The saving grace of elementary school was that they hadn’t lost recesses. At least that was what most of the kids believed. During a five year period prior to the war the use of school funds were withheld across the country to get rid of recess. The resulting effect on the children's demeanor had resulted in its reinstatement.

  Teddy was currently eyeing the girl who hadn’t left his side since school started. Renee was pretty by Ted’s standards but she was a girl. So he would never admit that. On the other hand she was, well, very open about how she felt.

  “So that's why I think having 10 children is more economical and it will help with our spirit problem. What do you think about Stacy for a name?”

  Apparently Teddy being able to see ghosts meant that they were meant to be together per Renee. He might have escaped via his other friends. An entire fifth grade class of forty you’d expect everyone to be close. Teddy found it hard to get close with anyone. They were all too different. His being unable to visit with anyone or vice versa, due to the home situation, made the problem worse.

  “Why do we have to have kids? We’re 10.”

  Teddy complained but it was ultimately useless. Renee dragged him around during recess preventing him from studying more. In moments like these he thought about what his brother would do. In that case it depended on what time period he was pulling from. This thought had stun locked Teddy. There were too many different things Nat had said.

  On the one hand his brother would just beat the crap out of whatever his problem was. On the other he said that hitting women was only allowed in extreme circumstances. Teddy, for all the problems Renee was causing, he could not call this an extreme circumstance. Nate would probably say to just suck it up and cut off the emotions he was feeling. Well, he wouldn’t say that, but that's what Teddy was learning from him.

  “If you must keep me from studying can you at least tell me more about ghosts?”

  “Well, all you had to do was ask. Review time my dear. What did I teach you in class?”

  Teddy thought for a moment before he responded quickly, clearly, and without pause.

  “Spirits are the souls that did not move on after death. They are trapped here for one reason or another. Many being regrets or forgetting how to get into the afterlife. I still don’t know how they are supposed to know that in the first place. The other thing was that there are too many souls but you didn’t go into detail.”

  “Mmm, yeah you got most of it. Well, you know how when you fill up a bottle with water and then drip food dye in it. If you squeeze the bottle then water will come out. The color will stay inside, see.”

  “Are you saying that the bottle is the world and the souls are the water? Then we are the color left behind?”

  “No, silly the opposite. I guess there’s something to book smarts versus street smarts after all.”

  Teddy turned the other cheek as his mother used to say over the whole book smart thing. He considered himself to be smart in all things. What he didn’t know was just waiting to be learned, and what was unlearnable was false.

  “So there are too many souls?”

  “Bingo. Now can we play? I want to do dirt circles.”

  Renee grabbed his hand and pulled him out from the bleachers. They've been there since the start of recess. Over on the north side was a dirt covered spot slightly wet from the day's sprinklers. Taking a stick in hand it was a crude but long piece of wood. She started to draw complicated circles in the ground. Each with several inner and outer rings, inside was what to Teddy looked like chicken scratch and sharp shapes.

  This game, if you could call it that, was what they had played yesterday. Renee would draw one of these “Circles” as she called them and he would have to copy it. If he got it right then she would tell him something, if he got it wrong then they have to play a normal game for a time. To anyone else it wouldn’t be a punishment but it was for him.

  It was odd to Teddy that he had to do this so that they could do something at least a little normal, but she was a weird girl. In class he’d catch her looking off into space or mouthing something that he could hear. Even the way she moved sometimes was odd like her body was feeling pained. She probably even had cooties. He shivered ever so slightly.

  “Are you cold? Do you need a jacket dear?”

  “Ah, no. Is it this one this time.”

  He brushed her question off. The way she fussed over him was much like a mother. This he did not like. It was useless worrying anyways. By watching Nat he’d learned to overcome the heat and cold. Just clench your teeth and bare it. Nat often adjusts only Teddy’s room to an acceptable temperature. The rest of the house when not in use left to its own devices.

  With as much artistic ability he could muster he drew what she’d drawn each swoop and swirl, it just wasn’t quite right. He started over twice before deciding on his final creation. Renee looked over it with an appraising eye.

  “Well, it's close. Why did you change the third eye of Horus for the Greek alpha?”

  She inquired with words that nearly felt like gobbldy gook to him. Alpha was used in math often for angles or trigonometry. What did it have to do with the circle game? He was about to ask a question but Renee continued.

  “Oh, I see. I think yours might look a bit better than mine. Maybe I should recheck that. Anyway you lose, let's go play catch with the time we have left.”

  She yanked him away from the circles once more. He wasn’t an idiot there was definitely something up with those circles. If it meant something that could help Nat he would find out as soon as he could. That was if he could survive not being pummeled by Renee’s throws. He lamented not being athletic like Nate.

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  ***

  The sink slowly filled up as smudged hands wiped away at a lipstick stain. Nate bent over the kitchen sink, hair wet from the water, heart pounding in his chest. That feeling he’d felt the other day, after the hands had appeared, was ten times what it had been. Tingling radiated out to his whole body. He could feel something swimming around his heart.

  How he could feel his heart he couldn’t tell but he knew that's what was happening. He couldn’t qualify the feeling. Whatever was there wasn’t dangerous, at least not at the moment. He cast his attention to the rest of his body.

  That pulse was pushing around his body. It felt as if at any moment it would prick out of his flesh. Stabbing needles, pain which he’d not experienced in over a year covered his body. Fear gripped his chest. The only thing in the moment he could control was the lipstick on his forehead.

  He thought it a useless act, what would cleaning lipstick do for the situation? He did it anyway. Clutching at the only control he could exert. Just as the last of the lipstick was draining off his hands the pulsing eased, the prickling of his skin subsiding. Had he simply imagined the whole thing?

  No, he knew he hadn’t. The thing, a spirit, was swimming around his heart still. It was as if the thing was a large fish as it pushed up against the edges of a small pool in his chest. He could imagine the damage it might do if it were to go wild or push out from the pool.

  The spirit did not seem hostile from the feeling he received. Had this been what the Nun had done to him? Was this a spirit that she’d placed in his body or something that had been tagging along for sometime? He knew where to get answers but that thought scared him too.

  Pulling out the business card he looked down at the number the Paladin had left him. If anyone had answers it was him. If anyone could cause him the most harm it was still him. Paladin Wood did not give off the warm and fuzzies.

  Nate pushed the thoughts aside. He was at work, nothing should distract him. Even his own impending doom. He focused on the task at hand. The first house was cleared. His money should be ready and waiting.

  Outside Jeb lounged in the truck a pipe stuck lazily out of the side of his jowls. He puffed slowly and scrolled on his Holo-phone. Surprisingly a newer model, one that cast a small visible screen just slightly above the clear glass of the phone. Nate’s approach went unnoticed. Letting off some steam he tapped the glass by the large head.

  *Tap Tap Tap*

  “Ahhh”

  Jeb was left breathless as his pipe was flung across the vehicle. The new shiny hollow-phone, lost somewhere between the seats. His normally twisted expression turned to a frown as he looked over at Nate. For his part he gave him a smile, he wasn’t going to let on about the experience he’d had. The attitude being presented was everything is normal.

  Rolling the window down furiously Jeb stuck his smoke choked face out the window. He had seemingly forgotten to breathe. The smoke belched out of him at the moment wafting into the air.

  “Lad, I swear to god. How dare you do such a thing to me. I could have died.”

  “The house is clear. There shouldn’t be any more spirits to bother anyone.”

  His words seemed to soothe the orc as he cursed under his breath. Squishing his meaty hands between the seats he dug around for the phone. His search wouldn’t get very far but Nate was not going to volunteer to help. The incident in the house had worsened his mood.

  “Are we done for today?”

  Nate asked half hoping they were. The money coming in sooner would be good but the danger that lay hidden was real. He needed to prepare better. A small stinging entered his palm as a voice, an echo really seemed to sound in his head.

  [More. More.]

  Looking down, that same piece of metal was in his hand clenched tight. Jeb was distracted giving Nate a moment to unravel the cloth. A long single pointed bayonet, its body in the shape of a V. Sticky wet blood that endlessly pools at the tip and runs down the length coating the cloth.

  Ghosts, spirits, the afterlife, and this, this thing. Nate wasn’t sure where it landed, cursed object or some weird possessed weapon. Looking at Jeb he wondered how did the general get ahold of such an odd thing.

  “It doesn’t look any different.”

  Jeb's voice filled with disappointment over his failed attempts for the phone. His gesturing hand pointed to the house. What was once a two story home with a mountain of spiritual gunk covering it was now a simple one story home. It was still older than the rest but now it seemed to become the model for the others. Blending into the background of the street and the neighborhood around it. It fit what Jeb had said in the beginning.

  A shiver went up Nate’s spine. Whatever kind of spirit the Nun had been was dangerous. The whole building had changed, as if reality had warped at her command. Why she’d turned it into a two story dwelling, and even if it were her fault were in question. This was something beyond simply seeing spirits. That fact frightened him.

  “Trust me. If you had realized what happened you wouldn’t want to go to the next one at all.”

  Nate’s words carried the chill to Jeb, whose skin prickled with goose bumps. He gripped the steering wheel with anxious hands. Looking down at the note book with addresses within he smacked his lips.

  “Well, we still have plenty of daylight. If all of them take 3 hours like this one. Then it won’t be that hard to get through.”

  A flurry of motion brought Nate’s old phone up to his face. The thing had been neglected from disuse but he still kept it charged. Sure enough he found 3 hours had passed. All that time while he’d been in the house. His fingers felt cold on the phone's surface. It had only felt like 30 minutes at most.

  His desire not to have anything more to do with this deal was speaking loudly in his mind.

  [Run get out of here. More]

  Being a fool was a professional job for Jeb. Even he knew that the uneasiness that Nate was showing was bad for business. He’d already bought the buildings at this point he really needed him. A fat stack of cash appeared in Jeb’s mitts.

  “Lets see here after everything is said and done I should get this sold for somewhere around five hundred thousand. Naturally I ain’t able to pay you based on the whole sale price. But your 8% cut is Twenty Eight thousand dollars.”

  Nate was stunned in place. Scary monsters, existential dread, all washed away in the awe of just how much his cut really was. In truth Nate thought he was getting something like a thousand dollars at best. Nate's lips tried to form the amount but couldn’t seem to get the job done.

  “Of course if we don’t do all the houses it wouldn’t be very economical for me. I would have to find someone else as good as you, Lad. Which would just be a darn shame.”

  The deep thick scent of cash was irresistible. With that kind of money even with just this first house they would be set for months. He could actually get better food for Teddy, and replace the school supplies he’d been running out of. The prospect of not having to work near 24/7 made him swallow hard.

  “Your right boss. Lets head to the next one, I haven’t even broken a sweat yet.”