Hi All, here's another chapter on my favorite story. (Yes, it really is.) Another chapter in about a week. My plan is to finish this story in early 2019, so I guess I have a few chapters to get written! Enjoy.

Mrs. K dangled a key from a lanyard in front of Matt. "The room's book for every day after school for your use." Her expression darkened, then she turned her steely gaze to me. "Don't even think about missing your sessions. The council is watching your progress very closely and are funding your scholarship. So unless you want to lose your place here, you better consider this training as important as any of your other classes." She gave a curt nod to Matt, then shut the door behind her.

The room looked like it might have been one of the castle's ballrooms at one point. There were cyan blue mats piled off to my left, a few metal benches behind me, and a wall of built-in wood cabinets at the far end of the room where Matt stood.

He flicked a switch, and the windows overlooking the grounds turned opaque, blocking anyone from seeing inside the space.

"Cool trick. Afraid someone will see us together?" I lounged in a folding chair, and when I dropped my feet on top of the bench, it clanged loudly in protest.

"That's your fear, not mine." He shoved the key into the cabinet lock and opened the door. "If people think we're dating that's fine by me." He dragged a large, white bucket into the middle of the room.

He wishes. "Maybe you haven't noticed, I already have a boyfriend. He's about this tall"—I raised my hand above my head—"has brown hair and is—"

"Dead?" Matt pursed his lips, crossed his arms and stood with his weight over one foot. "I recall meeting him." Matt lifted his shirt, exposing his chiseled stomach and a scarlet handprint in the middle of his chest.

"That looks like it hurts." I smirked and tried to withhold the laughter building inside of me. "You should get something for that."

"I have." Matt grasped hold of his sword and yanked it free of the holder.

My hands shot to cover my ears, remembering the high-pitched screeching the blade emitted the last time he pulled it from its sheath.

"Kennedy only said I couldn't vanquish him." He cut the air in a smooth motion with the sword and had a wide grin plastered on his face. "I don't recall her saying he had to stay in one piece."

"You wouldn't." I peeled my fingers from the side of my head, dropped my hands to my side, and noticed the hum of his blade. It wasn't screeching. The sound reminded me of the old refrigerator in the back of the corner-store my dad and I used to visit on hot Sunday afternoons.

Matt shrugged and lowered the tip of his sword. "I vanquish ghosts and demons all the time. I don't see the difference."

"Oh really?" I straighten up, let my feet drop to the ground and stood. "Let's see what Mrs. K thinks then."

"Fine. I'll leave him alone if Jake leaves me alone. Good enough?" He placed the keys on a bench. "Can we get started now?"

I doubted he meant it, but it was better than nothing, and if we couldn't work out our differences, I knew Mrs. K would make good on her promise to ship me home. More than a few students had been expelled from the walls of the castle.

"I give." I gestured to the sword in his hand, trying to appear casual. "Why isn't it squealing like last time?"

"It's a blessed blade."

I stared at him blankly expecting him to continue, because that sure in the hell didn't mean anything to me.

He sighed and turned it so I could see the flat side of the sword and pointed to some etchings on the side of it with his finger. "It's heaven blessed and recognizes entities with astral plane signatures."

"Maybe it's broken." I cocked my head to the side trying to read the script. "It doesn't seem to recognize me."

He tossed the sword to his other hand. "It only recognizes energies that intend to harm me."

"Then it's definitely busted."

His placid expression made me wonder if he ever took time to chill out or if protecting people from the hellish creatures of the underworld was all he ever did.

"You can't hurt me, but you're welcome to try." He cupped his mouth. "But that means you might need to get close to me to win. Unless you can shoot lasers from your eyes." He put his sword back in the holster. "I'll even take it easy on you, since you're a rookie."

"Who are you calling a rookie?" I cracked my knuckles and adjusted my stance. "Bring it."

"I'm going to enjoy this." He bowed, then disappeared.

If he'd just pulled onto the nearby astral plane, I should've been able to see him, but he was nowhere in sight. He had to have opened a door somewhere in the netherworld. Then a low-pitched bell tolled, and a staff from the bucket rose high into the air.

"Getting the ghosts to do your dirty work? Is that the best you can do?" My voice echoed off the walls.

Something whooshed behind me. I turned to see what made the sound, and Matt spun with his leg extended, hooking my feet. I somersaulted backward through the air, and my butt slammed the floor. Before he could claim victory, I yanked the astral plane around me.

Matt chuckled. "I can still see you."

A female spirit flickered in and out and grasped the staff tight. Barefoot and wearing jeans and a hoodie, her appearance made me think she'd recently passed over. Manipulating physical objects seemed to be her forte. She padded forward and swung the staff at my leg with a downward stroke.

I rolled out of the line of impact and hopped to my feet. The pole struck the ground with a thud. With two fingers jammed in his mouth, Matt let loose an ear piercing whistle. A dog howled in the distance, and for some reason, I knew its response wasn't just a coincidence.

"You have a hellhound under your control?" I released my grip on the astral plane and reformed at a rapid speed. "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm just getting warmed up." He shook out his arms, appearing like he was trying to limber up for the rest of our encounter. "I haven't even pulled out my sword."

The ferocious barking got closer by the second. There was no way I could defend myself against Matt, a poltergeist, and a hellhound.

"Call your hound off." I held my hands up. "Matt!"

"Is that a surrender, already?" He paced forward until he stood in front of me.

"I can't possibly defend myself against three attackers." I dropped my head onto the floor with a thud. "You're cheating..."

He bent over me and cocked his head to the side. "Am I?"

"Using ghosts and..." I slapped a hand against the floor. "Well, it's just not fair."

"Next time I'm attacked in the netherworld, maybe I should yell that at the demon." He rubbed his chin as if in thought. "But they don't play by any rules, do they?"

By the loudness of the barking, that hound was really close. My sweaty hands stuck to the floor.

"Fine. You win."

He rolled his hand for me to continue confessing my defeat.

"I'm a rookie." I glared at him. "Satisfied?"

"Very." The corners of his lips turned up into a smug smile, and then he let out two short whistles.

The dog howled again, and the tiny hairs on my arm raised in response. Hellhounds, I despised their hollow, morning calls of death. I shuttered and rubbed my arm. Nothing creeped me out more when on the astral plane, except maybe meeting one face to face. Matt reached out a hand to help me up. When the dog let out a second more distant yowl, I relaxed and let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Let the lessons begin, oh wise master," I mumbled under my breath.

"If you insist." He squared off in front of me. "Why did you lose?"

"Because it was three against one." I narrowed my sight, becoming more annoyed by the second.

He pressed an imaginary button and made a sound like I'd just gotten one of those gigantic Xs on a game show. "Wrong, try again."

What did he mean wrong? "I can't fight three entities at once and win."

He tapped my forehead with his index finger. "No one said you had to," he said emphasizing the word, you.

"Who else was going to..." I palmed my face, figuring out what he was talking about. "You meant recruit some help."

"Ding. Give the girl a gold star." He applauded twice. "Fights are never fair in the underworld, so stop acting like they are or you'll wind up dead."

The ghost dumped the staff into the bucket with a clang. "We're good here, Matt?"

"Thanks, Ally." He waived. "See ya, on the flip side."

She giggled, and her ponytail swayed. "Come find me if you need more help keeping this one in line." Her transparent image faded from view.

My mouth was practically hanging on the ground. "She wasn't under your control?"

"You have low expectations of me, don't you? I don't raise the dead to do my bidding or force ghosts into doing things they don't want to." He crossed his arms. "And before you ask, yeah I know how, but that's a line I won't cross."

"But the hellhound..."

"You said it was a hound, not me." Matt shrugged and shoved his hands in his back pockets. "Mind you that wolf has a nasty bite, but he's actually a pretty decent guy in his human form."

"A werewolf?" I said with a tone of disbelief.

"Why not a werewolf? There are witches, necromancers, wyndhams, and hellhounds." He gave me a lopsided smile and his hair fell into his eyes. "Anyway, the dude's part of some crazy curse that I don't quite understand, but he lends a hand if I ever need him."

I had jumped to conclusions, which left me wondering if I'd been a little too quick to judge Matt.

"On the astral plane you need all the friends you can get." He held out his hand. "Truce?"

I may have been quick to judge him, but that didn't mean I was ready to trust him. I stood frozen, staring at his outstretched palm. "You may have something to teach me. But as for allies? It's going to take a lot more than a little barking and a ghost to gain my confidence."

He withdrew his hand and wiped it on his jeans. "I guess I'm just going to have to prove you can."

That's what I am afraid of. I glanced at the clock on the far wall. Only forty minutes had ticked by since entering the room, and this punishment already seemed like an eternity.

THANKS for READING! 

(More coming in about a week!)