Present day – after the Veilsurge at Rosewood college.

  After narrowly preventing Noelle’s collapse in the lift, they returned to the apartment and washed up. Carmen prepared them a hearty dinner. It wasn’t long before Amy and Tai returned from the hospital with news that the nerve damage wouldn’t be permanent, and that with some physiotherapy, her arm function would return to normal.

  In the weirdest way, the veilsurge had been like a pressure valve bursting – releasing the pent-up tension that had previously filled their home. Wisptown had hung over them like an unwelcome shade, and surviving the veilsurge had brought them together.

  She even noticed Amy being a little more forthcoming with Carmen, inviting her over and teaching her the basics of Vietnamese cooking, and from the little that Evantra managed to catch, cocktail making. It seemed like at her previous job, Amy had been trained in the art working at a restaurant, not that she had found much use for it until now. Evantra grinned at the thought of Amy of all people, teaching Carmen to refine her abysmal cocktail-making skills.

  Amy made no mention of her injuries.

  Whenever Evantra attempted to approach her to discuss it, the stoic woman waved her off, returning her attention to the cooking.

  Tai and Lucas were gaming together, the pair of them continuing to refine their zombie-killing abilities. It seemed as if the little girl had bounced back quickly, even after experiencing the death that resulted from the attack. However, she wasn’t so na?ve as to think that she had left the experience without her fair share of scars. Evantra could see her glance over at her mother, her attention drawn to the shaking in her hands from the wounds the drinker had inflicted.

  “That Ghostslayer you mentioned? I think I figured out who he is.”

  Noelle was lying on her mattress, drying her hair after her shower. Evantra had filled her in on the Veilsurge.

  “Jack Wilkinson. The ‘jack’ of all trades. I know, Aussie humour for you. He’s [spirit] ranked. To put it into context, Uriel sits at the very tip of the Veilcreature ranks – at [seraphim]. That puts her between level 50 and 54 according to your system. It doesn’t seem high, but it means that she can comfortably deal with most Veilcreatures with relative ease, assuming that it’s a solo matchup. [Spirit] is well into the ghost ranks.”

  Evantra listened with rapt attention.

  “Things get messy once you enter into the ghost ranks, because ghosts of the same type vary in power. They kick off at [poltergeist] and end with [eldritch], and they don’t cover all of the ghosts that are out there. After [seraphim], it goes [poltergeist], [spectre], [wisp], [spirit], [onryo], [wraith], [revenant], [djinn], then [eldritch]. [Eldritch] because it’s a catch-all category that gets at all the really messed-up stuff that doesn’t bow to the rules and categories we’ve created. That puts Jack in the level 70 – 74 range according to your interface, assuming it follows the ranks as they’re currently defined.”

  Noelle shifted, twisting to face Evantra.

  “He’s less a ‘jack’ of all trades and more of a master of them. He’s known to use whatever fighting style fits the bill and is able to easily switch between them on the fly as the need arises. Very versatile.”

  “I’m surprised Demeteria managed to secure him for a mundane Veilsurge.”

  “That’s the thing… he’s a bit of an oddball. Almost exclusively goes hunting for mundanes; he’s trying to find a way into Australia. Ever since the barrier rose, the entire continent has been sealed off, and New Zealand was just barely spared. They think it was the work of a ghost. Maybe even a class 1 Djinn.”

  Evantra felt a shiver run down her spine at Noelle’s soft words.

  Then she seemed to brighten, sitting upright. A hint of arrogance entered her eyes, and Evantra knew that Noelle was about to rub something in her face.

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  “Anyway, after you cleared it, I had another talk with our friend Tracy Blackwood. I managed to convince her to waive Tai and Lucas’ school fees for the year in lieu of your efforts and Amy’s in protecting the kids. We won’t have to take out the loans, and we’ll be able to properly save and build up a reserve now!”

  Noelle stared at her expectantly, but Evantra eventually dropped her poker face, breaking out into a grin.

  “That’s my favourite corpo. But… only for a year? You’ve got to be joking.”

  Noelle winced.

  “That’s megacorps for you. Trying to get money out of them would be like pulling teeth from a rabid teethling. But… I did convince her to grant me library access citing my interest in academia, which will give us access to the archives Demeteria makes available for its educational institutions. We’ll be able to dig into Alfiera, revenants, even spirits, assuming Demeteria has anything on them.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be able to access them without tripping any flags? That seems incredibly risky.”

  Noelle’s expression seemed to soften before she nodded.

  “I’m not going to push… but whoever’s helping you from the inside must be quite high up to be able to cover your tracks like this.”

  Noelle blanched, staring at Evantra as she idly fiddled with her backpack beside her.

  “My sister,” Noelle whispered with a wistful smile, before her eyes hardened. “That aside, I didn’t push for anything more. In other circumstances, I probably could have, but it seemed like the Ghostslayer gave the staff a stern talking to about the sentry system being outdated.”

  Then, Noelle rose to her feet in excitement.

  “But you got a new skill! Let’s find out what it does.”

  Evantra’s gaze lingered on Noelle, clearly catching the swift change in topic, before she eventually relented. It would be for her friend to tell her at her own time. She sat up, and she could feel her heart begin to race in anticipation.

  “You might want to take a step back, just in case.”

  “Wha—”

  [Recovery]

  It felt like her body instantly grew heavier.

  While the skill was active, she felt like she could viscerally feel every single fibre of muscle in her body, and even a small shift in her position required a momentous effort to achieve. It felt as if someone had tied weights to every strand of muscle fibre, and she was fighting against it to move.

  Evantra released the skill and gasped when her ease of movement returned in an instant. In addition to that, it felt like the fatigue that had built up during the period of exertion while the skill was active had disappeared as soon as she deactivated it.

  Evantra shot Noelle a brief grin after collecting her breath.

  She rose to her feet.

  “Catch me if I fall.”

  [Recovery]

  Evantra felt her leg muscles come alight. Her muscle fibres began to twitch and she felt like she teetered closer on the brink of collapsing with every passing second.

  She took her first step.

  It felt like she was attempting to walk after completing a 100km marathon with none of Dionysius group’s miraculous recovery products. The second time activating the skill was imperceptibly easier than the first, and when Evantra released it once more, she immediately felt relief suffuse her body, the pain and aches brought on during skill activation disappearing abruptly.

  “This isn’t a skill like the others,” Evantra said, her eyes widening.

  “We’ll need to test it further, but I think this allows me to place my body under additional physical strain while it's active. If I train in this state, I assume that I’d be able to train my stamina, maybe even my strength at a heightened rate. But we’ll need a lot more testing to figure out precisely how it works. But there’s something else...”

  Evantra shifted, massaging her legs.

  “The exhaustion I build up under skill’s effect gets washed away when I release it. I could potentially use it to gain a second wind, if I can acclimatise myself to the fatigue.”

  Noelle’s jaw fell open as Evantra relayed her hypothesis.

  “That means… that there are catalysts out there which might allow me to retain permanent benefits even when they aren’t equipped. I use them to train, then unequip them. This is extremely valuable.”

  They both stared at one another, leaving the words unsaid. Neither of them had any idea just what a ghost was doing handing her a catalyst. Let alone one this powerful or useful. Nimue’s nature had been a mystery to both of them, but Noelle’s hypothesis was that both her and ‘Galahad’ were revenants – a type of ghost born from belief.

  Whatever the reason was, Evantra wasn’t about to squander the opportunity presented to her.

  Noelle seemed to collect herself before giving her a brief nod.

  “There was another reason I picked Megabuilding A3 as a location. It has a secret. I think it’s time I—”

  Noelle was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  Carmen opened it, with Tai and Lucas in tow. Evantra couldn’t help but smile when she saw that Carmen looked like an entirely different person.

  “After all the excitement today, it’ll be good to clear your heads. Veilcreatures aside, the little ones are anxious about starting school, and I want you two pendejas to reassure them and give them some advice. Take them on a walk tomorrow and help them get some school supplies. It’ll be good for them to get a taste of normal, don’t you think?”

  Evantra knew an order when she saw one.

  This just happened to be an order that she would gladly fulfil.

  After she did, she would get to the bottom of Megabuilding A3 little ‘secret’.