Chapter 9

BANG!

Ellie let out a small scream along with Pearl, Trucy and Apollo. She took some deep breaths to calm herself.

Ladon smiled, his gun now pointing to Ellie. Before, he shot the ground just an inch next to Ellie's feet. "I can always bring this gun to shoot you, Elisa," he said. "Think it over. Will you come with me?"

"You're seriously thinking that I'd be able to think clearly with a gun pointed to my face?" Ellie protested, half-whining, her voice high-pitched. She took another deep breath. "Take that damn gun away first, then maybe I'd think, maybe we'd talk."

"Fair enough," Ladon shrugged and put the gun in its holster hanging on his belt. "Now can we talk?"

Ellie sighed. "Why do you want me? Why me? I can see and speak to ghosts, okay, but that's it. Why me? Someone with ability like… Apollo, who can perceive lies, must be more valuable to you."

"Uh, n-no!" Apollo squeaked. "I don't – I'm not – "

Ladon smirked. "Relax. I only want Ellie."

Apollo looked more relaxed, but also more careful. "And… why is that?"

"I don't get it at all," Pearl said weakly. "He told me something about souls… Lost souls, the dead, something about bringing them back…"

Ellie's brows furrowed. What the hell, she thought.

"That's funny," Trucy tilted her head. "It's like Ellie's ability and bloodline could somehow be used to bring back the dead to the living world. But that's not possible, right?"

"Quoting Ema; scientifically speaking, no," Apollo shook his head. "Not possible."

"Actually, it's possible," Ladon smiled. "As long as you have the right… ingredients."

"You're talking about summoning someone who's already dead into the world of living like you're about to bake a cake," Ellie said, incredulous. "What are these ingredients again?"

"Actually, nothing matters so much," Ladon shrugged. "Cake has some main ingredients, like sugar and flour and those things… but summoning the dead, permanently, is different. I only need someone who has the blood of two families, preferably one that has a strong connection with the world of the dead. Then, the soul would be taken in the body. And the soul would live forever."

"Why not just take the Feys to channel this soul?" Pearl asked. "We can channel the soul. I can channel the soul! Just let Ellie go."

"I can't," Ladon simply answered.

"Yes you can," Trucy said, bouncing slightly nervously. "Just wait until Daddy, Mommy and Maya rebuilt the bridge somehow. Then we'll go home, no one's ever got hurt. How good is that?"

"Well, not very good," Ladon shook his head. "Because I really need Ellie to summon her."

Her, Ellie thought. Maybe a lover? "But why me? I can't channel the spirits. I can only see them. I don't have the… qualities… to channel them."

"You don't need to," Ladon shook his head. "You don't have to channel it. You don't need to have the qualities. You just have to be right there and it'll come to you."

"But why me?" Ellie lost her patience. "Why not the Fey? Or other family? I've heard about another family that specializes in channeling the dead. The Hollow Clan, if I'm not wrong. Why not the Hollows?"

Ladon scoffed. "Are you kidding? The Hollows? I can ask them, all right, but they're still not perfect. Even though if they agree to channel the soul for me it won't be the same because she can still leave. But if it's with you, then she can't leave. She'll be with me. Forever." A sick smile flashed through Ladon's lips before he snorted, erasing the smile away. "Besides, their rules are a bit too much for me. If they're sure the spirit would go away later then it's fine for them. If not, it's not fine. Not just for them, for me, too."

"Huh? What kind of rules do they have anyway?" Trucy tilted her head.

"Whatever it is, I don't think I'd like it," Apollo said softly.

"No, you won't," Ladon nodded. "Besides, channeling the dead isn't the only thing Ellie can do for me."

Ellie looked at him closely.

Ladon took a deep breath. "If the blood of two or more families with spiritual power are mixed, then the one with that blood flowing in her veins would be able to bring back the dead to life or give others eternal life. Of course, there will be other prices to be paid, but it's not important."

Ellie, Trucy, Apollo and Pearl could only stare in disbelief, completely dumbfounded.

"So, Ellie, your answer?"

"No way," Ellie said before she even realized it.

"Well." Ladon took his gun again. "If that's your final choice." He pointed the gun to Ellie's head. She instantly knew, if Ladon was only joking before, he was serious this time. Dead serious. And she didn't have a chance. She closed her eyes, ready to welcome the shot.

She couldn't help but wonder. How would it feel to be dead?

BANG!

When she opened her eyes, she was welcomed with a field of flowers, all had bloomed fully with magically bright colors; white, pink, red, blue, orange, yellow, purple, violet, and the green from the leaves. She also noticed the sweet scent of flowers and the warm breeze of spring.

Maya furrowed her brows. She had been channeling the spirits for years, and never before had she seen this field of flowers. But then she was looking for a spirit to talk to her, not to channel her. Maybe it would be different.

Maya didn't know what to search for. Honestly, she didn't even know how she could do this. Before, when she channeled someone, when she search for the spirit it never seemed so bright and clear here. Now it seemed very clear. She could even count the petals of the flower so far, far away.

Maya shook her head. She needed to focus. She had to find this channeler. She had to find a way to force Dahlia out of her body, or else they might get hurt. And the chance to help Ellie would be smaller, too. Besides, this channeler might know something useful, she thought.

She focused. She concentrated. It was hard. She knew it had to be hard. She didn't even know who she was looking for. But then, she felt it.

A nagging sensation in the pit of her stomach. She knew the channeler knew she was looking for her. And she wanted to be found. That made everything a lot easier to Maya.

Slowly but surely, Maya walked her path to where she felt the nagging sensation was the strongest. After walking for a moment, she saw the channeler.

She had black, long hair like Maya, only hers was a bit shorter. She wore a black robe (channeling robe, as Maya recognize it) and a white magatama necklace. If not for the black color, she might pass as a Fey. The Fey Clan, as long as Maya remembered, never had a black channeling robe.

"Are you the one who's searching for me?"

The channeler turned and Maya gasped. She was still young. She was at least the same age as Trucy. But the way she carried herself, the way she moved and acted seemed much older, much calmer than Trucy. Maya didn't know how, but when she saw the girl's hazel eyes she knew that the girl had accepted her fate, that she knew she wouldn't be able to come back to the living world. This, somehow, made Maya a bit upset. She didn't know if it was for the fact that the girl accepted or for the fact that she couldn't come back. She just felt upset. Responding to the girl's question, she nodded once.

"My name is Ava, Ava Hollow," the girl said again. "But I'm sure you already know who I am."

"I don't know you."

"Yes you do. You know I channeled Dahlia Hawthorne, twin of Iris Hawthorne. I gave her a second chance. I probably won't come back to that body anymore."

Maya exploded. "What do you mean, you won't come back to that body anymore? It's your body! You have every rights to go back. Dahlia is the one who's breaking the rules. That body belongs to you, not hers. You can always come and claim it back."

"No. This is my fate. I won't come back."

"No! you can come back! Do you really want to let her live inside your body? You'd die in her place. Claim back your body. You have the rights to do so."

Ava looked up to the blue sky. "Do you know how many times have I channel a spirit?"

Maya frowned in confusion. "I don't know. Once?"

"Thrice," Ava sighed. "And never, not even once, have I got the chance to continue living until I die normally."

"What do you mean?"

"When a member of a Hollow Family channels a spirit and the spirit refused to give it back, instead using it as a second body to have the second life it wants, then the channeler's body would be the spirit's. The channeler's soul is forced to come to this place to wait. The channeler will then reincarnated to another kid in Hollow Family. The cycle will never be broken until the channeler dies in a way other than getting her body taken by another soul." She sighed. "We can never escape our fate. Once you're born as a Hollow, then your fate is sealed. You will continue living for who knows how long."

Maya could only watched as Ava laughed a pained laugh. "What makes it worse is that you will still remember your former life. You will remember everything. And you know you can't escape at all. You will be tied to the family. Your blood ties you. You can't go anywhere. You can't escape your fate. You can never be free."

Ava closed her eyes as a single tear tracked down her cheek. "Never…"

A/N: wow, I've been working faster than usual! And I must love cliffhangers so much, huh, leaving Ellie in cliffie again. That, or I love guns so much. I don't why I keep facing Ellie with Ladon and his gun.

Yes, I know I said I'll be facing a test in (less than) a week, but writing is how I usually relieve my stress. Maybe that's why I can update much faster than usual. But I don't know if I can update this fast for the upcoming chapter.

I guess that's all. Reviews please!

By the way, Morgan's clothes is a kimono, right?