After Noelle walked into the gate, she closed the door behind her and rested her back against it.

She let out a small sigh, and wondered for a brief moment why Felix had suddenly pushed her through the portal without so much as a warning. She speculated it had something to do with that icy chill she had felt while in the spirit world…or maybe she was overthinking it at this point.

After thinking to herself for a couple of minutes, she pushed her body away from the door behind her and headed toward the front entrance of the gate. She needed to figure out if it was still nighttime, as it had been when she first left to enter the spirit world.

As soon as she reached forward to grab the doorknob and pushed the door open, she had to quickly raise her arm up to shield her eyes from the sunlight.

It wasn't long before her eyes widened in panic as she discovered that a lot more time had passed while she was in the spirit world than she had realized. Normally, she would’ve been asleep in her shared dorm room with Juliana at this time of day, and there was no way her cousin wasn’t freaking out right now. Her only hope was that Juliana was still asleep.

But another thought invaded Noelle’s mind. If she didn’t hurry up, she wouldn’t have everything she needed for her morning class.

Just as she took a step outside and was about to make a run for it, the sound of a male voice called out to her, causing her body to halt in place.

“Going somewhere? You know, I waited a long time for you, and I probably knocked on the door a dozen times. It’s really nice of you to show your face now,” the man said in an annoyed tone.

It took Noelle a couple of seconds to register who this person was, and when she finally did, she mentally grimaced at the thought of having to deal with him.

“Why are you here in the first place?” Noelle asked, turning her body to face the speaker.

Standing before her was a charming young man with short, dark brown hair and bangs that swept across his forehead, bringing attention to his light brown eyes. He wore a white button-up shirt with a black jacket, which he paired with black pants and black dress shoes.

He was charming, but also quite rude…or maybe his annoyance was because he was conversing with someone from the Celestica family. This man’s name was Damien Brimwick.

“Avoiding my question? How typical of you,” he said, glaring at her before crossing his arms over his chest.

“I must’ve not heard your annoying knocks since I have more important things to take care of,” Noelle said, her lips curving into a frown of icy contempt.

Hearing her response, Damien narrowed his brown eyes at her. “More important things to do, huh?” he asked, unamused. “So, were the important things you mentioned falling asleep? Which is the reason why you didn't hear me?

"Did you forget that once you were done monitoring the spirits yesterday, you were supposed to send the information over to the Brimwick Estate?” he said, still holding her gaze.

Noelle’s icy expression broke when his words dawned on her. As much as she wanted to hide it, a look of surprise washed over her face.

Now that she thought about it, she realized she had never even gotten to finish writing down the last bit of information about spirits that had passed through the gate.

If she were being honest, she would rather have Damien believe that she had fallen asleep inside the gate. He wouldn’t be happy about that answer, but it was much better than him knowing the truth.

Noelle would rather not tell him that she spoke to a spirit by the name of Felix, who she wasn’t supposed to talk with…and to make matters worse, she had wandered around the spirit world. She could only imagine how Damien would respond to that information, but she knew for a fact it wouldn’t end well.

“You act like I don’t take my job seriously. I already said I didn’t hear you. Maybe next time, try something less annoying,” Noelle sneered at him before she walked back inside the gate entrance to retrieve the papers that were on her desk. Then, she walked back outside and closed the door behind her.

“And you’re telling me you do take your job seriously?” he said, his arms crossed. “You really should stop with your jokes; I don’t find them funny.”

“Think whatever makes you happy, and here are the papers you want so desperately,” she said, extending her hand out toward him, along with the papers the Brimwick family wanted so much. Without saying anything, he took the documents from her.

“You’re joking, right?” Damien said coldly, raising his eyebrow at her after he had looked through the papers that Noelle had handed him.

“What now?!” Noelle said, the frown on her lips deepening.

“Yesterday, twenty-six spirits were spotted around Willow Creek, and you have twenty-five recorded in these papers. And you claim I shouldn’t say that you don’t take your job seriously,” he said before he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. At the same time, his eyebrows knitted together in irritation.

Noelle had only messed up because the cute kitty she had decided to take in had suddenly turned into a handsome, flirty spirit from which she couldn’t seem to escape.

But another thing Noelle mentally noted was that, if she was off by one spirit, it meant Damien wasn’t aware of Felix, since that would’ve meant she would’ve been off by two.

“Fine, whatever; I might have taken a small nap, which is why it ended up the way it did,” Noelle said, lying through her teeth while she shrugged her shoulders softly.

“But at the end of the day, does it really matter when none of the spirits that pass through the gate are even worth worrying about, since one of the spells on the gate prevents any malicious spirit from passing through,” Noelle pointed out. She made sure it was clear from her tone that she was just waiting for this conversation to be over.

Damien sighed loudly. “I hate dealing with you Celesticas, just so you know. Do you even listen to yourself? Even if that is the case, you never know when something might go wrong, especially when it comes to spirits, which is why monitoring them is so important.”

His annoyance quickly turned to surprise as Noelle started to walk away. “And just where do you think you’re going!” he growled.

“I’m going to my class, because I think we’re done here, aren’t we?” Noelle said, glancing over her shoulder as she stopped walking.

“Oh, that. You mean your lame attempt at pretending you have a normal life,” Damien said without holding anything back.

Noelle glared at him. “I don’t need you talking down to me. I hate dealing with the Brimwick family as well. So, since we mutually hate each other, why don’t we just go our separate ways now that things are dealt with.” When would she be done with this man? It felt like she was in an endless nightmare from which she couldn’t seem to wake up.

“Actually, you’re not going to that college class, and I’ll be sure to write up an excuse. Maybe I’ll use one of those same excuses you seem to love so much,” he said with a cocky grin on his lips.

“And why, exactly, would I let you do that? We’re done!” Noelle shouted as she turned around. Her eyes were burning with rage. She’d had enough of him.

“No, we aren’t. Whether you like it or not, you’re heading over to the Brimwick Estate. I have more that I want to talk to you about, but I don’t think talking in public is a good idea, since it draws too much attention than I would like,” he said. He sounded calm for once, but his tone was still rude.

“The what, now?” Noelle said, completely stunned.

Sure, it wasn’t odd for a member of the Celestica family to head over to the Brimwick Estate, or for a member of the Brimwick family to head over to the Celestica Estate. But so far, Noelle had only used spells to send information to the Brimwick Estate, and would occasionally deal with Damien. There was no way she wanted to head to the estate now. Judging by the look on Damien’s face, however, it appeared he wouldn’t take no for an answer.