Chapter 9: Who Will Save Mai?
Gene's POV
Gene was amused as emotions flickered across Lin's face. He usually was such a stoic soul like his brother Noll.
It wasn't Lin's fault. Gene had always thought he was amazing. Most people would not have been able to function after all that Lin had to endure.
Lin finally stated after a prolonged lapse of silence, "We have been looking for you," he looked uncomfortable as he added, "Well your body…."
Gene understood that Lin and his brother had been searching for him in Japan. Ever since he was murdered, he had tried to contact his brother. When his brother had finally gotten a vision of his death, he had thought Noll would be finally able to talk to him through their psychic twin connection, but that was not possible.
Stupid tea loving scientist... Thinks he is so great… Just take his tea away and his IQ drops.
"Do you know how much we have been worried about you? Even your brother was distressed. He left college to come here to look for you?! Why have you not tried to contact us?" snapped Lin.
Gene snorted, "I have been trying. Noll can't hear me anymore. Either he has gotten dumber since I died, or our connection was broken." Noll's connection to him was not completely broken. Gene still received visions from Noll when he used his PK, but Gene could no longer talk to Noll or appear in his dreams.
It had been hell to see and not be heard. He had been there with his brother had the vision of his death. Gene had been with Noll when he went to England to share the news to their parents. Nobody in the whole British SPR had been aware of Gene's presence. He had seen how upset his family was without being able to do anything to comfort them. His mother still mourned over his loss, and she worried she would lose Oliver in Japan too.
I hate tears.
He had been strangely touched when Noll had left college to move to Japan.
Luckily, he did.
That girl, Mai, was the first one who could talk to him. She had appeared to him when she was knocked out after meeting Noll.
She was unusual. Noll thought her only to have a dormant sixth sense.
He's an idiot.
Somehow he had managed to find the one person in the world who was weirder than they were. Besides being able to talk to Gene, Mai was able to intercept Noll's pk visions. Somehow the link that had once connected Gene and Noll now was mediated through Mai.
He suspected what she truly was.
Gene must have been staring at Mai while thinking because suddenly Lin said, "This is Mai. She works for your brother."
Of course Gene had already known that.
It had surprised Gene when Noll had hired Mai. He had kept projecting Noll thoughts about hiring her because Gene knew she was the only way they could talk together. He had even tried entering Noll's dreams… A terrifying experience that was…
Finally Noll had called Mai and offered her a job.
Some people would have said it was because of Gene's influence.
Yet Gene has not been able to influence him to do anything else. This means he had done it of his own accord.
His call had come at weird time as well, right after Noll was called by their mother. She wanted to tell him that Madoka Mori was coming to Japan in a few months. It was under a pretense to investigate the psychic researchers of Japan.
Madoka had helped their mother learn Japanese. She had also sparked Naru's interest in ghost hunting and the only one that had true control over him. The truth was that their mother, Luella Davis was sending a spy. Madoka was coming to keep an eye on Noll and Lin for Mrs. Davis because they were friends, and Lin only reported to Dr. Davis who he called "The Professor."
It probably brought up memories of their childhood.
Noll was the one that grew up first. He had always been the smarter and quieter of the two. Even though they were really young when their mother died, Noll had taken the parental responsibility. They had never known their dad. The experience had killed the child and out the human that tried so hard to be a machine. And it had given him a huge ego.
It was a very lonely time, but at least they had each other. Their powers also made it easy to protect themselves.
Mai was an orphan too but alone.
He probably felt her loneliness.
Noll was very empathic to people just like Gene.
The difference between that Gene would build relationships with people based on those emotions. Noll ran away from relationship building. He kept people at distances, hence why Gene was surprised when Noll hired Mai.
Lin demanded, "Why are you here? Did you bring us here?"
Gene he raised his hand in a pacifist gesture. "No I didn't, but I was watching when you were taken. The being that attacked Mai in the storage room tried to steal your soul. Your spiritual power was stronger than it anticipated so when you began putting up your barrier, the mixing of the two energies created a portal that brought you here. You should be careful if you survive this, Noll might want to study you. You know how long he has been looking for evidence of teleportation."
Silence.
The least he could do is laugh at my jokes, said Gene mentally.
On a serious note, Gene said, "Joking aside, there is something really bad at work here that is not quite human. I don't care how powerful a human spirit is. No human should be able to open a portal to the spirit world, much less drag two physical bodies. That goes against the space time continuum."
Gene walked over to where Mai was laying. He had mournful eyes as he stared down at her. He continued his words, "Plus a human ghost would kill a human or posse a person. Humans don't have the power to steal souls. This girl's spirit no longer resides in this body. I am not sure where it is. I have not been able to sense it for a long time."
Gene regretted not being able to protect her.
Lin demanded, "So you are saying that Mai is not here! This body is just an empty shell?!"
"Yes. During the battle, another soul was almost stolen. I believe she is the one you call Masako."
Gene knew Masako. She was the only other person he could talk to besides Mai, but her abilities were different so it was harder for them to communicate.
Lin thought for a moment. "If we only knew what was the cause, we could help her."
"The cause of this is the child that is asleep in the hospital. He is a Rokurokubi, Lin."
Lin's eyes widened.
"I am familiar with this type of spirit. It is fairly common. A person is asleep and projects his or her spirit outwards. Usually the spirit has demonic characteristics or is really strong. It is quite fast. The child is asleep but I truly believe something is using the child to do its bidding. Not by controlling him. It is more of an influence."
"Like the Amanojaku were doing earlier to me" Lin stated.
"Yes exactly like that, but it's not them. This demon being is large and made of smoke. The black thing with red eyes in the middle works for him."
"It has something to do with what the child did. His dad died in a fire trying to save him. I used telepathy on the child's mind and at first I didn't look before the fire broke out, but later I checked. The boy was there in the apartment doing something to the oven before the woman came home. It is not clear. There is a bunch of whispers and smoke covers the vision. It is not the smoke from the apartment fire either." Gene stopped because Lin suddenly had a funny expression.
"Do you know what this means?" Gene asked.
"I do." Lin did not look thrilled at the idea. He seemed to be in daze and mumbled, "Whispers… heart of man."
"What?"
"The thing is not from this world."
"Can you take care of it?"
"I can't but I know somebody who can. A priest that is with us at the hospital."
"What about Mai?"
Lin glanced in her direction. "I think there maybe something I can do for that too."
"Ok. I am going to help you get back to the physical world." Gene popped his neck and swung his arms. "And Lin…"
"Yes?"
"Don't tell Noll about this."
Author's note: Sorry for the short chapter! I spent so much time researching an omnyodo for chp 8 that I bombed my hematology test a few days ago. So I have to S-T-U-D-Y; therefore, I want to apologize in advance to my followers who love my fast updates. They are going to come slower, BUT we are getting close to a resolution in the story. I will finish it once my tests are passed next week.
And…
Lin wants to add that he feels unappreciative that the reviews did not mention his sheer awesomeness in chapter 8. Instead they remarked on Gene's appearance; therefore, if he survives this ordeal he will be returning to his computer to sulk…...….
