Aiden reacted automatically and threw up a protection circle with a quick swish of his wrist in the form of a circle pushing it forward with another motion. This was one spell he had learned to cast silently many years ago. Self-defence classes and martial arts with magic pummelled the basics into you at an early age to avoid any unnecessary decapitations.  

“Are you done?” Eve asked impatiently tapping her foot and holding the plate in one hand as the other rested on her hip. In the time, it had taken Aiden to make his protective little display she had reacted on her own instincts. 

“Oh... Oh you caught it.” 

Eve ignored him as their client came running down the hallway towards them. The woman looked like she hadn’t slept in a week, her eyes crowded with deep circles her hair an unbrushed mess held back in a ponytail while her hands were covered with dripping bubbles from where Eve guessed she had been doing the washing up. 

“Oh god I’m so sorry! I heard the door go but it jammed the door for me so I couldn’t reach you in time.” 

“No worries, Ma’am weird things like that happen all the time in my work.”  

Aiden did a double take as he watched the changed voice and demeanour of Eve who was moving into her full client facing mode. She seemed to stand taller and though there was no smile visible on her face she seemed a little more polished around the edges even with that ridiculous t-shirt on. She handed over the plate to the slightly stunned client. 

“My name is Eve Lagarde I am a Cursebreaker from Curse-be-gone, you called us this morning?  And I’m guessing that this is yours Ms...?” 

“Ah I’m Amy Stratton, you can just call me Amy, I’m not quite used to being Mrs Stratton yet.” She replied happily, shaking Eve’s hand with her own wet one before taking the plate back. 

“I have to say this looks more like a haunting than a curse at first glance.” 

Aiden glanced sideways just catching the green glow to Eve’s eyes. When had she fired that up? He really did need to practice so he could be as smooth as that. 

“Hah. That’s what we thought when we bought the place, but it seems the estate agent screwed us over.” Amy glanced nervously into the kitchen before stepping inside and indicating for the other two to follow her lead, quickly putting the plate away she sat down at the table her face full of unease glancing at the door every few seconds. 

“I think it would be best if you explain what has been happening Amy. Though give me a second and I’ll just make this room a little bit safer.”  

Eve paused by the door drawing out of a pocket a sticker sheet with complex symbols on it, with a moment for pause she placed it on the door giving it a solid press with her palm. When her hand moved back it seemed to pulse a little if you looked at it from the right angle. 

“Now that will keep us from any other flying plates while we talk.” 

“Are you sure?” Amy looked hopeful but a bit nervous, her fingers had picked up a discarded baby bib from the table where she sat twiddling it. “We sent the kids to stay with their Nan for the week, but it’s been hellish. Rob is out the door so early and so am I most days then we come back to all the mess, worse than having a new-born...” 

Aiden felt awkward sitting across from her but tried to keep his face neutral as Eve joined them placing a steady hand over Amy’s twitching one. They sat quietly like that for a moment before Eve gave her one last squeeze waiting patiently for the overwrought woman to continue. 

“Sorry, that wasn’t helpful. I’ll go from the start. We bought this place a couple of months back at a reasonably discounted price because we were warned that it was haunted. Now don’t take it as stupid humans wanting a good deal and not believing in ghosts. No, we got an exorcist in straight away before we even attempted to move, got all the spirits cleaned out then began to move our stuff in.” 

She began to shake a little but then gathered herself back to a calm steadiness as she continued, you could see the steely resolve of someone who was usually a strong presence to rely on attempting to deal with a situation they had no hope in hell of making any impact upon. Eve just watched carefully her face and body tilted slightly to the side with a mixture of eye contact. Aiden watched Eve. It was weird to think that you had to do this as part of the job, he had never sat down and thought of how you interacted with a client. He had imagined they would have come barging into the house with a sheet telling them all they needed to know before they traced the curse and broke it without hardly needing to talk to the client. This made it seem a lot more complicated, a lot messier. 

“It started that first day, but we hardly noticed, whenever you move somewhere new you expect there to be accidents and to lose track of things for a few days, maybe get where you put things reversed but then the plates started juggling themselves in the kitchen and I found Adeline being rocked to sleep by an invisible hand. So, I called up the exorcist we had hired to have a go at them for declaring the property clean. They came back to check it out, and that’s when they told us that we would need to call you guys first.” 

“I see, so they reckon that the ghosts are attracted by a curse or that they are generated by it?” 

“Well, the man I talked with a Mr Grim said that it was attracting them, some kind of thing in the house turned into a ghost magnet to drive the residents insane or scare them off.” 

“If it is alright, I think you should either stay in the kitchen or go to somewhere else while we try to find the source of your curse. I know it may be too much to ask letting two strangers to wander around your house so I am quite happy for you to walk with us, but I feel you may need a break from your ghostly visitors.” 

“It really will be safe in here?” 

“This charm will last at least a day blocking spirits from the room I promise you.” 

“I think I will wait in here. Would you like me to make you a cup of tea to come back to?” 

“That would be lovely.” 

Eve smiled softly, a professional smile that did not reach the eyes but was not cruel with its intentions. She rose from her chair and left the room, Aiden having an awkward moment before he followed. 

“So...” 

“Shh.”  

Eve waved her arms grabbing hold of Aiden to drag him up the staircase. 

“Sorry kid but I don’t want her to hear us. Damn I get exhausted from acting so careful with the way I speak.” She sighed stretching out. 

“Ah so you erm don’t care about clients then.” Bit hypocritical after what she said in the car Aiden thought to himself. 

She scowled at him. “No kid, I care enough to be careful. Clients tend to be going through a tiny personal hell when we visit and not a lot of them want a sharp-tongued hag to come barging in ordering them about, so I smoothe out my edges a bit for them.” 

“Feels like lying.” 

“It is, one of the good kinds of lying.” 

“Hmmph I’m not sure that’s real. I think you’re just trying to make yourself feel better.” 

Eve shrugged the flicker of a smirk playing at her lips. Even though it irked her she still found it amusing how he could jump from nervousness to cocky reassurance at the drop of a hat. 

“So kid, Where do you think we should start?” 

“I thought you said I had to follow your orders.” 

“You do, doesn’t mean this isn’t a learning experience. I want to know how you think we should track down a curse and then I will show you how we really do it.” 

Eve just watched him carefully, her face not far from that of a cat watching a bird that was almost within its grasp. 

“Er, well... Curses tend to be on smaller objects and people… And the curse didn’t start till they got here so it’s probably from an older object left behind… I guess it might have been stored away somewhere like a basement or attic…” 

He looked to her expectantly hoping he had given the right kind of answer.