Friday arrived much more quickly than Natalie felt it had any right to do. She didn’t have classes on Fridays. Instead, she opened at the bookstore and held down the fort until the afternoon shift. When Natalie had finished the ritual of dusting, readying the register, opening the curtains, flipping the sign, and unlocking the door, she still hadn’t decided whether she was going to go meet Jin and Hayato that afternoon.

As soon as she stepped behind the counter, the first customer walked in. After that, customers continued to arrive in a steady trickle. Most of them were regulars and didn’t need any special attention from her, but they still kept her from having to think about the afternoon. Natalie had heard that independent bookstores were a dying breed. It was hard to believe when she was talking and helping and laughing with their customers. Everyone always left with at least one book, if not more.

By the time the end of her shift rolled around, she was pleasantly tired and ready for lunch. She handed the register off to the girl working the afternoon and gave her a brief rundown of how the day had been going, then walked into the back room to collect her things.

She left by the front door, setting the bell jangling cheerfully, and headed for the nearby cafe. The boy behind the counter smiled and asked if she was having her usual. Natalie nodded, both pleased and dismayed that they remembered her and what she generally ordered. Soon she had her meal in hand, and she went outside to sit on the patio. Thoughts of Jin and Hayato danced around the edges of her mind as she ate her pastrami sandwich and creamy tomato soup.

Natalie pulled out the scrap of paper from the other night and set it on the tabletop, staring at it as she sipped her iced tea. She ran her hand over the words, smoothing the edges of the paper. There was a way she could find out more about Jin, and maybe even Hayato, but she really didn’t want to do it. The idea kept niggling at her though, disturbing her sleep and bouncing around her brain when she didn’t have other things to distract her. She sat back in her chair and sighed, tapping her fingers on the table.

The last bites of sandwich and soup disappeared as she contemplated her options. If she did decide to use her ‘gift,’ as her grandmother had called it, she risked incapacitating herself. There was virtually no doubt she would fall unconscious, the question was for how long. It could be mere fractions of a second, as it had been when Patrick had touched her, or it could be longer. Much longer.

If it was the former, no one in a cafe as crowded as this would notice. Or, if they did, they might think she was just another college student nodding off at a table. If she blacked out for longer though…

Natalie frowned. The paper wasn’t volunteering anything to her, which was a little odd. Usually, objects she hadn’t had much interaction with practically jumped up and down trying to get her attention. Metaphorically speaking, of course. The fact that the scrap of paper wasn’t doing that was interesting, though it also meant she’d probably have to go deep to get anything out of it.

She reached out with her right hand, fingers outstretched, palm hovering an inch above the paper.

No.

Natalie picked up the paper and tucked it back into her bag. She’d just go. She’d go to the address and see what was there. After all, going to the location didn’t automatically mean that she was going on the job with them.

A thought struck her, and she looked at her watch. If she left right now, she might be early enough that she could check the place out before Jin and Hayato arrived. She should have plenty of time to walk away if she wanted to, leaving them none the wiser.

Smiling at her plan, she tidied up the table she had eaten at, threw her trash away in the nearest receptacle, and set out for the address Jin had given her. It wasn’t far. She’d walk. The exercise would help clear the cobwebs.

・・・・・

When Natalie arrived, she found the location vaguely disappointing. She stood down the street a ways, and tried to see if she could spot anything unusual. The house itself was one story with a small front lawn and well tended shrubs and flowers. It sat on a street full of similar houses with similar architecture and similar gardens. The streetlights looked well maintained as did the tall trees that stood in the grassy borders between the sidewalk and the curb. It was all very… ordinary.

“Getting a head start on things, I see.” Jin’s voice made Natalie jump. She held a hand to her heart in an attempt to slow the pounding, and spun to face him.

“Stop doing that! You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

Hayato barked a laugh. Jin smiled apologetically. They were dressed slightly more formally than they had been the last time Natalie had seen them. She supposed it must be because they were on business this time. Both men were wearing blazers, though Hayato was wearing his over a t-shirt and jeans, and Jin was wearing a button up shirt and dark khakis. Hayato was also still wearing sunglasses, though they were a different pair, and he’d added jewelry to his ensemble. There was a long necklace with a bunch of pendants on it, two bracelets on his left wrist, and several rings on each hand. Natalie was startled to notice that Jin had a couple of silver cuffs on his ears. They were barely visible under his hair. She also caught sight of a flash of silver under the edge of one of his coat sleeves.

Natalie noticed both men watching her, though Hayato was half turned away as though he was trying to show he didn’t care if she was there or not. It wasn’t going to be possible to walk away from this, so Natalie decided just give in to the flow. She looked up at Jin.

“If we keep meeting, I’m going to have to put a bell on you,” she said. “What are you doing here anyway? You’re hours early.”

“So are you,” said Hayato. Natalie scowled at him.

“Preliminary checks,” answered Jin. “We like to take baseline readings of the surrounding area and scout out any elements that might skew readings inside the client’s location.” Jin noticed Natalie’s blank look and added, “Power lines, transformers, large limestone deposits. That sort of thing.”

“Okay,” said Natalie slowly.

Jin held up a small black box with a line of lights at the top, only a few of which were lit.

“EMF detector,” he offered. “Checks the strength of electromagnetic fields.”

“Right,” said Natalie. “I think I’ve seen those on TV.”

Hayato snorted.

“There’s no need to be rude,” said Jin. Hayato’s eye rolling was clear even through his sunglasses.

Natalie felt Lightning rub up against her shins, appearing out of nowhere, as cats often do. His head easily reached her knees. She crouched down so that she could pet him. He purred contentedly, and continued to press against her. His weight was enough that Natalie had to be careful not to overbalance and fall.

“He’s glad you came,” said Jin.

Natalie smiled. “Yes. I gathered that.”

“Are you glad you came?” asked Jin. Natalie looked up at him and stood.

“I’m not sure yet,” she answered honestly.

Jin nodded thoughtfully. “Fair enough. Well. Since we’re all here, perhaps we should go over the plan.”

Hayato snorted. “Since when do we have a plan?”

Jin shot him a quelling look.

“Since we have someone here with no experience in this field.”He turned to Natalie. “You don’t have any experience in this field, do you?”

“Ghost hunting and rat catching?” asked Natalie, smiling. “No. I have to say I don’t. This is all brand new to me. Though, I like watching ghost stuff on TV.”

Jin hesitated. “It isn’t much like what you see on television. That’s all been edited to take out the boring bits. Mostly, we just wait. We spend hours and hours waiting.”

Natalie shrugged. “Works for me. I don’t mind waiting. Will we get to talk into recorders to see if we can pick up voices and stuff?”

“EVP recordings. Yes. We can if you’d like.”

Natalie nodded. “It’ll help pass the time, won’t it?”

“It will,” agreed Jin. “And they’re always fun to listen to later.”

“No they’re not.” Hayato crossed his arms, boredom and impatience warring for dominance in his voice. “They’re such a waste of time.”

Jin gave him a warning look.

“What?” he asked belligerently.

“Behave.”

Hayato glared at him.

“Let’s just get this over with. I’m bored already and we haven’t even gotten started.”

Natalie looked between the two men and wondered how on earth they had ever started working together. It wasn’t even an odd couple situation. It was more like watching a lion tamer and a lion. A recently come from the wild lion with definite opinions about the way things should be.

Hayato noticed her watching them and turned his irritation on her.

“What?” he asked again.

“Nothing,” replied Natalie. “Just wondering… Are you ever not angry?”

Hayato blinked, confused by the question. Jin laughed.

“Me?” he sounded surprised. “I’m one of the easiest-going people I know.”

This time, it was Jin who snorted. Hayato shot him a look. Natalie squinted at him skeptically.

“You’re an only child, aren’t you,” she said.

“Huh? I’m not.”

“Really? From a rich family then?” Natalie cocked her head to one side thoughtfully. Hayato stared at her warily.

“What’s it matter to you?”

Natalie shrugged. “We might be working together. I thought we should try to get along.”

Hayato snorted.

“You two can get along,” he said gesturing at Natalie and Jin. “I’m going to go get some work done.”

He turned and strode toward the house.