Sure enough, Joey did have nightmares that night about finding Martha’s body, as well as the following few nights. It wasn’t as bad as he had imagined it would be, though. He’d jerk awake from a nightmare around 2am, wander out into his kitchen for a glass of water, re-read a chapter of one of the field manuals for comfort, then drift back to bed. Joey was lucky: no more than one nightmare a night.

Strangely, it bolstered his confidence when he arrived at work. He’d seen a murdered corpse, even speculated about motive, and come through it okay. It gave him cause to consider his progress: yes, he’d spent a good amount of time cowering away from supernatural creatures and hauntings in the past few weeks, but Joey had also materially contributed to catching them. Several of the Boxes waiting for shipment to Home Office contained monsters that Joey had caught—with help, but still.

It turned out that Joey was good for more than just research and paperwork. No one was more surprised than he.

In fact, it occurred to Joey that Mac and Frankie had never really teased him about his lack of ability in the field. Maybe he wouldn’t have expected Mac to tease, but Frankie seemed to get her kicks out of poking and prodding at Joey much of the time. But aside from laughing at him a few times for mishandling a weapon, Frankie had been remarkably reticent about Joey’s fear. And neither Indira nor Caden seemed to judge him.

Over the week following the selkie’s death, Joey stopped hiding behind furniture, and he noticed that his reflexes had improved. Gigs that once would have had him in a panic were instead becoming interesting challenges, and he spoke up more and more when it came to strategy.

And Joey noticed Caden noticing him, which was confusing as all get-out. Holy mixed signals, Batman. Joey would often glance Caden’s way to find Caden’s gaze already on him—and then he would look innocently in another direction, as if he hadn’t just been studying Joey. It was very high school, and while part of Joey relished it—he hadn’t actually gotten to do such things in high school, being closeted in a small town—the rest of him was just bewildered. Part of him wanted to make another move, but the rest of him said that Caden had shut down after their date, clearly he wasn’t interested. Another approach might be unwelcome. But then why was Caden staring and offering to walk with Joey to the train and smiling at him?

That was another thing: now that Frankie had pointed it out, it was exceedingly obvious that Caden’s smiles were only for Joey. The most he’d give anyone else was a tiny upturn of the corners of his lips—only Joey got to see Caden’s teeth bared in a grin. And only when Caden spoke to Joey would he alter his posture to be more open and run a hand through his hair. At times Joey wanted to just grab Caden’s shoulders and shake him and ask What does it mean?! What does it all mean?!

The times when he wasn’t fantasizing about kissing Caden, of course.

By the end of the week Joey was 1) surprisingly confident in his capabilities in the field and 2) ready to actually chew through a lip in utter frustration with his crush. It was almost a relief when the witch’s call came in.

It was breaktime Wednesday afternoon and Joey, Indira, Frankie, and Caden were chilling in the closed antiques shop. Joey was catching up on some relaxing paperwork, Frankie was once more sharpening her machete, Indira was digging through a pile of antique doorknobs, and Caden was passing a blue spark of magic from fingertip to fingertip. All looked up when Mac strolled in from the back, already announcing, “Field trip!”

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Indira’s brow creased in confusion. “We’ve got a screaming skull this afternoon.”

“Tomorrow,” said Mac. “Tonight we’re going to Yolanda’s house.”

Frankie groaned. “Ugh, no, she’s so new age-y.” When she caught Caden looking at her, inquisitive, she explained, “Crystals everywhere. Tarot cards. Silly stuff.”

“She’s a witch, they’re supposed to be new age-y,” said Mac.

“But she’s a million miles from nowhere!”

Mac scoffed. “What are you, five? Cool your jets. Anyway, that’s why it’s a field trip.”

“What happened?” prompted Joey before Frankie could start whining again. He’d never met Yolanda before, but he’d heard enough about her from Frankie that he could tell Yolanda was just a normal magic-user who happened to like crystal balls.

“She’s got a haunting that’s gotten out of control,” explained Mac, sitting down in his pink armchair, resting his elbows on his knees and steepling his fingers. “She said she couldn’t count the ghosts. Driven her right out of her house—she had to sleep in her car last night, that’s how bad. Usually she could handle this stuff herself, but…”

Indira, who had returned to digging through the doorknobs, pulled one from the pile, triumphant. “Ha!” She looked around at the rest of them. “Wait, what were we saying?”

“Field trip. Ghosts,” said Caden.

“Ohhh.”

“It’s a two-hour drive,” said Mac, levering himself out of his chair. “Everyone pee before we leave. Bring snacks!”

---

After a furious round of rock-paper-scissors, Joey wound up in the passenger seat while Mac drove the van. Frankie grumbled a little bit at being made to sit in the backseat with Indira, but quieted down fairly quickly. Caden climbed silently into the way back and seemed to vanish into his mind, staring out the window and looking like a damned music video. Joey kept glancing in the rear-view mirror to watch him.

For the first hour or so Mac and Indira chattered at each other, with occasional input from Joey and Frankie, but then the conversation trailed off and Mac put on the sound system. Indira had demanded the aux cord and Mac said, “Oh no, too bad, left it at HQ, we’ll just have to make do with the radio.” This left Indira sulking in her seat while Mac bopped his head around to the golden oldies.

It was sunset when they finally arrived at Yolanda’s house, which was a petite ranch-style home practically in the middle of the woods. The nearest neighbor they passed was at least a quarter mile away. As they pulled into the driveway it became clear that there was activity in every window of the home: white and blue glows passed through each one, casting light on the fallen leaves in the yard.

Yolanda, an attractive plus-sized woman covered in a swath of black lace and crystal necklaces, darted from a green sedan and across to their van’s driver-side window. Mac rolled down the window to talk to her.

“So glad you’re here,” Yolanda said. “It’s been last night and all day. I tried banishing charms but I’m just not a strong enough channeler, there are too many of them.”

“Do you know how they got in?” Mac opened his door and Yolanda stepped back to let him out. Frankie opened her door as well and she and Indira climbed out the driver’s side door.

“No clue!” said Yolanda. “They all turned up at once like they’d been waiting for something.”

“Are they from the woods, do you think?”

“Maybe. I’ve sensed presences from out there before.” Yolanda shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Will you need my help for this?”

“We’ve got it from here,” Mac assured her. At this point Joey and Caden had also made their way out of the van, and both stood staring at the lit-up house across the dirt driveway. “You might want to drive a little bit away in case things get messy.”

“Messy?” said Yolanda, raising her eyebrows.

“Well, you said on the phone the spirits were hostile.”

“Oh. Yeah,” said Yolanda. “They kept rushing right through me, knocked me over. Brrr. Okay, I’ll drive a ways down the right. That way.” She gestured. “Let me know when you’re done?”

Mac gave her a thumbs up. They all watched Yolanda’s car disappear down the narrow road.

“Right!” said Mac, clapping his hands and then rubbing them together. “How many Boxes we got?”

“Fifteen,” said Joey, who had counted them out himself into the red duffel bag that Frankie now pulled from the trunk.

A blue glow passed by the window closest to Mac and lit up his face, highlighting his grin. “Let’s catch some ghosties.”