The Immortal and the Three Ghosts

Many years passed, and the rings lay together in the darkness and comfort of the immortal's trunk. Rather than circle fingers, for a century they circled the globe, following closely wherever the whims of the immortal took them and stopping where the immortal chose to stop.

They came to rest for a time in the city of glass and stone on the eastern shore of the New World. After a short time in this place, the immortal again found a need for the rings. Once again the stones captured sunlight and gave forth rainbows, once again the gold encompassed the fourth fingers of two lovers.

Sebastian straightened the plant on the desk for what must have been the fourth time. The tail that flicked behind him would have indicated his restlessness to any who happened to observe, though, on this sunny afternoon, there were no observers present.

Normally he was a very patient man, but today the healer was nervous and the nerves made him as skittish as a colt. He twisted his ring around on his finger, tapped his foot, and flicked his tail again. Somewhere in the mountains and valleys and rivers of letters that the United States Postal Service was an envelope carrying a message for Mr. Sebastian Csendes from New York University. It would be a weighty letter, for it carried within its folds the immortal's fate for the next decade, at least.

The university was not very far away from the clinic. The unicorn man could not understand why it would take so long to deliver a letter of acceptance (or denial) from one to the other. Perhaps it had sunk to the bottom of a river of parcels and had yet to be fished out for delivery.

Without any patients to distract him, the unicorn shifter found himself staring out the window hoping for a glance of the postal employee that would be arriving. She was late today. Blue eyes began to roam around the waiting room, starting the cycle all over again. Again, it seemed to the immortal that the plant on the desk was crooked. He reached for it, to alter it's position, when somehow he bumped it. Terracotta, leaves, stems, roots, soil, and all hit the floor and splashed in every direction possible.

Well, at least now he had something to do to occupy his hands other than twisting his ring around and around for all eternity. The unicorn shifter went to fetch a broom.

In a land of intolerance and prejudice, cruelty and hatred, thirty days felt like thirty years, as wife waited for husband in the cold isolation of an underground dungeon. Then, on the eve of a new year, the immortal broke down the barriers of that merciless prison. Not even death could stop that white knight from recovering his love.

Alas, in the aftermath of chaos and carnage, resurrection and retreat, one of the rings was left behind. She lay upon a pile of pilfered treasures, forlorn and forgotten, ripe for plunder.

Into the storehouse of stolen treasures, came a greedy pair of hands that wished to have all of the gold for themselves. Though there were far too many rings for the grubby fingers, all were taken, not a single one left behind. The turn of events suited the ring of the immortal's wife; the second theft would be the first step in the long journey home.

It took only a moment to retrieve the broom and the dustpan from the back hallway, but when Sebastian returned it became immediately obvious that someone had been in the waiting room in his absence. Someone's fingers had swirled the potting soil all over the floor in some kind of pattern. Footprints trailed through it all disappearing into the back hallway, though as far as Sebastian could tell, he had been the only one back there.

“What on earth,” Sebastian wondered out loud as he surveyed the mess. The mysterious footprints, the dirt swirled into a design that looked almost like a rose...

His left hand dropped the broom with a clatter that disturbed the swirls of dirt on the floor. The unicorn man looked down at it, and his mouth fell open. His finger tips were black with dirt. His gaze traveled further down to his shoes. The patent leather was dusted with black.

Without even realizing that he was doing it, he nervously twisted his ring around his ring finger with his left thumb as he tried to figure out what could have possessed him to decorate his own clinic with dirt roses. Despite the warmth in the room, a shiver shook through him starting from his left hand and traveling al the way to the tip of his tail.

The tie to her beloved steered the spirit onward, and the spirit steered the fish. It was a long swim, but the fish, having nothing better to do than visit the New World, was happy to oblige as long as he could take breaks to rest and eat when he needed to do so. The spirit was patient. A month in a fish was a small price to pay for eternity.

In the city of glass and stone, her compliment could feel her approach and began to grow restless. He could aid her return, but first, he would need to enlist the help of the immortal and his wife.

Sebastian was still trying to sweep up the potting soil when Maya and Jude arrived home. He wasn't making much progress, using the broom one handed. His left hand was shoved firmly in his pocket, despite the fact that it was very very dirty. He nodded vehemently at her suggestion.

“Yes, yes we do.”

Five minutes later, he was turning the sign on the clinic to 'closed' and locking the big dirt mess behind the big front door to be dealt with later. On his desk sat a note to Garrett. “Sorry about the mess, I will take care of it when I return. ~SC”

Sebastian shoved his other hand in his pocket so he would match, then turned to his family, “Shall we?” It was not too long a walk to the medium's shop. The unicorn just hoped that Tarin would accept a walk-in, just this once.

He didn't ask why. He didn't explain the mess. He just asked "Shall we?" and the whole family picked up and left.

Jude bounced along with the excitement despite the fact that he didn't know what was going on. Maya didn't even know exactly what was going on, but it was a little hard to stop and ask questions at their speed walking pace.

Before she was expecting it, they were there at the neon sign that read Medium Shop and Sebastian was already inside. He was a man on a mission. What was wrong with him? Jude scooted in after Sebastian, his eyes widening at the curio.

Tarin sounded jovial as ever, maybe more so since it was the end of the day and he had visitors of the friendly sort.

"No thank you." To the drink for Maya.

"Do you have Pepsi?" Oh. Manners. Maya stepped aside to reveal the owner of the voice. Jude fit in rather well with the family. He was a bit softer in the features as any 10 year old boy should be before he grew into a teen, but it was clear that his frame meant him to be tall if he ever grew up. The only thing he was missing was white hair. Instead, his was fine, straight locks were drastically different settling somewhere between brown and black.

He wasn't abashed at all to ask for what he wanted. Maya was never sure if that was a good or bad thing. "Tarin, this is Jude. Jude, this is Mister Brooks. He works with Sebastian sometimes."

Jude offered his hand just like any adult might. He had almost as good a grip too.

Maya went to Sebastian's elbow and pulled at this sleeve, worried. Why were they there again? What she had seen was possibly her imagination. She would feel silly telling Tarin she thought she saw something that might have been a ghost when it was also possible that she'd daydreamed it up. But Sebastian... She hadn't even explained herself properly to him and they were out the door.

As the couple moved further into his shop, Tarin realized they weren’t alone. The boy spoke eagerly, asking for a soda and the Medium chuckled, moving from behind the counter to greet the young man. ”You must be Jude. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.” he said, taking the offered hand. Just because he was a mini-sized man, didn’t mean Jude deserved anything less than a proper man-to-man greeting. ”Heck of a grip you’ve got there kiddo.” he commented, shaking his hand as he pulled it away, then turning to make his way to the fridge. ”I do have Pepsi…I’m more of a Coke man myself, but I always keep the alternative on hand just in case.” Tarin said as he dug through the assorted cans and retrieved the requested beverage then returned to the front of the store.

”Oh.” he said, in slight surprise, holding out Jude’s soda as he studied the new arrival to the group. The man looked like something out of a Civil War reenactment, and….he had his hand in Sebastian’s pocket. That didn’t last though, and as the spirit pulled his hand and Sebastian’s from the pocket, the little light in Tarin’s head clicked on. ”Ahhhh.” he said, then chuckled at Sebastian’s comment. He hadn’t been going to laugh…really.

”Well…it’s not your fault, that’s for sure. You’ve got a bit of a hanger on to that ring.” Little boy blue grinned and nodded his head emphatically and Tarin tilted his head, ”Has he done anything dangerous or spiteful?” the Medium asked, eyes darting to the boy….spirits could be scary things. Tarin had to ask some questions, though, before he tried to link up.

”Maya…why don’t you show Jude the back of the shop? I’ll bet he’d like a look in the crystal ball.”

Sebastian stared at his hand, that had all on it's own decided to wave at Tarin like a metronome. He tugged at his left elbow with his right hand, but it stayed right where it was, still waving. Tarin wasn't kidding about a hanger-on. The unicorn man frowned at the ring and released his own elbow, opting to let it do what it pleased for now.

“Nothing malicious, only mischievous. It seems as though it is trying to get my attention.” He was still calling the spirit an 'it', if there was indeed a spirit. Before the past year, he had not had much experience with ghosts and spirits. He hadn't even really believed in them. Then he saw them: in Colombia, at the Empire State Building, and in Romania. Now, he was haunted. It all seemed so unreal.

The slack jawed look of wonder in Ghost's eyes as she stared at the empty space next to him didn't help relieve his growing unease.

>>>“That's him.”

Sebastian squinted at the sunbeam, but saw nothing. His left arm relaxed and returned to his side as if nothing had happened.

“Him? Who?”

Sebastian frowned, still not comprehending. Who would haunt his son's old ring? Why would they quite suddenly become active after so many years of nothingness?

“Jude listen to your...”

Realization dawned suddenly, sunny pink ribbons of obvious chased away the grey fog of oblivious. There was only one person it could be. He'd feel really silly if it wasn't.

“Everett?”

The ghost that Sebastian couldn't see shook his head at the heavens with exasperation. Finally, he figured it out. After a whole afternoon of drawing roses in dirt piles, he'd finally put all the clues together. Wow, his old man had gotten dense in the last century and a half. One would think it had been the unicorn that had been resting in the bottom of a trunk.

He insisted. Had he not insisted, Maya probably would have protested. Maybe. Possibly.

"Come on, Ghost, this is no place for you." Empowered, Jude took Maya to the back to show her the crystal ball.

The back was... tiny, but the ball was round and crystal-ly just as promised. Maya all but fell into a chair that Jude scooted into the back of her knees. He went around to the other side of the table and looked intot eh ball to see Maya's upside-down and wrinkled face. He looked up to see if it looked as worried right side up.

"What's wrong?"

Maya sat up and looked into the crystal orb. There wasn't a single imperfection to obscure Jude's distorted features. "Nothing." Maya was a lousy liar.