[Susan Delgado]

Anna knew it as soon as the last note faded. She had lost. She was doomed to be a Ghost forever. She felt her body fading as Celumëomaryu's shriek of triumph filled the dungeon where they'd battled.

Anna let herself fade out and for the first time didn't envision a destination, just vanished, and for a moment she felt nothing, then opened her eyes to a featureless grey world, like being in fog so dense as to be solid. In a panic, she thought of Calimiel's herb garden and in a moment she was there.

How very odd. She tried again, and got the same result, only this time she knew what to expect and didn't panic. She tried to move but had no reference to judge her success. After what she judged a short time, she rematerialised in the dungeon. One of the female prisoners was there, beating on the bars. When she saw Anna, she loudly demanded the keys, but Anna scoffed and vanished to her room. That prisoner had asked for the keys before and Anna was not about to be the one who freed the prisoners prematurely. Let the Butler do that when the time was right.

She drifted up through her ceiling and above the roof. She stared into the distance. She knew how unlikely it was that any other mortals would come to the Castle. She was truly doomed to remain this way, and now she wouldn't even have the stimulation of friends and enemies, or even Maladil's ravings. They would be mortal now, and would leave her alone with the servants, none of whom had made much of an impression on her. Maybe she would befriend that scullery maid, Tella. She seemed to have more spirit than the others, though she did allow herself to be bullied by the Butler. She wondered what would happen if she were to go into that grey place and remain. Well, she had plenty of time to experiment now. She closed her eyes and turned her face toward the sun and let it beam on her and through her and considered her future.