"Now… I'll leave. Get some clothes on and meet me in the chamber we were in." She shut the door behind her.

For some reason Nefarious knew that she was a little upset, and or worried. He guessed that she probably never taught someone her skills before. She sounded a little mortified. He decided not to ask her about that discomfort. It would probably upset her to the point of rethinking teaching him. He did not want that to happen, because he knew that he would end up hating her for not being able to best her.

He then thought, I wasn't born a Necromancer like she was. What if I can't do it? He often heard Madame Amberly saying how only true Necromancers can do certain things. He only wished that he had believed her and studied them harder. He practically failed every class of Mythical Beings. The only time he passed with flying colors was the unit on mutants. How ironic.

He quickly pulled his clothes on and headed back to the chamber. Sure enough, Mariana was there. She was alone, to his surprise. He thought she would have summoned something like the creature that licked him earlier. She turned to face him. Her eyes frightened him now. They went from red to black.

"Uh… Mariana?" He was a little too afraid to ask.

She then cracked a small smile. "Don't worry, mortal." Her voice was just as mesmerizing as her eyes were when they were their ruby-like color. "I shall not hurt you. Now…" she motioned to herself. "Come…"

Still a little afraid, Nefarious did as he was told. He stood next to her and looked down into her pitch black eyes. He saw death in them and looked away, trying to clear his thoughts, but he did not run away like he felt like doing.

Mariana chuckled. "You passed the first test of learning Necromancy."

"What?"

"I am in the state of the Necromancer. Perhaps one of the most mortifying things to ever come in contact with a mortal. You sense my Death-Aura, and do not flee. If you can stand that, you are ready for the next test. Very good."

Nefarious suddenly felt the feeling of death leave. He looked back at her eyes and saw that she had changed them back to their ruby-like state. Meaning, she pulled herself back from the state of the Necromancer. He felt relieved. But more than that, he felt drained.

"Sorry." Mariana quickly apologized. "We have a habit of sucking the life force out of anyone near us when in that state."

Nefarious rubbed the back of his head. He felt as if he were going to collapse from exhaustion. He never felt anything like it. He felt as if he could sleep, but at the same time he was afraid he would die from it.

"I am very sorry." Mariana smacked her forehead. "Do you wish to rest?"

"No! Let's continue!" Nefarious was too eager, and he knew it. He wanted to do this as quickly as possible and get it right.

Mariana just shrugged. She walked over to the table where she had laid the book that Dr. Cortex had handed to her earlier. She opened it to a random page and read aloud, her eyes turning black again. Next to her appeared a skeleton. It was on the floor. Not moving. Dead, like it should be. She repeated the chant, and one more appeared on her other side. She motioned for Nefarious to come over. She quickly exited the state of the Necromancer before he did.

"Umm… I thought Necromancers made things come back to life." He was confused now.

"We do. And, that's what we're going to do. But," she held up one finger. "These two are for later. First, we meditate. Then," she held up another finger. "We contact their souls. When you can do that, we'll work on summoning and reanimation."

She walked over to a wall and pulled down two candles. She then placed them in candleholders and put them on the floor. She motioned for Nefarious to sit down as she did. He did not hesitate. She lit the candles and stared at the one in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Nefarious wondered.

She broke her concentration and looked at him. "Meditating…" she paused. "Oh, wait… you don't know how to meditate like a Necromancer, do you?"

"No." Quite an obvious answer.

"Well… it's not 'calming' like normal meditation. You focus on the candle. Focus all your emotions on it. They must be at their peaks, but at the same time, you bust be totally empty inside."

"…Sounds difficult…" Nefarious never heard of such a method of meditation.

"It is." Mariana replied shortly. "And when you want to exit your trance, you have to fight. Sometimes, it's painful."

"Great… well," he turned to face his candle. "Let's try it."

He stared at the candle, his expression turning into a scowl. Suddenly he felt angry, sad, upset, miserable, happy… all of his emotions flaring. It was like they were feeding the little flame of the candle. He let it all out… then he felt it, the emptiness. It was strange. He had no control over his emotions. He thought things… things that would usually make him feel strongly, but now, they had no effect on him whatsoever. He felt… without a soul. As if his soul was just wandering in space, and he could not get a hold of it, no matter how hard he tried.

He figured that since he had no emotion now, and he was alone with only his thoughts, he could seriously think about things without getting upset or angry. He thought of his time in the Academy of Evil, when he had first became a student. He was picked on quite a bit in the beginning. He did some horrible things to the other kids just to get his revenge. Then, he met his best friend, Jeffery. Jeffery had died in a faulty weapon's test.

He thought, If I can ever raise the dead like Mariana, I would bring back Jeff first. He was surprised at how well this meditation was working. Usually when he thought about Jeffery, he got sad. Now, he did not feel a thing. It was nice to be able to think like this. Suddenly, he felt someone slap him upside the back of his head. His meditation trance was broken in that instant.

"What?" He was a little shocked.

"You were in a trance for three hours now!" Mariana exclaimed. "Didn't you hear me?"

"What did you say to me?" He felt drained again, and was in great pain. He did not feel as if he would be able to stand up.

Mariana sighed. "That's enough for now. You need rest."

"We just started!"

"…Three hours ago!"

He could tell that she was upset, and that she was blaming herself for the physical pain he was feeling. He decided to give in.

"Okay."

"Thank you." She held her hand out and helped him up. "Now, go to sleep. You need your rest. I need to go to N. Sanity Island for the rest of the day. Don't do anything stupid without me here!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Nefarious saluted her.