By the time Gabriella got to the urgent care clinic, they’d already brought her mother back to get treated. She walked inside and took a seat in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs for what she knew would likely be a long time.

She’d been in multiple emergency rooms and urgent cares since starting this job, both as a patient and as a coworker bringing someone else in for treatment after a case. None of them had ever had even remotely comfortable furniture. Maybe it was because they wanted people in and out as fast as possible. Or didn’t want people to hang around. Maybe the thought was that someone would rethink their need to get emergency care. After all, if it wasn’t too bad, maybe you didn’t want to be in one of these chairs for a few hours. That seemed like an approach the Foundation would approve of.

God, her mind was spinning right now.

Her mom had been pushed. Sure, it could have been something totally normal, but the sinking feeling in Gabriella’s stomach told her it had to be more than that. It had to be connected to Agatha, the spirit her mom said was totally harmless and would never hurt her. The same spirit that had thrown a glass off the counter and shattered it only a few months earlier. Since then, Gabriella really hadn’t heard much about the ghost. But she knew Agatha was still around, even if her mom kept it to herself to keep from worrying Gabriella.

Frustration mingled with fear as she waited, watching absently as people came and went from the waiting room. They were in a clinic attached to a smaller hospital in New Hampshire. Elliot had told her the name, but she’d forgotten it the moment she’d plugged it into her GPS, still sitting at the comms computer. Then, as Bradley had walked in the door at work, she’d hurried past him to her car and headed out.

Elliot’s father had come with her mom. Did he drop her off? Was she alone back there? She sent off a quick text to ask Elliot. In any other situation, Gabriella might not have been so nervous. But the potential paranormal element was stirring things up in her. Visions of James and Amelia trapped in the crushed van, as well as monsters under her bed kept creeping into her mind as she sat there.

What if her mom was back in the exam room, alone and scared after a ghost encounter? Gabriella had seen the way those things could rock even the most sensible, practical people. Sometimes them more than anyone else since the paranormal didn’t correspond with their expectations in life. While her mother was perfectly comfortable with the idea of ghosts, she’d been adamant that this one was harmless. So she was probably rattled right now.

ELLIOT

Dad stayed with her. They’re out back now.

Gabriella let out a long breath. Her mother must have just been focused on actually getting her injury treated and hadn’t looked at her phone. Mr. Ramsey was a kind man. He would make sure she was alright back there.

ELLIOT

Dad says they’re alright. Her phone is dead.

ELLIOT

She says not to wait.

Like hell Gabriella wasn’t waiting. Instead, she settled in for what was sure to be a long time in this still-uncomfortable chair.

---

She spent the next couple hours texting with James and reading her book in small snippets. They were fine at headquarters, James kept reassuring her. The case had been a very simple one, it was actually over now. He wanted to get her more experience on the comms, so he’d put her back on it for tomorrow.

This suggestion was immediately followed by: No, wait. Don’t come in tomorrow. Hang out with your mom if she needs your help. Gabriella had a feeling her mom would drop her off at work tomorrow if she tried to do that.

The person next to her sniffled and Gabriella tried not to visibly cringe. Right. Somehow in all of this, she’d forgotten that the flu was absolutely ripping its way through every community in the area. And if she caught it here, she’d be out of commission at work too. There was a pack of masks available at the front desk, so she got up to get one, then settled back down, hoping it wasn’t too late.

The waiting area cleared out until it was just her and an elderly woman in a wheelchair on the other side of the room. Finally, the door opened and her mother came out, limping but walking on her own. Elliot’s father, a tall man with a long, graying beard, was walking beside her. When Mom saw Gabriella sitting in the waiting room, her face fell.

“I told you to leave,” she said. “Or, I told Elliot to tell you to leave.”

“I wasn’t going to go,” Gabriella said, hurrying over to her mother’s other side. “Mom, what happened?”

Her mom waved her off. “It was just an accident,” she said. “Seriously, you don’t need to worry about me on top of everything else.”

Gabriella had only met Elliot’s dad a handful of times, but she was so grateful to him right now that she could have hugged him, awkwardness be damned. “Thank you so much,” she said.

“Not a problem,” he said, his smile identical to Elliot’s. He turned to her mom. “Do you want a ride back or…”

“I’ll take her,” Gabriella said quickly.

Despite her insistence that Gabriella shouldn’t have been there, her mom looked like she was waiting to get yelled at. But she nodded in agreement.

“It’s just a twisted ankle,” she insisted a few minutes later as they got into the car. “It’s fine. It’s not even that sore anymore.”

“Was it Agatha?” Gabriella asked.

Her mom’s face fell and Gabriella didn’t even wait for her to deny it. “Mom, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Mom finally admitted. “I was walking through the dining room and into the living room, and thought I heard something upstairs. So I called up to Agatha, half-joking, then it felt like something pushed me. It was only one step, but I landed badly on my ankle. Do you really think it was Agatha?”

Gabriella remembered the way the glass had shattered in her mother’s kitchen. “I do,” she said. “Do you want to come stay with me? Or I’ll stay with you? But I don’t want you staying there alone.”

For one stressful second, Gabriella thought her mom was about to fight her. But then she nodded. “If you really think it’s Agatha, then maybe I shouldn’t stay there.”

“At least until we’ve had a chance to check it out.”

“Oh no,” Mom started as Gabriella pulled out of the parking lot. “No, you have enough going on as it is. You’re not getting involved in this too.”

“Honestly, they’ll probably hand it off to the Hillsborough County team,” Gabriella said. “It’s their territory. But I’ve seen a few other cases like this and I don’t think you should be there alone. And it’s not going to go away on its own, not if it’s already at the point where it’s hurting you.”

“I can get a hotel room,” Mom said, and Gabriella resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Your apartment is small enough, you don’t need your mom there too. Do you even have a couch?”

“No, but you’ll take my bed and I’ll take the air mattress.”

Gabriella knew this was about to start off a fresh round of arguments, but she was so relieved to have her mom out of that house for the night that she’d take it.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 4