Gabriella spent the rest of the afternoon as alone as she could possibly be in a small raised ranch house filled with people. She waited until the gym was empty to do her own workout, pushing silently through it because, of course, she’d forgotten her headphones today. The ancient radio that Amelia and Madelyn used to play pop punk during every workout sat unplugged on the basement window, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually get it out and set it up before she began. Partially because the music brought back memories, just like everything did. And partially because she wanted to move in autopilot through the afternoon, thinking as little as possible until it was time to leave for the hotel. Because all of her thoughts were coming back to that same place.

Robin had brought her onto the team as a sacrifice. It didn’t matter who James picked for the role, they were brought on to die. He’d told her that she was doing a good job, that maybe she could be a leader someday. But a leader wouldn’t have fallen for Robin’s transparent ploys so easily. Nobody else had, just stupid, naïve Gabriella.

It was so obvious now. She’d been shaken and vulnerable, and Robin had targeted that. He’d separated her from the rest of the group, convincing her that only he had her best interests in mind. That even if they actually cared, which none of them did, she couldn’t rely on the others to keep her safe. Only Robin. Only that voice of authority. And if she listened to that authority without questioning it, everything would be alright.

She made it through most of her workout in a daze, moving from warm-ups to weights, then cardio. The treadmill squeaked as she ran and Gabriella made a mental note to check the cabinet for lubricant after she was done. If she stopped now, she’d never finish this workout and then how would she run from the ghosts later?

She didn’t see herself as a leader, of course, but it had felt nice when Robin said it. Now it just felt like he was mocking her as he brought her so obliviously to her own death.

Though Gabriella had no interest in ever being a leader, not that the Foundation gave everybody the option. James for instance. James was a natural leader, even if he so obviously hated the role he was forced into now. And of course James had done everything correctly during that case, the entire team saw that. And not only had they seen it, they’d confronted her about it.

Or, at least Bradley had confronted her about it. The others had simply been obvious about their support of a devastated James over a Robin that was acting increasingly erratic. And Gabriella had been so stuck on the idea that if she followed their leader, then everything would be safe. Because the authorities had their health and safety in mind at all times.

God, had she really been so ignorant? She’d been twenty-two, she wasn’t a kid. People had their own kids by that point all the time and here she was believing the most obvious ploy ever and hurting her cousin while she did so.

He’d forgiven her so quickly too. And the others seemed to be doing so as well. Though it still came up sometimes, it wasn’t as venomous as it had been in the months after Robin’s death. But Gabriella wasn’t going to forgive herself for falling for such an obvious manipulation and putting them all in danger. She could keep trying, but if all it took was a date on the calendar to put her into this kind of mood, then clearly the time with the psychiatrist hadn’t helped as much as she’d hoped it would. And she wasn’t going to tell her mother the details. She hadn’t planned to tell her any of it, but then Elliot had talked about it in front of everyone, because that was what he believed was in her best interest.

Not that he’d checked with her or anything.

The squeaking of the treadmill continued as she ran, getting louder and more aggressive until the timer beeped her thirty minutes to a close. She got off, wiped it down, and immediately went to the old cabinet in the corner, tugging the stuck wooden door until it finally gave in and swung open.

The cabinet was a mess, small boxes scattered throughout the splintery wooden shelves. She knew that a bottle of treadmill lubricant would be tiny and hard to find. But that thing was about twenty seconds away from smoking when the next person tried to run on it and O’Toole’s demons weren’t going anywhere, so she had time to fix it herself.

“What are you looking for?”

Gabriella was about two shelves deep into her search when Bradley’s voice startled her. She gasped and stood up straight, catching her head on the top shelf of the cabinet. “Dammit,” she muttered through the pain. “You scared me.”

He didn’t apologize. Of course he didn’t apologize, she’d maybe heard him say sorry twice in the year she’d been here. Instead, Bradley walked into the gym, moving toward the treadmill she’d just vacated. “Don’t go on that one,” she said, rubbing the sore spot on the top of her head. “It needs lube.”

Dammit, why was she forcing down a smile? She was an adult, and she was in a bad mood. Lube wasn’t funny. Seriously, it wasn’t funny, and she wasn’t about to laugh. Bradley stopped, then nodded toward the other treadmill. “I’ll use this one.”

“Do you know where-”

“No, for the last time, the Foundation isn’t providing us with big tubs of treadmill lube.”

Was he forcing himself not to laugh too? She couldn’t be sure, but that scowl seemed awfully determined. “If you happen to spot some,” she started, then turned back to the shelf.

“Grow up, McManus.”

There was the usual disdain, but there was no heat behind it. And before she had to think of a response, she spotted the tiny bottle at the back of the shelf. Carefully avoiding splinters, she grabbed it and hurried over to the other treadmill.

“You know what you’re doing?” Bradley confirmed as she lifted the belt of the treadmill and began applying lubricant. “You’re not going to kill anyone?”

“I’ve done this plenty of times,” she retorted. “I’m not completely useless.”

The words were out before she thought them through. She busied herself with her task, wrapping it up quickly and turning the treadmill on its lowest setting. “I’m going to leave it like that for a little while,” she said.

“Great.”

“How’s that treadmill?”

He’d started it up at speed in that weird way he always did. “Fine,” he replied, running at full tilt.

There was a slight squeak. “I’ll get that one later,” Gabriella said, feeling an odd sense of purpose at the idea of doing simple gym maintenance.

“No one thinks you’re fucking useless.”

She’d been about to pick up her water bottle and towel, but looked up at him in surprise. Bradley wasn’t looking at her, but punching his workout into the control panel as he ran. “Um, thanks,” she said. “Do you want me to-”

“I’m busy. Go away.”

She was done with her workout for now anyway, so she made a mental note to come back for that treadmill later and hurried out of the room.

***

After her shower, Gabriella had barely pulled out her research in the pink bedroom when Amelia knocked on the doorframe. “We should get going soon,” she said. “I want to interview the owner before getting everything set up throughout the hotel. That’ll bring us right to about sunset.”

“Are we staying there overnight?” Gabriella asked, closing her laptop and setting it down on one of the small dressers against the wall.

The pink bedroom was one of the three bedrooms in the house that were set up for staff to use during overnight shifts. Two of them were actual bedrooms with two beds each, while the back bedroom had a single bed and another computer station. Gabriella had never actually spent any time in that one, it was usually claimed by Amelia or Bradley. But the pink bedroom was fine for her research purposes.

“Yeah,” Amelia replied. “You’re on for a double, yeah?”

“I am,” she said quickly. “I just wasn’t sure if we’d be coming back here at all.”

“No, the Foundation wants this done as quickly as possible,” Amelia said. “Like usual. Though I doubt this is something we can investigate and get rid of in a single shift.”

She scoffed and shook her head, dyed black hair shaking in its messy bun as she did so. “I won’t be surprised if any other cases come in that also need to be done instantly,” she said. “They’re really tossing things on us lately.”

“Is it retaliation?” Gabriella asked softly, hoping James wasn’t anywhere near to hear it.

Amelia slid the door closed as quietly as possible. “It absolutely is,” she whispered. “They’re cutting funding and adding on cases because they’re pissed he called them out on their lies. But it’s not the first time they’ve pulled shit like this.”

She groaned and sat down on the other bed. “You remember the Delinsky case?”

A girl even younger than Gabriella hanging from the metal ceiling of an expensive clothing store, careening down to the gleaming linoleum twenty feet down. Her body lands with a sick crack that isn’t nearly elegant enough for the upscale atmosphere around them.

“Yeah,” Gabriella said. “Yeah, I remember that one.”

“The Delinskys wanted us to stick around and act as a kind of private ghost watch for them on top of our actual jobs,” Amelia said. “When James explained that wasn’t doable, they were pretty pissed. So was the Foundation.”

“It’s not doable, though,” Gabriella said.

James had never mentioned anything about that to her. Which made sense, Amelia was in second in command so she had to know these things. But Gabriella had had a feeling something like that happened after that case.

God, that would have been a nightmare. At the Delinskys’ beck and call while also fighting every monster that North Worcester County could cough up. She’d had minimal dealings with the Delinsky family directly during that case, but each time had been a nightmare. Even Zach Delinsky, the best of the bunch and someone James insisted he had no romantic interest in, had made himself extremely punchable at times. (Despite her teasing and the fact that she knew James could really use some romance in his life, Gabriella had to be relieved that one hadn’t gone anywhere.) And their team would work directly for them. While severely understaffed. And the Foundation would just have full faith and no other supports.

It’d be just like today, every day.

“They know that,” Amelia said. “But it’s not their problem, is it? We’d be the ones on the hook to figure it out or leave people in danger. And I know you’ve noticed James trying to keep us all from burning out with the extra work. He made me a frigging Tupperware of pasta to bring tonight since he thinks I’m not eating enough. We’re spread too thin and they’re making it even thinner.”

She paused, clearly remembering again who she was talking to and what Gabriella’s original role on the team was. “Anyway, we should get moving.”

As they walked out into the living room, Graham and James were getting ready to leave too. Bradley was setting up the comms station, the two screens in front of him updating as he did so.

“Everyone stays on comms at all times,” he said as Gabriella and Amelia walked into the room. “If you turn it off to go to the bathroom or whatever, you tell me. Before, not after. And if you think you’re about to lose service, you tell me. If the battery dies-“

“We’ll stay in communication, I promise,” James said. “It’s alright, man.”

Bradley looked at him, but James didn’t look flippant as he hooked his camera onto his chest. He turned it on and one of Bradley’s computers flickered to life, his own image showing up on the screen as James faced him.

“We’ll all be in constant contact,” he said. “You’re going to see every leaf in that forest. And whatever creature Graham has befriended this time, once we get to it.”

“Your forms are filled out,” Bradley said in response, motioning to the initial reports. “Sign them and mark the time you’re leaving so that I have it in writing for the Foundation.”

“Got it.”

James and Graham were already set to leave, their packs slung over their shoulders and the tranq gun in a holster on James’s hip. James signed the form with a slight flourish, then passed it over to Graham.

“We’ll be in the main parking lot at the start,” James said. “From there, we’ll follow Graham’s notes from earlier and make our way off the main trail. The GPS on my phone is working and I’ll keep it on the whole time. It’s never gone out in the state forest, so hopefully tonight won’t be the first time.”

Last time, Gabriella had made her way through the state forest via celestial navigation to get to the highway and find the others. Robin had lost her trail at some point, or maybe he’d given up and gone back for his car to catch and kill her that way. Either way, the scent of the forest was still in her nose, and the room seemed to get just a bit dimmer in a way that had nothing to do with the oncoming dusk.

“Oh,” James said. “There’s a bunch of leftover pasta in the fridge. You should grab some for dinner.”

“I’m not hungry,” Bradley said.

“It’s there when you are. There’s some fruit too. Strawberries and maybe some blackberries.”

“I said I’m fine.”

Were they about to fight over fruit? But James just grabbed his car keys. “Gabbie,” he said, turning to her, “Speaking of. There’s a Tupperware of pasta in the fridge for you to bring.”

“Check in when you get there,” Bradley said before Gabriella could do anything more than smile.

James gave him a wink and a salute, then started for the door as Bradley glowered after him. Graham followed James as Gabriella went to get her bag packed up.

“We’ll just need the usual,” Amelia said as Gabriella went to the dining room table, which was stacked with supplies. “Minimal weapons, but at least some protections. I have a few extras in my bag already. We’re going to put the mini cameras up throughout the building, then I’ll watch for them on my tablet. Bradley, do you have enough space to have the cameras going on your end too?”

“No,” Bradley replied as the other screen finally finished updating the software. “But let me see if I can hook one of the other computers in the bank up to it. That’s a good redundancy.”

The living room they were in had a small bank of old computers that the team had to use for any official work. They all ran excruciatingly slowly, with no exceptions. Gabriella did a lot of her research on her laptop, which was probably against the rules. But the computers were almost as old as she was, so it was worth the risk.

“It’s the same software as the comms,” Amelia said as she added a small knife to her pack. “Let me get it set up before I go. Madelyn showed me how to do it, maybe the computer won’t melt.”

She sat down at the computer on the other side of Bradley and began the slow process of adding even more software while Gabriella got ready to go. She looked over the mess of weapons and supplies on the otherwise cozy dining room table. There were blades, holy water, various holy books, and protective jewelry. There were also two coffee cups and a half-finished water bottle that she was pretty sure contained no holiness, but likely a lot of caffeine.

They wouldn’t be in the forest, they’d be in a hotel. It was ghosts, Gabriella was good at ghosts. She’d gotten the spirit out of her mother’s house without anyone coming to any more harm than a rolled ankle on her mom’s end and a sprained knee for the team captain who had tried to attack her. Which was also something she wasn’t going to think about right now.

By the time she was ready to go, Amelia had the cameras set up on the monitor. “Not as good as Madelyn, but it’ll get us through until she gets back,” she said.

“Thanks,” Bradley said stiffly.

They filled out the new paperwork and, with a final admonishment to stay in constant contact, Gabriella and Amelia were out the door

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 4