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“Shit, I think I’m about to wake up,” I told Nadine.
She grabbed my shoulders. “Deep breath. Fall deeper into the meditation.”
She drew deep breaths, and I copied her. The hall seemed to stabilize around me, but when I looked up, Professor Ward was gone.
“Come on.” I led Nadine down the hall. We raced so fast that we ran through a couple of students, but they didn’t notice.
We turned down a nearby hall, and I stopped in my tracks when I saw Professor Ward standing there. She looked as solid as the day she died, but there was definitely life missing from her eyes. She wore the same clothes she had died in, but the burns were gone.
She stood in front of her abandoned classroom, just staring. It was like she wanted to walk inside, but she didn’t know how. I wasn’t sure she had any idea what she was doing.
I slowly approached her. “Professor Ward?”
Her gaze snapped in my direction. She wore a shocked expression, like I’d just awoken her from a long nap.
“Lucas,” she said with a frown. I’d never quite been her favorite student. “If you’re here about your semester final, it will have to wait.”
I furrowed my brow. Did Professor Ward know she was dead?
“I’m actually here about something else,” I said slowly. “Do you… remember what happened to you?”
She tilted her chin upward. “I have an impeccable memory. Of course I remember—”
She cut off abruptly. Her eyes darted up and down the hall, like she was searching for something important.
“How did I…? Where are my keys?” She shoved her hands into her pockets, but they were empty. “You took them! I need to get into my classroom.”
“Professor, please,” Nadine pleaded. “We want to help.”
Professor Ward was frantic, and she started pacing up and down the hall. “No, I need to get inside! I need… I need…”
“She must have unfinished business,” I whispered to Nadine.
“We helped Daymond cross over,” Nadine said lowly. “Maybe we can help her.”
“Professor, what is it that you need?” I asked. “Perhaps we can get it for you.”
She stopped pacing, and she slowly withdrew her hands from her pockets. “I… I can’t remember.”
“It’s okay,” I told her calmly. “It’s perfectly common to be confused.”
“I’m not confused!” she shouted. “I know perfectly well that I just need to get inside—”
She reached for the door handle, but her hand went straight through it. Her eyes bulged, and she stared down at her fingers in horror.
“I—I’m dead… aren’t I?” Her voice shook as realization dawned. Slowly, she lifted her gaze to mine. “And you?”
“Astral traveling,” I told her.
“Thank the Goddess the priestesses didn’t get to you,” she said, sounding relieved. She may not have liked me personally, but she didn’t wish death upon me. “What did they do to me? I remember…”
She trailed off, and she wore a calculating look. It was common for ghosts to forget their deaths, especially if they were violent. It kept them from reliving the trauma over and over again.
“Do you remember the pyre?” Nadine asked softly.
Professor Ward closed her eyes and winced slightly, like it was all coming back to her. “I remember the flames…”
Red welts formed across her skin. They morphed into black, charred remains as her memories returned. It was gruesome to see.
