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Caitlyn tapped her loafer-clad foot against the damp ground. Vi wasn’t late, not technically, but Caitlyn had gotten to the location a bit early because she wanted to make sure she was there to greet her new friend.
Piltover Academy had, that fall, started accepting children from Zaun as part of a scholarship exchange program to better the relations between the sister cities. Caitlyn had jumped at the opportunity to show the new students around. Her choice had been proven right when she became fast friends with the prettiest one of them: Vi.
The Zaunite girl was funny and nice, and she didn’t mind listening to Caitlyn ramble on about the difference between a pocket magnifier and a loupe, and why Caitlyn absolutely needed to carry around both if she were to take herself seriously as a future Enforcer. Instead, Vi had offered to help her draft an argument to convince her parents of the merits of having a whole collection, although most of that time had been spent with Caitlyn bursting into giggles at Vi’s poor imitation of her mother’s accent.
As a thank you, Caitlyn had offered for Vi to join her on her latest investigation. As the seconds ticked by, she grew more and more nervous about the following afternoon. Would Vi get bored? Would she find Caitlyn weird for having an itinerary? What if she didn’t like the snacks Caitlyn had politely asked the cook to pack for their break?
Before Caitlyn could spiral any further, she saw a shock of bright pink hair pop up from behind the wall. Vi grinned at her, and Caitlyn’s knees seemed to turn to jelly.
“Am I late? I tried not to be, but Powder got pouty about me coming here without her.” Caitlyn felt sure she was a terrible person for silently celebrating that Vi had decided not to bring her little sister.
“No, you’re not late,” Caitlyn squeaked out, shuffling her feet against the damp soil as Vi deftly climbed down the stone bricks. “You know, I left the gate open for you.”
“What’s the fun in that?” Vi shrugged, dusting her hands off on her distressed jeans. “So, what’s the game plan, cupcake?”
“Jayce said that this Manor is haunted. Last inhabited in 871 AN, by the last Baroness of the bloodline. She never had any heirs, and she died under mysterious circumstances.”
“Haunted?” Vi echoed, suddenly looking paler.
“Today, we prove that the stories are nonsense, and there is a perfectly logical reason behind the stories,” Caitlyn continued, her eyes already mapping out the entry points of the dilapidated manse. She pulled out her newly purchased flip notebook, messily scribbling her notes into the first few pages.
“I thought we were going to…” Vi’s words died in her throat.
Caitlyn raised a quizzical brow. “Going to what?”
“Never mind.” Vi shook her head, puffing her chest out bravely. “Just stay behind me. I’ll protect you from the ghosts.”
“Well,” Caitlyn began, going against her better instincts to just shut up. “Technically, we’re trying to prove the ghosts aren’t there.”
“You don’t know that,” Vi argued back, her wide eyes nervously darting towards the rotting wooden door of the Manor.
“Ghosts aren’t real, Vi.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Caitlyn’s left eye twitched, and she started walking towards the entrance. “That’s not how proof works.”
Vi’s bottom lip stuck out, but she followed her friend anyway—anything to avoid being left alone in that cold and eerie yard.
There was a whistling sound in the distance, and Vi grabbed onto Caitlyn’s wrist. “What was that?”
“Just the wind again.” Caitlyn put down the diary she had been observing, her eyebrows furrowing, a little divot forming between them. “Are you uncomfortable? We can go—”
“No!” Vi exclaimed, her body stiffening. She forcefully relaxed her posture, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “No, I’m cool. We can stay. You’re having fun, right?”
Caitlyn’s face lit up, and she held up the diary again, sending a flurry of dust into the air. “Look! It’s as I thought! The Baroness certainly did not spend her final years here alone. For one, this diary was not written by her.”
Vi squinted, trying to catch the words in the dim light. “‘Eliza had another nightmare last night. She tossed around so much, the shaking of the bed forced me awake.’ She was married?”
“Not according to any official records!” Caitlyn declared triumphantly, gently laying the diary down, her gloved hands tracing the loopy cursive. “Elizabeth was the Baroness’ given name, and so whoever this was knew her well enough to share her bed and refer to her informally!”
Vi snorted. “Sounds pretty scandalous for a Councillor.”
“She must have been in love.” Caitlyn’s heart fluttered in her chest as she hazarded a peek at Vi, her gaze catching on the particles catching the sunlight, floating around Vi’s head like a halo.
Vi’s ears turned pink, and she opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, a loud thud echoed from upstairs. She jumped, her shoulder colliding with Caitlyn’s, her arm instinctively darting out to wrap around her friend’s waist. Their faces were only inches apart. Vi felt the heat travel from her ears to her cheeks, all the way down to her neck.
“We should investigate.” Caitlyn broke the moment, already reaching into her bag for a flashlight.
“Whatever you say, cupcake,” Vi’s half-whispered, her throat dry all of a sudden. Her sweaty palm slid against Caitlyn’s cold fingers, and she let herself be dragged up the creaky stairs.
Caitlyn shone the light across the lengthy hallway, carefully mapping out the passage, scanning for any objects that might have made the noise. Her loafers treaded lightly as she guided her partner up to the attic, her face set with determination.
Vi could feel goosebumps prickling along her skin, the mouldy air inside the manor forcing a shiver down her spine. Suddenly, she felt something tickle the nape of her neck, long and prickly but soft too. Vi stumbled forward into Caitlyn, accidentally making her drop their only source of light.
“Vi,” Caitlyn hissed.
“Cait!” Vi shot back in a half-whisper. “I think there’s something here, and I think we’re making it angry.”
Caitlyn huffed, retrieving her flashlight. She thumped it against her palm a few times, but the tool had effectively lost its usefulness. “Nonsense. There are no such things as ghosts.”
The piano in the corner let out a few discordant notes, and the girls grabbed onto each other. Vi swivelled her head to glare at Caitlyn.
“W-Why would a ghost play the piano?” The future Enforcer’s voice had lost its earlier confidence. She took a step back, tugging Vi along with her as the vase on top of the piano teetered off the edge, free-falling directly onto the planks. “It doesn’t make any sense…”
A copper pot in the corner banged against the wall, and Vi realised the noises were getting closer and closer to them. Before she could verbalise the thought, an awful shrieking cry came out of the creature. Vi’s blood ran cold. She grabbed Caitlyn, not bothering with her usual politeness, to haul her shell-shocked friend away.
They ran for what felt like hours, though it was realistically only a minute or two at most through the manor, the blood-curdling screams never dying down. When they were finally cornered in some large, and probably once-opulent bedroom, Vi shoved Caitlyn into the wardrobe, both of them crouching down to avoid getting a face full of moth-laden garments.
“What the fuck is that?!”
For once, Caitlyn was too stunned to fluster at Vi’s crude language. “I don’t bloody well know!”
They sat in silence for a while, huddled against each other as their heartbeats started to come to a normal pace. Another yowl sounded in the distance.
“Cait, if we die here—”
“We’re not going to die.” Caitlyn’s voice trembled, inspiring no sense of reassurance.
“If we do!” Vi threw her hands up in exasperation. “I just want you to know that…”
Caitlyn’s curiosity was inevitably piqued. “That?”
Vi squeezed her eyes shut. Facing off against the ghost might be easier than this. “IlikeyouandIthoughtthiswassupposedtobeadate!”
“You what?!”
The wardrobe creaked open, its hinges too old and dilapidated to stay shut without an external force. The girls froze. The shadows on the wall seemed gigantic, and with every passing second, they grew… smaller? Until at last a small, angular head poked out, its fur so black that it almost glowed navy, a singular blue eye glaring at them.
“It’s a cat,” Caitlyn stated.
The cat hissed, its matted tail raising dangerously. Caitlyn pressed herself against the wall of the closet. “A dangerous cat.” She nodded her head sagely.
“I dunno, maybe she’s just hungry,” Vi offered, already feeling sorry for the poor stray. “Turn around, just for a moment. I need something from your bag”
Caitlyn followed Vi’s instruction, even if she felt foolish turning her back to the clearly irked feline. She resumed her defensive stance as soon as Vi zipped her backpack.
“Here, kitty-kitty.” Vi broke off a piece of the ham sandwich that Caitlyn had requested specifically because it was Vi’s favourite. She held out the morsel, allowing the cat to sniff and eat it at her own pace.
“Aww, you’re not so bad, are you?” Vi cooed, scritching behind a pointy ear. She tilted her head to the side. “She looks like you, cupcake.”
“Excuse me?” Caitlyn’s eyes flitted to the cat, whose hackles seemed to raise every time Caitlyn even breathed. “She does not.”
Vi rolled her eyes playfully, coaxing the stray into her arms before tumbling out of the enclosed space. Caitlyn crawled out behind her, dusting her play shorts off, even if it didn’t seem to do much.
“I think we ought to be getting home,” Caitlyn mumbled, trying and failing to keep her bottom lip from sticking out. “The investigation seems to be unsuccessful anyway.”
“I don’t know about that. Not when I have this cutie to take home!” Vi smiled so brightly it all seemed worth it.
“Will Vander mind you bringing… it home?” Caitlyn asked as they trekked all the way back to the main gate, Vi mercifully deciding to leave by normal means.
“Nah, he’s a big softie. Just one look at this cute face and he’ll melt. Yes, he will.” Vi scrunched up her nose at her new pet, her freckles catching in the setting sun. “Plus, now that we know this place isn’t haunted, we can come back another day. Find out what was up with ‘Eliza’ and her mystery lover, yeah?”
Caitlyn’s spirits felt significantly lifted. She wrung her hands to shake out some of her nerves. “And if you allow me to, maybe next time I can be allowed to escort you to a proper lunch? Like a date? To make up for this ‘not-date’?”
Vi’s softened gaze turned to Caitlyn, her lips parted in surprise. “If you really mean it.”
“I do. I really, really do.”
Vi hesitated for a moment before quickly leaning in to press a kiss against Caitlyn’s cheek. She pulled away just as fast, practically skipping away. “See you next week, cupcake!” she hollered over her shoulder, the sound of breathless giggles following her.
“See you next week,” Caitlyn said to no one in particular, her insides melting into warm goo. This had been her most successful investigation ever.