Melia didn’t know she was haunted until she entered the Sanctum at the Academy of Magical Learning. Until that day, all doors had opened for her, before she could get to them. And, in the case of doors already open, they did not swing shut until she was through.
It was an unexplained magical gift that had lead to her scholarship at the academy in the first place.
And now, inside the Sanctum, Melia had just hurt herself. Bumping into a door she fully expected to open.
Mistress Wattle, reading nearby, had startled at Melia’s yawp of shock. And now she was ah-ha-ing as she cruised around the stunned Melia.
Melia stopped crying just because Mistress Wattle was so confusing. “What’s happened to me?” she asked.
“Nothing at all,” answered Mistress Wattle. “Absolutely nothing at all has happened to you.”
“But the door…” she waved vaguely at it, half-expecting it to attack her anew. But it just sat there. Thick, oaken and solid.
“The benevolent presence previously wrapped in your aura has been -ah- ostracised. The Sanctum has powerful wards against all forms of astral travellers.”
“I’m… haunted?”
“Oh yes. I can see it, now. A lover from a previous incarnation who couldn’t make it into this circle of life. She’s decided to help you. In every small way she can.”
“And… she can’t come into the Sanctum with me?”
“No. But she will rejoin you as soon as you’re out. The bonds of love are not easily severed, Child.”
Melia breathed out pure relief. She had been terrified that she might have lost something. “Does this mean I’ve lost my scholarship?”
“Of course not. You have your own magic. I think your friend and I can teach you the full use of it.”
Now she was crying. “Thank you… I love it here, Mistress Wattle. I never want to leave.”
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