Two hours later, Gabriella’s brain was so full of information that she worried it was leaking out her ears. They’d covered the computer system, safety protocols, exercise routine options, and the training modules she’d be required to complete. Even before she had opened module number one of one hundred, she was so overwhelmed that she was wondering if this was a mistake.

“Hey, are you alright?” James asked as she sat in front of the computer, willing herself to log into the program.

Gabriella nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

James smiled gently and she was suddenly struck by the fact that he had their grandmother’s smile. “Nah, you’re completely overwhelmed,” he said. “It’s fine, it’s your first day and I just threw a ton of information at you all at once.”

“It’s just a lot,” she admitted. “Like, the fact that vampires exist is enough to swallow. But that there’s a known nest of them in Westminster? It’s a lot. And that computer system is so confusing and I don’t think I’m in good enough shape to even start one of the easier routines.”

She turned back to the computer and watched the little hourglass spin on the screen as the training program slowly loaded. It was fine. She just needed to take a breath and get started.

“Tell you what,” James said, glancing at his watch. “It’s almost one. How about we take a lunch break? These modules can wait until tomorrow, we still have more orienting to do. And don’t worry, seriously. You’re going to do fine, trust me. And I’ll be here to help you.”

Gabriella smiled, feeling a weight lift just a little. “Are you sure?”

“What, that I’ll be here? Obviously.”

“No, about stopping.”

James laughed. “Oh my God, go take a break.”

She stood up. “Thanks.”

“Any time. Now go! Go get one of those Panera sandwiches or something.”

She had to suppress a laugh as he waved her off, but also had to admit that sounded like a good plan.

“Alright, I’ll be back in half an hour.”

“An hour.”

“Yes, Dad.”

James laughed as she headed for the front door.

***

An hour later, Gabriella was walking back up the stairs and into the house. She felt better after a chicken sandwich and some time in the normalcy of Panera. Sitting in a booth among office workers and moms out with babies in their carriages, she could take a few minutes away from the ghosts and fears of her new job.

Not that she was a newcomer to the idea of ghosts. James had been right yesterday when he argued that growing up in Gran’s house showed her the truth. Strange footsteps and whispering voices were just part of life, especially in the three years that Gabriella and her mother had spent living there with her. Gran had always had protections up all over the house, and every grandchild knew you didn’t mess with them. And if Gran wanted to teach you about one, you shut up and you listened to her. Even though it had been five years since Gran’s death, Gabriella knew her aunts kept all of Gran’s charms exactly where she had left them.

But the fact that these things were no longer on the outskirts of her life was what made the whole thing so surreal. No, now all of those things were front and center. Mom was going to be so mad at her for inviting this shit in, as she was bound to say when she inevitably found out about Gabriella’s new job.

Still sipping her mango green tea refill, Gabriella opened the door and kicked off her sneakers, leaving them beside a pair of worn boots. As she walked up the stairs, she could hear the sound of James laughing in the living room.

“The only thing that saved me is that the smell went away as soon as I got under the water,” he was saying to Amelia, who was sitting on the couch near him. “I can’t imagine what the guys would say if I went home still smelling like that tonight.”

“You wouldn’t be going home,” Amelia replied. “They’d smell you coming up the street and lock you out immediately. You think Graham doesn’t have everything set after last time?”

“Fair,” James admitted. “But we got a new housemate and-oh, hey Gabs!”

“Hi,” she said, coming into the room.

James and Amelia were both eating lunch. James had a turkey sub laid out on the coffee table while Amelia sat with some kind of grain bowl in her lap. She smiled at Gabriella. “How are you doing?” she asked.

“Good,” Gabriella said. “Um, James has been going through the orientation book with me.”

“Bradley’s masterpiece,” she said, taking a bite of tuna and lettuce.

James held up a finger, then swallowed the massive bite of turkey that was in his mouth. “Give me a couple minutes to finish up,” he said. “Then we can get back to it.”

“Don’t hurry for me,” Gabriella said. “I can, like…”

She faded off as she realized she had no clue what her alternative would be. Amelia moved over and beckoned her into the open space on the couch.

“Come sit down with us,” she said. “We were just discussing the case this morning.”

Gabriella sat down next to her. She knew she was sitting in a way that was awkwardly stiff, but she couldn’t bring herself to the level of loose casualness that the other two had. Not yet. This was her first job that didn’t involve a fryolator and she still wasn’t sure the best way to act at it.

“What was the case?” she asked.

James and Amelia exchanged a look. “Well, it was originally a call about a shadow person over at a pizza place downtown,” James said. “But when we got there, it wasn’t a shadow person. Apparently, the guy that called the Foundation had been seeing the actual shadow of some other thing, I don’t even fucking know what.”

“So it was out snuffling at the dumpster out back in broad daylight,” Amelia continued, digging through her bowl and stabbing a cucumber slice. “We go and check it out, but it’s nowhere to be seen. And James lifts the lid to look inside.”

“And Gabs, swear to God, I thought it was a giant squirrel or something,” James said. “But it pops out and it startles me so bad that I drop the dumpster lid. It hits the thing on the top of the head. And it explodes.”

“Like, when he says it explodes, it’s like guts everywhere,” Amelia continued, eating cheerfully despite the disgusting topic. “And I don’t know if James has actually ever seen a squirrel before, because this thing was the size of a dog. But either way, it just kind of…”

She made a popping noise with her lips, then went back to eating her lunch. James laughed and shook his head. “So technically it’s taken care of, I guess,” he said. “So I can tell the Foundation that it’s not part of their pattern.”

“What pattern?” Gabriella asked, relaxing into the couch just a little.

“There’s been a few houses we’ve investigated that have had some odd energy readings apparently,” James said. “Nothing I’ve noticed in my own cleansings. But the Foundation has experts go over the data we send them. And between us and the crew over at Worcester Paranormal, they’ve seen some oddities. And they’re trying to determine what might be causing them.”

“So these haunted houses are uniquely haunted?” Gabriella asked.

James nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it. But so far there’s been two in Leominster over the past year and three in Worcester and the surrounding towns. It’s weird because there’s nothing we can do on our end except continue sending data. But it’s not like they’re giving us anything to go off of. I don’t think they’re extra dangerous, but a little more information would be useful in the field, you know?”

Amelia shrugged and huffed a laugh. “Typical,” she said. “Are you surprised though?”

“Nope,” James replied.

He ate the last bite of his sub, then crumpled up the wrapper and stood up. “Alright, I’m all set,” he said. “Gabs, give me a second to wash my hands and we can get back to that orientation book.”

He walked into the kitchen and a second later, she heard the sound of running water. Amelia picked up the lid to her bowl and clamped it tight. “I gotta go do some work,” she said. “See you later.”

Then she was out, leaving Gabriella alone in the living room for a second. The friendly ghost on the coaster in front of her smiled cheerfully at her as she picked the orientation guide back up and tried to find where they’d left off.

***

They held the meeting that afternoon in the living room. James and Gabriella had already been in there working through the orientation guide when Robin popped his head in and gave them a five-minute warning.

“This is just a housekeeping meeting,” Robin said to Gabriella. “Sometimes we have to discuss upcoming cases, but other times we just have some updates from the Foundation. This is one of those meetings.”

She nodded, feeling a little awkward. Robin smiled and disappeared back into his office while James set the orientation guide aside. “I guess we can be done with that,” he said. “Read the rest of it later. But you’ve got the gist of what’s going on in there?”

There were still about twenty pages left to go in the orientation guide. Gabriella was hoping James would go through them with her, but he seemed to be shifting his focus toward the meeting.

Amelia walked in a moment later and sat down on one of the couches. “Any idea what we’re talking about?” she asked James.

He shrugged. “Nope, Robin said it’s just some housekeeping.”

Amelia nodded and settled back on the couch just as the other woman, Madelyn, walked into the room and sat down next to her. She looked at Gabriella and smiled. “Hi.”

Madelyn’s smile was small, but warm, and Gabriella smiled back. “Hi.”

Madelyn and Amelia started talking quietly and Gabriella couldn’t quite catch what they were talking about. She glanced over at James, who was watching their conversation with interest.

“No, no, no,” he interrupted loudly. “Amelia’s spreading shit again. It did not get in my mouth when it exploded, thank you very much. I managed to close it just in time.”

The three of them started laughing and Gabriella smiled. The tightness of the group reminded her of her roommates in college. She hadn’t been part of the group, but she’d always wanted to be part of that casual warmth they showed each other.

James winked at her and her heart swelled a little. “You remember Amelia, the filthy liar, and Madelyn, who instigates,” he said, waving toward the women.

They both started protesting at once, but were interrupted by the other man, Bradley, walking into the room. He sat in a chair set a little ways back from the couches.

“And Bradley, of course,” James said, moving his wave toward Bradley. “The life of the party.”

Bradley was reading something on his phone. He didn’t even bother looking up as he rolled his eyes. “I actually have work to do,” he muttered.

“Team martyr,” Amelia teased.

Whatever retort Bradley had in mind got cut off as Robin walked into the room. “Thank you for meeting quickly before the end of the day,” he said as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the front of the room. “We have a couple of things to discuss, but first I want to welcome the newest member of our branch, Gabriella McManus.”

Everyone turned to look at Gabriella and her face heated up as she awkwardly waved. James nudged her.

“Um, hi,” she said.

“Gabriella’s in training, so please help her out with anything she needs,” Robin continued. “I’m not worried though, I think she’s going to be great.”

He gave her a warm smile and she smiled back, some of the awkward feeling melting away a little.

“Alright,” Robin said, turning back to the rest of the group. “A couple updates. The Foundation asks that we submit all requisition forms together at the end of the month to save on postage. They’ve also asked us to remind staff that if you need to be reimbursed for payments made in the field, you need to send in your original receipt. It can’t have any additional writing or markups on it. This includes blacking out other purchases from the same trip. Amelia, I know you were asking about that. Get a separate receipt or send the entire thing with a note saying what you need to have reimbursed.”

Amelia and James exchanged a look, but neither said anything. Robin didn’t seem to notice as he carried on.

“What else…” he murmured as he looked down at the paper in his hand. “There’s a training coming up in August about advanced first aid for known cryptids. If you want to sign up, talk to me about it. It’ll be held at Tully Lake.”

This was how the rest of the meeting went. Robin provided updates that sounded alternatively mundane and extremely dangerous. The Foundation was reminding them to rotate supplies, but those supplies included deadly poisons. A team-building camp out was scheduled for this summer and there were only a few slots left if anyone wanted to sign up. And the apparently biannual reminder that teams are not to bring home any souvenirs from cases.

“Any questions?” Robin asked after wrapping up a brief statement from the Inner Cape Cod team on the start of vacation season and its impact on hauntings in the region.

Everyone shook their heads, so Robin motioned to Bradley, who was holding his own list. “Alright,” Robin said. “I’ll hand the floor over to Bradley then.”

“Everyone clean up your own shit,” Bradley said. “If I trip over one more pair of sneakers, I’m keeping them.”

Amelia booed him and Madelyn scoffed silently. Bradley made a face, but kept going.

“Next,” he said. “McManus.”

Gabriella’s head shot up. What did she do, she just started here?

Bradley apparently saw both her and James watching expectantly. “No, him,” he said, gesturing toward James. “The one whose medical forms have needed to be updated for six months.”

“I’ll get them to you,” James said.

“Hurry up,” Bradley snapped.

He looked back down at his list. “McManus again.”

They both looked at him. Bradley looked back up and groaned.

“Just use first names, Bradley,” Robin said, an edge of impatience in his voice. “We’ll be here all night.”

Bradley sighed. “James,” he snapped.

“Sir.”

Bradley looked unamused. “I’ve been told to remind you that the Foundation does not reimburse mileage for private vehicles. So your request was denied.”

“Of course it was,” James muttered to Gabriella. “They sent me to a training in Maine while the rest of the team had a case. Guess how many official vehicles we have?”

He didn’t seem to expect an answer as he turned back to Bradley, who was apparently done talking. Gabriella sat and listened as Robin wrapped up the meeting. This was all very dull and strict for an organization that fought monsters. But maybe that was what made them successful?

After the meeting ended, James turned to Gabriella as the others went their separate ways. “You can head out,” he said. “Technically, your shift was over about an hour ago, so we’ll make sure to mark your time card accurately so you get paid.”

“Are you leaving too?” Gabriella asked.

“Nah, I’m doing a twenty-four-hour shift, so I’m sticking around. You’ll get those soon enough, don’t worry.”

Gabriella wasn’t sure if she found the idea scary or exciting. But she gave him a hug goodbye and headed out the door. The sun was setting and her entire body was exhausted. But even before she got to her car, she was excited to come back tomorrow.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 5