This one was a trip--What were they meant to do? What could they do? Both of those options were rife with possible answers. But this lady cut to the quick and with some good solid ideas that would surely help her in her journeys among the dead (Or were they undead? It probably depended on one's viewpoint anyway).

"I like you 'cause you don't mess around. Well, okay, for starters: If you've ever seen a ghost movie you have our basic abilities pretty much down pat. We can disappear at will." Amy concentrated a little but made sure to show Caelan that she was concentrating to more effectively demonstrate the act of turning invisible and once she was invisible she continued to speak.

"We're incorporeal, which means that we don't have any kind of physical presence, making us essentially intangible. Being intangible of course means--Well, I'm sure you know what that means." Amy laughed apologetically for attempting to be a dictionary for a bookworm. Caelan could probably run circles around her in the definition game.

"We can float or even fly." Amy reappeared hovering near the ceiling of the building with her arms crossed over her chest and a smile on her face. Her manner of speech and behavior was very much like a mentor and she honestly enjoyed being able to teach somebody something for once.

"Most ghosts can possess living people or move objects to some extent using the same process. I know that objects are a little trickier and some ghosts can't manage it very well. A final note is bonding: When we possess some living people we can form bonds with them, extend their lives, and essentially get a second chance at living again albeit we have to share a body with the living person." The girl slowly descended from the library's ceiling and then touched down gently on the floor.

Amy crossed the room toward Caelan and stood next to her. This part was the really fun part. A general feeling of tense coiled excitement came off of Amy's posture, facial expression and the way she seemed to be repressing some kind of great joke that only ghosts could understand.

"While I don't know exactly what causes us to remain in 'limbo' between this life and the afterlife, I have discovered that becoming a ghost yields unique results. If you had a supernatural ability in your life such as... oh I don't know, telepathy or telekinesis, you can probably still manifest it as a ghost. Sometimes you didn't have a special ability so you don't get one or you develop one and it's a pretty individual process." Of course she emphasized her own telepathy hoping somebody would want her to actually use it at some point since most folks found it creepy and generally better left alone.

"You might have a special talent or two. You wanna find out?" The kid smiled big revealing her pearly whites. It was time to really make some noise and tread where common sense said not to go, because common sense was generally boring and restrictive.

Twenty minutes had passed, and Viv now sat at the front desk, chatting with Jen over some stew.

"I still think letting him drive was a bad idea." Viv thought aloud. Sure, Rowan was with Evan, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing, as they tended to think alike.

The church was always empty when Darin came by. Whether that was because it was haunted he couldn't really say. Still, it was better when he was there alone. He knelt at a bench and prayed.

They cling to life so strongly... give me the strength to do my duty.

A short while later, Ashlyn sat in her study, answering tersely to questions her sister fired through the door. For the most part, she ignored her and pored over the book. The more she read, the more intrigued she became. She would have to test this somehow.

---

Luckily for Evan, there was rarely anyone ever in the ER. He was able to get in and out quickly and with minimal pain. Under Viv's orders, Rowan had tagged along to make sure he didn't get into any more trouble, though the phrase "Who will guard the guards?" kept running through Evan's mind as the ghost was currently abusing his fire powers to mess with the medical thermometers. He wondered how impossible it would be to ditch the specter.

He left the building and climbed into the car - glancing down and seeing just how much blood he'd managed to get on his work clothes. The shirt would need replacing. He sighed and started the engine, backing out carefully -

"THIS IS A CARJACKING."

Evan slammed on the brake in shock and hit his head on the steering wheel. He whirled around to see the source of the voice.

"Rowan!"

"Couldn't resist."

Caelan watched Amy, intrigued by the many abilities she performed in front of her. She began to wonder how long it would take for her to master these abilities, all the while listening to Amy to gather information. She was even more fascinated by the fact that ghosts could possess people and objects, and that people with supernatural abilities could still use these abilities in ghost form.

From Amy's tone of voice, Caelan had the notion that Amy herself had telepathy. She could only hope that she wasn't reading her thoughts right now, especially since the idea of someone else going through her thoughts was quite irritating for her.

The brunette had only just met this ghost, and yet the ghost wanted to see what abilities she had in store. She wasn't sure whether or not to be annoyed by her mentor attitude, or to be grateful that someone was willing to help her out. She also wasn't sure whether or not Amy was to be trusted.

She decided that for just once, she could take the risk of someone knowing her a little bit more personally. It wasn't like she knew herself that well, either, so what was there to lose from this opportunity? "Alright, I'll give it a shot. But not here. We should go somewhere else." Unfortunately she didn't get to read too many books since she was interrupted by Amy, but she'd get right back in here once she was finished with her little experimentation.

Unfortunately for the brunette Amy was reading her mind. But that wasn't anything new. She was reading everyone's mind all the time, she couldn't help it, and the information was then jumbled up with countless other streams of information from other minds. If she actually focused on Caelan then they might have a bit of a problem if telepathy were an annoyance.

"Good idea. If you can do some crazy elemental manipulation or whatnot a library would not be the best place to manifest it. You got any ideas on where we might go?" The ghost backed off from her new acquaintance by two steps and stood still, turning her head to look around the library.

"We might not want to go out the front. There's a dog out there and he'll bark like mad if we go anywhere near him." The kid grumbled, looking down at the ground dejectedly. Amy was only telling a half-truth however: Woofer would bark if provoked by a mischievous spirit, which certainly fit Amy's bill quite well.

Evan tried to ignore Rowan for the rest of the drive, but it was proving more difficult than he'd hoped. Viv never drove, and Rowan had recently become very interested in machinery. Having a transparent man pop out of the hood while driving was mildly distracting. Evan gestured angrily for Rowan to get back inside, and the ghost grudgingly complied.

"You are no fun."

"Yeah? Well just 'cause you're already dead doesn't mean I wanna be."

"Wuss."

Evan sighed and kept driving. For a few minutes, anyway.

THUNK.

He pulled to the curb and parallel parked, getting out with a sigh. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!"

Evan inspected under the hood - rather pointlessly. He knew next to nothing about cars. "I'll take your word for it."

"Found your problem," Rowan called. "You've got a flat." He flew into the trunk momentarily, then returned. "And no spare."

"Perfect." Evan pulled his cell from his back pocket - to realize he'd smashed it when he landed from the punch. "Now what? There's nothing for at least a mile."

Rowan glided through Evan, who flinched. "What about that church over there?"

Darin looked up from his prayer as he heard a loud thunking noise outside. He wasn't really in the mood for people right now, so he started making his way towards the door.

Evan sighed and started walking in that direction, Rowan in tow. After about ten minutes, Rowan stopped.

"We can't go in there."

Evan kept walking. "It was your idea, and I need a phone."

"No, really. Three's something bad in there."

At this, Evan stopped. "In the past hour, I've had my nose broken, my phone smashed, and my car wrecked. And you nearly made me have an accident. Sorry if I don't believe you, and you can't die anyway." That said, he walked the last few yards to the church and entered.

The ghost sighed, really having no idea where to go since she hadn't been in this town very long. "Now that I think about it, I'm not sure where a good place would be. Maybe an isolated area?"

She pondered on Amy's other comment. The dog hadn't said a word to Caelan when she stepped through; only stared at her for awhile until it was obvious she wasn't going to do anything stupid. From what Caelan saw of the bernard, he was just a watchdog doing his duty. Somehow, she knew, Woofers had something against Amy.

Amy saw the brunette's look of puzzlement and momentary distrust. The other specter knew that something was fishy with Amy's statement. The girl wasn't trying to hide anything for deception purposes but it was rather embarrassing to admit that the dog didn't like her because she tended to cause trouble. That would probably make Caelan trust her much less than any lie.

"Hmm, well, maybe we can go near the gas station a few miles out from town. Just stay away from the fuel pumps if you've got pyrokinesis." Amy said her words jokingly with an added smirk in order to put Caelan at ease.

"But seriously we've just got to be careful and keep our distance. You know, so we don't scare anyone that might be working there. Some folks can see and/or hear us." She rolled her eyes and shrugged to indicate that it could be quite bothersome but what could they really do about it?

The ghost hoped that the fellow spirit would find the idea agreeable. The area was isolated minus the gas station but all they had to do was keep a good distance from it. It was out in the middle of nowhere essentially so they couldn't hurt anyone even if Caelan did have the aforementioned pyrokinesis (Of course she trusted the brunette to have the good sense to keep that stuff away from the fuel pumps if she did). Finally Amy hoped that Caelan wouldn't decide to go out the front of the library because she really didn't feel like dealing with an irate watchdog.

(OOC: I am doing Nanowrimo, so sorry if you have to wait for me to update sometimes : \ )

It was... some college student. Kind of nerdy, with a wanna-be punk flair. Darin tried to take no notice of him. He nodded his head in assent when...

The man seemed to almost... shimmer. Darin had seen this before... "Wait," Darin said, turning towards him. "Do you realize you're being possessed?"

Evan blinked. "What?" He looked around and saw Rowan hovering right behind him. "Oh, he's with me." Time to stop killing time. "Do you have a phone I could borrow?"

Jen took a long sip of her coffee. "Yeah, I know Evan's kind of a male bimbo, but what's the worse that could happen? It's not like he and Rowan could cause any damage."

She paused for a moment, wearing a contemplative expression. "Any lasting damage? ... Okay, you're right. Evan should never touch car keys."

(OOC: If I play my cards right, Evan will be Flanderized beyond recognition before page 10.)

Darin smiled, giving his best friendly impersonation. He was essentially safe from any spirit, but those they possessed could... harm him, and were therefore to be treated with care. Especially since many actually got a taste for the powers that the ghosts gave them. It was sad to see, but wrong is wrong. Trying his best not to let his feelings show, he spoke to the man, choosing his words carefully.

"Oh, you're like a team? How.... nice." He reached into his pocket and picked up his phone. "Of course you can use my phone, you seem like you're in a bit of a fix."

just one touch he thought. I just have to touch him.

Rowan stiffened. That power...

He broke his silence. "Evan, you idiot! Run!" Without waiting for Evan to react, he zoomed outside, away from the man.

A gas station was the last place Caelan would even consider for an isolated place...but then again, this was Asterville, so Amy was probably telling the truth about the station being deserted at any rate. Plus, the gas pumps and the people and ghosts that might be there could be a bit of an obstacle of things to avoid.

"Sure, that'll work," the ghost said, looking around the library for another way to exit than the front. After some searching, she finally found the back door and exited through.

"How far is the gas station from here, anyway?" Caelan had plenty more questions than that to ask the young girl, one which was why the spirit chose to help her, but she decided to wait on that question and the many others for now.

(OOC: Yay! Glad you chose the gas station for the location. I wanna get to know Faolan's character. :D)

"A few miles... but hey, we're ghosts, we could always fly there." Amy walked across the street outside of the library alongside her new companion just taking her time and admiring the scenery. It really was a beautiful place to live. It wasn't the best place at times but really what town didn't have its own unique set of flaws and complications?

Without waiting for Caelan to say anything Amy decided to test the brunette on her mastery of her abilities. The redhead took off at a jog and then leaped forward, ascending into the air weightlessly, leaving the world below behind. None of the living people that she might pass would be able to see her so she could be free to spy on those below if anything happened that caught her interest. But the first thing first: Amy turned to face Caelan and waved to her before cupping her hands around her mouth and calling down to the other spirit.

"C'mon, let's go!" The teenager spun around to face the world again and took off toward the gas station. They could figure out how to avoid detection by the few people that populated the place when they arrived. For now it was time to fly over the suburban town and take in the sights.

Darin frowned as the spirit disappeared. He let the man take the phone. "You live in this town too, right? Give it back to me later, there's something I have to take care of." The man himself was of no interest to him now, so he flipped the phone at him and broke off at a run out of the church.
He tried his best to sense out where the spirit might have gone, but he had trouble seeing them at all unless they were close to him. Whoever this spirit was, it was long gone...
sighing, he muttered into the air, in case it, or any other spirits could here. "Enjoy the stolen time while you can. Be sure that I'll bring you to your final rest soon enough." And then he walked on, back towards home. "All of you," he finished, as he made his way down the street.

Evan blinked in confusion and dialed, watching the man run out.

"Thanks?"



Viv gasped in alarm, scaring the would-be visitor to the inn.

"Miss, are you okay?"

"Fine, sir. Here's your room key." She handed him the envelope and sprinted to the staff lounge. Her hand had just closed on her phone when it began ringing. She didn't recognize the number and waited for the caller to speak.

"Viv, I need a-"

"Evan, what the Sam Hill have you done to Rowan?"

"Nothing! He just flew off! Can you-"

"That's a lie. Something's wrong. I can feel it."

"He saw this guy in a church and freaked out. That's all I know, but I'm stranded."

Viv sighed in disgust. "There's no one to watch the hotel, Evan. Give me the address, and I'll call a tow truck."

"Thanks."



The world outside the study had been forgotten for some time now. A new notebook was almost full. Ashlyn smiled and set the book down carefully. It had been more helpful than she would have thought. She had an idea. Now to plan.