They returned just before noon. When they opened the door, Will sat on the bed drinking another orange pedialyte and rubbed his eyes.
"Afternoon sleepy," Maeve's voice filled with laughter.
Will glared at her with narrowed eyes. Impulsively, she hurried to him and wrapped her arms around his toned abs, and smiled when he couldn't keep the scowl on his face. She rewarded him with a soft peck on his cheek and ignored he'd froze when she kissed him. Ander's back faced them, but his shoulders went rigid when her lips touched Will.
"We got lunch," she announced and washed her hands.
Several thoughts circled in her head and threated to spoil her mood. Why did she need to win Will over? Maybe because she sensed he wanted her to? Or to expand his narrow view of the world? Despite his off-putting personality, she liked him. Perhaps it was just that simple. Maeve turned off the faucet and listened to Ander as he moved behind her. She didn't need to win him over. He was far more accepting of the world. What he needed was someone to remind him he was worthy, and he was wonderful in his own way. With furrowed brows, she turned. She feared getting too close to him. The warning made no sense, but her intuition cautioned her too close and it would all end. She shook her head and cleared the musings.
Finishing his pedialyte, Will scratched his head, shuffled to the bag, and dug around. He pulled out a styrofoam container and peeked inside. His lips flattened before he closed it. Pulling out the next container, his face brightened. He grabbed a packed of utensils and pulled a chair to the table.
"Thanks for the omelet," Will said, with a mouthful of omelet and avocado.
Ander nodded and picked up the first container Will had pulled out and sat near them. Will made a face when Ander dipped his fork in the dressing before stabbing some of his salad.
"Your donuts and cheese-steak are in the other bag," Ander told Will.
Will continued to shovel breakfast into his mouth, but nodded. He hadn't put his shirt on, which gave Maeve the opportunity to stare at his upper body without drawing attention. Her eyes followed him as he stood and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. She took in not only his sculpted, god-like physique, but also all of his tattoos and random scars.
Compared to Ander, his chest, arms and back were almost bare, even with seven tattoos. The only markings on his back were battle scars and his full back Celtic cross. Both of his biceps had images. One had a wolf howling at the moon and the other arm had a triskelion and under it the Scorpio symbol inside of an upside-down triangle. On either side of his six-pack abs, his tattoos curled around to touch his back. They were strange rounded symbols with simple lines that reminded her of a compass but more complex. They must've been symbolic because, although interesting, they weren't what she'd consider artistic. She wanted to ask what they were for, but doubted he'd tell her. Maeve gawked at his chiseled body as he stretched.
"I'm getting in the shower. Use the bathroom if you need it," Will announced and pulled clothes from his bag.
The bathroom door closed. Maeve's brows pinched when she noticed Ander had stopped eating, his eyes downcast.
"Ander?" Had he noticed her looking at Will?
"We need to visit several locations today. Be sure to finish your lunch. Dinner will be late," he said in a mechanical tone and ate again.
"Ok," her voice barely above a whisper. They ate in silence. Their positive morning evaporated in seconds and left her hollow.
As expected, Will took his time in the bathroom. The shower was pretty standard, but his dental care rituals were three times longer than an average person. When Ander finished, he shrugged a flannel over his shirt. She slumped in the chair. Definitely her fault. Will opened the door, his brilliant white teeth shined.
His charming smile in place, he winked before getting another beer. "Where we headed today?"
Ander pulled out the mission file and went over the locations.
"How can you narrow where a shade is? Is it based on reports from local encounters? Do people send you, or someone from the soldiers of night videos of shades?" Maeve asked.
They stopped talking and glanced at her, but neither of them spoke. She'd seen so many ghost hunting shows pop up in the last few years. Not all of them could be fake, right? Will moved his eyes to Ander expectantly, but Ander remained silent. Will shook his head and chuckled. Ander's face maintained the same solemn look it had.
"Yeah, not so much. Eighty percent of that, I mean the shows and what not is bullshit. I mean, sure, sometimes they find a gem of a location but they couldn't see a shade if it walked up and bit them in the ass. We have a lot of different methods and sources to confirm things before we go on a mission." Will took a swig of his beer.
"Sometimes you can just fucking feel something's off. Some places, have seriously evil entities tied to them or there are a shit ton of shades in one location. Hospitals, battlefields, that kinda thing. Where a lot of deaths have occurred. Ander can explain all the technical shit if you want to know but it isn't just EMF readings, voice recordings, thermal videos, that just tells you if there was recent activity," Will moved to the small table and placed his bottle on top. "You can't see shades without magic. Unless you're a monster, demon, angel or a god, anyway."
Chills ran down her spine. Where a lot of deaths occurred, Will's statement echoed in her head. Her mind spun and took her back to when she'd gone ghost hunting with her cousin Wynne in high-school. She hadn't seen the shade, but... No. Her eyes flicked floor, would not think about that. Blinking rapidly, she forced herself to push images of the haunted asylum out of her mind.
Silently agreeing, some places were overrun with shades, whether you could see them or not. She twisted her necklace back and forth. Why had she asked questions if she was going to freak out? She couldn't do this. She believed she could, that she'd moved past the experience at the asylum, but now that they talked about shades, her insides shook. It took all of her self control not to tremble on the outside.
"You good?" Will asked, a note of concern in his tone.
Maeve moved her head up and down, but didn't dare look at either of them. She sensed their stares but didn't want them to see how shook up she was. She'd been the one to insist on being included, couldn't be afraid. Already a liability because she didn't have the training to be helpful. She'd prove herself.
"Ok, Ander can explain about their sphere of influence."
She watched Will's feet move around and heard as he pulled various items from their bags. Refusing to raise her eyes, she sensed Ander's gaze burning holes through her.
"Every shade has some sphere of influence. We call it that because typically it is a circular pattern extending from where they are tethered on this plane." Ander paused and his feet stepped closer, stopped in front of her. "Some shades can appear at multiple locations if their area of influence is larger. More powerful or older shades have larger territories." Ander crouched down in front of her.
She kept her eyes focused on his shoes. It wouldn't be like the asylum. Not with a bunch of young girls who didn't know what they were getting into. Will and Ander were professionals, it's what they did for a living. She'd be safe.
"However, even if their sphere of influence is far reaching, they are always called back to their central focal point. This point can be a building, object, a person, even landmark but there is always something physical they are tied to."
Ander placed his hand on top of the one that rested on her leg, so light if she hadn't seen it, she would've wondered if anything touched her at all. Her insides stopped shaking. Slowly, she raised her eyes to him.
"If you can discover what the item is and either destroy it or remove the bindings, the shade can be banished or possibly destroyed," he finished, and slid his hand from hers.
Will moved about with his back to them, packing and eating donuts. Relief flooded her. Ander wasn't upset with her anymore, and Will hadn't seen Ander hold her hand. Why did it matter if he had?
"Ander, you have the map?" Will turned to face them.
Ander stood and pulled out the map from beside his laptop and handed it to Will. He and Will scanned the map and decided on the order to check the locations. Maeve busied herself with prepping to leave. Memories of the haunted asylum taunted her if she stopped motion for an instant. On the way out, Will lectured her again about following every order he gave and to remember he'd made an exception by allowing her to go.