“We should let her go home,” said Jin.

“Why?” asked Hayato.

“You know why.”

Hayato made a scoffing noise.

“You’re being overprotective again,” he said.

“I am not. This is not a jaunt. This is serious.”

Natalie sat curled in an armchair, sipping hot black tea, and watching. They’d been at it for a while now. Since before she found the kettle.

“It’s not that serious,” said Hayato.

Jin adjusted his glasses.

“You know as well as I do how quickly a situation like this can escalate,” he said. “I don’t think she should be here for that.”

“You’re the one who wanted her to come in the first place!” laughed Hayato.

“Yes, well, now I want to send her home.”

“She could be useful,” said Hayato with a sly smile.

“No,” Jin crossed his arms. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re not using her as bait.”

Natalie marveled at the way they completely ignored the fact that she was in the room, also, that she could make up her own mind about whether or not to stay. She shook her head and turned toward the monitors. A flicker of movement caught her attention. Natalie stood and walked over to the table to get a better look. She watched, unblinking, eyes focused on the center of the image. It happened again.

“Hey, guys?” she called over her shoulder.

They continued their argument unabated.

“Guys?” she tried again, turning toward them.

They still didn’t acknowledge her.

“Hey! Guys!” she stood up and shouted. Jin looked over at her, startled.

“What?” Hayato glared at her.

“Look.” Natalie pointed at the monitors. “Was it like that before?”

Jin and Hayato walked over to take a look, Hayato grudgingly. The images were stark and oddly spooky because the cameras were all shooting in night vision. In the view of the master bedroom, the whole bed and most of what was near it could be seen even though the camera was pointed toward the door to the hallway.

“It looks all right to me,” said Jin puzzled.

The movement that Natalie had seen had been on the bed. There was a shadow that seemed to be cast by a lump in the bedspread. A lump that hadn’t been there before.

“Just keep watching,” she said.

Hayato frowned and crossed his arms, but he kept watching. So did Jin.

The lump moved, as though something was crawling under the covers.

“There!” shouted Natalie.

Hayato took off down the hallway. Natalie was right on his heels, blood pounding in her ears.

“Wait!” Jin called after her.

Natalie barely heard his words as she barreled down the hallway, bursting into the room just as Hayato flung the bedspread off the bed.

There was nothing there. The sheets were perfectly smooth. Hayato ran his hands over the bed, checking for anything that might explain the movement.

“Do you smell that?” asked Natalie. It was faint. Earthy and sweet. It smelled a little like…

“Roses?” asked Hayato.

“And mud,” said Natalie.

Hayato strode to the glass doors and threw open the curtains sending moonlight streaming through the room. He put his hand out and held it up in front of the sliding doors, slowly making his way around all the edges.

“What are you doing?” asked Natalie.

“What does it look like?”

His brusqueness rubbed Natalie exactly the wrong way. She swallowed her temper and attempted to keep her voice even.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“You should check the dresser and the bathroom.”

“Why?” exasperation leaked into Natalie’s voice.

Hayato turned to face her with a mocking curl to his lips.

“We both smelled something.”

“Yes. And? What does that have to do with the bathroom?”

“Where did the smell come from? Outside? A perfume bottle? Some cleaner? Potpourri?”

“Oh,” Natalie’s eyes went wide with understanding. “You’re checking for drafts.”

Hayato nodded and turned his attention back to the doors. Natalie looked through the bathroom, then through the items lined up neatly on the dresser and bedside tables. She couldn’t find anything that smelled like what she had smelled earlier.

“Nothing,” she said. “Any luck with the drafts?”

Hayato shook his head. He pulled his walkie talkie off his belt. “Jin. Nothing here. I’m going to check outside.”

Jin’s voice came crackling through the tiny speaker. “Send Natalie back to me. I’ll get Lightning to meet you.”

Hayato nodded in the direction of the camera and started to put the walkie talkie back on his belt. Natalie wasn’t about to let them start swathing her in bubble wrap now, not when things were getting interesting. She lunged forward and snatched the walkie talkie from Hayato’s hand.

“I’m going with Hayato,” she said, looking into the camera. “You asked me here to do a job, and I’m going to do it.”

She handed the walkie talkie back to Hayato, opened the glass doors, and stepped out into the night.