"Yes, Master," the spirit replied.

And Kyle flew off back to the hospital.

He sat up and blinked, stretching out the slight lethargy that had begun to seep into his limbs. He'd been separated from his body for less than half an hour, a fraction of the time he was able to spend disassociated, but the body always showed some effects regardless.

"Everything is well?" Seeks-the-Moon asked.

Kyle nodded. "Some kind of spirit…" His words trailed off as he saw Delta, the watcher spirit, still hovering at the far side of the room. He sighed. "Delta," he said.

“Yes!" It bounced to life and began circling him.

"Go back to Charlotte and do what she tells you," he told it

"Yes!" it cried jubilantly and then vanished.

Seeks-the-Moon shrugged. "I tried to tell it the same thing, but it wouldn't listen."

"Doesn't matter now. What's important is that some kind of spirit visited the apartment. Charlotte couldn't recognize it, but she noticed something very strange. The spirit was dark."

"Dark?" both Seeks-the-Moon and Doctor Douglas said in unison.

"Dark. I don't really know what that means either."

Seeks-the-Moon turned toward Mitchell. "He's dark…"

Kyle nodded. "I thought of that. What if Mitch's astral self has somehow gotten separated from his body? What if it was off, lost somewhere, while his body slowly died?"

"That's a possibility," the doctor said.

"Except," said Seeks-the-Moon, "that his aura isn't weakening. It's dim, nearly dead, but stable."

Kyle sighed. "I know." He stood and looked at Mitchell Truman's still form. "We've got to find out what's going on in case he gets worse."

"Worse?" asked Doctor Douglas. "Pardon my pessimism, but this boy isn't going to get better. His mind is simply gone."

"I know, but there's always a chance." Kyle turned to Seeks-the-Moon. "Go back to the Truman residence and stay there in case another one of those spirits shows up. If it does, see what you can learn."

The spirit nodded. "I will."

"Also, while you're there, find an empty room and set up a full ritual circle."

"How big?"

Kyle paused and thought. "Nine meters across."

"And the spell?"

Kyle flashed the spirit a mental image of me spell. "This one. The same as before."

Kyle turned toward the doctor. "In the meantime, and with your permission, I'd like to leave two elementals here to guard Mitch."

"That's fine, as long as they stay in this room and don't disturb the other patients."

Kyle laughed. "No, these two are pretty calm." He turned and shifted his perceptions until they synchronized with the harmonics of the elemental metaplane of water.

"Elliot, Richard," he said, and two water elementals came into existence before him. "Guard the boy in the bed and this room. Allow no one and no magics into this room without the permission of Doctor Douglas."

The two spirits looked at the doctor, and then back at Kyle.

"Got it," said the first.

"If I have to," said the second.

Kyle turned to Seeks-the-Moon. "Go ahead."

Seeks-me-Moon bowed and disappeared. The two spirits also faded away, back into astral space.

Kyle turned toward Dr. Douglas. "Do you have a syringe?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Behind on your medication?"

Kyle smiled, but shook his head. "No, but I'd like to get a ritual sample from him." He gestured to the body. "Just in case."

The doctor pulled a small case from the test cart still parked in the corner of the room and handed it to him. "Here. A blood sample kit"

Kyle unlatched the case and removed the pistol-gripped sampler, pulling clear the self-sterilizing protective cap.

"How much will you take?"

“I don't need much," he said, bending closer and laying his hand on the boy's arm. Again he focused his magical power to infuse the blood sample he was about to take with enough secondary energy to allow it to remain fresh for some time. He placed the tip of the sampler against the arm and moved it until the sensors indicated he was above a suitable vein. Kyle pulled the trigger and simultaneously released the energy of his ad hoc spell. The small ampoule at the rear of the grip quickly filled, and Kyle could sense that it had taken the power he'd fed it. He set the gun down, removed the ampoule, and placed it inside the protective container the sampler pouch provided.

"You have my personal telecom numbers," he told the doctor. "If anything changes, call me immediately." Then he left, heading for the hospital lobby.

The building was quiet, the morning rounds just beginning. Just as Kyle was coming out of the elevator on the ground floor, he heard some commotion down one of the corridors. Following the noise, he was led straight to the administrative information center, the computer heart of the facility.

The disturbance was coming from inside the main computer room, where the staff monitored the hospital's various systems. Before Kyle could enter, one of the facility's private guards, flanked by a Knight Errant officer, stopped him. Knight Errant had been assisting with hospital security ever since Mitchell Truman had been transferred here. "What's going on?" Kyle asked them. The hospital guard merely looked at him, but the Knight Errant officer recognized Kyle. His name patch said Leventhal.

"It looks to me like a decker, sir," the man said, while the hospital guard shot him a cold look.

Kyle tried to get a better view into the room, but couldn't see much.

"The computer system's internal security programs noted a load anomaly a few minutes ago," the Knight Errant guard explained. "They've been trying to figure out what's going on, but it looks like someone's decked into the computer from outside and is searching the database."

"Admittance records?" asked Kyle.

"Seems that way, sir."

Kyle sighed. If this was related to Mitchell Truman's presence, it was more than probable that whoever was cracking the computer had found his admittance records and knew he was here. "We probably shouldn't move him again," Kyle told the officer. "But let's at least change his room once the decker is either out, dumped, or they finally get smart enough to crash the system. This way whoever it is won't know Mitchell's exact whereabouts in the building. It might give us a few minutes."

The officer nodded. "I'll pass your recommendations on to Lieutenant Facile."

Kyle smiled. "You do that." He turned and walked slowly from the lobby, lost in thought. He was in luck, almost immediately able to find a taxi back to the hotel.

Back in his suite, and finally able to get some sleep, Kyle was soon dreaming of thunderstorms.

There were two messages awaiting Kyle when he woke nearly eight hours later. He didn't remember leaving a Do Not Disturb notice on anything but the door, but considering how much better he felt, he felt no need to complain. The first message was from Beth. She wanted him to call. He did, using his pocket telecom. The Fuchi logo appeared, floating and barely opaque, visible in his field of vision thanks to his display-link cyberware.

Kyle felt strangely uneasy calling her at work. It still felt wrong for her to be doing this job, but he'd lost the option of doing anything about it years ago. He felt a twinge as he connected into Fuchi America's internal communications network and then was routed to Beth. She picked up immediately. Her hair was styled differently then when they'd had dinner a day ago. He barely recognized her.

"John Mikayama's office, Elizabeth Breman speaking," she said crisply.

“Hoi,” be said.

She paused when she saw his face. "Hoi. Are you all right."