“So anyway that's why it's much better to use old trams in Vienna. They once had the biggest network. Still might but they’d need to take another survey and I don’t know where it lies in territory for nations. Oh, another place that could be good was London. Big Ben is still technically there. They used the old clock parts when they remodeled. Says that it was worse than World War 2. Isn’t that crazy it ended a hundred thirty years ago.”

  Nate was suffering. He tried in vain to tune out the chatter box who sat next to him. Sure, he liked to talk but she never knew when to quit. Allison was in the room next to his. She was a long time resident here. Something to do with her disease.

  Before he was injured he avoided this place like the plague. He had been scared of the hospital. Its clean white walls were all too sterile but that wasn’t really it. This is where he’d gone to confirm his mother’s death. The memories stayed buried, the morgue was clearly different from the rest of the hospital. The nurses and people were warmer. There wasn’t any of the smell of the dead. The only thing it had in kind was the number of dead people.

  The ghosts within the hospital were often very kind. Checking up on the patients. There had been a case where a woman was dying in another room. A ghost came in and pressed the call button. It was chalked up to her doing it in her flailing but Nate knew.

  Nate could see the ghost in full detail now. They’d become more solid to him. It may have been because of his near death experience. He couldn’t be certain as he’d started to experiment. Each morning in the hospital he was spending his time manipulating the pool of energy within his body.

  The spirit inside seemed to guide him. When he placed himself into danger it rushed out to help. He was getting a sense of who this might be but he knew the truth would hurt. So he buried the thought right next to where he kept the morgue.

  Allison puffed her cheeks out at him. He was ignoring her travel plans again. This had been the third day in a row that she’d told him about another journey she was going to take. The world was her oyster and she was going to carpe diem. He wasn’t sure what she meant by it but she did seem lonely. She put on a brave face but Doctor Mei had let it slip.

  “Try to treat Allison nicely. She’s been here for years now. All she’d got are the doctors and the nurses.”

  Doctor Mei was also an odd one. Even though she was head of the entire ward she was his second most frequent guest. Maybe, she just saw the two of them as kids. Worthy of her pity. In need of a parent.

  “Come on Nate. Tell me where you’d go. Anywhere in the world. If you could teleport. Where would you travel too?”

  Allison was persistent, he kind of appreciated it. Other than Teddy there wasn’t much in his life that was so overwhelmingly positive. Mandy might talk this way about being together but that had ended. It had to end, for her sake.

  “I’d head to somewhere remote.”

  Nate’s answer was always the same much to Allison’s frustration. In part the daily verbal brochures were targeting him. How could he have such a bland answer? She would not stand for it.

  “Come on. Don’t you think Barcelona, Paris, or even The Paris would be a perfect place to visit. So far away from here and so different.”

  “You said Paris twice.”

  “No, the other Paris, uh you know the one in Denmark. That's pretty remote.”

  Her earnestness over travel was always on full display. That didn’t mean she was all rainbows and unicorns. There was an edge to her. Nate had seen a bit of it when she caught Doctor Mei talking with him. It hadn’t been about her but she seemed angry at them. Possibly it was just at doctor Mei.

  It wasn’t his problem, he had those in spades. Mostly the past few days were uneventful. Kent still hadn't visited which was worrying. His calls to Teddy would go through but Mandy would refuse to talk with him. She was taking the separation matter very seriously.

  “Nate, sorry to disturb you. Allison, can I talk to you in the hall for a moment?”

  Doctor Mei pushed her glasses up with a single finger and gave her a professional smile. Clearly this was a medical talk not just some idle matter. It wasn’t uncommon for them to have these conversations. He’d seen them talking in the halls before quite frequently.

  Allison looked like she wanted to resist. She lingered for only a moment. She’d been threatened once with not being able to walk around nor bother Nate. He considered the prospects of it if she really talked only about travel as he stayed here. Having someone her age for the first time in a long time she wasn’t going to give up the entertainment. Nate wouldn’t take that from her, even if he was afraid what getting involved with him could lead to.

  ***

  Stolen novel; please report.

  When Teddy was taken to Mandy's home he hadn’t been prepared for how large it would be. Since Nate had kept his delinquent past, not hidden, but obscured he knew little about Mandy. He went through what he did know. She could be trusted. Nate had said as much on several occasions. She was a good driver and had been doing so since before it was legal. Lastly, was that she was obsessive.

  He might not know about physiology, but that last one didn’t feel like it worked with the first. She was fine on the ride over and even seemed to treat him like Nate did. It just seems that someone had neglected to tell him that she was the mayor’s daughter.

  Their home was individually financed. The Baker family had been leading the town of Mawe for decades, some would say centuries. The White stone columns and statues spoke of the opulence that filled the home. Much grander than anything Teddy had seen in person.

  Several people who looked like an odd form of police, clearly guards, stood at attention by the doors. They flanked the door eyeing everything closely that included Teddy and Mandy. She didn’t think they’d be able to handle the Paladin. They were the best money could buy but what did that matter against someone who can tank a slug to the head. At best they could buy some time for them to run.

  “So you live here with your parents?”

  Mandy’s face soured a bit as she knelt down to Teddy. She looked him in the eye. Nate always talked about his smart siblings. With that in mind she wasn’t going to treat Teddy like a child. If she did it was a good way to lose his trust.

  “My dad lives here but he isn’t home much. Mom. She ran away. Skipped town leaving me all alone. I also have four siblings. They are all off doing their own thing now. Anything else I can tell you?”

  He thought for a second. Many thoughts came to mind but nothing concrete. What he was really thinking about was what he should do. There was only one person who could get him the information he was after.

  “Does Renee live nearby?”

  He wore a sheepish grin. Mandy couldn’t tell if it was hiding his embarrassment about liking her or something else. Tapping the side of her head thoughtfully she gazed at him.

  “Well, we could see her coming by. Only if you want that.”

  Teddy didn’t know what happened to Nate. Asking in the hospital he’d been given an obvious lie. Something was going on and shockingly Nate wasn’t telling him what it was. He trusted Nate and was sure he was doing it for him. That didn’t mean that he would remain helpless.

  “If I could play with her then it would be nice.”

  “Then I’ll see about having her come over. Now come see where you're staying till Nate’s better.”

  Inside it was an opulent foyer, two curved staircases framed the room, the double doors in the center leading to a grand dining room. Teddy dealt with the finance spread sheet at home and knew that this was expensive. What was the mayor getting paid?

  Up the stairs the hall on the left side was filled with rooms. Mandy called it the guest wing. Apparently when the Parade would come through town many officials would come to stay here.

  Marveling at everything he was brought to a room with an oaken door. This was located next in the housing wing. Small patterns which had a familiar look carved into it. Inside a matching bedroom set of drawer, bed, and makeup table. The make up table he determined would be used as a desk.

  “Well, it's a lot. So try to take everything slow.”

  “How do you afford all this?”

  “Old money. That and a lot of this was built when things were much cheaper. You’ll get used to it honey. Or maybe you won't. I never really did.”

  Teddy thought Mandy was a little like his mom. Always trying to make people feel comfortable. She was also very nice. He didn’t like that she was like her. It meant that she’d end up dead. He couldn’t get the thought of Nate injured in the bed out of his mind.

  Mandy noticed his distress. She took his hand in hers and began leading him away from the room. Nate had also been on her mind. Their minds were clearly in the same place. She’d have to end those thoughts or at least try too. There was only one place in the house where she could do that.

  “Nate tells me you like books. Come with me.”

  In a wing off the back of the house they entered through large doors with brass fittings. Stained glass windows cast the light of the moon into multitudes of color. The thick musky scent of old paper wafted to their noses. It was a grand library.

  Rows and rows of bookshelves lined either side of the room. A second floor cat walk lined around the room to give access to even more shelves. Teddy noticed that there was a spirit here. The compound had been empty up till now.

  The ghost flitted through the book stacks pulling out ethereal books. They were copies of the books, or maybe it was their very souls. Teddy wondered if he could read them. An opulent long gown hugged her figure, large hoop ear rings and a head pointed at an old angle. Her neck had been broken.

  “This is my favorite place in the whole house. Do you want to know something that even Nate doesn’t?”

  Mandy asked Teddy conspiratorially. He nodded his head eagerly. His hunger for knowledge was beyond his years.

  “My mom used to bring me here. It was her favorite place and she made it into mine. We’d come here for hours reading. It was before her and dad. Well, before they fell out of love.”

  A book was laid out on the table and she flitted through the pages absent mindedly. Teddy could feel that the place was filled with emotion. The spirit seemed to drift closely as she did so.

  The spirit lingered at a respectful distance from Mandy. Teddy felt it wanted to comfort her. He considered things and tried to help them.

  “Are you really going to leave? Nate may act like he hates it but he does care for you.”

  “Hahaha.”

  She began to laugh. It was all she could do not to cry. Even his brother could tell, yet he wouldn’t say he loves her. If only she had the option to stay. He might actually say it now. Just one little push and he would. Stopping that train of thought she moved further in showing Teddy everything. Not wanting him to fall into thinking about Nate as well.