Fall in love in a weekwe get by

“Listen,” he said. – Listen and understand. You and he have two days left. But they won't exist if you can't change the probabilities. Tip the scales in your favor. Choose the right path. There are two of them. One step means inevitable death at the end of the seventh day. The other is time, which is never enough. Take the person you are connected to. He won't leave on his own. He knows that death will not overtake him while he is protected by the curse. But death is different. The true one will get to him later, and the other, non-death and non-life, will take him now. The body will remain in the white room, under the care of those who know the power, but do not know the truth. And the spirit will get lost on unfamiliar paths. The dark thirst of the ancients will take away the last days in which the curse can still be deceived. And you both won't change anything.

– Who you are? – I asked. It's a stupid question, but for some reason it was the first one that jumped out at me.

– They asked about you. About you and him. One very stupid ghost and one very wise woman. Old Aislinne, called the Ghost Bear by mortals, speaks to you in the familiar world. The world of spirits and souls. Only in it can we meet, and only now, while your spirit is free from your body. But it's time for you to go back. Or you'll stay here forever.

Ghost Bear? The shaman, I remembered, is the same one Sabella was talking about. The one she dated for me. “A very wise woman”… and the stupid ghost then is obviously Charlotte?

“Thank you,” I muttered. – And these… ghosts, or who escaped there?

–They are not your concern. And not your man either. Protection is the business of the leader and the faithful, ancient place. Hurry up.

The chief's business? That is, Maskelyne should deal with this nightmare? Well, yes, Dougal told that student to call the headmistress. Dougal! ? what am I thinking?! Maskelyne, ghosts, defense of the Academy… They clearly told me that Dougal must be pulled out urgently!

I wanted to ask how to get back, but it turned out to be unnecessary. One memory of Dougal, his name, was enough. I was carried through a cloudy, suffocating darkness. The black fog, viscous and sticky, like resin, drew in and did not want to let go. I was rushing out of it towards the light, towards the body that had already become mine, lying somewhere out there, far or close – I don’t know, in the real world. Near Dougal.

How disgusting and scary it is to feel like a midge frozen in amber!

“Come on,” I urged myself, “a little more!” Tighten up! Come back! Hurry, while everything can be fixed!”

The fog peeled away from me like chewing gum from a shoe. It rushed forward, faster and faster, spun, dragged through the narrow, and…

My bruised back ached, my head was cracking, the howling of ghosts was not even screwing into my ears – into my brain. I lay face down on the floor, awkwardly crushing the red-haired student with all my weight. He was passed out, but alive. Breathed. I raised my head and looked around. The ghosts no longer seemed vague, on the contrary, they looked almost material. Almost alive! And with every second, literally before our eyes, they filled with colors, life, and took on flesh. They no longer howled – they laughed triumphantly and evilly. There were many of them and it seemed to be getting more and more. Ugly figures in which there was too little humanity left, as if they had stepped out of Bosch’s paintings – as some novelist would say, or crawled out of Hollywood horror films – as journalists would prefer to put it. Twisted fingers, bared mouths, eyes burning with hellish fire…

One, tall and thin, in chains over a monastic robe, flew up to me and pulled my hair:

– Curly! I love curly ones. And who is this? – seeped through me, almost paralyzing me with a chilling contact. – Oooh, boy. Oscar loves boys, he's an old sodomite. Hey Scar!

“Get out,” I hissed, rising on my elbows. The ghost laughed:

– ? you drive away! Curly, hot, daring. You will give old William a few unforgettable hours before your power and magic become mine. Oh, how good it is to be back in the world! Oscar, where are you? Let's get our loot.

Panic and rage – I don’t know what was more in me. She rose to her knees and raised her hands. She channeled all the strength, all the magic that she felt within herself into the shield. The pervert William was thrown away, twisted and… as if squeezed out. It faded and became translucent and ghostly again. And, it seems, he was seriously furious.

“You impudent girl, do you dare take my new life away from me?!” You will pay!..

Where is Dougal?!