Natalie walked in on another heated discussion. She exchanged a glance with Lightning who was watching, curled up on the kitchen counter, with an amused look on his face.

“I can’t believe you’re denying it!” said Jin.

“I’m not denying anything. We don’t have enough evidence.”

Jin threw his hands up and walked a few paces away from Hayato.

Natalie marveled at the way they’d managed to get into a full blown debate in the minute or so between Hayato walking into the room and her own entrance.

Hayato flopped down into one of the chairs, letting his leg dangle carelessly over one of the arms.

Jin turned back to him, his arms crossed firmly across his chest. “It’s targeting her. You know it is.”

“We don’t know that.”

“The knocking. The dishes. The lumber. She was there for all three events. We should get her out of here.”

“Excuse me?” Natalie interjected herself into the conversation. Jin and Hayato both turned to look at her. Jin blinked, surprised.

“Is that Hayato’s jacket?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Natalie, slipping it off and shaking out the sleeves. She walked over and handed it back to Hayato. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Hayato smiled smugly. It made Natalie want to take back her thanks. She turned to Jin instead.

“What did you mean when you said it was targeting me?” she asked.

Jin dropped his head and adjusted his glasses.

“I didn’t mean for you to hear that,” he said.

“Well, I did. You might as well explain.”

Jin hesitated, then nodded, gesturing for her to sit. She settled on the couch, and Jin took a chair. Hayato and Lightning watched with amused expressions.

“We aren’t exactly certain what is causing the phenomena in this house, but we have had some definite activity tonight,” he began.

Natalie nodded.

“We’ve heard the scurrying in the walls that Mr. Beckett reported. Then, there were the knocking noises—“

“Which we couldn’t get to happen again,” interjected Hayato. Jin glared at him.

“Which we couldn’t repeat,” Jin conceded. “After that, the dishes jumped off the shelf at you. You noticed the movement on the bed, and you and Hayato both experienced a phantom smell. Then, in the shed, you heard the skittering noise again and a shelf toppled over on you.”

“It toppled on Hayato.”

“Only because he pushed you out of the way,” corrected Jin.

“You really covered a lot in that minute I wasn’t here,” muttered Natalie.

“What?”

“Nothing,” said Natalie. “I still don’t see how that shows that something is targeting me.”

“Exactly!” Hayato grinned. Natalie glanced over at him. She wasn’t sure how to feel about being on the same side of this argument with him.

Jin sighed and sat forward in his chair. He captured Natalie’s gaze with his own earnest one.

“The entity that is here has begun behaving aggressively. Mr. Beckett said there hadn’t been any strange phenomena other than the scurrying sounds in the walls. No phantom smells. No objects flying around the room. Tonight all that changed. Why?”

“I don’t know,” said Natalie. “I’m new to this.”

“Precisely,” said Jin. “You’re new. Not just to what we do, to this place in particular.”

“So are you,” Natalie pointed out. “Why can’t it be you and not me that’s triggering everything?”

“It’s possible,” admitted Jin reluctantly, “but I don’t think it’s us.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re the only one who was present for all three physical phenomena — the knocking, the dishes, and the shelf.”

“Besides,” said Hayato, “you’re the only one of us who’s…” Jin shot him a look, and he trailed off.

“What? A girl?” asked Natalie testily. “What does being female have to do with anything?”

Jin’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Not what he was about to say, but you make a fair point.” Jin turned to Hayato. “Do you think—“

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped. Jin and Hayato leapt to their feet. Lightning hissed, his back arching. Natalie thought she saw flashes of blue crackling over the tips of his fur. The air felt heavy, oppressive. A little girl’s giggle swirled around the room coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Hayato fell into a fighter’s crouch. A slender silver dagger dropped into his right hand. Jin saw the blade and motioned for Hayato to lower it.

“Put it away.” His voice was low and tightly controlled.

“But—“

“Put it away. Now.”

Jin lifted his left hand once more. Moonlight glinted off the bracelet on his wrist. At the sight of it, Hayato made the dagger disappear. He pulled off his sunglasses and tucked them in his jacket pocket. His eyes shone darkly, the deep blue of a midnight sea. A breeze ruffled the pages of the newspapers and magazines that sat around the room.

“What’s going on?” asked Natalie, heart pounding. She stood, keeping her head down and bending in a half-crouch against the wind and oppressive air. Jin and Hayato moved toward her protectively. They stood with their backs to her and their eyes on the room.

Lightning yowled. He leapt from the counter to stand at Jin’s feet. All of the fur on his back stood on end, making him look twice his already formidable size. His ears were flat against his head, his teeth bared, and all his attention focused with laser intensity on the corner of the room nearest the hallway.

The wind picked up, sending loose papers flying. The laughter grew louder and seemed to multiply.

“What is that?” Natalie pointed. A faint green glow pulsed in the corner, like the beat of a heart.

“Get her out of here,” said Hayato quietly, his eyes fixed on the same spot as Lightning’s.

Jin glanced at Natalie who stood frozen, and nodded. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Hayato tossed a smile over his shoulder.

“You know me,” he said.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” muttered Jin. He swept Natalie up in his arms and headed for the front door. Natalie yelped and threw her arms around his neck for balance. The wind pelted them with papers. Pictures flew off the wall as they passed. Jin burst through the front door, raced across the lawn, and set her down lightly on the sidewalk in front of the house.

“My apologies,” he said with an incline of his head that seemed almost like a bow. “Please believe me when I say the situation warranted it.”

“What was all of that?” demanded Natalie. She was furious at his manhandling her and she hated being condescended to. “What is going on in there?”

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Heavy clouds raced overhead, blanketing the moon. Jin looked up at the sky, his expression tense. As suddenly as they’d arrived, the clouds thinned and dispersed. Natalie stared up at the moon, bewildered. The tension Jin had been carrying uncoiled and he breathed a sigh of relief as Hayato and Lightning came strolling out of the house.

“What happened in there?” asked Jin.

Hayato shrugged. “It all just stopped.”

“Really?”

“How could all of that just stop?” asked Natalie.

Hayato replied to Jin as if Natalie hadn’t spoken. “It was probably just after you stepped off the property.”

Jin nodded thoughtfully.

“So we were right,” he said.

“Right about what?” demanded Natalie.

“That you are a trigger for the entity in the house,” said Jin.

“I’m what? I still don’t know what that means!”

“For whatever reason, your presence in the house upsets the entity.”

“Do you think it’s the wife’s ghost?” asked Hayato. He’d slipped his sunglasses back on and stood with his hands in his pockets, relaxed.

Natalie shook her head, remembering her visions from when the plates fell on her. “It can’t be. She wouldn’t. She wasn’t like that.”

Hayato raised an eyebrow. “And you know that how?”

Natalie paled. “I… I just know.”

Jin made a thoughtful noise. Natalie fidgeted uncomfortably under their attention. The moment slid slowly by.

Natalie cleared her throat. “So. What do we do now?”

“Now?” Jin adjusted his glasses. “Now, we go home.”

“Home?” asked Natalie. “After all that?”

“Home,” said Jin. “We get what rest we can and come back tomorrow.”

“With a plan,” added Hayato.

Jin looked at Natalie and his demeanor softened. “If you didn’t come back tomorrow, we’d understand. This wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind when I offered you the job.”

“Of course I’m coming back tomorrow,” said Natalie. She looked over at the house. “I’m not done with this place yet.”

Jin smiled, his eyes lit with surprise. “Until tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow,” agreed Natalie.