And so our group breaks into two halves. Me, Nova, Ashley, Kevin and Ruth go to Charlotte’s apartment to talk to her about her upcoming eviction, and Zoe, Collin, Jason, Kat, and Ted go to check in with the little boy named Charlie. Charlotte’s apartment is not far away at all, but I intentionally hang back to walk there with Ruth at the back of the line.

“Hey Ruth,” I say. “Thanks for being here to help out. It means a lot.”

“Of course,” Ruth replies. “I’ve put some thought into it, and this unorthodox approach is by far the most likely way we’re going to make any progress on this issue.”

“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it?” I comment. “I want to say while we have a moment that I think I was too hard on you the other day at the concert. I see now that you didn’t know what was going on with me, and it was unfair to expect you to. I was projecting my hurt and isolation onto you, and I’m sorry for that.”

She doesn’t react at first. She gazes at the ground in front of her for a moment before saying, “If only I could psychically sense things in the real world too. This is not the first time I’ve failed to notice when someone close to me was in trouble. Clearly, I am horrible at considering what’s happening with my friends.”

“No, Ruth. Don’t say that,” I plead. “Please don’t blame yourself. I never should’ve blamed you for it. I haven’t been the person I’ve wanted to be recently.”

“That makes two of us,” she says. “Except I’ve never been the person I’ve wanted to be.” She says all of this in a matter-of-fact voice, but the words she’s saying only heighten my dismay.

I grab her hand. “Ruth, look at me,” I say.

She looks at me. It doesn’t show any other way, but in her eyes I can see a deep sadness.

“You don’t have to bear everyone else’s burdens for them,” I tell her. “Growing up with so many younger siblings, you probably got used to being responsible for everyone. But don’t feel bad about what happened to me, please. I forgive you. Can you forgive yourself?”

She looks into my eyes for a moment, breathing heavily. Then, she says, “Lord willing.”

I’m not sure if that’s a yes or no, so I give her a brief hug and say, “We’ll be here for each other now, okay? We’ll start again as friends.”

“Thank you, Anja,” she says.

I break the hug, and we catch up with the others, who had already gotten to Charlotte’s apartment.

“Alright, so who should knock on the door?” Kevin asks once we rejoin the group.

“Nova’s interacted with her the most recently,” Ashley says. “He should do it.”

“Uh, okay,” Nova agrees reluctantly. He nervously raps on the door.

The door is answered soon after, and I think at first that we got the wrong apartment. A woman answers who is a gorgeous redhead wearing casual house wear. She looks good enough to be a porn star. In fact, she actually really strongly resembles a specific porn star I’ve seen before. Oh boy.

The sight of her ripples around the group. Nova blushes so hard that you can see it through his dark skin, and physically shies away. Kevin looks like someone just struck him across the face with a frying pan. Ashley mostly stays cool, but she starts messing with her hair, as if suddenly self-conscious about how she looks. Ruth… actually doesn’t react at all.

“Oh, hello!” the red-haired woman says. “Selling something? I’m afraid we’ve fallen on hard times recently, so I’m going to have to decline.”

There’s an awkward pause, before Ashley is the first one to get her wits together and say, “No, we’re not selling anything. We’re looking for a girl named Charlotte. We’re friends from school.”

“Oh, Charlotte didn’t tell me friends were coming over!” she says, looking excited. “And so many! How wonderful. Come on inside, please.”

As we walk through the doorway, Nova and I exchange glances, and I can tell via couples telepathy that he’s thinking about the same thing I am.

Charlotte’s mom (?) leads us into a sitting area right by the entrance, and then knocks on a door behind the couch. “Charlotte, you have friends over!”

“Jason again?” a deep female voice calls back.

“No, it’s five kids who say that they’re friends from school. Did you not invite them…?”

Ashley kicks Nova in the shins, causing him to snap out of his daze and say, “Um, we’re in… the same speech class?”

“Nova?” The voice says. The door opens immediately, revealing a tall brown-skinned girl with long curly hair. She locks eyes on Nova and immediately tackles him with a hug. “You came to see me!” she says, her voice hanging as if Santa Claus had decided to come back for round 2 of presents.

“I didn’t realize you two were so close,” I observe.

“We’re not…” Nova says hoarsely, sounding as if he’s having his lungs crushed by Charlotte’s hug. “We really only… bleh … talked that one time…”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Charlotte says, letting him go. “I was crushing you, wasn’t I? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he says, panting desperately.

“Do you remember me?” Ashley asks. “Detention that one time?”

“Yeah!” she says excitedly. “You’re the girl with really good tastes in music.”

“Oh, you actually… listened to those?” Ashley asks, blushing a little.

“Yeah! Good shit! I just listened to Brain Salad Surgery again today!” she says.

“Yeah, that’s a good one,” Ashley says. “You, um, on hormones now? You look different.”

“Yep!” Charlotte says cheerfully. “Two months on estrogen, and I’ve never felt better! Had to go through a bit of a process to get it, but it was worth it!”

She looks around the rest of the group. I swear I catch her pupils dilate a little when she sees Kevin. “I don’t think I know any of you,” she says. “My name’s Charlotte!”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kevin says, reaching out to shake her hand. “My name’s Kevin. I'm Ashley's friend from English class.”

“I’m Anja,” I say. “Nova’s girlfriend. And she’s Ruth,” I say, gesturing at Ruth, who waves at Charlotte nonchalantly.

“Not to be, you know, my usual bitchy self,” Ashley says, “but I don’t think we have time for another icebreaker right now. We’re here because we heard your family is being evicted,” Ashley says plainly.

“Oh,” Charlotte says, looking immediately deflated. “How did you hear about that?”

“We’re friends with Jason,” I explain. “We wanna see if there’s something we can do to help you guys out. Nobody should have to suffer the injustice of being evicted.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Charlotte’s mom says. “But don’t worry about us. There’s nothing you can do to help.”

“Oh, but there is,” I say. “Look, let’s just cut to the chase. Your landlord has ulterior motives for forcing you out, doesn’t she?”

“Huh?” Charlotte’s mom asks, seeming taken off guard. “Well, you know, it’s just the way things are. I lost my job, and we can’t pay rent anymore, so we need to…”

“She knew you had lost your job already,” Charlotte butts in. “Before you said anything. How did she know, Mom?”

“Wait, what?” Nova questions, his eyes wide.

“Honey, we don’t need to talk about these things with your friends,” Charlotte’s mom says pointedly. “We’ll figure it out as a family, okay? We do appreciate you coming to try and help, but…”

“Where do you work?” Nova cuts blurts out. “Does it involve those guys who come to people’s doors in the night?”

Charlotte’s mom freezes, looking shocked. I wonder to myself what Nova thinks he’s figured out here. Whatever it is, he touched a nerve just then. Charlotte’s mom is now looking around all of us suspiciously. “Listen, I… you shouldn’t know about that. This is a dangerous place for you kids, you need to leave.”

“Forgive my friend here,” Ruth says calmly. “He didn’t mean to accuse you of anything. We’re just really concerned about some of the things happening around here. We don’t know if what happened to you is connected to any of that, but…”

“It’s not!” Charlotte’s mom says too quickly. “I mean, look. This isn’t a game. We need to let the proper authorities handle the situation. All of you would seriously endanger yourselves by getting involved.”

“Yes, thank you, we know,” Ashley says, annoyed. “Have you reported anything you know to the police?”

“Well yes, of course I-”

“And let me guess, they blew you off?”

Charlotte’s mom freezes for the second time. She starts to look nervously around the room, seeming overwhelmed.

“My dad works as a police officer,” Kevin says. “He says that he’s been confused about how they’ve been going about things recently. He didn’t say anything specific. But, we may not be able to fully trust the police right now. We don’t know if someone on the force is in on this stuff that’s happening. That’s why we’re just… looking for answers.”

“Mom, there is something you haven’t been telling me,” Charlotte says softly. “I’m not stupid.” She walks up to her mom and puts one arm around her shoulders. Now that they’re standing side by side, it strikes me how Charlotte towers over her mother by several inches.

“I respect that you want to keep all of us safe,” Ruth says. “It’s what any responsible adult would do in your place. However, take our assurances that these are not normal circumstances. We can help you.”

“No,” Charlotte’s mom says stubbornly. “You are children. I won’t risk putting any of you in harm’s way. The people behind this will not hesitate to do unspeakable things to all of you. You need to go home, for your own safety. The authorities are not perfect, they make mistakes, but you’re all better off leaving it up to them.”

Charlotte’s mom walks past the kitchen and into a room in the back, closing the door behind her with a thud. There’s an awkward pause, as none of us are immediately sure what to do.

I turn back to Charlotte. “I’m sorry we upset your mom,” I say.

She shakes her head. “She knows something. I’m sure of it,” she explains in a low voice. “That Patel lady, our landlady, she said that someone was mad at my mom. It’s not just about collecting rent.”

“We had a suspicion such was the case,” Ashley explains. “Although we didn’t know exactly what the motivation was. We still don’t, as it turns out.”

“Yeah we do!” Nova contradicts irritatedly. “Don’t you know who her mom is?”

“No, we just met today,” Ashley responds.

“That’s Faye Reid!” Nova says.

“Oh sh-” Kevin says, before cutting himself off and covering his mouth with his hands. However, this information seemingly means nothing to Ashley.

“Is she someone famous?” Ashley questions.

“Oh my god,” I say. “You don’t know.”

“No, I don’t!” Ashley says, looking annoyed with me.

“Technically, her name is Faye Viridian now,” Charlotte explains, as she looks down at her feet in an embarrassed way. “But yes, you guys are right. My mom is a sex worker.”

“I had a feeling it was something like that,” Ruth says.

“She, um, has some videos up on the internet,” I explain to Ashley. “They’re retro stuff, though, from back when they were sold on VHS. I’m amazed she still looks so young.”

“Yes, well… that was before I was born,” Charlotte says uncomfortably. “Um, I would prefer if we didn’t get too… specific about her line of work. Thinking about my mom that way is yucky.”

“Oh, of course,” I say. “Nobody wants to think about their parents doing… that.”

“Yeah, I guess you guys would know about that business, wouldn’t you?” Ashley says, although not in a condescending way. “I personally don’t fuck with stuff on the internet. I just don’t trust it. You never know what could be going on behind the scenes.”

“Well, most lesbian porn is complete dogshit anyway,” I say. “So fair enough.”

“Wait, the fuck do you get off to, then?” Nova asks.

“With all due respect,” Ruth interjects. “I think we can save this discussion for later. We have more pressing matters at hand.”

“I agree,” Ashley says. “Your mom definitely knows something about what’s going on, Charlotte. But she’s coddling us so hard that she refuses to say anything about it. She reminds me of my mom.”

“I mean, it makes sense from her perspective,” I say. “She doesn’t know about the supernatural side of things, she thinks we’re a bunch of defenseless teens.”

“The WHAT side of things?” Charlotte asks in a hushed voice.

“Uh, oops,” I say. “I forgot there’s an outsider among us.”

Ashley facepalms. Ruth comments dryly, “you really haven’t learned your lesson whatsoever, it seems.”

Charlotte’s eyes are alight with curiosity. “Ooh! Are you going to put a curse on my landlord? I’ve done a little knitting, so I can try making a voodoo doll of her!”

“How about the five of us step outside the apartment and discuss this?” Ashley says.

“What’s there to discuss? Her mom won’t talk,” Nova grumbles.

“I have a vague idea,” Ashley says. “I’ll explain outside.”

So the five of us file out the door. We huddle in a circle just outside.

“Alright. Here’s what I’m thinking,” Ashley explains. “Kevin and Ruth, do you remember what we told you about the demon we fought named Moloch?”

“Yeah, that guy who changes into people, right?” Kevin asks, scratching his head.

“That one,” Ashley confirms. “Well, Lucy thinks that he can read people’s thoughts through the Metaverse. He uses this to monitor his workers, and learn the likes and fears of the population.”

“Oh! That’s why he’s able to make weirdly specific pop cultural references, I bet.” Nova observes.

“Yeah, like we need yet another person making those,” Ashley snarks. “Point is, I was wondering if there’s some way we can do that too.”

“YOU CAN READ MY MOM’S MIND?” Charlotte’s voice says.

We all turn our heads to see Charlotte poking her head from around the corner of the apartment. I thought she had stayed inside…

“Uh, I mean… I’m a bush,” she says uselessly, ducking back behind the corner.

“Charlotte, can we discuss this privately, please?” Ashley asks.

“What do you mean? You are discussing it privately!” says Charlotte, still hiding out of sight. “I’m not here… oooooo…” Nova snickers at her antics.

“Listen, Charlotte,” Ashley says. “This is private stuff, and very dangerous. We have to keep it between an exclusive group of people.”

“Can I be part of the exclusive group?” Charlotte asks, popping her head back around the corner hopefully.

“Yeah, I mean, she kinda seems like she wants to join our party,” Nova says.

“Party? This is not a ‘party,’ Nova.” Ashley scolds. “We are not here to have fun.”

“No, I meant like, a party as in… never mind,” Nova says, sighing.

“I wouldn’t mind her joining in with us,” Kevin says, nodding approvingly. “She seems cool.”

“Cool or not, we don’t just let people in willy nilly,” Ashley says sternly. “Are we just supposed to allow in anyone who comes up and asks?”

“To be fair, that is how I got in,” Ruth observes. “I more or less did the same thing.”

“That was different,” Ashley counters. “Besides, we already have a lot of people.”

“Bitch, are you gonna stop her from helping when this is about her?” Nova argues passionately. “Think that when I was about to get handed back to my mom, I wanted to just sit around and let the white people handle it for me? No. I got in there and I bashed some motherfuckers.”

“This has nothing to do with race,” Ashley says defensively.

“He does have a point, Ashley,” I say. “We should give her a choice.”

“We don’t have that many people,” Kevin reasons. “It’s me, Ruth, Ashley, Zoe, Anja, Nova, that’s six people. Add in Charlotte, and it’s lucky seven!”

“Eight,” Nova corrects. “You forgot Ted.”

“Oh yeah,” Kevin says. “Since I don’t see him during the school day he slipped my mind. Well, then it’d be eight. A nice round, even number.”

“She seems very eager to be a part of this,” Ruth observes.

“Oh yeah, I’m super interested!” Charlotte says, fully coming around the corner and into view. “I believe in ghosts, you know! I’m ready to go ghost hunting!”

“That’s not what we’re doing,” Ashley states flatly. “But, okay, fine, you can join. But, we don’t have time to give you a crash course on how everything works, so you’re just gonna have to figure it out as you go.”

“I’m great at that!” Charlotte says confidently. “I’m a kinesthetic learner! I always fall asleep in class listening to those stupid lectures.”

“Perfect, then,” I say. “Welcome Charlotte, I christen thee the eighth member of our team.”

“Eighth and final,” Ashley says stubbornly.

“Can I join the group huddle then?” Charlotte asks.

“Of course,” I say. Kevin steps back and makes a space for her. Charlotte steps in between him and Nova, suddenly looking nervous and flushed.

“Anyways, as I was saying,” Ashley says. “There may be a way we can look into her thoughts. Of course, I’ve never done this before. But, it’s worth at least asking Lucy about.”

“I mean, sure, go for it.” I say. “I don’t have any better ideas.”

“I see no reason for all six of us to go in for this,” Ashley says. “If I could find a private place, I can go in and talk to Lucy.”

“You can use my room!” Charlotte offers happily. “Here, let me show you the way.” Charlotte leads Ashley back into her apartment.

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Kevin asks nobody in particular.

“It’ll only take like a minute,” Nova says. “Time goes by super slow in there.”

“Well, I think I’ll wait inside. I need to sit down,” Ruth says. Ruth goes back into Charlotte’s apartment, and Kevin shrugs and follows her.

“Any updates from the other team?” I ask Nova.

He pulls out his phone. “Nothing in the group chat.”

“That’s weird. We said to keep us updated,” I say. “I’m going to go check on them.”

“Might be a good idea,” he says.

I give him a quick kiss on the lips before I go. Even though we’re dating now, he doesn’t seem completely used to it yet, so he follows the others into Charlotte’s apartment looking a little dazed.

I go in the direction that I saw Zoe and the others walking earlier. Come to think of it, though, I don’t know what exact apartment they went to. I guess I’ll do a quick look around the general area.

I’m about halfway across the complex, when I hear a voice cry out from beside me, “Hey, isn’t that Anja?”

I turn and see, several yards away, Collin, Kat and Jason in a full run towards me. There’s something very wrong. All three of them look scared out of their minds. Jason is shivering and taking shallow breaths, Kat looks as though she’s seen a ghost, and Collin… Collin is full blown tears, and leaning on Jason for support.

“Where’s Zoe?” I ask, my anxiety quickly ratcheting to dangerous levels. “What happened?”

“I… don’t entirely understand what happened,” Kat says slowly. “But what’s clear is that… Zoe is in trouble. Big trouble. And she said she needs ‘backup.’”