Percy stood in the middle of three unlit candlesticks.
His face was toward the large window, screens pulled all the way open. The open sky was visible from here. He noticed that the second sun had already started fading at the edges.
Lyro sat nearby in a chair with a book open on his knee, while Charles stood at the window with the pipe in his mouth, looking out.
"Is he not going to light that thing , or is there a no smoking rule in here?"
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice.
"You can relax," Lyro said without looking up. "The full moon is still a few hours out."
Percy nodded and took a seat at a chair. But he still could not relax.
Charles finally turned from the window and sat down. He crossed his legs and looked at Percy.
"During the ritual you will stand in the middle once more . You will be given a Lemon and you will hold it as the moonlight falls on you. We will light the candles."
Percy glanced briefly at the three candlesticks around him then back to Charles.
"The ritual itself is simple. Once everything is in place, you prick your finger and press the blood onto the Lemon. Hold it with the same hand. The Lemon may shake or tremble. Do not let go."
He paused.
"And breathe too. Some people forget to do that."
Percy filed that away.
"The most important thing," Charles continued, "is the voice. During the integration a voice will come into your mind. Do not listen to it. Do not engage with it. Ignore it completely , nothing good will come out of you listening to them or talking back."
Percy's brows knitted together slightly but he nodded.
After a while Charles reached down and lifted the case onto the floor between them, opening it with a " click " so Percy could see inside it .
Several Lemons sat in individual containers, each one labelled in small neat characters. Percy read them over.
And saw two Poltergeist , five Banshee , three Shade and three Wraith.
He looked up at Charles. "I don't see Dullahan."
Charles glanced at Lyro. Just briefly. Lyro's shoulders had gone slightly stiff.
"Dullahan is rare," Charles said, returning his gaze to Percy. "It is difficult to form."
"Form?" Percy said with a confused look.
"I thought spirits came through whatever crack appeared during a soul transfer."
Charles took the pipe from his mouth.
"Just because a crack opens doesn't mean any spirit will come through it. Each spirit type has its own preference and Its own requirement."
He set the pipe down.
"Poltergeist comes through a crack where a soul departs in an abandoned area or house , sometimes even mansions . Wraith would form through a soul that died of starvation. Banshee through a soul that died carrying grief. Each type seeks its own conditions."
"And Dullahan?"
Charles adjusted his sleeves and spoke in an expressionless tone .
"Mass casualty. Could be a war or battle where a large number of souls departing at once creates the kind of crack a Dullahan requires and the person should be engaged at the battle before he dies as his soul creates the crack needed for the Dullahan, simply dying in one would not be ideal ."
He picked the pipe back up. "Which is why they are difficult to obtain."
" And you might at some point think , since there are many soul lost in war , there would be many Dullahan forming left and right . "
He switched his crossed legs and continued.
"But do not misunderstand because not every spirit are interested in entering the crack and would prefer to remain at their plane."
" Also it is difficult for a spirit to enter the crack or find their prefered condition crack . The spirits who managed to enter or form through the cracks are considered lucky ."
"This is also one of the reason why artificially trying to create the condition doesn't work most of the time ."
Percy nodded slowly.
Then his eyes moved to the one Lemon sitting without a label.
"What's that one?"
Charles looked at it. He reached in and lifted it out carefully, holding it in his palm.
"Miss Margarette found it. Recently. In the ruins of a cathedral."
"The large operation." The thought came to Percy, since he had remembered hearing that they went for a large operation, which was recently .
"It's a rare one," Charles said. "The soul condition that produces this spirit is quite specific."
Percy's attention sharpened his stare intent on the lemon. Across from him Lyro had lowered his book slightly.
"And that is?" Percy asked.
Charles looked at the Lemon for a moment.
"Doppelganger."
"It is a really hard to form spirit , since it's condition is for a person to have multiple identity disorder while being sane before dying."
Lyro's book came down another inch as he raised an eyebrow but immediately lowered it.
"The spirit itself is difficult to work with," Charles continued. "Useful, but the Oath that comes with it is troublesome."
"How so?" Lyro asked, getting there ahead of Percy.
Charles didn't seem to mind.
"The Oath is called Reflection. In the earlier stages it is manageable. Simple observations of those around you. Studying their behavior or habits. Once a day."
He turned the Lemon over once.
"But as the Oath progresses it becomes considerably more demanding. There have been cases of Haunted losing themselves entirely. Spending too long reflecting others until they no longer had anything of their own left to return to."
He set the Lemon back in the case.
Percy stared at it.
"Wait."
"Reflecting as another person."
"That is almost exactly what I have been doing since I woke up in this body , isn't it tailor made for me ?"
His eyes stayed fixed on the Lemon.
Lyro seemed to have noticed his interest as well as Charles.
"Didn't you hear what he just said," Lyro said.
Percy looked up and shrugged.
"Better than urinating on walls."
Lyro dropped his book, his veins bulging on his forehead and his hands .
He weakly mumbled.
"Bloody hell "