There is Power in Death

Chapter 22

The next few days go by slowly. It's a repeat of me waking up with Benji in a chair by my side, them  making me food, and them taking care of me. After three days, Talan tells me that I can get back to work today. I start getting ready, Benji looking at me like a hawk, and we join the others in the hall.

"Hey guys," I say to them. 

Maddy had visited several times, but only to check on Benji, seeing as she doesn't seem t feel anything towards most people.

"Hey Alex. We'll be taking it easy today, so please try not to do anything rash."

"That's understandable."

"If a demon shows up, leave it to me. When we're done with today's shift, we'll go get your first paycheck and move you three into your new home."

"Okay," I'm too tired to come up with a different response.

"We head out to a new portal, this one leads to more ruins with several living tourists and a gift shop not too far. There aren't as many spirits here as there was in the other places, so I guess Talan wasn't lying.

We work for a few hours before heading back, I was told to have several break in between, so I reluctantly did. We make our way inside and Talan leads us to Mr. Silvia's office and we get our paychecks. He explained that every group gets their paychecks on different days as a precaution. Something bad must've happened, which isn't all that surprising by now. I've only been here two weeks and so much has happened in that short amount of time. He shoos us out pretty quickly after asking Talan questions about new patients. 

We leave and Talan goes to his office to take care of things, leaving us to go get lunch. We eat and wait in the lobby for him as instructed. Al tries to make Maddy laugh, which is quite amusing, and Benji and I reschedule our date. Talan takes longer than expected, and leaves us waiting for half an hour. When he arrives we head straight to my room to move my things. Talan and Maddy do all the teleporting because Benji, Al and I have yet to see the house. When they finish, we move on to Benji's room. After finishing up in there we go to Talan's door and he opens up a portal through a painting. The portal leads to a dark house and Maddy uses her phone to find a light switch. When she flicks it, the whole room lights up to show  a living room with dark red walls. There are two couches and one reclining chair in front of an fake fireplace with a T.V mounted above. As I see the rest of the rooms, I can guess that they just modernized an old fashioned looking mansion that just happened to still be standing. All of our rooms are on the top floor. Mine and Benji's both look the same as the ones we had at HQ. Al's room is empty, except his bed and the few posters they had. The kitchen is pretty standard, and does not fit with the aesthetic of the house, but it's fine. All my gaming stuff is downstairs, along with some extra items that we might need. There is a dining room, but I doubt any of us will use it unless we happen to have guests. 

"So, where in the living world are we?" Benji  asks Talan.

"Somewhere in Vancouver in British Columbia. It's in Canada."

"Okay."

"I've never been to Canada," Al says.

"I used to lived in Canada. We can probably go to my old house and scare my mother and father. They would hate it."

"No. Intentionally scaring the living is not permitted. If you do so, you will be suspended from your job and all your free time will be spent doing paperwork."

"What if we like doing paperwork?" Al asks again.

"Then you'll get something worse to do. I'll be taking my leave. keep in mind that you will have to go shopping for food yourselves. We didn't have enough money for more tablets around the house than those in your rooms. Goodbye."

We wave goodbye and Benji tuns to me.

"Let's go shopping. We could theoretically survive without eating, but we would still be hungry."

We all agree and put our uniforms away as we head out. We make ourselves visible and call a taxi. We get it to bring us to Walmart, pay, and head into the store. Al and I let  Benji do all the shopping as we follow them around with the cart. When we're done with the food, Al comes up with the idea to get gift cards for various online stores. Benji and I agree, seeing as it would be easier than all three of us having to go to the store every time one of us needs something.

"That should be all," Benji tells the cashier as we pay.

I agree to pay for some things and take out my Phanter card. Maddy mentioned that they will appear differently depending on the store, so we don't have to worry about being found out. They also double as our ID, so that's quite useful. We leave the store and go to a place without much people. When we teleport, I feel a wave of dizziness, but it's gone as soon as we get home. I decide to stay quiet about is and head down to the game room. I grab a pair of headphones and one of my laptops and head upstairs to help put things away. When I get there I see Benji's face as they yell at Al, who is showing them a picture on their phone.

"What're you guys doing?"

Al shows me the photo. It's a picture of me and Benji cuddled up on the couch. To be honest, it's quite adorable.

"Send that to me, and I'll print it out, Sir Fanboy."

Benji sends me a look that says, How could you betray me like that?

"You have to admit, it's a good photo. and I think it's cute. "

"Fine, I admit it. I like the photo."

"I'm going to head upstairs, call me if anything interesting happens."

"Sure thing."

1039 words