Callisto let out a small huff as he was lifted from Xevon’s shoulder and placed on the other bed, hovering ever so slightly above the sheets. He sat down and wrapped his tail around his paws. He wasn’t exactly abnormal looking, a standard cat, the only give away being his x shaped scarring on his back and the small one near his lips. His eyes trained on Lily as he spoke, waiting for the pair to finish their brief conversation. He could see Finn rolling his shoulders and recognised the discomfort.

“He will be fine in a moment.” Callisto kept his voice level, eyes watching the movements of the woman carefully.

Lily turned her head, trying to find the spot the voice had now moved to as she heard Finntello explain where they could search. She wasn’t sure she wants to explore and possibly find more of these bickering ghosts. She pursed her lips, about to voice that concern when she saw Finn lean down. A wash of confusion running through her features before within a second after he bent his spine, an aggressive smack of liquid hit the ceiling.

Lily leapt backwards, letting out a short gasp, flinching. She hadn’t seen what it was, just the noise. Was it the blood they were talking about? She stole a look, suddenly her heart was pounding. Unfurling from his shoulders were great…wings? Her lips remained separated as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. His back was soaked with red, a few bits dripping from the initial splash onto the ceiling. She was frozen in place as seconds ticked by, Finntello was curled onto the ground, his knees had hit the floor with a loud bang.

Lily only came to her senses as Finn let out a pained sound. She rushed towards the bed and grappled with the collection of towels, bundling an armful before she skidded to his side.

“Are you okay? I-I don’t know what to do. You have-, there’s w-wings.” She stammered, unsure what exactly she was looking at. Lily was trying to push towels towards him, keeping one smaller one in her dominant hand to tentatively push at the pooling blood on his back. She sank to her own knees, a striking look of fear and concern plastered across her features. They said he would be okay, but this did not look like he would be okay.

Callisto raised to his paws at the sudden arrival of Xevon’s gift, his tail curling at the tip as he turned his attention from the living to Xevon. Curious to see if his friend would offer any advice or comment on the scene playing out before them.

Lily was gritting her teeth together. There was so much blood and it was still seeping out of his back where the wings were poking out from his muscles. She could feel her own panic rising as she tried to use her towel, but it was quickly sodden with red liquid, seeping onto her skin as she tried to scrunch it up to use all of the fabric.

For a moment, she stole a glance at Finn as he repeated something. Nodding sharply, she abandoned her soaked towel and wrangled a larger one, shuffling around him to get a better angle. Lily draped the towel around the base of one wing and pressed it in firmly before quickly repeating it on the other side, she leaned on him with all her weight to try and keep as much pressure as she could on these strange protrusions. The act had drawn blood onto her shirt and forearms, she didn’t care at the moment if she looked like a serial killer when she stood up, she could fix that problem later.

Lily’s lips moved in a small noise of acknowledgement that Finn was talking to her, her eyes trained on where her arms were pushing into his back. After a moment of absorbing his words, she quickly looked down at him. Her eyebrows furrowed together tightly, a small dot of blood above one of them.

“Me? I’m okay, you’re the one bleeding all over the place!” She hadn’t meant for it to come out blameful, she tried to quickly correct herself. “I just want you to be okay, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” Lily moved one hand, still using her elbow to keep the pressure on the towel, she placed her hand on his shoulder gently, trying to offer some kind of comfort to him. She had seen the twinge of agony in his eyes, Lily hoped their ghost friends were right as this would be over soon.

Lily cocked her head as he replied to her, for a moment a creeping sensation of companionship wiggled its way into her brain. It was a pleasant feeling considering their current circumstances. Yet, he was right, if they worried more about each other than themselves it may make things a little easier to cope with.

“Don’t get careless and stop worrying about yourself, you’re not allowed to get hurt.” She chuffed out, her eyes travelling back to the towels she had wrapped around his back. They weren’t seeping blood anymore, simply sitting there. As she was thinking perhaps it was over, Finn began to sit up, dislodging her from her spot. Lily quickly pulled back from him, not wanting to overstay her welcome. She sat back down on the heels of her feet, taking a moment to look at her arms and torso. She had certainly done a number there. Her arms were covered in the worst of it, but various sizes smears and seeping blotches of blood covered her jumper, staining the light coloured fibres a rich red.

“Damn it.” She muttered under her breath, she liked this jumper. Lily drew her eyes back up when Finn had commented on his supposed wings. “I-I didn’t know what else to call them.” She tried to justify her definition of wings to the man. Her eyes were drawn to look at them as well, what a strange thing to simply..happen.

Callisto had raised a paw to draw it over his ear when Xevon had directed his words to him. Pausing before he jumped from the bed, he had decided he wasn’t in danger of accidentally switching back into his feline counterpart and consequent embarrassment. He poofed back into his standard human height, he circled around Lily for a second before meeting the red gaze of his friend.

“She hasn’t had it for long, but with the proximity to this, I would hazard a guess of a day or so. I’ve seen people take less time, but it’s unusual.” He didn’t hide his words from the woman he hovered near. Causing Lily to snap her head up to where she could hear the voice, the white murky mark in her vision.

“I’m not going to burst out wings like that am I?” Her tone was clearly panicked, she did not want to go through that again and certainly not as the one producing the wings.

“Not like him. You’re different.” Callisto offered. “No need to worry about it at the moment, Xevon’s gift is far more theatrical than mine.” He gave a pointed look at Xevon. “But it will hurt.” Not a great comfort, but at least she wouldn’t be splattering blood all over the shop.

Lily flattened her lips into a thin line as she processed that information. Pain, yes. Blood, no. That might not be so bad. She watched as Finn lifted himself to his feet, she tentatively followed suit. The feeling of the blood was growing sticky as it began to dry, she shuffled on the spot briefly as she tried to ignore the sensation.

“We? It looks like I killed you and you rose from the dead.” She tried to add a drop of humour to her comment to displace the feelings of discomfort that were growing in her chest. She was appreciative of the idea of finding new clothes, she felt disgusting if she was being honest.

“Clothes would be amazing. The showers here better work too.” Lily tried to crack a small smile as she began to walk towards the door.

Callisto grimaced at the movement, he had heard Xevon and so did Finn, but Lily had no idea. He jolted from his spot to cut in front of her.

“You can’t go out there yet.” He was more gentle with his demand. “For now, stay here. Just use a..towel or sit in that jumper.” Callisto scrunched his nose a little, those were terrible options, but those were the only current options.

Lily raised her hands to show the form of her bloodied body. “Sit. Like this?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “No offence, Finn. But I don’t really want to sit here covered in your blood.”

Callisto sighed, it wasn’t like Xevon and himself could actually prevent them from going out there. He glanced over at his winged friend, he was looking a little frustrated. Instead, he was relieved of his task when Finn piped up again and drew Lily away from the door.

The woman shook her head. “Are you not in pain?” She was confused by the sudden nonchalant comments from the man, after he just had mystical wings pop out from his back. “I’ve seen movies that have ghosts hurt people but I didn’t think actual ghosts were real so I don’t know.” Lily shook her head and walked back towards the centre of the room, her eyes trailing over the muscular outcrops from Finntello’s spine. Distracted, she took a little longer to speak again.

“I don’t care about the stain really, it’s just sticky and gross.” She shrugged her shoulders, looking towards the bathroom. Debating heading into there when she heard a small sound come from beside her and then a mumbled sentence. “Are you alright?” She took a step closer to him. “What happened?” All she felt was confused the entire time since she woke up, it was beginning to make her head spin and clearly Finn was struggling as well. They needed to worm their way out of this situation quickly.

Callisto’s eyes widened slightly as he watched that familiar look glean over Finntello’s face, he had seen everyone who ventured here make that expression. Even himself and Xevon, it was memories leaking back into their heads. The small beginnings of a smile crawled onto the man’s lips.