By the time Chardi exited the bathroom, the lunch had ballooned out into a party that extended to the rest of the restaurant.

  He returned to their table to find only Billy and Brad were still there. Billy was scrolling through his phone while Brad picked at a large plate of fries and attempted to make small talk.

  "You were in there a while," Billy said, raising his eyebrows as Chardi sank back into his seat. Someone had cleared away his dirty dishes while he was gone, leaving behind just his glass of water.

  Chardi glanced at Billy and twisted his mouth, but didn't know how to respond with Brad sitting right there.

  "Sorry. I felt a bit sick for a minute," he said, deciding on a half truth for the time being.

  "Oh no!" Brad exclaimed. "I hope you're not coming down with something. Hold on, I think I have some cold medicine in my bag."

  Chardi considered telling him that it wasn't that kind of sick, but then thought it was probably easier than explaining that he couldn't stomach such rich and plentiful food after living on starvation rations for most of college.

  Billy was still staring at him like he could decipher what really happened if he just studied Chardi's face long enough. But, at least he tried to keep the conversation going.

  "I don't think that Derek is keen to head out any time soon," he said, nodding to the other side of the restaurant. When Chardi turned to look he saw a number of old arcade and pinball machines pressed against the far wall. Cooper was jostling one of the pinball machines aggressively while Elijah and Derek engaged in a whispered conversation that looked fairly heated, based on the way their hands were gesturing.

  "That's fine with me," Chardi sighed, turning back to the table. He felt almost as shaky as he had earlier that day and wasn't looking forward to returning to St. Agnes anytime soon.

  "Here!" Brad said triumphantly, pulling a small blister pack of pills from his camera bag. "I knew I had them in here somewhere." He ripped off one square from the plastic packaging and offered it to Chardi.

  "Thanks," Chardi said, taking the pill but not bothering to open or swallow it. He flipped it over and read the text printed on the paper backing, confirming that it wasn't anything that would help him. Still, he pocketed it in case it might come in handy later.

  "You're turning out to be every bit as essential as Derek and Cooper said you would be," Brad said happily, not seeming to take any offense to Chardi not swallowing the medicine he had given him right away. "I'll admit that I wasn't sure about it when Cooper suggested contacting you, but I guess even a broken clock is right two times a day," he said, laughing at his own joke.

  "What did Cooper say about me?" Chardi asked, already dreading what he was about to hear.

  Brad faltered then, seeming to sense that both Chardi and Billy weren't nearly as jolly as he was. "Well. Just that you were a medium. A real one. Whatever that means," Brad said with a self-deprecating smile.

  "I'm not a medium," Chardi snarled. "I'm not a psychic! I don't believe in any of this-" Chardi bit his tongue as he noticed a number of heads at nearby tables swivel to watch him with wide eyes as his volume rose. "Ugh," he grunted, pressing his hands hard into his eyes, causing colors to dance on the back of his eyelids.

  "Hey," Billy said, his hand landing on Chardi's shoulder. He imagined that Billy could probably feel how tense he was beneath the fabric of his hoodie. Regardless, Billy rubbed at his shoulder. "It's okay," he said quietly.

  "I'm sorry," Brad said uncertainly. "I didn't know it was a sensitive subject."

  "It's not your fault," Chardi said tonelessly.

  He dropped his hands from his eyes, but kept his gaze trained on the table. An awkward silence settled over the three of them.

  "The recording," Brad started hesitantly, after all three of them had sat there for a minute. "I guess I did notice that you didn't seem to be channeling or anything before- Well, before."

  Chardi looked up at that, frowning as he realized belatedly that the others hadn't just viewed the few seconds of film with the disappearing girl. They probably would have watched all of the footage that Billy had recorded. Chardi's face heated as he remembered all the things he had shouted as he tore through that classroom like a tornado. His only saving grace was that his skin was dark enough that probably nobody noticed him flushing in shame.

  "Derek can get tunnel vision sometimes," Brad said with a wince. "I don't know what is going on between you two, but I promise that he's not a bad guy. He's just passionate about this project. And, I mean, I guess you two saw why. With every discovery like the one you two just made today, we get closer to understanding the secrets of the afterlife," Brad said, something breathless and exciting in his voice.

  If Chardi wasn't blushing before he was almost certainly then. He had no idea how to reply to Brad that wasn't some version of how there was no way some group of weirdos in nowhere Pennsylvania were going to discover the secret of the afterlife by fucking around in the woods. Luckily he was saved from having to say anything by Billy standing up and loudly saying

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Wow! I think I'm going to go learn how to smoke!"

  "What?" Chardi squawked, surprised.

  "Hey, Chardi. Imogen is smoking out back. Do you want to go smoke?"

  "Billy," Brad said, a plea and apology somehow weaved together in that one word.

  "Now really isn't the time to evangelize," Billy said in a tone colder than any Chardi had heard from him in the short time he had known him.

  Chardi looked up at Billy in surprise while Brad folded his wide shoulders in and looked contrite. "I know you don't believe. You don't have to and I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking you to try and understand where your brother is coming from."

  Billy snorted and turned to Chardi. "You coming?" he asked, not bothering to reply to Brad.

  "Uh, sure," Chardi said uncertainly, stumbling a little as he got up from his chair and followed Billy as he walked quickly to the back of the restaurant and let himself out through a door that Chardi hadn't noticed before.

  The door let out onto a dirty set of cement stairs beside a dumpster. Distantly, Chardi noted that somehow all restaurants seemed to look the same in the back, including a rusty dumpster dripping garbage juice and angry smoking teenagers.

  Imogen was crouched on the last step, smoke escaping between her lips. She turned to look at them as they came down to take a seat beside her.

  "Change your mind so soon?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Yep," Billy said shortly, holding out a hand expectantly.

  Imogen's mouth pulled up in one corner, giving her that rakishly handsome look Chardi had noticed before. She shook another cigarette out of her pack and deposited it into Billy's hand. Even Chardi, infrequent smoker that he was, could see how uncertainly Billy handled it before he managed to hold it out to Imogen to light.

  Imogen did so with her cheap bic lighter and both she and Chardi watched Billy as he took a deep drag, Chardi in fascination Imogen in amusement. Billy barely finished his drag before he started to cough violently, flailing out with the hand holding the cigarette and nearly nailing Chardi in the face with it. Grimacing, Chardi grabbed Billy's wrist and plucked the cigarette from between his fingers.

  On Billy's other side, Imogen was howling with laughter. "You sucked that in so deep!" she crowed, her head thrown back. "Oh my god!"

  Frowning, Chardi brought the cigarette to his own mouth and took a drag. The taste was bitter chased by the familiar chill of menthol. He held it in his lungs and felt it go to his head. It brought back memories of sneaking cigarettes behind the group home when he was a kid. He wasn't sure if he liked the taste or the memory or the light headed feeling it gave him, but he took another drag anyway.

  Once Billy was finally able to catch his breath, he gasped, "What the hell. Does everyone know how to smoke, but me?"

  "Probably, pretty boy," Imogen laughed. She grinned at Chardi and he had to look away, taking another drag on his cigarette and trying to focus on the dizzy feeling. It was unfair how nice Imogen looked when she smiled like that.

  "Did you finally get tired of Brad playing counselor?" Imogen asked Billy, nudging him in the shoulder as he coughed a few more times, looking a little miserable.

  "Nah," he sighed. "More like, I just wanted to save Chardi from having to deal with it."

  "What was he saying while I was in the bathroom?" Chardi asked, leaning around Billy to ask Imogen, since he thought he'd be more likely to get a straight answer from her.

  "It sounded to me like he was doing a lot of apologizing for Derek, instead of telling Derek to apologize himself," Imogen explained, arching an eyebrow in Billy's direction.

  Billy stared down at the scuffed toes of his sneakers, frowning prodigiously for a moment, before holding out his hand to Chardi. "Can I try again?" he asked in a rasp.

  "Uh, yeah, sure," Chardi said uncertainly, handing the half smoked cigarette back. "Just take it slow. Small breaths until you're used to it."

  Billy took the cigarette back, holding it between his first and second fingers like Chardi had, if a little inexpertly. He took a much smaller drag and was able to hold it in his lungs for a few seconds before the smoke exploded out in a harsh cough. It was at least nowhere near as harsh a coughing fit as his first attempt had caused.

  "There you go, Billy," Imogen laughed, slapping him on the back as he coughed, tears clinging to the corners of his eyelashes. "You'll be a natural in no time," she said.

  "He usually does. Tell Derek to apologize," Billy said, suddenly returning back to the previous subject.

  Chardi frowned at Billy, but he was still staring at his shoes.

  "Have you known Brad a long time?" Chardi asked. He was a little surprised to hear that anyone would tell Derek to do anything, that Derek even had friends at all. Surely Derek would have wanted to bring all his friends along on his trip to stardom and riches. It made sense that most of the people there were people Derek, and by extension Billy, already knew.

  Billy nodded, flicking the filter of the cigarette in a way that he had seen Chardi do to shake the ash off the end. Chardi didn't bother pointing out that it didn't need it yet.

  "Yeah, Brad was Derek's contact with all the other paranormal groups in the state. He's way into that stuff." Billy flicked the cigarette again, frowning at his hand as he did so. "He was always trying to get Derek to go with him to church, at first. I think he's given up on that by now, though."

  "He's a people pleaser," Imogen said derisively and took a long drag on her own cigarette. When Billy turned to look at her she raised her eyebrows at him. "He wants you and your brother to get along, but he doesn't particularly care to fix what's going wrong. He just wants you both to shut up and make up."

  It was Chardi's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Go along to get along?" he asked dubiously.

  "Ayup," Imogen said, saluting him jauntily with the hand that held the cigarette and getting the glowing red cherry dangerously close to her close cropped brown hair.

  Chardi wrinkled his nose at the thought. He had never been able to follow that particular adage very well, though he had had no end of social workers, foster parents and caretakers who had told him something along those lines whenever he had a problem with another foster kid.

  "It didn't used to be this way," Billy muttered, handing the cigarette back to Chardi. "I don't know how you guys smoke that stuff. I feel like my head is swimming."

  "That's because you're a sweet baby bitch," Imogen said in a high sweet voice that was very unlike the throaty growl she had been talking all day.

  She stubbed her cigarette out on the concrete step and flicked the butt in the general direction of the dumpster and climbing to her feet with a grunt. Chardi took a last long drag of his own cigarette, stubbing it out and tucking it into his pocket so he could throw it away properly later.

  "It's cold out here," she groaned. "Let's head back in."

  Chardi climbed to his own feet, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and followed her. He stopped at the top step and looked back at Billy, still sitting on the bottom step staring at his feet.

  "You okay?" Chardi asked as carefully as he could manage. He wasn't the best at being gentle, even when he was trying to be.

  "Yeah," Billy said. "I'll be in. Just give me a minute."

  Chardi frowned down at Billy, but wasn't sure what else he could do. He followed Imogen inside.