Ella, Ryne, and the cats have arrived at their destination, the city’s mental hospital. To treat those who suffer within their minds, the hospital was built.

There had been an increase in the number of mentally ill people in the city lately. Some of them have gone beyond help.

“So this is it, huh?” uttered Ryne, looking at the spacious grounds of the hospital.

“If there’s anyone who’d believe legends and fairy tales enough to kill animals over, then this is where they’d be at,” Ella said. “Or from.”

Ryne was still doubtful that they would find any leads in such a place, but something had caught his eye. A good number of the humans who were roaming about, assisted by the staff, had large shadows looming over them. If those shadows didn’t pass through certain objects, he would have thought that they were solid, judging by how dark they were.

“What are… those?” asked Nini. “Those aren’t the usual spirits we see, are they?”

“Whoaaaaa… those are really big shadows,” said Fonmi, who was going to go near them if not for Ella picking him up.

“Hey there Fon-Fon, don’t stray away from us, okay?” said Ella while stroking him. It was a shame she wasn’t perfectly understood by most of the cats with her.

Prauza, unlike his usual carefree self, was on the alert. He wasn’t talking, but simply kept listening and sniffing. Ryne thought that he might have been getting protective of the mother and son, but there may be another reason. He couldn’t ask him as he would be found out, so he decided to trust the long-haired cat’s instincts as they walked towards the reception area.

“I have a bad feeling about those… things, leader,” said Prauza, finally speaking after a while. “It would be wise for us to exercise extra caution.”

Judging from the way the shadows seemed to look at them, it was highly likely that he was right.

Now that Prauza had brought it to attention, he could feel that there was indeed something malevolent about the shadows that surrounded them as they walked. For some reason, Ryne felt somewhat sick in his stomach and chest. But he had to push on for the investigation’s sake.

“Are you all right?” asked Ella, noticing that he was turning slightly pale.

“Yes, I’m okay,” answered Ryne, not wanting her to worry so much.

“Okay… Just tell me if you need to pause or anything. Or if we need to go to the other hospital.”

Ryne laughed and smiled a little, and it actually made him feel a bit better. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied.

Soon, they have reached their destination, the reception area of the hospital. There were a few people there, mostly out-patients who went there on consultation, as well as visitors for the ones who stayed there. Ella and the others went to the nurse in charge to ask their questions.

“Good morning. How may I help you?”

“Good morning. My name is Ella Allen, from Illemore City College. This is my classmate, Spencer Smith.”

Ryne was caught off-guard, as he didn’t know Ella was going to introduce him as a fellow student. “Uh, h-hello,” he said. He wanted to protest, but he quickly realized that it may make his companion fail in what she was trying to do.

“Oh, students from the college… What are you looking to do here?”

“Well, we’re working on a paper about the effect that pets have on those who are mentally ill,” said Ella, obviously a little nervous about what she was going to say. “We would like to request some time together with at least some of your patients. You know, so we could have interviews and stuff.”

“I’m sorry, but we would need a letter from the school stating your purpose, and we would have to ask the Director for permission as well,” said the nurse. “It’s not that we don’t trust you, of course, but we have rules to follow and patients to take care of.”

“Not even just for today? With the patients who are outside?” said Ella, trying to butter up the nurse.

She went closer to her and whispered, “Actually, we’re kind of in a rush, and well, we can’t afford to wait that long anymore.”

The nurse sighed and said in the nicest tone that she could muster, “I’m absolutely sorry, but if you were planning to do a study like that, then you should have asked for permission earlier. I cannot just let you do what you want just because you were, sorry for the term, irresponsible.”

“Oh, what’s all this about?”

The question came from a somewhat youthful and gentle-looking man with messy and short light brown hair. He was walking towards Ella, Ryne, and the nurse in a leisurely manner and was also smiling, as if amused by the whole show of a conversation.

“And who are you to mind our business?” asked Ella, a little offended by how he just went in as if he was part of their exchange.

“I’m sorry. I forgot to introduce myself,” said the man with a light chuckle. “My name is Edward Bennett. You can call me Eddie if you like.”

“Mr. Bennett, are you done with your therapy session?” asked the nurse. “Don’t tell me you walked out on Doctor Thomas again. You already failed to attend your appointment last time.”

“Yeah, I’m done,” said Eddie in the most casual way possible.

“Are you sure?”

Eddie laughed a bit. “You got me. Doctor Thomas actually got an important call and let me walk around for some fresh air.”

The nurse rolled her eyes at the familiar man.

“You’re a patient here?” asked Ella, realizing the situation.

“Yeah, I am. An out patient, to be exact. Are you going to ask me how pets are for me?” Eddie answered, looking at the cats that are with them.

At this point, Prauza distanced himself a bit, going into a defensive position. “Get behind me, Nini, Fonmi,” he commanded. The two, who had no idea what exactly was going on, simply followed. Fonmi wanted to approach the stranger, but Prauza stood between them, and Nini kept the kitten in check.

“Oh, it seems one of them doesn’t like me at all,” said Eddie, going closer to Prauza in an attempt to try to get him to approach him in return. But all the feline did was arch his back further up and make a threatening sound.

“That’s odd. I’m a complete stranger to them, but they’re all right with me,” said Ella. “Right, Spencer?”

Ryne was also confused as to why his companion was acting in such a way. “Yes,” he said. “That sure is odd.”

I’ll have to ask Prauza about it later, thought Ryne to himself.

“Okay,” said Ella. She was already becoming suspicious of Eddie, but she couldn’t back down from what she proposed that they do. “Is it alright for us to have an interview with you?”

“It’s for this paper of yours, right? Okay,” said Eddie. He then turned to the nurse and said, “I’m pretty sure they won’t need any permission if I agreed to be asked some questions, right?”

“Yes,” said the nurse, slightly irritated because she just realized that she was one-upped. “Just be sure to get back to Doctor Thomas when he calls you.”

“All right.”