It all started when I wandered into the basement of the potions wing of Fluxlight Academy.

My father had taken us to the Academy for his 25th year reunion. He waxed poetic about his time here, laboring for hours over perfecting spells, studying potions, and messing around with the magic he had been oh-so-fortunate to have been born with.

I wasn’t having it. I was less than enthusiastic about the inevitable “Oh, you’re Rafe’s daughter? Surely you must be as gifted as him?” I’d heard it enough from my father himself. On nights where the air is thick with static waiting to spark, I could hear my parents whispering to each other, mourning the loss of a daughter with potential.

“What are we going to do with Ruby?” I heard my father say.

“Put her in a normal school?” my mother answered.

“You know what I mean.” My father’s voice tensed up at that part. “Fluxlight would have offered her a full ride if she had…you know…”

“You need to stop wishing Ruby was something she’s not. It’s not helping anybody.”

“Yes, but…that reunion banquet. I just know they’ll ask questions.”

I never let “them” ask their questions. I slipped away from that banquet as soon as my father found his old study group and completely forgot about the nervousness in presenting his very average, not-at-all magically inclined daughter. My mother happened to catch me on the way out.

“Ruby!” she called out, following after me. I let her catch up to me. She waited until the door to the banquet hall swung shut to continue speaking. “Where are you going?” she asked me, fixing the ruffles of my dress.

“I wanted to walk around,” I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s stuffy in there. And boring.”

My mother smiled. She always had a soft spot for me. “Alright,” she said, “don’t wander too far. Come back for dessert, though, won’t you?”

She also knew the quickest way to my heart. “Of course!”

I gave my mother a final smile before gathering up my skirt and prancing down the hallway. My father had talked at length about the beauty of the Academy’s architecture, gothic and ornate and utterly royal. As I skipped through the corridors of the building, I couldn’t help but feel like a princess running away from her royal duties.

Happening upon the potion wing was a mere accident. I’d simply been following a series of marble figures pointing this way and that. I made a right turn and found a door that was slightly ajar. Curiosity got the better of me, and I tiptoed inside.

It was one of their many potions labs, I presumed. I chose not to gawk at the sheer amount of chemicals, spells, brews, and books scattered around, instead fixing my gaze at the very back of the room.

Another door, this one ever so slightly ajar. I forced it open with a strong tug before gathering up my skirt and cautiously descending the staircase.

The darkness was an attribute I probably should have expected. Only the weakest of flames burned at the torches on the wall as I crept further and further downstairs. I cast my gaze back up to where the lab was, and I considered turning back.

No, I decided. You’re not a coward, Ruby.

So I pressed onwards, my fingertips cautiously brushing against the cold stone wall. Finally, finally, a glimmer of light marked my destination. I pattered down the final steps with glee and immediately glanced up at my surroundings.

It appeared to be a basement or cellar of some sort. Shelves of glass beakers and various jars lined the walls, flanked on either side by wooden barrels carrying unknown substances. In the middle of the basement was a wooden table with four seats. An oil lamp sat proudly in the middle of the table, its weak flame barely illuminating the surrounding area. As I approached the table, the dying flame just barely flickered over a face. A body, slumped over at the table.

I was not alone.

I froze in my tracks, my breath dying in my lungs. Instantly my mind raced– who was down here? How long have they been down here? Is it safe for me to stay?

“H…Hello?” I managed to choke out into the darkness.

The figure was still.

I took a tentative step forward. “Hello?” I tried again.

Silence.

My careful steps brought me to the edge of the table. I could barely make out the figure in front of me. It appeared to be a girl, around my age, with jet black hair plaited in two braids splayed out across the table. She hunched over a notebook, as if she had simply fallen asleep doing homework. Just out of reach from her fingertips a silver ring sat atop the table. The faint glow of the oil lamp caused the ring’s oval gem to sparkle.

I didn’t know, then, what possessed me to take the ring and admire it. I didn’t know what compelled me to slip it onto my own hand.

I would soon come to learn, very intimately, the driving force behind my strange desires.

As soon as I slipped the ring onto my finger, a cold shudder zipped down my spine. I doubled over and gripped the edge of the wooden table as frigid lighting coursed through my body. I slid the ring off and slammed it back on the table. The lightning faded from my body, but as I stood there, panting, movement caught my attention.

From the slumped-over figure at the table emerged a misty apparition. It bore the same braids as the body at the table. She stared at me with curious, somber eyes.

“Y…You…” I stammered.

The apparition tilted its head at me. “You’ve managed to find your way down here,” she said in lieu of a greeting, “yet I don’t sense an ounce of magic in you.”

“I…yes…” I blinked. “My…my father is the one who possesses magic. Not me.”

The apparition’s mouth turned up in a sly grin. “Yes, yes, I see…” she hummed. “This worked out much better than expected. Yes, indeed.”

My gaze drifted between the mist and the body. “You…you’re…”

“Dead? Yes. Clearly.” The apparition shook her head. “It’s about time somebody showed up to find my body. Although I was expecting a Fluxlight student and not some…other child.”

What was I supposed to say to that? All I could mumble out was a pathetic “Sorry?”

She waved her hand. “It’s no big deal. In fact, I think this is much more beneficial. I’d like to make a deal with you.”

“A deal?”

“Yes, a deal.” Her eyes turn mischievous. “You possess no magic as you stand now. I can give you that power, if you so wish.”

My mind instantly went to my father, who was surely upstairs gloating about his latest magic advancements. It went to the conversation my parents shared just before the banquet, the tense whispers and strained silence.

“What’s the catch?” I muttered through my teeth, trying not to seem too eager.

The apparition grinned. “Oh, you’re an eager one, aren’t you?” she smirked, and I felt defeat gnaw at my chest. “Well, I have some…let’s just say…unfinished business here.” She gestures to her body. “I died here, many years ago. I’ve used an exhaustive amount of magic to keep this place preserved in the hopes someone came across my body. To this day, I do not know how I passed. I was in perfectly good health leading up to my death. I have reason to suspect there was foul play involved.”

I sucked in a breath, but didn’t dare speak.

She must have sensed my fear. “May I know your name?” she asked me.

“Ruby.”

“Ruby,” she repeated. “A lovely little name. Now then, Ruby, I have a proposition to make.”

“What is it?” I whispered.

“I will lend you my magic prowess,” the apparition said, “in a manner of sorts. And in return, Miss Ruby, you will find out what happened to me.”

I was shaking my head before she even finished speaking. “I’m not a student here,” I mumbled nervously. “How could I find out what happened to you?”

“Easy,” she smiled. “I will lend you my magic, in a manner of sorts–”

“But what do you mean by that?” I cut in.

“Goodness. Impatient, aren’t you?” she huffed. The apparition placed her hands on her ghostly hips. “Your body is untainted by magic. Therefore, I can fill that role. If I possess you, you will be able to use all of my magical abilities. I was a top sorcerer in my day at the Academy. You will have no reason to worry about passing your classes.”

“You? Possessing me?”

“Indeed. It’s a wonderful little trade-off. You will become a masterful sorcerer thanks to my skills, and I will learn the circumstances of my death thanks to your living and able body!”

“I didn’t agree to this yet,” I said flatly.

Her ghostly eyes seemed to peer right into my soul. “But you want to become a sorcerer, don’t you?” she cooed.

I did, and she knew it. “Fine. But tell me your name first.”

She smiled. “How very sweet of you. My name is Elisa. Now, Ruby, do we have a deal?”

I nodded.

“Good. Put that ring on. It will be the link that binds you and me together.” Elisa watched as I shuddered at the sight of the ring. “The initial possession may feel…unpleasant. But I assure you once it’s passed you and I will be in a symbiotic relationship of sorts.”

“Of sorts, of sorts, of sorts,” I muttered, slipping the ring on my finger, waiting for the frigid electricity to course through my veins.

Bitter cold seared itself into my DNA, and I winced, hard, doing my best not to cry out in pain. But along with Elisa’s spirit merging with my body, something else burned into my brain– a purpose. A mission.

I would become a magic user. I would qualify for Fluxlight Academy. I would rise through the ranks and become a top scholar. I would find out what happened to Elisa.

And, I thought to myself as I doubled over, not from pain, but from the newfound power that flowed through me, I would become someone worthy enough in the eyes of my father. Then, and only then, will it be enough.

The Process
Title Page