LSS: Dungeons and Detectives

A collab with @RangerofIthilien and @RavenAkuma

"If you heard V, maybe we should go outside," Noah suggested to Raine. They were still crouched beneath the teacher's desk, neither one exactly eager to leave. The smudge stick had since burned out and they were sent into darkness, too cautious to turn on a flashlight out of the fear of being noticed.

Noah perked their ears, trying to listen for any sound of the entity. There hadn't been any noticeable sign of it leaving, but it was quieter than it had been... at least, they thought it was quieter. It was hard to hear anything over their hearbeat, pounding in their ears like a constant soundtrack.

"I don't think I hear anything," Noah said, knowing that could be either good or bad. They looked to Raine for her opinion.

"Me neither... although if it was still trying to find us, we would hear it. I'm sure." Raine replied quietly. "I think it's safe. if not, I have another smudge stick and we can make a run for it again." She sent them a reassuring look that still seemed to have a bit of anxiety in it before carefully peeking around the desk to make sure the coast was clear. "We're good."

Noah rose, their knees and back cracking with the stretch. They debated whether to turn their flashlight on before remembering Liz's warning about the creature's light sensitivity and decided to keep it off. Anything to keep it calm (well, relatively so) and away from them was a must. They hoped that since they were with Raine, they would be safe from the nightmarish visions that had happened at the front doors--- strength in numbers, right?

The two squinted and felt their way to the classroom door, the darkness making it hard. Easing the door open, they poked their heads out. It was hard to make out anything very well, but the danger felt like it had gone. After a deep breath, Noah hazarded a quick glance around, this time with the flashlight.

Noah sighed. "Okay, I think we're in the clear. Now, can you remember where you heard V from?"

"I'm not sure, it was really sort of echoy and faint but-"

"Hang on, I think I hear something coming." Listening past Raine's voice, Noah heard something that sounded like ragged breaths. Heartbeat increasing once more, they hurriedly clicked off the flashlight. They lowered their voice to a whisper. "Should we go back inside?"

The noise was getting closer and closer, but something made Noah stay put. It didn't feel like the entity, exactly; they felt less paralyzed in fear and more in control. Rushed footsteps joined the breathing as both grew closer and closer to where Noah and Raine were pressed against the wall, flashlights out, hoping whatever it was would pass them by.

The thing turned the corner, lantern swinging, and---

Lantern?

Noah, squinting at the bright light, stepped away from the wall. They couldn't make out the figure behind it, but given the odds that another person would be in the condemned school, they gave a tentative call. "V? Is that you?"

V's voice came back as the newcomer lowered the lantern. "Noah? Raine?"

Noah's tensed muscles relaxed. "Thank God. Yeah! It's us." They walked forward until they were in the cone of lantern light, V's familiar face illuminated. "I'm so glad we found you." They paused. "Or, you found us, I guess."

"Yeah..." V sighed, "You have no idea how much it irritates me to say this, but we need to get out of here. Whatever this thing is, we need more prep than this."

Noah chewed their lip. "Yeah. You're right." They looked to the ground. "I'm really sorry I dragged you both out here. I really thought it would be..." They trailed off. "I don't know."

"No, you were right to bring attention to this thing," V insisted. "Just imagine if a normal person came in here and found that thing. I'm just saying we need more ammunition, so to speak, and a more thorough plan."

Noah nodded, though still trying to swallow past the lump in their throat.

Raine nodded in agreement and when about to speak when a small clatter could be heard in a room farther down the hall, as if something had been thrown. "We also need to get out of here. Whatever stopped it before isn't going to work for much longer."

V nodded in agreeance. "Yeah. Let's go; that thing is mad, and it's going to come for us any second."

The three started down the hallway. It was a bit tricky navigating the school with only flashlights, but they eventually puzzled out which way the exit was. Already feeling the cool air through the bottom of t he door, Noah quickened their pace, eager to leave. They felt V and Raine behind them, all three so close to safety at last. They were only around ten feet away when something rushed through them, disorienting and fast.

Fearing the worst, Noah winced as something dark manifested right between them and the door.

It was the entity, and it didn't seem too pleased that its playthings were trying to escape.

After finally making it to the entrance, V felt her stomach drop, like she just swallowed a ton of rocks.

The entity -a pitch-black shadowy figure with no discernible features- was standing between them and the door. Its limbs were like gnarled tree branches, and it seemed to be constantly phasing in and out of sight.

V thrust the lantern forward, only for the bulb to suddenly shatter with an ear-piercing 'pop,' spewing small, burning-hot shards of glass everywhere. Darkness immediately enveloped them all.

"Everyone okay?" Noah asked.

"Fine, but we won't be for long unless we do something." Raine replied, a tenseness in her voice now that wasn't there before.

"Goddammit," V muttered, stepping back. She still had her flashlight, but the weak beam did barely anything to make the entity react -apart from maybe getting more annoyed.

The entity took a shaky step forward, and V slowly stepped back in response.

"Everyone, remember, stay focused and grounded," she whispered. "What do we have? I already hit it with bone dust and it barely did anything the first time."

"I've just got a flashlight and my camera," Noah replied. "I don't want to make it angry, though."

"I have another smudge stick." Raine chimed in. "It won't calm it for-"

Without warning, the entity suddenly completely phased out and remanifested almost directly in front of them. The aura of pure terror and nightmares engulfed them, making V grip her flashlight even harder.

Acting on instinct, Noah braced themself behind their camera. In their fear, they barely remembered its hatred of light. Barely. With a grunt, they unleashed a torrent of photo shots with the flash enabled, the clicks echoing in the hallway. The spirit seemed to recoil under the white bursts of light.

Seeing this brief window, V grabbed the first thing she could think of; the vial of holy water hanging around her neck.

"Thy will be done," she murmured before ripping off the pendant and casting a few droplets out.

The entity let out a screech that made fear rise in them all, as it staggered backward. It seemed to stop phasing out and turned slightly more physical, to the point it was almost a human figure. Almost human.

"Nice one, Noah!" V called. "Stay together, make a run for it!"

They almost made it to the door; they were about two feet away when V noticed the knob jiggling, and heard a very out-of-place 'click.'

V lurched back. "Wait..."

Noah blanched. "Did that doorknob just move? Is there more than one ghost?" They turned to V. "Can multiple things haunt a building?" They paused. "Can ghosts even open doors?"

V groaned in frustration and anxiety, "I don't even know anymore!"

"Well we can't go back!" Raine exclaimed. "Let's not worry about it and just get out if it opens!"

Sure enough, the door swung open on its own.

A stranger stepped inside. A black-clad, green-eyed, ginger-haired man that she thought may be familiar for a moment, but immediately second-guessed that assumption as well.

"I thought I heard voices in here when I showed up." He eyed the frightened looking group for a moment before his sight caught on the dark entity behind them, an entertained smirk appearing on his face. "And I can see why I heard them too."

The stranger quickly looked unamused though after being hit by handful of salt, and hearing Raine scold V.

He brushed the salt off his clothes before taking a small box, looking much alike to a radio off his belt. Confidently stepping between the three and the ghost, he turned it on, filling the room with the sound of static as it shifted through frequencies.

"Alright, let's start easy. Are you trying to hurt these people?" The stranger asked, practically staring down the ghost.

There was a moment of suspenceful silence, or not silence due to the static, before a strangled sounding female voice came through, sing-songing:

"The wolf howls in the forest dark,
he wants but he cannot sleep.
Hunger tears in his wolf belly,
and it’s cold down in his den."

"I'll take that as a yes." The stranger said, shutting off the spirit box.

V was a bit surprised upon hearing the voice, as it was very different from the illusions it put up. Another detail to help reinforce what was real in this wild situation and what wasn't.

Raine perked up when she heard the voice come through the spirit box. She quickly opened her journal and flipped to the correct page, crossing things off until there was only one left. "In that case, this is a mare!"

"Okay..." V arched one brow. "And a Mare is...what?"

"It's a scandinavian spirit responsible for nightmares." Raine explained, about to say more before the stranger interrupted.

"That's all I need to know, thanks. You guys head outside and I'll take care of this."

Raine frowned a little but nodded and began to head towards the door, not wanting to be in there any longer than she had to.

V fell in line behind Noah and Raine, finally crossing the threshold of this accursed schoolhouse. However, she couldn't help glancing over her shoulder. She was both curious and suspicious about this newcomer and his intentions.

Raine stepped away from the group for a moment and leaned against one of the gnarled trees in front of the schoolhouse to regain her composure. Even after the stranger had shown up, adrenaline and anxiety had still been running through her, causing the panic which didn't allow her to think straight in the slightest.

Looking back, she could have easily figured out that it was a mare. They were both able to outrun it and it didn't slow down or seem to get weaker while they were in there. The sensativity to light itself should have been a dead give away.

But it wasn't. She had did exactly what V had said not to do and lost her grounding, getting caught up in the panic of what felt like an entirely different, nightmarish world inside the building. She was a little disappointed in herself if she were to be honest, although if it had been just her she would have tried to get outlong before it got that angry.

Or I might not have gotten out at all...

The thought of the black dog had crossed her mind with its menacing red eyes. What would it have meant for her had she gone in alone? Would would it have meant for them as a group had the stranger not shown up? Would that cursed dog have claimed one of their lives?

V approached and asked in her typical (possibly unintentionally) blunt tone, "You alive over here?"

Noah followed in step behind her, eyebrows perked in concern above their glasses. "Yeah, is everything alright?"

"Hm?" Raine glanced up at them after a moment. "Yes, I'm fine, just thinking..."

"So..." V's eyes narrowed to a suspicious glare, aimed back toward the schoolhouse. "Do any of you know that guy?"

"No," Noah replied. "But I didn't know any of you either when we saved Ben. I'm sure he's just here to help."

"Right, should've figured..." V tucked her hands into the pocket of her tailcoat. "Truth be told, I want to say he's familiar, but I don't know exactly. He seemed well-equipped, so maybe he's been around the 'ghost hunting forums' and whatnot. You know, the social internet stuff I'm still not a hundred-percent acquainted with."

Raine nodded. "Maybe... I certainly don't know him so maybe we'll have to ask when he comes back."

She wasn't really sure how to feel about this stranger. It would be a little reassuring if V actually knew him but as for right now, that didn't look promising.

Raine didn't have much time to contemplate however as soon the stranger came out to join them, tucking something into his pocket before running a hand through his bright ginger hair.

"Alright, now that that's done with, I guess you guys deserve a proper introduction. I'm Sebastian and you guys are?"

V sneered, "After a cut-in like that, I expect more than a name."

Sebastian raised a brow. "Oh, you'll get more then that but I want to know your names first. Hold your horses."

Noah edged in front of V, offering their hand to Sebastian. "I'm Noah. Thanks for having our backs back there."

Sebastian smiled a bit and shook their hand. "Noah, nice name. And anytime, that's what I do."

Raine forced a small smile. "And I'm Raine. Nice to meet you."

Sebastian smiled. "Nice to meet you as well. I work with a company that you probably don't know of. Does Dutchman Paranormal ring a bell?"

V arched one brow, looking to her more familiar companions. "Anyone?"

Noah shrugged. "I'm new to this, remember?"

"Oh yeah," V murmured. "Dangit, need to remember that. I'm used to Raine blindsiding me with answers by now."

"Sorry, I don't know either." Raine replied.

Sebastian chuckled. "Had a feeling. Anyway..." He pulled out his phone to look at a note. "we enlist paranormal investigators to locate corporeal entities. We don't worry much about the common entities, we like to record those encounters but otherwise it's on the team to decide how to dispel them, but when something big like a demon or an oni pops up, we secure them if possible and take them in for research." He glanced up from his phone and put it away before continuing. "We've been watching mainly you V, for a while, and Raine a bit, especially now that you've formed a group and would like to offer you a spot as investigators for the company. Would you guys be interested? Of course we wouldn't hire you right away but sort of do a demo run. Next investigation you do, I'll tag along and if you make the standards, you're hired."

V looked like someone just punched her in the gut. "Excuse me?"

Sebastian raised a brow. "What?"

V sneered, "Sorry if I find it a little weird that someone pops up out of nowhere, admits to spying on me, and takes an interest in my particular resume. I mean, Noah, Raine, what do you make of this?"

"I must admit it's a little odd but it sort of makes sense if he's a representative of a paranormal company.." Raine replied.

Noah frowned. "Still. I know I wasn't being watched, but it definitely feels like a privacy infringement for you two."

"Look, I mean like business wise."Sebastian set his hands on his hips. "We've looked at paranormal reportings then seen them taken care of and both V and Raine seem to be taking quite a few, alright?" He reached for one of his many pockets and pulled out three business cards, handing one to each of them. "Now I really don't have long to spend here, getting rid of the ghost took enough of my time. When you're ready, make your descisions and let me know."

With that, he made his way back towards a shiny black car in the parking lot and left, leaving the three alone to think.

After the encounter in the abandoned schoolhouse and narrowly evading a Mare, V wasn't fazed by the late hour. She decided to skip the hotel visit and drive through what remained of the night, all the way back to her apartment. The long period of silence, driving through lush forestry silhouetted by starlight, gave her plenty of time to reccount everything that happened.

The Mare. The illusions. Liz's ominous warnings. How it all went wrong, followed by their narrow escape. Then, of course, meeting Sebastian. All of it had her feeling annoyed and confused.

Sebastian's card was practically taunting her from its place in her wallet. She would have to give him an answer.

Making it to the complex, she headed up to her apartment. There, V did three things aside from punching a hole in her wall out of frustration. She touched up her journal with more vague notes that made little (if any) sense, plowed through one of the only books on non-violent ghost research she owned, then finally jumped on her laptop. She immediately clicked open her browser and typed one thing into the search bar.

'Dutchman Paranormal'

A basic web search hardly pulled up anything, as would be expected when it came to this particular genre. The closest thing she found was an article critiquing a related hunter as some nutjob. V was so used to such hype and labels that it didn't even make her blink, so she continued onto the common ghost hunting blogs and forums.

Every time she typed in 'Dutchman Paranormal' and hit the search button, it was the same mixed results. One sentence in a an entire article mentioning the company, a vague statement from a supposed 'representative,' stories from amateur hunters about being approached by scouts from their company. Some left glowing praise about the group, others left eerie warnings, but a vast majority of them seemed completely indifferent. Almost as if this organization was just an accepted element of the job at this point.

"But if they're so normalized..." V's eyes narrowed. "Why is there so little information? God, I hope it's not lurking in the deep web somewhere..."

V had some tricks that would allow her to check -it was how she gleaned warnings and information about the people who took ghost games and summonings too far. But not wanting to subject herself to any type of risk, she just closed the laptop and sighed.

From the bathroom, Liz's voice echoed, "Need a hand?"

"Unless you've heard of a 'Dutchman Paranormal' or..." She took a business card out of her wallet. "One 'Sebastian Charles Simon,' no and buzz off."

Liz let out an audible sneer. "Nope. Good luck with that."

Figuring she left, V got up and started sorting through her supplies. What looked like a well-stocked arsenal not too long ago now seemed lacking in several ways. She only had some basic tracking tools, and absolutely nothing for the ghost to communicate with. Even her crummy little journal was as good as empty, no usable information. The only thing she had now was the stupid lanterns that hardly helped in the hunt. Nor would they come in use again, unless they found another oddly specific entity with a resent for light.

"Needless to mention..." She sighed and murmured to herself, "The last job. My strategy just fell apart in front of me, but if everybody's right about not all ghosts being monsters...maybe that's for the best after all."

That would be the biggest wrench in the most obvious plan; just telling Sebastian 'no' and move on. Whether this organization was legitamate or not, regardless of what their purpose was, she could at least use them as a means to hone her skills, maybe even stock up on some better supplies. If she was lucky, maybe she'd even find ways to start making a less chaotic income. Sure, there were risks involved, but were they enough to outweigh the pros? That was the real question.

"Hmph..." She sighed and meandered into the kitchen. The troubling state of her wallet reflected in her cabinets, leaving a cheap bag of ramen as her best option. While it cooked, she crashed onto her couch. It was a hand-me-down, so it wasn't that comfortable and even had a slight reek of mold. Even so, she didn't feel like moving to her bed.

After a moment, she perked up and pulled out her phone. For once, she wanted a second opinion before she made any decisions, and not from an annoying hag of a ghost.

She hit a number in her history, then listened to the dial tone until a familiar voice picked up.

By the time Raine got home, she was more then happy to sit down. Despite still being a little shaken from dealing with the Mare she still had a couple business to visit and posters to put up from earlier that day and so tried to finish with those as soon as she could. Luckily, it didn't really matter when she did it as long as she got it done and had a report typed up by the end of the week. However, for right now, the report could wait.

In the small kitchen area consisting of a microwave and small fridge, the electric kettle Raine had brought with her to the motel on its portable stovetop had just begun whistling loudly, tone climbing higher in the seconds it took for her to reach it and turn take it off the heat. She set it aside on an oven mitt and rummaged through her things before finding a small antique tea tin in which she kept her tea.

Most of her tea was black tea left in the traditional fashion, loose leaf which she put in a little antique silver tea infuser with a delicate chain. Often she put other things with the tea in the infuser to make different variants such as dried bergamot peels to make the perfect cup of earl grey. Although today, she simply went with a relaxing blend of chamomile and lavender, the perfect mix to unwind, while omitting the black tea as she didn't feel like she needed to caffeine.

Raine let the tea steep for a few minutes before taking the steaming mug and settling into a spot on the bed and nestling into a pile of blankets that was there; she was tired of being cold. She smiled a bit as she took a sip of her tea before reaching over to grab her laptop. Opening it, she set it on a pile of two pillows before beginning to type.

She had been contemplating the offer Sebastian had told V, Noah, and herself about and couldn't get it out of her head. It seemed odd no matter how you put it although the part that bugged her most was the fact that Sebastian had been able to find them.

She tried to tell herself that it had just been some sort of extremely convenient coincidence but she couldn't entirely convince herself of that. Another option was he was planning to wait there for them, knowing it was a haunted location. If that was the case though, wouldn't he had already been there when they arrived? Getting there early in the morning instead of the afternoon? That's certainly what she herself would have done.

But Sebastian wasn't herself and she knew hardly anything about him or what he would do. To her, he was unpredictable. Unless, that is, she could find more about him. It was time to start digging deeper.

'Dutchman Paranormal'

After thirty minutes of fruitless searching and only finding stories about the ghostly ship itself and absolutely nothing about the company, she finally found a small lead. It was hidden deep in the article and only one passing mention of it was made up it was indeed there. In the story about the ship, it was noted that a company was sending a crew out to go look for the ship and prove if the legends were true, calling themselves a paranormal company after the Dutchman or "Dutchman Paranormal." This had to be one in the same to what she was looking for but she had to verify.

Hoping she could link the company to who had come to contact them, she opened another tab to begin digging into who Sebastian was and if she could find anything relating to the company or expedition on himself or relatives.

'Sebastian C. Simon'

More time passed as Raine searched, nestled into her warm pile of blankets, although she could not say how much as she genuinely wasn't keeping track. With how skilled she was in researching, having to do so on nearly a daily basis, she would have thought this to be easier. No matter what she did though, the answers eluded her.

Sighing in frustration, she set her now empty cup down on the nightstand beside her and closed the laptop. There wasn't much else to do. Her meager notes looked barren compared to the ones she usually took and the simple blue ballpoint pen wasn't very encouraging either, being as her favorite one had been snapped by the Mare earlier the day.

Raine was just about to put her laptop away and rest for the night, hoping it would help her to research more with a clearer mind in the morning when she paused. A faint buzzing could be heard somewhere around the room. She got up and looked around before digging her phone out of the pocket of her jacket which was hanging on a chair.

Seeing as it was V, she quickly answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Raine, do you have a minute?"

"Of course." Raine responded, moving to sit in her little nest of blankets again.

"Have you managed to find anything about Dutchman Paranormal, or the guy we talked to after that Mare encounter?"

Raine sighed heavily. "No, no I haven't and trust me, I've looked. It shouldn't be this hard to find something on a company. The only thing I found that was relatively useful was that they sent a crew to look for the Dutchman itself at one time however the article was incredibly outdated so I'm not sure how accurate it is. As for the fellow we talked to, I found a little bit on him but nothing about the company. I found out who his parents are and he's an only child. That's about it beside sports and brief school records."

V laughed, "That's like ten times the amount I found. They're really underground, which seems like a big red flag."

"It very much does." Raine paused. "Although... Is it bad that that makes me more curious?"

"No, I'm right there with you. Or if it is bad, at least we're both guilty. Not only would learning more about them possibly come in use, but what's making me hesitate is the chance to improve our skills. You know, Sebastian seemed very well-equipped and knowledgeable. Maybe we would be able to divert some of that to ourselves and improve. Especially after the last...encounter."

"I agree although it also makes me a bit nervous that he knew where to find us instead of just figuring out a way to call or email us. I know my information is readily available due to my job but he didn't use that..."

"Maybe that run-in was just a coincidence, and he just jumped on the opportunity while he could? Heh, look at me being an optimist...Yeah, there's a lot that's weird about this, I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth putting up with to get everything I just listed."

"Lets hope it waas just a coincidence." Raine hummed. "I don't know. Maybe it might be worth contacting him again to try and get more information."

"I guess that should be the next step. One of us calls, then reports back on what they collected."

Raine flipped her paper from earlier over and scrawled down a note to call Sebastian. "Good idea. Any specific questions? It would be good to make a list of all questions we have for him so we only have to make one call."

"Pleased on't judge me for this, but maybe we could ask if this job is a paying one?"

"Of course. Depending on how intensive this one is I may have to make a decision based on finances as well."

"Good. It would also be good to know the obvious, as in what their work actually entails. Are they just a bigger collection of hunters-slash-investigators, or is there something else they're planning to do with the spirits?"

"Very good idea." Raine wrote down those two questions before adding on. "How much they pay and the rate would be good too along with how much travel going on these jobs would mean and if they pay the travel costs."

"Heh, you'll know more about the business side than I will. What else is there?"

Raine hummed. "Insurance would be another question."

"Oh yeah, that is a thing people do -I mean, yeah, I get that."

Raine chuckled a little. "Yeah it is. Wait, is ghost hunting like your main job and profession?"

"It's, uh...complicated. I could just use a little extra help is the point of it."

"I understand." Raine hummed, glancing at her notes. "Well, are there any other questions you want to ask?"

"Funnily, even though it feels like there's a million, I can't think of the words...I'll just say that I bet any I have, you'll have too, and bank on that. The only other thing I have in mind is getting Noah's thoughts on the matter, but that'd be better to do after we get more information."

"Unless they have any other questions to add. Although, another call can be made if there are any they have that didn't get answered. Or an email."

"Ah right, good point. Alright, I'll let you go now. Hopefully, there'll be some good news the next time we talk, huh?"

"I hope so as well but we'll see." Raine agreed. "Have a good rest of your night."

"You too, Raine. Goodnight."

V hung up at that point.

Raine set her phone down and eyed the business card she had been handed earlier by Sebastian. She would call tomorrow but for tonight it was late and she was exhausted from the day's events. Everything strewn across the bed, papers, pens, and other items she set on the nightstand in a questionably stable stack before sinking into her stack of blankets, this time laid in a more functionable manner and not a nest. The light beside her made a soft *click* as she turned it off and she was submerged in a, luckily this time peaceful, darkness.

As soon as Noah got back to their place, they collapsed on their bed, exhausted. They had barely had time to process the offer from Sebastian before their emotions had caught up with them, transforming them from the somewhat-functioning being who could brave haunted schools to someone who just really really wanted to go home. They murmured vague goodbyes to V and Raine before stumbling back to their car. Thankfully, the drive was short, and before they knew it, they were forcing the key into their condo's lock, kicking off their shoes, and letting their glasses clatter to their bedside table before flopping on their mattress.

Breathing in the familiar smell of bed linens, Noah let themself simply exist there for a moment; after a night of such turmoil and emotion, it was exactly what they needed. Through deep breaths, they isolated every tense muscle and let it go, let their thoughts turn to darkness and static. Tears found a way to their eyes and they let them fall, watering their pillowcase. They were briefly aware of Alfie settling in beside them, collar tinkling, before the exhaustion caught up with them and they fell into a (thankfully dreamless) sleep.

They woke up the next morning still in the crumpled flannel from the day before, eyes bleary and mouth dry. After brushing their teeth, getting into a fresh T-shirt, and scooping some kibble into Alfie's bowl, they settled at their kitchen table with a piece of toast, intending to eat it but staring holes in it instead.

Their mind felt too busy to eat, sleep helping somewhat to clear the clutter left from yesterday, but a lot of it remained. Their breakdown in the store bathroom hadn't exactly helped, and when the adrenaline had worn off and they'd said goodbye to Raine and V, they were left feeling ragged and alone, even after a mediocre night's sleep.

They slipped their phone out of their pocket, knowing what they wanted to do. The phone only rang once before their mother picked up.

"Noah?"

They felt their heart release, ease flowing through their limbs. "Mom," they replied, voice breaking a bit.

Julie felt the tension in her child's voice. "What's up, hon? Everything alright?"

Noah bit their lip. "Yeah. Don't worry. I just---"

Her voice dropped a bit, sensing the difficulty in Noah's speech. "What's going on?"

"I..." Noah trailed off. "Just give me a second. I'm trying to think of how to say this."

"Take your time," she replied, though her voice still sounded pinched from worry. "Take deep breaths, remember."

"I know," Noah said. "I know." They cleared their throat. "Just... a lot's been going on lately. I met some new people, and---"

"Are they kind?"

"What?"

"Are they kind?" Noah could picture their mother's eyes, severe behind her glasses.

"Yes. Yeah. They're amazing, really. I went through a tough time yesterday and they really helped me through it."

Julie gave a pensive "mmm."

"I just... can I just talk? Some of it won't make sense, but I feel like I need to tell this to you."

"Of course, sweetie."

Noah took a deep breath. "So last night something pretty weird and kind of frightening happened. I did it willingly, and I was never in any real danger, so don't worry; it was just a lot of emotion. And stress. A lot of stress. I was with my new friends, and we stuck it out." They swallowed. "Eventually, someone else came along--- a stranger--- and offered us..." Noah wasn't sure what to say. A job? A mission?

"Gave us an offer," they settled on eventually. "And I just... I don't know what to do. I wasn't even sure if I was included in it. The people I was with, they've been doing things a lot longer than I have, and it kind of sounded like they had been scouted by this guy. It would mean change, and I really don't know if I'm up for it. But I also don't want to let them down."

Julie hesitated before speaking. "Are you sure you're not in danger?"

Her question made Noah realize how much they had made it sound (albeit unintentionally) that they were now engaging in crime as a side hustle.

"I'm sure," they affirmed. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more. It's kind of weird. I'm also not sure how much I can reveal without it sounding too crazy."

They could hear their mother grappling with the information in the crackly phone silence. "Is it something with the newspaper, then?"

"Yeah." They gave a half-laugh, breathy, thinking back to the night before when they'd used their camera as a weapon of sorts against the mare. "I guess so."

"Well," their mom continued, "I know you just wanted to get it all out, but here are my two cents: just talk. Ask for all the informaiton you can, and make the choice that's best for you, not anyone else, okay?"

Noah nodded. "Okay. Thanks. I really... this really helped."

"Of course, kiddo." They heard her sigh. "You know... coming home is always an option too. We miss you lots."

Noah laughed. "I know. I miss you guys too. Soon, I promise."

A brief moment of silence passed before Noah spoke again. "Is Kade there? I want to talk to him."

"Oof. I'm sorry, he's currently playing in the woods, I believe."

"The woods?" Noah's heart dropped. Hanna was laughing. Kade was crying.

"Yeah. You know how much he loves nature."

Noah chewed their lip, taking deep breaths until the memory was gone. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Tell him to be careful, I guess. And that I love him."

They could hear their mom smiling over the phone. "I will." She paused. "You sure you don't want to come back home?"

Noah sighed, momentarily content. "I'm sure."

No nightmares haunted Raine's mind this time; she was too exhausted to even dream at all. Sleep had quickly overtaken her, peacefully this time, and she managed to sleep until the birds started singing their melodic songs in the morning.

Raine smiled a little as she woke up, the sound of birdsong more welcoming then waking up to silence, at least in her opinion. She brushed a bit of her dark brown hair out of her face and sat up before reaching over to her phone to see what time it was.

Seeing as it was already later in the morning, she got up and started getting ready for the day. She quickly showered then pulled her regular outfit out of her suitcase, the only addition to it being a dark blue sweater since it was a bit cold in the motel room this morning and she would be in there for a while.

As soon as she was ready for the day, she went about looking at what her options for breakfast were. There weren't many to choose from however, her selection being packaged cereal (courtesy of the motel), instant oatmeal, or a granola bar. Being as she didn't have any milk though and the lone granola bar unfortunately didn't look appetizing in the slightest, Raine decided on the oatmeal and popped it in the microwave to cook.

The scent of apple and cinnamon instant oatmeal filled the room as Raine pulled out her laptop and set it at the small table near the side of the room along with her notes from last night and her phone. Thoughts began spiraling in her mind again as she looked at the notes. There were still so many questions to ask and ever though she knew this, none of them came to mind.

Raine sat down at the table and opened the laptop, pulling up a quick search of what to ask when looking into a job as her mind was moving too quickly to isolate on any one thought. Some of the things that came up were quite obvious, others she had tried to find before and failed. She added the ones she didn't have already to the list of questions, finishing right as the microwave beeped, alerting her that her oatmeal was done.

She got up and grabbed her oatmeal along with a spoon before once again sitting down and quietly looking at the business card in front of her. The shiny raised gold letters stood out against the slick black background which was made out of quality material that Raine wasn't precisely sure the name of but it looked expensive. On one side in fancy lettering was "Dutchman Paranormal" while on the other side at the top was Sebastian's name, the text a bit larger then the rest on the side it was on. Below it was his contact information and right in between the two were the words "ghost hunter extraordinaire." Apparently Sebastian had a bit of an ego, although, Raine couldn't say he didn't live up to the title from what she saw in the schoolhouse yesterday.

Carefully picking up the card, she set it closer to her notes and tried to rack her mind of any questions she could be forgetting. After a moment of thought and a couple more bites of oatmeal she sent a quick text to Noah.

Good morning! I hope you're doing well. I'm just about to call Sebastian and get more information, do you have any questions you would like me to ask him?

Finishing her oatmeal, Raine waited for their response, letting her mind wander once again as she tried to think of more questions. She wanted to be as prepared as she could for the call, hoping to make a slightly better impression then she did yesterday just in case she decided she did want to take the job. A good impression was never a bad thing after all.

A moment passed before her phone buzzed, calling her back to reality. She quickly picked it up to see Noah had responded.

Great to hear from you! Could you ask him if the deal extended to me too? And if we'd all be kept together?

Absolutely, thank you![i]

Once she had finished talking to Noah, she glanced at the numbers on the luxury business card once more then began dialing Sebastian's number.

It rang a couple times, building anticipation inside Raine before Sebastian finally answered.

[i]"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Raine. We didn't have long to talk yesterday but I have a few questions for you about the offer you presented to V, Noah, and myself if you have the time."

"As long as you don't mind the sounds of things being thrown in the background then yeah, we can chat." As if having been predicted, something clattered in the background. "If it gets too bad I can go outside. In case you're wondering, it's not a polty."

Raine blinked. "Good to know, as for things being thrown, I don't mind in the slightest."

"Did you decide about the offer already?"

"Not quite yet. I'm interested but would like to know more first, hence the questions I have for you."

"Alright, well, fire away. You've got most of my attention."

"Alright. Well, to start off, was Noah included in the offer and will we all be kept together if we accept?"

"Seeing as you've already formed a team and Noah is part of that team then yes to both questions. If they try to separate you, I can pull strings so you guys will be kept together unless you choose to part."

"Excellent, thank you." Raine took a quick note before continuing. "As for the work side of things, I would like to know more about what this job actually entails. Is Dutchman Paranormal a larger group of ghost hunters or do they do something else with the spirits?"

"There's two groups essentially, the hunters and the researchers. Your job is going to be more on the hunting side of things, either finding, investigating, and getting rid of them how you like, or if the mission details specify, capture and send in for research. Once the spirits are at the research facility then the researchers take over and study them, looking for ways to better help them get out of our plane basically. Unless you're looking to eventually making a researcher spot though, that's not really helpful I guess. Basically for hunters you'll take on a job from a list so you get your choice then go in and take care of it. A report is required at the end but it's not too intensive, just a bunch of fill in the blanks, and you're required to do at least a case a week unless you put in for vacation time and all that."

"Okay..." Raine replied distractedly as she wrote all of that down to show the others later. She would have to organize her notes into a more readable form later but this would have to do for now. "I'm assuming this is a paying job?"

"Of course. We wouldn't expect to send you guys to deal with the dead and dangerous without at least paying you something."

"Continuing off of that, is the pay stable? For example is there a constant rate at which we're to be paid?"

"Sort of..." Sebastian hummed just as there was a shattering of glass in the background. He gave an annoyed sigh but didn't even seemed phased. "I know you're upset, William but please for the love of god stop throwing glass jars at my head." There was a creak, Raine assumed it was the sound of a door opening, and the background was quiet again. "Alright, so you're payed a constant rate but it fluctuates depending on the jobs you do. like the harder the jobs and the quicker they're done, the better the pay. Including if you do more then one job a week. Reports make up part of the pay in hand with time so if the job was harder then expected you'll get paid more then what the file originally said."

Raine quickly wrote all of that done. "Good to know. Now, what about equipment and travel costs? Does the company provide those?"

"Equipment is provided by the company, better equipment the better you become and the longer you've been in the company. It's sort of like a rank system. More jobs you do, the more you prove yourself, the better equipment you get. You guys will be starting off at level one for a few jobs but feel free to use some of the stuff you have already if its better. And yeah, we pay for gas. You'll get a card and we'll refund fuel and boarding on it as long as its reasonable."

"Excellent. That's good to know, having fuel paid will certainly help a lot." Raine said with a smile as she wrote down notes before continuing on. "Are bonuses offered around the holidays and such?"

"Of course. Bigger bonus the harder jobs you do over they year."

"Amazing, if you don't mind and have it, I would greatly appreciate a chart with numbers for the things I mentioned for a tier one position."

"Yeah. I'll send one your way in a minute."

"Thank you very much. Now you said there was more dangerous work, is there insurance to cover that?" Raine asked, lightly tapping her pen against the paper.

"Mhm, you get health insurance, so like vision, medical, and dental, paid off time, and some other stuff which will be on the chart I send you. I can't remember them off the top of my head right now."

"Oh that's fine! Just knowing that we have those helps." Raine said, a bit more upbeat now that she was gaining the information she wanted that she had tried to search for before and failed. "Now I remember you saying that we get to choose jobs we want to take on. Is all of our work remote or is there a location we will need to be at when we're not in the field?"

"All of the work is remote so you pick the jobs and all and you'll have a supervisor, likely me, there with you to make sure it gets done and all that jazz."

"Brilliant." Raine jotted that down below the question with a smile then continued. "One last question before I let you go, and I'm sorry if I'm reiterating what you said earlier, but there are available growth opportunities?"

"It's fine. So there's like different levels, you start of as a hunter with limited gear to make sure you don't join for the gear then jump out right away with it. As you work up to becoming better, you get better gear and if you want to eventually split off to becoming a researcher once you're well versed and credited with the company then you can do that. Or you can keep being a hunter like me and become a supervisor and part of the recruitment team."

"Perfect, those are like raises correct?"

"Pretty much. You get the spot automatically then once they feel like you're ready, they'll give you the option to become a researcher or stay a hunter. Some researcher spots require degrees though but if they like you enough, they'll pay for you to get it."

"Amazing, thank you so much for the help. This answered many questions that I couldn't find the answers for." Raine smiled and wrote down the last bit of information before setting down her pen.

"Anytime, Do you have any more questions?"

"No, you've answered them all, thank you!"

Sebastian chuckled. "Yep, call me if you think of anything else or choose to accept and I'll send that chart."

"Amazing, I still have to talk to Noah and V about it but will do. Have a good rest of your day!"

"I will if this ghost stops throwing glass bottles at me but thanks, you too." The creak of a door could be heard again before another sound of breaking glass. "Goddammit William."

Raine smiled and hung up, seeing as he was occupied at the moment and probably forgot to do so. Glancing over at her notes though, she was incredibly satisfied with the results and hoped the others would be as well. She snatched a new sheet of paper and began organizing the notes a bit better, nicely writing the question in blue ink then the answer in black with a bullet point beneath it.

Halfway finished, her phone buzzed and she happily looked to see Sebastian had sent the chart. Smiling, she went to print it out, preferring to have a physical copy... only to find she didn't have a printer.

"Oh well, I suppose I'll have to stop by a print shop later then."

She hummed and finished up neatly writing down the notes. Despite the lack of a printer, today was turning out to be a rather fine day indeed. All she had to do now was get started on her report on the town as not to leave it to the last minute and find a time to get the answers to Noah and V.

While mowing through a small bag of spicy corn chips, V hung up her phone. After spending the last hour or so getting the full explanation from Raine, she found herself struggling to digest the truckload of information.

"Hm..." She turned her chair to face the bathroom, then kicked the ajar door fully open. "How much of that did you catch?"

Inside the restroom, Liz was leaning out of the mirror, fiddling with the summoning candle. As she ran her ghostly finger -with its bloody talon- straight through the flame, it would briefly follow, allowing her to essentially doodle with it before it reverted to normal just a second later.

Briefly catching the shape of a bird, V sneered, "The fact that you're one of the most feared ghosts among children..."

Liz chuckled boastfully. "Don't lie, I've spooked you more than once even as an adult."

V rolled her eyes. "Anyway, this sounds like a decent deal so far. They pay our travel costs within reason, and we get equipment -the more we prove ourselves, the better it'll get. And best of all, we finally get an income for what we do. Thank gods, because those online 'bounties' are practically all scams by now, and there's never enough people looking for one of us to hire."

Liz sighed, "Modern-day commoners and their needs. It used to be that you tossed them a gulden and they'd be set for the next year."

"Rant all you like, but 'guldens' will not pay my electric bill," V said flatly. "Insurance is included, which is nice since I don't really have any except my uncle's borrowed car policy. There are two job divisions here; hunter and researcher. You guess where I land in that dichotomy."

Liz opened her mouth to speak, but was promptly cut off.

"And don't answer that with some snarky quip about how I'm no longer 'tough enough' to be a hunter. In other words, I'd be doing exactly what I like to do, with better access to information, cash, and gear. Plus insurance and future opportunities, and all that. But..."

Liz smirked. "There's the pessimism I know."

"It seems too good," V muttered. "Like the answer to literally all of our problems just appeared and manifested in front of us. I keep having to double-check that I'm not being tricked by the mare. I don't know if it's something to perceived as a miracle, or something -as I said- too good to be true."

Liz shrugged her shoulders. "So what? As you said, even if it's a worst-case scenario, you can use them to get ahead and worry about it later."

"Fair point," V muttered. She sighed and munched on another chip. "I'm not used to good things happening. Feels weird."

"I can fix that for you," Liz said innocently.

"Shut up, hag," V muttered as she stood.

"Okay, okay, hold on," Liz said quickly, before V could switch on the light. "Where are the weak points, eh? What's a weak point in this whole explanation?"

"Raine told me about the payment chart and the insurance benefits, and they were all legit companies. The gear described matched what we saw that 'Sebastian' guy using..." Her eyes narrowed. "If anything, it's the 'research' aspect. How do they figure out how spirits are supposed to 'move on' without a bunch of trial-and-error, pissing them off and possibly even causing them more pain? Seems counterproductive."

Liz laughed, collapsing against the frame. "Oh, so pathetic...Visellia, my sweet little limp-spined moron, let's break it down from the 'empathetic' perspective. The ghost sits in a house, stewing in its own misery and reliving all its woes, potentially harming other humans. Or they're secured in a facility and go through a trial-and-error until the trial works,"

V's lip curled with irritation. "We know how it works, I watched it happen with-"

"The kid? That was luck. Even your new friend who does the talking won't find pacifying all spirits so easy. So, what do you do? You research."

"Hm..." V grumbled, "I guess that checks out."

Liz drummed her fingers against the sink, waiting for an answer.

V sighed, "I guess the least I can do is scope things out. Look for any red flags, and besides, Raine and Noah will help with the final decision a lot. I can't just leave them hanging at this point, especially since my hunting style is falling apart at the seams."

"How noble of you," Liz said mockingly.

"And you, butt out unless I call you," V responded. "Otherwise, I may just tell these ghost-trapping guys about the fabled 'real way to summon Bloody Mary.' In other words..." She smirked, pondering for a moment. "I would guess it's like when you met me, only ten times more intensive and painful for you. Then you can be the next trial-and-error patient!"

Liz shuddered. "Back off, you can barely go a day without summoning me anymore. You need me!"

"Not if I find living people to do all the research for me," V said tauntingly.

"Alright, alright, let's calm down..." Liz sighed, "'I will be available whenever you may summon me, Lady Angelus."

V flicked on the lightswitch, causing Liz to immediately disappear.

V chuckled to herself. "I could get used to this."

Noah sighed as they clicked send. They'd just finished editing the photos they grabbed yesterday from the school, shots that felt like ages ago but in fact had been less than 24 hours past. Thankfully, most of they had turned out; they would have hated if they were unsatisfied and it meant they had to revisit the school. They'd spent as little time as possible editing the photos while still trying to make them look good, and had left out their usual "let me know if anything needs adjusting" at the end of their email, hoping Helene would take the hint and accept them without any nitpicks.

After they confirmed the email had in fact sent, Noah sat once more at their kitchen table, wondering what to do. They stared at the business card they'd fished out of yesterday's jeans pocket, running their finger along the shiny raised letters. Dutchman Paranormal, huh?

Though they'd received a business card along with V and Raine, they still weren't exactly sure if the offer extended to them as well. They weren't involved with the paranormal, at least not until recently; they were still trying to wrap their head around why so many entities had started appearing in their life now. All they were was a student, a dog parent, a photographer at the local paper--- and that was what they wanted to be at least for a bit longer.

Sebastian had said it himself. They'd been watching V and Raine, not Noah. Never Noah. Even the card itself had felt like an afterthought. They'd only been there by chance, Helene somehow having a strange knack for giving them the assignments with the most ghosts.

But then they thought about their camera, about Ben, and after a few deep breaths, realized they might have been going hard on themself. They'd done things. And while V and Raine were capable individuals, they liked to think any duo they had would have felt incomplete.

Their eyes fell on the business card once more. They still felt unsure about what to do regarding the offer. The conversation with their mother had helped a lot, but there were still two people they needed to talk to, the ones who had been with them when everything had happened: Raine and V. Normally they would have sent them a text or called the night before to make sure they'd gotten home okay, but they'd been so exhausted the thought hadn't even occurred to them. Raine had sent them a text earlier, so they knew she was still alive, but they hadn't heard from V yet.

They slid their phone out of their pocket and sent a quick message to both of them.

It's high time I owe you two that lunch. Let's meet here at noon and chat? Attached was the address of their favorite local diner, Atz's. They figured that Raine could catch them up on whatever she'd learned from Sebastian (if she had ended up calling him), and potentially the three could maybe even come to a decision about the offer.

They started to get ready, shoving the essentials into their green canvas messenger bag. Seeing his owner flurry into action, Alfie poked his head up from where he was laying on the tile floor. He padded over to Noah, forcing himself between their legs and looking up at them with his sweet brown eyes. Noah gave him a few small pats on the head before getting an idea.

They paused, then grinning, took their phone and sent one more message. I'm bringing alfie by the way!

Noah ran a hand through their hair before shoving a beanie on top, grabbing their keys and hooking on Alfie's leash. After it was successfully attached, they slung their bag over their shoulder, threw on their boots, and were out the door as quickly as they had prepared, Alfie in tow.

Raine gathered her things and hurried out the door. She would have simply walked, but having to stop by a print shop still and receiving the text from Noah, she decided to drive to hopefully get there on time and not leave them waiting too terribly long.

She tossed her bag and notes in the passenger's side seat, having almost gotten in on that side before remembering the wheel was on the other side. After having the habit of getting in on the right side when driving for so long, getting in on the left was still something she was getting used to. Even with that though, habit often won over anyway.

Getting in on the correct side this time, Raine started the engine and looked up directions to the print shop which luckily appeared to be in the same area as the address to the restaurant Noah had chosen. As soon as she knew where she was going and had navigation guiding her, she pulled out of the motel parking lot and began making her way downtown once more.

It was very much alike to how it was yesterday, a little slow, with just enough business to keep things going. She just hoped that the print shop wouldn't be any busier, although she doubted it as most had printers at home they could use.

She found a parking spot nearby under a tree to keep the sun off and gathered her things before getting out. It was a short walk until she reached the print shop and opened the door. Inside the scent of ink and paper were prevalent but surprisingly the shop was rather quiet, making the bell at the top of the door sound rather loud as Raine walked in the door.

Near the front of the shop near the windows was a nice little seating area with comfortable looking chairs and side tables separated off from the rest of the shop and machinery by the counter. One side of the counter read pick up station while the other side had a resister. As soon as an employee appeared after hearing the bell, Raine headed over to the side with the register.

Raine quickly spoke to the employee about what she wanted and after paying, sat down to wait. Unfortunately the price had been a little more then she had hoped due to how quickly she wanted them, but it was better to have a physical copy, at least in her opinion.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting, her printed copies of what Sebastian had sent her were done and she quickly headed out the door again. Hopefully she hadn't kept Noah waiting too long, they hadn't exactly said a time.

The directions pointed her further down the street and around the corner then maybe a block or two down. Now all she had to do now was follow them and hope her navigation wasn't leading her astray or to the back door or something.

A collab with @RangerofIthilien

Atz's Diner was so quintessentially American, and Noah loved it. A mishmash of vinyl and linoleum, gingham in abundance, it was coffee-smelling in the mornings and fry oil-smelling by noon. It was a popular spot for students like Noah, given its cheap food, homey aesthetic, and overall deliciousness. They didn't have anything like it near their hometown in Vermont, and whenever their mom and brother came to visit, they always made it a point to bring them there.

After they arrived, they went up to the hostess, a friendly-looking woman with blonde braids and rounded glasses.

She glanced up at Noah then down at Alfie, giving them both a cheery smile. "How many in your party?"

They returned the grin. "Three. The other two aren't here yet though. Is it alright if we sit outside?"

"Certainly! Just follow me."

She led them to a picnic table on the front patio, somewhat concealed behind landscaping and shrubbery. Noah looped Alfie's leash around one of the fenceposts and slid onto a bench.

After a bit their waiter stopped by and Noah placed an order for a plate of french fries; they figured it would be good to have something on the table to share when V and Raine arrived. Sipping their water, they watched pedestrians pass until they caught sight of a familiar face.

Raine walked down the street with a small bundle of papers in her arms and a computer bag at her side. Spotting the diner, she crossed the street and was headed over when she noticed Noah and smiled. "I was hoping I went to the right place."

Noah grinned back. "Yup, this is the one. I got some fries while we wait for V." They gestured to the steaming paper-lined basket in front of them, overfull with thin french fries. "Help yourself! Ketchup packets are somewhere around here. Lunch is on me, remember."

Raine happily sat down across from them, setting the computer bag beside her seat and putting the papers in a neat stack on the side of the table. "Thank you, I appreciate it. These smell really good by the way." She happily took a fry and ate it, brows raising in surprise. "Those are so much better then the chips I tried when I first got here."

Noah nodded. "These ones are Atz's specialty. Well, these, and their cherry pie. That's coming later." They wiggled their eyebrows. "Have you heard from V at all?"

Before Raine could answer, Alfie started barking at a bird. Noah turned after giving Raine an apologetic look. "Hey. What's going on, Alfs? Let's be quiet."

Raine visibly jumped, looking startled before she looked over at Alfie and seemed to relax a little.

Noah noticed Raine's surprise. "Sorry about him. He's friendly, I swear. Just a little crazy about small critters." They stuck a finger under his collar and guided him away from the view of the birds. "C'mere, Alfie. Say hi to Raine." Before he got too close, they turned to Raine, eyebrows knit behind their glasses. "You're not allergic, are you?"

"No, no, not at all. I just have a little bit of a rough history with dogs you could say. He's alright to say hi though." Raine gave them a small smile before turning to Alfie and carefully holding out her hand. "Hi Alfie."

Alfie sniffed Raine's hand before ducking under it, inviting her to pet him. Noah grinned. "See? Friendly. Anyways. We got a little sidetracked; have you heard from V?"

Raine smiled more and pet Alfie before looking up at Noah. "I heard from her last night when she called me then gave her another call earlier today before I got your text."

Noah nodded. "Interesting. What'd she want to call you about, if you don't mind be asking? Was it about the organization?" They paused. "Speaking of, what'd you find out about them? Did you end up calling Sebastian?"

Raine happily nodded and moved the stack of papers to the center of the table. "It was. She tried to research and couldn't find much and so called me. I was luckily researching as well and found a bit more. She did have a couple questions to throw in which I included in the call along with yours. All of the answers are on the paper along with their respective questions and there's also a page with a number chart Sebastian sent me along with the resume he requested we fill out if we choose to join."

Noah slid the papers towards themself, flipping through and scanning Raine's handwriting. There was really only one question they were worried about, and they found it at the top of the second page. Scrawled underneath a simple "All of us?" was the answer:

Yes unless we choose to part, otherwise kept together as a team.

Noah smiled down at the paper, waves of relief emanating through their body. They briefly read through the rest of it, surprised at what a good gig it sounded like. Benefits? Pay? Promotions? Needless to say, it was sounding much better than what they had going on as a photographer at the paper. "Thanks so much for getting this, by the way."

"Of course! It wasn't too hard. Sebastian proved to be quite helpful." Raine replied with a smile.

Noah bit into a fry dipped in ketchup. "Well, that's a good sign at least. Seems like he doesn't have too much to hide, even if the info about Dutchman Paranormal is hard to find."

"Exactly. Hopefully it stays that way as well." Raine hummed, taking another fry as well. "I was a bit tired when I wrote those answers last night so if you see anything that doesn't quite make sense then I can explain better."

Noah paused, looking over her notes. "I see here you mentioned hunting and research; do we know how"---they struggled for the words---"ethical they are? Like we won't be exterminating them, right?"

"So about that, Sebastian said that we get to chose the jobs we take on." Raine began. "Some jobs it'll be up to us to figure out what to do with the ghost as long as they're not haunting there anymore. Other jobs will say if they want more to do with the ghost. In those cases we will have to figure out how to trap it or convince it to go into a sort of containment if we can I'm guessing, then send it in to the research center so they can figure out what to do with it and how to better help them. At least that's what I gleamed from Sebastian. He also seemed to be in the middle of a case though with an upset ghost that liked to throw glass jars so he didn't do too terribly much explaining on what exactly they do with research. Then again, he's not one of the researchers so he might not know."

Noah nodded, taking in what Raine said. "I like the flexibility. I guess it's nice to know we're not just paranormal hitmen." They took a sip of their water, scratching Alfie behind the ears. "It also sounds like we'll have opportunities to travel. Are you looking forward to that, since you're from... not here? I've been meaning to ask, how'd you end up in Ohio?"

Raine smiled. "Absolutely and I'm from England by the way. As for how I ended up in Ohio, I spend a little while learning abroad through college scholarships. A family member also helped pay for it. Eventually I got a job as a historian after I decided to settle with the degree I had with a company that paid for me to travel in return for finding out history of places they were looking to expand to and I ended up here."

"Neat," Noah replied. "I guess I sort of just assumed you were a paranormal investigator like V. Is that something you do on the side, or what?"

"It's more of a hobby for personal reasons you could say. Many times out of curiosity alone though." Raine explained. "What about you? Do you do paranormal investigating full time or on the side?"

Noah laughed. "How about not at all? I'm studying psych part time here and work as a photographer for the local paper. The two times you found me at some paranormal site were pure coincidence alone. I didn't even know that spirits and things were actually real until Ben, basically." They paused. "I am a big horror movie fan, though. Alfred Hitchcock's ones, in particular. That's actually how Alfie got his name."

"That's cool!" Raine beamed. "Personally, I've never seen an Alfred Hitchcock movie but that is genuinely so cute."

"Maybe we'll have to do a movie night. My personal favorite is Rear Window since it's about a photographer, but The Birds is a close second. Psycho is also a classic. How much do you like horror? I assume since you do ghost hunting, you'd probably be a fan."

"A movie night would be fun." Raine smiled, taking another fry. "Horror is alright although I mainly do ghost hunting for the historical aspect."

"That's interesting!" Noah said. "I guess I don't really think of that when I think of ghosts, but you're right. Have you got any stories about cool historical encounters you've had with ghosts? I noticed you've built up quite the reference guide."

"Absolutely! Just the two cases here alone have told me quite a bit about this town that I don't think I would have found as easily otherwise. Both Ben and the Mare were Scandinavian spirits, leading me to believe that Scandinavian immigrants more then likely founded the town. Which upon further examination, I can see it in the architecture."

"Neat," Noah replied. "I never knew you could discern that much from spiritual activity. My hometown in Vermont actually had a lot Scandinavian settlers. My great grandfather was from Norway. Not sure if we've got much spiritual activity there, though." They checked their phone for the time. It was about fifteen minutes past noon. "Do you know where V is?"

"Really? That's amazing!" Raine's eyes shone with curiosity before the question came up. "As for V, I have not a clue. I hope she shows up. She doesn't seem like the kind of person to turn down an invitation, at least not to me anyway."

With the shattering of several more glass jars, Sebastian's morning wasn't going the best. It was nearly noon already and he hadn't gotten anywhere because of the ghost's habit of locking doors and throwing things at him whenever he tried to get in the room he assumed it was fond of.

He had already tried to remove all of the jars from the house as well only for William to not allow him out of the house. While carrying the case of jars (how one house could have so many jars, he would never know), the ghost had locked every door he tried to go out. Even after he set the case down and reached for the keys to unlock it, he would get it open only for William to slam it in his face again while he picked up the case of jars. If he had someone to hold the door, it might have been easier, but unfortunately, now much to his dismay, he had chosen to work alone on this case.

His EMF reader sitting on the kitchen counter began screeching again in its rapid, high pitched beeps as another jar flew past his head and shattered against the wall behind him, making a gigantic mess of pickled cabbage.

"Come on, I wasn't even doing anything that time." Sebastian grumbled, looking up from his phone. "Who even eats that stuff anyway? It smells just about as bad as it looks."

There was the noise of what sounded like a cross between a heavy sigh and a hiss before the EMF reader stopped going off. Sebastian shook his head and went back to his phone, looking for anything more he might need to send to Raine.

As he worked though, a feeling of tension could be felt in the house, still and stifling. However, he just rolled his eyes and pulled a crucifix out from his pocket and casually held it up with one hand while scrolling through his phone with the other.

"Can you not? I'm working right now and the sooner you let me finish this, the sooner I can help you out. Capisce?"

Yet another jar was thrown, this time an empty one as a figure appeared on the other side of the kitchen, staring at Sebastian with impatience and a sour look.

"Not funny. You're lucky I'm wearing boots, Sir, or else all the glass on the floor would be terribly inconvenient. You would like that though, wouldn't you?"

The figure tried to lunge for Sebastian, dark fingers outstretched but didn't get far as he twirled the delicate silver crucifix in his hand.

"No. What part of I'm working don't you understand?"

It hissed and stumbled back, disappearing again but not before throwing a fit and scattering the glass all over the floor even more.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "If you let me into your room or use something to talk to me, we can make a deal, alright? I'm trying to help you out and I'm not leaving until I do, whether you like it or not. But I can't do any of that if you keep throwing hissy fits and throwing jars at me."

A kitchen utensil holder was then knocked over and a wooden spoon was thrown instead.

"That's a bit better but still not nice. How about you talk to me about why you like throwing stuff at my head?" Sebastian asked, turning on the spirit box he had brought in the house with him.

The static from it echoed in the kitchen as Sebastian began to ask questions. "So William, do you like to cook? You clearly like the kitchen as well as the pantry that you won't let me into."

There was no response, only static as another spoon was thrown.

Sebastian expertly dodged it. "Not sure how to take that but I'm at least glad you've run out of-" He was cut off as a jar came flying once again from out of the box he had put them in, shattering against a cabinet. "you just had to prove me wrong."

He sighed and glanced over at the book laying out with its pen. It had been out for nearly an hour now, right next to the pantry door and William still hadn't written in it, although Sebastian knew he probably wasn't going to as he clearly didn't like talking. So far, the only thing he had liked was throwing anything and everything he could get his undead hands on.

"I really don't have time for this. It's bad enough that I had to answer a potential recruit's call with you fooling around in the background." Sebastian frowned and tried to head toward the pantry again. "If you keep it up, I'm not even going to help you, I'm just going to get the holy water and salt and evict you."

The book Sebastian had set out was thrown at him, no writing in it at all.

"Trust me, I want to get out of here as much as you want me out. Either you're being a literal thorn in my side or there's a piece of glass there from you being a thorn in my side." Sebastian pulled out a little dots flashlight and tried his best to see under the door to the pantry since it was locked only for part of a dark face, its features indiscernible, to suddenly appear mere inches from his on the other side of the door.

"Gah!" Sebastian jumped back, away from the door due to the jumpscare. "Really!?"

Strangled sounding laughter came from the pantry in response.

"You're a pain. Let me get at least something so I know how to get rid of you! Else I'm just going to have to start trying things and you won't like that one bit."

The laughing quickly stopped and was replaced by the flickering of lights and yet another flying wooden spoon in Sebastian's direction.

Sebastian however, had gotten quite used to things being thrown by now and managed to catch it out of the air before it hit him. He then, quickly whipped out a UV flashlight and began checking it for any evidence about what it could be.

He didn't get much time though before he received a nightmarish vision which sent him reeling although he quickly shook it off and looked at the spoon again. on the handle, under the light of the UV flashlight was the blueish green mark of a hand print. He quickly snapped a picture with his phone before throwing the spoon back at the ghost which had once again materialized in the kitchen with him.

"I knew it, you're just a really stubborn mimic. Now get out of my head, would you? I really don't appreciate that. I already had to deal with a mare this week."

The shard of glass on the floor were scattered once more, making a mess as William threw a fit at having been found out.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and began putting the tools he didn't need away as he took out the spirit box again. "Will you stop being stubborn now and talk to me?" He asked, turning it on.

A growl of what sounded like "fine" but with an incredible amount of stubbornness and sass came through of the spirit box until it went back to its usual static.

"Finally, took you long enough." He smirked a little. "Now that we've actually gotten somewhere, mind telling me why you're still here and not dead?"

Only static came from the spirit box, leading to a sigh from Sebastian until after a long moment, the growl like voice came through again with only two works. "Old. Alone..."

"Alright, alright. Now what do you want? Why are you still here?" Sebastian asked, waiting for a response.

Several long moments of just static came from the spirit box as Sebastian tapped his foot impatiently. About fifteen minutes passed of him waiting for a response while scrolling on his phone before he finally got tired of waiting. "Any day now would be nice. Unlike somebody, I just so happen to be one of the living believe it or not."

"Revenge..."

"Revenge?" Sebastian raised a brow. "Tell you what, the house will go to the bank since it's already headed there anyway. Good enough?

"No."

"Then what in the world do you want?" Sebastian gave a frustrated groan and rubbed his face.

"Revenge."

"I'll send your relatives a letter. Now will you go away?"

A barrage of objects were sent in Sebastian's direction which included more glass jars, a few wooden spoons, and even a bowl as well as a plate thrown like a frisbee.

Sebastian ducked behind the island in the middle of the kitchen to avoid the flying objects. "Well what do you suggest!? Because I'm getting rather sick of you and if you don't suggest something soon I'm just going to evict you for better or for worse. Somebody's already going to have to come in here and deal with the mess you've made."

His threat was responded with yet another barrage of glass jars thrown, some of which still had things in them from the pantry. One of the objects however was not glass and instead of shattering when it it the stone counter top, bounced off with a resounding bong. Furrowing his brow, he glanced over at what had been thrown to see a large plastic jar of cheese balls. Apparently William had finally run out of glass jars to throw and had moved on to other things from inside the pantry. Next came something metallic apparently from the noise it made when it hit the counter. Sebastian frowned and looked to see a cheese grater bounce to the floor. Great, now William as throwing utensils. All he could do though was hope the ghost didn't have any knives in the pantry, however odd a place it might be to to keep them.

Sebastian sighed and sat on the floor behind the island, arms crossed as he waited for William to stop throwing things. It was probably going to be a while.

The sound of something fluttering came next and he looked up to see a pack of paper coffee filters sailing over his head, leaving a trail of them falling and fluttering to the ground behind it.

"What's next, a bottle of soda? If I recall from getting one of your kind out of an elderly man's house, you old coots like soda for some reason."

Instead of a bottle of soda though, something equally messy came flying out. It appeared to be a large sack of flour that came out from the pantry and hit the cabinet, exploding in a giant plume of white powder.

The flour coated him from head to toe, making his dark clothes a light grey color as he tried to brush it off. Of all the things the ghost could have thrown, it just had to be the most annoying to get on black clothes.

"Alright, that's it. I'm getting the trap." Sebastian grumbled and got up, headed for the door.

Right before he reached it though, the ghost slammed it closed in his face and locked it which he found by trying to turn the handle. A second later, he felt a cold wave wash over him and turned to see the ghost standing behind him, materialized in all of its dark, shadowy glory.

Sebastian whipped out a crucifix to ward the creature back while shooting it an annoyed look and pulling out his keys. he held the crucifix in one hand and carefully undid the lock since it wouldn't let him out by just using the deadbolt.

Feeling a cold breath down the back of his neck and the subtle scratch of clawed fingers, Sebastian waved the crucifix around again, protecting more area around him.

"Look, you were the one who didn't want to talk. Now you have to suffer the consequences."

The ghost screeched as light spilled in through the door after Sebastian opened it. He himself squinted in the bright daylight as compared to the dark, shielding his face so his eyes could adjust.

He stepped out of the house, tucking his keys into his pocket as the door slammed behind him. Going to his car next, he poked around in the trunk and backseat before finding the object he needed and heading back in. At this point, he was quite fed up with this ghost, being as it wouldn't helpfully communicate with him. This way, if he caught it and sent it in to the researchers he wouldn't have to deal with it anymore and it would be out. Who knows, maybe they could even get something more out of it.

After unlocking the front door again and making his way to the kitchen, he plopped the device down on the table and waited. All he had to do is wait until it materialized, then he could catch it be done.

Glancing around at the disaster state of the kitchen, he sighed. It looked like the place had barely survived an earthquake or tornado. A lot of cleaning was going to need to be done. However, there was no was he was going to do it.

Pulling out his phone, he began dialing the number for a cleaning company to take care of it and explained the address and time he needed them there by while also dodging random things thrown from the pantry.

The conversation went on a few minutes before he finally had everything straightened out, just in time for the ghost to make a wonderful shadowy appearance as he hung up.

"There you are. Knew you'd show up eventually."

As the ghost lunged at him, he slammed down a lever on the device and dodged its clawed hands. The device quickly captured the ghost and where the house was loud from the sound of shattering glass and inhuman growls, it fell into silence.

Sebastian sighed and secured the box before gathering his things. That capture wasn't nearly eventful as he hoped but at least it was over with.

He snatched the device off the counter once he gathered his tings and headed outside to put them in the car. Everything went back in their homes and Sebastian was about to get going when curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to know what was so important in the pantry that the ghost wouldn't leave there.

Grabbing his keys, he headed back in and opened the pantry door now that there wasn't a ghost constantly locking it. He opened the door and peered inside. Everything was on the floor and several of the shelves were broken.

Sebastian furrowed his brow. "I suppose the old guy died in there, fell and the shelves and everything else did the rest of the work."

He shrugged and left the door open as that room would need cleaning too. He headed back out and got in his car with a yawn. It was time to head home, he needed a nap.

Though V was eager to meet with Raine and Noah to discuss Sebastian's offer, it felt like everything in the universe was trying to keep her from getting there. First her alarm refused to go off for seemingly no reason, then she wound up second-guessing her long line of thought again, and about halfway to the meetup spot, the Trans-Am shuddered to a complete halt and required a ridiculous amount of maintenance (on the side of the road in boiling sunlight) before she could bum a jump off someone and get it running again.

All of it seemed like a bad omen, but she tried to brush it off. After all, none of these were exactly uncommon incidents, annoying as they were.

Finally though, she was able to pull into the parking lot of Atz's Diner. It was a very cozy place that reminded her of that 'small American town' vibe. The smell of fried goods in the air hit her like a bullet, immediately making her hungrier than she realized. Ever drawn to the sides in these places, she was already plotting on fries, maybe some fried pickles or a mac n' cheese bowl, and possibly a milkshake.

"God have mercy on my waistline," V murmured as she looked around.

After a moment, she was able to spot Noah and Raine sitting at one of the booths. They seemed a little bit bored by now, as if they'd been waiting a while. V started to feel a bit embarrassed, keeping them waiting, but decided not to make it any worse.

She approached and spoke, "Hey guys. Sorry to keep you waiting."

Raine looked up and smiled. "It's fine, we weren't here for too long."

"V! Raine is right, we practically just got here. Here." Noah patted the bench next to them, nudging Alfie out from under the table with their foot. "Sit down. Have some fries."

V nodded, taking a seat. "That's good. So, you explained plenty on the phone already Raine. Anything I'm missing out on?"

"All of the answers are on the papers there on the table, including the chart Sebastian sent and the resume he wants us to fill out should we choose to join." Raine happily explained.

V took a moment to look through the papers. Though she kept a neutral expression, she dared not get too deep into any discussion about these parts specifically, lest she embarrass herself over how unfamiliar she was with these more formal, business-ey concepts. However, the prices she kept seeing -even among the lowest ranks- made her content.

"Looks good..." V looked up at them. "So, all that's left is our answer, right? What do you two say?"

Raine seemed to contemplate for a moment deep in thought before responding. "I mean, it doesn't pay quite as well as the job I have now but if I manage to double on them for a while or once I figure out how I can make it work on my end then it should be fine." She thought aloud. "The higher ranks certainly pay a lot more alone than the job I have now does, not including extra for harder jobs. What you're seeing here is simply the minimum."

V's eyes went wide. "The minimum? I could put that damn car out of its misery for even half this mid-range here. But I don't have a job like you do, so I see what you're saying. I still get a bad feeling about this company too, but I've been proven wrong a lot recently. And I would love to be able to learn more about how to hunt. You know, 'the ethical way' and whatnot."

Noah flicked their eyes back and forth between Raine and V, nodding along with the conversation. "It would certainly be a change for all of us, that's for sure. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. We could end up learning a lot, and helping a lot of people. Spirits. Whatever."

V seemed a bit distant there. "Yeah. Helping people from spirits. That was my original goal and I want to keep it going."

Raine nodded a bit. "I can understand that and I agree, Noah. Maybe we should give it a try? At least do the trial hunt, maybe not turn in resumes quite yet though." She suggested.

Noah nodded. "That's what I was thinking. The trial run can be as much a test on our side, too. While they're evaluating us on our skills and whether we'd be an asset to their team, we can also find out if we think Dutchman Paranormal is a good fit for us."

"Excellent idea." Raine smiled at them. "I like it."

"What do you say, V?" Noah turned to her.

V snagged a fry. "I like the way you put that. I'm in."

"I suppose It's settled then." Raine replied with a smile. "I'll let Sebastian know that we're interested.

"So then, the last question that I find both exciting and a bit concerning..." V smirked. "What do you think this 'trial run' is going to be?"

"I would hope something similar to the house where we found Ben, but there's no way to say for sure." Raine hummed.

"Fingers crossed," Noah said. "I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle, between your skills"---they gestured to V---"your knowledge"---they pointed at Raine---"and my morale, I think we can handle anything they throw at us."

They looked to Raine and V. "Would it make sense to reach out while we're all here together?"

V shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, we are all included in the offer, and we're supposed to be a 'team' now. Another thing we should make sure we're good with. I know I am, but I also know I can be...difficult."

Noah rolled their eyes good naturedly. "Yeah, I hate you so much I'm treating you to lunch and chatting with you over a plate of fries." They chuckled. "Honestly, though, I'd be honored to be considered a part of a team with you two."

V chuckled, "Just checking. But yeah, I like the idea of working together more. As you pointed out, our combination of skills will make for the perfect team."

Raine smiled, laughing softly at the friendly banter. "I think reaching out now is a good idea. Calling would work best for both of you, yes?"

V nodded. "Sure."

"Alright." Raine took her phone out and went to Sebastian's contact, hesitating before calling. "Is there anything anyone can think of that we have yet to discuss before we try to call him?"

"Nothing from me," Noah said.

"V?" Raine asked.

V shook her head. "You two did a good job covering everything, at least for me."

"Alright then, let's give Sebastian a call, shall we?" Raine set her phone in the middle of the table and pressed the call button.

The phone rang for a few minutes, almost to the point where Raine though Sebastian wasn't going to answer after all. Right before it went to voicemail though, he finally picked up, sounding a little groggy as if he had just been asleep.

"Hello?"

Raine smiled a bit, glancing up at the others before replying."Hi Sebastian, this is Raine again. I'm here with V and Noah and I believe we've come to a decision on the offer you make us yesterday."

"Well don't just leave me in anticipation." He replied, sounding a little more awake now and interested.

"Collectively, we've decided to take you up on your offer for a sort of trial run as you put it." Raine explained.

"Great! What do the others think about it? I haven't talked with them much."

"Oh..." V shrugged her shoulders. "I'm still getting a bad feeling from this group, but with everything being offered, I can't deny it. Definitely not from my current position, or with Raine and Noah joining too. So, I'm in."

"Glad to have you in on it. I'm sorry for how brief my explanation was the other day but I was in a rush. Good to know that didn't deter you too much though." Sebastian chuckled a little. "So, that being said, what day lines up for all of you? If you want, we could even do something today. I have nothing else to do."

Raine thought, looking over at a planner she had stashed in her bag. "I'm free for the most part besides a bit of work to do in the evening." She replied

V nodded. "I can make that work."

Noah glanced down at Alfie. "Alfie's already had his walks, so I'm good."

"Alfie..." V looked down and blinked. "Wait, was there always a dog here?"

[i]"It's settled then. I'm sending you a couple pictures real quick, Raine. These are available places we can go to that are in your area and hopefully shouldn't be too challenging with the supplies you have now. To give you the full experience, I'll let you guys pick which one we go to." Sebastian explained.

A moment later, Raine received the images and opened them on her phone, leaving it in the middle of the table so the other two could see as well.

The first location looked like an old farm with a slightly falling down barn which was leaning to one side and had a couple holes in the roof, and old grain silo that was covered in a thick blanket of ivy. The interior of it looked rather simple, still being used as a storage for bales of hay in a more sheltered part while a severely rusted pick up that probably didn't run anymore was parked across from it. Miraculously enough the loft was somehow still standing as well. No picture of inside the silo was shown.

The second location was that of a bookstore. The exterior looked very old, the brick showing wear from the elements. Warm light from inside spilled out of the large windows in the front and the wooden door stood slight ajar. Pictures from inside the bookstore looked cozy and welcoming, wooden shelves taking up most of the space while little seating areas were near the windows. More pictures showed a living space upstairs as well which alike to the bookstore looked cozy. Besides how old it looked, one would never guess it was haunted until Raine got to the very last picture in which every single book on one of the shelves was on the floor, appearing to be haphazardly knocked off in a careless manner.

The last location was by far the creepiest of all though. A large brick building stood, looking entirely abandoned with a rusted metal fence around it. In neat stonework above the double front doors read "orphanage." The pictures from inside still showed cots and beds in many of the rooms and even cradles in one of them that looked like a nursery. Many of the windows appeared to be open or broken, letting in snow as it appeared the pictures had been taken in the winter. What put Raine on edge most about it though is that there were still many personal belongings there such as children's toys and clothes folded neatly in the drawers. Nothing looked amis at all. In fact, it looked like someone still could have lived there if not for the thick layer of undisturbed dust or snow that coated everything.

After looking them all over, Raine made sure Sebastian was still on the phone before returning to the pictures and glancing up at her two comrades. "What do you both think? I would like to hear your opinions first before deciding on one in case we need a tie breaker."

"Huh?" V looked up from petting the dog. "Oh, right, we were doing something..."

She stood up straight and looked through the photos closely, keeping an eye out for the challenges they may present -and of course, the kind of spirits they may attract.

"Hm...I'm leaning toward voting on the bookstore. I feel like that one will possibly have a more simplified type of ghost."

Raine was a little surprised by V's choice but nodded, internally agreeing. Although, a good portion of that was just because she liked bookstores in general. "Very good point."

V smirked and pointed to the farm. "That would be an interesting one, I won't lie. Wild stuff happens in places like those. But considering how our last 'hunt' went, maybe it'd be better to take it easy for now."

"Yeah, going to be honest though, that was a pretty powerful mare you guys faced." Sebastian chimed in with a hum. "Although, if it were me, the bookstore would be boring."

"Someone appears to be living there though." Raine noted. "Wouldn't it be better to help someone with a ghost where they are living rather then a place in the middle of nowhere where the ghost is harming no one?"

"And getting more powerful the longer it's in there alone?"

Raine sighed, he did raise a good point

"What about there?" Noah said. "The orphanage. We've dealt with child ghosts before. Or at least a child ghost." They thought about Ben. "They need our help too. They're probably just confused and don't mean to cause harm."

"A sense of adventure for a good cause, I like it." Sebastian chuckled. "Let me look at the forms for these real quick." He hummed a moment before speaking again. "Alright, both are self determined so we're good there. Bookstore in the notes it mentions the ghost is more active at night when there aren't people coming in and out. Orphanage has no notes though and is unknown. For the farm, a cow was recently found dead due to unexplained reason. Could be something more dangerous."

Noah processed the information. It might be easier to do the bookstore; it looked homey and bright, and even if they were there at night, it was certainly a much cozier location from the traumatizing school with the mare. The farmhouse seemed like a good choice to really prove themselves, though, and, as Sebastian had pointed out, it was easier to get it now before it became a big problem. Noah kept returning to the orphanage. Though eerie, there was something about the place that seemed helpless, like they just had to go and free whatever spirit was trapped and confused inside the walls.

They cleared their throat, looking to V and Raine. "I'll defer to you two. You are the professionals, after all."

V nodded. "So the way you guys are putting it, the bookstore would be the best for us, but the ghost in the orphanage may need us more, and the farm is just a huge challenge. With that information, I absolutely see why the orphanage would be a good choice, but we won't be much help to anyone if things turn out like the schoolhouse. After all, its ghost is 'unknown, no notes.' Call me callous, but I think we should be safe and try the bookstore, and once we're established here, maybe then we can go back to the orphanage with better equipment and information."

"That's absolutely an option." Sebastian said while it sounded like he was writing something down in the background. "If things do go south though, I would be sure to include it. Sometimes things don't always go how the researchers expect and the job could be harder or easier then expected."

Raine thought for a long moment, digesting the information provided. "I think I'm going to agree with V on this one." She said softly, giving Noah an empathetic look. "After this though, we can absolutely go to the orphanage. I understand wanting to go help them but we don't know what's in there and I think we could all use an easier case after what happened with the mare."

"So Bookstore then?" Sebastian asked. "Once we get this done and you guys get resumes filled out for record purposes, I can put you down for the orphanage if no one else has taken it by then."

V's eyes drifted to her companion. "Noah?"

Raine didn't answer quite yet, wanting to make sure Noah was okay with it.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. That makes sense." Noah adjusted their glasses. They cleared their throat, giving a small smile. "Let's do the bookstore."

"Sounds good, here's the address." Sebastian hummed. "Did we decide on a time yet? I think you all said tonight would work for you. Which works since it would probably be better to take care of this during after hours for the store both as not to disturb their business and get more action out of the ghost there."

Raine pulled out her laptop and typed in the address, trying to get a bit more information on where they were going to. "It looks like it closes at five today. Maybe five fifteen if that works for everyone?" She glanced up at her companions.

"Works for me." Sebastian responded. "Even just five would work."

V nodded. "I'm clear all day -as long as the piece of junk Pontiac keeps running."

"Whenever works for me too," Noah said. "Though I'll need to head back to my apartment first so I can drop this guy off." They pointed to Alfie.

"Okay, I'll let the tenants know what's up and that we'll be there then." Sebastian responded. "Do any of you have any more questions or anything before I let you go?"

"None at the moment." Raine responded. "Anyone else?"

Noah shook their head. "None from me."

"Alright, I'll see you guys there then. Try not to be late and just FYI there is limited parking so take that into consideration. There's a couple spaces down side roads if your lucky but might be best if you don't rely too much on pulling things out of your cars frequently." Sebastian advised.

"Good to know, thank you." Raine smiled. "We appreciate your help and look forward to meeting with you this evening."

"Anytime, like I said, I'm just a call away. And you too, see you then. Caio!"

With that, Sebastian ended the call. Raine took her phone and sent the address and other information to Noah and V before tucking her phone in her pocket. She sent them both a smile. "So... thoughts?"

V smirked. "I say I'm ready to get back to hunting already. You?"

Raine smiled. "I think I am as well."

Noah glanced between the two of them, the anticipation contagious. "Then let's do this thing."

A collab with @RavenAkuma and @RangerofIthilien

After dropping Alfie at their apartment and taking a bit of a rest to prepare for the night ahead, Noah gathered their things (including both their camera and a flashlight), gave Alfie one last hug, and ventured to the bookstore using the address that Raine had sent them. They were somewhat familiar with the area, but didn't frequent it; it was a bit of a hike from their apartment and there was a closer bookstore to peruse, so they'd never set foot inside.

Upon arriving at the store, they found that the photos were quite accurate. The place felt homey in the dusky streetlamp light, crisp autumn winds seemingly ushering them in. The brick facade was quaint, and past the "closed" sign sitting on the front door, they could see warm wooden bookshelves teeming with tomes. A bay window to the right of the entrance revealed worn fauteuils with a small table between them. It was hard to believe the place was haunted, or at least by anything malicious.

They adjusted their beanie, somewhat wishing they had brought a scarf, too. Ah well. They figured they'd be spending most of the time inside. Here's to hoping it was warmer there.

Clutching their tote to the side, they parked themself to the left of the entrance, waiting for the others to show up. They had arrived early, as per the usual, and were contented to stand and watch leaves fall off the trees surrounding the shop until it reached five fifteen.

It wasn't too much longer that the familiar Trans-Am rolled up, muffled heavy music sounding from the creaky cab. V was grumbling under her breath as she hopped out, adjusting her new tailcoat. It was thicker to handle the cold, the crimson hue contrasting against her black undershirt and dark pinstripe pants.

V nodded to Noah. "Hey. You have the time, by chance?"

They gave her a wave in response, sliding their phone out of their back pocket. "Five-oh-one. How're you?"

V sighed, "Really wishing I had a ride from this century, but otherwise good. Are we just waiting for Raine?"

They nodded. "And maybe Sebastian. I can't remember if he's planning on coming or not."

"Right, so..." She stepped closer. "How're you feeling about this? I don't want to push anything, but during our last hunt, you got pretty rattled. I mean, we all did, but I want to make sure you're still feeling alright about this."

Noah smiled, heart tender. "That's... really sweet of you to ask. Thanks. I'm fine. It was just something about the mare... it felt familiar. Hit a little too close to home. I think I can handle something that enjoys knocking books around."

V chuckled, "That's good. And much agreed."

The shiny black car that they had seen at the schoolhouse yesterday soon rolled up infront of the bookstore. Sebastian stepped out when it stopped and went to the trunk, pulling out what looked awfully like a suitcase. He waved to the driver after he closed the trunk then began walking over to the bookstore, suitcase like baggage in tow.

Noticing the two, Sebastian sent them a charming smile with excitement clearly in it. "Good to see you both are here! Has Raine arrived yet?"

Noah shook their head, returning the smile. "No, we're still waiting. It's good to see you though."

V just gave a subtle nod to him, still too suspicious -or perhaps just disgruntled- to extend much more to the mysterious character.

Sebastian shrugged. "I'm sure she'll be here soon then. For now, let's head inside and let them know we're here, shall we?"

V was already stepping ahead of him. "Easy. Let's go, Noah."

Noah tried to hide a grin, glancing between V and Sebastian. While they appreciated when everyone got along, they had to admit their clashing personalities were entertaining. "I'm right behind you."

V held the door open, allowing them in.

The bell hanging from the door handle gave a cheerful ding as Noah stepped inside. They looked around the shop, getting a better view of what they had seen from the outside. Several shelves lined the walls and stood throughout the room, creating a space that felt cozy but not cramped. The air smelled like dust and age but in a good way. Battered Oriental rugs were spread over the hardwood floors, threadbare along the paths most people tread. And, thankfully, it was warm.

Sebastian smiled and stepped inside as well. "Well thank you, madame."

"Yeah, sure..." Knowing he stepped inside too fast for her to shut the door on him, V grumbled, "You're just lucky I missed."

Noah peered behind a shelf. "Is the owner here? Or are we on our own?"

Sebastian hummed, glancing around. "The owner is here somewhere. She lives in the upstairs portion of the building but most of our work will be down here hopefully."

A woman who looked to be in her late thirties came out from the back carrying a box of books. "Oh hello! I was wondering when you would be here. You are Sebastian, right?"

"Yes I am, I'm here with a newer crew but we'll make sure the job gets done." Sebastian explained. "We still have one yet to arrive but she will be here soon."

The woman smiled. "Oh that's fine."

"Nice to meet you," Noah said, smiling warmly and extending their arm. "I really hope we'll be of service."

V spoke flatly, "Name's V."

"Would you mind explaining to us what you've been experiencing and where?" Sebastian asked, standing the case he brought with him up beside one of the shelves.

"Of course. If you would like to come with me, most of what happens goes on back here." The woman motioned for then to follow her to the back area where there was a cozy little study area then a doorway to another room. Past the doorway appeared to be a sort of storage area with surplus books stacked neatly in boxes, patiently awaiting for their turn to be put on the shelf. "So far, everything that has happened has mainly been in this room and just outside. Sometimes when I come down here in the morning everything is a complete disaster and the sounds that I hear from upstairs keep me up for hours. I've never come and investigated though. Something about the noises just sounds wrong... They don't sound human." She frowned a little. "I know it's not the young lady who comes to study either. I usually let her close up shop when she leaves but she left early one day and I locked up but the noises and mess still happened. The front door was locked still though and everything was secure. I managed to get an officer to watch for the night and see if anyone snuck in but he didn't see anyone and there was still a disaster in the morning. I was honestly starting to think I was going a bit insane until I thought of the possibility of it being a ghost."

V started looking around, quickly falling into old habits. "And this thing has never been violent with you, correct? Left any intimidating messages, etcetera? Have you experienced anything unnatural, such as cold spots or unexplainable clusters of fog or shadows?"

The woman shook her head. "Oh, no, not from what I can tell. Just some mischief. None of those things you listed either, the place is always empty and the temperature is fine."

Sebastian nodded slowly. "Don't worry, we'll get everything sorted out and take care of it, maybe even before dinner. Have you had any paranormal experiences anywhere else?"

"Only ever the rare occorance in the room right above this." The woman explained. "Though I've only ever had it happen once. The sounds were terrible that night and it scared me quite a bit when it did happen."

Sebastian hummed. "Alright. We should be able to keep our work down here then. If you experience anything upstairs while we're working though, please let us know."

"I will." The owner nodded. "Thank you again for getting here in such a timely manner. If there is anything I can do to make your work easier, simply call upstairs."

"We appreciate it, thank you." Sebastian smiled.

The owner nodded in return and headed upstairs as Sebastian turned to V and Noah.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to it. I'm letting you guys take the lead on this one."

With a blunt expression, V aimed the UV light at him, making him flinch. "Way ahead of you, buddy. I'm not seeing anything on the ultraviolet, so I'm guessing it's one of the sneaky bast-" Imagining Raine's scowl, she fixed herself, "The sneaky jerks that don't leave that kind of evidence."

Noah grinned. Ghost investigation was a lot more fun when they were in a well lit area and two of their party were butting heads. They gave a sharp inhale, reminding themself that they weren't here to do a character study. They turned to V. "So no UV... what now?"

V shrugged her shoulers. "I could always try pissing it off. I'm good at that. Or..." She jolted up as an idea clicked, snapping her fingers. "The camera -stuff always appears on your camera, whenever we've used it."

Noah withdrew their camera bag from their tote, unzipping it and popping the lens cap off. "I got you." They pressed the on button and waited for it to boot up, fiddling slightly with the settings. "I'm just gonna walk around and snap some photos, if that's alright."

With slight nods from V and Sebastian, Noah wandered the shop, camera pressed to their eye. For a good three minutes, they worked in relative silence, the only sound the click of the shutter as it captured various angles of the store.

After they'd made their rounds (which didn't take very long; the shop was quite small and they wanted to hold off on exploring the top floor until necessary so they didn't needlessly disturb the owner) they returned to where V was.

"Moment of truth," they murmured, navigating to their recently taken photos. Clicking through them, they scanned each one briefly. Most of them displayed exactly what Noah had seen without the camera.

Noah bit their lip. "I'm not really seeing anything..."

No sooner had they spoken than they clicked to a photo of a shelf, visibility marred by vague apparitions.

"Well. That's certainly something." They quickly clicked through, seeing if they'd captured it from other angles. There was one other, and sure enough, the strange, dust-like dots were scattered around the same shelf.

"Check this out." They held their camera out so V could see.

"So we got ghost orbs again, and they're definitely concentrated in this area..." V playfully punched Noah's shoulder. "Awesome -glad you brought that thing!"

Noah laughed. "Aw, it's nothing. These days, I seem to hardly go anywhere without it."

V shone the UV around again. "We should ask Raine about these clues when she gets here. In the meantime, it'd be good if we could get a read on this ghost's aggression, see if it's something that could be communicated with like Ben..." She casually walked away from the study area, back to the counter. "Human bait time."

Noah raised their eyebrows. "Human bait? Sounds... unsafe."

"Relax, this is standard protocol," V remarked as she pulled a wooden box out of her black pack. Popping it open to reveal some candles, she picked up a black one with gold-ish runes carved all over. "I'm just going to warn you now, you'll want to stand back. As a matter of fact..." She tossed a sealed jar to Noah, catching them by surprise. "If things get heated and you guys start to feel uneasy, create a salt ring. Won't protect you forever, but it'll work for a little while."

They turned the salt jar over in their hands before stowing it in an accessible pocket in their messenger bag. "Thanks. Though who knows. Maybe a helmet would be better." At V's somewhat perplexed look, they explained themself. "With all the falling books, you know." Thankfully, she gave a chuckle at that.

V took her candle, keeping a close hold on her pack, and returned to the study corner. She flicked the lights off, then whipped out a lighter and lit the candle. The flame seemed a bit more red than expected, which was strange to look at.

"Alright. Calm V..." She plopped onto the ground, setting the candle down in front of her. "If there are any spirits here, now's the time to introduce yourself. Gather 'round, start chatting."

To her surprise, there were already some unnatural creaks in the building around them.

Noah looked sharply over their shoulder, simultaneously creeped out and fascinated by the seeming paranormal activity.

"Woah," V muttered. "Even with the runic candle, I don't get responses that fast. It's active, but I guess it's too early to call it 'aggressive' huh?" She cleared her throat and raised her voice again. "Alright then, uh...What are you?"

Sebastian, who had been sitting in a comfy looking armchair with a clipboard, offering little help, now looked curious by the unique method V used to get information on the ghost. He perked up and sat forward a bit, intrigued.

Noah knelt beside V. "You want some help?"

V looked at them. "Was it that bad?"

Noah laughed. "No, of course not. I just find that sometimes a more personable approach can be good. A good baseline would maybe be starting with... who are you? Or even... what's your name?"

V nodded. "Sure." She looked back up, raising her voice once more. "What's your name?"

There were a few rattles.

V turned to Noah, who nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

"Who are you?"

Again, the shop groaned.

Noah bit their lip. "It doesn't seem to be doing much. Do you want to try asking it what's got it so bothered? In a nicer way, of course. Something like... what troubles you?"

V nodded. "Sure." She cleared her throat before projecting again. "What troubles you?"

Suddenly, the creaks and groans grew even louder before very suddenly growing quiet.

"Uh..." V arched one brow and looked around. Though she kept her voice steady, one hand was already reaching into her pack. "Hello?"

'thud-Thud-THUD!

Suddenly, a series of pounding footsteps -like a very heavy someone (or something) ran up directly behind V.

V immediately lurched to her feet and spun back, the gust putting out the candle. She whipped out the crucifix and reached for her holy water pendant, mumbling just the first two words of a basic prayer before something shocking happened.

A gust of cold, darkened air rushed past her with no effort at all, and a series of maddening laughter filled the room. It sounded like two different people were laughing at once, one an old woman's cackle and the other younger and more innocent. It rang for a few long seconds before completely fading.

Noah stood stick straight, stupefied to the spot. "Well. That was eerie."

"Um..." V looked down, spinning the crucufix. "Yeah. So, something tells me this type of ghost isn't intimidated by this type of icon. And I'm really, really hoping that doesn't imply something demonic..." She smirked and murmured, "Though I did secretly always want to wreck a demon at the same time. Heh, how's that for an adrenaline rush?"

"You can say that again," Noah commented. They craned their neck, peering out the front windows of the bookstore. "I just hope Raine gets here soon."