Erika slipped between clusters of laughing kids and the glow of arcade cabinets, the air thick with the scent of popcorn and sweaty teenagers. She paused beside a pinball table, watching the silver ball ricochet under neon lights, then caught sight of Rick hunched over a malfunctioning cabinet, screwdriver in hand and cardboard tube on his back.

  “Need some help?” she called, raising her voice over the thumping bass music that she had picked out—royalty free, despite her doubts that any big music companies would notice their little hole-in-the-wall.

  Rick fumbled with his phone as he shook his head, squinting at the user manual for the mechanical innards of some Theater of Magic pinball machine whose lights had gone out. “I think it is just a loose connector. If it is anything more serious, it’ll have to wait until morning.”

  “Even that sounds a bit beyond my skills,” Erika said with a shake of her head before moving on, weaving through the crowd. There were actual, real people wandering around, engaging with the machines. Sure, most of them were from school; Daniel had managed to get the word out to a few of the nerdier cliques. She could still hardly believe that people showed up.

  Leslie stood near the entrance, arms crossed, scanning the crowd with the intensity of a nightclub bouncer. Erika nudged him as she passed. “You expecting trouble, or just practicing your glare?”

  “People are less likely to cause trouble if they think they’re being watched,” he said, still staring out over the arcade. “Even a painting of an eye on a wall has proved to reduce crime in the vicinity. I don’t think any of Daniel’s friends would act up, but I’d rather Rick’s arcade stay whole and intact if possible.”

  “I’m surprised you aren’t hold-up in the back, investigating that bullet.”

  Following the hashing of details with The Strategist, she and Leslie had spoken with The Warrior about acquiring some hardware. Unfortunately, with The Puppet’s operation tonight, she didn’t have the resources to spare. After tonight, maybe she would be available for some contract work, but only if tonight went well.

  Erika thumbed her phone screen, making sure she hadn’t missed any notifications in the din of the arcade.

  Leslie snorted at her comment. “Wouldn’t know where to begin investigating it. She said it was one of her duds, so I don’t know if there is any actual worth in trying to pick it apart. I’ll leave that to Anna when she…”

  “Right,” Erika said, suddenly feeling awkward. Anna was the only one who wasn’t here tonight.

  Bethany, Carter, and about four of Bethany’s friends from her school all wandered past, providing some distraction as they took up the red and blue guns in front of an Area 51 cabinet. Erika watched for a moment, taking in the strange sight of Carter actually interacting with other people.

  Well… people might be pushing it. He interacted with Bethany—the two of them got on one of the light gun cabinets, two of the other girls jumped on a nearby machine, while the last of the group just sat on her phone, looking bored with the place. Erika decided early on to not hover and satellite around him all night. He could take care of himself, and if he got uncomfortable, he could always find her, Leslie, or any of the other Hunters around the arcade.

  She wondered how many words he had actually spoken to anyone who wasn’t Bethany. And, now that she was thinking about it, she wondered how many words he had spoken to Bethany. Erika hoped the latter was more than ten, and the former was more than two, but expected the truth to hover around half that.

  “Hey,” Sofia called out, approaching from between two neon-covered cabinets. “Could one of you two watch the counter? I’ve got some phone calls I need to make.”

  Erika glanced up at Leslie, shrugged, and said, “Sure. I’ll leave Leslie to his security camera impersonation.”

  Sofia stared at both of them, clearly confused, then rolled her eyes as she headed outside.

  Not wanting to leave the counter unattended, Erika hurried through the arcade. It felt much bigger than usual. She had been coming to this place at least once a week since October, and often more frequently than that, but the people, the lights, and the music changed the atmosphere to something entirely unrecognizable. Given that ninety percent of the people were friends of Daniel or Bethany, she wasn’t sure how crowded it would be going forward, but it felt like a proper arcade for at least one night.

  LED light ropes, cycling through various flashy patterns, dressed up the prize counter. An assortment of prizes that Rick had purchased online sat on the shelves, from fluffy stuffed animals, LEGO sets, and random bits of candy, to an air fryer that people could earn with enough tickets from some of the more gambly games around the arcade. Based on a few experimental Skeeball throws Erika had played, the ticket counts were high enough that she doubted anyone could afford that fryer. The popcorn machine behind the counter rattled and shook as a fresh batch of popcorn spilled out of its pot—Erika doubted that one would stick around once Rick realized how much of the buttery grease ended up on his machines.

  A handful of people stopped by, exchanging hard-earned currency for non-refundable tokens. Technically, the machines could take quarters just as easily as they could take the tokens Rick had bought online, and using quarters would be cheaper for the customer, but nobody carried that much cash around with them these days.

  Though people milled about, their numbers did not keep her constantly busy. She ended up spending a fair amount of time on her phone, checking to see if whatever The Puppet was doing had made the news while waiting for Sofia to come back.

  “Erika?” a familiar voice pulled Erika’s attention off her phone. “Is this where you’ve been?”

  It took a minute to recognize her, partially because of all the colored lighting, mostly because this arcade was the last place Erika would have expected to see Kassandra. The woman who sold her concert tickets and fake ID cards clashed with the scene. Kassandra was the type to spend most every night at her dad’s venue, rocking out to whoever was playing, or else sneaking into various clubs.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “How come you’re here?”

  They both spoke at once, and then Kassandra broke into a laugh and answered first. “Tyler wanted to come. He heard about it from Jules who heard about it from Kevin. They’re all on some fighting game—and have been for a full hour now.”

  Erika cocked her head. “Tyler?”

  “New year, new boyfriend!” Kassandra announced with a grin that slowly slid off her face. “Well, for now. Don’t know how long he’ll last. Ignore me for an hour?” she asked, muttering to herself. “Then he sends me off to get more tokens? Ugh.”

  “What happened to Ben?”

  Kassandra looked confused yet focused, like she was trying to remember. An epiphany struck her, prompting an eye-roll. “Ben? That was September. Liam was December. Try to keep up. And he spent Christmas with his family instead of me, so he had to go.”

  Erika decided to not comment. She wasn’t sure how anyone could keep up with Kassandra’s revolving door of boyfriends, and she wasn’t sure that ditching a family Christmas for a girlfriend of less than one month was all that big of a crime.

  It felt surreal to hear her complain about such mundane things. Just a few months ago, Erika would have been gossiping along with her, at least mildly interested in regular relationships and the goings-on of her classmates. It felt so far and away now. Who had time to think about partners when everything was going on all at once?

  She had The Eclipse breathing down her neck, Carter to worry about, The Hunters to work with, The Castle wanting her to stop an apocalypse, maggots, The Puppet and whatever they were doing tonight, The Fixer was missing, The Mummy was out there, some reality guardian might come after her, Delilah… existed, and The Church…

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  The Church was the only one of her problems that wasn’t actively a problem, surprisingly enough. They could have been more helpful, but that was asking too much from some information-gathering robot that only cared about said information.

  “Well,” Erika said, putting on her salesperson voice as she shook off the odd feelings, “how about I give you the friend discount? Buy twenty dollars of tokens and I’ll throw in an extra five for free.”

  “Eh, whatever,” Kassandra said, tossing a card on the counter. “It’s Tyler’s money. I’ll take a popcorn though. And a drink—you guys have drinks, right? Can’t have salty food without a soda.”

  “Bottled soda, tea, and water.”

  “Coke?”

  “Sure thing. It’s about five times more than you could get at any other store though.”

  Kassandra shrugged. “Like I said, not my money.” As Erika stood to fill a popcorn bucket, she leaned up against the counter. “But what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you since… last year? Working an arcade doesn’t suit you, you know?”

  “Got my GED, so I’m ditching school for now,” Erika said, kicking open the knee-high fridge to grab a bottled soda. “As for working here, I’m not. More like, helping out a family friend for a night.”

  “GED? There’s only one semester left.”

  “I got it a year and a halfish ago, actually.” Erika dropped a bag of tokens on the counter, then made a show of adding a few extra tokens. “I just kept showing up because I enjoy your company.”

  “Hah. More like you enjoy my discounted concert tickets. Speaking of…”

  “Nope,” Erika cut her off. “Far, far too busy these days for a concert. Now, if we’re talking business, I am running a little low on fake IDs. I’d love to arrange a meet-up whenever you’ve got time, or you can drop them off here.”

  Kassandra shook her head slowly. “It was kind of weird at first, but now, I’m almost afraid to know what you do with all of them.”

  “You never know when you need to break ties with a name you’ve given someone.”

  “Uh huh. I’ll see what I can do.” Kassandra wandered off, taking her popcorn, soda, and tokens with her. Looking over her shoulder, she called out, “Don’t be a stranger.”

  Erika waved her off, taking a seat on the battered employee stool. She just settled in when Rick’s voice materialized behind her, jolting her upright.

  “Friend discount?” he asked with a heavy frown, standing in the doorway to the back room.

  Erika clicked her tongue in annoyance, retaking her seat. “How long have you been creeping around, you weirdo?”

  “I just came back for some solder,” Rick said, holding up a spool of silvery wire, “and now I hear you’re handing out free tokens?”

  Erika rolled her eyes—he wasn’t mad, she could hear it in his voice. “Think of it as investment in returning customers. Also, she bought one of your stupidly overpriced sodas.”

  “That’s how you get them. Dirt cheap popcorn, wallet-breaking drinks.” He flashed a grin, then leaned over her shoulder to peer at the laptop that served as their register. “We haven’t made as much as I was hoping for…”

  “It’s an arcade in current year. I expected Leslie to hand over five bucks out of pity and that would be your entire income for the night.”

  “It can’t be that bad. It’s a third place. People need somewhere to be that isn’t work-slash-school and home. It isn’t healthy to exist only at home and at your job… and most people these days seem to take their jobs home.”

  Erika wasn’t sure how much room he had to talk; all The Hunters seemed to bring hunting home with them. Then again, they all said that they only gathered about once a month before Erika showed up, so maybe back then, they didn’t actually have that much related work.

  “How much do you have to make a month to not have to sell the place?”

  “Well, nothing really,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “I’m not hurting for money, exactly, and what I do have can sustain this place for a long while.” At Erika’s raised eyebrow, he sighed and elaborated. “I made a fair amount getting into crypto back in the early days. Nothing obscene, but enough to quit my engineering job and dedicate a bit more time to… my hobby.” His voice quieted to a level barely audible over the arcade music as he glared around like some men in black were going to jump him.

  “Just call it ghost hunting,” Erika said at a normal volume, scoffing as she spoke. “Less creepy than your hobby.”

  “Yes, well…” He said, straightening up with an uncomfortable look on his face. “It isn’t exactly something I talk about with normies.”

  “So,” Erika said, “you’re an engineer-turned-cryptobro—” Rick cringed at the term. “Anna is some kind of doctor or biologist or—”

  “She did some medical school, but primarily worked in a lab. Nothing science-fiction, just an analysis center. The kind of place doctors or sewage workers send samples to find out what’s all in the sample.” He paused, shifting uncomfortably. “She, uh, doesn’t work there anymore,” he said, averting his gaze off to one side. “She’s taken up auto-mechanics work, fixing cars for some small shop.”

  Although she hummed at the drastic change in career paths, Erika didn’t ask. Whatever caused the change was clearly making Rick uneasy. It probably wasn’t his story to tell. “Leslie is some kind of construction contractor, but acts as his own boss. And Sofia?”

  “She has a job,” Rick said, scratching his head as his brow furrowed in confusion. “I think she’s a secretary? Or something office-y? I’m not exactly sure. She doesn’t talk about her day-job much, and she’s been around only a few months more than you have—and despite that extra time, she’s brought a lot less problems.”

  Erika grimaced. “Sorry.”

  “No, I didn’t—That’s not what I meant. I mean…” Rick switched his weight from foot-to-foot, then abruptly switched the topic. “Why are you asking about jobs?”

  “I don’t know,” Erika said, idly looking in the direction Kassandra had wandered off. “I’ve been with you guys for a few months now and it’s always business-business-business. Ghost-hunt this, send-everyone-to-the-hospital that. I know a bit about you guys, but I feel like not enough considering how much we hang out.”

  “Eh. Some things matter more than others.” Rick adopted a haughty grin. “Investing in crypto isn’t exactly my most attractive or defining trait.”

  Erika raised an eyebrow and asked, “Just what is your most attractive trait, in your opinion?”

  “I’m an engineer, that means I solve problems,” he said with a wave of his wire coil, sounding like he was quoting something. “Ladies love a guy who can solve problems.”

  “And… how many ladies have your problem-solving skills attracted on a date within the past year?”

  Rick tutted, ticking his finger back and forth. “Erika, your life inexperience is showing. It isn’t about how many, it’s about the quality—”

  “It’s zero, isn’t it,” Erika said, not asking, just telling how it was.

  Giving her a flat look, Rick breathed a heavy sigh from his nose. He opened his mouth to say something.

  A loud, beeping buzz from Erika’s pocket cut him off. Erika fished out her phone, already knowing she would see a message from either The Stalker or The Strategist. It was just a single line, an address and a time. “I’ve got to go.”

  He nodded. “Carter was still at Area 51 last I saw.”

  “Already sent him a text. He’s—”

  “I’m here,” Carter said, rushing straight to the counter far faster than anyone normal could manage. She hoped he hadn’t exhausted himself just crossing the arcade.

  “We’ve got seven minutes to get halfway across the city,” Erika said, flipping her phone over to show the route she pulled up on her map. “Can you manage?”

  Carter took a breath and gave a firm nod of his head. “Yes, but we should hurry.”

  “Good luck with the counter,” Erika said to Rick as she slipped past him. “Don’t know where Sofia is, but she said she would be back sometime.”

  “You sure you don’t need backup?”

  Erika paused, hesitating. They had discussed this beforehand, mostly with her, The Strategist, and Leslie. Nobody wanted to stick around for long tonight; there was no expected fighting, all she needed to do was break whatever they had acquired and leave. The Puppet had more to do past this point, and were on a time limit of some sort.

  And if there was a fight, Erika wasn’t sure that she wanted The Hunters around. They had barely scraped by last time. The thought of bringing them along again twisted her stomach into a knot.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said with a smile, then took Carter by the hand and rushed over to the back door.

  She opened it to find herself face-to-face with a surprised Anna. Erika balked for a moment, taking the woman in. She looked… well, it was hard to tell with her motorcycle leathers hiding her skin up to her neck. The last time Erika saw her, Anna had been missing a leg and an arm, but she stood now without any aid, looking like she had been reaching for the door. A thin scar ran up the side of her neck around her ear, but Erika doubted most people would even notice. Other than the scar, no obvious signs suggested that someone had reassembled her from bits and pieces.

  The Doctor was certainly good at his job.

  But this, now, was not what Erika needed. “I’m sorry,” she said, “about a lot of things, but right now, I’m mostly sorry that I don’t have time to apologize further.”

  “Erika?” Anna looked beyond confused. “Sofia called, she said something was going on? I… I wasn’t going to come… but…”

  Erika felt about as confused as Anna looked. “Sofia? Did she… want you to man the counter?” Maybe she got called in to work or… something. Carter shook her arm, reminding her to stay focused. “I’ve got to go. Rick is at the counter. He can explain, probably.”

  “Are you in trouble?” Anna asked, taking a step back as Erika and Carter hurried out.

  Erika paused, looking back with a strange feeling that she couldn’t quite identify. “Why are you worried about me? You…” She shook her head. “I’m on a tight time constraint here. Rick will explain. I’ll be back later to… talk, if you’re still around.”

  Not able to afford any more stops, Erika jumped in her truck, turned on the engine, and pulled out of the rear arcade parking lot the moment Carter was in, not even glancing toward Anna as the woman stood, watching her go.

  That was not optimal timing. Erika had not been prepared for seeing Anna again and, even if she had been prepared, there was just no time. Not even with Carter dragging on time itself far more than she had ever felt him pull before.

  In a flash, they were out from under the overhead rails, onto the street, and on their way to meet with The Puppet.