Chapter Text
That evening, Crystal had gone home. She picks up takeaway from the family-owned Italian restaurant to order a small pizza, Charles’s idea since she couldn’t figure out what to grab. One hand held the book, and the other held the pizza box. The walk from the restaurant is only a few minutes. It helps her think.
Shock still holds her close since she didn’t believe that Edwin would even let her hold a book due to the mess she had created in the office. (It took about half an hour to clean up and twenty so sharp remarks from Edwin.) If it wasn’t for Charles’s persuasion, then she would be stuck reading the book at the office, which she wouldn’t mind, but sleeping on that couch again was a nightmare.
The book finds a place on the couch in the small flat she calls home. Letting it rest there so she could eat was a smart plan on her part. She didn’t want to discover what Edwin had in mind if she left a grease mark on a page or the binding. A few slices are devoured by the teenager before she puts the rest of the pizza in the bare fridge. Breakfast for tomorrow, she tells herself. Maybe even lunch, if she wasn’t dragged back to the office.
Barely nine. She was already cleaned up from a shower, changed into pyjamas and ready for bed, but at this hour it was too early. She curls up on the couch with the book in her lap.
“Alright. Let’s see what I can do.”
She opens up the book and skims the index. Edwin wasn’t clear where he read from, but she didn’t seem to ask for any baby steps on how to read. Eyes scan page after page. Skipping anything that wasn’t about geofencing or setting up boundaries. She knew she couldn’t just jump straight to the magic spell or whatever it called for, or she could find herself in a bind where Edwin would be laughing and saying, “I told you so.” So she takes her time.
At one point, she finds herself taking notes on her phone. The little notepad fills up with tips and tricks on how to create a boundary to keep ghosts away. She learns that there are a few different versions of a ghost boundary.
One. Completely and impossible to penetrate. A ghost cannot travel by any means to the location. This is completely out of bounds for a ghost. One could think of it as a brick. The ghost cannot walk in or even appear in. There is no workaround for the ghost to get through.
To Crystal, it seemed a bit extreme. She didn’t want to completely block out her ghost friends, but it might be helpful with things such as journals or a shoebox that she kept under her bed back at her family’s house.
The second one was just a walled building. A ghost could not appear within the building, as if the area were surrounded by a fence. But they can walk through it as if there is a door for them to use. Once in, they can use mirrors or any ghostly traveling abilities within the area. They can even escape the area, but once out, they still need to use the same door.
There was a third, but she’s not sure if she wants to continue reading since the second one seems to be what she needed. She could do this to her whole flat, but she knew how the boys would rather use the mirror to get into the flat. She looks around and ponders the idea. The only other idea she had was for her bedroom. She could keep a mirror in there and block out the room for the boys. It could help with the two knocks and all. She would get her privacy back.
The decision is quick. She puts the book down on the mismatched coffee table that she picked up from a garage sale with Charles a few weeks ago. It was sturdy, but it was a reddish orange wood when all the rest of the furniture had more of a lighter tan colour. Either way, it was cheap, and she enjoyed it. It got a strange look from Edwin when he first saw it with the rest of her flat, but his taste was old-fashioned, and she didn’t trust it.
She keeps the book open for the spell and materials needed.
“Shit.” She mutters, seeing the list of what would be needed.
Four white candles and an iron chain to use as the perimeter of the walls. The rest of the materials were her and the book, which she already had. The others would cause her to take a trip to the store soon. Four white candles would be a quick trip to any store, but the iron chain would be a bit more than she wants. She did read that it didn’t need to be the same exact length for the perimeter but it must have a ratio of one centimetre to every metre. Though there was a stronger spell for anything over 10 metres. She knew that she wouldn’t need that. Her bedroom was almost 3 metres wide on each side.
A yawn breaks through her, and she glances at the clock on her phone. There was no way she would be able to get any of the supplies tonight, so sleep was the best option for her.
✦✦✦
A note is left on the kitchen counter from Crystal in case the boys did show up at her flat without a word, but when she comes back with the materials she scratched down in a notepad on her phone, she sees no sign the note was ever touched.
She sets the plastic bag of the candles on the counter, and the heavy brown paper bag of four iron chains measures three centimetres. Before anything, she would need to clean up her bedroom to clear out the corners. She wasn’t even sure if this was going to work, but she hoped it would, or they would be on the quest of searching for a magic user that wouldn’t try to make Edwin a battery.
About an hour after cleaning up and moving furniture from the walls, she has created... well, her room now looks worse. It reminds her of how the living room was set up when her mother wanted to repaint it for the fifth time that month. The bed stood in the middle of the room. The dresser was pushed right up against the left side of the bed. The trunk with the rest of her clothes that couldn’t fit in the dresser or closet was up against the baseboard of the bed. The nightstand that held her charging cord for her phone and the lamp were on the upper right of the bed. Her desk, which held her computer and abandoned textbooks, was taking up the rest of the right side of her bed. She barely had any room to get to her bed, but if she really wanted to, she could climb over the trunk.
Each candle was placed in the corner of the room, and each chain would be centred between the candles with exact measurements. Everything about this had to be perfect, or the spell wouldn’t work. On her bed, she found the centre of the room. It’s where she will sit once all is ready. The book, for now, lays alone, on the bed.
She double-checks everything. The placement of the chain, the candles, and the location of the book. Once everything was perfect, she lit the candles. The book tells her to start north and work around clockwise. The candles flicker in unison once the last one is lit. The air in the room chilled, as if Charles had given her a hug.
She takes a deep breath, makes her way to the bed, and sits with her legs crossed underneath her. She faces south, just like the book directs her to. The repetition of the spell is what would strengthen the duration of the spell. It would be something she would need to do often if this worked.
“Detrahe aream illam, tuendam illam muniendam, et consuito. Rejiciuntur soli spiritus. Non appropinquant quinque ossa. Coniungantur.”
Each repetition causes the spell to strengthen by a week. Crystal closes her eyes and repeats it four times; thus, she would have to do this about once a month, unsure if she could go further past that duration.
The chains glow faintly, almost stuttering with a soft pale glow. The candle flames flicker, swaying in a nonexistent breeze in the room. Once Crystal finishes, the candles burn out, and only soft blue smoke rises from the dead wicks. The darkness is what prompts her to open her eyes. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not since the book didn’t tell her the end result. She would need to call the boys over, and neither of them had a modern way of connecting.
It takes three days. Within these three days, she has moved back all her furniture in her bedroom to look presentable, the boys have finished notes on a case that dealt with a pianist, and they have created a small plan for the test. She had found an extra mirror on one of her trips to the office, where it now sits in the bedroom.
Charles, who was the test subject, waits in the office for the okay. Edwin and Crystal were in the flat. Edwin stayed in the living room, knowing the bedroom was a very private room and the two were not that close. He finds the book that Crystal had borrowed and takes it into his hands. There is no way he will be forgetting this here any longer.
“Okay, so the mirror is good to go. You two have proven that you can travel through it when it was in the office,” says Crystal, making sure that this all works. “And Charles is ready to go through the mirror now, yeah?”
Edwin nods. “All he is waiting for, and I am surprised how you have gotten him like this.” It wasn’t easy to get Charles to wait. Edwin had the most difficulty getting the ghost to settle down for ten minutes. “It's a thumbs up from me. Are we good to go?” He asks.
Crystal walks over to her room, where she sits on the trunk. The two were now separated in the flat, but if Edwin looked through the reflection of the microwave, he could see a blurred version of Crystal in her room.
“Alright. He’s good to go.”
Edwin nods before stepping halfway through the mirror that stands in the living room and poking himself through to the office. “Charles.” He calls out to find the detective playing with one of the paper weights on the desk. A sigh comes from Edwin after seeing him distracted.
Charles sets the rock that shines in the right light back onto the desk before giving Edwin his full attention.
“Give me a tick to get back into Crystal’s flat and let the mirror reset before you cross. But we are ready for you.”
A two-finger salute comes from Charles before he watches Edwin slip back out of the mirror. He counts to thirty under his breath. He pictures the mirror in Crystal’s room; he pictures Crystal’s bedroom.
A breath of luck is released. He keeps the thought all the way through as he takes the step. His body goes into the glass. He feels as if he’s blocked by something as he tries to go to Crystal’s bedroom. He can’t even see the exit there. All he sees is the mirror that Edwin is facing and a few others that hang up around the building. He takes the step to the mirror facing Edwin and steps out.
The space between the two ghosts was too close for comfort for Edwin, which caused him to take a step back and clear his throat.
“Well?” Edwin asks.
“Well, uh... it doesn’t exist. I didn’t see a mirror. It’s like it didn’t exist.” Charles says.
“Interesting.” Edwin replies.
Crystal steps out of her room as she hears the two detectives conversing in the living room.
“So, like, are we blocked completely from your room, Crys?” Charles asks.
“Welcome to try, but I picked the one that shouldn’t be completely blocked. But if you two start trying some weird shit, I might try it.”
Edwin nods. Charles goes straight to her room. He stops at the doorway before taking a step in with ease. The other two watched, but nothing happened.
“I’m impressed.” Edwin turns to Crystal. “It seems you do have a bit of access to the arcane or magic. Simple spells like that, I’m sure Charles could be able to handle, but it’s good to know that you were able to test it out first.”
She rolls her eyes. Of course. If Edwin was going to try and be nice, he would find a way to be insulting as well. But at least there was something there. She takes it.
“Thanks.” She mutters before turning to the bedroom. “Alright, back to the office?”
“Oh yeah!” Charles calls out. “Edwin’s found this case with someone who can talk to snakes.” There's a growing grin on his face.
“I highly doubt he is speaking the truth, but an interview will be required. We need Crystal’s psychic ability to see if she can pick up anything with the snake skin.”
“You know you don’t have to talk to me like I’m not in the room.” She grumbles, her arms crossing her chest.