'The first spirits officially appeared in February 1946, near Hiroshima, Japan, when several US Servicemen were Bonded. An investigation by the US Army soon revealed hundreds of Japanese citizens, mostly centred around Hiroshima and Nagasaki had also Bonded with low level spirits. A similar investigation near Alamogordo, New Mexico, found similar results, albeit on a smaller scale.'

Estelle looked up from her homework, frowning as her parents walked into the hospital room. “You guys didn't have to come,” she said, wiping her dark brown bangs away from her eyes. “I just had a fever, I feel a lot better now.”

“You're sick, we came,” her mother said, in her no nonsense voice. “Besides we're still officially on call if they need us.” She raised the sleeve of her shirt a little revealing her golden suit underneath.

Her father gave her a big smile while picking up the doctors chart to look over. “Sorry El, we know you hate hospitals but your school nurse was right to worry. You're vitals are all over the place.”

“Only because they took like half my blood for their tests,” she grumbled. “I feel like a pincushion.”

Her mother pointedly looked at her, then at the multitude of machines beside the bed, and finally gently tapped the clay rune glued onto the middle of her forehead. “Sure, they have attached to all of these monitors and activated a high level healing spirit, just for fun. Stop being stubborn, lie down and don't complain. Now are you hungry? Do you want a drink or help going to the bathroom?”

“I'm OK. I just don't want to miss school, I have to help finish a group project for history. It's really good, we even managed to get an interview with one of the first Bonded,” she said. “We worked our butts off, I need to be there.”

Her mother wrapped her hand in the blanket and gently patted her shoulder. “What you need to do is relax and let the doctors look you over. If this is serious, your teacher will just mark you for the work you've done. And you're fourteen, you should be happy to miss a bit of school.”

“Maybe if I wasn't in a hospital I'd be happy about it.”

“Well,” her father said, putting the chart down, “we should be able to find out what's wrong with you soon. They've got you scheduled for a spiritual diagnosis as soon as possible.”

Her heart fluttered in her chest. “They think I might have bonded?” she asked.

His face would have made any poker player proud, but her mother's hand tightened on her shoulder making her wince in pain.

“I don't know,” he told her. “This doesn't say much beyond the plan to check you for spiritual influence. You've done it plenty of times, this won't be any different.”

Looking to her Mother for strength, Estelle saw a small pasted on smile that might have fooled someone else into thinking everything was fine. “I've never had anything like this happen,” she said. “The curse is stable. It hasn't changed or anything. It can't. Can it?”

Her Father came to stand beside them, carefully not touching either one. “Estelle, we don't know anything yet. Now take a deep breathe and let it out slowly.”

She followed his instructions, closing her eyes to focus only on her breathing. It took her more than a single breath, but a minute later, her heart was beating normally. Her Mother had let go of her shoulder and was merely hovering over her. She rubbed it and winced at the bruise which was already growing where she'd been touched.

“I think I'd like a hot chocolate now, Mom. Can you guys go get it for me?” she asked, suddenly wanting some alone time.

They nodded and headed for the door, where her Mother blew her a kiss.

**

Once they were well away from their daughters room, Evelyn motioned for Andrew to stop. Leaning against the wall, she ran a hand through her short hair and tried to compose her thoughts. “She can't have a spirit, can she? We were told no spirit would want to bond with her because of the curse.”

“The chart didn't say anything specific,” Andrew said, motioning for her to calm down. “But it did say to watch for signs of bonding and mental instability, as well as sudden changes in her vitals.”

“Oh god,” she whispered, feeling tears in her eyes. “She's twisted?”

“They don't know,” he told her. “This is just a precaution. It's better to be safe than sorry, right?”

He gently embraced her, his chin barely touching her hair, and his hands hovered over her. She took a moment of comfort listening to his heart and feeling his breath against her skin. It wasn't much but it was enough to help her regain her composure. Stepping back, she saw a few small cuts on his chin, almost like he'd cut himself shaving. Pulling a tissue from her purse, she handed it to him.

“Thanks, I needed that,” she said.

He smiled and nodded, “Happy to help.”

They quietly went to the small coffee shop and got drinks for all of them. Getting back to the room a nurse was checking Estelle, while a doctor was lighting incense in the corners of the room. Stepping inside, they waited near the door as the doctor methodically placed rune covered leather and silk banners on the walls.

“You're Mr. And Mrs. Young?” he asked, not stopping his preparations.

“Yes,” Evelyn answered.

“I'm Dr. Meyer, I'll be doing the spirit diagnosis in just a few minutes, you can stay here as long as you're quiet.”

Andrew nodded. “Don't worry, we've done this quite a few times, we'll stay out of the way.”

Satisfied that they wouldn't do anything stupid, the doctor continued his prep. Taking an ebony bowl he carefully poured in red ocher and a handful of herbs, which he then began to crush with a matching hand grinder, muttering under his breath in an almost sing song pattern. The smoke from the incense swirled in the air creating a cloud over Estelle, who was laying still, her hands turning white from gripping the blanket so hard.

Dr. Meyer added a touch of perfumed water to the ocher, mixed it well and dipped his finger into the damp powder. His voice grew louder as he painted runes and patterns onto Estelle's face, neck and hands.

The cloud of smoke slowly lowered itself covering the bed, shifting colour to match the red runes. Estelle breathed deeply, taking the smoke into her body.

Evelyn resisted the urge to tap her foot, forcing herself to bite her nail instead. She knew the ritual wouldn't take long, only a few minutes once it got started, but even so the time seemed to be slowing down. Andrew was watching patiently, studying the monitors and the doctor, looking perfectly composed as always.

The doctor finished the ritual began writing, his eyes staring blankly at Estelle, his hand moving without any apparent conscious thought across the paper. The smooth motions became jerky, harder, digging into the paper, tearing it with every move.

Evelyn barely noticed that, the monitors began beeping as Estelle convulsed wildly. Her back arched so rapidly she almost launched herself off the bed. The clay healing rune on her forehead exploded spraying the nurse with shrapnel.

She screamed as her daughters eyes and mouth began glowing and sparks flew from her body. A ball of energy formed in her hand pointing straight at Dr. Meyer.

Her body moved before her mind could react. Throwing herself forward with every ounce of speed, time went into slow motion as she raced against the bolt of energy heading for the doctor. Pain erupted in her side as the energy ball struck her, sending her flying into the doctor. Her suit helped absorb the energy, and the impact, it was enough to keep her alive. If she'd been able to breath, she'd have been screaming.

Through the haze of pain she saw her husband push the nurse to the floor, covering her as the smoke erupted from Estelle's mouth hard enough to crack the ceiling.

People came running to the room while alarms blared.

“Mom.”

Hearing her daughters voice, Evelyn forced herself to roll onto her hands and knees and crawled to the bed. “I'm here,” she said, gasping as a broken rib made itself known.

“Stay down, Evelyn,” Andrew said as he looked over their daughter. “Estelle is all right, she's alive.”

There wasn't time to say anything else as nurses and security began to bring order to the chaos.