GAME ON - GoM 2

6

Alex spent the afternoon reading about Reiki and associated disciplines. She was surprised to find all of them were rooted in eastern traditions. So far, all she'd read about channeling in Bootter's book was based on Christian lore.

Bootter used to say that physical senses only registered a portion of reality. Which didn't mean that what was left out wasn't just as real. And he'd never instructed her about anything related to religion. Actually, he used to complain about the 'steaming pile of religious shit' she'd learned from her parents. All he would concede was that yeah, God and Lucifer did exist and yeah, there were angels and demons. And that was enough religion for his guts. He always talked about creatures.

He'd explained it to Alex even before she finished elementary. People called some creatures supernatural because they'd inspired weird stories in the past. Most of those creatures actually lived and died among unaware humans, because they were able to adapt and mingle. Bootter would also say that what people thought to be demons were usually one of those creatures. Their twisted or cruel habits would make people mistake them for one of the hell folks-who were the real experts in going around unnoticed.

About what he called 'ghost' or 'spirit' creatures, he always compared them with light.

"You can't see light-you only see what it lights up. But light's as real as it gets, even if your eyes can't perceive it because it moves too fast. Whatever moves faster than what your eyes and brain can process, becomes invisible. But they're still real. And they're still there. There's no mystery to them-our eyes are just too clumsy to see them."

Following Bootter's reasoning, channeling was like an additional sense to perceive and even handle energy that regular people wasn't equipped to notice.

Alex closed the book with a sigh. She needed to talk about it with somebody without a Ouija board. Her eyes moved around and fell on the sticky note on the cash register, where she'd written down the book Tricia had ordered a few hours ago. Tricia. Maybe she could help her. Alex called her.

Of course there was somebody else into Reiki in Bold Peak, and a Reiki Master no less. And it was no other than Miss Parker, math teacher in Bold Peak High since before the town even existed-rumor had it the founders had found her teaching math to rocks and trees when they first arrived to that side of Baker Lake, so they'd just built the school around her. Tricia volunteered to contact Miss Parker and fix and appointment for Alex. She thanked Tricia, oozing gratitude from the bottom of her heart, because the hoary teacher had been a regular star in her teen nightmares.

She disconnected, thinking of Graham's folder. She knew she didn't need to look up feeblers in Old Bootter's books, because surely Claire could quote by heart every word about them that could be found in those books.

Over the last months, Claire had devoted herself to what Alex mockingly called 'hunting crash course.' The girl had already read at least twice all of Old Bootter's books and journals. She'd taken notes, tried every recipe for potions and spells she'd found, and learned weird sigils and symbols for even weirder purposes. And on top of her scholar dedication, she spent an hour every night exercising with her favorite blades: a pair of Japanese short swords called wakizashi, that samurai of old used to carry with their katana.

Alex had taught her to use other blades, longer and heavier. But Claire always went back to her two-foot long wakizashi. She found them easier to use, and she kept getting better with them.

So Alex didn't need to worry about searching about feeblers: her Ninja Girl had it all covered.