*Huge shoutout to all of my followers. I can't believe how many of you are enjoying my story. I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments. I hope you are all staying well during everything that is going on. My state is getting hit pretty hard right now so it has been a great escape to be writing during all of this. It may take me a while for the next chapter but don't worry I will keep posting at least one chapter per week. I am a preschool teacher so I have my hands full with teaching online and the millions of other things but I will make sure to continue to post! Thank you all! *
Chapter Eight
By the time Mai made it back to the base to inform Lin of what happened, the man was already disassembling the equipment. He heard her enter but didn't turn to look at her.
"Gather the boxes," he ordered.
She stood there for a moment unsure of what to say. "...Did you see it?" she whispered.
"The case is closed," he replied curtly.
She bit her lip nervously. "Lin I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have gone off on my own. I should have told you. Are you upset with me?"
Lin paused and gave a restrained sigh before turning to face her. "What you did was risky. Some would even call it idiotic."
"I know," she winced.
"When you are on a case, you are under our protection and need to think about safety. Things went well today, but not every case will go as smoothly. Actions have consequences. You could have been hurt, or you could have caused someone else harm if the cleansing hadn't gone your way," he informed her. "However, I will admit I am rather impressed. What you did just now; have you ever done that before?"
Mai shook her head solemnly. "No. That was a first. I just had a feeling that I could help him."
Lin gave another sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just, next time don't go doing such things unless you are specifically asked. We are a team, we must act like one. Understood?"
She nodded fervently, glad the man didn't hate her.
"You're lucky it is me with you. If it was Noll, he'd have your head," the man pointed out. With that said and done, the team packed up their equipment and bid farewell to the O'Connor's after a quick debriefing. The ride back to the city was a silent one but Mai was content. She and Lin both had a lot on their minds. She smiled softly, feeling as if she and Lin had grown closer during this case; it felt good to get to know more about her quiet coworker. She was glad to find out he wasn't as intimidating as she had first perceived.
As they neared London Mai began to realize they weren't heading straight to the main office. She looked questioningly over at Lin.
"You've had a long day. There's no need for you to go to the office so I'm bringing you to your flat," he replied without as much as a glance in her direction.
"But what about the equipment, won't you need help?" she wondered.
The lean man shook his head. "Yasuhara and I will be able to manage on our own. This was your first case and you've done enough for one day."
"Will Oliver be alright with that? I mean, he probably hasn't had a decent cup of tea these past couple of days," she smiled.
Lin snorted softly. "The boy will survive. He could use to cut back on that addiction of his. Think of it as punishment for him keeping me out of the loop of your abilities. I still haven't forgiven him for that," the man muttered in irritation.
The brunette laughed lightly. "He does that often, hm?"
"More often than I would like. He's a scientist and likes to 'experiment' so to say. Knowing him there must have been a reason, and I have an inkling of what it may be."
Mai pursed her lips. "Still, someone needs to knock some sense into that man. He can't go treating his friends like pawns in a game of chess."
Lin looked at her from the corner of his eye. "True. As frustrated as he make me, he is still a good man and has been under my care for most of his life."
The woman looked out her window as they approached her flat complex and smiled softly. "I can tell he has a good heart, he just needs someone to help him with those social skills of his."
Lin pulled up to the curb and smirked, putting the car in park. "The position is open if you're interested."
Mai looked over at the man with a glint in her eye. "Challenge accepted." The brunette grabbed her things before bidding her coworker farewell and making her way towards her building.
"Mai," Lin called out, causing her to turn around. "Good work."
She smiled brightly and waved goodbye before entering her complex. Lin looked at the clock on the dashboard. Five o'clock. Oliver had class soon so he better hurry back if he wanted to debrief him of their case and his findings about his new coworker.
Oliver was sitting at his desk, when the door to his office opened. He knew who it was without having to look up. A flashdrive was tossed unceremoniously onto the man's laptop. Closing his eyes tiredly he prepared for the verbal assault.
"Is that the reason you hired her?" Lin's voice was deep with frustration.
Oliver opened his eyes and began to put paperwork in his briefcase for his night class. "What did you see?"
"I thought it odd that a man who religiously denied needing an assistant suddenly changed his mind. Did you hire her because she had powers?"
Oliver looked up at the man and stared blankly.
"Noll, that is vital information," the tall man ground out.
Blue eyes closed once more and he sighed. "I believed it to be a good experiment to have you unaware of any pre-disclosed notions of her abilities. This way you were subjective and able to see things more clearly. I wanted you to observe her powers on your own terms."
"God damn it, Noll. You can't experiment with people like that," Lin seethed.
Oliver only shrugged in return. "I don't see why not, it worked and no one was harmed."
"She could have been," he huffed. Noll continued packing his briefcase and Lin's eyes narrowed in irritation. "She was talking to it."
Noll paused as he was placing a file in his briefcase. "Come again?"
"She was talking to the spirit the whole time. Through miscommunication she thought it was the youngest O'Connor son," Lin informed.
The twenty-seven year old turned towards his friend. "She didn't realize it was a spirit?"
Lin ran a hand through his long hair, pushing it away from his eye. "Apparently not. I was unaware of its presence around her. She thought she was talking to the son we were told not to engage with so she kept it a secret from me. But that's not all."
Noll was impatient. "Go on."
"She held it."
"Held it?" Oliver echoed. "How is that possible?"
"You tell me," Lin replied curtly. "You knew didn't you?"
Oliver straightened the mat on his desk, a telltale sign that he was gathering his words. "I didn't know the extent as to what abilities she had other than the fact that she has post-cognitive dreams of people's memories and deaths."
Lin regarded him momentarily and then something clicked. "Is that how you found out about Mrs. Turner's body?"
Noll hesitated before nodding.
The Chinese man sighed. "That would have been essential to know beforehand. That is how she heard the song after all."
"Song?" Noll questioned.
Lin nodded. "She talked to the spirit and helped him find peace by singing the song his mother used to sing to him. I watched as she help him move on to the afterlife."
Oliver froze and muttered something to himself.
Lin continued. "She was able to do all of this without any training, imagine if she was trained."
The younger man looked up at his friend with a familiar glint in those blue eyes.
Lin paused apprehensively. "Noll," he warned.
"Lin," he smirked smugly.
"Noll, I already have enough on my plate with the baby coming and running the cases until your time at University is done."
"You make it sound like some sort of prison sentence," Oliver rolled his eyes.
"In a way it was, remember?" Lin grinned, taunting the man.
"I used my powers one time and father punished me by signing me up to teach," the young man grumbled in annoyance.
"You were in the hospital for two weeks if you remember correctly. And, it worked. Making you teach did the job and kept you off of cases for nearly a year," Lin shrugged.
"Yes, well just one more month and I'll be back on every case instead of just the odd one here and there."
"Yes but will you have learned your lesson?" Lin prodded. "You can't just go using those powers of yours without a care for your health."
Noll shot him a glare and changed the subject "She scored a zero on the PAD-01."
Lin froze, shocked. "A zero, but that's-"
"Practically improbable?" Oliver interrupted. "Yes that's what I thought as well."
"So what does that mean?"
"Well, taking into consideration her score and what you witnessed her capable of on this past case, it leads me to believe she is a medium." There was an odd sense of pride coursing through his veins for this woman who just recently came into his life.
Lin stared back at the man, shocked. Suddenly, a thought came to him and he looked back at Noll smugly. "I'll train her on one condition."
Oliver eyed his friend cautiously.
"Stop doing your ridiculous experiments with us. Me especially."
Lin's words resonated within him. Noll thought back to the day he tested Mai's abilities and how she called him out on his behavior. An inner battle between his desire for knowledge and the unpleasant twinge of guilt raged within him. Looking out the window in defeat he conceded.
"Fine," came his response through gritted teeth.
Lin raised a brow, slightly shocked. "Fine? That's surprising. In all the years I've known you, you haven't given in that easily."
Oliver snapped his briefcase closed. "Yes, well, maybe I've had a change of heart," he drawled.
"Okay, Ebenezer," Lin replied sarcastically.
Oliver rolled his eyes. "Get going. Your wife has been pestering me with calls all day. We will discuss the rest of the case in the morning."
Lin watched his friend amusedly before shaking his head and exiting the office.
"Remind her to get here early tomorrow," Oliver called after him.
"She'll get here when she gets here," Lin replied, much to his friend's chagrin. "Also, if you ever go back on your word I'll bloody kill you. No more experiments."
Oliver gave a frustrated sigh and looked at the flashdrive that had just been given to him. He held it hesitantly before inserting it in his laptop. He opened the files of audio and video footage from the most recent case to find one that had been starred. His long fingers double clicked into the file and he watched as a video clip appeared on his screen. Mai was sitting on a child's bed, singing and rocking a child that could not be seen. A light began to brighten the screen until it was completely white. When the footage returned, he watched as Mai stared at her empty hands and began to weep.