Everybody dreamed of the mischief three nights in a row. On the day after the third night, Gabriella dragged herself, exhausted, out of the gray bedroom and into the living room. She’d worked the overnight shift with James and Bradley, who were both asleep on the recliner and couch, respectively. Bradley sat up and looked at her as she walked in.

“You too?” he asked.

She nodded. He let out an irritated huff. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered. “We can’t keep doing this.”

James was still asleep with his head balanced on his hand, but he was frowning and his eyebrows furrowed as he shook his head and mumbled something she didn’t catch. Before she could shake him awake, his eyes snapped open. He looked around at her and Bradley, then groaned.

“Three frigging nights,” he mumbled, wiping a hand down his face.

“I don’t even remember falling asleep out here,” Bradley said.

James thought for a second as Gabriella sat on the edge of the coffee table. “We were going over…” He yawned, covering his mouth with his fist. “I don’t even remember. We need to solve this thing before we become dangerous to ourselves.”

“Listen,” Bradley said around a yawn. “Not to start a fight-”

James and Gabriella exchanged a surprised glance and Bradley rolled his eyes. “I’m just wondering,” he continued deliberately. “How long can we keep this up? We’ve got our usual work and spreading this case out around it clearly isn’t working. We need to either finish it fast or get some help.”

Gabriella waited for James to argue, but he just sighed instead. “We do,” he said. “But I’m worried we’re in too deep now. The Foundation’s going to come after us, Father McEnerney, and Dr. Oliver if they find out we’ve kept this from them. I don’t think they’d fire us, they need us too badly. But it would be a perfect excuse to cut our budget, wouldn’t it? ‘You’ve got enough to do outside work, you clearly don’t need everything we send you.’ You know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Bradley replied, shaking his head. “Yeah, they would do that, wouldn’t they?”

“Give it a few more days,” James said, looking at both of them. “I’ll talk to the others too. But we know what we’re dealing with and we know how to get rid of it. Father McEnerney is working on getting that trap from his contacts. The only people it’s hurt so far are me and Gabs, which isn’t great, but it knew we were hunting it. I don’t think the cemetery gets a lot of visitors. Maybe it’s an illusion that keeps people out, maybe it’s an illusion it plays on me when I pass it, but I try to drive past a few times a day and I’ve never seen another person. So let’s just try and be patient a little longer.”

Gabriella could see his point. The comment about resources sent a familiar jolt through her, bringing back the scent of pine trees and the glint of Robin’s knife. But this wasn’t murder, this was continuing to keep a secret for just a little longer.

“If either of you want to try to catch some sleep, I can keep watch,” James offered.

That sounded entirely unappealing to Gabriella. Apparently, Bradley felt the same way, because he just shook his head. James didn’t look surprised.

Bradley got up and headed into the kitchen. Gabriella knew it was to make a pot of his oddly thick coffee. But she’d take that rocket fuel if it meant getting her brain in working order.

“It can’t hurt us,” James said again.

“No, but it can wear us down until we hurt ourselves, apparently,” Gabriella said.

“We’ll solve it,” he said, wiping the side of his mouth with a thumb.

The handprint on his face was less red now, but it was still completely visible as ran his other hand through his hair and tried to wake up. She wasn’t sure how he’d been hiding the mark outside of the hat, and she had a feeling that he was doing so by staying at work all the time. She knew it was harder to explain than a chunk of missing hair, but the idea of him spending all of his time in this house wasn’t encouraging at all.

James stood up and followed Bradley into the kitchen. She could hear the two of them talking in low voices and wondered briefly if it was about to turn into an argument. With a lack of solid sleep and personalities like ammonia and bleach in a small room sometimes, it wouldn’t surprise her. But she was so tired and still had the voice ringing in her ear. So she might murder them if that happened.

Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out.

ELLIOT

Good morning!

Despite the headache forming under her forehead, she had to smile at that. She texted him back a quick good morning, then slid her phone into her pocket. They still hadn’t set a second date, but they were talking a lot throughout the day and she could feel herself falling for him. For a man who didn’t believe in ghosts.

Maybe he’d see something at her mother’s house and start to believe it. Gabriella could hope for that, at least. He didn’t need to be a paranormal investigator, he just needed to believe that her career actually existed.

She heard Bradley’s voice raise slightly in the kitchen, but didn’t catch what he said. James responded, his voice still even and just out of clear hearing range. She sat down and leaned her head back a little. Two hours of sleep at the tail end of a night shift wasn’t enough, but thankfully she was only on for the early morning today. She’d go home and sleep before going up to her mother’s. Maybe talk to Elliot on the phone, have a conversation that didn’t constantly get interrupted.

She woke up to James nudging her. “Gabs,” he whispered.

She took in a sharp breath and sat up straight. Shit, how long was she asleep? She hadn’t intended to fall back to sleep out here.

“It’s only been a minute,” James said, as though he’d read her mind.

He passed her a cup of coffee, and she took a sip. Yeah, Bradley had made this batch, but James had overloaded it with creamer, so it was nearly drinkable. “Thanks,” she said, taking another sip.

“Bradley’s heading home for a little bit,” James said. “I can handle things here if you want to leave early.”

She wanted to. That sounded so tempting. She had plans at her mom’s later, but maybe she could catch a nap first. If she was going to deal with dreams of that monster, she could do it in her own home. But the thought of leaving James here alone dampened that thought. “What time is someone else in?” she asked.

“Graham is coming in at eight.”

But Graham was still training. “Anyone else?” she asked.

“What, are you worried about me being here alone?”

“Yeah.”

His face fell a little, and she realized it had come out harsher than she intended. “Not like that,” she amended. “You’re the captain, I trust you. But, like, you need to get some rest too.”

“Nah, I’m fine.”

He held up his coffee. “Besides,” he said. “I’m off tonight and tomorrow. I’m fine, really.”

He looked fine, aside from the handprint on his face. “Are you going to go home tonight?” Gabriella asked.

“Of course.”

She noticed he didn’t look at her as he said it. “If I asked Graham, would he say you’ve been home at all?”

“We’ve been working opposite schedules.”

“James.”

“Gabs,” James snapped. “Of course I haven’t left here. I’ve got some paranormal asshole’s slap mark burned into my face. Am I supposed to just go to Market Basket like this?”

The heat in his voice took aback her. “No, of course not,” she started, trying not to stammer. “It’s just- I don’t want you to burn out.”

“I promise, I’m fine,” he said, the anger gone from his voice now. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped. I just have this massive mark on my face that makes me look like a creep. I can’t exactly live my normal life until it’s gone.”

He had a good point. “You’re not working all the time, are you?” she asked.

Now he looked sheepish. “I’m not trying to.”

“God, we need to just close for a day and sleep,” she said. “It’ll be the day the apocalypse happens, but maybe another team can deal with it.”

James laughed, and she felt a bit less tense. “It’s alright,” he said. “I’m fine. It’s not like that thing is laughing in my ear all night. I can at least get some rest. How are you doing with it?:”

“Fine,” she said. “Same. I’m tired, but it’s no different from a regular nightmare, I guess. I tried rosemary under my pillow, but it didn’t help. Not that I expected it to.”

“Not with someone literally stopping in for a visit,” James said. “Mischiefs are real, so anything that impacts your own mental processes won’t touch them. Otherwise, I’d be suggesting we all pop sleeping pills until this is done.”

Gabriella was actually tempted now that he said that. But the idea of not being able to wake up when this thing was taunting her was even more terrifying.

James stretched, his back cracking in a way that made her wince. He noticed and laughed. “For real,“ he said. “If you want to go home, I’m fine with it.”

The offer was appealing, but shook her head. “No, I’ll hang out until the end of my shift,” she said. “I’ve got enough to keep me occupied.”

Before he could argue with her, Gabriella got up and went over to the computer. She wasn’t lying, there were brand new training modules she’d received yesterday. And by the time her shift ended, she might even get one of them to open.

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 19