Caleb

"Absolutely not!" Caleb slammed the book closed. "I won't let you put yourself in danger like that!"

"I don't need your permission!" Izzy shoved her notebook aside.

Brie kicked back from the library table. "Told you it was a bad idea."

"It's a terrible idea." Caleb pushed his chair away and crossed his arms. "You have no idea what you're doing. It's too risky."

"More risky than you trying to trigger that portal?" Izzy snapped.

"She's got a point." Brie flicked her pencil back and forth between her fingers.

He hated how beautiful Izzy looked when her eyes blazed and cheeks flushed like that. Hated even more that he was thinking about it right now. He shook his head. "It's not the same thing."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Because you're smarter than me?"

Not this again. "No. Don't start." In the corner of his eye, Brie raised an eyebrow.

"Then because you're a guy?" Izzy stood, hands splayed on the table.

"No! Jesus!" He shoved to his feet, the wood hard and cool against his palms. "That's completely unfair. Did you forget I'm bringing Ren?" His face felt hot.

"Unfair?" Brie said. "More like lowkey sexist."

"Thank you!" How the hell could she imply he thought she was weak after–

"And it's because he cares about you and doesn't want you to die and possibly has some sort of hero complex," Brie added.

They both swiveled to face her. "Uh–"

"Mic drop. I'm out." Brie jumped to her feet, shoving her notebook into her overstuffed bag. She gave up on closing the zipper, choosing to wrap both arms around it instead. "Thanks for the quick review, Caleb." She wrestled the door open. "Now kiss and make up." Then she vanished before either of them could respond.

They turned back to each other in awkward silence. "So she, uh, knows about...." He straightened up and rubbed his hand through his hair.

"Yeah. Sorry, she–"

"I know." He sighed. "Brie is–"

"Perceptive," Izzy finished with a grimace. "And she's right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things." She sank back down into the chair. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

At least Brie diffused the situation, his anger draining as quickly as it'd appeared. After giving them a stripped-down version of the math review, Izzy and Brie detailed their trip to the occult store yesterday. The fact that the owner had called them witches was a tough pill to swallow, despite everything he'd seen lately.

"Nothing's wrong with you." He walked around the table and eased himself into the chair next to her. Maybe her temper, but besides that.

"Isn't there, though? If Brie hadn't been here, I probably would have stormed out on you." Her left hand flexed, pushing her nails into her palm.

"Stop! I mean it. Spiraling isn't helpful." He reached out for her hand, wrapping his fingers in hers to stop her from doing it. "The party is in two days. I need you to do your best to focus and analyze the situation with a clear head." He squeezed her hand. "Brie was right. I don't want you to get hurt."

"And for that, I insulted you." Izzy's eyes slid away, but she picked at the edge of his sleeve with her other hand.

"You apologized." After a moment's hesitation, he added, "But don't imply anything like that again. It's...." What? A line he didn't want crossed.

"Completely unfair." She poked her toe at the carpet. "This isn't an excuse, but I hate it when I feel like you're trying to order me around."

"You should know by now that I'm pretty blunt." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "However, that wasn't an order. I know damn well that I can't force you to do anything."

She acknowledged that with a small smile, angling her chair to face him better. "Burns could be dismissive. It's only recently I've realized how much so. Like, he didn't respect me very much. He told me what we were doing all the time, and I just went along with it. I hate that I did that." His pinkie brushed against her thumping pulse. "I hate... I hate that I'm taking that out on you. You're nothing like that."

"Glad you noticed." The fact she compared him to her ex-boyfriend wasn't lost on him.

When she reached out to brush the back of her thumb against his cheekbone, he realized how close they were. "You are nothing like Burns. I'm sorry." Her breath fluttered against his skin.

"You already apologized." That's all his brain could come up with.

"I'm trying to do it properly." Her fingers trailed back into his hair, the light scratch of nails against his scalp sparking goosebumps.

When she pulled his glasses off with her other hand, he closed his eyes, held his breath. "I thought we weren't kissing."

"We're not kissing." A soft clatter as his glasses against the table. "I'm kissing you." She pressed her lips against the corner of his mouth, a flutter of a kiss. His eyes snapped open when she pulled back just enough to look at him.

"And that's different?" That look in her eyes... he couldn't pull away. He didn't want to.

"Very." She pressed another kiss to his mouth, ran her tongue along his lower lip.

Forget reason. If she wanted to kiss him, he wasn't about to protest. He shifted forward, his arms snaking around her as their lips met again, opening to each other. This time, slower than before, their tongues darting in and out, meeting, entangling, retreating. His fingers combed through her hair as he breathed in her scent. She felt so good in his arms, her body warm and responsive. She leaned into him pressing against– shit. The library. They were still in the library.

"Izzy." It came out more strangled than he expected. He pulled away, but her lips moved to his neck, tickling in the best way.

He pulled back further. "Library." Ragged breath. "School." His eyes darted to the door Brie left open. No one around. At least this study room was in the back corner of the building.

She sat up quickly, swallowed. "Sorry. Crap. I just meant to give you a brief peck. But..." Her chest rose and fell.

"You can barely control yourself around me." He ran a hand through his hair. "I get that a lot."

She closed her eyes and started laughing. "Yeah, that's it." She studied him. "Just, do you have to be such a good kisser?"

"Yes." He couldn't help the stupid grin on his face at this point. "Do you?"

"Absolutely." She cupped his face and leaned forward with a serious look in her eye, giving him one last kiss, soft and lingering. "But I'm beginning to wonder why I've been fighting this so much. Maybe my reasoning is wrong, and I'm stronger with you than without."

"Are you serious?" He searched her eyes as she nodded slowly. "I mean, I wasn't gonna tell you that. Not like you would have listened, anyway."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but a smile still played on her face. "Sometimes, I think you like arguing with me."

"Me? You think I like arguing–"

She silenced him with another kiss.

"That's no fair way to win an argument," he grumbled. Besides, that'd just encourage him.

"All's fair," she said.

"Let's survive this weekend and then we can deal with..." she waved her hand between them. "This."

Right. This weekend. If only it were already over. "Fair enough." As if he needed more motivation.

Her smile dropped, and she hesitated before speaking. "Do you think I'm a witch?"

Caleb didn't have an answer for that one. "Ren thinks so."

"Ren?" Izzy rolled her eyes. "She told you?"

"Sort of? I thought she was joking."

Her jaw tightened. "What did she say?"

That he needed to talk to 'that stuck up witch' about finishing the app set up. On second thought, he shouldn't have mentioned Ren at all. "Just that I needed to talk to you."

Izzy narrowed her eyes, but her phone vibrated on the table before she could respond. For once, he didn't mind the interruption. She glanced at it and stood up. "Crap, I'm running late. I gotta go." She started shoving things in her bag.

Caleb also stood. "Going to the hospital to set up cameras should be fine. I highly doubt we'll trigger that portal, anyway. "

She paused what she was doing to look at him. "Are you sure?"

"No, but I won't be alone, and we'll be careful." As careful as one could be in an abandoned mental hospital filled with shadow monsters.

Her expression said she didn't believe him, but she let it go. "I won't try the astral projection thing alone. It didn't even work before, anyway."

He tapped a finger against the table. "Let us go back into the hospital before you try anything, okay?"

"Is that an order?" The corner of her mouth quirked up.

"No. It's a request. A gentle one. You know, if you feel like it."

Her phone buzzed again. "Okay, I really gotta run." She tapped out a quick response. "And I'll wait until after you put cameras in the hospital. Promise."

𓄿𓄿𓄿

That ended up being an easy promise since Caleb met Ren near the old hospital within the hour. "I actually didn't expect you to get here so fast." He got out of his car as she swung her leg off the motorcycle.

Ren pulled off her helmet and set it on the saddle. "Usually people start with hello before resorting to insults." She ran her fingers through her hair, detangling it. "So why the rush? Thought this was going down on Friday." She grabbed a bag from the back of the motorcycle.

"Change in plans." Caleb grabbed his own bag. "You got the jammer?"

"Got it. Don't care if the cameras are noticeably down this time?"

"We won't be long." He sounded more confident than he felt.

Ren slipped on some gloves and swung her backpack over her shoulder. "You worried at all?"

There were a million different things to worry about at the moment. They walked towards the hospital, sticking to the tree line. "I think it'll be fine, and I let Dara know what we're up to since I figured you didn't." Ren nodded, but said nothing. "You guys ok?"

"Course. Why?"

"Things seem tense lately." He paused. "I should have checked in with you after you left the other night."

"Please, I'm good. You know we just get on each other's nerves sometimes."

If Ren didn't want to talk, he knew better than to push it. At least for now.

They approached the back of the property, scrambled over the wall and through the broken window. It pushed open easily; no need to lock pick this time. Then they were back in the lobby.

During the day, the hospital looked more beautifully dilapidated than dark and imposing. The red light of the camera blinked, indicating it was active, but not recording. Ren slipped around the edges of the room, using the signal jammer once she got near. When she nodded, Caleb followed her through the room.

He spent a moment studying the lobby. Besides the sunlight filtering through murky windows, everything seemed the same. "Where's a good place for our camera?"

Ren paced around, studying corners and looking at angles. "Needs to be in a spot that covers the broken window and the locked door to the main entrance."

Caleb stepped between the door and the window, walking an angled line to the corner, looking for a place to hide it along the way. He'd pulled out a square camera with a swivel mount. Smaller than the size of his palm, but big enough that it could capture most of the area.

"There." Ren pointed at a rusty ceiling vent above his head. "See the missing bar? I can mount the camera there."

He looked up. "Good idea, but how do you expect to get up there?"

She smiled at him. Of course.

It took some maneuvering, but Caleb braced himself against the wall as she got up on his shoulders. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but might have been a job for Izzy." Ren waved at the cheerleader-like pose. He grunted in response, still able to taste her on his tongue. "So, how is the witch today?"

"The usual." She wobbled as she stretched to wedge the camera in the vent. He wrapped a hand around her ankle tighter. "Will it fit?"

"Yeah, I just need a sec." The sound of metal on metal echoed through the room. "You think she's a witch? It would explain the attitude."

"You're one to talk about attitude."

She snorted. "Totally different."

"Like I told her earlier, I don't know." He didn't. He hadn't had time to think about it or research anything yet. "But I don't think I like the word because it carries so much..."

"History? Attitude? Expectations?"

"Baggage. Anyway, most things people attributed to magic were a misunderstanding of science."

Ren shoved the camera up and wobbled again. "Woah! Hold me straight."

"Then stop swaying around like a cobra!" He took a breath and steadied himself. "Anyway, I need to learn more about it."

"I got you." He heard a final clang. "Okay, this one's a wrap." Her foot moved against his shoulder, shoving him back into the wall as she jumped down.

"Ow! Could've warned me!" He rubbed his shoulder.

"Oops." She brushed herself off. "Magic or not, she's kind of a witch."

"Enough, Ren. Cut her some slack."

"Then tell her to do the same for me," she said pointedly. Caleb didn't know what their issue was, but now wasn't the time.

They did a circle around the room to check their work. Their camera was near impossible to see from below. "I don't think anyone will discover it, even if they search. But if anyone's here they heard all that."

"Good," Ren said. "Then they'll either show themselves or leave. Unless they want to ambush us."

Unsettling, but there had been no noise at all. "You got a knife?"

"Several."

"Then cover my back." He pulled a crowbar out. "Let's get the other two in quickly."

With a deep breath, Caleb pushed through the swinging doors, approaching the hallway slowly. They flicked on flashlights, since the light from the side rooms didn't penetrate to the hallway. Keeping on the balls of their feet, they moved quietly, tense and hyperaware of sounds. They heard nothing.

When they turned the corner to the hallway where they'd seen the portal, they paused. Still nothing. Caleb jerked his head, and they crept down the hallway, making a full pass to the other side and back as they studied the area. Still no noise, no wind, no heavy feeling, no static, no electricity. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Caleb let out a long breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Smaller cams here?"

Red nodded. "One on both ends of the hallway."

Stashing the crowbar, he took out two more cameras, black and about the size of a fingernail. "We should be able to jam these in the plaster cracks in the wall." He handed one to Ren, and they quickly found places to wedge them in.

"Are we done?"

He finished connecting their signals to the app he'd downloaded earlier. "Think so." They stood in the middle of the hall near where the portal had appeared, everything still as death. He took another deep breath. "Should we try to trigger the portal?"

"Knew it," Ren said.

"Well?"

"I brought the broken drone. Electricity still discharges." Ren sighed. "Let me prop the door open for an easier escape. One sec."

She dashed around the corner before he could tell her to wait. Should have gone with her. This was how every character died in a horror story. Going off alone, checking the mysterious noise, returning to the haunted hospital.

"It's done." He jumped at the sound of her voice. She chuckled. "Let's not split up again, huh?"

"Yeah. That was stupid." All of this was stupid, and he knew it. "Go ahead."

Caleb took a step back as Ren held it out and pushed the button. Electricity sparked out like lightning from a Tesla coil. It crackled and buzzed, and for a moment that's all that happened. But then he felt it. The change in the air.

"Ren?"

She continued to hold the drone out in her hands, pointing at the spot where a swirling portal-like light appeared.

"Stop."

The light grew brighter. She stood statue still, transfixed. A wind kicked up.

"Stop it!" he yelled.

With a jolt, she dropped the drone. It clattered to the ground. The lights swirled and dimmed; the air grew less heavy. "Holy shit," she breathed.

"I did not expect that to work." They stood there until everything was silent again. "Can we leave the drone here? Try to trigger it after we go?"

Ren bent and scooped the drone off the floor. "No. The controls are messed up. We won't be able to do it remotely."

"Then we'll have to wait for Dara to give us a new one."

"What the hell were we thinking?" Ren shuddered. "You made your point. We should go."

He nodded. Izzy didn't need to trigger the portal. She didn't have to come back in at all. She'd be safe and maybe they could be together.

That night, when he returned home, he sent a message to his contact in Cicada.

Zer0H0ur: I know the location of the hospital.