La Dolce Vita

By Seniya

G is for Ghost

Like a moth to a flame we become helpless to the beautiful ghosts that true love sheds"

Ryan O'neal

"So, because of the cancellation of Homecoming." Cornelia, still dressed in her pajamas was sprawled across her favorite white duvet, and propped regally upon her dozens of pillows. "Tomorrow's Halloween party will have to be extremely memorable. It is the only decent activity for the fall."

Elyon was seated across from her best friend at an equally white desk, with her hands folded across a large clipboard filled with names. Elyon, with her white blonde hair and gray sweater dress was sadly the brightest speck of colour in the fashionably bland bedroom.

Cornelia's mother had spent a ridiculous sum of money last summer redecorating the entire house during the onset of her mid-life crisis. It was a costly endeavor (one that the family couldn't necessarily afford) but it looked good, and to Elizabeth Hale, that was all that mattered.

"I was thinking of a theme, like Old Hollywood … but then Halloween is already a theme. Although I swear to God, if anyone comes dressed as Nikki Minaj, I'll have an aneurism."

Elyon had been silent for most of the day (not that Cornelia really noticed). She was still upset about the fact that her best friend had deserted her last week and still hadn't offered an explanation about it. Of course, she hadn't said anything – the words were still jumbled on her tongue, and she couldn't spit them out.

"All right, on to the guest list." Cornelia, slipped out of bed to pluck the clipboard from Elyon's hands, "Uriah Butler, no, Julian Coombs, definitely not, Harry Goode … Jesus lord. This is definitely gonna be a small party. What happened to all those hot seniors from last year?"

"C-College."

"Oh right. Who wouldn't leave Heatherfield the moment they got a chance?" She clicked her tongue, "Irma Lair … seriously no, Wilhelmina … definitely not. I seriously have five adequate people on my party list!"

"Last y-year you i-invited e-everybody."

"Well, that was just to prove to that cow Irma that I could." And to show everyone who wanted to see exactly what the Hale name could afford. "But this year, I'm feeling more intimate." She sighed, squealed and then like any sixteen year old girl would, she grabbed her friend's wrists and sat cross legged on the white carpet. "There's a guy!"

"Y-You met a guy?" The surge of jealousy burning her throat was both instantaneous and strong.

Cornelia reached for her Blackberry and quickly identified the object of her attention in a blurry photograph. "Isn't he perfect?"

To be honest, Elyon couldn't really make out anything other than a puddle of green and brown, and she told Cornelia as much. "Well, I couldn't let him see me taking it. I didn't want to look like some stalker freak."

"W-Where did you m-meet him."

"Um," Cornelia's gaze returned to the face of her phone, she ran her fingers along the buttons for a long while before finally letting the device rest on the floor, "I just … saw him around. Anyways, I'm gonna invite him to the party, so I need to impress. And I don't need any weirdos around."

"W-What's h-he like?"

"He's very manly and mature and dark and brooding. And hot!"

"D-Does he k-know you like him?"

"Well, no," Cornelia looked at her friend as though she were insane. "He's supposed to chase me! He's … not from around here … and I don't think he's used to girls like me."

Elyon nodded slowly.

"Plus, there's this other girl … I mean she's ughh …" Cornelia was frowning again, "but …"

"S-She likes him too?"

"I … don't think … I really don't get their relationship. But obviously, I'm the better choice and I just need to make him see, so he'll be inspired to chase me." Cornelia nodded her blonde head with an air of finality.

Elyon had never had a boyfriend and knew precious little about chasing or being chased in any case. She didn't really like the idea of Cornelia having one either. Suddenly, she could see their cozy little duo becoming overcrowded and herself being abandoned. She twisted her fingers together.

"W-Where were y-you l-last w-week?"

Cornelia, who had been desperately pouring over the list, in search of at least one more acceptable person to invite to her party, seemed confused. "What?"

"F-For o-our last m-meeting. Y-You didn't show …" She stared fixedly at her fingers until they blurred together.

"Oh, my God! Elyon!" Cornelia smacked her forehead with her open palm, "I am so, so sorry! I-I was doing this thing for my Mom."

Elyon was stunned by the answer, and suddenly, she remembered calling Mrs Hale that fateful morning and being told something completely different. She didn't make this knowledge public however. "Its o-okay."

Will, munching on Froot Loops on this lovely Saturday and watching the early morning cartoons, was more grateful for the day off than the balmy weather.

It was slowly becoming colder in North Carolina, the forecasters had already predicted a frigid winter – which was normal, it seemed – a fact that caused the locals to practically rejoice at the fact it was still 85 degrees so near to the end of October.

Her mother had (gratefully) been struck by a spurt of inspiration over the last few weeks and had secluded herself to the study to finish her "Gucci Trilogy". Will understood that the books were based loosely around her mother's old life. A former model, a handsome boyfriend, a frivolous concern easily rectified by the 300th page.

Still, her mother's seclusion gave her some much needed alone time. Time to sit and contemplate the sudden intricacies of her sixteen year old life.

"Wilhelmina! Up so early!" For Susan, eleven o'clock was downright unthinkable on a Saturday. However, with the publisher's pushing her for a manuscript – well, sleep had suddenly become secondary. She ran a manicured hand along the small of her back before trotting through the living room into the kitchen.

"What are you up to today? Hanging with friends? A boy perhaps?"

"If that was your not so subtle way of asking if I have a boyfriend, then relax. The schoolyard is still your hunting ground."

Susan brittled as she reached for the milk. She suppressed the urge for vodka. "Wilhelmina, I was simply trying to make conversation. You'll have to learn not to be so defensive when people are just trying to make small talk."She reached for the Folgers, and decided in that instant that she wanted her morning brew extra dark.

Will didn't reply and Susan expelled a loud sigh. Really, she was tired. "Look, Will … can we call a truce?"

She put the milk on the counter and walked into the living room where her daughter stared at the television screen. She noticed Will didn't take her cereal with milk. Neither did she.

"I mean you're here for another four months. I don't want us to be bickering every five minutes."

"Well, you could have sent me to a foster home." The television went blank and Will's voice hardened, "don't think I don't know it crossed your mind."

"No! It didn't!" Susan moved quickly so that she was standing before Will, who, even seated on the sofa in her frog pajamas was much too terrifying a sight. "I would never leave you with strangers!"

"But you did! Grandma and Pops! You … you had never met them! And you just dumped me off when I was just a baby!"

"You don't think I regret it! Every day of my life Wilhelmina! But I … I wasn't raised with anything! My parents were dirt poor and I couldn't go back to that! I went back to my career because that's how I could take care of you!"

"Oh yeah!" Will climbed to her feet, "so why didn't you come back? After Paris and Milan? When no one wanted your washed up ass? Why did you come here instead of Texas?"

Susan pressed her fingers against her temple and sighed. "Maybe because I wanted to avoid this! All of this pent up teenage angst! I hope you don't think that you're the first teenager to hate her mother! All I was trying to do was help. I sent you half of my paycheck every month, gifts every Christmas …"

"Well, maybe I needed more than that." Will spat. She realized, belatedly, how weak it sounded and wished she could retract the words. But she already saw the wash of sympathy across her mother's beautiful face. She hated that too.

"Will … I'm not saying that … I was perfect. I am saying that I tried." She did sound remorseful, but Will recalled that her mother had a brief acting stint in the early nineties. "I hate seeing you this angry … I remember when you were a little girl, how your face would light up when I stopped by."

"All four times."

"Will …"

"Maybe this would have worked before my grandparents died and my Dad got carted off to prison." She shook her head, "I never was a little girl! You know what I remember? Going to school with a three hundred dollar backpack but having no one show up to my parent teacher meetings! That's what I remember! Being alone! I've always been alone, and I don't need to stop now."

"I had a horrible relationship with my mother. I just … wanted different for us … but I never understood…"

Excuses. "I'll play nice for the next four months. But we're not the Gilmore Girls Mom. Let's save the drama and the fast paced dialogue and just get through this."

Froot Loops forgotten; Will trudged upstairs to her makeshift bedroom intending to spend a few hours staring outside of her window, brooding, when she heard it.

"As lonely as it is, that loneliness…"

"Nerissa?" Jesus! Her again! Stupidly, Will covered her ears.

"It will be more lonely, ere it will be less."

"Why are you talking to me?" The redhead hissed. "How can you talk to me?"

Nothing.

Halloween was a very busy time in the Lin household. As could be expected, demon-hunting hit an all time peak near to the end of October, and there were quite a few long nights involved in dealing with the matter.

Yan Lin had closed the restaurant from Monday for "stocktaking", which arguably, wasn't a complete lie since she and her grand-daughter were taking stock of ingredients.

"Two bags of chicken feet?" Hay Lin asked, wrinkling her nose at the fetid aroma.

"Got those already. Go check in the corner and tell me if you see the rosemary bush." Yan Lin adjusted her reading glasses on the bridge of her nose and frowned at her list, "did you say we had enough salt?"

"Yeah, I ordered extra because we ran out last year."

Yan Lin nodded her approval, "last year was a mess. A hundred demons from the Civil War suddenly decide that we're the North." She frowned at the memory; no doubt this year would be worse now that the veil between Meridian and Earth had weakened as well.

The chiming of the doorbell disrupted her thoughts. "I swear that no one in this town can read! Closed!"

"That's Irma and Will … Irma was bored and Will said she had an emergency."

"Jesus Christ! After all the complaining for a holiday and they still show up!" As far as Yan Lin was concerned, there is only one emergency around Halloween and that was the hundreds of vengeful souls given a full three hours to wreak as much havoc as they could.

However, Hay Lin was already out of the basement and opening the front door.

"Ugh!" Irma fought the urge to retch once she entered the room. The cellar room was always disgusting but today it was a hundred times worse. Every sense was assaulted by a riot of foul things, blood, limbs, eyes, mud. "Yan Lin what are you making? Dim sum?"

"Funny, funny." Yan Lin snapped. "Halloween is tomorrow, and if you want to stay, you'll have to work."

"I'm not touching that gunk." The brunette protested.

Patience wore thin. At that moment, perhaps gratefully so, Will entered the room. She looked sheepish, "Yan Lin … I need to talk to you about something … in private."

"Oh Hades!" Yan Lin rolled her eyes, "It's called your period, it comes once every 28 …"

"No!" Will looked annoyed, "it's not that … it's something about the sword." Subconsciously, she adjusted the strap of her guitar case on her back, "in private."

Yan Lin heaved a sigh and ordered her granddaughter and the insolent Irma to continue sorting the ingredients. "It's tomorrow! Hundreds of demons!" She muttered several curses, concerns and admonitions as she climbed the stairs that finally led to her study.

Here was a room Will had never been before. It looked like the rest of the restaurant: red, with a certain utilitarian vibe that overrode the comfort of a home. There were countless books, most yellowed and covered in a thick layer of dust that also coated the only desk and chair in the room.

Yan Lin folded her arms and clicked her tongue in impatience. "Well …"

Will bit her lip, it was probably just best to blurt it out. "I've been hearing Nerissa. She … She can talk to me somehow, except I can't respond."

"What? Hold the phone!" Yan Lin, "dead Nerissa?"

"She's not dead, I've seen her."

Yan Lin looked both upset and confused, "she's dead to this world. It was her punishment. How long has this been going on? Have you gone to her again?"

Will shrugged, "a couple of weeks. And no, I've just heard her."

"Weeks!" Finally "upset" won the war of emotions on the older lady's face. "And you tell me this now!"

"Well … she wasn't doing anything. She still isn't really. She … actually helps me."

"Helps you? Didn't you tell me the last time you saw her she wanted to kill you?" Yan Lin's brow folded into a series of lines. "What do you mean she helps you?"

Will shifted her weight from one leg to the other, "Last time when we were in Meridian, she told me what to do … how to defeat the solders. And it worked."

This didn't make sense. "She's trying to win your trust. That much is obvious. Why it is so important to her, is not so clear to me … Nerissa can't leave her prison. The magic holding her is much too strong. She wants the sword but she … she can't …"

"Are we sure she can't? I was wondering, maybe if she could teleport me to her prison again and ..."

"I suspect that was because of the Blade of Kandrakar. She is still connected to it in a way, and she does have a little magic of her own." Yan Lin sighed and frowned.

"She has to know something we don't! There has to be more behind this! People just don't help people they don't know …"

There was. Yan Lin remembered how her Fire Guardian was being withheld – was it for cases like this? She smelled a rat.

"Are you gonna talk to the Oracle?" Will finally asked.

"Me?" She snorted, "I'm banished from Kandrakar. He doesn't want to see anyone who opposed his shitty ideas and rules. And with Lucia gone …." Yan Lin fell into a thoughtful silence. In the hallway outside, the doorbell chimed again before Hay Lin ran to answer it. "It is the Blade. That is her link to you. Can she still talk to you when you're not near to it?"

"Well … no," It was the truth. This morning, the sword had been in its case under her bed when she'd heard the voice, and all the other times the sword had been in her hands. "I do have to be near to it."

"Then leave it here with me until I can figure something else out."Will looked more than hesitant, but Yan Lin snapped, "I won't steal it! You're the only one who can use it anyways. I'll just put a cloaking spell over it … and it'll be perfectly safe. At least until we can decide how to get her to stop communicating with you."

"Isn't it safer with me? Isn't that what you've always said?"

"Yes, that should be true … but there hasn't been anything like this before. I don't know what else to do."

The logic did make a bit of sense, and she needed to be here to be around the other girls anyway. "All right," she removed the heavy case from her shoulder. "It's just temporary though." She couldn't displace the sense of loss. "What's Nerissa locked up for anyway?"

Yan Lin pressed her lips together, but didn't refuse Will an answer. She took the heavy case away. "Murder. She killed Cassidy, her successor."

Irma had tried for a full half minute to help the Lins in the demon hunting inventory check – that was of course, before she stumbled across the lizard eyes.

HayLin had gone to answer a ring at the door and left Irma quite alone in the dimly lit room, a fact that she was quickly coming to regret. She shuddered suddenly, feeling cold, and turned to race up the stairs to join her friend … before she saw her.

Hazy, faded, hovering – but familiar.

"Mom?"

Author: Irma's mom is dead as I hope you recall. She lives with her stepmom and dad.

I don't like to make these chapters too long. It's a lot harder to read 6000 words than you think. So I'm splitting this up again. Stay tuned for Ghost part 2. Again, not a lot of action but the character development in this story is so important because it explains a lot of the things I have planned down the road.

There's the obvious Elyon situation, that's coming soon, but some other things with the Nerissa situation as well. Phobos and Nerissa as well, I have made victims of circumstance. Neither is truly evil, I doubt anyone really is, but the situations they've been in have made them twisted.

Thanks again for the continued support. Some of you have been with me for years. Thanks a million!