The Guardian's Duelist Chapter 8 P-1

A little over an hour later, all the students were back in class, but the teachers couldn't stop the constant whispering about Morgan Halo.

"Where do you think she is?"

"Did she maybe already leave the island?"

"I would 'die' to get her autograph."

"Do you think she would go on a date with me?"

All these whispers were driving Chazz near the edge of sanity. He balled his hands into fists and it took all his might and Jaden's reassuring look that kept him from bursting from his seat, yelling at his classmates, and rushing back to the dorms.

At lunch, Crowler had ordered the students to stay in the school and were forbidden to go to their dorms like they normally were. When Chazz had heard this, he silently thanked the annoying professor for the quick thinking. Still, that didn't stop the gossiping and everyone was rushing to the student store to buy copies of the latest duel magazines that mentioned anything about Morgan.

As Jaden, Syrus, Chazz, and Hassleberry sat in the usual place on the staircase in the center of school, they all watched their peers excitedly talking of Morgan and where she could be.

"Am I the only one that didn't know about Morgan before she got here?" Jaden mumbled.

"I hadn't heard of her either, Jay," Syrus supported.

"Same here, Sarge," Hassleberry put in.

They all looked at Chazz, who was looking off into the distance. He quickly realized that they were all staring at him and looked back with his usual scowl.

"What?" he scoffed.

"You okay?" Jaden asked, the only one of his friends not afraid to get on Chazz's bad side.

Chazz didn't reply but looked down, balling his hands into fists once more.

"If you're worried about her, don't be," Jaden stated. Leaning closer he added, "The dorms are the last place they would look for her."

Chazz only response was a nod.

Meanwhile, back at the Sleifer Red dorms…

Morgan came out of the bathroom brushing her wet and tangled red-brown hair and wearing her regular street clothes instead of the Obelisk Blue girl's uniform. She wore faded, navy-blue, bootcut jeans and a white sweatshirt with a strange, furry, alien-like drawing printed on it, possibly a Duel Monster*. She flopped onto the couch and brushed out the last knot in her damp hair before setting the blue round brush aside. She leaned back on the couch, swung her arms on the back rest, and stared up at the ceiling.

Pharaoh strode across the room and leaped onto Morgan's lap, quickly settling down into a curled up ball like he had always done with Professor Banner. The girl looked down at the fat tabby-tom and smiled sweetly. She then began to run her hand down the cat's back, starting at it's bulky head and ending at the base of where the tail began, and she looked back up at the ceiling, obviously lost in thought. Pharaoh purred in satisfaction, encouraging Morgan to keep up the motion.

After several more strokes, Pharaoh half meowed, half yawned, and a small, yellow sphere of light came out of the cat's mouth. The light floated over to Morgan's left side and it shifted into the transparent spirit of Professor Banner.

Sensing the presence of a spirit, Morgan stopped her stroking, tore her gaze from the ceiling and looked straight to her left. Surprised but not scared out of her senses, her eyes grew wide when she saw the professor smiling sweetly at her.

"Who are you?" Morgan asked with a curious tone.

"I am Professor Banner, the former administrator of this dorm," the easygoing man replied, leaning back on the sofa and looking up at the ceiling like Morgan had.

Morgan blinked and seemed to study the professor for a few moments. "Darkness once controlled your heart and you payed the ultimate sacrifice," she stated in a calm voice.

Despite not being able to his eyes, the expression on Professor Banner's face was that of shock when he whipping his head to look at the girl.

"How far off am I?" Morgan added with a hint of sarcasm, as if she knew  that the spirit would react the way he did.

Banner smiled and actually laughed a little towards the ceiling. "Not far," he even replied. Looking back at Morgan, he continued. "I'd heard the powers of The Keeper of The Guardians was astounding, but you're even more remarkable than I first thought."

Morgan blushed at the compliment. "Am I really that well known in the Spirit World?"

"I don't think you can call a cat's stomach the Spirit World." Banner indicated to Pharaoh who was snoring on Morgan's lap.

Morgan looked down at the fat tabby and giggled. "I sure would like to hear 'that' development," she remarked.

Professor Banner looked at the clock that hung on the wall to the right. "Well, classes don't end for another hour, so we have plenty of time."