Twisted and Accursed, Chapter 16

Somehow, through reasons unknown to and beyond her, Taylor now had the power to summon the souls of the dead – or, as Sukuna liked to call them, imprints of the dead. What the difference between them was, Taylor did not know. What she did know was that she could call on them and ask them to help her. She still wasn’t entirely certain if she could command them to do anything she wanted, but they did things for her if she asked nicely and explained her side of things. She called them as she saw them: Ghosts. Her power... her ability was the summoning of Ghosts. No one else could see them. And she could summon up to three of them a day. She tried summoning four, but couldn’t. Each Ghost had their own ability, which – Taylor figured – was more or less related to the manner with which they died, on top of their existing ability to turn entirely intangible whenever they wished.

Alice could summon some kind of bubble of isolated space. Time flowed normally within the space, but slowed down to a near-crawl beyond it, which was precisely how they managed to interact with each other in her cell without anyone noticing the fact that Alice had broken her restraints. Alice probably died alone and isolated, shrouded in darkness and shadow as Sukuna and Lung fought in the streets above her. Cruel. Alice’s time bubbles lasted indefinitely, but could only be used once a day. Actually, the same was true for every single Ghost Ability: at most, Taylor could make use of them once daily. Beyond that, Alice also had really sharp claws that could slice through solid metal and rock as though they weren’t there at all.

Mister Randal could transport me just about... anywhere Taylor wanted to go, but the farther the distance, the longer the time she couldn’t call on him. Brockton Bay to Los Angeles was one day. According to Mister Randal, Earth Bet to Earth Aleph would cost her a full year. Unlike Alice, Mister Randal was physically harmless, lacking Alice’s claws or teeth. He moved fast though. And, like Alice, could interact with physical objects without being perceived by anyone but herself – and Sukuna.

Of course, there were others... many others. But she could only call on those she’d “saved” or, by their admission, granted the peace they sought in their final moments.

But, Ghosts like Chloe Decker were different. She was a... Heavenly Ghost, as Taylor took to calling them as, quite literally, they claimed to have descended from heaven to help her. How that worked was... strange. One of the normal Ghosts needed to be acquainted with a Heavenly Ghost in life; in this case, it was Mister Randal who knew Chloe Decker when they were both still alive, the latter apparently being a detective back in the early 50s when Mister Randal was a fair bit younger. Chloe Decker died of old age, surrounded by loved ones. Taylor... didn’t really have much information on Heavenly Ghosts, beyond her own theories, but what she understood was that they’d only ever come to her aid once. They’d have... incredible abilities or could call on favors from living beings, but only once.

That was the catch with Heavenly Ghosts; they’d only ever show up once, use their powers once, and then disappear forever. Of course, their abilities were far beyond that of the normal Ghosts. This whole place for instance, Lux and Lucy... Taylor was almost 100% certain that these were all just projections of Chloe’s ability, some kind of hidden dimension that not even the Protectorate could detect, a place that offered her shelter and safety for as long as she needed, but only once.

As for the other Ghosts... well... Taylor could call on a lot of them, simply because she “rescued” quite a few of them entirely by accident. So, she didn’t really have time to acquaint herself with all of them, considering the variations in abilities and the names. She could summon a total of forty-five Ghosts, two of whom she’d already acquainted herself with. And, gradually, Taylor would get to know each and every single one of the Ghosts and their abilities. There were two others before her now, Liam and Cherish.

Liam took on the appearance of a... pale ogre kind of monster, with hulking limbs and muscles, black eyes and black hair that flowed like a cape at his back. A row of rigid spikes protruded from his back and from his joints; like Alice, Liam’s fingers ended in scything black talons. Once again, the Ghost’s voice and tone did not at all match their appearance, because Liam had the voice of a literal child. Taylor couldn’t quite remember which one this was, seeing as she’d pulled quite a lot of kids out of the ruins, only for them to dissipate into motes of light. Liam was no different. Plus, his new appearance made it all but impossible to remember who he was in life or, at the very least, what he looked like.

“You pulled me out of the ashes, Taylor! Thank you!” Liam said and, really, that did not narrow things down at all, considering she must’ve pulled dozens of people from the ashes, both the living and the dead. It wasn’t difficult to figure out what his physical attributes were, given the colossal musculature. Still, she had to ask.

Taylor smiled unsteadily as the Ghost sort of hovered around her, limbs not at all touching the ground he moved. Then again, she had no idea how to talk to kids. It was a strange thing to suddenly realize that, in her whole life, she could count with one hand the number of times she’d interacted with children and none of those interactions had lasted for more than a few seconds. Obviously, Liam was a child... somehow... with the body of a super brute. “So, what can you do, Liam?”

“I’m really strong!” Liam answered, drifting about the place without moving any of his limbs. Taylor nodded. The super strength was rather easy to figure out. “And I can make things move!”

Now that was the more interesting bit, Taylor mused. “What do you mean by that, Liam?”

And that’s how she figured out that Liam could, quite literally, make things move in any direction by isolating said thing from the effects of gravity. His ability could be used more than once per day, a total of five times for five objects, regardless of size. That... was a very interesting ability. And, already, Taylor’s mind was coming up with about a dozen ways she could make use of it. The ability itself required Liam’s touch to activate, which really wasn’t much of a restriction considering no one else could actually perceive him. An invisible brute who can turn intangible was a nightmarish combination by itself.

Having the gravity powers on top of that was ridiculous.

There were other Ghosts she could summon and acquaint herself with, but these three should suffice for now. Plus, the ability to call on Ghosts was merely one facet of her power; admittedly, it was probably the loudest and most interesting facet, but now....

Taylor raised her fist, eyeing the strange blue energy that enveloped it. Pulling the energy out of herself had taken some work, but it seemed like all she had to do was focus on the shitty things that happened in her life and it’d start flowing out like melted butter. The energy... or whatever it was... seemed to feed on negative emotion, growing in strength whenever she felt like complete and utter shit. As for what it actually did... Taylor didn’t know. She felt some of it disappear whenever she called on a Ghost – not a whole lot, but a noticeable amount, at least, which meant that this energy was somehow tied to her ability – or maybe the opposite was true. Sukuna had been strangely quiet this whole time, which was weird; he probably knew something but was keeping it to himself.

Sukuna hadn’t spoken even once since she discovered her ability, which... all things considered was a great boon. If possible, she’d prefer to never have to hear his voice ever again. But, she knew that was just a far off dream; sooner or later, that monster was going to come back, probably at the least convenient time, to sow even more chaos and discord. And that was precisely why she didn’t want to use his healing just yet. Nevermind the fact that she’d completely forgotten how many people she’d already used it on. His only mode of taking over her body now was if she was knocked unconscious or trapped, but having her Ghosts meant that such a thing was unlikely to happen.

Taylor sighed and willed away the flickering blue energies from her fist. She still wasn’t sure what to do with it or how it actually functioned. The fact that she could manipulate it at all meant that there was far more to it than just her ability to call Ghosts. But, thus far, experimenting with the weird blue energy had not yielded any sort of result. She tried punching the wall with it, but ended up only hurting her hand. It kind of looked like fire, but it didn’t burn anything. Though, suddenly willing it forth released a burst of air that, while ultimately useless, was a good indicator that the energy could, in fact, interact with the physical world. She just needed to figure out just what exactly she was dealing with; it was her power, after all. It’d be entirely irresponsible of her not to figure out every single facet of it.

Frowning and sighing, Taylor got up from the softest bed she’d ever been on and walked towards the window. Los Angeles was a... well... it was a totally different place from Brockton Bay. Almost immediately, she could tell that it was cleaner and more vibrant; the people that walked the streets didn’t do so in fear or trepidation. Of course, why should they be afraid of anything when Alexandria herself was watching over them? There were no large gangs or villains plaguing the nights. Sure, petty crime existed, but that was what the police were for.

And then... her thoughts strayed. And Taylor wondered what her dad must be thinking in that moment, wondered how worried he must be that she’d suddenly gone missing. She hadn’t seen the news. Lucy was kind enough to provide her with a TV, but she didn’t want to turn it on. What if the first thing she saw was her face, staring back at her? They’d accuse her of killing all those students at Winslow, of burning down a fourth of Brockton Bay, of killing so many innocent people; she wouldn’t be shocked if there was a bounty for her head out there right now – dead or alive. If captured alive, they’d send her to the Birdcage.

So, why oh why did she want to go back to Brockton Bay? There was nothing there for her, nothing worth risking her life over. Her dad would be anguished, but he’d heal; he’d get over it. Hey may even move to another city and start a new life. Was it a sense of responsibility? Taylor wondered. Was it because she felt responsible for the horrors Sukuna had brought to the city? Was it because, in a way, every atrocity done by Sukuna’s hand was her fault? She should never have accepted that deal. She should’ve just ignored him and none of this would’ve happened.

All because she wanted to play the part of a hero, because she wanted to don a cape and run around trying to save people.

Why would she ever want to go back to Brockton Bay?

Maybe because it was her home? Maybe because, once upon a time, her dad believed the city could rise again? Maybe because it was the only place she’d ever known, no matter how shitty it was? She didn’t really have an answer to any of those questions. None of it made sense.

And yet...

“Mister Randal,” Taylor said, smiling faintly. “Could you open a portal to Brockton Bay, please?”