"Cassel, there's something I need to tell you."

He drove them through the narrow, bumpy streets of Callivar. It was odd to see all the now-familiar places from the other side of the exam.

"I promised we'll go celebrate and I'm starving so let's go eat."

"Cassel, there's nothing to celebrate, we need to talk," Alleria said, trying to hold herself back from screaming hysterically about the fear going on in her mind. "I'm an idiot, I'm pretty sure I failed the exam and —."

"You make a brilliant idiot," said Cassel. "We'll talk all about it during dinner."

"But —"

"Do you like spicy? There's an Alaazian place —"

Alleria made a noise that was somewhere between a squeal and a whimper.

"Ok, not Alaazian then, how about —"

"Cassel, shut up for just one second and listen to me." She drew a deep breath, if she were Cassel, she wouldn't have taken herself seriously either. "I made a stupid mistake, I wrote the last question with my left hand and people saw me."

Cassel hit the brakes so suddenly Alleria nearly hurtled into the windshield. He turned to her. "Ok. Don't panic."

"I'm not panicking."

"I'm talking to myself," he said. He muttered curses under his breath. "You're left-handed?"

"Yes."

"Of course you would be." Cassel sounded bitter again, like he did when he talked about his Encounter. "Of course."

"The exorcism ritual with the incisions... it's just madness. It's murder. There can't be anything behind it."

"No, 'Leria, it's an accurate test. It reveals demonic possession. They make three incisions in specific points on the side of your neck and bleed you out until you're a thread away from death."

"Am I... am I possessed by a demon?"

"It's not like they think. For you, it was a real exchange. The demon took something from you, but it gave you something of itself. It's... mutual possession, a relationship."

"So it's true demons take your soul?"

"It's called an Encounter, and I don't know if what they take or give is your soul or... or something else." Again he looked away for a split second before looking back at her. "The demon who pulled you out of the Otherworld— your Individual — it had to Encounter you to take you back to the formed plane."

What he said, it felt like she had always known it. That night in the woods had changed everything, now she knew how. "So, if I've Encountered and they cut me like that, does the demon come out? Can that happen?"

"Yes, a demon-grotesque — it's a form the demon takes when it's forced to come into the formed-plane — will emerge, and then they bleed you out. That boy they found in Callivar... he was demon-touched like you. They try to find them when they're young because the older you get the more your demon will protect you from them."

They sat for some time in silence. There was no sound but the motor's hum. This wasn't a good place to have such a conversation. Although no other car had come down the street, they were blocking the road.

"But what are demons Cassel? What does it mean? Why Encounter? Why take children?"

"Demons are demons, just like people are people and their reasons for doing things are just as selfish."

Alleria mulled over his answer. There wasn't much she could do with that. She was searching for a loophole, a way out. "Did you... did you Encounter an Individual too, Cassel?"

"No. Something pulled the Individual to you and it saved you. But I... I was taken by the Many."

And here they were, Cassel was willing. He would tell her bit by bit about who he was, and then, knowing this, she would finally understand him. He belonged in her heart now, but there was still so much hidden about him. She wanted to uncover it all, to know him from one end to the other. "Why does everyone forget you?"

"You can't Encounter the Many in the same sense. They simply tear you apart. I don't have enough presence anymore to remain in people's mind. I was never supposed to be here, I wasn't meant to come back."

"When did it happen?"

Cassel rested his head against the steering wheel. "When I was nine. I was... taken from my bed one night by someone who should've looked after me and left in the forest to die. But instead of just dying, I fell into the Otherowrld. The Many fought over me and sucked me dry of my Presence until the Authora fished me out. I didn't know how long I lived there by her side, but a witch summoned me back to this world. There isn't enough human left in me to make a lasting impression. My mum remembers I'm back whenever I'm within her sight and then believes that I've been gone for years when I'm not. Mr. Malluri doesn't know I exist. I'm still alive and breathing but it's safe to say I'm a ghost."

Questions burned down her throat, riddles stampeded through her head. It wouldn't be right to ask him to tell her everything. Not now, not yet.

She edged closer, wrapping her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. He stiffened at first and then the mother of all sighs escaped him as he melted into her embrace.

        ***

"You know what this means, Cassel, don't you?"

They were clutching oily brown paper bags with steaming pies that smelled of roasted vegetables, beef and spices while sitting in the parked car in Gelminar quarter. The pies were delicious but the mouths eating them were unhappy.

He was busy chewing, so he said nothing.

"I'll never be a Scholar. Whatever I was trying to do here, I can't do it. It's only a matter of time before my left-handedness gets out and everyone will know. I should disappear now before it'll be too late."

He continued chewing.

"Will you come with me?"

He swallowed "I can't leave Callivar, 'Leria," he whispered. "I'm trapped here."

"You're trapped?"

"The witch that brought me back, he bound me to him. If I stray too far from where he is, I might fall back into the Otherworld, right into her clutches."

"What would happen if he unbinds you?"

"I don't know. I got saved from hell, 'Leria, I'm not going to question it. Everything here is better than there. I can feel, I can speak my mind, I can grow..." He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "I met you."

She leaned in to press her lips to his, her heart fluttering. She couldn't afford to stay here with him, but she promised herself that that wouldn't mean the end of what they had.

After a while, when the paper bags lay crumpled and empty between them, she looked out at a middle-aged couple walking hand in hand down the adjacent street. "What was she like... the Authora?"

Instantly, he drew away, his shoulders slouching forward. "She's as terrible as poisoned honey. Bright and beautiful, like any one of the Individuals, filled with candlelight and music and those hidden meanings that make you feel intrigued. But Individuals hate her. She wants them on beck and call, and they fight her off like the pest that she is. I heard a rumour that she was human once, a very long time ago. It's hard to believe, except for the fact that Individuals in the Otherworld never retain a single form but the Authora is always and forever a woman."

He growled and ruffled his own hair angrily. "My heart hurts, 'Leria. You're leaving me and I can't see a way out of it."

She pressed her palm to her own heart, there was a sharp pain in her chest too. "I'm not leaving you. Even if I'm not in Callivar all the time, I'll find a way for us to meet."

"How do you know?"

"Because I... I don't want us to separate."

He pulled her towards him, placing a kiss on her head and cheek before finally finding her lips. It was a while before he drew away. "For now, just focus on staying safe. I don't matter."

Those words were the last straw. The tears that had been lying in wait from earlier that day finally found their way out of her eyes. "Cassel, you matter. You're important to me. How could I be so stupid? How could I let this happen?"

He hugged her to him but didn't say anything. She thought this was because he had nothing to say, but when she looked at his face, even in the dim light she could see that his own eyes were wet and his cheeks flooded with colour.

He kissed her when he noticed she was looking at him. "I'm claiming these tears as mine," he said in a shaky voice and attempted to smile.

At the chime of clocks around the city, they drove back to Alleria's house. He walked her to the gate, his hand clutching hers as if he'd never let go.

She kissed him one last time and bade him goodnight before walking inside.

He didn't move from that spot and watched her leave. Even as she mounted the stairs high enough to see over the gate, he was still standing there as if turned to stone. She wondered if he was following her with his eyes. Would he later return to the Malluri mansion to be forgotten by whomever sees him or speaks with him? A flesh-and-blood ghost gliding through glimmering halls —

Alone.