La Dolce Vita

By Seniya

G is for Ghost

Part Two

I would just say that - the ghosts you chase you never catch.
John Malkovich

The second knock when answered, had revealed an immaculate looking Cornelia, today in a pink argyle sweater and light grey slacks. She smiled with her lips, although her eyes were distracted. She hadn't wasted even a second's glance at Hay Lin, instead she peered curiously past the girl's back, into the solid darkness of the restaurant.

"Is Caleb here?" She asked after that. After HayLin shook her head to signal the negative, she pouted, and tapped her foot. "Well, can you …"

"I just saw my Mom!" Irma, face white as the clouds on a simple summer's day, rushed through the dining area, obviously looking for someone – anyone to comfort her. "She … She was in your basement!"

Hay Lin stuttered, "But … I thought … your Mom … was … you know …" There was no politically correct way around it. "Dead."

"She is … she's down … was it a ghost?" Irma was shaking like a leaf from curly ponytail to sneakered bottom. Her bright eyes seemed eerie in her drawn face. She was such a visible wreck that even Cornelia couldn't comment.

Yan Lin could. "It's Halloween." She hustled into the entrance wearing a heavy sweatshirt over her dirty apron and track pants. Will trailed miserably in her wake. "Everyone from Joan of Arc to TuPac is out here. HayLin, hold down the fort … I've got some business to attend to, I won't be long."

"Is Will going with you?" Hay Lin watched the redhead with large, curious eyes.

"Apparently." Will muttered, even more unimpressed than usual. YanLin flinched, she should have warned Will not to get her grandchild started. "Why?" Came the chipper voice and she sighed to herself. It was too late.

"Hello! I just saw my dead mother in your cellar! Can we focus?" Irma huffed.

"It's Halloween, Irma. It happens." Yan Lin grabbed her purse while Will and started for the door.

"Why are you taking Will with you Nana?"

"Wait!" Cornelia blocked the entrance, "um, Will, I have a favour to ask."

The blank stare and bitter disposition on the redhead's face were as much encouragement as she could expect. "I'm um," Cornelia felt her face warm and regretted the fact that she hadn't had the foresight to do this over the phone. "So I'm having this par – err – small get together at my house, and I was hoping that you could …"

"Wait," Irma interjected, more than a little put out at having been so easily dismissed, "you're inviting Will to your party?"

"No." Cornelia smiled through the answer, "I was hoping … you know … that she'd use the sword to open a portal so that I could invite Caleb to my party."

There were several moments of silence before Yan Lin finally replied. "Do you think the Blade of Kandrakar is a friggin' bus pass?"

"I don't even know where Caleb is. Even if I opened a portal, I wouldn't know where to put it." Will stated before Irma smirked, "you could just let Cornflake in Will. She's half Doberman. If he's there, she'd find him."

"Caleb usually just pops up when you don't want him anyways. So just hope he was eaten by carnivorous plants and he'll …" As if on cue, there was a flash of bright light, and Caleb stepped out of the energy fold. "Speak of the devil …" The redhead sighed.

"Hi …" Cornelia breathed, suddenly a rush of nervous energy, "Caleb, I was just looking for you."

"Hello," he said curtly, looking huge, muddy and out of place on the Silver Dragon's dining room. In the days the girls hadn't seen him, he'd lost some weight, grown a shaggy beard, and as Will told him as he drew closer to her – forgotten to shower. He ignored her, and instead removed a large sack from his back and let it drop on the floor. "We haven't finished relocating, but some of the children made these gifts for you. I decided I should bring them."

"Oh, these are so cute!" HayLin wasted no time in reaching into the bags to remove various pretty stones, a few drawings and even a patchwork dolls with wings. "I love them all!"

"Anyways," YanLin frowning at the muddy floor, snapped, "someone will mop, I trust. We're leaving! Hay Lin don't follow!" Cornelia practically jumped to the side to let Will and the old woman pass.

"Nana, where are you guys going?" Hay Lin bounded out the door anyways.

"Caleb, now that you're here," Cornelia straightened her back, brushed her hair from off her shoulders and smiled, "do you wanna come to my Halloween party tomorrow night?"

He stared at her, his gorgeous green eyes pinning her to the spot. "What is … Halloween?"

"Oh …" Cornelia's smile never faltered, "it's well this holiday … where people try to scare each other for fun."

"Is this some Earth custom I won't understand?" In the months he's been visiting Earth, he'd learned that there were a great many of those. "No, silly, you can understand. It's mostly for children, but we adults can enjoy it too. It'll be fun!" She prayed to God that sounded convincing. Out of the corner, she heard Irma snort. That pig.

"You know Corny," Irma cooed, stepping close to Caleb and resting a hand on his muddy shoulder. "Halloween really is for kids … hey, I know!" She grinned, "Why don't you invite the Meridian children to your party?"

"W-What?"

"That is a fantastic plan Irma!" Caleb actually smiled, "the children are very fond of you girls. If I were to tell them they could come to Earth to spend time with you, they'd be overjoyed."

"Really," Irma pressed a hand to her heart, "overjoyed?"

"The last few weeks have been very hard for them. I would be very appreciative if you did this for the children." Those eyes could melt her very soul.

"Yes, Corny. For the children."

"Well …" she thought fearfully of her mother's newest porcelain vases – "for the children."

Will hadn't known what to expect when Yan Lin announced that they needed to meet someone. From experience, she expected the worst. Yan Lin's acquaintances ranged from senile to psychotic, with a heaping dose of shifty right in the middle.

Instead, she was a little put off when the journey led them just two streets north, past the old library and into the nicer part of Heatherfield. "Who lives here?" Will mumbled once they stood on the sidewalk leading to a family of large Victorian styled homes.

The old woman sighed heavily in response. The cool evening breeze whipped across her wrinkled face, finding nothing to stop and watch. "It's not really who lives here. It is who is watching this place."

"By all means Yan Lin," Will rolled her light brown eyes, "be a little more vague. I was just starting to understand you."

Yan Lin merely snorted in reply. The pair each took a heavy step forward, "I've never really told you girls about Kandrakar."

"Those are the people who made my sword right?" Will remembered Hay Lin's erratic and colourful illustration of the history of the guardians. It didn't take a genius to decide that it had probably been heavily paraphrased. "Live in the heavens, all seeing, all knowing …"

"The Oracle, who is in charge of the Council of Kandrakar is not a kind man."

"You've met him?" Will asked, feeling more than a little put off by Yan Lin's strange, bleak tone. "I thought he was more like a … metaphor." She waved her hand feebly as she tried to explain.

"No. I've met him. Back when Nerissa … killed … Cassidy we all had to attend a hearing." The older woman shook her head slowly as the rush of memories swam before her aged eyes. "It lasted mere minutes."

Will remembered something – a long, lost conversation. "Lucia told me you were banished from Kandrakar."

"I am." She actually smiled, "That very day. I was banished for what I told him. Back then I blamed him for what Nerissa had done. I still do sometimes. He could have stopped her."

Will didn't like to talk about Nerissa. Hearing the name brought a rush of feelings; curiosity, foreboding, fear – sympathy. She had wondered a few times before if she would end up like her, power hungry and mad. A shell of a woman; locked in a hall of mirrors.

"I told him that much. He didn't like it. I was removed as Guardian of the Air and banished from Kandrakar."

"Wow."

"I also neglected to mention that there is a Fire Guardian." She stopped before a house right in the middle of the street. The lawns were perfect, and there were two cars in the garage. The name "Cook" was printed in "Times New Roman" across an immaculate metal mailbox. "However, this Oracle has decided that she will not be helping us with Meridian."

"Did he say why?"

Old, folded brown eyes found Will's bright ones. "No. However, I believe it has everything to do with you."

"Irma … ghosts can't hurt you." Hay Lin had eventually trotted back inside of the house, and almost instantly, Irma had clung to the smaller girl's shoulders. "Only evil spirits can … and I seriously doubt your mother is one of those."

That didn't stop Irma's fingernails from pushing deeper into her shoulders. Together, they descended the steps to the basement, where the heavy smell of ingredients waited to greet them. "I just …" Irma couldn't say that she was really afraid – merely anxious. She wanted to see her mother again.

Her heart sank a full inch when she discovered that there was nothing in the room but the piles of rosemary, salt, garlic and chicken feet.

"See," Hay Lin chimed, trying to be comforting, "Nothing to worry about."

"I …I," Irma could barely speak for the strength of the tears suddenly clogging her throat. "I want to help you guys … tomorrow night."

"Really?" Hay Lin did notice the sheen of bright tears across her friend's eyes, but didn't question it because of the bright smile Irma had plastered on her face. "S-Sure, Irma … whatever you want."

"Taranee," Yan Lin said after the fourth knock, when the door to the large white house finally opened.

"Ugh …" Her dark brown eyes were less than impressed being the sheen of her glasses. "you again?" She didn't spare a reaction for Will.

Yan Lin genuinely seemed to have that universal affect on people.

"All of that aside." Yan Lin cleared her throat, "Will has been hearing Nerissa. Call your friends, have a little pretentious pow-wow. Whatever you do, fix it, soon."

And that was it. The older woman turned sharply on her heel and started to trot along the walkway. Will met Taranee's eyes for what could have only been a second, before following suit.

"You needed to bring me to watch you do that?" She hissed once she was beside her counterpart.

"I wanted them to see you. All of them."

Will didn't bother to ask for more of an explanation than that.

Author: Ta-da! Well despite the month long delay, I bring to you half of what I had planned to write. I am slightly ashamed. I have been reading NotQuiteNorm's series, which did give me a little push to write this. If you haven't read, please do. She writes Will and Caleb's interactions extremely well.

Also, I have finally settled down and planned what will happen when Nerissa does appear later on, which is great for me. Anyways, I usually write my Will and Caleb Christmas drabble this week, so look out for that. Reviews are always welcome!