Angeline and Delire hurried on, crossing the seemingly endless plains and heading back toward the trees. Delire's senses told him that whatever was following them (he was now positive it was following them) was never far behind. Angeline had no way of knowing how far - or close - the enemy was, but she could see Delire's caution and nervousness, so she knew it couldn't be too far away.

As night approached, the duo began to slow down, looking for a place to rest.

"Here looks good," Delire said, gesturing around them. "It's in a little dip in the land, so it conceals us pretty well. Not much of anything out here to use as shelter, so this is probably best." Angeline frowned. She agreed with the location, but something was nagging at her.

"Delire, something is... weird about this place," she said nervously. Delire turned toward her, his expression not mocking or annoyed. It was one of genuine concern for what she felt.

"What's weird about it?" he asked. Angeline glanced around nervously.

"I'm... I'm not exactly sure. But there's just something I don't like about this place." Delire nodded.

"Alright. Should we try to relocate?" Angeline considered the idea, then rejected it.

"No. It's too late, and this is a good spot. I'll just make sure the feeling doesn't get any stronger." Delire nodded and knelt down, smoothing some grass to make a bed for himself. Angeline, still on edge, did likewise. She laid down, taking some deep breaths.

Relax, she told herself. It's fine. No reason to start freaking out. Trying to convince herself of this, Angeline drifted into an uneasy slumber.

***

A dark figure slipped quietly through the dark plains. Looking around, he saw only grass for miles around. But he knew exactly where he was, and exactly where they were.

"It's going to be a hard night for all of us," he commented quietly. His hand went to a pocket in his robe, and he fingered something inside. Then he continued forward, going slightly quicker than before.

***

Angeline woke up suddenly, and immediately knew there was danger. She sat up with a jolt, looking for the threat.

The night was dark and silent.

Her heartbeat increased in volume and speed, her head felt like it was spinning, and sweat began collecting on her face.

Nothing moved in the darkness.

Stop it, she told herself. Stop it and focus. What's wrong? Where's the danger? She closed her eyes and turned slowly, letting all her senses work. She hadn't seen anything wrong, and everything smelled normal. The air and grass both felt fine, and of course, taste was of no help. That left hearing... Angeline focused as hard as she could on the sounds around her. There was a faint breeze, the rustling of grass, and breathing from Delire... nothing out of the ordinary. But Angeline focused a bit harder, and suddenly, her eyes flew open.

It's the breathing, she realized with a jolt. Oh, heavens, we're not alone. It's too loud, coming from too many directions...

"Delire!" she shouted, her voice trembling in fear. "Delire, we're not alone!" Delire awoke, startled, and tried to organize his thoughts and senses. Meanwhile, Angeline spun in a frantic circle, looking for the threat.

And slowly, one by one, the ghosts rose from the ground.

They were horrible creatures, all covered in dirt, and with sections of skin missing. Their teeth were cracked and falling out, and their fingers were hanging off their hands loosely. Some were missing arms, legs, or eyes. Others had long cuts running across their skin, cuts so deep and long that they must have been what had killed the ghosts once, a long time ago. There were about a dozen of them, men and women. It was hard to determine their ages, with the missing limbs and flesh. They made horrible growling noises, like they were trying to choke something up. Others continued the shuddering, broken breathing that had alerted Angeline to their presence.

"Wait, what?" Delire asked, rising to his feet and rubbing his eyes. "Danger? Enemies? What's going on?"

"They're all around you!" Angeline exclaimed desperately. "Just look at them!" Delire turned in a full circle, looking up and down frantically.

"Angeline, there's nothing here!" Angeline smacked her palm into her forehead.

"Ah, my ability! You can't see them! Quick, grab my hand!" Delire stared at her wildly.

"What?"

"I don't care, touch my shoulder, stand on my foot, grab my hand, it doesn't matter! Just do something!" Delire, confused and slightly terrified, stumbled over to Angeline and gripped her shoulder.

"Holy crap!" he cried, leaping back. His hand slipped off Angeline's shoulder, and he hastily put it back, restoring his ability to see the spirits. Angeline turned slowly, and the ghosts moaned and growled miserably, floating gradually closer.

"Keep them away!" Delire screamed frantically. "Do something! Anything!"

"Like what?" Angeline cried back, still turning to watch the spirits drift closer.

"I don't know! You're supposed to know this stuff!"

"I talk to ghosts, not beat them back to the underworld!" Angeline exclaimed. "Try shooting them with your power!" Delire instantly summoned a ball of shadow and hurled it at a spirit. It flew straight through the ghost's body, and the spirit paused briefly to watch the orb fly through itself. It then looked at Delire, seemingly unharmed, but annoyed.

"Oh, okay," Delire said nervously, trying his best not to scream. "It's a ghost. It doesn't have a body. It can't do anything to us. So, we're safe. Right?"

"Let's hope so," Angeline gasped as a ghost floated closer, coming within a meter of the duo. The others clustered around the humans as well, but came no closer. They hung in the air, staring at the two with their horrible, tortured eyes.

"Maybe," Angeline whispered after a long silence, "they can't hurt us." At that moment, a ghost screamed and reached its horrible hand out at Angeline's face. She screamed too, though the ghost's cry was much louder. The hand faded away a split second before it touched Angeline's skin, reappearing as the arm stretched back to the ghost. Then all the others were screaming and reaching at the teens. The ghosts always faded a moment before they could touch the humans, reappearing a moment later. But anywhere that the ghosts almost touched, Angeline's skin turned deathly cold, and a numbness started spreading from it. She knew Delire was feeling the same thing, and both of them twisted away from the ghosts in a useless effort to escape. Now that the ghosts had reached the duo, they were fast, and followed the pair wherever they stumbled to. The numbing cold was hitting everywhere from all directions: on Angeline's leg, on her arm, on her neck and on her face, going through her clothes and driving daggers of cold into the skin underneath.

It was growing difficult to stand, as numbness was attacking both her ability to stay awake and her ability to stand. She stumbled forward, and more ghostly hands instantly reached out, chilling everything in her body. The actual temperature was dropping as well, as Angeline could see her own breath. She felt Delire's hand slip off her shoulder, devoid of all energy, but she knew the ghosts would kill him whether he could see them or not. Slowly, she staggered to her knees, gasping for breath in a world of cold, and only cold. Angeline began to close her eyes to accept the cold death that had already begun.

Suddenly, a white light exploded into the night from nowhere, and a noise like some kind of bird cry came with it. Angeline noticed but had no energy to look around, but the ghosts certainly did. They exploded into a swirling mass of evil spirits, panicking at the light. A beam of white flew over the two humans and the dozen ghosts. Angeline could hear yelling, maybe some kind of chanting, and the white light flashed several more times. It was extremely bright, and she could still see it seconds after a flash occured.

Angeline's world faded into an endless realm of departing cold, chanting, white lights, and numbness.

***

"See, the chanting really isn't what makes the process work. It's just a powerful addition, but of course, you must memorize the words, and to do that, you must know the words. It's all a long and dangerous process, really, but the gun really takes most of the credit..." The unfamiliar voice faded away. "Oh, the girl is awake. Good, good, good." Angeline slowly regained full awareness, one sense at a time. She was laying something hard, maybe wood. There wasn't really any noise, now that the voice had quieted. The smell, Angeline discovered curiously, was an indoor smell.

"You know, I wasn't quite sure how you'd fare," the voice continued. "You certainly got a bigger dose of Death's Chill than your friend did, but certainly, there doesn't appear to be any..." The voice continued, but suddenly it was slurred and sounded faraway. Angeline's head began to throb violently. Then it cleared a little, just for a moment, and she heard the voice say, "... fully awake, I just need you to open your eyes..." Putting a decent amount of effort into it, Angeline opened her eyes. In front of her, she saw a sideways view of a tall man. He had brown hair, which was messy and went every which way on his head. His hair seemed to droop down his cheeks, and then grow rough and furry as it merged into the man's beard. He had big blue eyes, which were gazing at her with interest.

"Good, good!" he exclaimed. "Hello, dear. Oh, don't tense up. Relax! Yes, that's better. Now, you took quite a beating from those ghosts, didn't you? Yes, yes, hm... Well, you got very lucky. I'm surprised they didn't do more, being invisible and all. There were twelve of them, you know." Angeline almost nodded, but paused at the last second. She wasn't sure if she could trust this man yet, and didn't want him to know of her ability.

"Should I sit up?" she asked instead. The man nodded energetically.

"If you can," he said. "It would make my job far easier, and it may help you wake up." Angeline complied and sat up, grimicing with the effort it took. The man beamed at her once she'd accomplished the task.

"Ah, well done," he praised. "Now, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Knor, and I know from your friend that your name is Angeline something-or-another."

"Huaji," Angeline informed him, and he nodded.

"Yes, that sounds right."

"What's your last name?" Angeline asked, feeling somehow at a disadvantage with the lack of knowledge.

"I don't have one," Knor chuckled easily. "I see no point for them, really. It's just another word to remember, a waste of time when I introduce myself. I'm Knor, and you will call me Knor." Angeline nodded, a bit confused at the man's peculiarity. He just grinned and shook his arms loose.

"Alright, now that that's done, I'd like to check you for any lasting damage from that ghost attack. That's what it was, by the way. I know you couldn't see them." Angeline nodded, feeling a bit guilty from lying to the man who seemed to want to help her. But until she was sure he was an ally, he didn't need to know about her powers.

"I'll start, then," Knor said, bringing Angeline's mind back from its wandering. He took her arm and studied it, then her other arm, then her neck and her legs. He studied her face as well, frowning as he did so.

"Very pale," he noted. "A common effect of Death's Chill. The rest of your body is pretty pale, too. Nothing to be too worried about. Just keep an eye on it, and if it gets worse, tell me." Angeline nodded, as she'd been doing a lot recently.

"You can get off the table now," Knor told her, and she slipped off. As she got off the table, she took note of her surroundings. She was in a large wooden room, in a relatively clean area with only the table as furniture. A few meters away was a great many shelves and cabinets, forming paths through the room. Angeline couldn't tell what all the objects held, but she could glimpse some boxes, crates, and bowls in some shelves. These and more were scattered throughout the room.

"Pretty nice, eh?" Knor asked smugly. "They're my collections, from my travels. I have everything from green ooze to werewolf fangs to ancient tribal staffs."

"So you're an explorer?" Angeline asked, still taking in the large room. Knor nodded.

"Indeed! Explorer, adventurer, engineer, traveler, author... I'm all of them and more. You see, I've dedicated my life to researching the supernatural. Ghosts, for instance. I then write my discoveries throughout several books." Angeline looked around for doors that might lead to other rooms and saw none.

"So, do you have a team or something?" she asked. Knor shrugged.

"Well, I have a fourteen year-old residing in my basement. Does that count?" Angeline stared at the man, now extremely unsure of his mental state. Knor just chucked. "His name is Allen. You'd like him, I think. Here, follow me. I'll introduce you, and show you where your friend is." Angeline gave a small start. She'd nearly forgotten about Delire!

"How is he?" she asked quickly. "Will he recover? Is there any permanent damage?" Knor cast a questioning eye on the teen.

"Did I not already tell you that he fared better than you did?" he asked, and Angeline blushed as she remembered. Knor turned and continued walking through the cluttered room. "But, if you need to hear it again, he's fine. Might feel some minor effects occasionally, but you just worry about yourself." Finally, he arrived at a trapdoor in the floor.

"Here we are," he said cheerfully. "Ladies first!" Angeline peered down the door. There was a long tunnel with a ladder to navigate up and down it. There was dust in the air, making it difficult to see the bottom of the ladder.

"You're sure it's safe down there?" Angeline asked uncertainly. Knor gave a hysterical giggle in reply.

"Dear, it's a professionally built ladder leading into a small, stable room in my extremely fortified house. No, it's not safe! I found a colony of brain-worms down there, and one time there was a undead rat. Oh, and one of the tables combusts into flame sometime, and-"

"Never mind," Angeline interrupted, choosing to believe he was kidding. "Forget I asked." She tentatively started down the ladder with Knor grinning like a maniac behind her.

Well, it's certainly a change from the wilderness, Angeline thought. Now I just have to figure out if it's a good one.