Standing outside of the austere building that houses the FIC, I could not feel less prepared for this. I haven’t worn a suit in a long time, and it feels weird. I have no clue how Aiden talked Kent into letting me use it. I shouldn’t have transferred my wallet and keys to this outfit. I can hear my many keychains jangling softly in my pockets.

Nervously adjusting my tie, I try to pull myself together before I step inside. I run through Aiden’s words one more time. There’s a meeting for timber industry professionals today. They’re probably not going to ask you a lot of questions at the front desk if you tell them you’re there for that. It’s just one lie. All you have to do is convince the receptionist and then look like you know where you’re going. We don’t want the receptionist escorting you. You can do it, Jamie, look at me. Just act like you’ve been to this office a hundred times before. Don’t draw attention.

I wish Aiden was with me, or that he was going in first. But I can do this. It’s for the hunt. Just make sure that you look like you know where you’re going. I can do that. Fake confidence, I do that on the reg.

I resist the urge to glance back at the parking lot for Aiden before I step inside. The door swings shut silently behind me.

The lobby is a wide space, with two couches and tiled floors polished to a shine. A series of closed doors line the walls on either side of the room. Directly ahead of me is a pristine countertop, an empty office chair behind it. The soft hum of an air conditioner runs in the background.

The receptionist is not there. I hadn’t prepared for this possibility. Should I just walk right in? Which one of these many wooden doors is the one I’m meant to use? Oh, god. I’m just standing here staring at all my options. This doesn’t exactly make me look like I know where I’m going.

I cross to the nearest door and tug on it. It’s locked. The handle makes a loud click that echoes through the empty room, like a bell ringing to alert everyone that I just did something stupid.

“Oh, hello!”

I spin around; the noise has drawn a tall woman out from under the countertop. She adjusts the dark-rimmed glasses on her nose, staring at me appraisingly. A bundle of disorganized papers is half-falling out of her arms.

“Oh! Hi there.” I fight the urge to wipe my palms on the pants of Kent’s suit. “I’m here for the-”

She drops the papers on her desk, making a loud thump that cuts me off mid-sentence.

“So sorry, I dropped everything on the floor! I forget how slippery it gets after waxing day.” She tilts the glasses further down her nose. “Can I help you?”

“Yes.” The distance between us in the wide lobby feels ridiculous, and I’m just hovering next to the door that I loudly tried and failed to open. I move to the counter as she clicks her computer awake. “Not so busy today, is it?” I ask. Nervous sweat is starting to dampen the collar of my borrowed dress shirt.

“There’s the meeting for the industry people today, everyone’s up at that. It’s usually quiet in the office during those. Except in the meeting itself, of course.”

“Right, yes.” Here it comes, the lie. “I know that, because, uh-”

“Oh, are you here for the meeting?” She taps the side of the computer, then lets out a sigh of frustration. “My list won’t pull up. Where are you from?”

“Ketterbridge.”

“Oh, yes. You can go right in.”

She gestures at the door to the left of her desk. I grab the handle and once again find it locked. It makes yet another extremely loud noise.

“Hang on, I have to buzz you in,” she says, feeling around under her desk. The door buzzes. I yank it open and step through before she sees how red my face is.

“Thank you!” I call, as the door swings shut after me. I pause, trying to calm down, surveying the situation. A long hallway stretches ahead of me, marked by doors to anonymous rooms. There are only numbers on the doors, no titles, nothing. A faint burst of laughter reaches me, but it sounds like it’s coming from overhead. The meeting must be on the second floor. What were Aiden’s next instructions?

I’ll be waiting for you. Find the archivist’s office and get the passcode.

What kind of business doesn’t have any signs? I scan the endless row of doors ahead of me. How am I supposed to know which one to open?

“Shit.” I stand there chewing my lip for a moment, but I have to do something. I grab the handle of the nearest door and test it. It’s unlocked. I take a deep breath and push it open.

The door swings back to reveal a room of glowing security monitors. Seated before them is a guy about my age in a blue buttoned-up shirt, wearing a heavy black belt with a flashlight and radio attached. A security guard. He starts when I open the door, then gets up out of the sagging office chair.

“Who are you?” he asks, thumbing his radio.

Of all the doors I could have opened.

“Oh, hey there.” I swallow, wishing for once that I had more experience with the way businessmen talk. “I mean, good afternoon.” I extend a hand for a shake, and the guard glares at it.

“I said who are you?” He narrows his eyes. “I don’t know your face, and I don’t see a visitor’s badge.”

“I don’t need one,” I stammer, “Because they know me here, I’m just, uh, heading to the meeting upstairs?”

“Really.” The security guard has a name badge: Devin. “I’ve never seen you around here before. You’re definitely in the wrong place for the meeting.”

“I, uh. I’m here with the Ketterbridge, uh, lumber-” Shit! What was the company name Aiden had told me to say?

“Tell me who you are right now,” Devin says, unhooking his radio from his belt.

“Okay, wait, wait, hang on!” The panic is rising in my voice, even I can hear it. I revert to something easier, something that comes automatically: the truth. “I’m a ghost hunter!”

The moment the words leave my mouth, I regret them deeply. What the fuck, Jamie? Aiden just told Gabby that we wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her, and here I am about to be publicly manhandled out of the FIC. Devin’s eyebrows shoot up almost to his hairline.

“A ghost hunter,” he repeats. “Really.”

Too late to go back now.

“Really.” Let’s hope Devin doesn’t smash my face to bits while throwing me out. He slowly lowers his radio.

“No shit,” he says. “For real?”

“Yeah?” Now I don’t know what’s going on.

“Yo, that’s amazing.” He sets the radio down on the counter, and his suspicious glare breaks. “My aunt, she also has the Vision. She got a ghost out of my cousin’s dorm last year with nothing but a crystal ball from Michael's.”

“We use hearing, actually,” I answer, too surprised to say anything else. “Cool to run into another believer.”

“Shit yeah, dude, gotta keep the mind open. I’m a member of the Bigfoot Field Research Association, too.”

“What!” I pull my keys out of my pocket and hold up the BFRA keychain attached to them.

“Oh, damn!” Devin says, his eyes widening in delight, and we both laugh. His face grows serious again quickly. “There’s not a ghost at the FIC, is there?”

“No, I’m here researching. My name is Jamie. We think we may have found a ghost from the 1800s.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah, I - don’t suppose you know the passcode to access the archives?”

“No, that would be Mara’s territory. She’s the archivist.” Devin’s cheeks suddenly color. “She’s really smart. She doesn’t give the code out to anyone.” He rubs his arm. “Man to man... I’ve been thinking about getting her a kitten for Christmas. She already has this old cat, Aslan, so I figure, if she likes cats...”

“That’s cute!" I answer. "But if you’re not sure she wants another one, I probably wouldn’t give a kitten as a gift. You should do a plant, instead.”

“A plant?”

“Maybe a philodendron? People literally call them sweetheart plants. They’re super easy to take care of. Much easier than a second pet.”

Devin grabs a notebook from the desk. “How do you spell that?”

“P- H- I-” Over Devin’s shoulder, I spot something on the security feed: Aiden, walking down the hallway with the receptionist. I’m running out of time. “Oh, Devin-” I grab the notebook from his hands and quickly finish scribbling out the plant name, along with the number for a local flower shop where Kent special orders things sometimes. “Could you show me the way to the archives? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“Sure, but if anyone asks, I didn’t let you in.”

“No, definitely not.”

He leads me out into the hallway and pulls open a door to a set of stairs. I follow him quickly down the steps. We come upon a door that looks older than all of the others; the ones upstairs are painted hospital-white, but this one has that kind of fake veneer wood that dents easily. It looks like it’s seen a lot of wear and tear. Devin pulls a huge set of keys from his belt, unlocks the door, and pushes it open. Cool air drifts out.

“Don’t get me in trouble,” he warns.

“I'll be fast, I promise. Thanks for your help.”

I step into the archives and shut the door behind me. My body is humming with adrenaline. I can’t believe I even made it this far. I slick back my hair, trying to breathe. I thank whatever lucky stars saved me, thank Devin, thank Mara and her cat-

“Right through here,” comes a voice from the other side of the door. The receptionist. I look around in a panic. The archives room here is smaller than the one at City Hall, but the set-up is similar, the rows of cabinets of all sizes. A table before me has an old-school desktop computer, powered off. I dive for the cabinets and scramble behind one just as the door opens.

“Thanks so much, again,” I hear Aiden say. Oh, god. Please don’t let them do a lap of the room. I wasn’t supposed to get here before them. “Ketterbridge City Hall sends its thanks, as well.”

“What happened with your archives, again?” the receptionist asks.

“A small flood. Nothing was damaged, I just need a humidity-controlled space to get these documents logged, someone in the city planning department needs them ASAP. Won’t be long at all.”

“Excellent. I’ll just take your badge and ID to scan.”

The door makes a soft clicking noise. Sweet relief rushes through me, and I spring to my feet behind the cabinet.

“Yay, we both made it!”

Aiden jumps; his bag tumbles off his shoulder and onto the ground.

“What the fuck!”

“Oh, god, I’m sorry! I got excited.”

“I thought I was supposed to let you in." He presses his hand over his heart. “How did you get past the lock?”

“I have my ways.” I join him at the table and grab his bag from the floor. He takes it and extracts a thumb drive, then powers on the old computer. “What are you doing? We’re not going through the cabinets?”

“That’ll take forever.” Aiden drops into a chair as the desktop starts whirring. “We can just search the digital files by keyword, that’s why I needed the passcode. Did you get it from the archivist’s office?”

“No,” I admit, wincing. “I may have fucked up one tiny aspect of the plan.”

“One tiny aspect?” Alarm spreads over Aiden’s face. “Shit, Jamie, we can’t get in without it. They’re not going to give me the code to access their files, they think I’m just borrowing the space!”

“Okay, I’m sorry, I got distracted! I have other intel, though!”

“Something helpful?”

I cringe.

“Uh - well, the archivist has a cat named Aslan.”

Aiden sighs deeply and drops his face into his hands, but then stops. He turns to face the computer, which now simply says PASSWORD with a blinking line next to it.

“Aslan, huh?” He starts typing.

“No, come on, it can’t be that." The computer makes a happy little sound, and the grey screen disappears. Starting up, it says now. “Are you kidding me?”

“Wow.” Aiden leans back in his seat. “Security here isn’t as tight as I expected.”

“It’s not a government building, I guess. Not quite as tough as the time we had to break out of City Hall. Neither of us had to fall out of a window.”

“There’s still time.” Aiden casts a nervous glance at the door. “We need to move, that meeting upstairs is going to break up any second, and then there are going to be a lot of people in these halls.” He pulls up a search program that’s unfamiliar to me. It kind of resembles the ones you can use to find books at the library. He types in the name of the timber company. “Watch the door.”

I move over and ease it open. The hallway is still empty. Behind me, Aiden plugs the thumb drive into the computer.

“I’m impressed, by the way,” he says, over his shoulder. “You did great. Lied without freaking out, successfully pretended to know your way around, got the passcode, didn't get busted by security…”

“Yeah, I - sort of.” I close the door and press my back against it, watching as Aiden does some quickfire scrolling through old document scans. “I’m really sweaty right now, though. Kent is not going to want this suit back.”

Aiden glances up at me, then does a double-take.

“Oh,” he says, pressing down a smile. “Yeah, you look, um-”

“Well, excuse me, but I don’t make a habit of illegal clandestine visits to off-limit record rooms! Not until I made friends with you, anyway.”

“Got it.” Aiden unplugs the thumb drive. “Come on, let’s get out of here before-” A rumble from the upper floor stops us both: the undeniable sound of a lot of feet moving at once. “The meeting lets out.” Aiden shuts off the computer and grabs his bag. “Shit. Okay. All we have to do is walk out of here and look calm. I’ll grab my badge and ID at the desk. Stay a few feet ahead of me so it doesn’t look like we’re together.”

It all passes in a blur, my heart hammering the whole time. The hallway, the stairs, the other hallway. The halls are no longer empty; groups of people in professional outfits are streaming around us in every direction. I keep waiting for someone to realize we’re not supposed to be part of this mix.

The lobby. The front steps. Aiden moves to walk at my side as we step onto the pavement of the parking lot. I push the car keys into his hand covertly. I’m way too worked up to drive. We're halfway across the parking lot. Almost there.

“HEY!” someone shouts from behind us. “WAIT!”

“Don’t run,” Aiden whispers. “Just walk quickly and stay calm. Don't stop, don’t turn around.”

He makes a tiny noise of distress as I both stop and turn around, but I recognize the shouting voice. Devin jogs down the steps, waving at me. He has a slip of paper in his hand.

“Jamie!” He’s a little out of breath when he catches up, but he drops his voice to a low, conspiratorial tone. “Did you find the info on the ghost?”

Aiden turns his head very slowly to stare at me.

“Yeah, we got it! Thanks so much, Devin, you’re the best.” I slap his arm, and he grins.

“No problem.” His radio garbles; he reaches down to click it off. “Thank you for the plant tips, I really appreciate it.” He offers me the slip of paper. “Here’s my email address. You have to come meet my aunt the next time you’re around. She’ll love you. And you can send me ghost updates, too, maybe?”

“You got it, dude.”

Devin gives me a thumbs up and heads back towards the office. I turn to Aiden, half-cringing.

“Okay, I can explain. The lying plan didn’t exactly work.”

He looks like he’s going to say something, but he doesn’t. Only smiles, shakes his head, and unlocks the car.