Crystal

“Dude, do you have a CD in there?” Chase chuckled. “In this day and age?”

“I usually just listen to stuff on my phone, but yeah. Just in case the phone doesn’t work for some reason.”

“Well that was pretty cool music. I think I’ve heard it before, what was it?”

“System of a Down. But anyway.” Jack grabbed the steering wheel. “I’m gonna go pretty slow. You should feel it when you start reaching the end of your limit, just let me know and I’ll stop. Oh, and, uh... focus really hard on staying solid. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, but if you suddenly fall out of the car, I might not be able to stop for a bit.”

“Gotcha.” Chase gave him a thumbs up. “Okay, go.”

Jack started the car, backing out of the small driveway and getting onto the road. Since Jack would have to drive over to the Council building anyway, they wanted to take the opportunity to see how far Chase could go from the house now. It had been a while since he tested out that invisible tether tying him to his point of death. When it suddenly occurred to him to try again, he found that he didn’t feel that pull at all at his previously-established limit—that being the front yard of the house across the street. This made him curious, and, well, here they were. Why was he so nervous about this? What was he afraid of? Was he afraid of being stuck in the house? Of not meeting expectations? Or... of something else?

As promised, Jack went pretty slow, driving well below the speed limit, even for this quiet neighborhood. He took the straightest possible route away from the house, heading towards the city center. And frequently glanced into the rear-view mirror to check on Chase. “You know, uh, you could’ve sat in the passenger side.”

“Yeah, but like... somehow, I think that would’ve distracted you,” Chase reasoned. “Ghost guy in the corner of your vision? Seems distracting.”

“Ah, I got over that when I was fifteen,” Jack said jokingly. “You learn to live with it when you’re born with medium sight like this.”

They continued on for a while longer. Soon, they made their way out of the neighborhood and into the adjoining area, zoned for restaurants and small businesses. Chase’s anxiety increased. Why wasn’t he feeling that tether yet?

They passed a McReynold’s, the distinct golden M raised above the other restaurant signs. Chase remembered ordering from that place way too much during his recent life, when he was pouring his all into streaming. He probably should have taken better care of his health in life... but too late now—

And that’s when he was pulled out of the back of the car.

“Hey wait Jack—!” Chase gasped, passing through the back window and the trunk as the car continued driving while he stayed still. He stood still in the middle of the street (empty, though it wouldn’t have made much of a difference to him if there were a ton of cars passing through) and watched as Jack pulled into the McReynold’s parking lot and got out of the car. Jack looked at him and gestured for him to move over to the nearest sidewalk. Chase nodded and did so, following a straight line as he stayed at the absolute limit of the tether. As Jack approached, he said, “Well, now you’re gonna look like a crazy person, talking to no one in the middle of the sidewalk.”

Jack laughed. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.” He took out his phone and held it to his ear. “Now it looks like I’m taking a phone call.” A smile flashed across his face, but then he became more serious, tilting his head as he looked at Chase. “We drove... pretty far. I’m guessing this is your new limit?”

“Yeah.” Chase nodded, pressing his hand to his chest, where he felt that pull back towards the house. “Um... so. How... normal... is this? For ghosts?”

“Well, uh... honestly?” Jack hesitated. “It’s different for almost every ghost, but... I feel like your limit suddenly jumped in a way that’s... uh, new to me.”

Chase sighed. That ball of anxiety squirmed in his stomach. This must have been what he was afraid of. More confirmation that he was different. “I guess it’s not a bad thing, right? I could, uh...” He looked around. “...if you ever want something from that Scent & Shower Works, I can grab some soap for you or something.”

Jack laughed. “You can try, but I think they’d be spooked.”

“I can do it on Halloween, then.” Chase grinned slightly, but his smile quickly fell.

“Everything okay?” Jack asked, concerned.

“I just... I’m thinking about what someone could’ve... possibly wanted from me,” Chase said quietly. “Why would they do... this?” He gestured at himself. “Like, what could my powers possibly do for someone?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t know. But I promise we’ll figure it out. Starting with tonight. Checking out the records the Council has will be a good starting point. Right?”

“Yeah.” Chase nodded slowly. He mimicked a deep breath, steadying himself. “Alright. You keep on going. No, wait. Text Marvin first to let him know to summon me. No, wait. Tell him when you arrive. I’d rather walk around for a bit than stand around waiting for everyone.”

“Got it.” Jack nodded. “Honestly? Marvin might not be there yet, anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the first to arrive. I mean...” He looked into the dimming sky. “Schneep’s probably gonna leave soon, but he might wait a bit to be sure the sun’s down. So if he’s just leaving, it’ll definitely be a minute before we’re all there.”

“I figured. Man, you really don’t know how inconvenient vampires have it until you have to wait for the sun to go down.”

“Eh, Schneep could probably go out in this lighting if he had a hat or something,” Jack said. “But he’s not gonna. He’s cautious like that. Anyway. You’re just going to walk around until we’re ready to summon you? Are you... sure that’s what you want to do?” He still looked concerned.

“...yeah.” Chase gave him a slight smile. “It’s... been a while since I’ve gone on a walk. Especially in this area. I just want to check stuff out. Go on. I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Jack nodded slowly. “I’ll see you in a few. Maybe half an hour.”

“Got it.” Chase gave him a thumbs up. “Now go on. Get off the phone and get in your car.”

Jack laughed and took his phone away from his ear. “See you soon, Chase.”

“See you.” Chase watched as Jack turned around and got back in his car. As he backed out of the parking lot, Chase waved. Jack waved back before heading down the street, leaving Chase alone in the area.

Chase looked around. Things were quiet in this area, though he did see a few pedestrians wandering about. There always seemed to be pedestrians on the streets in Scuabyrg. For a second, Chase wondered how many times he’d walked past someone and didn’t know they were a witch or a werewolf or something else. He wondered how many times he’d walked through a cold spot, unaware that he’d just walked through a ghost spacing out.

Deep in his thoughts, Chase wandered around the area before the others finally called for him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scuabyrg City Hall was an older brick building, built some three hundred years ago or so. Its main shape was that of a massive cube, but with a low, wide triangle on top for the roof. But there were additional columns and three-dimensional window frames that stuck out, giving it more of a silhouette beyond that. All the buildings around it were generally more modern, with many of the most modern ones towering over city hall. But city hall itself did have a few updates to the older design. The steps were new, as was the ramp next to them, the clock in the roof had been added in the 50s, and there was a small concrete courtyard out front that was very recent.

Marvin, Schneep, and Jack waited in that small concrete courtyard, with Marvin standing up to cast the summoning spell while the other two sat on the edge of a cement planter holding a young tree. When Chase appeared in his usual way, they all waved. “Good evening, Chase,” Schneep said.

“Hah, you’ve never sounded more like a vampire.” Marvin snickered.

“Hey guys.” Chase waved back, then took a moment to look around. “Huh... you know, I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to city hall.”

“Really?” Jack tilted his head. “Never had a need to?”

“No, whenever Stacy and I had, like, legal stuff to do, we went to different places,” Chase said. “Like... I think we went to a courthouse to make sure our marriage license was all good... and, uh... we went there after, too. For... other stuff.”

“What about a driving license?” Jack asked, distracting Chase from his thoughts.

“Oh, uh, well I never had one—I mean, not for England. I had an American driver’s licenses from when I moved here... but that’s definitely really expired now, cause I stopped driving a while ago. Stacy mostly did that, and I don’t know where she went for her license... I’m assuming there’s a DMV or something here.”

“You do not know where your wife went for her driving license?” Schneep repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I mean, she told me whenever she had to go out to do stuff about it, but never specifically!” Chase said defensively. “And, uh, when Declan was born we did all his legal stuff in the hospital. And his school stuff in the school, obviously. My point is, I’ve never been here before, and it’s kinda funny that it took me dying to come here.”

“I think that’s funny, Chase,” Marvin said, taking care of the summoning circle.

“Thanks.” Chase nodded. “So, uh... what do we... do?” He looked around again. There were some cars parked in a nearby lot, and some people hanging out in the windows of surrounding buildings. No everydays in sight... yet. Inevitably, someone would appear. “Do we have to find a secret entrance or something?”

“Nope.” Jack shook his head and stood up. “Actually... we’re just going to walk right in.”

Chase blinked in surprise. “Huh.”

“Did not expect that, did you?” Schneep chuckled, also standing. “Clara will meet us inside. You will see how things go from there.”

“...secret floor in city hall?” Chase guessed. “Or secret basement?”

“Oh it’s cooler than that.” Marvin grinned. “Hard to explain, though. Uh... the Night Council and the everyday City Council kind of... exist in the same space.”

Chase didn’t bother to hide his confusion. What, like... there were just offices for werewolves and vampires next to offices for the treasury and parks departments? “Let’s just, uh... go inside. I think I’ll get it if I see it.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Jack agreed. He started walking towards city hall. “Come on. Stay close and invisible, Chase.”

The group headed towards city hall, walking straight up the steps and into a large reception room. It was rather plain in here, despite someone’s attempts to brighten it up with some paintings on the wall. Rows of plastic chairs with basic cushions filled the area, broken up by a few magazine racks along the walls, which had probably gone untouched for a long time. There was a large wooden reception desk, curving around to block off the corner, with a plastic shield attached to its worn surface. The young woman behind it was the only person in sight. She was on a laptop—probably her own personal device, since there was a monitor that had been pushed aside to make room for it—but she glanced up when the group walked in. “Hi,” she said cheerfully.

“Hello.” Jack smiled back and waved. “We have an appointment with Clara Berrycloth?”

Chase couldn’t hold back a surprised snort of laughter. What sort of last name was Berrycloth?

The young woman also looked confused, and a bit doubtful. “Uh, yes, of course. One second.” She pushed her laptop to the side and pulled a keyboard and mouse for the monitor closer, clicking and typing. “Oh! Huh.” She seemed surprised by what she saw, but nodded along. “Right. Just down that hallway over there. Meeting Room C.” She pointed to the left, where an archway led into a corridor leading further into the building.

“Thanks.” Jack nodded, and he headed that way with Marvin and Schneep. Chase took a second to follow, a little confused.

“...Chase did you laugh at her last name?” Schneep muttered under his breath.

“What? Uh, no!” Chase lied.

“He did, I heard it,” Jack said.

“Snitch,” Chase grumbled.

The group headed down a hallway—plain white plaster on the upper half of the walls, and yellowish wooden paneling on the bottom. Chase glanced around, looking for any sign of magical or mystical elements, but he found nothing but mediocrity in the popcorn pattern ceiling and the short gray carpet. The group passed a few doors with windows in the upper half, and Chase peered through to see more normal-looking rooms. Offices with two or more desks each, storage rooms full of filing cabinets, and meeting rooms with long tables. They kept going until they reached an intersection. To the right, the hallway continued, lined with more doors. To the left, the hallway ended in a pair of double doors labeled Meeting Room D.

“Uh... okay...” Chase said slowly, confused. He looked away from the obvious double doors, and saw two smaller, single doors on the walls to its left and right. The right was labeled Meeting Room E, and the left... Meeting Room C. “This all looks... very boring.”

“Give it a minute, Chase,” Marvin chuckled.

Jack opened the door to Meeting Room C and the group piled in. This was, indeed, a meeting room. One of the smaller ones, with two long plastic tables and folding chairs stacked to the side. It was mostly bare, so the few things that were in here stood out, like the large trash can and the projector sitting on a small wheeled cart in the middle of the room. Once everyone was inside, Jack turned on the lights and closed the door... and that’s when Chase realized that this door, unlike all the others, didn’t have a window in it. “Okay, who wants to do the honors?” Jack asked.

“Meeee!” Marvin hurried to the projector in the middle of the room. He crouched down to the ground, peering at the underside of the wheeled cart, reaching up and feeling along it... until he drew back, now holding a square piece of colored glass. It looked almost metallic, a coppery sheen on its surface. Chase moved closer, curious. Oh... the sheen was actually from a lot of tiny gold etching on the glass, small symbols that he couldn’t read.

Marvin then turned on the projector. Blue light shone towards the opposite wall, creating a square with some white words reading Input: HDMI 1. He carefully slid the colored glass in front of the projector lens, and that light changed radically. Now the square was bright white, lines of golden symbols crisscrossing the surface, forming a grid pattern with squares that got smaller towards the center as the lines got closer.

The outer edges of that square of white light grew fuzzy. The golden symbols began to move, at first twisting in on themselves and shifting designs individually. But then the lines began running, scrolling up and down and side to side. And as they scrolled faster and faster, the edges of the square grew fuzzier, and then started to expand, the white light creeping outwards. Until within seconds, that moving grid covered the entire wall, and then the other walls, and then the ceiling and the floor and the furniture itself! Chase’s eyes didn’t hurt from the brightness, but he closed them out of instinct as everything flashed bronze.

And then, when he opened them, Meeting Room C had changed. It was still the same dimensions, but now the walls were black, framed with wooden pillars in the corners with dark red finishing. Said columns branched out at the top, lines crossing the ceiling like branches, with bits of glowing white dots peeking through. Like the night sky in a forest. The floor, now made of smooth wooden planks in a herringbone pattern, was the same color. There were no long tables in the room, just chairs lining the sides, done in red upholstery. Small black tables sat in between each chair. In the center of the room, the projector was still there, but it now sat on a black marble table, a dark circle shot through with white veins. A couple of those colored glass squares were scattered across the surface.

“What the fuck?!” Chase gasped.

Marvin and Jack burst into laughter. “I knew you’d like it!” Marvin said cheerfully. He put the glass square he was holding down on the table with the others. “Welcome to the Night Council’s Scuabyrg Hall!”

“How—what—where—how?!” Chase spun in circles, taking in all the details of his new surroundings.

“The Night Council is sort of... overlayed on top of the normal everyday city hall,” Jack explained. “It’s called a...mirror spell, I think? Right, Marvin?”

“Yeah, basically, though this one’s been modified,” Marvin confirmed.

“Would it help to think of it like a pocket dimension, Chase?” Schneep asked.

“I... I guess...” Chase just kept staring. “How the fuck did a projector take us here?!”

“The spell’s all inscribed on these glass slides.” Marvin picked back up the one he’d used. “They just need a lot of intense light to activate them. Well, that, and an enclosed space. It wouldn’t work if the door was open, it would just take everyone in the hallway here, too! Anyway, the projector was perfect for that.”

“They used to use a very powerful flashlight,” Schneep recalled. “But it kept getting lost. For some reason, the everydays do not move the projector from the room as often as they would a flashlight.”

Chase gaped at the room for a second more, then shook his head. “Uh... well. I think... we should, uh, go to that... appointment. Thing. We had. We don’t want to keep your friend, uh, Clara waiting.”

Schneep grinned, showing off his fangs. “Right, right, of course. Let’s go. She’ll be expecting us in her office on the next floor up.”

The group left the room—walking into a much different, and much busier hallway than the one they’d left behind. Here, the walls were mostly black, but with the faintest swirls of other color, giving the whole place a shimmery effect and making it much lighter compared to the pure-black stone columns that occasionally broke up the wall, standing tall on the corners and around doors. The ceiling was alight with stars, swathes of them that glowed so brightly they lit up the darkness perfectly, like images from a fancy telescope had been pasted onto the ceiling. People bustled about here. Many of them looked fairly normal, but mixed in with business-casual men and women were animals—wolves, cats, and even blackbirds that swooped through the air—and... stranger creatures.

“Chase, come on!” Jack called. He and the other two were already heading down the hallway.

Chase followed, though he couldn’t help but look around at said ‘stranger creatures.’ There was a tall man with horns and batlike wings in one corner, his skin seemingly made of stone. And a figure hurrying by with the body of a woman but the head of a pumpkin. He even saw a pale, washed-out woman pass through a closed door and into another door on the opposite side of the hall. He couldn’t help but stop and stare for a solid few seconds after that happened. That was... another ghost, wasn’t it? His first glimpse of one other than himself.

Soon, though, they reached a set of stairs, traveling up them to the second floor—which was similar in design, though a lot less busy. The ceiling was also different, now looking like a field of purple-tinted clouds with arcs of lightning between them. That provided slightly less light than the stars, so there were some wall sconces on this floor, shaped like white flowers with dark black-purple veins and a center of the same color. The hallway extended to the left and the right. “Where’s your friend’s office, Schneep?” Marvin asked.

“Well,” Schneep said, turning left. The rest of the group followed his lead. “It should be right down—”

“Henrik!” A shout came from behind them.

“Oh, nevermind, it seems she is here to meet us,” Schneep said, turning the other way.

A short woman was hurrying down the hall towards them. Her skin had that notable gray tint that all vampires did, but it was partially hidden by the makeup she was wearing—skillfully and tastefully applied. Her mane of blonde curly hair gave most of the shape and definition to her otherwise slight frame, and she wore a sharp, dark purple suit with a lavender tie. “So sorry, you probably expected me in my office,” she said as she approached. Her voice had a pronounced, posh accent. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”

“No, of course not, we had only just arrived,” Schneep said. “Marvin here wanted to show off the projector entrance to Chase.” He nodded at each of them in turn. “Everyone, this is my friend Clara Berrycloth. Clara, this is Marvin Fletcher, Chase Brody, and... have you met Jack before?”

“I have not, but I believe I’ve heard of him. Jack McLoughlin, correct?” Clara held out her hand to him. “You’re a medium?”

“That’s me.” Jack smiled and shook her hand.

“Wonderful. It’s always good to meet one of you.” Clara also shook Marvin’s hand, and then turned to Chase, hand still extended. “Are you comfortable with a handshake, Chase, or is that still difficult for you?”

“Oh, no I, um... wait.” Chase realized something. “You can... see me? I’m not—I’m not trying to be seen.”

“Right, I suppose you wouldn’t know. The Night Council Hall is enchanted,” Clara explained. “With a few different ones, but the relevant one now is a Truesight area spell. There are no illusions in here, and anything—or anyone—invisible is revealed. Ghosts included. Doesn’t help much with the solidity, though, which is why I’m asking about the handshake.”

“...huh.” Chase nodded slowly. “Uh, yeah, we can shake hands.” He took Clara’s offered hand, and she shook his firmly. “Sorry if I seem... spacey or something, I’m just... new to this whole thing, still. And, uh... it’s a lot.”

“It can be very overwhelming the first time anyone steps into a place like a Night Council,” Clara sighed. “I remember it well. Things used to be very different, but the sheer amount of new things to see is... well, it’s always a constant.” She smiled gently, keeping her lips closed so she didn’t show off her fangs. “Do you need a moment?”

“No no, I can keep up,” Chase promised. “I just might be a bit quiet. But I-I know we’re here to... find out some stuff that can help me.” He straightened his shoulders. “So I’ll do my best to help.”

“Alright, but let me know if you need anything, alright?” Clara said. “Now come on. You all are at the stairs, and I was going to take you to the next floor anyway after we met. We can walk and talk on the way.” She gestured for them to follow her as she walked past them to the stairwell, climbing up.

The group followed. “Where are we going first?” Marvin asked. “Schneep said you’ll be able to help us find Patrol records and historical stuff that might help.”

“All of that is kept on the floor above,” Clara explained. “Ground floor is meeting rooms and day-to-day affairs, first floor is offices for representatives like me and other similar positions, second floor is for records of all sorts. Then the top is where we do the important stuff. Of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but that’s the gist.”

The next floor up—what Chase knew as the third floor, but what was apparently called the second—looked plainer than the ones below. Still dark, with walls covered in dark brown paneling. But the whimsical sky-based ceiling had been replaced with a black-and-purple tile design, and the patterned hardwood floors were covered up with a plain black carpet, the sort that was thin and short, like you’d find in an office. The hallways themselves were a bit wider, which confused Chase until the group had to pass a man pushing a cart full of boxes of folders. With carts like those, wide halls were necessary.

“Can you tell me a bit more what you’re looking for?” Clara asked as they walked.

“Well, Chase here was murdered the night of April 17th,” Jack explained. “Or... maybe very early morning on the 18th, we’re not entirely sure.”

“The time period ranges from 10:30 to 3 in the morning,” Schneep clarified.

“You mean Chase doesn’t know?” Clara glanced back at Chase. “Sorry, you don’t know what time you died?”

“No, I don’t remember any of it,” Chase said. “I know that’s unusual. A-and apparently I’m a pretty strong ghost, maybe unusually strong. Marvin thinks it’s because of this, uh... lingering spirit spell.”

“But even that doesn’t account for everything,” Marvin added.

“So you want to check the records for that night during that time period.” Clara nodded. “I understand.”

“And, uh, we want to know if there’s been anything... historically significant in this area,” Chase continued. “Anything that might have something to do with, uh, ghosts and other undead and all that sort of stuff.”

Clara nodded. “Well, the Patrol records are closer, so we’ll take care of that first.”

They arrived at a pair of double doors, slightly inset into the wall, made of wood with a reflective window in their upper half. Clara pulled it open, holding it and gesturing for the guys to go in first. The space beyond was... pretty much an ordinary-looking record room. There were rows of shelves and filing cabinets filling the space, contrasting the more old-fashioned-looking wood-panel walls. In addition to that, there were a couple desks in front, each one equipped with a flatscreen computer monitor, with matching mouse and keyboard. A single person sat at one of the desks, a man with salt-and-pepper hair whose eyes were locked onto one of the computer screens. When Chase looked closer, he realized the man’s eyes were pure black, but with strings of glowing... binary? Running up and down them.

“Hello, Jefferson, don’t mind us,” Clara said, choosing another computer. The man with the binary eyes raised his hand in greeting but didn’t say anything. “Alright, everyone, gather on here.”

Everyone crowded around the computer monitor. Jack laughed to himself. “You guys have better systems than my work does.”

“Well that’s a right mess for you, isn’t it?” Clara giggled. “Alright... the 17th, you said?” She powered on the computer, logged in, and opened up some sort of program with an icon of a filing cabinet.

“...this looks like a normal database,” Chase observed, watching as she adjusted some sliders to narrow a date range.

“Well, if it works, why change it?” Schneep reasoned.

“I just expected something more... fantastical, I guess?”

“What’s fantastical is that Jefferson there uses his computer witchcraft to instantly digitize the rows of paper copies we have here,” Clara said. “It’s really handy. But not flashy.”

“Oh. Okay.”

The database took a minute to load after the search. But once it did, there weren’t many results. Chase and the others leaned close to examine them. They were presented chronologically, from 10pm to 3am on the night of Chase’s death. Some minor incidents populated the results—apparently the Night Patrol still had to deal with noise complaints and dumb customers on top of whatever supernatural duties they had—but the one result that stood out was pretty early. “What’s that one?” Chase pointed at it.

“‘Investigation Report: Possible Hunter Spotting’...” Marvin read out loud. He inhaled sharply through his teeth. “Um... what?”

Clara clicked on it, bringing up what looked like a scanned image of a form, filled out by a Night Patrol volunteer. There was a typed transcription below it, which she scrolled to, and everyone went quiet for a bit as they read.

After a bit, Schneep began to summarize. “Residents on Ripley Avenue reported seeing a suspicious figure lurking around. Supposedly, a ghost in the area got close enough to examine the figure and saw he was armed. Later, gunshots were heard, and when a werewolf went to investigate, they reported the presence of silver in some of the bullet holes.”

“Holy shit...” Marvin muttered. “Wait, why haven’t any of us heard about this? Silver bullets? That’s... that’s big. That’s... monster hunting.”

The room seemed to get colder. “U-um, there, at the bottom.” Jack gestured. “It was all hearsay, anyway. The bullets weren’t recovered, a-and no one could detect silver. So... maybe it wasn’t really a monster hunter. Just... an everyday criminal, or something.”

“I am surprised Jackie didn’t know about this...” Schneep said quietly. “You would think rumors of silver bullets would spread through the werewolf community quickly. Even if they were not true.”

“We can ask him about it later,” Chase said quietly. “Um, more importantly... gunshots.” His hand drifted upwards towards his head. “That... can’t be a coincidence. Guns are illegal here, and you’re telling me that the same night people reported gunshots is the night I died?”

“Ripley Avenue is across the city from where you died, though, Chase,” Jack pointed out.

“Yeah, but... look at the time they were supposedly heard.” Chase gestured at the report. “Around 11:30. That totally falls into the time period where I probably died. I-I could totally see someone with a gun making their way across the city and getting to my house before 3 am, which is the latest I probably died.” He paused. “It still doesn’t explain why the hell a monster hunter would kill me, though.”

“Were you an everyday in the know, Chase?” Clara asked.

“No, not at all!” Chase shook his head. “I only found out about this world after I died.”

“Hmm... very odd...” Clara mumbled. She returned to the original database, and typed Chase’s full name into the search bar. Once the database finished loading, the only thing that showed up was a single file titled ‘Ghost Registration 18/04/2022’.

“Uhhh what’s that?” Chase asked.

“Oh, I did that,” Jack said. “Part of my job, I have to register any ghosts I find with the Council. It helps them to know where you guys are, just in case you need help or cause trouble.”

“Ah. You could’ve... told me you did that. Earlier.”

“Could’ve sworn I did...” Jack said quietly. “Anyway... I noted you were strong, but I don’t think I did much else... We didn’t know any of this stuff at the time.”

“Hm...” Clara pursed her lips together. “Chase, we definitely need to make a case file for you. Your death is... clearly strange. I can’t believe we haven’t done it yet. I’ll be making a note to send an undead representative to your place of haunting to talk to you.”

“What? We can’t do that now?” Chase asked.

“Clara doesn’t have the jurisdiction for that,” Schneep said. “She is a vampire representative.”

“I’m already doing a lot by giving you guys access to here,” Clara explained. “It’s annoying, yes, but it’s how we keep the peace here. By not stepping on any toes.”

“I’ll fill out some stuff once we get home,” Jack said. “Or, uh, I can help Chase fill out some stuff, if you’d prefer that, Chase.”

“Yeah, that sounds... better.” Chase nodded slowly. “Anyway, uh... can we... look for any of those historical records now?”

“You don’t want to look at any other Patrol records while we’re here?” Clara asked.

“Well, actually.” Marvin cleared his throat. “Do you guys know about a vampire called Anti?”

“Oh.” Clara made a face. “We’ve had reports about that man... personally, I’m hearing a lot from various vamps in the city. Do you want to look at the stuff we have for him?”

“Yes, please,” Marvin said. “He might... have something to do with all this.”

Clara went back to the search bar and typed in ‘Anti.’ The results that loaded in were spread out over the past couple months, many of them with the word ‘(Alleged)’ tacked onto the end. “Hmm...” Schneep leaned forward. “Look, there are the cases me and Jackie made. When my wallet was stolen, and when Jackie’s pack mate was attacked.” He pointed at them. “The earliest incidents, and some of the only confirmed ones.”

“That definitely reinforces our theory that Anti only started attacking randomly after Chase’s death..." Jack muttered.

They spent a few minutes looking through the files some more, but unfortunately, didn’t find much else. Just Anti’s usual pattern of attacking randomly. Chase asked to do another general search around the 17th, and Clara widened the search pool for a week before and a week after. But nothing new there, either. It seemed they’d learned everything they could from the patrol records.

“Alright, if that’s all you want to look at here, I can bring you to the historical record room,” Clara said.

“Aw, I don’t want to move,” Marvin said jokingly.

“Well, if you want to find out anything more, you’ll have to,” Clara chuckled.

Marvin sighed dramatically. “All this magic out there, and we still have to walk to places.”

“You have been standing in place, how is that much better?” Schneep muttered.

The group got up and made their way out of the room. While they walked, Jack lingered back, leaning close to Chase. “Hey... how are you holding up?”

“Huh?” Chase tilted his head in surprise. “Uh... I’m good. Why? Do I look... not good?”

“You look deep in thought,” Jack said. “I just couldn’t tell if those thoughts were...heavy or not.”

Chase sighed. “I mean... I guess a little heavy, yeah. I just... Even with all this research we’re doing, will we ever figure out... the why of it all? Because I think that’s what’s bugging me the most. Th-this whole thing makes no sense. I guess... JJ did mention that Anti might have beef with monster hunters, so it makes sense why he’s involved if they’re involved. But I don’t know why they’d be involved with me at all.” He paused. “Maybe I... stumbled into something that night. Or, uh, considering I died in my house, maybe it stumbled into me. And... that’s what happened. But it doesn’t explain everything. I... I want to know. I want to know so badly, Jack. And... I’m worried... that I’ll be different forever, and I’ll never know why.” Chase couldn’t cry as a ghost. But nonetheless, he felt the sensation of tears approaching, a phantom feeling left over from his life.

Jack reached up and gently rested a hand on Chase’s shoulder. It went through slightly at first, but he focused on making sure it was in the right place. “You’ll know, Chase. We’re all here to help you find out. And... even if it takes us a while... that doesn’t change how we feel about you, you know? I might’ve found you as a ghost, but you’re not just a ghost to me.”

Chase felt that sensation again. It was strange, to have his eyes start to well up, but not feel any of the tears that threatened to overflow. “Thanks, man. That... that means a lot.” He paused. “If... if this gets you guys in trouble... if we run into something that I stumbled on, something that got me killed... will you guys still be there?”

“Of course.” Jack nodded.

Chase felt a weight lift from his shoulders. “Okay. Okay. Good.” But even so, something remained unsettled in his stomach. “I... I don’t want you guys to, like... die for me, though, okay? Dying... sucks. So. Protect yourselves first, promise?”

Jack looked a bit surprised at that, but he nodded again, looking more serious. “I promise. And I’m sure the others will, too.”