Chapter 9: Magic Spell Fail

The Viking-dressed guy stands on my backpack. How had he gotten so close without me seeing or hearing him?

"Get off!" I yank at the backpack. This has to be some trick of Gwen's. They are probably in the dorm, filming my shock and laughing their asses off.

"Brana, my heart!" He rushes toward me with a smile.

But when I step back, hugging my backpack to my chest, he pauses.

"This is no way to greet yer husband," he says in a thick accent.

I choke out a gasp, backing away. "You're not my husband- I'm not married. You must have me confused with someone else."

"No, Brana, I'd know ye anywhere." He cocks his head to the side, examining me.

His blue-eyed gaze makes me blush.

"Same flaxen hair, same spirit...aye, ye are my Brana."

I hold my hand up, backing up quickly to put as much distance between us. "Look, I don't who you are or how you got here, but I'm Brene."

"It's me, Kiarr." He lowers his hands when I don't rush to him.

Gwen and a handful of others stroll toward me. She waves my phone in the air. "It's after midnight and I don't see any boyfriend, loser."

In a flash, Kiarr draws his sword, spinning to face her. "No one insults my love."

"No-" I shout, rushing forward to try and stop his attack. But it's too late. His sword whooshes through the air right at her. It goes right through her. No blood. No screams or cries. She just keeps coming toward me.

Kiarr slashes at her again and again. His blade has no effect. When one of the girls with Gwen walks right through him and shivers, my mouth hangs open.

A ghost? That has to be the only explanation.

"Guess you'll be my slave forever." She smiles, tossing my phone down at my feet. "I want you to iron all my clothes before second period tomorrow."

She and her friends saunter off, laughing. My phone lets out a shrill. Kiarr rushed forward like he's going to whack my cell to the ground and I hold up a hand to stop him.

It's my Aunt Grace. I click the accept button. "Hello?"

"Brene, are you okay?"

"Yeah," minus failing a test to get the bully off my back and having a ninth-century Viking ghost staring at me, "Why?"

Her pause was tangible. Did she have a sense that something was wrong? "Oh, I got a missed call from you a little bit ago and thought you were still awake. I was getting worried as I hadn't heard from you since you got to your new school and wanted to check on you."

"Thanks. I miss you too."

I turn back to Kiarr who is clutching his sword like he wants to chase after them and stab them. That's one thing we have in common.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Grace, but now really isn't a good time. Can I call you back tomorrow?"

"Are you making friends? You know, I think you and Lance should date other people," she continues. "Soon he'll be off to college and now you're at Hollowhaven. The two of you won't have much in common anymore."

I don't want to hear this. All I have to do was convince the staff here that I am a normal, human girl. Of course, conjuring a ghost isn't going to help me in that regard.

"Look, I need to go. I've got a test I need to study for. I promise I'll call you tomorrow first thing."

"We need to talk about things."

"I know, I know." My heart giving a little lurch. "I miss you."

"Miss you too." She ends the call and I pocket my phone.

Now I face my problem. How am I going to get a ghost to go back to Valhalla or where ever the hell he came from?

Using my flashlight, I search the magic spell book that brought Kiarr here. But I find nothing. No return ghosts to their realm or banish poltergeists or put the phantom back in the grave.

And I did magic. Kiarr is proof of that even though no one can see him but me. Why didn't the spell work the way I wanted and brought Lance? Is it because I performed it in a graveyard? That's what I'd interpreted the text to say.

Unless my translation had been wrong?

"Kiarr-" Saying his name sounds odd on my tongue. My heart, though, does a little lift inside my chest. "This is not your world or time. Can you find your way back to wherever you came from?"

"No, ye are in danger here. I will stay and protect ye with my life." He nods at me.

I take a deep breath and try again. "This was a mistake. I didn't mean to bring you here."

"Of course ye did." He sheathes his sword. "Yer magic called to me, yer husband, and I answered."

"No. I'm not your wife." I pinch the bridge of my nose. Would honesty help him to understand? "I tried to call up my boyfriend in this time, Lance, but you came instead. I have to put you back."

"Ye've taken another lover?" His brow furrows. "I will fight him for ye."

"No, no, no." I shove the book into my backpack along with my flashlight and the candles, which blew out sometime during all of this craziness. "Come with me."

"To bed?" He arches an eyebrow.

Instead of being insulted, which I should be, my mouth goes dry and the urge to reach out and touch him burns through me. To discover if he's as real to me as he appears or if my hand will pass through him like his sword did to Gwen.

I shake my head.

What the hell is wrong with me?

"No. We've got to find a way to send you back." Like right away. If someone sees him, they'll confirm that I have magic which means I'd be stuck at the Academy until I learn to control my power. And how things have gone so far, it looks like I'll be here an eternity.

I don't care that I have magical ability. Only thing I want is to return to my previous life, finish high school, and go to college with Lance until we get married.

Ghosts and paranormals don't fit in.

Using my cell phone as a light, I march back toward the Academy. I know one person who can help me. Just hope she believes me if she can't see my haunting.

* * *

Inside the common room, I hold my breath at students milling about. None of them do a double-take when Kiarr and I enter. I don't relax until we enter my room. As soon as I close the door, he sits on the bed, looking around like he's lost.

"Things are different," he muses. "Bed looks firmer, it's not lined with goose-feathers?"

I lean against the door, not trusting myself to sit anywhere near him. The guy is blond, muscular, and has the brightest blue eyes that make me feel like I am melting inside whenever he stares at me. He looks like Chris Hemsworth and a young Brad Pitt rolled into one.

"Stay here. I'm going to go get my friend. She'll know what to do to send you back."

His frown makes my heart rate speed up. "Allow me to escort ye then. It's not safe here."

A ripple of fear skips down my back. Then I shake my head. In his time, wars and skirmishes were common. And he's seen Gwen and her friends harass me. But I can't risk letting him walk around and be seen.

"No, that's okay. I'll be back in a bit." I turned the knob to the door, not wanting to stop gazing at him. "Make yourself at home. Don't open the door to anyone and don't go anywhere."

Kiarr lets out a gruff grumble, but gives me a nod.

"Here, you can play on my phone. Just don't accept any calls or hit the green call button, okay?" I cross the room, handing him my cell. It drops through his hand like he's not there. Our hands touch and electricity shoots through me, making my knees weak. I feel like I'm meeting a secret crush and I step back quickly, clearing my throat.

He frowns at the phone like it's a snake he's not sure is poisonous or not. When he reaches for it on the bed, his fingers pass through, yet the electronic flashes like it registered me touching. So he can manipulate some things, but not others. Good to know.

Biting my lip, I dash out of the room, locking the door behind me.

I pause in the hallway as the desire to race back inside my room pounds through my chest. Am I having this reaction because of the dream from last night? Was Kiarr the one kissing and touching me?

Briefly, I close my eyes, allowing myself to remember. No. The dream had a distinct scent, which Kiarr's is honey mead and woodsy. And I remember emerald eyes flashing in the darkness, not his sapphire ones.

Wishful thinking. I shake my head and try not to jog down the hallway. Last thing I need is people to wonder why I'm running in the middle of the night through the school. Or run into a vamp who is out for a midnight snack.

I skid to a stop at the exit to the dormitory. What class is Melanie even in? I know with her being a necromancer, that she has both day and night classes. She could be in France taking a course or somewhere on campus.

Changing direction, I head toward the Headmistress' office. A light flickers underneath the door and I let out a breath. The sooner I find Melanie and get the ghost back into Valhalla, the better.

I knock on the door. No answer.

Across the hall, a male voice calls out, "May I help you?"

Right. Mr. Welsh takes care of the school at night. I had forgotten.

"Yes, thank you," I answer.

"Come in." Mr. Walsh opens the door and I squeeze into his office. There are textbooks stuffed in every cranny of his bookcase. His eyes are light brown and I sigh in relief that at least he's not a vamp.

I force a smile so he won't ask me too many questions. "Hi. I was hoping I would find you here."

He closes a file on his desk and gestures to one of the empty seats across from him. "It's Brene, isn't it? How may I help you?"

I remain standing. Can't stay here longer than necessary. "Do you know where Melanie is? I want to thank her for showing me around campus and coming with me to my classes."

No need to let Walsh know that I bailed on some of them.

He frowns clicks on her computer keyboard. "Looks like she's in reanimation class in the Necromancy building. Room 212. But you know, she can't be disturbed right now. She's handling a sensitive matter that the staff needs her help on. But they should be done by dawn."

"I understand. Thank you." I turn to the door.

"Brene, you know you can come to me if you have any issues." He adjusts the collar of his sweater looking more like a professor from the sixties than modern day. Even his glasses are taped along the bridge. "It can't be easy for you to think of yourself as a human all these years to suddenly discover you're not."

I stiffen. Does he suspect about Kiarr? "Everyone's been very nice."

The lie feels flat on my tongue. Even if it wasn't for Gwen and her handful of posse, I haven't even tried to fit in here. Doing so makes me feel like I'm giving in. Like I'm accepting my fate and saying goodbye to Lance and all my friends. I'm not ready to give up the life I always wanted.

"Oh and your aunt phoned me earlier." He riffles through stacks of paper on his desk as though looking or a note or something. "She has been trying to get ahold of you, but all her calls have gone to voicemail."

"That's odd." Except for Gwen having my cell, I don't know why I haven't received any calls from Aunt Grace except for when she phoned me right after the Viking appeared.

"Thanks, Mr. Walsh, I'll call her right back." I hurry out the door before I change my mind and spill my entire list of worries to him.