“Didn’t that place close a decade ago?” Zac asked. He recalled it causing quite a stir of rumors at the time, with several high profile lawsuits and multiple deaths, including a renowned surgeon. Ever since, Fairfield Hospital had been utterly abandoned.

“Yes,” Skye said, “and it is intensely haunted. But it’s been quiescent, that’s why I haven’t really made a run on it yet.”

“It’s become an active kill zone,” Jake said. “We sent in cleaners to check into nearby disappearances. They barely made it out.”

“Maybe they were just incompetent,” Skye suggested.

“It was Dakota and Jordan," Jake replied.

 Skye huffed something under her breath, probably an obscenity. “Yeah, no, they know what they’re doing. I should go see about clearing it out some, or at least see if I can’t render it dormant again. Why is it an emergency, though? Can’t you barricade the place? Have someone shield it to keep squatters and urban explorers out?”

“We can’t, because there’s a group of ghost hunters going in tonight," Jake said.

“What?” Skye yelped.

“They have permits, direct from the mayor," Jake explained. "We weren’t able to block it in time; we didn’t realize how dangerous the place had become.”

 Skye groaned. “Tonight? Jake, I’m good, but I can’t clear out an active kill zone that big in one afternoon. No one could. Even if I had Zac and those two other necromancers I don’t think it’d be possible.”

“Zac?” Jake questioned.

 Skye pointed to Zac. “The angry elf who’s been glaring daggers into you this whole time. He’s my Scythe now.”

“You called a Scythe? And an elf? Is that even possible?” Jake asked.

“He’s alive and definitely linked to the Aspect through me, so, yeah?” Skye shrugged. “I was figuring on mentioning that later.”

“Sure you were.” Jake looked at Zac. “You’re the other apology I owe. You were left vulnerable to the Initiative and Skye’s right, we were aware of your presence on the campus and someone should have attempted to make contact, to warn you about potential Initiative activity in the area. I’m sorry.”

 Zac nodded. He knew that one lone exile wasn’t all that important to an organization as apparently powerful as Labyrinth seemed to be. He only became important now because of Skye, who was a resource Jake desperately did not want to lose.

 That was fine. But Jake had better learn quick that things were different. Skye wasn’t alone anymore. Jake would answer to her parents, and to him, before he ever tried to use her as Labyrinth’s tool or weapon again.

“How did I not notice you were there?” Jake mumbled.

“Zac’s scary good at those ‘I’m not invisible but I might as well be’ spells that elves love so much. Steve could learn a thing or two from him, and he’s like half Steve’s age. Well, two thirds," Skye mused.

“You’re how old?” Jake squeaked.

“Old enough,” Zac crossed his arms. It was fine for Skye and her parents to think he was young. This man would not see him as anything but Skye’s new protector.

“Okay...” Jake trailed off, and turned back to Skye. “I don’t expect you to clear the place in that amount of time. I trust you to know your abilities. But those people are gonna die if they go in there. And, well. You know what happens to a kill site that gets too much, um. Fuel.”

“Pain, terror and death, yeah,” Skye said. “It might expand its influence, start drawing in more victims. I should’ve handled this place ages ago but I just never...” Skye sighed. “Can’t you stop them? Claim to be, I don’t know, someone with more clout than a mayor? Say the building is condemned? Set the damned thing on fire?”

“We already burned the mall yesterday," Jake informed her. "Two major fires in the same area in that short a time might send up red flags.”

“Damn. Okay.” Skye crossed her arms and grumbled to herself. “I guess I couldn’t set loose a really big ghost for them to film? Something to distract them from going in?"

“Yeah, offering on camera proof of life after death isn’t really the play we want to make,” Jake said. “Keep that in reserve, though. I had an idea, but you might not like it.”

“Shoot, I’m coming up blank," Skye admitted.

 Zac noticed that Rose and Brett seemed equally worried, upset, and curious about what must be a new facet to their daughter’s personality they hadn’t seen. This wasn’t Skye or the Aspect, it was Agent Reaper. This was the person he’d met in the mall. 

 It was a pretty good act. 

“We insert you with the team," Jake said, "You should be able to keep anything that goes bump in the night from killing them all, keep them alive until you can convince them to leave or they finish their investigation. You don’t have to clear all the ghosts, just quell any that attack.”

 Skye nodded slowly. “Yeah. I can shield a small group. How many are there?”

“Five. You can shield?” Jake sounded surprised.

“Zac taught me," Skye shrugged.

“Yesterday,” Zac pointed out.

“I’m a fast learner. It’s fine," Skye said.

“It’s not fine. You’re not going in there alone,” Zac insisted. 

 Her parents nodded in agreement.

“I planned on sending someone with her,” Jake said. “I told you, the mall was a unique circumstance.”

“Yes, yes, any other agent would risk possession," Zac waved off his excuses. "That’s fine. But she could have had external support, supply drops, medical crew outside, intelligence gathering... there was a lot you could have done that you didn’t.”

 Jake winced, and then focused on Zac. “Who are you, and who were you, before?”

“All that matters now is I’m her Scythe,” Zac declared. “Whatever that actually means.” He considered. “At the moment, it means you aren’t sending this child into any dangerous or potentially dangerous situation without me at her back and her parents’ agreement.”

“If I’m a child so are you,” Skye muttered. Zac elected to ignore her.

Jake nodded slowly. “That’s more than fair.” He considered. “Can you use a camera?”

“Yeah, sure, why?” Zac asked. He spent more time around the photography classes than he really should given how dangerous it was to be caught on video or in photographs. He'd also volunteered to record several performances for the theater department.

“I can’t stop the whole team from going in," Jake explained, "but it wouldn’t be hard to get their normal camera guy out of the picture. We slip you in as a replacement from the same agency, and Skye goes along as your kid sister. Say, oh, I don’t know, that your parents needed you to watch her or you heard that paranormal phenomena are drawn to teens and you think she could be useful. Play it by ear.”

“I notice you haven’t asked our permission for this extremely dangerous little job,” Rose said.

“I, uh.” Jake blinked. “I’m sorry. I’m so used to just working out logistics with my agents, I didn’t think.”

“I really do need to do this,” Skye said. “I’ve told you about Fairfield.”

“Yeah,” Brett said, “I remember. But, you’ve only been back one day. And you just fought a monster of some kind.”

“It’s just a few ghosts,” Skye said. “Really active, dangerous ghosts. But I’m Death Incarnate. I can handle it. It’ll be a quick babysitting job, that’s all.”

Zac hoped those weren’t famous last words.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Skye asked Zac in a brief moment of quiet while Jake and her parents were discussing exactly how Zac and Skye were going to get to the hospital. 

“I am not letting you go in there alone,” Zac insisted again. 

“And I appreciate that, you have no idea how much,” Skye said. “You're not at risk from me the way my other partners have been. But you are still recovering.” She glanced over to make sure the adults were occupied. “Zac, you were tortured not forty-eight hours ago. Are you sure you want to jump right back into this mess?”

Zac opened his mouth to dismiss her concerns, and then remembered the scars hidden under that cute fluffy sweater she was wearing. She knew what she was talking about.

So instead he took a deep breath and really thought about what he was doing. 

“I can do this,” he insisted after a moment. “It's not nearly the same situation. I'm going of my own free will, I'm going armed, and I'm not alone. It's not like I'm doing the hard part, I just have to convincingly wave a camera around.”

“Yeah. And I guess we can maybe get a little testing in, see how your abilities work.” Skye winced. “There's never been an Elvin Scythe, so even Reaper doesn't know what to expect.”

“Oh. I did not realize," Zac said.

Skye shrugged. “I probably should've mentioned that before, huh?”

“Yeah, maybe," Zac replied.

“Sorry," Skye apologized.

“No, no, we've both been busy. Or unconscious," Zac added. It wasn't like he'd been awake long enough for Skye to discuss anything at all with him.

“Okay,” Jake said, brushing his hands together. “Zac, you can drive, right?”

“Uh, technically yes," Zac said. It had been a while since he'd been behind the wheel, but he didn't think much would have changed.

“Great. I'll issue you a car,” he paused and glanced at Brett, “because the Rowan's vehicle, while very nice, is still registered to them and I don't want to risk someone back tracing the tags here because my promise to Skye to protect her family is still in place. We will have people on the perimeter, because Zac's right, we could have done more to help you at the mall, Skye. They'll be out of sight until the group's inside, to avoid raising suspicion.”

Skye nodded. “Wait, you have vehicles you can just issue? Why am I always grabbing rides from other agents then?”

“Because you're fourteen," Jake said.

“Oh, yeah.” Skye crossed her arms. “I can drive though.”

Rose made a strangled sound that didn't seem to be agreement. Brett looked pale.

“Okay,” Skye corrected. “I know the theory behind driving and have memories of operating a car from some of my predecessors.”

“I'll drive,” Zac said.

Rose, Brett and Jake looked extremely relieved. 

“Let's get you two equipped,” Jake said, adding, “Oh, and Skye, you'll have an ear piece so you can make regular reports to me.”

“Huh?” Skye looked baffled.

“Usually your partner handles that," Jake explained, "but Zac doesn't know procedure and isn't an agent. You'll keep me updated when you can. I'll be reporting to your parents twice an hour, more if anything unexpected occurs.”

“Okay,” Skye said, accepting a small device from Jake and fitting it into her ear. Once it was in place, Zac couldn't spot it from any angle. 

Jake stepped out of the room, apparently to check that the thing was functioning because a moment later Skye said, “I read you. I point out that regular reports may be difficult if I'm pretending to be a normal kid.”

Whatever Jake said made Skye smirk. “Yeah, yeah, get creative. I guess so long as you hear me talking you'll have an idea what's going on.”

Jake returned and there was a knock at the door. “That'll be your gear,” Jake said.