Forest Secrets

Chapter X

I do not own Ghost Hunt, only my OC people and the plot

The next morning, Alex found herself in the kitchen alone. Not unusual, considering she lived on her own in the middle of a forest. However, looking at the sheer amount of mixing bowls containing various mixtures, one would think she was preparing to feed an army. She was, a very small, very strange sort to of army of ten.

"Alright," carefully, she poured each mixture into a different pan. Hopefully, four different types of muffins, coffee cake, biscuits, and a few casseroles would be enough to continually feed everyone for a while.

It was still early and everyone else was still sleeping. That was why Alex was using this time to cook. It had been awhile since she had had such an opportunity. Oh, her students were well aware that she could cook. Every year, previous students had informed younger students about the 'holiday treats' Alex was known for bringing in, enough to feed not only her classes, but also other teachers and any former students who wanted to stop by and get something.

There was no magic involved, just skill and talent that had been honed by an adoptive grandmother who loved to cook.

Once everything was ready, Alex covered the casseroles to store them for later. She set the muffins and biscuits out, along with things to put on the muffins. Then, watching the clock, she began preparing water.

Just as the first kettle whistled, Mai stumbled into the kitchen. The girl was freshly showered and dressed.

"Morning," Alex smiled at her. "The water's ready."

"Thank you," Mai set to work making the usual drinks for her friends.

Alex grinned and set up another kettle. "No problem. I take it Naru isn't a kitten anymore?"

Mai blushed. "You left the clothes for him?"

Alex nodded. "You two never even noticed me."

"Have you been turning people into kittens again?" A woman Mai didn't know entered the kitchen.

"Only one Rayan," Alex replied. "Mai, this is my friend Rayan Santos. Rayan, this is my little sister Mai."

Rayan smiled at the shorter girl. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mai. Where are you from?"

"Tokyo, Japan," Mai replied, shaking the woman's hand.

Rayan turned to Alex. "No wonder you travel so much. Is that corn muffins I smell?"

Alex sighed, a smile tugging on her lips. "I travel because of work and where I wanted to go to study." She frowned at her friend. "You have no complaints when I visit you and Rafael in Spain."

Rayan laughed, already having placed four of the corn muffins on a plate and snatching up the apple jelly. "Of course not, nor when we're staying in Mexico." She grinned at Mai. "Alex travels quite a bit, one reason why none of her friends were to overly concerned when her sisters couldn't find her." She glared at Alex. "Next time tell us when you're in trouble."

Alex replied in Spanish, resulting in her and Rayan continuing the conversation. Mai sighed, not understanding anything they were saying. Just as she was setting up the table, knowing Naru would appear soon and wondering what kind of muffins he would like, a man entered.

He sighed. "They are at it again. So, what has Alex prepared for our delight this morning?" He looked at Mai.

Mai told him, pointing out where Alex had set up the food. The man smiled at her. He reminded her of John, if John was as big as a bear.

"Thank you," he replied, taking almost a dozen of the muffins along with three biscuits. Mai had never seen anyone eat that much.

"What are they talking about?" Rafael asked her, having introduced himself to the girl.

"Can't you understand them?" Mai asked, having already recognized his accent to be the same as his wife's.

"Si," he replied, "but it doesn't make much sense to a poor fellow like me."

Mai giggled, having a hard time imagining Rafael being poor in any sort of way. He was almost acting like a big kid, like Takigawa. She told him what she had understood of the conversation until they had slipped into Spanish.

"Ah, so you're Japanese then?" Rafael grinned. "I traveled thru Japan once, during my training. My teacher was a man well traveled and he believed in seeing how other faiths in different cultures dealt with exorcisms." He shook his head. "I still cannot make heads or tails of half the things people say. I'm afraid to even try, least I insult someone."

Rayan scoffed, her discussion with Alex having ended already. "Don't believe him Mai," she told the girl in heavily accented Japanese. "My idiot husband can speak every language he knows just fine. He just enjoys playing the stupid foreigner."

Alex laughed as Rafael bowed under his wife's admonishment. Mai giggled as well. Naru slipped into the kitchen. Mai already had his tea ready, something he enjoyed. He slid into the seat next to her without her noticing. At least until he stole one of the muffins off her plate.

"Hey-" she stopped when she realized it was him. "I wasn't sure what kind you would like."

He grinned at her, finding it a little bit easier each time he did it. "Mai, tea." his cup was already drained.

She glared at him, but got up and made him another cup anyway. Really, she hadn't expected him to change just because he admitted that she was really in love with him and he with her.

Soon, everyone was gathered into the dinning room and kitchen. Alex made sure that everyone knew who, and what, everyone was. A knock on the door interrupted them. Alex blinked, wondering who would be knock on the door. No one she could think of would be welcome except for the forest rangers, though why they would be knocking on her door she didn't know.

Alex opened the door. "Can I help you?" Alex recognized neither the car nor the two people standing on her porch.

"Hi!" The woman spoke, cheerful to the point where Alex wondered if sugar was involved. "I'm Madoka Mori, this is Yasuhara Osamu. We're looking for our friends," she shoved a picture of SPR into Alex's face, "have you seen them?"

Alex snatched the picture from Madoka. "It depends, why are you looking for them?"

Yasuhara smiled. "We're concerned since they haven't checked in recently. Their equipment arrived, but they did not."

Alex nodded. "How did you know where my home was? Even the local forest rangers have trouble finding it."

"This was the return address used on the packages," Madoka explained.

Alex sighed and nodded. "Alright, come in. Have you eaten yet?"

"No…" Yasuhara trailed off, not knowing what to call the woman.

"Alex," she told them. "Breakfast is in the kitchen." She led them to the mentioned room. The effect of their arrival was quickly evident.

"What are you doing here Madoka?" Naru asked, ready to order his former teacher back to Japan.

"We were worried. We thought you might have finally met your match. You're lucky your mother didn't come with us." Madoka told him, still smiling.

Naru looked almost horrified before he regained his calm façade. "As you can see, we're all fine. On Saturday we shall conclude this case and return to Japan."

"Why wait until Saturday?" Yasuhara asked, curious as to why they wouldn't take care of it immediately if they knew how.

"I can answer that," Alex spoke up. "How about we move this to the office? There's room for everyone there." She grinned. "Just let me get my things. Mai-chan, do you want to help?"

Mai nodded, quickly kissing Naru on the cheek before following after her sister. Everyone stared after her. Except Naru, who stood and went to the office.

Takigawa cheered. "You owe me Yasuhara. I told you They would get together before Mai's birthday!"

"You actually bet on when they would get together?" John stared at them all. Why hadn't he heard about this?

"Yes," Masako sighed. "I had my money on Christmas this year." John stared at her. He had thought her to still be chasing after Naru. Obviously he was wrong. Maybe this meant he had a chance? Technically, he wasn't a full priest just yet. He could still get married if he wanted.

"Oh don't look so shocked John," Ayako told the blonde. "You weren't there when we made the bets. Although, I thought they had told you."

John shook his head. "Don't let Naru know," he told them. Considering what his sometimes boss would do when he found out, he was glad he hadn't made any bets. He left the kitchen.

Once they had everyone in the office, Alex and Mai arrived with a laptop and wires. Alex set up a ceiling projector (revealing what the trapdoor in the ceiling was) and opened a slideshow. Alex took her place up front with a laser pointer while Mai was put in charge of flipping through the slides at Alex's signal.

Naru slipped behind Mai so that he could see the screen. Alex was going to go at a pace so that all of them would be able to understand. That would undoubtedly bore Naru.

Mai stood up and went to turn off the lights. When she returned to her chair, Naru tugged her into his lap. She blushed, but no one else saw it.

"Okay," Alex looked up at the fist slide. "This is a crime scene photo from 2007, taken the morning of June 28. You can hardly see anything from the blood and whatnot," she motioned and the slide changed. "This is the symbol the five boys used when they brought the creatures onto this plane. A reversed pentagram, more commonly known as a Satanic Pentagram." She continued to outline the spell the boys had used.

"To reverse this, we, as cliché as I know this is, will use 'white' magic. Or rather, our intent will be different." She pointed out the five points. "Each point will have a male/female pairing. The women will summon and banish the creatures. In between those two spells, the men will exorcise the spirits from within the creatures."

"How will we manage that?" Rafael asked, "Exorcism works best against a single person or room at a time. I understand that we have two Catholic exorcists, a Buddhist monk, a Miko who will be working the spell with you, and a Chinese sorcerer. That leaves one creature untended."

Alex grinned. "No it doesn't. All five of the creatures are from the same entity, just five different parts of it. Once we have all five summoned and trapped in one place, they'll become one again. That leaves it as four against one. Once the souls have been exorcised, the men will step back and the women will banish the entity back to the plane it actually exists on. This spell centers on opposites."

Rayan grinned. "So who are you paring up? We have six pairs. We need only five."

Alex grinned. The slide changed to an animation. "Lin and I will be in Spirit, Mai and Naru in Fire, You and Rafael in Air, Takigawa and Ayako will be in Earth, and Masako and John will be in Water. Women hold the candles. The lines of the pentagram will channel power to those that need it. Not only do we need opposites, but we need more power then the original spell called for as those we're summoning and banishing are more powerful then originally."

"Impressive," Rayan nodded, "who's actually saying the spell?"

"I am," Alex told them. "No offense to you Rayan, but your Latin is horrible."

Rayan shrugged. "What can I say? All of my spell work is in Spanish. You're the one who insists upon using un-translated spells."

"They work better." Alex replied, "Is everyone alright with the plan? Now would be the time to change anything."

There were more questions and even a few suggestions. By the time they called the meeting to an end, everything was set. Alex, Rayan, and Mai (since Alex was teaching her) went to make sure Alex had everything that would be needed. Eventually, she sent Rafael out to get three things she did not have enough of. Luckily, she had two people who could bless water so she didn't have to go to the local church and ask the priest there to bless two large bottles of holy water.

"Twice-blessed water?" Rayan raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little overkill?"

Alex looked at her. "I'd rather be safe then sorry. Besides, it won't hurt the spell and I'm hoping that it'll actually help Rafael and John during their part."

Mai looked up. "You mean using the holy water for them to channel their power?"

Alex grinned and nodded. "Got it in one, power travels thru things that provide the easiest path. In a spell, say a calling spell for example, you would use a mirror or fire, or even a bowl of water. Not a chunk of wood or stone. As one grows into their magic, the things they use and can do become more apparent."

Rayan took over. "For example, I can't do anything when it comes to water magic but fire and air spells I can do without a problem. Your sister here, she deals best with spirit spells and healing. Although…" Rayan trailed off. "You'd best explain that part Alex."

Mai turned to Alex, expecting one of the woman's usual lectures. Alex looked away, busing her hands with fresh candles. Rayan sighed, annoyed.

"Fine, it can wait." The air around them lost the tense feeling. "However, you need to tell her. Obviously she shares your gift in spiritual magics. I'd rather not find out the hard if she shares your other talents." Rayan left the basement, leaving the two sisters alone.

"You do-" Alex cut her off.

"Yes, I do. However, Rayan is wrong about it waiting. The spell we're doing on Saturday night is just the sort of spell that would begin the test."

"What test?" Mai didn't like the look Alex had on her face.

"Magic is very aware of what goes on in the world. Even those who never use it can sometimes feel it. Some are sensitive to it, even if they can't use it." Alex sighed. "When you're on cases with SPR, do the ghosts and whatnot take a liking to you? As in, they seem to target you to get a point across or they want you silent so that they can continue with their haunting?"

"Yes," Mai swallowed. "My dreams…they usually show what happened in the past. Naru explained my knowing when something is safe or dangerous 'animal-like instinct'."

Alex shook her head. "He would." She looked up at her. "Rayan is gifted in seeing where a witch's power lies." She swallowed. "I have dreams to, but I never had anyone tell me it was ESP. Gran taught me magic to help me control it. When the test happened, I wasn't even aware of it."

"What happened?" Mai felt fear. She knew this was something Naru couldn't protect her from.

"There was a fire. It attacked me. I fell into the pool, the water didn't want to let me go. There was a cave-in in the caves near here, I got out when everyone had stopped digging because it looked like it would further cave-in if they did anymore. I fell from the roof and floated down to the ground." Alex breathed out. "If you pass the test, it means you have an affinity for that element. I passed spirit, because that power runs thru my veins as it does yours. I passed earth and air as well. Fire and water I barely lived through, but I still have some control over them."

Mai nodded. "So, I still have four elements to go?"

Alex shrugged. "It depends. I think you might have already past air, considering Sora is a flying squirrel. Earth as well, considering wolves are creatures of Earth. Do you have any thing that you think could be possible tests?"

Mai opened her mouth to deny any instances, but stopped. When she was eight, she had fallen from a sakura tree but landed without harm. She had passed it off as a lucky fall, as had her mother. However, she distantly remembered another child falling the same way, from the same tree, and breaking both his arm and his leg from his landing. A landing Mai had copied exactly when she had fallen. As for earth, she wondered if falling into a grave at the age of ten and climbing out again as two of the sides collapsed counted. She told of theses instances to Alex.

"Yes, those count. By all rights, I should have been severely injured when I fell off the roof. I landed on my feet, like I had only jumped from the front steps. The cave-in should have been my grave site, but I found a path out." She sighed. "So fire and water."

"I nearly drowned when I was twelve," Mai put in. "I don't know who pulled me out. I was alone when I woke up."

Alex blinked. The same thing had happened to her, when she had fought her way out of the pool until she had surrendered, admitting that she couldn't fight and live. The pool water had basically pushed her to the nearest ladder, allowing her to climb out and basically collapse.

"Have you survived any fires then?" Alex asked, checking off water.

"Not that I know of," Mai told her.

Alex nodded. "Alright then, just be careful. Fire is the most dangerous test, but it also tends to be the easiest to pass."

"I'll be careful," Mai promised.

Alex grinned. "Mai, do you think Naru would be interested in discovering his spirit animals?"

Mai shrugged. "He'd probably call them an incontinence."

"What if I told him it would help his PK?"

Mai shrugged. "Would it?"

"Possibly, have you had any sudden, seemingly random dreams that aren't really 'dreams'?" Alex asked, knowing the answer.

Mai shook her head. "I also haven't been falling asleep randomly for no reason." She blinked. "Is that because…"

"Of your spirit animals taking a concrete shape?" Alex nodded. "Yes, another reason our type of witch finds her spirit animal. They help to balance out our power. Especially the powerful ones, since the power one can use the greater control it needs. Without our spirit companions, the power would eventual consume us. The best thing to happen to you after that is death."

Mai swallowed. "Why?"

"Insanity," Alex told her calmly. "Not being able to control your power, not having a buffer, the power eats the person who uses it. It drives them insane over a period of time. The lucky ones die quickly, in one great burst of power."

Mai nodded. Fear gripped her. Would it happen to her? She'd spent her life up until this case not knowing she had magic, though now that she thought about it she should have realized something was off about her.

Alex saw the look on her little sister's face. She hugged her. "It won't happen Mai," she told the girl. "Sora, Sade, and Kana will help, guide, and protect you. I am here to teach you everything that I can. Don't be afraid," she hugged the girl again. "Magic is a part of you, it always has been. Those people I told you about, they lost their lives far before they ever reached their seventeenth birthday."

"Who told you?" Mai asked, wiping tears off her face. She didn't remember mentioning her birthday to Alex. Though she should have, now that she thought about it.

"I heard Takigawa mention it to Ayako, talking about hoping they were back home for your birthday. When is it by the way?"

"July third," Mai told her.

Alex grinned. "Right before the Fourth," she shook her head. "Let's go upstairs. We've done everything that can be done. We can't set up until the twenty-seventh. That's three days away. We'll have some fun before then, how's that sound?"

Mai nodded. "It sounds wonderful, but I don't think Naru will agree."

Alex shrugged. "I wish I could take you out on the trails, but with the creatures it's not safe. How about we have a game tournament. I bet I can get Naru interested."

Mai paused, thinking. "You're on."