C2 Chapter 2

Busted? So if you didn’t even finish elementary school, you can’t go to college? That’s just a narrow way of looking at it. Everything you learn before high school is mostly rote stuff anyway, and those big entrance exams are basically just checking whether you’re smart enough to survive college—whether you’ll get chewed up and spit out on day one.

So the fact that I can go to college actually has… nothing to do with my IQ.

Yeah. The real reason is my old man came out of retirement a while back and, from what I heard, helped a college president catch a ghost that had been haunting him for years. So the president pulled some strings and approved me for a special program at his school. And just like that—by pure dumb luck—I went from some mountain kid to “top student” material.

Whatever. For a kid from the backwoods, an opportunity like that is basically a gift from heaven. So my dad hustled around packing my stuff and kicked me out. Said I needed to see the world, get some experience, grow up. But honestly, I wasn’t thrilled. What’s so great about “experience” when you’ve got the mountains? Toss someone deep in the woods and the kind of nasty spirits out there will “teach you a lesson” real quick. Why run off to some big city? You think the city has ghosts that are that pure and old-school?

But once you’re sent off, you’re sent off. There was no going back, so I just accepted it.

Night falls fast in the mountains. Before long, the sun was gone. I figured I’d made about two-thirds of the trip. At this pace, I’d camp out here tonight, and in the morning I should be able to catch the bus into town.

Those are the interesting ones. People like us—who eat ghosts—can’t touch them, because good spirits are protected by our ancestors. If we go against what our ancestors intended, we lose the ability to eat ghosts altogether. So when you meet one of those, all you can do is talk. Ask how they died, ask why they never went after people. And sometimes, if you ask something a little too personal, you’ll scare that simple, honest ghost into blushing. It’s hilarious…

I got the fire going and flopped down beside it. Above me, the sky was packed with stars. You ever wonder if you might run into an interesting ghost on a night like this?

Yeah—wishful thinking. Nothing happened all the way until midnight. I yawned, figured my luck was trash today, and told myself, Whatever. Time to sleep.

I snapped my eyes open. I’d been around ghosts since I was a kid, and you can tell a lot just from that feeling. The nastier the spirit, the heavier and colder it is—so cold it sinks into your bones, sometimes with a bitter edge of resentment. The harmless, simple ones? They bring a clean, cool chill.

And what I felt just now was, without a doubt...

What? You’re seriously asking what it was? Are you kidding me? I woke up shaking. You think that was some “nice, refreshing” kind of cool? This was dark—dark as it gets.

I sat up fast, heart thumping. The campfire had burned down low, like it could die out any second. I knew whatever was out there wasn’t ordinary—at minimum, something ancient and angry. And that fire? It was my only lifeline. If it went out in these pitch-black mountains, I’d be dead and wouldn’t even know how it happened.

Under my breath, I muttered a couple lines my dad had taught me, then pushed the power I kept buried inside me and shouted, “Up!”

The flames surged high again, and the cold pressure around me thinned out—almost like it scattered.

I couldn’t help thinking, Since when am I this good? But I didn’t let my guard down. Something that old and hateful could wipe out even a seasoned exorcist. So I kept staring into the darkness.

Just when I was starting to believe I’d scared it off and finally let out a small breath, that icy presence slammed back in—so close it nearly snuffed the fire out.

I hurriedly shouted, “Up!” and managed to save a few tiny flames.

Wiping sweat from my brow, I thought, This thing’s no joke. It can tell the fire I’m holding isn’t ordinary, and it’s been trying every trick in the book to get me to let my guard down so it can snuff it out. Nasty... If I didn’t have solid training, I’d have fallen right into your trap.

From that moment on, I wasn’t sleepy at all. I was determined to go toe-to-toe with this thing until sunrise.

Second by second, time crawled. Over and over, it tried to put out my sacred flame, and every time I stopped it. Before I knew it, six hours had passed. Both of us were worn out—there were moments I could even hear it panting.

Dawn was racing in from the horizon. Gasping, I said, “Hah... nice try... I’m... I’m gonna... take you down...”

The thing suddenly let out a long sigh. “You win. Go. I won’t make this hard on you.”

“Yeah, right. You think I’m buying that? Trying to get me to drop my guard before the sun hits? Not happening. I’m finishing this today...”