Mandy was whipped into a panic. Her father was at the house, this was when she needed Nate. She dialed the number again. Pacing back and forth her nice outfit was now askew. Leaves from the hedge stuck out from her hair.

  “Mandy, it's ok. He might just be asleep. Why not call the hospital directly.”

  “He will check the logs. Don’t doubt for a moment that he isn’t watching everything that's going on. He’s always watching. This is why I had his phone turned back on. Damn it.”

  From her inner jacket pocket she pulled out a carton of cigarettes. She tapped the side of it against her leg. The habit was rearing its head. A desire to just let it fill in that empty space of time. Trembling fingers pushed it back inside her pocket. It wasn’t the time and there were children here.

  “Is there anything else we can do? Renee, can you send a spirit?”

  Teddy's hopeful eyes stared into hers. She didn’t want to let him down but this place was suspiciously without any spirits. Her own spirit vault wasn’t set up. She hadn’t been planning on forming one in this life. Shaking her head in a firm no, Teddy deflated.

  “There’s no spirit we can ask, we'll just have to wait till he gets back in touch with us.”

  “Well there is that one.”

  His words drew both girls' eyes onto him. He shrank back at the sudden redirect. With a sheepish smile he pointed to the library. The spirit spent most of its time there during this time of the day.

  “There’s one in the library? But I feel something like a spirit barrier here. There are only a few ways that it could still be here. None of them are good.”

  “If it can help, let's go visit it.”

  Mandy jumped into action unaware or unconcerned with any of the connotations in Renee’s voice. She was aware of what happened to Mandy and her family. The fallout had affected her side and they weren’t the closest in the first place. Nate must truly be her last bastion before she falls to pieces. The desperation that was thickly laced within her voice confirmed Renee’s thoughts.

  On their way to the library they were stopped at the entry way to the main foyer. One of the guards, whom Mandy knew as the head of security, stopped them. He wasn’t a bad man. Everytime they interacted it was simply in a professional fashion. He stuck to his code.

  “Littlest miss, The mayor has requested your presence for dinner. Furthermore, he asks for you to hand over your Holo-Phone.”

  “What? He can’t just take it.”

  “Littlest miss, please don’t make this harder than it has to be. He told me that the hospital will call when Nate is ready to be discharged. At that time Teddy will be brought to him and your ties will be severed. Do you understand?”

  Mandy was quiet. The fierceness she’d been feeling before was bleeding dry. He always did this to her, to their family. Her mother leaving wasn’t entirely Kent’s fault. Though it didn’t help. She’d been sleeping around for a long time. Her dad had known, it was just the fact it was someone as lowly as Kent. It was an unacceptable line.

  Amongst everyone that was in their circle he had been from the roughest part of town. If you could call it rough. His family didn’t make much but they managed. Most people in the country weren't living any worse than he was. Still her father took it as the ultimate insult. She could hear as fresh as that night when they’d had another screaming match. It had been when her mother had finally left.

  She could blame it on the screaming match but it was more than that. He’d been beating mom for a long time, subjecting her to awful treatment long before she cheated. One time she’d overheard him and the head bodyguard talking about a journalist. That person had gotten ahold of information of the abuse and then went “missing”. There was a lot that she swept under the rug about her father. It was easier not to think about.

  “Can I send a message real quick?”

  Mandy’s mind raced to form a plan. She wouldn’t be able to make a move. Nate was bedridden, and Kent was missing. They were at a dead end and with few possibilities.

  “That's fine he didn’t say I had to prevent you from doing that.”

  The head bodyguard gave her a bit of a wink. She didn’t think he’d be understanding. Things sometimes go outside of one's expectations. With quick fingers she typed up two messages and sent them. For good measure she created a complicated password and handed it over to the guard.

  “Thank you. When does father need me?”

  “Just doing as I’m paid. Got to keep you safe. Dinner will be ready in a couple hours. One of us will get you then.”

  How he spoke sounded slightly weird. She accepted it as him just being old. The three made their way to the library. Mandy sat down catching her breath. All this rushing around was outside of her normal everyday life. She considered getting back into exercising.

  “What did you send?”

  Renee questioned her as she started pulling leaves out of Mandy’s hair. It was an oddly soothing feeling as Teddy watched the two. Yet, again he felt he didn’t understand women. Maybe, he should ask Nate to explain them again.

  “One was for Nate. To watch out for the Paladins and how we’re on lock down.”

  “And the other?”

  Mandy made a vicious face that neither had seen from her before. The cat had gotten the mouse and was ready to feast. Noticing their bewilderment her face softened. If her father was going to go low she’d go even lower.

  “The gang all agreed. If anything happened we’d come back together. I don’t know how many will come but I know one who will.”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Teddy thought for a second and then grimaced. Nate had kept his activities private to an extent. He had told him about all of the members in general. One amongst them came to his mind and he prayed it wasn’t her.

  “Don’t tell me you messaged her?”

  “Did Nate tell you about her?”

  “Can you two not be vague? I'm lost here.”

  Renee pouted at the two of them speaking in euphemism. The irony that she often did the same went straight over her head. The two in the know passed a look between them. It fell to Mandy to explain.

  “Do you know that Nate and I were in a gang?”

  “Not really. We might be related but I don’t really care about your matters.”

  “Hurtful, but understandable. We were in a gang. One of the reasons we all split up was that Kent and my mom…”

  She paused for a moment, a feeling of embarrassment crossing her face. The spirit had been drifting closer and also covered its face in embarrassment confusing both of the children. Mandy calmed and continued.

  “They became intimate. I’ll leave it at that. At the same time a new member joined the group. She was determined to run everything. Nate was the boss so she challenged him.”

  “Ah, naturally he won. Teddy has boasted of Nate’s superior strength. He seems to be having a fledgling amount himself.”

  Renee spoke up catching on to the course of events. Still the reason for the split was unclear to her. If it was the status quo then it fell squarely on Kent’s transgressions. What did this have to do with their relationship?

  “No, he lost.”

  “He lost?”

  Renee responded incredulous, even Teddy wore a surprised face. He’d never heard the story so directly. Nate always just glossed over this part. The two pulled up chairs to listen keenly to what Mandy had to say.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. She's a lot shorter than I am. Tough as nails and crazy. Don’t get me wrong it was a close fight. She said it was just because he hadn’t fought someone like her before. Anyway she became the leader and we had to follow what she said. That led everyone to leave.”

  “Oh, so they were just all loyal to Nate?”

  Teddy asked the question now. It was reaching into territory that he was uncertain of. His own knowledge was that the new girl was a hurricane in human form. A tsunami of bad choices, self-destruction, and literal destruction.

  “No, she wanted him to remain in charge. Said he was worthy cause the fight hadn’t been fair. She still started to change things. Extortion, and blackmail. A man was beaten to death by her.”

  “And she went to jail?”

  “That's the thing no. She’s got a weird amount of pull in the underworld. Oh, should I call it something else? Because of the ghost thing?”

  “No, that works fine.”

  Renee responded still wanting to hear more about this crazed bear-like woman. Someone close to her height could do such a thing? It was surprising.

  “It got worse. She has an odd obsession with strength and fighting. One day she came back and declared that a new grand ruler needed to be made. She started recruiting heavily.”

  “And that was to be her? She was going to have Nat do it for her?”

  “You would think but no. She meant Nate. The crazy woman was obsessed with Genghis Khan. Her aim was to make Nate into the next Universal Ruler. Of course the stuff with your family happened. Nate went back on the straight and narrow. And she wasn't happy that Nate abandoned her. Burnt our old hideout to the ground. She completely deserved what came to her. After all she got in between the two of us, the nerve of the woman.”

  “Wait, so she’s coming here?”

  Renee was incredulous. In what world was it a good idea to bring in a loose cannon like this girl? Was Mandy out of her mind? She might not even feel the same way anymore. It could be worse if she did feel the same way, what would she do to Nate? Teddy wouldn’t like him being forced into anything. She followed up with another question.

  “I thought you were the obsessed ex-girlfriend.”

  “There happens to be two of us. One of which I may have used my father’s influence to force out of town.”

  “Are you serious?”

  ***

  Nate lay in his bed soaked in sweat. His mind was reeling from the prior events. He looked at the ring on his finger with anticipation. There was just one more step and he’d be on his way to being a real Necromancer. The teacher had left a while ago.

  After forming the building in his body, he would need to properly read through the magic circles that made up his foundation. The old book sat on his night stand next to his phone. He reached out to check it. Several missed calls from Mandy and a text message.

  His eyes stung as he squinted at the light from the phone. Since hers would be confiscated he’d need to contact her another way. It would be difficult but not once he was a necromancer. He raised his tired body to a sitting position cracking open the book.

  Worn pages that threatened to shatter at his every touch turned. For his part he was as delicate as one could expect from his broken body. The first page was an introduction to the world.

  [ For the newly initiated. On the matter of souls. When one’s soul is stretched, as yours soon will be, the resulting side effects could be fatal. With the greatest caution do not proceed with the operation until the following chapter is read through. One should do this with the utmost care. It is also required to have one’s master present at the time of the sculpting.]

  Cold sweat ran down his back. Did this mean without his teacher here he’d have died? As he read the following chapter he realized death was only a minor side effect. If he’d been alone during this event it was possible he’d have blown up the town, or turned into a monster. Not just any at that but one that would devour everything in sight.

  Chapter one was called Town Square. This was the name of the special soul shaping and training method that he was now using. Small notes were written alongside the edges of the book pointing out advancements or changes in knowledge in the book. Once he started he couldn’t put the thing down. His own ambition wouldn’t allow him to do so.

  Magic circles were made up of an outer ring which connected to the world itself. This was a necessary step to induce physical phenomena from often non-physical spirits. In his case the main platform of the Town Square Circle was one large Magic circle. There was a comparison to how normal necromancers might undergo the process.

  They would form their entire soul into a single circle similar to Nate’s. The difference was in the composition of the magic circle. The Town Square left gaps essentially creating secondary outer connecting rings within the center of the circle. This would allow him to create new magic circles within these slots. Each would then act as a new building and give a different effect.

  The effort to create them would be on a whole different level to what he’d accomplished with his gothic hideout. His Teacher’s magic had done all of the heavy lifting and it all will be on him from now on.

  Amongst the examples of building construct circles was one quoted as the Gala family method. The focus was on a large opulent structure maximizing the initial size of both the interior and exterior of the building. It shared some similarities to the one used in the Town Square. It was made to appease higher class fully conscious spirits.

  When he reached half-way through the pages a wet slurping sound came from the window. Looking over he found the window ajar a long fleshy tube extending from the frame the end of which lay on his side table. Strings of wet fluids pooled under the fleshy tubing, the lips on the end staring at Nate.

  “Hello, Candidate. I bring grave tidings.”