Dear Diary,

It happened again. I should be grateful I haven’t seen one in so long, considering my work. The shielding techniques were working really well. I can only assume that my burn out caused my shields to drop and one particularly determined ghost slipped through.

At least its not like after the accident when I was seeing them all the time. Pulling the whole “I see dead people” in a home full of mages is about as fun as a root canal. So many appointments and tests until we found the right combination of shielding and warding that didn’t cut me off from my own magic. Frustrating.

I’ll have to set up an appointment soon if I don’t want to deal with more of them. Dreading that phone call. I don’t think I can afford it without mom and dad’s help. Besides, Doctor Fong will of course talk to mom - doctor, patient confidentiality doesn’t seem to work around her.

Thats a problem for future Bernie. Right now I have to deal with Delilah.

I ran into her at the library. Apparently she was trying to find anyone who could help her out. The recent dead are always in a panic and she was no different.

I stood there as she yammered on, looking like a complete idiot to people passing by as I talked to the air. That's the worst part about seeing ghosts. It's not how creepy they are, especially when they are still stuck in their recent dead form and especially when their death was gruesome. It's being that crazy person talking to themselves about morbid shit while people cross the street to avoid you. The dead don’t seem to care about this sort of thing though.

Delilah died two days ago in a traffic accident on her way to meet her boyfriend. I got to hear her go on and on about their great love and threatened to banish her if she didn’t get to the point. Anyways, she wants to be brought back. I pointed out that can be pretty jarring for the family and that I don’t work for free. She promised to pay me once the deed was done. I shouldn’t agree but the last thing I need is her drawing in more ghosts before I can shield again.

Delilah led me to the funeral home where her body is being prepped. It was one of the nicer ones so she at least is related to money. Hopefully I’ll actually get paid.

I went in and talked to the director, explaining the situation. He looked put off but agreed to take me down to see the body once I produced my card. Necromancy doesn’t require licensure yet but having a certification card comes in handy when dealing with authorities around the dead - especially morticians who likely deal with amateurs wanted to fiddle with bodies all the time.

Speaking of morticians, I knew this one. Eric Jensen. He was a necromantic drop out. I had first year classes with him. He was kind of put off by my being there. Turns out he didn’t have much magical talent but still had a calling to help the dead and those who’d lost someone. I didn’t really care to be honest. I didn’t get into this work necessarily to help people. It was just something that came naturally to me and didn’t usually require too much socialization - however, I will need to rethink that considering all the issues I’ve been having.

Delilah’s body wasn’t embalmed yet and still in decent shape despite the break in her neck, hip, and a few cracked ribs. I confirmed with the mortician that they could have a medical mage over as soon as the soul was attached to do the healing.

I also asked about the family and said boyfriend at Delilah’s insistence. The family had been by for paperwork but Eric didn’t know about any boyfriend.

The director called in a medic mage and Eric helped me set up Delilah’s body for resurrection. Thankfully, funeral homes have a lot of the same tools I use and so I didn’t need to schedule, go get my things, and so on.

With Delilah there bothering me, it was easy to attach her back to her corpse. It was faster than with Gallo senior because of the enthusiasm. Eric and I had to make sure she stayed perfectly still until the medic arrived. It was hard because she was in pain but that was remedied quickly with a morphine drip and hot blanket.

I left my information for Delilah and her family, and headed home. I had better get paid. I really need to get that shield fixed.