Perception (Apparition Investigations #1)

Case #1: Villanova Apartments: Part 17

"I can't find anyone that's died recently on this area of land," I mumbled, scrolling through newspaper archives on my laptop. Again.

"It doesn't have to be recently," Noah reminded me—again—over my shoulder. "Click that."

"Will you stop backseat researching?"

"Will you give me the laptop?"

"No."

"Then I'm going to keep backseat researching, thank you very much."

Annoyed, I shoved the laptop aside. Noah pounced on it, pulling it into his lap and resuming the scrolling.

We sat in the center of the living room, both of us on the floor. Somehow that felt safer than sitting on the couch or lingering near the edges of the ward. We'd be researching for hours. At this point, I couldn't decide if the creature was still out there or not. Did ghost monsters even get bored?

I glanced at Noah out of the corner of my eye. He was tired. Sweat coated his forehead and he was breathing raggedly. As if he'd been running.

My gaze shifted to the ward. Noah continued to power up the ward every ten minutes, just as the shimmer began to fade. Or, at least, it'd started out every ten minutes. We were down to five minute increments now between recharges.

It was draining him. I could see it and surely he knew it too. But neither one of us voiced it aloud. Voicing it aloud felt like surrender, almost.

We wouldn't be able to go another two hours before Noah keeled over, exhausted.

Despite that, his fingers flew over the keyboard, still searching for a name.

After making sure the ward reached into the kitchen, I went to get a glass of water. Thank God we'd decided to put the ward in the living room.

I brought the glass back to him. "Here."

He looked up, his eyes focused on the glass. Then he looked up at me, confused. "For me?"

I shook the glass a bit and he reached out to take it. Downing the entire glass in a single go, he held it back up to me. "Thanks."

Before I knew it, I blurted, "If you start to feel too tired, tell me."

"I'm fine."

I lightly banged the glass against the side of his head. In for a penny, in for a pound. "Seriously, Frat Boy, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you look like crap. If we can't find a name, we can't stay here. The ward is slipping."

He sighed. And when he didn't look around to check the ward, I knew I had him. "Yeah. We can't stay in here forever."

I took the laptop from him. "Ok, Plan B."

"Which is?"

An idea had been forming in the back of my mind for the last hour. Again, not something I wanted to voice aloud, because the idea scared me more than the thought of being trapped in a ghost ward by a ghost monster. But Noah looked terrible. The sooner we lowered the ward, the better.

"Do you trust me?"

"No," he said immediately.

I blinked, surprised.

He gave me an unapologetic shrug. "No offense."

Oddly enough, I felt a stab of affection for Rose's beau. Those two words had felt the most genuine coming from him yet. In that moment, I could see past the frat boy exterior, past the ghost-hunting bravado, and could see the frightened boy underneath. Uncertain and scared. And, finally, not afraid to admit that he was. "None taken. But I'm still taking the lead."