Dance of Magic - The Books of Beginning [1]

4. The Fabric of Life and Death

Kate didn't know what to say. Her heart was pounding out of her chest as she stared at him, absolutely stunned. For his part, Rafe was equally as stunned, everything he planned to say vanishing from his mind in an instant.

"Hello Kate," he whispered in awe, like he was looking at some great and otherworldly vision that was too good to be true.

"Hi Rafe," Kate replied, holding back tears as emotion rolled over her. All of her sadness and grief, compounded with the sheer joy of seeing his face again, hearing his voice again, even if he was only a ghost.

Finally a smile broke out on her face, a smile that made him feel like all the pain and tragedy of the past and the future was nonexistent. She said, "I, I can't believe... I've missed you so.... You're here!"

"I'm here," he reassured her, "I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"And can you explain what those circumstances are, and also why we should trust you, or are you just gonna keep making heart eyes at my sister?" Emma asked sarcastically.

Rafe didn't blame her for her snippy tone of course. She had every reason not to trust him after all he had done. He was just lucky she and her siblings were willing to hear him out.

"Something has changed within the makeup of the universe. The boundaries between life and death have become more fluid," Rafe began to explain, "I discovered this... well, actually, an old friend alerted me to it."

"Henrietta Burke?" Kate guessed. 

Rafe  nodded in confirmation, then continued speaking, "because these barriers have weakened those strong enough to cross over from the land of the dead to the living can do so if they choose, and become ghosts. That's how Stanislaus, Gabriel and I are here."

"So what's the issue with all this?" Michael questioned.

Rafe sighed, "well for starters, we don't know why the world is changing and life and death are being rearranged. The only things with the power to do that were the books, and they were destroyed."

"And we're sure nothing remained of them?" Michael interrupted, "there's no residual magic in me and my sisters?"

"No,"'Dr. Pym assured him, "the Books were destroyed for good."

"So it's something else causing the change. An unknown," Rafe said, "one that we don't know what the effects of will be. We also don't know if this force has some hidden agenda we should be afraid of."

"That's part of what we came here to investigate," Gabriel chimed in, "we were hoping your parents could help, but well..."

"We could help," Emma said fiercely.

Gabriel smiled, "thank you Emma. But I'm afraid research is not the most pressing matter."

"No, making sure we don't lose our parents again is," Michael said, and now his voice was a bit bitter. He did not look at Rafe.

"Not even that," Kate sighed, "there's a bigger issue, a more pressing one, isn't there?"

Rafe nodded, "I'm so sorry this is happening. But it's not just friendly spirits like Gabriel or Dr. Pym that can become ghosts. It's evil spirits as well."

"But those souls have no memory because they have no soul!" Emma protested, sure that her actions with the Reckoning kept them safe.

"A long lifetime of being evil leaves an imprint. Instinct lead a dark soul to discover this new development and become a ghost. Becoming a ghost gave him his memory back. And he was able to lead other spirits of evil to break out of the land of the dead and become ghosts," Rafe said.