Chapter 23:

The Train

How Not to Be a Medium


I had to brainstorm a lot to convince Tristan that I could handle my trip to the library on my own quite well. Usually, I went during the summer holidays, but this time I had to adapt to Sebastian and his winter break from school. This was the condition set by the director of the orphanage. The young man has already said that he would like to start working slowly and relieve me a bit. I assumed it would be as soon as we finished renovating his office. My student was already getting on well with the app and seemed excited to go.

Tristan walked me to the station with an offended expression. He didn't know why she suddenly didn't want to see him for two weeks. Although I tried to convince him that I should focus on my shift at work and not spend time with him. He's gotten more suspicious since I've ever taken Sebastian under my wing. He often looked at me reproachfully when I texted him, and after I got a rose from him last time, I felt like he was keeping me at a distance. On the one hand, I wanted Sebastian to be independent, so that I could calmly explain everything to him, and tell the whole story in one go. On the other hand, I became attached to the young man. I didn't have any siblings and I started seeing him as a little brother, I didn't want him to stop being an important part of my life suddenly.

I reached the transfer station, where I was supposed to set off with Sebastian. He waited a bit nervously because his train got there earlier than mine. We still had a few more hours to drive to our destination. He didn't get to go anywhere very often, so despite his tiredness, he just stared out the window like a child taking a train for the first time. I wanted to take a nap, but first I had to answer a few questions.

"What does it actually mean, going there?"

"Well," I thought about where to start. “Ghosts have too much free time and many of them like to read, but holding books and turning pages is a waste of energy, so Society has provided libraries where we collect everything we can in different languages. As usual, the language barrier is nothing in our communication with spirits. They also get along with each other without any problems, however, they can only read in their own language."

"It's a bit of a hassle," said the young man. What are we actually doing there?"

"There are always three of us, so one person always has an eight-hour shift, and the rest of the day we can do whatever we want. Generally, we put books on the desks for the ghosts, we turn the pages to them, and we read aloud to some of them. We look for what they want, sometimes we order some things. Often ghosts also exercise control over their spiritual motility there. Still, usually, they get annoyed that instead of a page they turn over twenty, and eventually, we do it for them." I shrugged.

"Do you like these shifts at all?"

"Yes," I replied. "I rather have good contacts with most of our group, so it's usually nice, we get along."

"Did you see who we're going to be with? Do you think I won't disturb anyone?" Sebastian was starting to get a little nervous. I wasn't surprised, since the only living medium he had contact with was me. He was looking for this information from the app.

"I don't even know," I replied. “The most important thing for me was the timing this time. Whoever it is, I'm sure it'll be fun." I smiled, still believing my own words.

"For the first week we'll be with 913 and 933, and the second with 941 and 928," the boy announced. "What are they like?"

"Repeat the numbers," I asked, my expression dropping and I felt myself turning pale.

"913..."

"I can't believe I'm so unlucky," I groaned in despair as I realized what that meant.