Diagnosis

A wave of relief washed over Chelsea as the nurse spoke, sparing her from John’s ire.

“Thank god,” he sighed and stood up with a long stretch and slight yawn before following the nurse back to the hospital room. Chelsea and Sam were quick to accompany with Brighton trailing behind slightly, seemingly there just to observe.

Doctor Arzt was mid-conversation with another nurse when the group entered the room. His dull grey eyes flickered their way before he shooed off the nurse and turned to face them.

“So?” John asked expectantly.

“You aren’t going to be happy,” the doctor replied in a drawl.

“I’m already not happy, so shoot,” John’s frown deepened.

“Your friends are in a complicated state at the moment. They’re not simply comatose, their souls have been taken from their bodies,” the doctor explained, though his words weren’t what Chelsea had ever expected to hear from one. “Given this and their respective states of arousal, one couldn’t be faulted for assuming a succubus or incubus was the cause. However, it seems that your intuition was correct in this regard. During the examination I found a high concentration of, what I would assume to be, this rapture in their system.”

“I don’t understand, how can a **** suck out your soul?” John questioned.

“The **** on a scientific level is a fairly rudimentary sexual stimulant that causes a dramitic spike in the sex hormones of the inidivudal who consumes it. Its magical effects, however, are much more interesting. From what I gather it acts as a sort of priming agent, sending positive feedback directly to the soul and causing its attachment to the corporeal form to weaken, which in turn allows the soul to be siphoned off.”

“Siphoned off where?” John pressed.

“That I cannot say,” Doctor Arzt gave a small shrug. “While some can trace souls like one may trace a phone call, I cannot. You will need a powerful diviner to determine the answer to that question.”

“This would be the second time you’ve told me I need a specialist,” John said wryly. “Aren’t you supposed to be the specialist?”

“In some matters. Alas, that does not include this one,” Arzt drawled back.

“It’s alright, John, I’m sure Lorelei will be able to help us,” Brighton voiced. “Though you’ll need a possession from one of them.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that too,” John nodded before turning back to Emelia. “Will a lock of hair do?”

“Probably,” Brighton replied with a shrug.

John nodded, stepped towards Emelia’s side and gently pinched a clump of mousy hair between his fingers. With a small spark of blue energy, the hair was severed before promptly vanishing into thin air. It was probably the other side to the trick that had allowed him to conjure that apple from air. “And are Sam, Red, and I at risk of losing our souls too? I mean, we took the ****,” John asked as he stepped away from Emelia.

“Not unless you plan on taking more,” the doctor replied. “The soul may serve as a means through which to draw upon magic which one may then project into the physical world through their body. The more conduits between soul and body, the more efficient and powerful the effect is. In a sense, one’s power is simply representative of the amount of conduits between soul and body. Given this, those in the Abyss typically have more linking their soul to their body.”

“...So we may have had a few of those links severed but there’s still enough holding us together,” John finished. “That would explain the loss in level, I understand.”

Chelsea didn’t. She was still caught up with the idea that people actually had souls and what it meant to lose them. It was steadily dawning on her that the textbook science she’d been studying half her life would not have much use in this messed up reality she’d taken a wrong turn into.

“That is correct,” Doctor Arzt continued.

“And what about our memory loss?” Sam questioned.

“Ah, yes, that…” the doctor sighed. “You are all aware of the reason people advise to never mix **** and ****, yes? Well the same reasoning should be applied when anything magical is in the mix. Nonetheless,” Arzt turned back to John, “you have certainly brought an interesting case to me Mr. Newman. It’s a very impressive ****,” there was a faint smile lining the doctor’s face, as if he was having fun.

“Yeah… don’t look so impressed, doc,” Sam scowled having noticed this as well. “This **** is hurting people.”

“‘Hurting’ is perhaps not the most appropriate verb in this instance but you have my apologies nonetheless,” the doctor dipped his head.

“My kind works their magic in much the same way to feed,” the pink-haired nurse added. “I assure you it’s very pleasurable and not in the slightest bit painful… it’s just unfortunate that one’s life **** is tied to the bond between soul and body. Th-that is not to say you and I still couldn’t...” the nurse trailed off, looking suggestively John’s way.

“I’ll take you up on that one day,” John allowed a small grin to appear on his face before he grew serious again. “So is there any way to return someone’s soul to their body?” he asked the doctor.

“Several,” the doctor replied. “But all require you to have the soul. Until you have them, I cannot help you.”

“Great,” John scowled. “So on top of a stray manticore, we gotta track down four souls as well. I fucking hate the Abyss.”

“A manticore?” the doctor’s right eyebrow rose slightly.

“Yeah, the Order has me working with Lee to find one that’s escaped into the city,” John elaborated, leaving Chelsea with one more reason to be concerned.

“Interesting,” the doctor’s hand scratched his prickly chin. “I imagine if Lee is on the case somebody innocent must have been killed. Perhaps, then, Gaia simply smited it off the Earth?”

Chelsea was growing more restless by the minute. ‘Gaia…’ she hummed to herself as she recalled her classical studies class. ‘That’s the personification of the Earth in Greek mythology.’ The realisation set her mind reeling with the implications of their conversation. If they were talking as if Gaia really existed, then perhaps that meant other deities existed as well. What about Thor, or the Christian God? Or Jesus? Chelsea had written them off all her life, but now she wasn’t so sure anymore.

“Lee doesn’t seem to think so,” John shrugged in reply. “Anyway, is there anything else I should know before we take our leave?”

“If there is, I’ll let you know,” the doctor promised. “Now, I’ll leave you alone with the patients. If you need anything else, Miss Sunday will see to it.”

“Thank you,” John nodded once and shook Arzt’s hand before the doctor stepped out.

The room was quiet for a few minutes, as they all awkwardly watching over the apparently soulless girls, before John finally spoke again. “Alright let’s get out of here. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay,” Chelsea agreed quietly. Sam simply nodded her head beside her while the Brighton girl put her hand comfortingly on John’s shoulder.

The elevator ride down to the ground floor was another silent and awkward one. Chelsea breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the metal doors finally slid open and they stepped back into normality. Humans, everywhere. And not a single giant or slimy creature to be seen in sight. But it seemed she was only permitted a small moment of relief. A black SUV ominously parked itself outside of the hospital entrance, and Chelsea had the distinct impression it was waiting for them. Sam really was rubbing off on her.

Yet if John was concerned, he didn’t show it as he carried on outside without so much as slowing down. The front door to the SUV opened and a man dressed in what looked to be a butler’s attire stepped out, carrying a metal briefcase.

“Good afternoon, Warden,” the man bowed courteously in Brighton’s direction before straightening himself and giving John a curt nod. “Mr. Newman.”

John returned a half-hearted wave, but it was Brighton who spoke. “Thank you for bringing the chips, Reginald,” she smiled faintly as the butler placed the case on the hood of the SUV and clicked it open.

John turned to face Chelsea and Sam. “I asked Moira to get you both some chips that’ll connect you to the Abyssal Cellular Network. Plug it into your phone and you’ll be able to make calls or connect to the internet even if you’re inside a barrier — that’s, uh… pretty much an alternate dimension like the Apothecary hospital we were just in. Use it to contact me in emergencies.”

“What? And let you and your spooky buddies listen in on all my calls?” Sam crossed her arms defensively. “No thank you. And besides, I could connect to the internet fine in there.”

“Only because the Apothecary network automatically connected your phone to the ACN. And I’m not gonna spy on you, Sam,” John pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t you have any trust for me yet?”

“Maybe for you, but not Alfred Pennyworth or whoever the fuck he is over there…” Sam looked pointedly towards the butler.

“My name is Reginald, I am a butler in loyal service of the Brighton family,” the butler bowed once again by way of greeting. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Cooke and Miss Sharp.”

“Yeah, see? I don’t remember introducing myself,” Sam scowled. “I bet they’ve already made files on us and know exactly who to target to **** us.”

“We did indeed do background checks on both of you; however, **** is not typically how the Order handles situations,” the butler responded.

“Uh-huh…” Sam replied skeptically, although she begrudgingly took the chip. Chelsea did likewise.

“Alright, well, I’m going to be heading home,” John announced.

“What are you going to do?” Sam inquired.

“Sleep,” John sighed as he rubbed the nape of his neck. “This has been the worst Saturday ever.”

“Do you require a lift to your apartment, Mr. Newman?” the butler asked politely.

“No, thank you, I’ll just walk. ”John replied as he took a deep breath. “I need the air. Although I may swing by the manor later to speak with Lorelei.”

“I will inform security of your intended arrival and schedule an appointment with the Seer,” the butler nodded. “And the two of you?” the butler turned to Chelsea and Sam.

“We’ll be okay, I live close by,” Chelsea replied.

“He already knew that,” Sam grumbled.

“Then I suppose Reginald and I will be off, then,” Brighton spoke to John, giving him a quick and modest hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

John grunted in reply. “Yeah.”

Brighton turned to Chelsea and Sam as she stepped away from John. “If you’d like, I can arrange for guards to be posted to your residences.”

“How much danger are we in, exactly?” Chelsea asked with a furrowed brow.

“It’s hard to say,” Brighton shrugged. “This would be a precautionary measure as opposed to a response to any immediate threat.”

“I’m not sure,” Chelsea replied, looking for an answer from John.

“I can drop in if you don’t feel safe,” he promised. “I think we live close by anyway.”

“Okay,” Chelsea flushed at the thought of John visiting her apartment.

“That’s settled then,” Brighton nodded before stepping towards the SUV. “Well, I suppose this is goodbye for now, then. I’ll see you both at school.”

“Uh… school, right,” Chelsea mumbled, realising she hadn’t done any study today for her classes, before then laughing at herself. It was funny how her priorities had suddenly changed in a matter of hours. Not long ago study was one of the most important things in her life. Not so much now that she had discovered the curriculum didn’t cover even a fraction of what she ought to know about the world.

Brighton and her butler soon drove off, leaving Chelsea and Sam alone with John. “I’ll walk you two home,” he said.