Shadow Oracle by Laura Greenwood

Five

The cool windwhips my hair around my face and sends a shiver down my spine. I have no idea when it got so cold, but I hope it isn't going to last, especially if the ghost we've been called to deal with is going to take a lot of time and searching to help. I know I shouldn't think like that, it's not the ghost's fault it's stuck here, but it looks like it could rain at any moment and if I end up soaked, I'm never going to manage to get warm again.

"This should be it," Mathias says as we come to a stop in front of an office block.

I raise an eyebrow. "Do you think the ghost died here, or did they decide to haunt their ex-colleagues?"

He chuckles. "That's a good question. We should go find them to ask."

"After you."

"You're only saying that in case the ghost throws something at you."

"It's a reasonable worry," I point out.

"Except that it's never happened to you."

"Yet. I'm not going to take any chances," I tease.

"Never say chivalry is dead."

"Not dead, just an out of date concept."

Mathias gives a soft snort but enters the building first anyway. I follow, keeping up with him easily enough. People step out of the way when they see us. The scythes on our backs are a good indication of who we are and what we've come for. And it was the people working here that called in the ghostly presence anyway. They know to expect us.

A receptionist directs us towards the second-floor bathroom, and it doesn't take me long to notice the lack of people sitting at the desks around it. A loud clank and groan comes from inside the room.

"This is new," I mutter.

"Not just for you," Mathias agrees "I've never encountered a ghost this bad before."

"But you know what to do, right?"

He nods. "First we have to talk to them."

"And by we, you mean me."

"I'd have a difficult time of it."

"They need to come up with a ghost translation device," I suggest.

"And then you wouldn't need to be paired with me."

"Not true. I'd still need you for the reaping bit," I point out.

"You can do that on your own."

"Oh. Right. I forgot." Which is probably a good thing. As a seer, I'm not supposed to port any ghosts, probably because it's a rougher transition for them than if a porter is the one to open the portal to the next life. Maybe one of the reasons we've developed in a way that needs two of us to effectively send a ghost on is to protect ourselves against the weight of what we need to do.

No wonder all of the reapers I know act older than their age.

"We're stalling," I point out.

"We are," he agrees. "But that's not going to keep us in the top ten."

"This'll get us a lot of reaper bounty points, right?"

"Probably. But there's no guarantee. We might get a bonus from the company that owns the offices for helping rid their bathroom of a problem. But I wouldn't count on it."

"All right then, that's going to be my motivation for entering a haunted bathroom."

Mathias hangs back as I approach the door. I understand why. While most ghosts are aware of what reapers do and why we're seeking them out, some are a little against the idea of being sent on to the next life before they've made their mark. And if I have to make a guess at which kind this ghost is, I think it's going to be one who doesn't want to move from the bathroom.

I push open the door, knowing I can't put it off any longer.

"Hello?" I call out, magically slipping into ghost language. I'm sure there's a technical term for it, but no one has ever told me what it is.

"What are you doing here?" the ghost demands, crossing his arms and glaring at me.

"My name is Syxe, I'm a reaper."

"Pfft. I don't need telling what you are. Don't you think I can tell?"

I resist the urge to point out I have a scythe attached to my back, if he didn't know what that meant, then he must have been living under a rock during his human life.

But that's not the right way to talk to ghosts.

"We're here to find out what your unfinished business is and how we can help you with it." I gesture back to where Mathias is standing so the ghost knows he's doing this too.

"Ah. Now him I'll talk to. He looks like a sensible young man."

"He is," I agree. "But you can't talk to him, he can't understand ghosts."

"What kind of reaper can't understand ghosts?" he sneers.

"Half of them," I say slowly. "Half of us have the ability to talk to ghosts, the other half are able to create the portal to the next world. It's why we work in pairs."

"Poppycock."

"You can try saying something to him if you want." It's the only way the ghost is going to believe me, and I need him to do that if I want to find out what his unfinished business is.

The ghost turns away from me instantly. I roll my eyes. I haven't encountered a ghost who doesn't want to speak to me before, but apparently, it's something I'm going to have to prepare for better next time.

"What's your name?" the ghost asks Mathias.

He glances past with a confused expression on his face. "What's happening?" he asks.

I shrug. "The ghost wants to talk to you."

"But I can't understand him."

"I told him that already."

"Why is he ignoring me?" the ghost demands. "He should be answering me, not talking to you."

I resist the urge to sigh. "He can't understand you," I remind him. "But I can translate for you if you want." Hopefully, that'll be enough to get the ghost to communicate with us.

"Fine. What's his name?"

"Mathias. What's yours?"

The ghost pointedly ignores me.

This is going to get old fast.

"The ghost would like to introduce himself to you," I say to Mathias. "I'm a translator." I keep my voice as flat as possible. While Mathias isn't able to understand me or the ghost when we talk to one another, the ghost is perfectly capable of understanding us when we talked in English.

Thankfully, Mathias seems to understand the predicament. "Hello, I'm Mathias. What's your name?" he asks the ghost, barely looking at me.

I don't bother translating. I only need to let Mathias know what the ghost says.

"Cain."

"He says his name is Cain," I translate.

"It's nice to meet you, Cain," Mathias says. "We're here to help you move on to the other world, starting with any unfinished business you might have here. Do you know what it might be?"

"What if I don't want to move on?" Cain asks.

I translate.

"Then we'll report that as your choice."

I raise an eyebrow, finding it interesting that he's skipping over the part where we'd report it to the Reaper Guard and they may take the choice away from the ghost.

"But if we do that, then we can't help you with anything you have unresolved," Mathias continues. "Is there anything you want us to do for you?"

"I did always mean to get Candice fired," he muses. "You could do that for me."

"What are you having her fired for?" I blurt after I've translated for Mathias.

"She just needs to be fired," Cain replies, refusing to elaborate. If I'm honest, I'm surprised he responded to me at all, he didn't seem like he'd want to.

"Okay, we'll look into it and see what we can do," Mathias promises. "Well come back once we have more information. Is there anything else you can think of that we can help you with?"

"Just Candice."

Mathias nods. "Thank you for your time, Cain," he responds. "We'll be back soon."

"You'd better be. I want to hear good news," he shouts after us.

I smile tightly as the two of us leave the ghost far behind.

"Something tells me we're not going to be able to satisfy him," I mutter.

"You're not wrong there. I'm sorry you had to deal with that."

I shrug. "It is what it is. At least this one isn't trying to trap me on behalf of the Shadow Association."

He grimaces.

"Too soon to joke about Erica?" I ask.

"A little."

"It kind of puts the rest of them into perspective though. None of the other ghosts can really be as bad as that."

"Don't jinx it," he mutters darkly.

He may have a point there. But I think we're safe from Cain. He's just the obnoxious ghost of someone who was probably an obnoxious human. Dealing with him would be frustrating, but not impossible.

And we were more than capable of dealing with that.