Chapter Text
Eli grinned to himself as the door popped open. Avery took the lead, the blade held firmly in her hands. Emi's voice crackled to life in his ear.
"Alright, good job, Eli. By my count, you two have about fifteen minutes before the owner comes back. That's fifteen minutes to scout out the haunted item." Her voice was firm, though it sounded as though she was concentrating. Which, Eli figured, she likely was. Avery piped up from the back of the apartment.
"Clear." She spoke just loud enough for the radio to pick up, and Eli slipped towards the living room, checking halfheartedly for whatever their quarry could be. He doubted it would be in the living room, though he had to check. More likely, it would be back in the bedrooms where Avery was looking. His eyes landed on an antique silver photo frame, with an equally old photo in it, one portraying an couple that, clearly, was trying their hardest not to laugh. Eli touched it, fascinated by it, only to yank his hand back when he realized that the metal felt red hot.
"Hey, Avery? I think I found our object." He called as loudly as he dared. That turned out to be futile, though, as his wrist felt like it had been dunked in ice water. Turning his head to his right, he quickly realized why. The husband, who had looked so happy in the photo, held tightly to Eli's wrist with a look of pure rage on his transparent face.
Eli wrenched his hand from the ghost's grip and tore off running, as Avery slid in on her knees, swinging her blade at the phantom. She was stopped, however, by the bride who had taken firm hold of her hijab. Unfortunately for Avery, she had pinned it in place, so she was quite stuck.
"What's happening?" Emi demanded in their ears. Eli was quick to respond.
"We found our object! An old picture frame! Now, these two look like they're pretty mad at us. I don't know why, we didn't even do anything to them!" The last was aimed at the husband, who had taken firm hold of his ankle and was pulling Eli towards him. As the ghost reached his waist, however, he suddenly stopped. Looking up from his predicament, Eli realized that Avery had shimmied out of her hijab and shirt, and stood completely topless, glaring at the ghosts and holding the picture frame.
"Let go of my friend." She growled, reaching into Eli's pack that had been discarded at his feet. She pulled out a small bottle and began applying the contents liberally to the frame. Both ghosts let out wails as the iron and salt infused mixture did its work, and did it well. After only a few moments, they were gone, but two voices whispered their thanks as Eli and Avery worked to make the apartment look almost like it had when they started.
Avery slipped on her shirt and adjusted her hijab, before making certain that the hot pink woven bracelet around her wrist was still around her wrist. "Let's go," she said, and they left the apartment and actually passed the apartment's tenant on their way to the elevator. They left the building and walked a whopping twenty feet to the motel across the street, and made their way into room six.
Emi sat at the motel's desk, completely engrossed in her laptop, as was the usual for her. She glanced up when her companions entered, but she didn't move to greet them in any way, even as Eli quite deliberately dropped his jacket onto her shoulders.
"Whoops!" He grinned quite cheerfully, but even that didn't stir Emi. She continued typing at her laptop as if whatever she was doing held the fate of the planet in the balance. Which, to be fair, it might have.
"I'm glad that you're back. Now, would you be so kind as to go and get us some dinner?" She held out a credit card. "There's a McDonald's down the road. Try not to draw too much attention to yourself, Eli, I don't feel like relocating just this minute." Eli grumbled to himself but took the card.
"You coming, Avery?" He asked. Avery, in the process of removing makeup, shook her head.
"Nope. I've got to shower and get the feeling of ghost off me." Emi glanced at Eli.
"Great. Now, off you go. I'm hungry." Eli continued his grumbling all the way out the door, as Emi just shook her head.
"That boy, I swear." She turned back to her laptop, while Avery continued getting undressed for her shower. As she checked the Witch's Pot site for any updates or new cases, an alert she had set went off. "That's not good." She mumbled, switching to a new tab.
It was a standard talk show, and though Emi didn't recognize the hostess, she certainly recognized the guest. "I'm here with Harrison Allen, CEO of Allen Computer Technologies. Mr. Allen, would you care to address why you're here?" Emi winced as he adjusted himself in his wheelchair before he spoke.
"My daughter, Emilia Allen, is missing. She was taken from our New York City apartment three months ago, and there's been no headway on locating her. In addition, there's been no ransom requests, no notes, no anything. Whoever it was just took her and didn't say a word." The hostess looked sympathetic.
"Mr. Allen, if I may ask, how do you know for certain that your daughter didn't run away. Three months without contact is rather bizarre." Emi watched her father's face turn hard.
"My daughter never would. She was happy, and she wouldn't worry me like this. Besides, there were several bloodstains in our apartment, blood that later proved to be hers. She was injured badly enough to leave heavy bloodstains on the carpet and a fair amount of the furniture." He shook his head. "No. Someone took her. And I will find her. I won't rest until my daughter is safely at home with me. I can't rest until she's safe."