Witches of Mellgrah

The door opened revealing a dark dusty room with rows of bookshelves stacked too closely to each other and piled with dusty old books and scrolls. It looked like a place hosting obscure medieval manuscripts no one had any use for.

"Okay… We'd established you can pick locks," Maya said curiously gazing inside. "Not alarming at all… Let's go now, before we get in trouble."

Maya was getting intense sinister vibes from the dusty smell and cold air that hit her from the inside of the old archive.

Elena, seemingly unfazed by the cold, rummaged through her bag for a witchlight. This was a magically charged crystal-like stone with mystical engravings. Maya recognized it from their class earlier in the day. The stone emits light by converting ambient energy into light. It wasn't an item easily obtained, and Maya was certain Elena had received it from Keith.

The academy had a merit system that rewarded students' efforts. It was the only way to acquire magical artefacts so students were encouraged to perform well and compete for the rare rewards. Merit points were rewarded through all kinds of contributions, and in this case, Keith was awarded a witchlight for being the top student at the end of the first year.

Maya was eyeing such wonderous items and strived to have a chance to win them herself.

"If you're really going in there, at least, promise me you won't steal anything," Maya tried to bargain with her, remembering her robbing the fountain earlier.

"Just one small souvenir," she made a sappy expression, pleading like a child.

"They'll know it was us. We're the only ones here."

"Judging by the amount of dust just on the floor, I'd say nobody has been in here for years. I doubt they'll realize something's missing."

"Elena, I really don't think this is a good idea."

"Keep guard," Elena ordered and went inside closing the heavy door behind herself.

"She's too reckless. You should seriously reconsider hanging out with her—she'll land you in some serious trouble," Leo opined when they were alone, his eye twitching seemingly from sheer annoyance.

"Is there anyone in there?" Maya asked in a low voice.

"Her snooping is disturbing the dead, Maya. This is serious," he, too, was whispering for no apparent reason than to match Maya. "They can't do much to her, but if they find out about you, they'll make you pay for her misbehaviour."

Maya was worried about Leo. He seemed extremely unwell and was twitching from worry. Like, physically twitching, in a mechanical abnormal jerky movement he didn't seem to be aware of. Something in the manner of that girl she saw before…

"Are you okay?" she worried.

"No. I'm telling you. Here are some angry ghosts."

"I don't see them."

He was shaking, staring blankly in the empty space. There was something very wrong. His jerking got aggressive and out of control. Like he was having a seizure.

"Leo!"

He fell to the ground on his back, shaking uncontrollably. His eyes turned into his skull, showing only whites. Maya was panicking, calling his name while kneeling on the cold floor and trying to calm him down. But, it was like he was there and wasn't at the same time. Like a broken projection, he was glitching a couple of inches here and there.

"Stop! Please…" she began to beg.

Maya didn't know who or what, but was convinced someone was doing this to him. It was like he was suddenly being possessed.

A new voice startled Maya from behind:

"Don't worry. He'll be alright."

It belonged to that girl ghost she saw the day before that startled her. She was standing over Maya who, now for the first time, could see her clearly.

Big green eyes under a head of wavy brown hair collected in a loose bun lowered to Maya's level. As the ghost girl squatted down with Maya, she could tell they were about the same height and about the same age.

'Pretty, like a fairy,' her thoughts couldn't help themselves.

However, Maya was left momentarily stunned for a strange reason. Pretty much nothing in the appearance was alike, but the thought of Maya's father suddenly invaded her mind.

It was like her soft-spoken and reassuring words reminded Maya of the faint British accent her father would pick up whenever he would return from a business trip in the UK. Only her accent wasn't faint and no one else with a similar accent triggered such memory.

'I must've been frightened out of my wits to suddenly miss my dad.'

"What's happening to him?"

Maya's voice was desperate. She had forgotten her own decision to pretend like she couldn't perceive other ghosts in fear of what they could want from her.

"It's how he died. The trauma permanently corrupts us. He may not even be aware he is re-enacting it."

She had a rather indifferent demeanour toward someone who was spasming on the floor right in front of her. Or Maya was simply unable to read her giving away any emotion.

"How do I help him?"

"You can't. Just let him go through it and he will be back. It does no harm. It can be a bit disturbing to you, but so would be seeing the dead, wouldn't it?" she gave her an ambiguously meaningful look.

Maya didn't know how to answer. Since it was too late to pretend like she couldn't see her, she was now beginning to wonder if this girl was one of the 'angry ghosts' Leo just talked about.

"Don't worry. I won't tell the others. I know a bit about being hunted by the dead…" the girl smiled softly.

"Who are you?"

"A friend."

The girl also wasn't invulnerable to glitching. Maya didn't notice it with Leo until now, but other ghosts seemed quite prone to tics and involuntary or plain-out impossible movements. Maya would attest them to incredibly realistic but insanely buggy holograms. However, the girl, although more frequently plagued by them, seemed more stable. Almost like she could control it for a certain period of time. She didn't seem lost and confused like the others.

Just as suddenly as it befell him, Leo recovered from his seizure and was now standing next to Maya without ever having stood up as if nothing had happened, confused.

"Who's she?"

The girl was gone as soon as he asked and before Maya got a chance to get more answers. It could be considered rude, but ghosts don't have manners or care about such things.

"Wow. Getting ghosted by a ghost…" He frowned. It seems he was unaware he scared Maya out of her skin just a moment prior.

Maya was about to comment, but then a sudden voice made her jump back.

"What's up with you?" Elena stood there, staring at Maya crouched on the floor.

While Maya was still panting from shock earlier, the heavy door to the restricted library archive opened and Elena exited without Maya having registered it.

"You're really jumpy. What, you saw a ghost or something?"

Maya couldn't acknowledge the fact that Elena was joking, because she did in fact see a ghost. More of them, actually. And it was now a normal thing for her. But she couldn't think fast to come up with something to say that wouldn't make her seem even more suspicious.

Elena sighed.

"Okay… If you hate cleaning that much, I have something to make it up to you."

"Please, don't tell me you stole something from in there."

"Not that. Follow me."