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No more school. No more books. No more teachers dirty looks.

Ok. So there was definitely no more school for the summer. Books? There would never, ever be enough books in the life of one Ellenore Seance Blackwall, summer or not. Dirty looks? From teachers?

Ehhh.... Debatable. Most of the looks weren't dirty, per say. Odd? Certainly. As though they might be trying very hard to figure out what was going on inside her head? Definitely. From teachers? No. Most of those looks came from other students outside of the band of misfits that hadn't really picked a name for themselves yet.

That was fine, though! Perfectly fine! For the next two and a half months she didn't have to listen to anyone call her Ellenore during roll or while calling on her in class. For the next two and a half months she could be Seance, because that was her name after all-- part of it, at least.

"The most important part," she muttered aloud as she drew her cell phone out of her pocket while tucking a strand of pastel blue and purple hair back behind her ear. She opened her text messages, pulling up the most recent one from the best friend a girl could have so she could shoot one back.

[Text to Boo: We're still on for tonight, right? Parental unit isn't too thrilled about me being out past dark, but I let her know it was going to be *totally safe* and we were going to bring flashlights. ]

[Text to Boo: I left out the part about the spirit board. ]

[Text to Boo: Did you ever grab one of those LED lanterns? ]

Sea's spirit board was an antique. It had been passed down through her family for generations-- that was what she told everyone who asked about it. Everyone that wasn't Beatrice, at least.

In reality one of her neighbors down the street had tried to stash it away somewhere that no one would find it during a yard sale and she'd managed to get it for ten bucks. Ten whole dollars worth of hard earned allowance put towards a beautiful wooden Ouija board that looked a lot like the one the Halliwell sisters used on Charmed. It was probably a replica of some sort, maybe her neighbor had been a fan, but it was hers now and she intended to take good care of it.

Snacks were covered. Sea had tucked two bottles of Mountain Dew into her bag; White Out for Bea and Baja Blast for herself. Along with that she'd pilfered a box of teddygrams from the pantry along with a bag of Cheetos Paws. They were tucked into her bag along with enough cleansed quartz crystals to form a circle around whatever spot they decided to use for their commune with the spirits and, most importantly, one container of salt, just in case things went south.

"Going out with Bea, Mom! Byyyye," she called out quickly before slipping out the door with her backpack slung over her shoulder and the spirit board in its carrying case under her arm. It was only a few blocks from her house to the old cemetery and her pace slowed as she neared it, not wanting to startle herself or Bea. She pulled her phone back out to send her friend a quick text only to grin when she spotted her right in front of the gate. Maybe, just maybe, she could text Bea before she saw her...

[ Text to Boo: Boo. ]

"I am always ready to make new friends." She flashed the other girl a grin, thoroughly satisfied that she'd managed to startle Bea even slightly. It was generally the other way around, or they were using their combined brilliance to properly spook others. This was good, though. This was a sign that Beatrice Kellye was already open to suggestion and the many prospects of the paranormal just lying ahead of them.

"Oh, I forgot, here. I ducked into that mystic shop at the mall yesterday when my mum wasn't looking. Grabbed you one of these." Sea rummaged around in her pocket for a second before drawing out a wire wrapped piece of polished agate attached to an adjustable cord. The wrap wasn't intricate enough to be decorative, but the spiral of wire was just enough to hold the pebble in and serve as a setting that would, ideally, last until she won Publisher's Clearing House or something and could afford something fancier.

"Agate's good for protection-- Got one for myself too! Lady at the shop let me have them for a steal. Only had to use five bucks of my own money." Six, if you counted tax. None at all if you took into account that the six dollars hadn't really been hers any more than the twenty dollar bill that had just magically appeared in the laundry. A gift from the chore spirits, obviously, and not something her mother had misplaced....

"C'moooon. Put it on so we can go get everything set up. As much as I'd love to still be here at midnight, you know we're both in trouble if we're not at least at one of our houses by eleven thirty."

"Seb is going to be so mad if we get a really good ghost without him." Her delighted grin made it quite clear that she didn't really give a hoot how mad Seb was. He would have insisted on bringing his camera and some of his other electronics equipment for 'capturing spirits' and while she wouldn't outright dismiss the boops and the beeps from his gadgets, nothing really beat a good, old Ouija board.

Bea was off, though, and she was following quickly behind, not wanting to loose track of her best friend in a cemetery, of all places. Oddly, she felt more relaxed here among the trees and stones and grass than she did in other places-- morbidly at peace with things, if not just a little bit excited. When Bea paused she did as well, heart skipping as though waiting to here that her friend had found something.

She had, of course. Nothing like a body or a skeleton or a cloud lurking around.... But the perfect place to set up would definitely do.

"Totally okay! The best!." She grinned as she glanced down at the marble, making sure that they weren't going to be stepping or sitting on anyone's name (great way to make a ghost mad). The steps leading up to the mausoleum were just that, giving her a place to plop down and open up the board's case. Her fingers brushed over the letters carved into the wood and she smiled as she drew the board out, setting it down gently on the marble. "If you set the lantern down right there we should still be able to see everything. Mum wouldn't let me pack any candles this time.... She threatened to take away my lighter if it left the house again."

Seance kept to herself the information that her mother didn't exactly let her commune with the dead. Mrs Blackwall had, at one point, tried very hard to discourage her daughter's descent into the occult-- not that she really had a leg to stand on when it came to drawing her out of the world that she had named her own daughter into. It was meant to be.

"Oh! Hold on. Before we start." The teen took a moment to rummage through her bag again, triumphantly pulling out a small, glass bowl that she'd 'borrowed' from her mother's fine crystal collection. Sea then drew a baggie from her pocket, shaking the contents loose into the bowl: dandelion petals from a flower she'd torn apart earlier, a bit of rosemary from her mother's herb garden and a pinch of a fragrant pipe tobacco that she'd managed to con out of her nextdoor neighbor after convincing him it was for a 'school project' (and promising not to tell her mother). "Offerings for the spirits. They didn't seem too keen on the Mountain Dew last time..."

Then she was all seriousness again, dusting off her hands and stashing the baggie away. Her fingers fell to the planchette, touching it lightly with only the tips while waiting for Bea to do the same. When they were both (barely) touching the pointer she closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath to make it seem as though she were extending her focus into the great unknown.

"Dandelion, rosemary, hair of a cat; summon the spirits wherever they're at... Guide our planchette, it's time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond."

"Of course it's talking to us." She whispered, not wanting to speak too loudly least something she say chase the spirit, or spirits, who'd responded away. She couldn't quite hide her excitement, though, practically vibrating at the idea that they had finally made real contact with someone from the other side.

Sebastian was going to flip.

"Alright, alright..." Seance took a deep breath as she straightened her back, fingers lightly resting atop the planchette. In a perfect setting like this it was only too easy to fall into the roll of Seance Spectre, Spirit Medium. It had a nice ring. One of these days when she saved up enough allowance for a prepaid visa she was going to make business cards for herself on Vista Print with her stage name and the services she offered-- communing with the dead and fortune telling only a few, to say the least.

"Hello spirits, we welcome you. Please tell us who we are speaking to." Sea didn't know if the spirits actually enjoyed the rhymes, but they flowed easily enough from her mouth. It gave things just enough of a dramatic edge and it seemed like something that all of the good mediums did... Like Madame Leota.

Her heart skipped a beat when beneath her fingers the planchette began to glide across the board. She was pretty sure that she wasn't moving it and Bea's touch didn't seem heavy enough alongside her own to be at fault either. The spirits were answering.

"P-R-U-D-E-- hey, that's not very ni-- oh... N-C-E. Prudence?" Prudence. "The spirit has a name, Bea!"

For a moment Sea simply stared across the board at her friend-- her dear friend who had just given a spirit their names. Her look was something akin to horror and might have edged into terror had she not then come to the realization that Bea hadn't given their full and proper names. She hadn't tole the entity, Prudence, that her name was Beatrice or that she was really Ellenore-- Even more of a reason to continue going by her middle name, Seance.

She nodded as an afterthought, confirming that it was actually alright that Bea had introduced them, giving her friend a reassuring smile as the stunned look left her face. "We'll bring Seb with us next time. He can film while we commune-- People might believe it more if we're not the ones recording ourselves." Neutral party, right? Wasn't that how those things worked?

As they contemplated the name game the planchette drifted across the board, hovering over 'Yes'. Yes? Wait. Bea had asked a question. "Bea... Pru said yes. She's talking to you now. Go on and ask another question while I hold the connection."

Seance nodded at the whispered suggestion, eyes wide as she watched the planchette circle the 'no' over and over again before jerking to an abrupt stop as she pressed down on it. It wasn't always the best idea to wrestle control away from the spirits, but right now she felt it was completely necessary-- for her sake and for her friend's.

"Prudence. We, Bea and Sea, thank you for answering our call. We hope we have not bothered you at all. Our talk tonight has come to an end. We-- We bid good-bye to our new friend." As she spoke she hastily dragged the planchette over to the 'Good-Bye' on the board in order to close out their Ouija session, properly dismissing whatever manner of spirit they had called to them.

It wasn't until she heaved out a sigh of relief that she realized she'd been holding her breath, and then she laughed. The laughter was soft and breathless. "We did it. Oh my god, Bea. We did it. Next time we're definitely bringing Seb and a camera and, and.... Maybe we'll pick another place to set up." She began gathering her things as they spoke, making a mental note to properly cleanse everything of any lingering residue when she got home. There was a very good chance her bag would be spending the night in the garage, the board locked in a trunk.

"That was so cool."