Everything was still very murky. I hated being hit in the head. Being unconscious was too dangerous. I needed something real to latch onto. I reached out and searched for the familiar connections around me.

"Is she...?... Concussion...Are we supposed...30 minutes...3 hours...?"

"Just... She doesn't need... Annoying..."

"I'm so...I'm not used...alive...dead people..."

This was too confusing. I couldn't make sense out of any of this. I decided I needed to search deeper. Maybe I would come across a memory.

"...Kill them..."

Well, that was unexpectedly sudden and violent. Where was I? I had nothing to do with that connection. It seemed so very old and distant.

As I got far away from that connection, something else got a hold on me. A cozy, warm feeling.

"Elenora..."

Now that was something I could latch onto. My name. I allowed it closer. Funny thing was the warmth also brought a certain gentle, relieving cool touch.

I focused on the initial warm feeling. It was like the sun and the wind and...the color red? The warmth was more of a heat. It was exhilarating and creamy with a hint of vanilla...

"Danny."

I rushed immediately back to reality and opened my eyes to find his face inches from mine.

I panicked and pushed back from him. The chair I was sitting on nearly tilted back too far.

"Whoa hey, gotcha!" Danny's arm reached out and grabbed the back of my chair. He pulled me back so that all four of the leg chairs were firmly on the ground.

"Get away from me." Now that I was conscious again, I reigned back the wild emotions I let escape. I was a perfect slate once again.

"Take it easy, princess. I was just putting a cold pack behind your head."

I became more aware of my surroundings. We were back at the police station. The Chief and Dr. North was there as well, which accounted for some of the other voices.

I felt the back of my head and confirmed the presence of a cold pack. My head was a little tender nothing serious.

"H-How are you feeling?" the coroner asked. He was much more confident in his ability as a doctor when his patients were already dead.

"I'm fine. Don't stress yourself too much, Finn. I just have a little bump, that's all. No concussion or anything," I said.

Both Danny and Finn relaxed. So the concussion thought must have come from him. That left the annoyance to come from Susannah.

"This is unacceptable, Detective. You were assigned to help protect Elenora from the syndicate," the Chief scolded.

"It's not my fault she decided to go straight into Chu headquarters! Besides, in case you're forgetting, finding Detective Callaway is my investigation. Elenora was assigned to me," Danny argued back.

"It wasn't the headquarters," I interrupted their little quarrel. "They were meeting rooms from one of their old meet ups. We had no way of knowing Yao Chu was going to be there." I crossed my arms and legs, still keeping myself distant.

"And you! I was expecting you to have better judgement, Elenora." It was my turn to be scolded by the chief. She took a different tone with me considering I was her friend and not her employee.

"And my judgement said that confronting the Chu syndicate would be the fastest way of getting information on Emily," I defended.

"Well, just what did you find out?" the chief asked in frustration. There was no use arguing about the past. What's done is done

"Yeah, you must have gotten a lot of connectiony vibe stuff from the boss-man," Danny said. Though he really didn't quite believe the extent of my psychic ability, he was eager to hear what I had to say.

"Surprisingly little. Yao Chu was just about as in the dark as we were about what happened. I did find out that he was trying to kill Emily and that he's also missing someone very close to him. He thought I had something to do with it. He blocked me before I could try to get more information," I reported.

"Wait...he blocked you?!" Danny was shocked.

"Is that all?" Susannah asked.

"You couldn't read his mind?! I thought you were psychic..."

"Would you just shut up for one second?" I raised my voice. I was getting really tired of him saying that. "As I said before, I wasn't there for Yao; I didn't know he was going to be there. I was just trying to pick up the trail of my sister. And I did. She and the person she's traveling with headed north."

"So, there's a possibility that she still might have been kidnapped," Susannah said.

"Kidnapped by someone other than the Chu syndicate," I qualified. "Though I can't imagine her getting into somebody else's dirty business."

"Okay, so you said she headed north. Where is she?" Danny asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know. It's just a trail. We should be able to follow it to her."

"But what if she's still moving? It'll just be a wild goose chase," Susannah thought out loud.

"I won't know what she's up to until I can get closer. Following her trail is the best option. Doing so will only strengthen my understanding of what's going on here."

"Then let's go!" Danny said. "The sooner we find her the better."

"It's not that simple." I shook my head. "We're not the only ones after her. If we're too conspicuous, the Chu syndicate will use us to find her."

The silence sunk into the atmosphere like an anchor. I gave them a moment to think to let them see for themselves that me going out alone was the best option. I could stay under the radar much better than Danny could.

"You'll both have to go undercover then," the chief announced.

"Susannah, I'm better off on my own." She was going against her own common sense. She had to know that.

"You forget that they'll be after you too, Elenora," she argued back.

"I can handle it," I reaffirmed.

"From what I remember, the last time you 'handled it,' you got knocked out," Danny added.

I glared at the detective. He pretended like he never said anything.

"I have to agree with Detective Prince on this one. Since you have confirmed that the Chus are making their move on the Callaways, we can't afford for you to go out there without any kind of protection. You and Prince going undercover is the safest and best way to find Detective Callaway."

Susannah went off to her office and came back quickly. "I had a bad feeling that this was going to happen, so I have your identities ready. The cards linked to those names are set directly to the police account. Do. Not. Blow the budget. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah." Danny grabbed the file with our identities and credit cards. "You ready to go, princess?"

"No."

"No?!" Danny exclaimed.

"It's late. I need to sleep." It had to be pretty late at this point. Was he expecting to drive through the night?

"You were asleep just a minute ago. Besides, you can sleep in the car," Danny insisted. He was itching to go.

"You won't know where you're going if I'm asleep," I reminded him exhaustedly.

Danny continued anyway. "Then you can just..."

"Get some rest, Detective Prince. You can leave first thing tomorrow morning," the chief ordered.

"Ugh! Fine!" Danny groaned. He stomped begrudgingly out of the police station, files in tow.

"Elenora, you're welcome to stay with us, if you like!" Dr. North said with a smile. "We've got an air mattress."

"Thanks for the offer, but I've got another night at the hotel," I said.

"We'll give you a ride over there then," Susannah said.

I nodded as I agreed to the conditions. I had bent the truth just a little bit. I technically didn't still have my room from the hotel. I hadn't known what my plans were going to be, so I hadn't bothered to say I was staying for a second night. I doubted I'd have any trouble. I was only one person, after all. Not that difficult to find just a single room.

The trouble would come from if I had stayed with Susannah and her husband. She had been right. The Chus were making their move, so it wouldn't be long until they were after me. If they couldn't drag me back by capturing Emily, their next target might very well be her and her family. That is, if I managed to show them too much affection. I was pretty confident that I was as tolerably indifferent as always.

The thing that bothered me as we left the station was that other voice I heard when I was unconcious. It hadn't come from any of the people there. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. That police station had seen its fair share of criminals. The malevolent spirit might have hitched a ride on one of them. Still, that spirit shouldn't be taken lightly. It was weak but might grow stronger and cause even more trouble. I'd have to remember to give the station a proper cleansing if I made it back.