difference by looking at his eyes. When the demon is dominant, he has golden eyes. They are green the rest of the time. When we found this demon, he explained that his deepest wish was to use the stolen magical mirror to save his human mother's life. The caveat of using the mirror, however, is that the person who uses it must sacrifice their own life in order for their deepest desire to be fulfilled. When I heard this, I scoffed at him which may have seemed cruel in the moment. I walked away towards where I felt a human life fading. I was unsurprised to find Kyle's mother laying in a hospital bed asleep and in pain. She was weak, but I had to try… Old Quil had mentioned his ability to do this, so, maybe, it stands to reason that I can too?
Without asking forgiveness or permission, my hands went to work and began to glow with spiritual energy. They roved above her body as I searched for a feeling of darkness that made her ill. Once I found the evil feelings within her, I concentrated on sending my energy into her body, focusing on destroying and ridding her body of that darkness. I don't know how long I stood there at her side, but I was able to rid her body of all the bad energy I could sense. She was going to be alright. When I finally pulled away, I realized that my spiritual energy was at an all-time low. I was getting ready to black out.
Before I could do so, Kyle returned the magical mirror to Ryan without a fuss. Easy peasy. "Thank you. I've never seen a human with so much spiritual energy. Your stamina is impeccable. You must be very powerful, indeed." Kyle said calmly. He seemed serene in this moment, like he didn't have a care in the world.
I laughed and held onto Ryan's shoulder for dear life. Without his steadying arm holding me around the waist, I would be on the floor right now. "You should see what I can do when I'm in danger."
Kyle nodded with a smile. "I can imagine, in fact…"
But, before I heard more, there was nothing but darkness.
