Gabriella had just finished her workout and now the chocolate banana smoothie she’d left in the fridge was calling to her. So after getting changed, she headed out to the kitchen with her mind on some of the mundane history research she’d been doing for Robin earlier in the morning.

As she walked into the room, James was already in there, pouring a cup of coffee. He glanced up and smiled when she came in. Then he realized who was there and his smile faded.

“Oh, hey Gabs,” he said, turning back to his coffee.

“Hey,” she said softly.

He picked up his mug, then set it back down and turned to her. “Look,” he said. “Gabs, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I messed up that night. I’ve been tearing it apart over and over, watching the tapes, and trying to figure out where I went wrong. I can’t find it, but apparently, I did something, and you got hurt. And I’m so sorry about that.”

Gabriella’s appetite evaporated as she stood in the doorway, looking at her cousin. She missed him. And after weeks of walking on eggshells around each other, she missed the casual closeness they’d always had before now.

James kept watching her, clearly waiting for a response. Gabriella wanted to accept his apology, so maybe it was time to move past her anger and just do it. She wanted so badly to just get back to normal. He hadn’t meant to hurt her and he’d paid the price for his mistake, right? So why was she still hanging onto it weeks later? Her injury was healing and she only had occasional pain from it. Maybe it was time to move on.

Screw it, she needed to get over it.

She felt the corners of her mouth turn up just a little. But as she opened her mouth to tell him she accepted his apology, she heard Robin call in from his office.

“Gabriella,” he said. “Can you come here for a moment? It’s urgent.”

James picked up his mug, then slipped past her and out of the room. She turned in time to see him round the corner, then looked back over toward Robin’s doorway. He was waiting at his desk, an expectant look on his face. Now that the moment had thoroughly escaped her, she started walking toward Robin.

“What’s going on?” she asked, pausing just inside his doorway.

“It’s about your research,” Robin said. “The library just called, they have the books you were looking for.”

That was what was so urgent? Something twisted uneasily in her chest as Robin looked at her. But Gabriella just smiled and nodded, keeping the urge to scream buried in her chest.

“Great,” she said, resisting the urge to turn around and chase after James. “That’s great, thanks.”

“You should go pick those up before they close today,” Robin added, still smiling.

There was a knock at the door frame behind her and Bradley poked his head in. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “Robin, can I speak to you in private?”

Robin motioned toward her, and she moved to let Bradley in and walk away. But before she could get out the door, he held out a hand to stop her. “It’s just Gabriella,” he said. “There’s nothing secret among team members.”

Bradley looked first at her, and then at Robin with his face set in what looked like a deliberately neutral expression. “Fine,” he said. “Which bill would you like me to put off this week, boss? The overdue electric bill or the overdue internet bill?”

“And why exactly are they both overdue?” Robin asked, his temper clearly controlled under his calm tone.

“Because we don’t have the money for both?” Bradley replied, his own voice now showing signs of strain under its cool professionalism.

Robin’s smooth expression fell for a second and for that split second, Gabriella thought she could see a strange sort of rage come over his features. Then his mask slid back into place and he glanced over at her, then back at Bradley.

“Let me look at the accounts when we’re done here,” Robin said. “We’ll find the money in there somewhere.”

Bradley nodded. His gaze flicked from Robin to Gabriella. Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Robin shook his head and smiled warmly at Gabriella, that blank fury now gone from his expression entirely. “Some of your teammates,” he said with a patronizing smile.

He pulled his laptop toward him and opened it up. “Alright, you should go pick those books up,” he said.

Recognizing the dismissal for what it was, Gabriella nodded and slipped out of the room.

***

A few hours later, Gabriella and Bradley were both working at computers in the living room, each determinedly avoiding looking at the other. She would have rather done her research in one of the bedrooms, but Amelia and Madelyn were napping in one right now while the others had already been claimed by James and Bradley, who were scheduled overnight. She knew James would gladly let her use his room, but he didn’t want to ask him that, not right after she’d accidentally avoided accepting his apology.

So now she was seated at one end of the room while Bradley sat at the other end. Occasionally he’d huff out a sigh and glare at his computer, but beyond that, there was silence except for the clicking of keys.

The books she’d brought back from the library were excruciatingly boring histories of the Montachusett region, where most of the energy readings came from. They were so delicate that she was worried pages were going to fall out as she worked on cross-referencing details with the websites she’d found. She wasn’t quite sure what the end result of this research was going to be, but Robin had been talking about how even if she didn’t find connections between the houses yet, an in-depth history of the region could come in useful with some of the hauntings they regularly investigated. So she might as well gather as much information as she could.

After about an hour of squinting at the tiny text in the rapidly fading sunlight and losing track of unnumbered pages, she was rescued by the sound of Robin walking into the room. “We’ve got a case,” he said.

Bradley looked up and scowled. “Emergency?” he asked. “There was nothing on the docket tonight.”

“Urgent,” Robin said. “Direct call to Leominster State Forest. It should be simple though, we don’t need the whole crew.”

Bradley was already switching programs to pull up the Foundation’s information, but paused at Robin’s words. He raised an eyebrow at that. “No?”

“No, I’ll take Gabriella with me and we can take care of it.”

Gabriella’s head shot up and she stared at him. “What?”

“No need to be nervous, you’ve got this,” Robin said. “It’s a simple one, think of it as a practice session. You’ll do great. Come on, get your shoes on.”

“No pre-brief?” Bradley asked.

Robin shook his head as Gabriella stood up and picked up her bag from where it sat by her feet. “No, it’s a simple one,” he said. “We’ll be back before dinner. I’ll buy us pizza. Come on, Gabriella!”

Gabriella caught Bradley’s eye for just a second, then Robin hurried her toward the door.

***

She’d expected Robin to give her all the information on the case as they drove there. But he was quiet as they got into his car, a small gray sedan. He stayed silent as they pulled out of the neighborhood and headed toward downtown. Instead of offering any explanation, he fiddled with the radio. He’d pause for a second on some pop song or sports chat, then hurry along to the next thing.

After about ten minutes of this, Gabriella cleared her throat. Robin glanced over at her as he slowed down and stopped for a red light. “Thanks for coming along,” Robin said. “Not that I don’t trust your teammates, but I think this is an excellent opportunity for you to really show your stuff.”

“What is it?” Gabriella asked.

Wasn’t he supposed to explain all of this before they went into the field? Even if it was just the two of them on a simple task, she was uneasy going into the dark woods with no details about what they’d be doing there.

“Simple haunting,” Robin said, eyes going back to the road as the light turned green. “It’s out in the State Forest a little ways so we’ll have to do some walking.”

Great. Gabriella hadn’t worn a jacket and it was already dark, so this was going to be a fun time. She tried to swallow her irritation and focus on the task at hand.

“Okay,” she said, looking out the window as they passed an empty-looking bank and a packed bar.

Robin didn’t say anything else as he drove. Gabriella waited a moment for him to continue, but it quickly became obvious he would explain nothing else before they got to their destination. Wasn’t that protocol though? Not doing a briefing was odd enough, but she didn’t know anything about the case beyond the fact that there was apparently a ghost in the woods. And now she was also under-prepared for it. If Robin was so big on protocol these days, then what was this all about?

He knows what he’s doing, she assured herself, glancing over at Robin as he drove. He looked over and gave her a warm smile. “Put whatever you want on the radio,” he said. “I’m fine with anything. Oh, and check the backseat for me if you can see it. Make sure the holy water and salt are ready to go.”

Gabriella turned in her seat and saw a bag of salt and a vial of holy water sitting in the backseat. The sight of them made this whole situation feel a little less weird. Maybe it was a test of some sort? Was that the Foundation’s style?

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that you joined the team,” Robin said as they moved away from the lights of downtown and onto a more wooded street. “You’ve really brought a lot to this job. And I think with a little more time, you could really be a great leader.”

He thought she could be a leader? Seriously? Gabriella felt like she could barely be a follower right now. But her skepticism melted somewhat at the warm smile on Robin’s face as he drove. “I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I can see it,” he continued. “You’ve got an eye for this job and I think that’s something that’ll bring a lot to the Foundation.”

“Thanks,” Gabriella said, blushing a little.

She still wanted to know more details, but his calm demeanor was easing her own worries now. Robin knew what he was doing. So she’d just follow his lead on this one.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 19