Death's Contract

Asha Vellin first experience with the supernatural world is when her older cousin asked her a favor on her thirteenth birthday, a rarity Eugene would ever come to gatherings these days.

He always commented that his work took him away from the people that mattered the most; Asha knew the truth. He’s been crashing out on her parents couch for the last two months.

On and off, saying he would repay them and their dreams would be safe while he was around. Anyway, the map wasn’t anything too complex.

Eugene needed a direction, didn’t give further instruction beyond that, believed she would understand the meaning without having explanation.

Asha assumed he was pranking her, assumed he was teasing the cousin he barely sees or talks to. She took on the favor as they were family and you did everything in your power for family.

The map was created through a stream of consciousness that resulted in routes and side streets she never crossed a day in her life. Eugene thought it was perfect.

The days following after that, Asha tried recreating that day over and over. Filling her narrow room with sketches and drawings, when she came up for air that was when the call came.

Emma Aldrich was putting together a team to explore unknown, unreachable places. It would be an extra credit assignment prior to entering her final year of education.

One of the members happened to be a one-time neighbour in Olivia Rhodes, who instantly recognized her and made her feel special in that acknowledgement.

So often she thought how these small moments were combining into something none of them could ever change, she drew where they needed to go, she saw it in her mind’s eye.

The hesitation was not wanting to see the end and losing them all. Silas studied the map across from her as Jude stopped to fill up gas, they were making time.

“Better spill your guts than holding it in? You have many refreshing perspectives to guide you to a comfortable opinion Asha, we’ve all agreed honesty works in our line of work,” Silas must’ve snapped at him about his bedside manners.

Jude choosing seriousness means he might be as worried as she is. Outside of the van, Carro was stretching while McKenna was buying snacks for everyone.

“Emma had chosen us for our individual talents, it’s been pretty cool exploring places I probably would’ve never had and I’m learning a lot of things - what if what I have been charting is leading us somewhere we can’t come back from? I made a trap that’s unbreakable?”

Silas stared at her for a good long moment, then returned to reading the map. Jude wrapped an arm around Asha, pointing towards Carro.

“That’s why we have a wild card Vellin, he leaps without anyone of us telling him to. We trust in that.”

Trusting in Carro gave Asha fewer options to work with, a ghost storm had separated the group underneath a cavern. Asha didn’t map out a cavern, something unpredicted happened as she said it would.

Nobody believes the girl making the maps! There was no point in retracing her steps as this was a whole other experience entirely; stepping in blindfolded.

The flashlight died three paces back, canteen tasting stale, memories of Eugene telling her about places she couldn’t reach or talk about unless she wanted to sound crazy.

She managed to survive a ghost storm, there was nothing regular about any of this.

“Anyone over there?! I can sense your presence, please come closer,” An ominous voice telling her to come closer.

Doing the Eidolin expedition for two months, Asha Vellin knew never to dismiss something on the account of it creeping her the fuck out.

Squinting her pale green eyes, she tumbled over rocks and began to belatedly recall symbols and signals she recognized in Silas’s regresses note taking.

An unfinished place. Asha glanced down at the edge and saw she was at the crossroads of a chasm, one that passing spirits were ushered to. She didn’t feel dead, she didn’t feel alive either.

“Thank goodness, you’ve came, I’ll need to bother some of your time,” How much of it and what will become of her?

When Mike Cree discovered rich people would do anything if it meant getting freebies, the turnip didn’t hesitate to mooch off of Jude Morrel.

Jude Morrel gathered he should probably have been a little more peeved about his teachings turning back on him; he couldn’t deny the charm of the Cree’s.

Emma made a clear enough statement when she selected him; she didn’t want a paper trail. Maybe she should’ve looked elsewhere than the Mayor of Wane’s son.

Roland Morrel had gotten off a two-hour long worker protest when Jude walked in and told him about his latest new adventure; he planned on making something more of himself.

“You are in line of my position when I retire, you’ve missed eight classes this year and had to make up half of them, I’m not having you disrupt whatever progress you’ve been making.”

The village of Wane was directly underneath Callum End and clustered away from everything, the friends he had made, Jude had to seek them out.

Feining he had authority was a lot more fun than actually calling himself a leader. He didn’t have the stamina or world weary knowledge to carry that weight.

He had a killer smile, a hefty wallet, and an overwhelming presence that made people give in. Jude leaned close to his father and saw there were plans of closing down some of the old residential buildings.

“You always complained about my unorthedox way of living, Emma’s given us all a chance to prove we’re a bit more. I already said I’d go along, I keep my promises Pops,” It would be the last time he’d ever teased or kissed his father on the forehead.

Most of the day had been relevately routine when it comes to an Eidolin expedition, Jude had waited for Nicholas to come out of the bathroom so he could talk to him.

Asha’s words hanging over his head. There were moments between them, he didn’t ignore the significance of them, he simply thought acting wouldn’t do him any good.

“Unlike you to be quiet, Emma said this should be our last expedition, school would be starting soon and she didn’t want to uproot Claude,” Claude was not a part of the expedition group.

She documented everything they were doing yet didn’t contribute to any of the activities that would be taking place.

Jude chuckles, leaning against the sink. “Yeah no, Pops is hoping I eventually decide to go to military camp the same way he did, straighten me out and all that… did you see the way KJ follows Olivia with his eyes? Somebody should remind the guy he has a girlfriend,” Jude didn’t have to test him this way.

The merry-go-around of McKenna/Olivia/KJ love vomit circle was evident to everyone, even to the aforementioned girlfriend. Jude deflects when he doesn’t want to hear an unfavorable answer.

Unfortunately, he never told Nicholas Cree how he had the biggest crush on him, he never wondered if there could be anything more between them. The expedition was ending and Rhea left some of her equipment behind.

When he turned around the corner, the van was gone, his whistle lowered to an O and he glanced around to see he was as fuck wasn’t in Callum End anymore.

Rhea does the head counts and she wouldn’t leave him behind. This didn’t feel concrete in a way that made altogether sense.

Unlike the others, he didn’t indulge in the occult, he didn’t practice or study. When life happened to someone like Jude Morrel, he charmed the hell out of it.

“Better make sure that Aldrich woman is gonna pay you, we don’t have the finances as some of your peers do,” Antoine Wynn lacked the conversational bone to appear appealing to the masses.

Cops usually don’t. Silas had wanted to walk to the meeting point, his father said he needed to talk to his boss first. He shut the door and headed to the water fountain to clear his mind of any distractions.

Another door closed a street away and McKenna Ivon waved away a taxi, she held out a hand and eventually KJ had taken it and they were making their way over to the van.

Sometimes he wondered why people such as them who didn’t have the fortitude for this sort of business were chosen. Jude was for the money and Asha had a license to drive and the maps.

Olivia traveled wherever she went without putting down roots. Nicholas settled with everyone.

“How much longer does Officer Wynn intend on holding us up? We were supposed to beat traffic an hour ago, Emma has something to tell us before we drive off.”

Then the other wing to his bird half arrived, Ralph adjusted his glasses and shifted on his feet beside him. This was an intelluctal person he could get behind, out of everyone he considers important. They were close.

“He finished his sweep, he’d been heading home soon. We’ve been doing this for two months now, if this is supposedly the last bout, how come all the fanfare? Has she told you anything?”

Carro seemed to be ready for anything, so that’s a plus in this odd day. Antoine Wynn walked away and nodded for Silas to follow, Silas excused himself and did as instructed.

Antoine hand reached out and touched his son’s chest, putting firm pressure there. After his mother’s disappearance, there wasn’t much warmth going around, they perfected their own.

“You are probably the smartest kid I ever managed to produce successfully the first go-around, I’ll never know anything about the research you lot do, but I trust in your instincts Silas. Remember to have that same understanding of yourself,” The amount of pressure, the amount of raw tension.

This was a gunshot moment he reminded himself never to forget.

Rhea had completed Keith and Darnell’s lunches when Olivia showed up at her doorstep, this would be the last expedition, last sense of freedom prior to signing up for colleges and praying for internships.

She wished then she would’ve hugged her brothers, she wished they didn’t have their own little bubble and included her too.

Emma Aldrich announcement was profound: Paramount was offering Nicholas and Olivia full ride scholarships to attend their school, she would be attending as a counselor. She hoped the rest of them would make their way there.

This last expedition came with an obstacle none of them saw coming; ghost storms. One so profoundly difficult to wrangle, she had been the first to be ripped away from the group.

She had been dressing a head wound on KJ when everything shuttered to a close.

Carro stood on the edge of every seed of the world and threatened for it to act. Prove him wrong. Show him he couldn’t rush into anything and well it did just that.

Ghost storms are supposed to be harmless, ghosts can’t physically kill mortals, maybe he’d been dead all along and had the ability to appear otherwise.

Nevertheless, he dropped onto the grass and groaned, checking if any of the ghosts might’ve stole anything off his body. He found none.

He also found he wasn’t alone. Wide eyed and incredibly too good looking was a male that seemed shocked to see anyone beside him.

Carro reached out and poked his shoulder, the male whooshed back yet remained sturdy. He called a name. Noah? Coming up beneath a creek was another good looking guy and his hand passed through when he touched him.

“Please keep your hands to yourself, who the hell are you?”