4 Tia (1/2)

August turned his eyes towards the door and headed there, the previous smile had been erased.

The soup was almost done, so Mandy chose to remain by the stove. It was a pity someone interrupted. Wasn't that the first time August smiled just now? It seemed almost elusive. Perhaps she was imagining it.

August meanwhile simply reached for the door, opening it. Yet, as soon as the door was open, someone fell on his chest. A head shorter than August, wearing a hooded cape.

”Help--” Came a weak girl's voice.

”Tia?!” August straightened her posture, holding her by the shoulders to see her face.

The girl looked feverish. Her breathing was hot, her green eyes lacked focus and her blonde hair stuck to her forehead.

”My back--” she mumbled, standing only because August was keeping her firm.

Hearing those words, August immediately started taking off the girl's clothes.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen Mandy only heard August's voice, his tone made her curious enough to put the lid on, turn the heat off and float towards where he was… Mandy carefully peeked.

And there August was, having pulled off the upper half of a girl's clothes-- only her bra remained. The door was still open, the girl's expression was dazed and her cheeks were flushed red.

”WHA--??!!” Mandy raised her voice in shock. Despite looking so… passive, as soon as a girl appeared August was already… already…

”Bring some cold water and knife! Fast!” August gave an order as he turned the feverish girl on her stomach.

Mandy was snapped out of her misunderstanding as soon as she saw the girl's back. There was something… on it. A festering black wound, oozing purplish liquid from it. Black veins spread out from it, covering the girl's shoulder blades.

Cold water and a knife! Rang in Mandy's confused mind and she rushed to the kitchen, got a huge bowl, turned the tap on.

Meanwhile, August got up and pulled on the outer door, having them fall shut. He turned on the light. His face displayed worry and fear. But rather than dwelling on his feelings, he rushed towards the room and pulled a leather suitcase out from under the sofa, then returned.

As he laid down the case right next to the girl, Mandy returned with the bowl and knife, floating them down on the other side from the case. The ghost's eyes were wide. There were many questions she wanted to ask but refrained for now.

August took the knife first and cut the strap of the girl's bra, having it fall on the sides. He was careful not to touch anything with his skin. Then he took the bowl and splashed half of the contents on top of the black wound, not caring that the water made the floor wet and dirty with the black goo.

”Cold!!…” The blonde girl shivered, raising up a bit. It seemed like she had almost passed out just now, but now she cast an accusing look at him.

”Don't bite your tongue,” August said as he opened the case, taking out a vial with silvery liquid inside.

Tia gasped and leaned down, closing her mouth. Her reaction revealed that what would come next would be worse than being splashed with cold water.

Mandy floated a kitchen towel over, taking it in her hands, yet before she could start gathering up the water on the floor, August put out a warning. ”Don't touch it with hands.”

Mandy nodded, floating the towel down. From that, she reasoned that the black goo, whatever it was - could hurt her.

As soon as the silvery liquid reached Tia's back, she stifled a scream. The wound started to bubble up like there was acid poured on her back. First, the wound itself bubbled up with red foam, then the veins on her back popped as they bubbled up too. The girl kept stifling screams.

Mandy looked at it all in horror, trying to focus more on wiping the dirty water from the floor.

August was pale, his lips were tightly knit and he stopped pouring the silver liquid, closed the vial and placed it back. When Mandy's eyes traveled over to the suitcase, her eyes found a dozen vials with differently colored liquids and many boxes of various sizes.

Mandy floated another bowl over and squeezed out the towel to resume gathering the liquid up. A lot of it was sucked up by the girl's clothes, though, thus it didn't reach August and his suitcase.

As the bubbling stopped August took the remaining cold water and poured it right on her back. As the foam was washed off there was no trace of the black goo left - now there was a pinkish red wound on her back. Seeing that August let out a relieved breath. The wound was shallow.

August opened one of the boxes by twisting it - a lid came off, revealing a yellow ooze. He smeared it on the girl's back with practiced moves then took out a white tape from another box, covering the wound on top.

The girl's posture relaxed somewhat.

August took another box and this time opened it to reveal a black liquid. He dipped his finger in and started drawing on top of the tape. An odd circular shape, symmetrical on both sides. As he finished the drawing - it glowed up and the tape sunk into the girl's back. It seemed like the wound had disappeared altogether.

Mandy looked at the sight amazed.

Ding. The oven let them know that something had finished cooking.

August wiped the remaining ink on his pants and closed the containers, placing them back in the suitcase.

Mandy meanwhile-- floated back to the kitchen to take the muffins out from the oven. The floor was still wet, but she could come back in a minute… it was surreal that she left something like that to take muffins out, but she wouldn't let them get burned.

”Thank you, Gus,” The blonde girl said, getting up.

The cut up bra fell off and August averted his eyes. ”The shower is there,” he pointed at a door further ahead then turned his back to her.

The girl nodded and took off her remaining clothes then headed there. On her way, she glanced at the ghost who took out some muffins and made a small smile and nod, before disappearing behind the doors.

Mandy exchanged the look, clearly awkward to be greeted by a naked girl, then returned to where August was. What was going on even?

August got some yellowish paper strips out from another box - they all had some scribbles on them - similar to the one he drew on her back, but different at the same time. He arranged a six of them around the location where the girl had been and where the liquid had passed. As soon as the last one was placed, they all connected with a transparent glowing string and very faint glowing scatters started raising from all the locations where the black goo was.

August closed the suitcase, for now, went to return the suitcase under the sofa where it had lied before.

”What exactly happened just now?” Mandy asked.

”I wish I knew,” August replied.

”No, I mean - how, why-- what was that black goo?” Mandy had to start somewhere and that's where she went. Everything from just now… all of it - blew her mind.

”That's how it looks if you get wounded by a cursed weapon,” August replied.

”And... you healed it with no trace remaining?” Mandy asked.

August shook his head. ”No. I just patched it up somewhat. That will take a month to fully heal.”

”It looked like it disappeared,” Mandy stated the obvious. ”Can you do magic?”

”...It's not magic,” August said, frowning. ”It's a skill. Anyone with a bit of aptitude and the right materials can learn that.”

A muffled voice came from the shower. ”Gus, can you lend me some clothes? And towel?”

”Yeah, wait,” August said and got up. He got out a still packed-in towel, a t-shirt, and shorts. ”Mandy, can you take them to her?”

Mandy nodded, but first, she took off the labels.

Mandy floated over to the bathroom and opened the door. The blonde girl had just turned off the water.

”I'll leave them here,” Mandy said, placing them on top of the closed toilet lid and closed the bathroom doors behind her.

”Thanks!” the girl said.

Mandy felt awkward, but she replied with a small ”Sure.”

Moments later the blonde girl emerged from the bathroom - the clothes were obviously baggy on her body, but at least she was dressed now. There was no trace of the previous fever, she looked healthy and happy even. Completely out of place. Hard to believe that something so scary had just happened to her.

First, her eyes settled on Mandy. ”I'm Talia, you can call me Tia,” she said and reached out a hand for a greeting.

”Mandy,” the ghost replied and took the hand. Obviously, the girl could see her and touch her. A small spark of realization settled in Mandy and she visibly relaxed.

The next words confirmed that realization. ”Thank you for taking care of my brother. I was sure he would be living in a dump with junk food scattered around, haha.”

”Ah, no problem,” Mandy smiled. Her heart felt really light for some reason.

August was squinting at Tia but said nothing. Not that she was wrong… but… it still felt somewhat… like he was insulted just now.

”They smell delicious!” Tia's eyes moved over to the muffins and her stomach let out a small growl. Truly unbelievable that this girl had looked like she might die mere minutes ago.

”Ah, perhaps you'd like soup first?” Mandy asked

”Sounds awesome!” Tia rejoiced.

August got up from the sofa and let out a sigh. Mandy set the table quickly and poured some soup for both Tia and August. Like in the previous cases she took August's hand.

Tia looked at their hands and smiled a bit more widely.

August ignored that and started eating. Mandy, though… felt flustered and looked away. It felt like… there was a misunderstanding forming.

”Ah-- delicious!” Tia let out words of praise.

”Thank you,” Mandy said, brushing aside her previous moment of embarrassment.

Tia had a curious smile and she was about to ask something, but August managed to ask first.

”So - how exactly did you get that wound?”

Tia's curious smile faded and her expression turned more serious. ”I was on a task to purify one house. It seemed like your regular poltergeist or imp, but apparently not the case. A Hollie attacked me with a cursed spear. I barely escaped and here I am.”

August's face was astonished, drained of all color.

Mandy was curious what 'Hollie' was, but it didn't seem like there was a space to pop in her question.

”Yeah, I know,” Tia said with a wry smile. ”I'm very lucky to be alive.”

”Rather than that,” August said, his expression very dark. ”So careless I'm amazed you are not already dead.”

Tia shrunk in her seat.

”Sorry,” she said.

”You know what I'm talking about, right?”

She teared up and nodded.

”Do you want me to tell mom?”

To Mandy, it seemed like August suddenly turned into a demon lord of sorts. 'Telling mom' was like announcing the death penalty. Just how scary was his mother?

Now all color drained from Tia's face. ”... anything but that.”

Ah, apparently very scary, Mandy had to conclude.

”Then after the meal, you'll sign an oath. Let's see… severe diarrhea for a week if you forget to do aether reading before entering work location.”

”Ugh.” Tia pursed her lips.

”Also…” August continued, as if by the way. ”I don't remember telling anyone where I moved?”

”Urk--” Tia shrunk.

August sighed. ”I guess I'll tell mom anyways.”

”I'm tracking your phone's GPS,” she confessed.

A lot of new words were dropped, but as far as Mandy could tell August was bugged in some manner. ”Why are you doing that?” The ghost couldn't help but ask.

”...he would hide from us otherwise,” came a rather simple reply. Matter of fact.

Mandy cast a curious look at August then.

August ignored that look and resumed eating, so Mandy turned back to Tia.

”Why so?”

”Well, we did kind of kill his last girlfriend.”

August turned a murderous gaze towards Tia. And Mandy shrunk this time.

Tia's speaking turned really fast all of a sudden. ”Ah, don't be scared Mandy, that wouldn't happen to you, never ever never. He was dating a black widow and she would have eaten him if-- Ouch.”

August had flicked Tia's forehead.

Mandy would have turned red from being mistaken for 'a girlfriend' if not the next part… eaten him?

”Don't misunderstand.” He said to Mandy. ”It's not that.”

Tia looked surprised.

While Mandy felt like she learned something too big to the stomach and her expression was complicated.

”You all didn't let me write in peace,” came the explanation.

”...Oh. That's it?” Tia looked at August aghast while still holding her forehead.

”That's it.”

Tia peered at August intently. ”So there's no grudge about your girlfriend?”

”No.” August let out a sigh and scratched his head. ”I mean, I was pretty upset, but, I know how her species is.”

Tia let out a very long breath of relief, then smiled. ”I see.”

Mandy raised a hand cautiously like a shy student in school. ”What is a black widow?” She had a feeling it was something related to spiders, but it wouldn't be that… right? She cast a mildly suspicious look towards August.

”A spider monster,” Tia explained.

Mandy pursed her lips casting a sideways glance at August. Then rolled her eyes and slowly nodded. August's tastes were… peculiar.

”Her upper half was human,” August noticed Mandy's judging look.

”Yeah, she was really pretty,” Tia chimed in. ”Long black hair, pale skin, red lips, enormous tits.”

August coughed on the last one.

Mandy squinted. ”Oh, so that's how it is.”

August sighed. ”Yes, that's how it was.” No shame present.

Tia snorted and resumed eating, snorting from time to time, August did as well, looking like he wanted to choke Tia at each snort.

When August was done eating, he got up and went to open the suitcase once more, taking out a sheet of paper and the same ink he used before to draw on Tia's back, also a dip pen.

Naturally, Mandy floated after him to see what he would do. Her previous suspicious look had faded.

Tia stayed in place, she still had a bit of food to finish. Her look was a bit grim, though.

August brought all the things over to the table, placing them next to Tia.

Tia reluctantly finished her meal and took the pen.

August dictated. ”I make an oath to hereby always do aether readings properly. If I break it, then I deserve a week--”

Tia's hand stopped before 'week' was written. Wouldn't that be, like, really bad, her expression seemed to tell.

August made an evil looking smile. ”Should I call mom after all?”

Tia hung her head low but resumed writing. ”Week of diarrhea.” She finished with an almost teary look and placed her hand over the writing. The text started to travel away from the paper, traveling on her skin, then wrapped around her wrist like a snake and faded out.

”It still looks like magic,” Mandy mumbled.

”It's not,” Tia was the one who said it this time. ”Magic is different.”

Mandy's eyes shined over. She really wanted to see it now.

August went back towards his working place, leaving the conversation there.

”Eh-- Gus…” Tia stood up, aiming to follow August, but Mandy caught her by the sleeve and shook her head.

”Let August work,” Mandy said. If the reason for August avoiding his family was them bothering him, then… as long as they were a bit more considerate of it, things should work out better, or so Mandy reasoned.

Tia looked at Mandy for a bit, then pulled Mandy in a hug. ”I can see why he likes you.”

”Eh--” Mandy turned red. There was no actual blood floating to her cheeks, but similar to how ghosts could smile without having cheek muscles, they could show any other expression.