#Also I wonder if we’ll ever find out Verge’s name before he was a witch my money is on Beato

[perfectwitchcrown]

Dante and Betrayal in Make the Exorcist Fall in Love

Ok so now that chapter 79 has come out I really want to discuss something I think is kind of interesting as a through line between Dante's Inferno and Dante in Make The Exorcist Fall in Love. This is mostly just word vomit haha. Also, asterisks indicate footnotes that I've left towards the bottom of the post!

Cw: discussion of sexual violence, victim blaming, and homophobia. Also, image of cartoon gore (when priest pulled out his eye in the first chapter) after the read more

In the Divine Comedy, the closer Dante the pilgrim moves to the center of hell, the more intense Dante the poet is casting the sins being punished there are. So, Dante starts in Limbo, which he presents as containing the least serious of sins, then continues on through a variety of different sins. The ninth and final circle of hell, containing what Dante the poet felt was the most serious of sins, is treachery. In the notes to their translation of the Inferno, Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander write that "The three most gravely punished sinners of the poem are Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus (founder of the Church), as well as Brutus and Cassius, who betrayed Julius Caesar (the first ruler of the empire" (639).

Dante Alighieri presents betrayal then as the worst sin possible, which I think has been carried through into Ekuoto Dante's perception of whatever happened with Vergilius in the past.

Specifically, I’m thinking of their conversation in chapter 20. Verge identifies Dante’s powers as relating to Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt when fleeing Sodom.

I think Dante’s response is pretty interesting for several reasons. For one, based on the paneling and what we see, he’s identifying Sodom with the church, not with Verge. Verge, as someone who fled then is Lot, and Dante positions himself as Lot’s wife, which is both fascinating in the way he’s presenting their relationship and that it implies that he views his decision to stay with the church as a decision of weakness, just as Lot’s wife turning to look back at Sodom is considered spiritual weakness.

It was his betrayal of Verge then that he considers his sin.

Frankly though I wonder if there’s an element of miscommunication between the two of them as well in regard to this.

This is the part where I get super speculative, because we still don’t know what happened in the panel depicted (although I wonder if we’ll be finding out soon). But, just based on the few things we’ve seen, there’s a couple things I’d like to propose.

I don’t think Dante and Vergilius in have ever explicitly told each other that they love each other. I could be totally wrong about this, but based on Dante’s reactions in this chapter, both to the homophobia he experienced and not wanting to talk about it with Verge, and his shyness around romantically charged physical contact with him (it’s Verge who holds his hand, Dante doesn’t hold it back), and just based on the fact that they were kids, I think whatever splintering in their relationship occurred it was before either of them had actually been able to verbally express what they meant to each other. They reaaaaally read to me as having still been in that first gay crush where you’re sort of together but also not really acknowledging it stage of their relationship.*

I wonder if Verge may have been victim blamed in some regard for what happened with that priest we see. I could see Arima Aruma making commentary on the way victims of sexual exploitation can be blamed if they’re “imperfect” victims. Personally, I don’t trust Abbott Nicholas like even a little bit in how he handles situations, and just based on the expression Dante has as a kid looking back at him, I wonder if he may have said something pretty fucked. Or, at the very least, not helpful at all towards Verge, and tinged in some way, by homophobia. Like, ultimately, at his age Verge was not capable of consenting whatsoever to what was happening. I wonder if because Verge was accepting money in return, Abbott Nicholas may have blamed him partially for what happened**

All of these proposals in consideration, then, I think potentially color Verge’s comment when he says “how cruel” in chapter 20. I wonder if Dante’s betrayal may have also been a deeper betrayal of their relationship -> not just that he didn’t go with him, but that he may have not acknowledged the relationship they had. In other words, if Abbott Nicholas may have victim blamed Verge in a way that also centered his queerness and Dante froze.

Returning to the conversation in chapter 20 then, if, from Verge’s perspective, Dante’s powers reference sexual intercourse between men, and Dante may have never fully communicated how he felt for Verge, that how cruel may have been because he was taking it as further shaming him for his own assault -> if the sin is having had sex with a man, and if Verge may have been blamed for his rape, then Dante’s powers may come across as further victim blaming towards Verge, that because Verge was sexually abused by a man as a form of survival sex work (not that he could have ever consented to that at his age), Verge has “committed sin,” whereas Dante has not (presuming that Dante has never had sex with a man, which like, idk but idk if Verge knows either).

Dante’s response, “that’s not my sin” then, wouldn’t actually refute that to Verge. It would just tie into that. “No, I’ve never had sex with a man, that’s not my sin” -> which also would function as a further rejection of the feelings they held for each other.

On the other hand, I don’t think that’s how Dante meant it. I think Dante’s perspective on it not having been his sin, especially with how he follows it up, and with what he said towards the beginning of the series about love, is that he doesn’t view his feelings towards Verge as sin at all. Rather, it was his failure to take his side that he views as his sin. His response he may have meant both as a “what I felt for you wasn’t sin” and a “what happened to you wasn’t your fault.” The panel frames the church as Sodom, so the sin of what occurred to Verge is not homosexuality, but rape, and Dante clearly places the blame with the priest.

And to tie into this, I think it’s significant that it’s not Dante’s personal money he uses to pay women at brothels to offer them the financial means to leave sex work should they choose, it’s church funds.***

TL;DR

To sum all this up, I think Dante and Verge may both have skewed understandings of what went wrong in their relationship and how they felt towards each other, but I think the idea that Dante betrayed Verge is central to it. I’m not sure that Vergilius thinks that Dante betrayed him though. I think this is Dante’s perspective of whatever happened that we still don’t know about. I am interested in seeing if we get any further information about their past in the next chapter or if we won’t be seeing anymore for a while.

Footnotes

*I think further in support of this is Verge’s reaction at the bowling alley when Priest falsely confirms that Dante is having sex with women in brothels. He teases Dante in their fight in chapters 20-21 for being worked up over him, but honestly, I don’t think he has confidence that his feelings for him in childhood were reciprocated in the same way.

**In support of this I think we should consider Dante’s reaction following Priest’s assault in the first chapter. Priest blames himself for his assault—“I looked upon a woman with lust. I am deserving of this punishment”—and Dante immediately thinks of Abbott Nicholas, and then immediately tries to impress upon Priest that consensual sexual desire isn’t wrong.

***Dante seems to consider his position within the church as one that enables him to decrease exploitation the most. Daniel, in one of the files, refers to the policy (that he instituted) post Mother Rosa death of banning the weak from serving as exorcists, as having resulted in the exploitation of children, who now make up the bulk of the exorcists. If Dante leaves the church at this point, he would be doing so as one of the remaining adult exorcists, leaving the work to the rest of the children

Random Extra Thoughts:

I’ve seen speculation that shit may have gone down between the two of them in-between the four year timeskip after the first chapter since Dante has become noticeably more pessimistic. Personally, based on Verge knowing about Dante going to brothels, and based on Dante knowing to look for Verge by speaking to sex workers at brothels, I wonder if they may have seen each other at a brothel. Vergilius would’ve been a witch by this point. I’ve had to go through parts of the manga again, but he’s been a witch for at least ten years at this point. Which is an interesting timeline, since Dante and Mother Rosa were both present 11 years ago at the fight against Beelzebub. Much to consider

Also, Dante and Verge keep referencing each other’s respective ages (that Dante has been aging and Verge is still young) and tying it not just to appearance but also behavior. With the potential miscommunication in regards to their feelings with each other, I sort of also wonder if Verge associates their relationship with their youth as well, and may assume that the romantic element to their love for each other is something Dante considers himself to have grown out of.

Tying into the above, I think it’s significant that we the audience haven’t yet seen an ordinary adult who is openly gay. Verge and the other witches who are queer (Erskine and Cyril based on their presence sharing a broom naked in the background of the witch’s sabbath, other various witches who’ve been similarly paired off) have all frozen themselves in time. Dante is gay, but based on his behavior at the brothels, not out. Also, and this could just be early series wonkiness, but when Abbott Nicholas tells Dante in the first chapter not to introduce Priest to a variety of vices, womanizing comes up as one of them. So, like, whatever happened in the past, I don’t think Dante has ever acknowledged himself as gay to Abbott Nicholas or the larger community.

[danyka-fendyr]

Wildfire - 1

Chapter 1: Bibbity Boggarty Boo

Should I have been writing the next chapter of Absence of Good? Yes. Should I definitely have been trying to write a Reylo oneshot I said I would write weeks ago? Oh, absolutely. But instead I got inspired to start a whole new series based off of Harry Potter, and so here we are. Sometimes I just have to follow where the inspiration leads, and if the several different Reylo drafts just aren’t working out, a George Weasley fic is what happens apparently. Anyway sorry to literally all of my followers who did not ask for this.

Taglist: @dreamwritesimagines @rhabakoli

Wordcount: 2501

Warnings: Death. Themes of war. Abuse of power. Injury/gore.

Magic is a tricky thing. It is alive in its own way, not a tool but a force, unstoppable and scarcely controllable, wild and bright. If you are lucky enough to see it, to touch it, to have it run through your veins and into your children’s, you can maybe understand something of the untamable nature of magic. It has been argued that magic does not choose, but that it is only transferred, passed down through those of the purest blood. But…over the years, you have come to see different. Much as the wand chooses the witch, you are inclined to believe magic chooses the witch as well, and doesn’t have much to say as far as blood goes.

Convincing Professor Binns of that in the longest essay you had ever been assigned would be considerably more work. The professor could be a bit archaic as far as muggleborn rights went, which was all the more infuriating for you as a muggleborn. However, the man was dead, so you felt you had to give him a certain amount of credit for even still grading papers and teaching class, half-hearted prejudice aside. Binns’ refusal to throw hands with Malfoy, while not perhaps relatable, was at least understandable. You also often found it difficult to feel any amount of passion or human emotion sometimes.

“I just want to go to sleep,” you groaned.

“Awww, is little Y/N tired?”

Fred Weasley cooed over you, clearly unaware of how dangerously close he would be to death if you just had slightly more energy. That being said, you didn’t have slightly more energy, so maybe this was strategically advantageous for him. Nobody ever accused the Weasley twins of being stupid. Well, except for you sometimes.

“Don’t mess with me right now Weasley.”

“Oh no Georgie, she’s using my last name.”

“Our last name, Freddie. Maybe she was talking to me. Y/N dear, which one of us were you talking to?”

“Yes.” Your voice was slightly muffled from where you had just leaned forward into the table, carefully avoiding your freshly inked parchment.

“Well now, that’s not very nice. What did I do?”

“I’m sick and I have the world’s longest paper to write from Binns and I am in turns hot and cold which means the fire is both my best friend and actual Satan.” Also we are on the verge of war. Also the Dark Lord is back. Also there is a pink toad trying to run Hogwarts like a dictatorship. “I’m not in the mood to be messed with.”

You glanced up tiredly, ready to give a baleful glare, only to find a concerned looking George Weasley. Fred hovered behind him, his face also worried as he took in your red nose, watery eyes and miserable countenance.

“Love, why haven’t you gone to the hospital wing?” George asked.

“Because I can’t bring myself to drag my way all the way through this stupid castle just to get a freaking Pepper Up potion. In short, I’m lazy.”

You patted the couch next to you, gesturing for him to sit down so that at the very least he could give you that concerned look in comfort. He sat like he was on pins and needles, which you shouldn’t have been surprised by.

As long as you had known him, George Weasley had never been one not to take action. Fred got much of the credit for being the idea man, but the truth was that if George Weasley wasn’t moving he was dying inside. He was also just a tad bit protective, especially of you.

You attributed this to the fact that when you were a sweet, innocent muggleborn first year you may have lost your temper and managed to completely eviscerate Marcus Flint without ever laying a finger on him. Not that it was hard to emotionally damage a 13-year-old boy with teeth that jacked up. Anyway, Marcus had decided to go for a less pacifistic method of revenge and George Weasley had swooped in to rescue you, Fred in tow. It didn’t take long to become friends with the guys who had saved you from the hospital wing.

You leaned into his side, sniffling quietly, only to have him launch up and swiftly be replaced by Fred trying to prevent you from falling over.

“I’ll be right back,” George said, a determined look on his face and no explanation on his lips.

You raised an eyebrow at Fred. “So, should I expect him back in 5 minutes or 3 hours?”

“I bet you a chocolate frog he’s back in 5 minutes.” Fred grinned.

“That’s not fair. You always win bets about George.”

“I wonder why.”

You rolled your eyes before resuming staring at the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, its warm flames licking the faded brick, staining it soot black, Death Eater black. These days it seemed like everything in your head came back to Death Eaters. And if it wasn’t Death Eaters, it was Umbridge.

You had to admit to being petrified by Umbridge. It wasn’t that she didn’t make you angry. She did. But you also knew what she did to students who misbehaved, had seen the scars settling into Harry Potter’s hand, had once even caught George trying to hide blood from you.

 “Georgie, what’s that?” You stopped him on his way up to the dorms.

You were up late studying, and it was well past the hours any decent human being should be awake. You were up though, trying to puzzle out a potions assignment and meeting with very little success. George, apparently, was also up, and clutching his sleeve in a very odd, suspicious fashion.

“It’s nothing. Shouldn’t you be asleep?” He turned away from you, framing the arm in question in shadow.

“Did you hurt yourself working on new products again?” You asked, crossing the room to inspect his arm. You pushed the sleeve back, chatting as you went. “You really have to be more careful. I know there’s a lot of demand, but you can’t put your health at risk just fo-”

You gave a small gasp when you saw the words scrawled into his arm, blood still fresh, jagged little bits of skin speckled with red darker than his hair, more ominous. I must not make mischief.

“Who did this to you?” You knew the answer, but you had to ask.

“Really, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, Y/N. Go to bed.”

He tried to pull his arm out of your grasp, but you held on, careful not to hurt him. Gently, you edged a single finger around the clean skin surrounding the wound. Your other hand had found its way into his, fingers lacing together in your horror, tears in your eyes.

She shouldn’t be allowed to do this to him. No one should be allowed to do this to him. This shouldn’t happen to good people like George Weasley. He didn’t deserve it.

“Hey,” he said softly, wiping a tear off your cheek. “It’s alrigh’ love, I’m fine. Just a flesh wound.”

“We should uh..” You took a shaky breath. “We should clean it up.”

You lead him over to the couch, leaving him to wait while you headed to your room and grabbed some spare bandages and ointment from a first-aid kit your mother insisted you take to Hogwarts with you every year.

“We’ll have you better in no time,” You promised with false cheer.

 “Pepper Up potion!” George announced triumphantly. “Fred and I use it all the time when we’re testing products. We’ll have you better in no time.”

You had more reason to be afraid of Umbridge than just what you had seen though. The truth was that while you tended to be docile as a lamb when people attacked you, you didn’t like it when people attacked the people you loved. You had gone after Umbridge and paid the price in long sleeves and muggle makeup, but some mean, dark, spiteful thing inside of you said that every detention was worth it despite the pain.

You couldn’t let the twins know though. If George saw the words carved into the back of your hand and up your arm in your own loops and swirls he would have a fit.

I must not be a know-it-all.

You knocked back the potion quickly, shaking your head vigorously as it burned through you.

“I swear muggle alcohol has nothing on that crap,” You muttered.

“Hey, don’t complain. I just magically cured you of all your ails.”

You snorted lightly, grinning up at him. It was true though. Your stuffed nose and wheezing breaths were gone, replaced by perfect health, more or less.

“My hero,” you said.

“My angel.”

You blushed, shaking your head at him. Always so dramatic, the Weasley twins. Speaking of drama, some seemed to have found its way to you now.

Neville Longbottom ricocheted down the stairs, his face white with terror, as blank as a muggle who’d seen a ghost. If it were any other student, you might have been terrified, but Neville was somewhat more prone to bouts of fright. You stood calmly, smoothing out your robes and reaching casually for your wand.

“You alright there Neville?”

“B-b-boggart,” the boy stuttered.

“Don’t you worry Neville, Y/N will get it sorted. Never seen anyone cast a better riddikulus charm, myself,” Fred said.

“You give me too much credit, Fred.” You were already heading up the steps of the boy’s dormitory though, confident in your ability.

You could hear George speculating on how it must have gone missing from some closet in the deeper reaches of the castle. There were so many nooks and crannies in Hogwarts that there was always at least one boggart somewhere, even if you never saw it. Wand at the ready, you opened the door to Neville’s dorm, knowing exactly what to expect. Except you didn’t find what you expected.

You pulled in a deep breath, legs shaking as you stared at what was before you. It was supposed to be you tied up or in a straight jacket or just generally somehow trapped, your worst fear. Or it had been your worst fear, before you went to war.

His red hair was plastered to his pale face, blank eyes staring. All the light and mischief sucked right out of them. You fell to your knees just outside of the circle of blood pooling around his body, and a choked noise came out of your throat, the only sound you could make.

One of the boys must have heard you, because you vaguely registered Neville calling up to ask if you were okay. You couldn’t answer though, transfixed by the sight before you. You knew you were supposed to riddikulus it, but you couldn’t move.

At some point, the boys must have come up the stairs, because you heard a quiet voice behind you mutter, “Bloody…”

You thought it might have been Fred, but you weren’t sure.

“Come on, angel.”

George’s soft voice filtered through the cold mist that had a grip on your mind, his hands gripping your arms, gently but firmly lifting you back up to your feet. With a flick of his wand, he cast the charm, breaking the boggart’s spell over you as his dead body turned to a comically fake version of the same picture, ketchup and all.

An arm over your shoulders, George steered you away from the dorm as you tried to process the shock of what you’d just seen.

“I never…It wasn’t…It used to be…”

“I know,” George said. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.”

You shook your head. “Last spring…last spring it was just me being trapped.”

George pulled you closer into his side, and you realized that hot tears were falling out of your eyes and onto his uniform.

“A lot’s changed since last spring,” he said. “It’s alright though. I’m here. Everything is fine.”

You realized with a grateful start that George was leading you back to your own room so that you didn’t have to cry in front of everybody in the common room, shielding your body with his own. The stairs appeared to accept your unspoken desire for him to be here as permission enough as he lead you up them without a hitch.

“It won’t stay fine though,” you managed to work out.

“I’ll still be here then,” he said.

“You can’t promise that.”

“I can. No matter what angel, I can guarantee you one thing. You and I, we’re going to stick together.” He opened the door to your dorm room, blissfully empty as most of Gryffindor tower was out on the first winter weekend with clear skies you’d had in a while. “And Freddie, of course.”

“I thought that was a given,” you joked.

“There she is,” George said, watching you smile a little as you took a seat on your bed.

“It’s just been a little…harder lately.” You defended your tears. “With everything we know and what the ministry’s doing and the Order and Umbridge’s de-”

You cut yourself off, quickly revising your choice of words. “Umbridge’s devastating ability to make me want to kill her.”

George laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that. She’d probably call it high treason against the ministry or something. Say you were in cahoots with You Know Who.”

“Ugh. You Know Boo is more like it. Never met a bigger buzzkill than the Dark Lord.”

“Technically we’ve both had the good fortune not to meet him yet.” George leaned against one of the posters of your bed.

“We will eventually. Then I can tell everybody whether or not Harry was making it all up.”

George stiffened. “You think he’s lying?”

“Yeah, kinda. I mean, a guy with no nose? He had to have made that part up. There’s no way the big baddie doesn’t have a nose. Harry’s just yanking our chain.”

He burst out laughing, sparks flying from his chocolate eyes.

“It would be a good laugh too, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh, the best. Positively historic.”

“Oi, Georgie!” Fred’s voice bellowed up from the common room. “What are you two doing up there? Don’t make me call Minnie!”

You heard a chorus of laughter from the common room and groaned.

“Could you please ask him to stop convincing the school we’re dating?”

“I’ve asked, but you know Fred. He can be…”

“Stubborn?”

“An independent thinker.”

You huffed another laugh. “Okay, well you better get down there before he gets everybody to start independently thinking some very inappropriate things about us. I have a reputation to keep, you know.”

“Reputation as a stick in the mud, when we’re not around.”

“You love it. I’ll see you at dinner?”

“See you at dinner.”

You watched his scarlet head of hair disappear down the hall, moving like wildfire with each step, and grinned to yourself. You supposed if they were going to spread wildfire rumors about anyone, it would be George Weasley.

[the-elemental-sides]

Urban fantasy AU: The Sides are four spirits trapped in an amulet. When Thomas finds it and puts it on, he gains the powers of the four elements…or that’s what should have happened, but mistakes were made. Now the Sides have to coach him in their respective elements while Thomas deals with both his new powers and his ability to see into the magical realm. Not only is magic real, but there’s some pretty intimidating stuff out there, and only Thomas and the Sides have the power to stop it.

A/N: That took a little while, but the next chapter is here! It’s the longest one, too, so I hope you enjoy the following shenanigans.

Taglist: @shinylyni, @hissesssss, @vexation-virgil, @madd-catter, @rptheturk, @ed-tries-to-be-cool, @nienna14, @ryuity, @asofterfan, @robanilla, @k9cat, @ab-artist, @absoluteamethyst, @a-box-o-jills, @captain-loki-xavier, @lynisnotamused

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

***

Of all the spirits, Thomas knew Virgil the least.

While Roman spent most of his time bickering with Virgil and Logan, Virgil was rarely fussed enough to argue back. He seemed intent on blending in with the shadows on the floor, and when he did speak up, he seemed cynical and almost mean compared to the others. Patton was the only one to sing his praises.

So trying to figure out a way to approach the lesson made him pretty nervous. Thomas sat on his couch, alone; he’d chased all the others out to give them space. He hesitated, then took a breath. “Vir—“

“Don’t bother, I’m out.”

“Ah!” Thomas jumped when he saw Virgil standing over him like a gloomy Grim Reaper. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“Clearly not.”

“Okay. Well, it’s good to see you, Virgil. I sure am ready to learn these water powers.”

“All right, all right.” Virgil sat on his coffee table without looking inclined to move.

“You’ve used your powers before, right?”

“I mean, yeah, I had them for like eight months. Sometimes I boiled water for coffee and stuff.”

“Um, okay.” Putting on his best ‘Picani’ voice: “How did using your powers make you feel?”

“Anxious.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Let me just get this straight: I hate working hard,” said Virgil. “So hey, if you really want me to supervise, I’ll supervise. But I think you can do it on your own.”

“Fine,” said Thomas, relenting.

Thomas filled a pot with water and sat, staring at it. He wiggled his fingers over the surface like a witch casting an enchantment.

“Are you trying to boil it?” asked Virgil.

“Yeah.”

“No, don’t do that just because I mentioned it,” he scoffed. “Find something easier to start out with.”

“You’re not making this easy, Verge,” Thomas said, laying down his hands.

“Sorry I’m not as a good a teacher as Roman.”

“None of you guys have been super clear about this, actually...no, you know what? Let’s chill. Let’s regroup.  We have time to figure this out.”

Thomas took a deep breath, adjusted his position, and focused on the water again, trying to fill his head with water-y vocab words. Bubbles. Spring. Droplets. Steam. Was that condensation forming on his fingers…? He might be onto something. A drop plunked off his finger. There!

“Impressive,” Virgil said, scrutinizing him. “You totally failed to move the water in the pot, but you made some out of thin air.”

“Oh.”

The morning continued like this, with Thomas practicing water magic while Virgil occasionally took off his headphones to make snarky comments. Privately, Thomas wondered why he was still hanging around, but he thought it was because the other spirits weren’t out and about. Virgil seemed kind of glad for the peace and quiet.

“All right, watch this,” Thomas said at last. “Water!”

Sploosh! The water in the pot jumped up briefly to touch Thomas’ fingers.

“Earth!” He made a fist and then rolled a newly-formed pebble into the water. “Fire! Foosh!”  He lit his other hand on fire and flicked some flames off to the side. “Air!” With the same hand, he stirred up a little tornado that whirred a few feet away before dissolving.

“Yep, those are the elements.”

“Wait, I’m not done. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony, but everything changed when the Fire Nation atta-“

“I get it,” Virgil said. “Congratulations.”

“Is that it?” Thomas asked. “Did I do it?”

“No, actually. Not if that’s all you can do. Can you control anything more than that?”

Thomas stared down into his pot of water. “I think that’s all I’ve got.”

“Well, hey, keep practicing. I’m out.”

“Hold up,” Thomas said, and Virgil paused, giving him a wary look. “I need to know something else. I think the others are hiding something from me.”

“Of course they are,” Virgil said with a half-shrug. “You didn’t think four spirits would come free of baggage, did you?”

“Was that rhetorical, or….?”

“Forget it. Hey, they might not have trusted me, but I was pretty good at reading their emotions. Patton felt guilty because he felt like he could have prevented this whole mess. Logan was way too stressed because the whole procedure was resting on him. And Roman sort of resented us because all his life’s plans were tossed away to get in on this.”

“And what about you…?”

Virgil just kept looking at him. Finally, he said, “Table that question. But if you want some answers, you’re ready for the next step in your training.”

“Sounds ominous,” Thomas said, a little nervously. “Does that mean we’re done here?”

“I should go talk this over with the others.”

“Okay. Hey, before you go. I thought of something cool.”

“Yeah?”

“I keep thinking of you guys as ‘the spirits,’ or sometimes just ‘those guys,’ but I think I’ve thought of a better name,” said Thomas. “You’re the ‘sides!’ Because you all make up a side of my new powers.”

“....I don’t know why, but that’s really appropriate,” Virgil said after a pause.

“I know, right? I’m glad I came up with it.”

“Huh.”

***

The next morning, Thomas went grocery shopping. According to Logan, this was necessary. It also happened to be necessary because Thomas was a pizza fiend who did not have enough healthy things in his fridge.

Thomas pretended to lock his car while the spirits (sides) briefed him.

“This quest will open your eyes to a whole new side of the universe, Thomas,” Roman said. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m hyped,” Thomas told his keys. “What’s the game plan?”

“Well, you have to be in spirit mode for it to work.”

“Spirit mode.” Thomas frowned. “Don’t three of you have to be in regular human mode for that to work?”

“Yup!”

“But—everybody else will see you that way! I can’t have three Thomases running around.”

“Never fear, Thomas, we’ve prepared for this,” Logan said. “As you might recall, we’re only borrowing your form. We have the capability to look however we wish.”

“And I choose to look—“ and Roman turned around, and suddenly he resembled someone else entirely—“like this!”

“Joan?!”

“Yes!”

“I was going to be Joan,” Logan muttered.

“That’s incredible,” Thomas said. “You’ve got their voice and everything.”

“Indeed!”

“Is this fitting?” Patton asked, popping into Thomas’ face.

“Woah! Terrence. Yup, that’ll do.” Thomas’ hand suddenly fell through his car door, but he was too excited to care. “Okay, we need one more.”

Virgil started to speak up, but Logan interrupted. “Me, of course. I will be your friend Talyn. I believe their short and nonthreatening stature will prevent unwanted confrontation.”

Thomas raised his arms to see that he had become translucent. “It worked. Nobody can see me now, so it’s up to you guys. Let’s go shopping!”

***

Thomas walked side-by-side with Virgil, the only one still stuck in spirit mode. The other spirits bounded ahead. Well, Logan was serious as ever. But even he had more of a spring in his step.

Or, ‘their’ step? The spirits’ impressions of his friends were almost too good.

“What am I supposed to see?” Thomas asked Virgil softly, even though nobody but the other spirits could hear or see them.

“Keep an eye out...especially on the other customers.” Virgil’s eyes were darting around warily. “It might take you a little bit to adjust. In the meantime—“

“Hey! Patton! That is not your dog!”

“—keep them under control,” Virgil finished under his breath as Thomas rushed forward to prevent Patton from taking a pomeranian out of someone’s shopping cart.

“Look at how cute she is!! Why don’t you have a dog, Thomas?”

“Because there’s no space for one, Patton. Do not kidnap this dog. Put her down.”

“Thomas, is this your shopping list? Really?” Logan said from somewhere off to his left. “You need more fiber in your diet. Where are the vitamins located?”

“Logan, stay here—he’s gone.”

“What nerds,” Roman said confidently. “They look like they’re yelling at nobody! I, however, possess the acting skills to not act as if I’m talking to an invisible companion—oh my gosh, is that Moana on Blu-Ray? Why is that in the clearance section? I’m out!”

“Roman, please...no…” Thomas hit his forehead. He looked up just in time to see that Patton was following the lady with the pomeranian as if being drawn by an invisible thread. “Okay, nope. Patton, you’ve lost your human privileges. Virgil, I’m trusting you.”

“Aww!” Patton complained, but he turned back into a translucent Thomas. Virgil sputtered a bit, but he took Patton’s place immediately. Thomas flickered opaque for only a second.

“Give me a little warning next time,” Virgil growled in Terrence’s voice. Then he felt his face. “Huh. Wow. I haven’t actually been human yet.”

Thomas breathed a little easier. “Okay. Guys, it’s really important that three of you stay human at all times so that nobody sees me appear out of nowhere. And you were the ones who told me it’d be dangerous if all four of you were human at one time, so uh, try not to do that either. Let’s find Logan.”

Logan was in the breakfast aisle filling his shopping cart with healthy bran cereals. (Hidden under a pile of granola clusters was a single box of sugary kids’ cereal with space facts printed on the back, and it was advertising a chance to win free tickets to the Air and Space Museum.)

“Nope. No. That stuff is gross and it’s too expensive.”

“We’ll compromise, then. What are your thoughts on prune juice?”

Thomas took a deep breath. “Virgil, please help Logan put the cereal back. You guys are the rational ones, and I’m trusting you, okay? Patton, let’s collect Roman.”

The two spirits raced across the store. Thomas had to persuade Patton not to get too distracted with the toys and board games. They finally found Roman browsing a stack of CDs in the music aisle.

“Roman,” Thomas sighed, “why.”

“Sorry, Thompadre! The pop songs beckoned. So this is what the kids are listening to nowadays...Kidz Bop 37. A tragedy. A travesty!”

“Ooh! Can we get that?” Patton asked.

“Focus, please, guys.”

“Uh oh,” Roman said suddenly. He pointed at Thomas’ chest. Thomas was opaque again.

“What are they doing??” he cried. “They’re supposed to stay in human mode! All right, come on. No more getting distracted!”

Virgil and Logan were no longer near the cereal, where Thomas was sure he’d at least implied they should stay, so they made another mad dash across the store: Thomas, who, while opaque, was unable to touch anything and could only hope that he didn’t fall straight through anything placed in his path; Patton, who was freely able to run through solid objects and scout ahead; and Roman, who’d stopped being Joan and switched to Valerie at some point.

“They’re in the freezer aisle!” he heard Patton call, so Thomas followed his voice. They eventually came across Virgil, who leaned on a shopping cart while Logan (in spirit form) had merged with a shelf of ice cream. He appeared to be checking the ingredients on the backs of the cartons.

Virgil shrugged when he saw them. “He wanted to find frozen vegetables. And I couldn’t say no to ice cream and sad microwave dinners.”

“You’re supposed to be the sensible one, Encyclopedia Clown!” Roman shouted at Logan, forgetting that the other people in the aisle could hear him apparently yelling at nothing.

“Shh! I had to check whether these contained potassium.”

“You couldn’t take them out like a normal person?!”

“This is more efficient! Oh, sorry, Thomas. Did I cause problems?”

“Thankfully, not yet,” said Thomas. “Uhhh...Patton, can you turn human again?”

Patton walked smartly into an unoccupied aisle and came out as Talyn. “Focus up, kids, we have to keep the tally even...the tallykat3!”

“That was pretty bad,” said Thomas.

Everything was finally back under control, so Thomas found himself relaxing. He rubbed his eyes. He thought being invisible for an extended period of time might be affecting his vision, because suddenly everything looked blurry, the colors too saturated.

“Ugh, I’m ready to go home already,” he said aloud. “Except I’m still not sure why I should be here. What was it you guys wanted...me...to see…?”

His voice trailed off when he realized the spirits were all fixated on something behind him. He whirled around to see a massive dark shape, radiating malevolence, that hung silently in the air.

“...that.”

***

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