Cate led us to the western part of the office district, to a light blue high-rise. Inside the lobby, the left wall was occupied by plaques denoting various real estate firms. On the right were benches and some potted plants. The reception was by the back wall, winged by rune-decorated elevator doors.

Behind the receptionist, hung a large painting of some red, furry animals I didn't recognize. Probably this worlds equivalent of pandas.

Our guide glanced over the plaques and made her way towards the elevator on the left. The receptionist didn't pay attention to us, busy scribbling something on a thin, stone block.

A ding resounded and the elevator doors became transparent. Tom and Cate walked in as if it was only natural. The car was quite spacious, giving the two adults sized people and our luggage plenty of breathing room. I looked in the mirror at the back of the elevator. It might have been prudent to take a detour by the city-side lake, before going in. I was covered in road dust. I shrugged, there'd be an opportunity to shower after we got a place to live in.

Cate poked a shiny twenty, engraved by the door. The entrance became solid again and the elevator moved up. Some magic circles lit up on the ceiling and soft music began to play.

"Not quite how I imagined a magical city," I commented into the air.

"Not enough dirt for you, mistress?" Cate almost smirked, but quickly fixed her expression into the usual emotionless mask.

"Not enough cobblestone and single-storey stone abominations pretending to be civilised architecture," I replied mirthfully. 

"There are some open-air museums near most techno-cities," Tom piped in.

I nodded and we continued the rest of the ride in silence. I tapped my feet on the cat's chest, in the rhythm of the elevator music.

With a ding, the door became see-through again. We stepped out and the maid led us to the right. Whoever designed the place was really overdoing it with the "calming blue". Everything was just... blue. Except for the lights, the yellow magic lamps didn't fit the atmosphere or the aesthetic of the place.

Cate knocked on a door with a plaque reading "Horrific Housing - get your shudder on!!". A phlegmatic voice called out, "Come in...".

We packed ourselves into a tiny office packed with various cursed looking memorabilia. A porcelain doll here, a stuffed black cat there.

Behind a desk filled burdened by a pile of fast-food wrappers, sat an elongated, grey woman. She had a neck longer than her head, dangling side to side. Greasy, light brown hair, stuck to her face and neck, making her look like the most miserable creature. Her dirty, beige suit was ripped in places and looked like it should have smelled of an alcoholic den. Somehow, the room smelled quite nice, a mix of vanilla and coffee.

"How may I help you..." she drawled out. Two chairs slid out of a pile of rugs and placed themselves in front of the desk.

Tom sat down on the right and Cate stood before hers. I waved at her, signalling she should sit and she quite eagerly obliged.

"Mistress Mads and her companions would like to buy or rent a house," the maid informed without inflexion.

The broker nodded - her neck jiggled - and handed as a polished stone slate. Runes lit up on its corners and a list of apartments and houses appeared.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Diada waved a hand and looked down at the slate. She swiped through the screen with one of her spider limbs, shrugged and turned back to her hobby. I lifted the object with mana and hanged it between the chairs, so Cate would also have a good view of the options.

The apartments ranged from sixty to eighty gold coins, while the houses from one to four hundred. I left the browsing to Tom and the maid. My funds were a mystery, so I searched for my pouch - after much poking at our pile of skins, I finally found it attached to the cat's backpack. 

I turned the pouch over, above the table and all of my funds... got stuck on the water-skins. I grumbled and pulled the bags out, then turned the pouch over again. A mesmerising cascade of gold, silver, bronze and gems spilt over the table.

I was feeling lazy, so I asked the grey woman, "What will those be enough for?"

The broker looked over to my funds, her head swaying too wide a couple of times before it settled before the coins. "A mid-end end house and an apartment for the servant."

"You heard the lady, pick a nice house, but no apartments. What's the point of a maid if she's not around twenty-four-seven, after all?" I told my friends.

"Of course, mistress." Cate was boring again.

I hummed "Sweat Dreams", it somehow wormed it's way into my head and didn't want to leave. 

"Why the horrific in the name anyway?" I probed the grey lady.

The woman slowly looked up and blinked at me a couple of times, very slowly. "We sell haunted property, many pay extra since the ghosts and curses fend off thieves."

Her head bobbed up and down, finally settling down, barely over the table. I stretched and yawned. A bath would be nice.

Tom and Cate seemed to settle on two choices.

"I understand that this is a beautiful mansion, but our funds are limited ma'am." The kid seemed to be the voice of reason.

"I cannot allow a Devil to live in such a small, mundane hovel, master." The maid said impassively.

I looked over at the pictures of the houses. The upper one, was a single storey, white house with some wooden supports and a non-existent garden. It was priced at one hundred twenty coins. The lower one, was a magnificent black mansion, with a large rose garden. It had gargoyles and everything and was two storeys high and at least three times as wide as Tom's pick. Ah, so Cate was the voice of reason after all.

I moved the slate over to the broker. "We would like the mansion."

The cat sighed and grumbled something, about it being my money being wasted. I smiled.

"It will be two hundred and sixty-seven gold," the grey woman drawled. I continued smiling and waved at her to collect the money.

A contract flew over from underneath the desk and the coins slid into a drawer. I was left with about twenty gold coins and whatever the rest of the money amounted to.

Cate looked over the contract and satisfied passed it to me, to sign. When I finished writing down my name - three times per copy - I felt some mana leave me. Red runic circles appeared on the forms. Two copies flew back to the broker and one stayed before me.

The woman handed me a keyring. Her arms had an additional joint - her fingers had two extra, bending in a zigzag over the desk. As soon as I grabbed the keys, she hid her arms back beneath the desk.

"That will be all, enjoy your haunting." The drowsy voice resounded with a chorus of yawning pigeons. I drilled my sight into the woman and after a while of uncomfortable silence, tapped Tom to get going.

"Good day to you ma'am," the kid said his goodbyes and got up.

We found the mansion at the outskirts of the city. It was in a rather eclectic neighbourhood, surrounded by houses of all shapes, colours and sizes. Some people were walking their pets, ranging from shoulder-high dogs to bipedal, knee-high reptiles.

Our new home had a tall, unkempt hedge and a black, wrought-iron, double-winged gate. I handed the keys to Cate and she opened the lock. The gate opened with a loud grinding of rusted hinges. A couple of pale ghosts looking like rotten wedding guests came out of the mansion and opened their mouths to scream.

As soon as the apparitions saw Diada, they became even paler, turned around and swiftly drifted back in.

"They look tasty," the girl said and sipped something from a paper cup.

I tilted my head, shrugged and gestured for the maid to lead the way. The garden was quite well kept, with short, black grass and the rose bushes trimmed into the shapes of bats and cats.

"Anyone got a clue about the layout? I desperately need a bath," I threw towards my companions.

"... I think the ghosts were supposed to show us," Tom pointed out.

"Nothing to it, we can explore," I said and yawned. The slow day was making me sleepy.