Apollo's Ghost-Hunting Daughter

Chapter 4

The pub was actually quite trendy. A manager stood at the door like a bouncer, sorting out admittance. Hardy marched right up, name dropped three separate people, and we were in, no questions asked. Sometimes, Hardy amazed me. Most times, she scared me.

Space was tight, an already impossible number of people pressed together. We found a table along the back wall and parked ourselves.

Most of the room was filled with tables. A wooden bar ran along the entire length of the wall left of the door. Opposite it was a stage of sorts. Tonight, it was configured for karaoke.

"I'll go get us on the karaoke list, you guard the table with that off-putting frown of yours," Hardy said.

Before I could protest to the off-putting comment, she was slipping through the room. I watched, careful not to lose sight of her. I knew it was relatively safe and that Hardy could handle herself, but one could never be too sure. Moments later, she reappeared at the table.

"There were so many people already on the list!" she complained. "But we'll get our turn."

Once the sun set, the doors were shut and locked. Every seat was full. Patrons leaned against the walls and the empty spaces between barstools. The first performer was getting on stage.

Three songs in, two boys approached the table. They were slightly older than us and tried very hard to be charming.

"What agency?" the taller one with curly brown hair asked.

"Grimble," Hardy answered, pausing to applaud the singer.

"That's respectable. I worked at Fittes for seven years. James Lighton."

"Hardy. And this is Sloane."

James's friend introduced himself as Collin Donovan. He seemed more introverted than James, and a little less memorable. He, too, had worked at Fittes.

"Enjoying a night off, then?" James asked.

"Oh, yes. A well-deserved one," Hardy said.

"I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a night off and wasn't in hospital," I realized.

"And you haven't even been in hospital much recently," Hardy said, as if it was a true miracle. Personally, I found it unwarranted.

"I've gotten better about it."

"You also heal incredibly fast."

I quickly changed the subject.

"What do you do now that you're not with an agency?" I asked James and Collin.

"We consult and teach fencing mostly," James explained.

"Agencies contract out to us, but we also have a studio," Collin added. "Got to put our skillset to use somehow."

"Figuring out what to do after you leave the agency is the real challenge. When you're an agent, you're living day to day and you don't have time to think about the future. Finding a new purpose is hard."

James's words struck home with me because that was my fear: purposelessness.

"We still have a few years, don't we, Sloane?"

"A few years and leadership training for when the day comes."

"Sloane is going to be a supervisor. That's what we're celebrating tonight."

"That and not having to be on call with DEPRAC."

"Now that's something to celebrate," James concurred.