Gabriella walked up the walkway toward the front door of the North County Paranormal headquarters. She’d been up half the night last night, feeling like she had as a kid on Christmas Eve, jittery and excited and dreaming about what tomorrow would bring. While she had, like James said, grown up around the paranormal, she’d always been on the outskirts of anything Gran had done. Her mother protected her from getting involved in anything as a child, and then she’d gone away to college. This was her first time being right in the thick of it. So now she was practically running on that excitement as she arrived at her second day of work. That, plus the Redbull she was sipping as she made her way up from her car.

James had told her to come right in when she got here this morning. But as she climbed the steps, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was walking uninvited into someone’s house. The whiskey barrel full of flowers and the cheery welcome mat didn’t make it anymore comfortable.

Gabriella stopped at the top of the stairs and hesitated. Should she just walk in? But what if James wasn’t there and she walked in on a bunch of people she didn’t know and who didn’t know her? What if they kicked her out? She should just ring the doorbell.

But what if they thought she was too cautious for ringing the bell after joining the team? Or snotty, like she needed an engraved invitation in order to do her work. Maybe it was a test.

Oh God, it was definitely a test.

The door swung open, interrupting her internal agony. Bradley was standing there, an irritated look on his thin face. “Were you planning on coming in at any point?” he asked.

Before she could reply, he turned around and walked back into the house, leaving her standing on the porch with her face burning. Before the door could swing shut behind him, Gabriella hurried inside. She kicked off her shoes by the door and lined them up neatly beside the three other pairs currently sitting there.

She could hear two male voices coming from the living room right above her, but neither of them sounded like James. She walked up cautiously.

Bradley was now sitting on the couch, hunched over some papers on the coffee table. Another man with short, thin brown hair sat on the other couch with his back to her.

“I’m not saying it’s not doable, boss,” Bradley was saying. “I’m just saying it’s extremely tricky.”

The other man nodded, rubbing his fingers against his temples as Bradley pointed to something on the paper in front of him. “I can juggle it,” Bradley continued. “Put off some of the tech repairs I’ve been planning and put that money toward paying that off. But then that puts us at risk of not having the tech when we need it. Or of it breaking down even more than it already is and costing more in the long run.”

“Yes, Bradley, I’m aware of what happens when you don’t fix your tech. I’ve been in charge for a while now.”

The other man’s voice was sharper than the sardonic tone Gabriella had quickly realized was Bradley’s usual habit. She hung back at the top of the stairs, wondering if she should say something to let them know she was there.

Apparently unfazed, Bradley pulled the sheet back across the table and flipped it so that it was facing him. “Would they put us on a payment plan?”

“We’re already on a payment plan,” the other man said, pulling the sheet back in front of himself.

He scanned it for a few seconds while Bradley shifted on the couch and Gabriella continued to hang back awkwardly. “We need a bigger budget,” Bradley said finally. “That’s really all it comes down to.”

“I’ve tried,” the man, who must have been the Robin that James had mentioned, said. “The fighting it took just to get them to approve filling the empty position? Not a new position, mind you. The empty one that left us short staffed for over six months. That was like pulling teeth, and that was essential. The only reason they finally agreed to it was because it’s in their own bylaws. They’ll find ways to tell us that what we’ve got here isn’t essential.”

“Want me to talk to them?” Bradley asked.

“Absolutely not.”

The words were out almost before Bradley was done speaking. Then the man turned in his seat and saw Gabriella. Now that she looked at him full-on, she could see that he was significantly older than everyone else she’d seen here, probably close to fifty years old. He had a thin, friendly face with a graying mustache and hazel eyes.

“Gabriella,” he said, the word almost a question but not quite.

She nodded. Shit, she’d clearly been standing here too long. Now it was weird.

“Robin,” the man said. “Hang on a sec, Bradley and I are just finishing up.”

“Listen, I can make this work,” Bradley said, the paper now in his hand. “It’s going to be tight and we’ll have to put off at least some of the repairs. But I can at least get this month’s bill paid.”

“Thank you,” Robin said, standing up and picking up his coffee cup from the table. “I don’t know, Bradley. Sometimes I wonder what it will take to get the Foundation to give us the resources we need. It’s almost as though they’ve decided we’re too good at this.”

“I guess we should be fucking up more,” Bradley said.

He stood up too, picking up his own empty cup. Then he walked out of the living room and into the kitchen, leaving Robin standing thoughtfully by the table. After a few seconds, Robin turned to face Gabriella, his worried expression melting into a broad smile.

“Gabriella, thank you so much for waiting,” he said. “James told me you’d be by for your first day of training, but he had to run out on a quick errand with one of our other agents. So you’ll be with me until he gets back. Nothing to worry about, nothing more terrifying than a large stack of paperwork.”

He laughed, and Gabriella felt the knot in her stomach ease a little. “Take a seat,” Robin said, gesturing toward the couch that Bradley had just vacated. “I’m just going to refresh this coffee, then I’ll be back with the paperwork I’ll need you to fill out. Would you like anything? Coffee? Water?”

“I’m all set,” Gabriella said.

Robin nodded. “All right. I’ll show you where everything is later, in case you change your mind.”

He walked out, leaving her alone in the living room again. It was just like someone’s grandparents’ house. It could be her own grandparents’ house, a cozy ranch house with a fireplace mantel stuffed full of family knick-knacks. The only thing missing was a grandfather clock chiming cheerfully in the corner. Even the calico cat snoozing on the windowsill was the same. If it weren’t for the computers situated around the room, she could easily mix the two living rooms up.

She could hear voices coming from one of the bedrooms down the hall, but they were muffled, and neither sounded like James. Gabriella shifted a little. She worked here, she had to remind herself. She wasn’t just a house guest overstaying her welcome. She actually worked for this organization now.

Gabriella glanced at the coffee table. Now that the papers from Bradley and Robin’s meeting were gone, she could see a few textbooks scattered over its cluttered surface. Introduction to Metaphysics was facing her, its cover almost too faded to make out the graphics. The first aid guide beside it was much newer, as was the Introduction to Calculus book half hidden beneath a small notebook. Was she going to have to know calculus to do this job? Gabriella sincerely hoped not. She hadn’t been awful at math in school, but it had been so long since she’d taken a math class that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep up.

Bradley came around the corner again. Without saying a word to Gabriella, he walked up to the coffee table and picked up both the calculus book and the notebook. Then he nodded sharply at her and walked out of the room again. As he was going through the doorway, he passed by Robin, who walked in carrying a tray with a manila folder, two glasses of water, and a coffee.

“I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I brought you a water,” Robin said, handing her one of the glasses.

She could almost hear Bradley roll his eyes as he walked out of the room. Fine, whatever. She’d just have to avoid him as much as possible. It wasn’t like she hadn’t worked with assholes before.

“Thanks,” she said to Robin, taking the water and taking a sip.

“So James tells me you two are cousins?” Robin asked as he sat down.

Gabriella nodded. “Yeah, I’m a lot younger than him, but our family is really tight. So I grew up with him there.”

“That’s wonderful,” Robin said.

His voice seemed a little overenthusiastic, but maybe he was just trying too hard to connect with her. After all, James was supposed to be doing her orientation, right? Robin probably didn’t spend much time making small talk with early twenty-somethings at this job.

“So you had a brief tour with him yesterday,” Robin said. “Did he show you everything?”

“I think so?” Gabriella replied. “He showed me the kitchen and bedrooms and the gym downstairs.”

“There’s a little more to it than that, but no worries,” Robin said. “I’ll have him go more in-depth when he gets back. What else did you two discuss?”

“The basics, I guess,” Gabriella said. “He said you’re part of something called The Foundation? And it’s not just ghosts, it’s all different things.”

“That about sums it up,” Robin said with a laugh.

He took a sip of his coffee. “We’re a branch of the Foundation for Paranormal Studies, the North Worcester county branch, to be precise. There are a number of branches around New England, all of which report back to the main Foundation in Boston. It’s a good organization, respectable despite the focus on ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night.”

He handed her the folder he’d brought in. “You’ll find the handbook in there, as well as your employment paperwork,” he said. “I think James told you that you’ll get health benefits, effective immediately?”

“He did,” Gabriella said, trying not to let the relief show in her voice.

“So if you can take a few moments to fill all this out, I’d appreciate it,” Robin said. “And James should be back any time now. If he’s not back by the time you finish the paperwork, you can start getting familiar with the handbook. We have a team meeting this afternoon, so we’ll introduce you to the team then.”

He stood up again and gestured toward a door she hadn’t noticed before. It was just off of the attached dining room. “I have a bit of work to do in my office, but if you have any questions, just come knock.”

“Thanks.”

Robin smiled. “It’s good to have you aboard, Gabriella. Gabby? Ella? Is there something else you prefer?”

“Gabriella is fine.”

“Of course.”

He walked away, opening the door and going inside. Gabriella caught a glimpse of a desk and an overstuffed bookshelf before he closed the door, leaving her alone in the living room.

If she’d been expecting anything exciting in the paperwork, she would have been disappointed. Despite the fact that she was signing on to fight vampires and shadow people, the paperwork wasn’t really any different from the food service jobs she had worked during college. She breezed through it and was just putting her emergency contact information in one last time when the front door swung open and she heard voices on the landing.

“-swear it was rancid.”

“It wasn’t rancid, you just hit it in the wrong place and it exploded,” a woman’s voice was saying.

The smell made its way up the stairs before the newcomers did. Gabriella’s eyes watered as she smelled decay and a sharp burning smell overtaking the smell of fresh air she’d been taking for granted seconds earlier.

“Hey, Gabriella,” James called, and she realized the smell was coming from him. “Give me a few minutes to shower and I’ll be out to get your orientation going.”

Before she said anything, he darted down the hall and into the bathroom, the smell fading slightly as he left. The woman he’d walked in with was the same one who had let her in yesterday. She smiled at Gabriella. “Hey, Gabriella, right?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Welcome back.”

Gabriella tried to hide the fact that she couldn’t remember this woman’s name, but apparently, it showed on her face. “Amelia,” the woman said.

“Sorry,” Gabriella said with a wince. “I’m trying to keep everyone’s names in my head.”

Amelia shrugged. “It’s your first full day, give it time. No one’s going to get mad. Not even Bradley.”

Gabriella laughed, then immediately shot a look around the room to make sure he hadn’t heard. Amelia noticed and smiled. “I have to go change,” she said. “See you in a little while!”

She disappeared down the hallway, pulling her long brown hair out of its ponytail as she went. Something about Amelia put Gabriella at ease far more than Robin had. Not that Robin hadn’t been friendly. In fact, he’d been a little too friendly. But Amelia’s breezy kindness felt much more her speed. The other woman was probably twenty-five or so, somewhere between her and James’s ages. Seeing that there was at least one other person under the age of thirty working here made her feel a little more confident.

She picked up the handbook and flipped through the first few pages. Again, it looked like any employee handbook she’d ever received. Come to work on time, fill out your time card, and don’t wear open-toed shoes. If it wasn’t for the heading Required Cleansing Protocol: Physical and Spiritual about six pages in, she wouldn’t have seen anything she’d never seen at Domino’s.

The cleansing protocols looked pretty simple. She’d have to find out where the emergency eyewash station was. And apparently, they were supposed to have a mobile medical kit in their vehicle. Gabriella imagined a sleek SUV filled with mysterious tech, though it’d need some kind of Red Sox bumper sticker so that it wouldn’t stick out too much here in Leominster though.

“Sorry about that,” James’s voice interrupted her a few minutes later.

She jumped, nearly dropping the handbook. James was walking back into the room. His wet blond hair was dark against his head and he was back in jeans and a tee-shirt, thankfully no longer reeking of dead cryptid.

“It’s no problem,” Gabriella replied.

She flipped the handbook so the cover was facing him. “Just going over the handbook.”

“Oh yeah, Bradley’s masterpiece,” James said, a trace of a smirk on his face. “Alright, speaking of, he’s got an Orientation guide around here somewhere. It’ll give us a checklist of things to go over.”

He walked over to the computer bank and started shuffling through some piles of paper. “Where…”

“Filing cabinet A, bottom drawer.”

Bradley had managed to come back into the room without either of them noticing. “And stop messing with my papers.”

Gabriella thought James was going to say something, but he just rolled his eyes and went to the filing cabinet in question. “Thanks, Brad,” he said.

Bradley narrowed his eyes, but didn’t respond as he walked away.

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 4