Noble had a smile on his face as he approached, but it seemed to falter a bit as he looked at him. “What’s wrong, Ollie?”
“N-nothing? Just…read some more disturbing things, is all.” He forced his smile wider, even though his face started to heat with his stuttering.
Noble’s smile shifted just slightly at his words, and if Ollie hadn’t been watching closely, he might have not noticed. The problem was…he couldn’t identify what that shift meant, because the smile on his face really didn’t look that different from other smiles Noble had sent him, and that just made him more nervous.
“Reading about witch hunters again?”
“Y-yeah…” He took another calming breath. “Uh, anyway, let’s eat, and—Oh! Maybe we could talk about that last ghost I saw.” Ollie grimaced as he thought about the last ghost. “You know…the creepy scary one—ugh.”
Noble chuckled hesitantly. “Okay, we can do that?”
Noble did his best to act normal as they ate, but it wasn’t easy. His Baby was being very quiet, and was obviously unnerved by something. The man had been very pale and even shaky when he’d first come in. Unfortunately, based on the furtive glances the witch kept throwing his way, that something was him.
But he wasn’t going to press Ollie on it. Part of him, of course, wanted to, because not knowing was stressful, but he also knew he wouldn’t like the result if he did, so he was keeping quiet. Ollie was either working towards confirming whatever idea was in his head or actively searching for a way to deny it.
Noble, for some reason, would bet on him doing the latter, based on what he knew about his Baby. So he was going to do thesmart thing and let him continue to do it, because Noble was a selfish bastard.
Clearing his throat, before popping the last bit of his burger in his mouth, he asked, “You mentioned before that you thought the last ghost wasn’t like the others. What did you mean by that?”
Ollie finished chewing the last of his fries, and took a drink of his milkshake before answering. “Um, well, for one, he—or they—had sharp teeth, and definitely seemed to not like me.”
Noble frowned at that, thinking over what he knew about ghosts. Sharp teeth were not something most human ghosts had. However, there were ghost-like paranormal creatures that did have sharp teeth, but were not something one wanted to come across.
“This was the one who frightened you into running straight into me, right?”
Ollie blinked. “Well, yes and no. I technically ran away from Irene in the diner after already freaking out about the ghost in my car, and then just happened to end up in that alleyway where I got scared again.”
“Can you describe him for me?”
“So…like I said, he had very sharp, pointed teeth. All of them, that is. And his eyes seemed hollow, his face gaunt, and his hair was long and disheveled. Oddly, his clothing seemed tattered, but it was like what he was wearing was a combination of other things that had been weirdly sewn together, the seams very noticeable, as were the fabric shifts. So, different from the others before, but he’s still a ghost, right?”
Noble sighed. This would definitely fall into the category of a ghost-like paranormal creature that one didn’t want to run into. “So, not exactly. If it’s what I think it is, it would more fall into the category of ‘it both is and isn’t’.”
Ollie pursed his lips. “Do you mean that it is both a ghost but also something else?”
Noble glanced over as Red drawled, “More that it’s ghost adjacent. Or at the very least, it once was a ghost, but isn’t any longer.” The familiar walked over to the‘Ghost’bookcase and said, “Fifth shelf up, near the end on the right, grab the blue book with the words‘Not Ghosts’on the spine.”
Ollie hesitated, eyeing the table before blurting, “Let me clean up first and wash my hands.”
The man quickly tossed his fast-food wrappers into the paper bag their food had come in, and Noble did the same when he held the bag out to him, tossing inside his empty drink cup as well. Hurrying out of the room with their trash, Ollie returned a few minutes later with wet wipes, and by his guess, clean hands. Apparently, fast-food grease was a bit too much for Ollie to not attempt to clean away, even when in a magically protected room full of magically protected books.
Noble used one of the wet wipes as Ollie went to grab the book off the shelf.
After tucking the used wipe back inside the wrapper, he set it aside, while the witch sat back down next to him.
After taking another drink from his milkshake, Ollie cleared his throat and said, “Okay, ‘Not Ghosts:Ghost, but not, yet dangerous just the same.’That subtitle is certainly something.”
“Find the chapter on cluster ghosts,” Red instructed.
Ollie turned a few pages, his eyes scanning what he assumed was the index, before flipping about halfway in and stopping to read. “‘As with all creatures mentioned in previous chapters, cluster ghosts are ghosts, but not. To be specific, they are a supernatural creature formed from an accumulation of volatile ghosts that have merged together in their hatred of the living. A phenomenon that occurs when an odd spark of free-wieldingarcane energy surges through an area, while two aggressive, newer ghosts are within a certain range of one another.
“‘After the first merge, the cluster ghost will continue to draw other new ghosts into itself, further strengthening its existence. While a cluster ghost can sometimes manage to absorb older ghosts, it is rare that they are successful in doing so without breaking apart, which is why they tend to focus on ghosts that have come into existence within the last ten years.
“‘Cluster ghosts, unlike normal ghosts, can show themselves quite easily to whomever nears, and are extremely dangerous to the living. A danger that grows with each new ghost that it merges with, until it becomes strong enough to kill and consume the living. It is pertinent that cluster ghosts are dissolved, and the souls sent to the other side, before the latter happens. As soon as they manage to consume a living soul, the cluster ghost will gain a solid form that it can switch between, becoming an even greater danger to all it crosses.’”
Ollie let out a hesitant laugh as he turned the page. “That sounds really bad. Like really, really bad. And, oh look, there’s a picture of a creature in an outfit that looks very similar to what I saw. Hollow eyes, sharp teeth, and all—hah…”
He gently rubbed the man’s back. “Dangerous, but there are ways to get rid of it.”
