At first, it was kind of awkward to explore the junkyard while being chaperoned by Randy, a stranger, who was obviously trying, and failing, to make small talk with me. Within a few minutes, I just began to ignore him, carefully looking in rubbish piles, inside cars, and even inside old trunks for any items that might trigger my ability, [Spirits of the Past].

I thought about what had just happened earlier—the old man Jim and his family.

The way I’d dealt with it kept running through my mind. I had definitely changed. A few weeks ago, there is no way I would have handled the situation like I just had. I still didn’t think I was ever going to turn into Aldina, but my experiences had already made me harder. A lot harder.

But as I thought about what I'd said and done, I didn't have any regrets. I'd diffused the situation without any violence, which would have turned into a pointless waste of life.

Also, I didn’t want to hurt humans. So far, I still hadn't needed to kill any people. I wasn't naive enough to think that it would never happen, but I was content to go as long as I could without needing to.

The junk yard was set up in organized rows or derelict cars towards the front of the lot, but at the rear, the placement of the vehicles hadn’t been thought out well or they’d just run out of room at times. It was slower going in that area, where I felt like I was walking through a maze at times. A few big, old vehicles had blankets and toys inside. It was obvious that some of the children who played here had made them into forts.

I managed to find a few old items in the area that caught my attention. They had the telltale glow or draw that I had begun to associate with spirits that I could bond with. In fact, I found a huge nail sitting on an ancient, dilapidated seat of a rusted-out Volkswagen Bug that had the glow.

The other stuff I’d found I’d already carried to front of the junkyard and set down in a pile. But this big nail was small and it seemed to glow more, to…pull more than the other items had. Tentatively, I reached out with my supernatural senses.

[The spirit of this nail has recognized you. Would you like to bond with this spirit]?”

I chose yes. Another screen popped up, and I immediately made a face.

Now the huge nail was displayed in the system as:

[Sparky's lucky nail.]

Sparky was never accused of being very smart. He also wasn't particularly good at remembering things. But he took good care of an old nail that he found as a six-year-old and kept in his pocket for his entire life. It even helped him get revenge on some fellas that didn't know when to leave well enough alone.

“What the heck?” I wondered out loud.

The screen went on to say:

May be activated three times a day to more easily penetrate and destroy the wheels of a vehicle. It takes out what makes things go.

I slowly shook my head. This was the first time that I received an ability from bonding a spirit that was not only useless right now, but something I couldn't ever even imagine finding a use for in the future.

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For the first time since receiving [Spirits of the Past], I explored my system looking for a way to un-bond with the new spirit. I couldn't find one. Finally, with a shrug, I tossed the nail into a nearby refuse pile and walked away.

I immediately got a system prompt that read:

Attention.

At your current level of mastery of [Tsukumogami Embrace], you must remain in close proximity or physical contact with the object inhabited by each spirit you bond with, or else you will not be able to use the abilities.

I shrugged again and kept walking. Another window popped up and read:

Deteriorating a bond with your bonded items may negatively Influence whether future spirits will successfully bond with you or not.

That got my attention.

Now I realized there might be some drawbacks to just accepting the prompt to bond with every spirit I came across.

Muttering to myself, I went to the trash pile I’d thrown Sparky's Lucky Nail in and retrieved it.

As I stared at it, I thought about what I’d just seen. One of the system windows I had just gotten about needing to keep my bonded items on my body was a little bit different than most others system windows. I pulled up the screen again to look at the wording of it and nodded slowly. The message implied that my mastery of [Tsukumogami Embrace] could improve, and I wondered what some of the benefits of leveling the skill would be.

It was all speculation right now, but maybe I’d be able to leave something useless behind without pissing off all the other spirits–past, present, and figure. I figured it was a reasonable theory. But for now, I was definitely going to be a little bit more careful.

I found another item that triggered my ability so I lugged it up to the front with the others. Then with a start, I realized I’d pretty much combed the entire junkyard, too. After that I went to where I’d dropped everything and moved it again into a neater pile near the office building–turned–mutli-family home. I turned to my chaperone Randy and said, "I want to check out the house next door now."

The man nodded and took me down the fence line, behind a couple of cars stacked on top of each other. For the first time, I saw a smaller gate into the compound. It was locked up just like the larger gate had been, but this one looked like it was a little bit more convenient to unlock and open.

Randomly, I realized that Randy had a mullet. Something about that randomly struck my funny bone, and the man turned back to give me a quizzical look at my snort. I spit to one side, trying to turn it into something else. He shrugged and unlocked the door. Then he inclined his head for me to go first, which I did.

I went to the looted house and clicked my tongue as I saw the unnecessary damage. All the windows had been broken out with what looked like cinder blocks. This was definitely not the work of goblins. I could see boot marks in the dirt outside the house.

The door was open, so I walked inside to check out the interior. Somebody had ransacked the place, paying special attention to closets. There was a combination of clothing and personal effects strewn all over. I assumed that part of mess had been caused by the looters, and maybe part had been added to by Andrew’s family as they secured what they needed to live next door in a hurry. After all, I couldn't imagine that they would want to stay in a ruined house like this overnight with the area being overrun by monsters.

The junkyard compound provided more protection in the first place.

In a few areas of the house, I found totes and other containers that swapmeet and garage sale finds had been stored in, but all of the merchandise was way too new for my ability to kick in. However, I did actually find a couple more items that triggered my ability out back.

One was behind an old woodpile and I made a face of distaste as I saw it. It was a dented up, ancient-looking old coffee can. The other find was a rusted pogo stick that looked like it hadn't been jumped on for at least twenty or thirty years. For the first time, I began to wonder how old an object truly had to be in order for my ability to kick in. It definitely seemed like the older the object was, or maybe the more emotional value it had to somebody who had owned it before, the more likely it was to trigger [Spirits of the Past].

Now that I knew some antiques had triggers that wouldn’t manifest until later, still letting me bond with them with no initial “glow,” like Private Malone's last stand, some of my perspective on my ability had changed. Now I was definitely more receptive to the idea of carrying old-looking, useful items around just in case I could bond with them later. But in the course of my wander in this house, I didn't see any mundane tools worth taking.

In the end, although I highly doubted I was going to end up bonding with either glowing object I’d just found, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to cart them over to the junkyard. I grabbed the pogo stick and the old can and brought it back through the house, heading back.

Before I was even through the house, suddenly, I heard the sound of vehicles, including one that was louder than the others. Behind me, I turned and saw Randy stiffen behind me. He whispered, “I recognize the sound of that car. It’s those bastards!”

What the man was saying hit me. "You mean the people that attacked the junkyard and robbed this place?"

Randy grimaced like he bit into something disgusting. "Yeah," he said. Then he hurried ahead of me, breaking into a run as soon as he was outside the house. "If they're here, it probably means nothing good."

"Oh, hell," I said. And I jogged to keep up with my guide.