Well, thank you, SeeWoo, for ditching out, Aria thought, racking her mind for something suitable. "He's too young," she ended up blurting out, giving the excuse she herself had used all her life, and tried to not wince.

"Too young?" Tom's eyes were sharp and merciless on her. "Even I can see that he's older than any of us."

Her brain raced furiously, trying to spin a story that would make sense. "It's only been ten years since he died," she excused. "You have to be dead for at least twenty years before you can join. How long have you been dead?"

A few kids shouted out numbers, ranging from a hundred to fifty. Others shrugged, but their clothes were from roughly around the same era. "See? Too young. So only you guys can go."

She was, in the words of the kids deemed 'weird' in her school, shooting this completely blinded from her butt. Thankfully, Tom bought it. "So how do we go to this club, anyways?"

Aria had not thought of that, but finally, finally, SeeWoo stepped in. "We play a game," he gestured casually, slender fingers sketching a circle in the air. "We have a lovely ring of candles and perfume, and the It is outside, trying to catch people inside. No one inside can step outside the circle, and the It can't go in. If you're tagged, you have to freeze in your spot."

"We don't have candles," whined one of the ghosts. "Or perfume."

"Aria does," SeeWoo assured the girl. "She might not have enough, though, so we'll have to go and get some more. She should also finish exploring."

"But we want to go to the club now," Tom stated, leaning back. The more time she spent in his presence, the more uncomfortable Aria was becoming. Something about his ancient youth… "Why shouldn't she let us go there first?"

"There's this very bratty girl, you see," SeeWoo ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head tragically. She instantly knew that he was faking it. "Such a bratty girl, with such a high-pitched, annoying voice like an ancient hag-witch, and she bet that Aria couldn't explore faster than her. So we need to beat her first."

Tom didn't buy this one, but the others did. Alice bound forward, head attached again to her body. She seemed to have forgotten that she was supposed to be beheaded for the day as punishment.

"Aria should go and beat the nasty witch-girl!" she cheered, pumping the air with dirty hands. Within moments, the other dead kids were cheering her on against the imaginary girl that was like a witch. "Go, Aria, go!"

"So excuse us," SeeWoo smiled apologetically, and began to float towards the exit. "Come, Aria, you have a hag to beat."

x

~Outside the Basement~

x

Outside, she locked the door and slumped. People weren't in this part of the school too often, and luckily, no one had been outside when she had left the basement. SeeWoo floated next to her, wiping away ghostly sweat. "I must admit, that was quite scary."

"You suck at math," she sighed, wiping her sweaty palms on her skirt. She hated sweaty palms. They made her feel like she was guilty of something, and she didn't care particularly for the feeling.

"And for that, I am sorry for being a fail of an Asian."

Aria's heart finally stopped drumming like a war drum, and she looked up. "Do I really have to go down there again?"

"Unfortunately. We could have left them alone, but now that we've stirred their interest, it's best to help them get to the 'club' as soon as possible before they start running around creating mischief."

"Why did we stir their interest again?" she questioned, gathering her bag.

SeeWoo began to float next to her. "Because life trapped as a ghost can be quite a horrible thing. Besides, you wanted to free them from this, didn't you?"

Ah, he was pulling the morality card on her. She hated the morality card. She always lost to the morality card. "Life trapped as a ghost. Very punny."

"I rather thought so. Why, didn't you?"

In response, she only punched the air where his matter stood, and almost felt something before it gave way and she plunged her hand into an area of colder air.

x

~In the Office~

x

Aria waited until lunch time before phoning her mom. "Mom?"

"Aria? Is there something wrong? Why are you calling?"

"Hey, it's alright!" she assured her mom before she began to panic about her well-being. "I'm just calling to say that I might have to stay behind a bit after school."

"Why?"

Aria bit her lower lip. This was where she had to tread carefully. "A few kids asked for my help with their work, and I told them I would."

Technically, it wasn't a lie, just as how SeeWoo's statement on how she might have not have had enough candles back with the ghosts hadn't been a lie either, because he really didn't know how many she had. In this case, a few kids had asked for her help, and she was giving it.

"Oh," her mother sounded surprised, and Aria couldn't blame her for the shock. Her anti-social daughter helping someone? That was a new one. "Well, you know you could always bring them home, right?"

"They don't really want to," she outright lied this time. "They'd prefer to get help in a place where they know they won't get murdered," it came out lightly, in a joking tone.

"Oh, ha ha," Her mother sniffed. "Well, whatever you've been telling the school about me, I don't care to know, but phone if you want a ride, alright?"

"Okay," she promised. "See you later!"

"Bye, sweetie!" her mom hung up, and after listening to the blank dial tone, she did the same, replacing the school phone set back in its cradle.

"All clear?" SeeWoo asked from the side. She nodded, and shouldered her messenger bag next to her backpack. If anyone saw the oddity of carrying two bags at once, they didn't stare or comment.

x

~Outside the Basement Door~

x

"My mom will worry if I don't call her by four, give or take thirty minutes," Aria sprinkled the oil on the door as she went over their plan. This time, she used a stronger blend, one with balanced mixes or something like that. "So we have until then to do this."

"And not get hurt."

"How would we get hurt again?"

SeeWoo paused in his mid-air step. "Let's save the details till after the mission, shall we?"

"Fancy," Aria commented lightly despite what he was implying. "Mission? Someone's been watching too much action movies."

"Hardly," he snorted as they stepped down. Aria focused most of her attention on the stairs, not wanting to end it all by slipping and cracking her head on the hard concrete. SeeWoo would never let her live it down. "All your mom watches at home are cooking shows, or soap operas."

"Not everyone likes adrenaline pumping through their veins all the time."

"Nonsense," he sniffed, at the bottom of the stairs faster than her. The light was dim there, and to her supernatural sensitive eyes, he was glowing slightly, paler than usual and just a bit eerie. She gulped at the sight.

He noticed. "What's wrong?"

Aria took a deep breath. SeeWoo had her back. She would be fine. A lot of dead kids would move on into the afterlife. Everything would be good. "Nothing."

Before he could do his ghostly analysis on her and guilt her into spilling her soul to him – again – she unlocked the door and stepped in. "I'm back!"

Tom was there before she could take another step in. "Welcome," he greeted them in a voice that said the exact opposite. He didn't trust her. Well, it wasn't like she could blame him for that . . .

Alice, on the other hand, bounced out, head still attached again. "Aria!" she chirped. "Did you beat the hag-girl?"

Her excuse. "I did," she said proudly, pretending this 'hag' was a person who bugged her on a daily basis. "Now Annie had to admit I was better than her!"

Annie. Only name she could come up with on the spot. She sent out a silent prayer of apology for all the Annies in the world as Alice cheered and danced around her in a circle.

"Since Aria and I'll be the ones who have to stay behind, we'll be the 'It'," SeeWoo told the ghosts as she opened her bag and began to retrieve the candles and the containers for the oils of 'balance'. "You know, there's so many people here . . . Why don't we split you up into two groups? It'll be more fun that way for all of us!"

SeeWoo was turning the charm on. The only other person she had seen him do that to had been Ms. Miriam, when he was getting the teacher to lay off on the homework so she could have learned how to banish ghosts to the other side. It had worked perfectly then, and it was somewhat working now. Aria supposed that kids would always be kids, even in death and suspended afterlife.

"Will we become separated?" Tom questioned, arms crossed. "I mean, two circles, that could get us in different 'clubs'. What if we never see some of our friends again?"

"No way!" SeeWoo was like a little boy, even more than the eternal youth in front of him. "It's like walking in a circle with your friend. You go one way, and your friend goes the other way, but eventually, you meet on the same spot! Just because you have different ways of going doesn't mean you get separated."

He told this to everyone in an extremely insulting voice, like everyone should have known this. Aria tried to not smile as she finished up the second circle of perfumed oil. "Good, I'm done the perfume. Time to get the candles."

As she lit a match, the young girl ghost that had become attached to her bound over. "I want to help!" Alice reached out enthusiastically, trying to grab the bright spot of fire, but her hand ended up going through the small flame, and ended up extinguishing it instead. "Oh!" she squeaked as she pulled her hand back. "Sorry."

"That's alright," Aria assured her as she grabbed another match and struck it against the side of the box. "You were only trying to help."

That cheered her up, and Alice continued to follow her as she lit the candles in a ring, evenly spaced like SeeWoo had told her to. "Can I play in the circle where Aria's It?"

Aria had to admit, there was a pang in her heart at the innocence of the young-dead ghost. She really believed the partial truth being fed to her, and trusted her. "Of course, Alice."

Of course, that meant that Tom and Alice, the only two ghosts whose names she could remember would be in her circle. SeeWoo could banish ghosts as well – according to him, anyways – but in the chance that Tom was stronger, he could be banished as well, resulting in Aria with no backup should everything go south. Aria had a better chance, because she was alive and therefore ghosts within a circle couldn't hurt her.

"Shall we start?" SeeWoo bowed deeply to a few girls as he led them into his circle. They giggled, and that reassured the boys enough to get them to step in as well. Tom grunted, but he stepped into her circle as well, followed by everyone in her group.

SeeWoo raised his hand. "Aaand, begin!"

Before they could realize the deceit, Aria ran around the circle, really trying to catch the ghosts while also focusing on feeling their presence. In the circle, their power was diminished, and as a living being, she could contact them without risking herself too much.

Her mind came in contact with twenty three souls held back on the plane of the earth. Exactly the number of ghosts in the circle. "Ha!" she yelled, feigning triumph as she tried to tag someone, but she knew that she missed a squealing Alice as she began to get the familiar feeling of fizzing in her bones. Adrenaline was pumping, and her body was tense, but there was something else too. Something supernatural. She was, once again, becoming a portal from the mortal realms to the other one.

The ghosts, in response to this, began to glow as they began to be pulled through. Alice and most of the others were happy with this new feeling, this novelty, but Tom wasn't. He struggled, tried to get out of the circle, and even tried to use their mental connection to hurt her. When that all failed, he stood and glared at her silently, arms crossed. A chill went down her back, but she didn't lose focus, and continued to push. "Goodbye," she whispered, a smile on her face.

Alice giggled; Aria thought that she'd remember her forever as they began to slowly unravel into the plasma particles they were made of in their visual forms. She looked at Alice, and only Alice, as the old young girl, in front of both her eyes and mind, was disappearing, going somewhere where she had supposed to been a long time ago. "Bye, Aria!" she chirped, and then she completely unravelled with the rest of the ghosts.

Aria closed her eyes, knowing what would happen next. She'd seen it happen ten times before. A bright flash, like a miniature supernova. Only this time, there were twenty three of them.

Behind her, SeeWoo sighed, and more light flooded the room before they went out, abruptly. Aria waited a second for any stray stragglers, and opened her eyes. The candles had burnt out, and the oil had left a blackened circle. "SeeWoo?"

"All good," the ghost turned to smile at her. "They're free now."

x

~The Way Home~

x

All the way during home, Aria flinched at the smallest thing, and shook her head when SeeWoo questioned her about it. It sounded stupid, but she was just expecting the other shoe to drop. Maybe Tom would find a way back and haunt her, or banish SeeWoo. Maybe she didn't do a good enough job. Maybe-

"Stop worrying."

"Huh?"

SeeWoo didn't look at her. Rather, he was looking at the streets, relaxed blue eyes focusing on the dead souls of the past who stared up to the heavens with blank, unknowing eyes. "You're restoring the balance of nature. If the dead doesn't move on, the living will never flourish."

"Nice of you to try and cheer me up, but I'm not worried about that."

"Worried that one of the ghosts will come back for revenge?"

He knew her so well. She didn't answer, but she also knew him well, well enough to know that he would understand.

"It won't ever happen," he assured her. "Unless they're reborn, but by that time, you'll probably be dead or something."

"Is this fact, or are you lying?"

"Ninety-nine percent of facts are made up. It's all up to the listener whether to believe or not."

Aria walked a bit further before asking the question. "Was I in danger? And tell the truth. What you believe in."

She had to walk for a minute before he answered, but she knew it to be honest words when he spoke. "Yes, yes you were."

"Could I have died?"

"Or worse."

"I see."

"But now you've gotten stronger, haven't you?"

". . . I guess."

"Then that's all that matters," SeeWoo ruffled her hair with a ghostly hand. "Miss IA."

"Hmph." She got her keys and unlocked the door. Her hand on the knob, she decided to put down his attitude before it got too mushy and lovey-dovey. "I'm asking mom to make sandwiches for dinner. Cold cut sandwiches."

"Aria!" but before he could start his fierce lobbying on just why he deserved some steaming food, Aria opened the door.

"I'm home!"

x

~In the bedroom~

x

IA said: Freed a lot of dead children. Mixed feelings.

.

You have three replies.

.

YY_bunny said: where did you manage to do this?

.

sunset_demon_boy said: I know that feeling. Try something sweet, like cake.

.

DELL said: First time banishing kids? Tough.

x

~Still in the Room~

x

"I swear, this guy," said Aria, pointing to the person who called himself - if he wasn't lying about his gender - 'sunset_demon_boy'. "Is always replying to everything I post."

"He is," SeeWoo answered, pausing in his inhaling. Her mother hadn't exactly made cake, like her online stalker had suggested, but she had given them cupcakes, both hot and fresh out of the oven and frosted, much to SeeWoo's delight. "Ever since you started."

She logged out and shut down the laptop computer. "Nice to know I have a fan, then."

"What's wrong?"

Aria looked at SeeWoo. "Nothing."

"Either you're blatantly lying, or you're denying it subconsciously. And I know, it was hard for you to send kids to the other side now that you think over it, but it was actually for the better. They could have turned corrupt over the years, and ended up in a worse place."

"Tom probably ended up there," she yawned. And then she yawned again.

SeeWoo nudged at the hand holding the cupcake, making the skin feel tingly. "Put that down, and go brush your teeth," he ordered. "You need sleep."

Just to tell SeeWoo that he wasn't the boss of her, Aria ate the cupcake she'd been holding, and then went to brush her teeth. She did need sleep, though she didn't want to admit it.

x

~Somewhere not too far away~

x

"You could be arrested for being a stalker, sunset demon boy."

Ian looked up from his brother's computer. "Sorry for using your laptop and identity, Dell."

His older brother scowled at him. "Get off."

Ian did so gladly. "I think I'd like to meet her one day."

"I think that if she had sense, she'd sic all her ghosts on her."

Despite the half-hearted threat towards him, Ian still laughed as he picked up the photo that was his current treasure, a picture of a girl with pink-tinged blond hair next to a slightly transparent young man with golden hair. "Ghost, Dell. Singular."

"Shut up, you pathetic excuse of a Watcher."

Made the deadline!