Natalie was still thinking about it the next day. All through her classes — Renaissance art and Statistics — and on the walk to the bookstore, she kept wondering about the cat, the weird strands she’d cut away from him, and the strange dark figures. Because now, in the light of day, it was harder to believe those figures had been children. For one thing, it had been long after dark on a school night, and for another, they hadn’t reacted like small children. She had thought they were elementary school kids at the time, but she wasn’t sure why. Natalie couldn’t remember anything specific that might have given her that impression. They hadn’t been carrying backpacks. She couldn’t remember their clothes. She only barely remembered their silhouettes against the light of the streetlamp, and there hadn’t been enough light to make out their faces. She did remember their eyes though. Golden eyes. All three of the figures had wide, golden eyes.

The bell over the door jangled cheerfully as Natalie walked into the bookstore where she worked to put herself through college. It was much harder now than it had been a few years ago. Tuition costs had spiked, and a lot of classes had been cut. The only upside of which was that, because she was in the last year or so of her Art degree, only one or two of the classes she needed were offered each semester, leaving more time to earn money and less guilt over not taking a full load of courses.

“Hey, Nat!” Patrick smiled at her over the counter. Natalie smiled back. Patrick was easy to smile at. He had a sort of off beat, California beach vibe from the 50s that came out of nowhere given the fact that he was only nineteen and grew up in Kansas. His friendly manner had put Natalie at ease as soon as they’d been introduced. He’d only been working at the shop a few months, but all the regulars had already taken to him.

“Hi, Patrick. How have sales been today?” Natalie walked behind the counter into the back room. Patrick half-turned and stood just outside the door so he could talk to her and keep one eye on the store at the same time.

“Slow,” he said, “as per usual for a Wednesday morning. How were classes? Is Statistics as scintillating as ever?”

Natalie gave him an incredulous look as she put her bag in her locker and pulled her apron out.

“Scintillating? Where’d you pick up that word?”

Patrick grinned.

“One of the customers used it today. Good word, right?”

Natalie finished tying her apron, closed her locker door, and stepped out of the back room.

“Great word.” She smiled and took up a place behind the cash register. “You are officially relieved, young man,” she said. Patrick laughed and mock saluted. He ducked into the back room just as the bell over the door jangled loudly.

Natalie turned toward the newcomer with her best Greet the Customer smile on.

“Hello! Welcome. Please feel free to browse, and let me know if there’s anything I can find for you.”

The words rolled off Natalie’s tongue with the ease of long familiarity, but the stranger and his friend seemed to ignore them completely. They simply stood in the entryway and surveyed the shop.

They weren’t the store’s usual sort of customer. Neither of them seemed like college students, though they looked about the right age for grad students, or perpetual students — mid to late twenties, probably. Natalie supposed they could just be browsing. They did get a few book lovers in the store from time to time, but these two didn’t fit in with that crowd either. Not academic looking enough, or bookish looking enough.

Both men had heavy black hair and Asian features with long, narrow noses, but that’s where the similarities stopped. The shorter of the two, who wasn’t short himself, really, just shorter in comparison to his friend, had a shaggy, shoulder-length haircut that hung in loose waves to his shoulders and a golden brown tan that made the hair seem athletic instead of effete. He had a kind of casual rocker chic in faded black thing going in his clothes — distressed jeans, loose necked t-shirt, heavy boots, and supple leather jacket. What little expression Natalie could see around his sunglasses looked supremely bored.

The taller of the two men caught sight of Natalie at the counter and walked over with a cool smile. Up close, he was even taller than Natalie had thought, easily a head taller than herself. He gave off a sort of tailored feel, though his clothes were casual, and his skin was the sort of perfect, pearl pale that makes people think of lovelorn vampires and romance poets. Lots of girls would kill for skin like that. His hair was pin straight and shortish, very stylish in a clean cut, boy band sort of way. It hung quite fetchingly over his forehead, brushing against the thin wire frames of his glasses, and drawing attention to his intelligent, dark brown eyes.

“Excuse me, perhaps you could help us?” His voice was low and very cultured. Natalie revised her opinion of him to highly educated and maybe looking for a hard to find book.

“Of course,” she replied with a smile. “What can I do for you?”

“We’re looking for someone who would have been here last night at closing.”

Natalie blinked at the question. Definitely not what she had been expecting.

“I closed last night,” she said.

“Did you?” the man’s smile broadened. “Well, then. If I might introduce myself.”

Long graceful fingers dipped into a coat pocket and produced a thin rectangle of high quality card stock — a business card. He offered it to Natalie. She took it, being careful not to touch the man’s hand with her own.

“Jin Umino — Sea & Storm Paranormal Investigations and Pest Control.” Natalie raised an eyebrow.

The man, Jin Umino, inclined his head in a little bow.

“A pleasure to meet you,” he said. “I’m told you rendered a friend of mine a service last night.”

“Did I?” asked Natalie, bewildered. She thought back to the customers of the night before. She couldn’t remember “rendering” anyone a “service,” unless he meant keeping the store open for an extra twenty minutes or so.

“A very great service, as I understand it. My friend says you may have saved his life.”

Natalie’s brows drew together in consternation. Saved someone’s life? Surely, she’d remember something like that. She shook her head slowly.

“I’m sorry. I think you must have the wrong person.”

The man still in the entryway snorted derisively. Jin looked over his shoulder at him, shooting him a warning glance. Because of the sunglasses Natalie couldn’t be sure, but she thought the other man rolled his eyes. She frowned at him.

“Please excuse my friend,” said Jin in a long suffering tone. “I try to teach him manners, but they just don’t seem to stick.” The other man snorted again and began wandering the bookstore. Natalie smiled at Jin, but kept one eye on his friend.

“Sorry to interrupt, Nat,” came Patrick’s voice from behind. “Just wanted to let you know I’m going.” Patrick put his hand casually on Natalie’s shoulder. Natalie gasped and fell into a sea of flashing images.