Six Crystal Princesses by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Ghosts, etc.

Vinia moved on to her next host: a ghost. She wasn’t certain about this, but then she had not been certain of the other hosts, before she got to know them. Still, they had all been living creatures, while ghosts were, well, not exactly alive.

She found herself in a nebulous region. It was somewhere, but where? Something was there, but what? “Hello?” she inquired uncertainly.

The weird space answered. “Oh, you must be the recruiter! Ghrossclout told me you were coming. I’m Ghorgeous Ghost. It’s my nickname from when I was alive. You know, Gorgeous.” She evidently omitted the H with an effort.

“I’m Vinia Human, in astral form,” she answered, relieved.

“Hello, Vhinia.”

“Uh, yes.” Then, because she remained uncertain, Vinia passed the intangible ball to the other. “How did the professor get to know you, to set this up?”

“We are in a haunted house in what you call Mhundania. But—”

“Mundania!” No wonder the environment seemed strange. “But there’s no magic there!”

The ghost made a hollow laugh. “Two things. One is that there is some magic in Mhundania. It’s just that the locals don’t believe it. They see things like the rhainbow, which can be seen from only one side, and try to make up reasons for that impossibility. They see the magic of perspective, where the more distant things move to keep up with a traveler while the close things don’t, and think it’s an illusion, instead of the plain fact that the more distant things can’t be stopped from moving, so take advantage of that. Mhundanes simply refuse to believe what they see, the more fools they. I know how they are in denial about magic, because I was one of them, in life. The other reason is that ghosts are not magic; we are chained spirits.”

That made sense, maybe. “Oh. Sorry I interrupted you. What were you saying?”

The ghost picked up exactly where she had broken off. “But our haunted house is about to be demolished. We are desperate, because we are chained to our place of death, and if the house goes, we will be caught haunting thin air. What a ghastly fate! So I went to take the professor’s class, to learn what to do.”

Vinia was bemused by the use of words that actually had an H in the second spot, like Ghastly and What. There were surely others. But she had another question. “If you are chained there in Mundania, how did you take Grossclout’s class?”

Ghorgeous made the ghost of a smile. “We are bound, but we can move about. It’s like elastic: it can be stretched, but the farther it lengthens, the tighter it becomes. So I put all my effort into reaching the classroom, and when the Demon entered I called ‘Please! I want to take your class!’ And he used a spell that weakened the bond and enabled me to be somewhat free. Of course, I had to bribe him. Fortunately, I died at the height of my beauty, at age twenty-one, so I had the wherewithal.

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