"Harper? Harper? Harper?"

There was a gentle buzz in the air, Harper remained fixated on the empty brick wall in front of her.

"Harper? Harper?"

She felt temporarily dislocated from her own body, she was aware of her surroundings, but she was unable to physically respond. She knew she was in the Russo's lair, she knew she wasn't alone and she could hear Justin calling her name yet she remained fixated in this trance like state.

"Harper? Are you ok?"

Harper's head snapped towards Justin, and she was back in reality. She couldn't think of what had happened or why she was so distant. Her heart pounded, and her mind remained empty except for the memory of rippling currents flowing over her head.

"Harper? Are you ok?" Justin reached out to her and held her hand which rested on top of an old textbook.

Slowly she nodded as she familiarized herself with her surroundings, "yeah thanks." She looked back down into the textbook, hundreds of words gathered, a book full of knowledge yet Harper found it almost impossible to absorb any information. "What am I looking for again?"

"I think we need to look for information on a full wizard's soul. I mean that's what ghosts are, well technically they can be classed as an apparition but in fact they are actually the spirit or soul of someone who has passed." Justin explained, "if we find out what happens to a full wizard's soul when they die then we can narrow down what may be summoning Alex's spirit to us."

"And then what?"

"We figure out how to lay her to rest, properly this time…"

"But how? Will we need an exorcist?" Max interjected, he rested on the counter in the far corner of the lair, completely surrounded by books, he flicked through their tattered pages relentlessly while groaning in frustration and tugging on his own hair. It was definitely a rare sight, one which Justin and Harper were certain they'd never see again.

"No," Justin groaned, "this isn't the movies Max, and she isn't a threat to us." He peered over at Harper, "well not all of us…"

"So what? Is there a spell or potion that can stop her?"

"Hopefully."

"And are we going to tell Mom and Dad?"

Justin's reaction was quickly mirrored by Harper, they both stared blankly at each other before turning back to Max, dread looming over them. "I'm not sure dude…"

"What?"

"Max," Harper began tentatively, "they don't even know about me yet. We don't want to put too much pressure on them."

"But they'd be thrilled to see you!"

"But would they be as happy to hear that you spend your nights listening to Alex wailing in the bathroom?"

He didn't respond, instead he just lowered his head and avoided Justin and Harper's sympathetic gaze. The sigh that escaped Max's dry lips was painful, his brain processed the image of his parents faces if they ever found out their dead daughter was secretly haunting their house every night. "I guess not…"

A loud screeching sound invaded their ears as a cold breeze lurked into the lair, announcing someone's arrival. Harper rapidly leapt up and hid herself behind Justin, "I thought you said your parents were out for the day!"

"They are, or at least I thought they was."

Max rose from his seat and strutted in front of his brother, "who's there?" He bellowed puffing out his chest and tensing his muscles.

From behind the corner of the wall a face began to appear, disguised by the darkness, bit by bit they revealed themselves. Mason stepped from the shadows, stealing Harper's breath. Before she could draw in the air back into her body she had melted into his form. She felt his firm torso and the rapid heartbeats within. His rough hands folded around her back, drawing her in closer. He pulled his head back, "I'm sorry about earlier," he croaked, "I didn't mean to be so rude."

"It's fine," Harper insisted, "you were in shock." She took in his new appearance, clean shaven, neat hair and dressed in a casual t-shirt and jeans. "You seem more like your old self now."

He gave a soft smile and turned to the Russo brothers, "I'm sorry about before…"

"It's fine dude," Max smiled, "don't sweat it."

"Yeah, we didn't exactly make it easy for you," Justin joked placing down his textbook and approaching Mason. "It's good to see you."

"How've you been?" Asked Harper.

Mason shrugged his shoulders, "could be better, could be worse. What about you lot?"

They all turned to each other and gave a laugh, "where do we start?"

"I know where," Mason started nervously. Harper felt the sting of tears burn her eyes as she recognized the pain that flooded Mason's, she could hear the hurt in every word he spoke, "the girl in my apartment…"

"I'm gonna stop you there," Justin interjected, "what you do in your personal time is up to you. We don't need to know-"

"I lied."

"What?"

"The girl in my apartment, I've not started seeing anyone new. It was Alex."

"Alex?" Justin sat himself down on the velvet chair and held his head in hands, "it was her we heard, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Mason swallowed his tears, "she started appearing the week after her funeral. I thought I was hallucinating with grief, but she was really there…"

"Why didn't you tell us when we asked you?" Harper's lip pouted and trembled, overwhelmed with various emotions and thoughts.

"I was scared you'd take her away from me. I can't lose her again."

"We have to do what's best for Alex," Justin remained seated and his head quickly become foggy. He felt as if every eye lash weighed more than it should, and that the gravity had been turned up tenfold as his posture weakened and he became slumped in his chair. He pinched the bridge of his nose and clamped his eyes shut as he tried to compose his thoughts, "so we've all seen her," he stated.

"Yeah, why is she so sad though?" Max asked, "Mason when you see her, does she cry?"

Mason silently shook his head and looked towards the floor, in an attempt to mask the build-up of tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"But she wasn't crying when I saw her either," Justin added, "if anything she was her annoying old self. Criticizing my Captain Jim Bob Sherwood comics, being stubborn, just typical Alex."

"She was fine with me too," Mason interjected, "she seemed happy, almost at peace with herself…"

"She's just angry when she sees me. I don't blame her though, I could have done something…" The memory burned deep in Harper's mind like a painful scar, a single tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away on her sleeve.

"Harper it wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could do, it was an accident," Justin tried to reassure her. But when Harper looked up, she came in contact with Mason's angry eyes and in that moment she knew he thought different.

"Wait a minute," Justin paused in thought, "we've all seen a different side to Alex, we've all seen a different personality."

"Different emotions…" Max's eyes lit up, "I seen something about that." He rushed back over to his textbook and recklessly flipped through the pages with Justin gazing over his shoulder.

Harper watched Mason intently, he remained fixed in his place with his hands buried in his pockets whilst not so subtly trying to avoid Harper's gaze. "I never actually got the chance," she began to whisper to him, "but that night." Mason tensed, still ignoring Harper he continued to stare in to space, "you saved me. Thank you…"

Slowly Mason turned his head and glared deep into Harper's blue eyes, there was no smile or sign of gratitude, he refused to show any emotion at all. There was no warmth in his words when he spoke, "Justin's right, it wasn't your fault. It was mine."

"Mason, it wasn't your fault that Alex died."

"But it was, because I saved the wrong girl…"