It was a pleasant afternoon for a walk, and Cass enjoyed Kushiel’s hand in his. They walked in a peaceful silence, and Cass tried not to think too much about the upcoming meeting. They both seemed lost in their own thoughts, and before heknew it they were walking into the shop. Michael and Ari were already there, and Ari was waving from a side table.
“Dudes! So good to see you guys!” Ari boomed, standing up to give them both fist bumps. Cass had the thought that Ari probably would have hugged them, except they were still holding each other’s hands, which Ari raised his eyebrows at.
Cass didn’t bother explaining, despite Ari’s clear curiosity, and they got greetings out of the way. Steph brought over coffees and snacks for the table without even being asked.
“Thanks, Steph. All good here?” Cass asked as she set down everyone’s favorite.
“I’m hiring someone to do the books and work front of shop,” she answered. Her tone was one he didn’t dare argue with, so he just nodded.
“I trust your judgment,” he said.
“Good,” she replied, then she was heading back behind the counter, already shouting orders at the college kids who were working that day.
“Bruh, your manager is hardcore. I always hated working with her. She is all order and no chaos,” Ari remarked.
Cass only chuckled. Luckily Ari hadn’t unleashed his chaos on the shop for long before moving on. Cass probably should never have hired him, but Ari was just such a sweet and clueless dude-bro, even though he was an upper level demon.
“So, you needed to see us?” Michael asked, getting to the point. He was definitely the order to Ari’s chaos.
“Yeah,” Cass sighed. “I guess it’s time I told you guys some stuff about me.”
“Dude, you’re totally a mobster with a vast network of underground spies, only you’re working on going clean and are really on the side of justice, so you’ve been feeding information to the police for ages and cleaning up your organization. It’s like some good version ofThe Godfather,” Ari guessed.
Cass looked at him, momentarily speechless.
“Or you’re like totally the batman type, and you have some underground lair and maybe some hackers who work for you, and that’s how you know so much information and are able to give us all the clues you give us. Or youarethe hacker, and you have like this giant wall of screens in some hidden lair and you just find shit out and serve the side of justice,” Ari went on.
Michael sighed. “He’s had quite a bit of time to come up with theories,” he apologized, “and we’ve been catching up on movies.”
“Bruh! Kushiel is totally like your Alfred, isn’t he!” Ari leaned closer then, looking pointedly at their clasped hands. “You know, I love the batman fanfic, because of course the butler who totally supports the superhero is the one who belongs with him. I bet they get up to some freaky shit in the bedroom, too. Total role reversal,” Ari suggested, winking.
“Ari,” Michael chastised, but he was smiling.
“It’s ghosts,” Cass blurted out before Ari could start on his next rant.
“Ahhhh,” Ari commented, adding, “Dude, that is so cool. You’re like allSixth Sense. You see dead people. How come we’ve never seen any here then?”
“Angels and demons cannot see ghosts,” Kushiel cut in.
Ari looked pensive at this, but then he just nodded his head. “Yup. Makes sense.”
“Wait, what? Why?” Cass asked. This whole conversation was totally running away from him, which shouldn’t have surprised him when it came to Ari.
“Well, dude, you know what kind of trouble I’d get into with ghosts? I’d have them doing all sorts of crazy shit. Demons and angels would both constantly be all up in their shit. Hey, do you think maybe we could orchestrate a haunting? I bet that wouldtotally freak out Az and Gabe, and it would be such fun!” Ari mused.
“Absolutely not,” Michael said. “They’re still pissed off about the whole lube incident, and I am not dealing with Gabe yelling at me for something you did. Again.”
“Ah, yeah, dudes, the lube thing was epic. See, I—” Ari started, but Michael turned bright red and cleared his throat, and Ari looked over and wisely decided not to finish the story.
“So, ah, yes, Cass can see ghosts,” Kushiel said, attempting to get them back on track. “And my lost souls were turned into ghosts.”
“I see where that would present a problem if angels and demons can’t see ghosts. So Cass found them for you?” Michael asked.
“No, that’s the problem,” Cass answered. “They’ve been hidden from me and other ghosts, and we need help figuring out who did it. It has to be a demon who had access to Erebus, and we thought you guys might have some ideas.”
“Dude, what a foul move, even for a demon. But it’s cool, because you’ll totally go all kickass on them and straighten that shit out. You can go all Godfather on them. Only we’ll call you the Ghostfather!” Ari cried out, excited.
Cass tried not to smile, really he did, because Ari didnotneed encouragement, but he couldn’t help it.
