The night was getting cold and windy. Trevor and Spion stood in the yard until the faint figures of Richard and Ivan were completely gone.
“Are you all right?” Spion asked Trevor. “About the Gods testing you.”
“I’m fine. That’s not what I should worry about. The Gods haven’t interfered with humankind for a long time, besides, no one can resist the Gods anyway.” Trevor sighed. “I just felt sleepy.”
“Hmm,” seeing his friend wasn’t anxious, Spion just shrugged. “Then back to the room. It’s time for a really good sleep now.”
“Yeah, hope no ghost, no murder, just a good sleep,” Trevor smiled.
As they walked back, Trevor asked, “Have you seen ghosts before? They weren’t as scary as I thought.”
“I saw one once,” Spion said in a lower voice.
“When? Don’t tell me it was your grandpa or grandma,” Trevor joked.
“It was my girlfriend.”
“I’m… sorry,” Trevor lowered his voice too.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s been years now. Life needs to move on,” Spion said casually.
They walked in silence. When they reached the lobby, the robot doorman’s electronic voice rose again. “Intruder detected. Exterminate…”
“Hey, Lex, it’s us,” Spion waved a hand.
“Oh, hey, Spion, and Mr. Edson,” Lex said in its friendly voice. “I don’t see Rich. Did he go to the underworld?”
“Yes,” Spion confirmed.
“I don’t know how to respond now. I should be happy for him, but I lost a friend. I guess this is the feeling human defines as sad.”
“Yep,” Spion answered. He walked toward the elevator lobby with Trevor, passing Lex without a look.
“Do you mind chatting with me? Tell me something about Rich—how did you help him finish his business in the living world? We can cherish the memory of him together. I will write him in my memoirs when I retire,” Lex followed them.
“Sorry, humans need sleep now. We are tired,” Spion yawned. Trevor followed him, yawning too. They entered the elevator.
“Oh, good night then. Have a sweet dream,” Lex watched the elevator door close.
After the elevator started moving, Trevor said, “I think that robot is unusually gossipy.”
“Maybe. I’ll sleep first. Worry about robots getting more human and rebelling someday tomorrow,” Spion yawned again.
They both entered the room, setting their ghost hunting gear and phones on the nightstand. Almost synchronized, they lay face down on their beds, kicked off their shoes, and fell into a deep sleep without removing their clothes.
Around 7:00 a.m., Trevor awoke to music. It was Spion’s phone, which he had left on the nightstand next to Trevor.
“Wake up. We have an invitation for breakfast at 8 a.m. with Sam, the Manchesters CEO,” Spion said, seeing Trevor’s eyes open.
“What?”
“Check your phone. We, Lady News, and Report Man all got invitations. I’ll take a shower first.” Spion peeled off his clothes and went into the bathroom.
Trevor checked his phone. There was an invitation from the Dressrious app: Sam Manchester invited him for breakfast at the Premium Lounge, 8 a.m., sent at 6 a.m. He sat up, looked at the ghost hunting gears on the nightstand, and recalled the adventure hours ago. He thought he’d better write down Richard’s story. He opened the Spiritpedia app on the EMF, started editing the article about Richard: “Richard the Fearless, the boy who fears nothing…”
They arrived at the Premium Lounge on time. A salon server led them into a private dining room. The CEO, Sam, Lady News, and Report Man were already inside. Report Man and Sam still wore the same clothes as yesterday, but Lady News had changed into a new Klein blue dress.
“Gentlemen, please,” Sam greeted them.
After short greetings, they started ordering. Three sets of normal Mediterranean breakfast—the Halloween creepy style meals were finally gone. Trevor ordered a set with grilled sockeye salmon.
The breakfast was enjoyable. Sam mentioned his company was developing a new product line: wearable hunting gears, which combine function and fashion. He wished Lady News and Report Man, the two famous fashion influencers, could give his design team advice on style. It was then Trevor and Spion realized they were just invited out of politeness, so they quietly focused on their food.
“The smart glasses are just a beginning. Later we will expand to body armor, giving hunters stronger protection when facing extreme dangers.”
“Sounds brilliant. Will it work for malicious spirits?” Trevor asked, instantly interested, stopping his meal.
“Malicious spirits, werewolves, or any other danger shifters. Have you faced any of them before, Mr. Edson?” Sam asked.
“Yes, a malicious spirit, just hours ago,” Trevor answered casually, forking a grilled cherry tomato. His words utterly surprised Sam, Lady News, and Report Man.
Trevor and Spion immediately became the center of attention, recounting their adventure from the previous night.
“Why didn’t you wake me up? It makes the victory of the candy hunting game totally worthless!” Lady News frowned.
“Next time, no matter how deeply I’m sleeping, you must wake me up. We are a team; we should solve cases or take adventures together,” Report Man frowned, too.
Only Sam seemed excited. “So you used Manchesters’ gears to help a ghost boy and a malicious spirit complete their unfinished business? This is a brilliant story! I’ll have the PR team contact you guys soon, and it has Cold War spy elements. We may make a movie about it. A studio made a TV series about my father and my uncle’s monster hunting stories, but it didn’t go well. Hope this time, we can make a big hit.”
“I wrote it down on the Spiritpedia—the mobile phone version. I have to say, I wanted to write on the EMF first, but the EMF typing experience needs a big improvement,” Trevor said honestly.
“Thank you for the feedback. I’ll tell the engineers to improve it,” Sam committed.
They chatted about the products and the ghost hunting business later. Then, a Manchesters employee entered the room, whispered to Sam, and left. Sam put his knife and fork down. “Lady and gentlemen, it’s my pleasure to have a meal with you, but I’m sorry, I have a flight. I need to go now. Enjoy your meal.”
Sam shook hands and said goodbye to them. When very little food was left, Trevor pulled out his phone, checking if his edits about Richard were approved. His content had already appeared in the article, and Richard’s story was now complete. New related links had also appeared at the bottom of the article. One link was about a rumor from the Springfield military base.
“I think Richard telling us he had a mission for the military when he was eight is real,” Trevor told the others. “I found an article about the Springfield military base. It claims the military conducted experiments involving cloning, genome editing, and the creation of super soldiers.”
“That’s Cold War era. Many rumors like that circulated: super soldiers, telekinesis, mind reading. Most never succeeded. It was often more reasonable to hire witches, werewolves, or shifters directly. I’ve heard a rumor that the Navy signed a deal with a Sirens tribe just last week. You hear a lot of these rumors if you have friends in the press. Most are just nonsense.” Report Man dismissed it easily.
“But Richard’s father never married, and Richard never mentioned his mother,” Spion pointed out mysteriously.
“Do you mean, he was a clone? Or a genetically engineered baby?” Lady News was shocked.
“Well, we can ask him later. We still have the Spirit Box to contact him,” Trevor said, taking a drink of his milk.
“Sure, we have plenty of time to ask him later. Let’s finish breakfast. I have to get back to school to do my boring essay,” Spion sighed.
The others agreed. They all thought their lives outside the Dressrious Salon were dreadfully boring.