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WE HAVE TO WALK A FEW blocks to find our “charge,” as Sander puts it. She lives near the Ponte Vecchio, the most famous bridge in Florence, which looks like something out of a painting. I still can't believe we're in Italy right now. I always wanted to travel, but Grandpa wouldn't go much further than the Farmer's Market across town. He said he lost the travel bug when he got old, and I think that's sad. Someday, when Grandpa dies, I'm going to take him all over the world—but first, I have to master warping. If I can transport myself to a random rooftop, it seems like I'm off to a good start.
Our charge is a seventy-nine-year-old lady named Sofia Rossi. She's got a lot of wrinkles, but most of her hair is still jet black. She's hooked up to an oxygen tank, and her liver-spotted skin is slick with sweat. It must be hot, but as a spirit, I'm not affected by temperatures as much.
“Sofia...” Sander reports, “suffers from COPD and heart disease. Sadly, I don't think she has much time in this world. However, she must not be too close to death, or this job would have gone to a psychopomp.”
“Psychopomp? What?” Sometimes I feel like I've been overloaded with afterlife terminology. Psychopomp is definitely a new one.
“I should have said Helper, I guess. They're spirits who work with Archangel Azrael, the Angel of Death,” Sander explains. “Anyway, it's our job to find out what Sofia wants. And we should work extra, extra hard, as I believe this could be one of her final requests.”
“That's... depressing.”
While Sander and I are chatting, a middle-aged lady comes to check on Sofia. They say something in Italian, which sounds a little like Spanish, but my high school foreign language skills are dusty, to say the least.
“That's her daughter,” Sander says. “Her name is Martina. She's been Sofia's caregiver for the last two years.”
Martina moves Sofia to a wheelchair and takes her outside, presumably for a bit of fresh air. We can kinda see the Ponte Vecchio from their house, which makes for a fantastic view.
“Normally, this is the point where I would have you listen to Sofia's thoughts,” Sander says. “But... since her thoughts are in Italian, I would be wasting your time. Unless...”
Raising an eyebrow, I ask, “Unless... what?”
“You don't happen to speak Italian, do you?”
My instructor's question makes me chuckle. “I took Spanish classes for a few years, but... no. I don't speak Italian. Do you?”
“Indeed I do. I speak several languages. That's probably why this job was assigned to us.”
It sounds like he's the braggart now, but if I could speak multiple languages, I'd probably be boasting too.
“Speak some Italian to me,” I request.
“L’ospite è come un pesce. Ha un odore dopo tre giorni.”
That sounds like legit Italian. Of course, I understood zero percent of it, so I ask, “What did you just say?”
“The guest is like a fish. He starts to smell after three days,” Sander translates. “It's an Italian expression about overstaying your welcome. It's one of my favorites.”
“Can you speak Japanese?” I challenge him.
“Nihonn go wo renshu suru hitsuyou ga arimasu.” Before I can ask, he translates, “Basically, that means I need to brush up on my Japanese.”
“Is there a language you can't speak?” I ask.
“A few. However, I know the basics of most languages, including some dead ones... like Aramaic,” Sander says. “I confess, it's hard to find a polyglot, even among...”
I wait for him to finish that thought, but when he doesn't, I press him to continue. “Even among what?”
“I was just going to say... even Archangels can't speak as many languages as I can. Most of the time, Italian spirits are assigned to Italian charges, French spirits are assigned to French charges... and so on. I guess they thought I knew enough of the language to give the job to me.”
To be honest, this seems like an inconvenient job for a brand new student. If I'm supposed to practice mind-reading, how can I do that when there's a language barrier?
“Your LightTab can translate for you,” Sander says, as if he's reading my mind. “It can't translate thoughts, but if you're curious about a conversation between Sofia and her daughter, you can set it to translate mode.”
Sander teaches me how to set my LightTab to the aforementioned mode, but I'm not gonna lie, I feel really overwhelmed. This seems like an advanced lesson. It's a bit too much for a newbie like me.
My LightTab automatically translates a question asked by Martina: “Mom, would you like some tea?”
The translator's voice sounds robotic. That's a surprise. Even in the afterlife, I guess this software isn't perfect.
Sofia replies, “Yes, dear, that would be lovely.”
When Martina leaves, Sander gets down to business. He tells me, “I'm going to listen to Sofia's thoughts, to find out what she wants. I'm sorry you can't participate in this, Mikayla. On our next job, hopefully I can teach you this rudimentary skill.”
I hope that doesn't mean I'll fall behind in my lessons. I've already gotten good at accidental manifestation and warping, so maybe I have nothing to worry about?
A few minutes later, Sander reports, “She's thinking about a lost love, a man named Matteo. She knew him when she was in her fifties, but... apparently, it didn't work out.”
“So... what? Is it our job to hook her up with Matteo again?” I ask.
“I'm not sure. Let me listen to her thoughts a little while longer.”
I stand next to Sander, feeling totally useless. If Sofia could speak English, I assume I would be doing something a bit more productive right now.
“She and Matteo were very close,” Sander reports. “For two years, she spent almost every day with him. She wanted him to be her second husband, but... she moved away to be closer to her family. In doing so, Sofia broke her own heart, as well as Matteo's. She wrote several letters to him, but after awhile, he stopped writing back. To this day, she still pines for him.”
“Sooo...” I ask the same question I asked before. “Is it our job to hook her up with Matteo again?”
“I wouldn't say hook up is the appropriate term,” Sander corrects me. “However... I have a feeling she would like to reunite with him before she dies. That is our mission. Are you ready to travel to Pisa?”