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It wasn’t unusual for Raisa to walk home alone through the woods really. And it wasn’t that rare for her to meet some people on the way, although most people found on this path were people who lived or worked close-by.
The two boys standing in the middle of the path were definitely not from around there. Well, the one on the right could have been one of Emily’s set, all dressed in proper layers, brown coat, green jacket and a bow tie, with incongruously short pants for his age maybe. The one on the left, on the other hand, wore red and black clothes that looked strangely cut and were decorated with unusual jewellery. Another unusual thing was that as she approached they kept standing right there in the middle of the way, and talking about her like she wasn’t there. She wasn’t nearly as bothered by rudeness than Emily was, but even for her standard, this was rude.
“Edwin, did you just discover how to time travel through a mirror because this one looks like she’s working in one of those castles where they try to teach you about stone carving and what not, only I don’t see any tourists.”
“Even ignoring how unlikely time travel is…” The other raised an eyebrow at that. “I don’t think it was proper for women to wear trousers before well after my time, neither were they likely to carry…”
“Fuck that’s a big sword!”
“Not that I’m in the habit to killing teenagers for mouthing off, but the big fucking sword usually keeps people from being rude to my face at least”, Raisa said casually once she had reached them. (It might have been a lie.) She did keep her hand far away from the pommel, because, well, kids.
The one wearing the strange jewellery on his coat startled, a look of worry going from the sword to her face before wiping it away with a bright apologetic smile.
“Sorry! Only we didn’t realise you could see us, really. We seem to have gotten super lost.” An accusing look at his companion.
Didn’t realise you could see us. That made Raisa want to grab her sword at once, because that meant magic, and magic was usually trouble. But they looked of an age with some of their girls, and she’d definitely get in trouble with Emily if she started attacking teenagers out of the blue.
The talky one seemed to have noticed her tensing because his smile faltered a bit and he held his hands out and up in a clear “no threat there” gesture.
“We really didn’t mean to offend you, honest. I’m Charles and this is my mate Edwin. Most people can’t see ghosts so…”
She had to stop herself from taking a step back. Fucking ghosts. But then again, the two kids Emily had chided into behaving in Durst Manor had ended up being only that, frightened children. Possession of errant bards aside, it had mostly been an incredibly sad business.
“Charles!”
“Edwin.”
“Do you really think revealing our conditions to the living is a better alternative than a stranger thinking we’re being rude!”
“Maybe it is when the stranger is carrying a sword the size of Crystal yeah,” this from the side of his mouth, while he kept his eyes firmly on Raisa. He had also taken a step forward and slightly in front of the ruder one, Edwin, in an attitude that she was more than familiar with.
Too skinny by half to have to have to serve as a human shield, she thought. Right. She sighed, and put her hands out in front of her in turn.
“Listen boys, I’ve had some bad experiences with ghosts before, so if one of you starts trying to possess people, or worse, wailing at me, I might have to do something about it, but if all you need is some directions I’m more than happy to send you on your way.”
Charles' shoulders relaxed and she immediately felt bad.
“I’m Raisa, this is Idyll-en-Forêt, and where do you need to go?”
Edwin, who hadn’t seemed terribly phased by the change of attitude of his friend, was looking up at the night sky with his brow furrowed. He reached for his friend’s sleeve.
“Charles, something is terribly strange here.”
Raisa rolled her eyes impatiently.
“You don’t say, I usually don’t find some random teenage ghosts on my way home. How do ghosts even get lost?”
Edwin looked back at her then, with a piercing look in his eyes. He got a notebook of all things out of his jacket pocket.
“Have you by any chance had a near-death experience?”
“Oi! You can’t just ask strangers stuff like that!”
He turned back to Charles again. “If she didn’t then it means she’s supernatural and we need to know…”
“Again, don’t need to be supernatural with a sword like that!”
“You have a sword.”
“Not that big!”
“You seem quite fixated on the size of her sword, Charles.”
Their bickering would have been almost endearing if they hadn’t started talking about her in the third person again.
“I don’t have any magic if that’s what you meant by supernatural.” Well apart from her sword which was quite magical. And the luck stone nestled in her pocket. And a couple more magical artefacts she tended to keep on her person, because you never know when you were going to get ambushed on your way home, really. But they didn’t need to know that.
After much discussion, more bickering and some puzzling questions about a place called London (never heard of it), Raisa had eventually grasped at something, and reluctantly explained to them how she and a group of people she had been travelling with had managed to slip into a strange place none of them had ever heard of before. This certainly seemed like an awfully similar business. (“You’re lucky, this place is much nicer than where we got lost.”)
Charles was unconvinced (she could sympathise), but Edwin pointed him to the starry night above them, the constellations she’d learned as a child apparently unknown to them. They had stood shoulder to shoulder for a moment, staring up, and looking awed, and lost, and painfully young. She’d resolved to bring them back to the school then, where the books lived, and where Miss Emily St Aubert was, a person who would deal with this whole mess of lost ghost boys much more gracefully and efficiently than she ever could. Thank the gods.
Edwin seemed excited at the prospect of books from an unknown world, and Charles seemed happy to go along with him, if still a bit wary.
“Lead the way then!”, he said brightly, gesturing at her.
“No, I don't think I want some strange ghosts at my back.”
Unsurprisingly they didn’t seem excited to turn their backs on her either.
“Side by side then, alright?” offered Charles.
He placed himself between her and Edwin, and they started to walk toward the manor.
“So, did you?” Edwin asked after they had walked a while.
“Did I what?”
“Have a near death experience?” He’d put the notebook away, at least. Well, why the hell not?
“Several, depending on what counts. One really close. A banshee.” Raisa shivered at the echo of a scream long dead.
“Shit! You survived a banshee?” Charles looked her up and down, clearly impressed.
“Not on my own, I wouldn’t have”, she answered quietly. He and Edwin looked at each other and she could have sworn they’d leaned into each other a little.
***
Once St Aubert Manor came into sight Raisa stopped suddenly. She had forgotten about the most important matter.
She turned to face the teenagers with her hands on her hips. (Her sister would make fun of her, Raisa the school marm.)
“Can you boys be trusted around teenage girls, because that’s another condition”, she counted on her fingers, ‘’No possessing, no wailing, no messing with the girls.”
“I certainly can.” Edwin straightened his jacket with a little smirk.
“Oi! Thanks for that! What are you making me sound like?”
“Like someone who flirted with a girl the moment we got a demon out of her? ” What the absolute hell. Raisa made a note of that for later.
“Do you boys always bicker that much?”
They looked at each other, almost guiltily, and Edwin looked away while Charles rubbed the back of his head.
“Nah, we don’t really, we’re just weirded out by, well I didn’t even know what a plane of existence was ten minutes ago, so you know, everything.”
“I still don’t really know what they are really”, she muttered.
“Edwin was just teasing me”, Charles finally answered with a smile. (Said Edwin made a little considering sound.) “We’ll both behave.”
Dear gods, I hope none of the girls can see them.