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I burst out laughing at her honesty. I have to admit that I love it. Very few people genuinely speak their minds these days, and it’s refreshing that she does, although I suppose that she isn’t from these days, so that’s probably why.

“They are extremely yummy,” I reply, matching her honesty. “I would love to be watching them in their trial, but no one told me how to do it, and I’ve searched all over the castle for Mabel or someone else who can tell me how to do it, and I couldn’t find anyone else who may be able to help. So I gave up and came up here instead.”

“Oh, they will all be preparing the evening meal, or have gone into town or to visit their families since the castle is empty because all of the teams are on trials,” Ribit explains.

“Oh, that makes sense,” I reply.

“I can help you watch it though,” Ribit says with a grin.

“Really, that would be awesome. I’m trying my best to distract myself and not worry, but I’m not going to be able to keep it up for much longer,” I admit. It’s surprisingly easy to talk to her.

I would be concerned about that, but the voices aren’t warning me. In fact, I think they like her, and if the voices like her, that’s good enough for me.

Her expression is understanding as she replies, “I get that. Come on, you probably want to watch it somewhere comfortable, we can go in here.”

She turns on her heel and walks straight through the door behind us. It momentarily shocks me since to me she looks completely normal, and if Mabel hadn’t said anything, then I would have had absolutely no idea that she was a spirit. I wonder if she would look completely normal to the guys as well, or if they can even see her?

Shit, did I even tell them about Ribit? I pause, trying to think back, but I have absolutely no idea if I did or not. I make a mental note to tell them about her. Especially since I am really intrigued to see if they can see her like I do, Mabel said that she couldn’t, but the guys are stronger than they should be, and Raiden especially should be able to see and interact with her.

I jump as Ribit’s head pops through the door in front of me, and she bursts out laughing at my reaction.

“Dude, that is such a ghost thing to do. You couldn’t possibly be any more stereotypical,” I point out as I grip the door handle and push open the door.

Ribit’s laughter is still in her voice as she replies, “It was funny, though.”

Letting free a small chuckle, I reply, “Yeah, alright, I admit it was.”

As I follow her further into the room, I look around. It’s beautiful, just like all of the other rooms, and it seems to be like the sitting area of my bedroom. Complete with a roaring fire, and comfy looking couch. We both take seats on the couch, and I look at her curiously.

“How is it that you go through the door, but you can sit on the couch?” I ask curiously, unable to help myself.

She smiles, “Centuries of practice. Not all spirits can do it, and it takes a long time to get the hang of it.”

Chapter Nine

Neith

“Oh,” I reply. “That’s really interesting. If I ask too many questions, just tell me to shut up, and I absolutely won’t be upset if you refuse to answer a question. Goddess knows that I have questions that I would refuse to answer.”

She smiles, “Thank you. I really appreciate your understanding.”

She changes the subject again, clearly done with that conversation and most likely where it could lead. I’m not stupid enough to ask her why she is still here when she could have and still could move on, and I’m also not going to offer the services of Raiden to help her move on. I’m hoping that if she wants to, she will tell me, and then if she wants to move on, I will help her figure out a way to do so if the problem is that she’s stuck here or something. The thing is, I haven’t known her for very long, and I know very little about her. The last thing I want to do is to upset her.

Continuing, she adds, “I think that they probably assumed that you already knew the spell, but since you are human, or at least that’s what everyone assumes, you wouldn’t have been taught it or be able to do it.”

I raise my eyebrow and repeat her sentence, “That’s what everyone assumes?”

She gives me a look, “Oh, please. You are most certainly not human. Far from it, but it’s not up to me to give you any more information than that.”

“Of course,” I reply. I know what I am now though, I’m a motherfucking angel just like my mom, so her vague answer and refusal to say anything else doesn’t annoy me as much as it would have only days ago.

“Don’t pout,” she teases, making me laugh.

“I’m not pouting. I’ve sort of gotten used to being told that someone knows something, but can’t or won’t tell me by this point,” I tell her.

She frowns, “I’m sorry. That has to be really fucking frustrating.”

I nod, “Oh yeah, it definitely is. I get it though, all of them want to tell me, there are just extenuating circumstances.”