Ghostly illusions thoroughly dispelled, it was back to the timetable of reality.

Sao was the sole passenger to board the bus at the edge of the vacant lot that flanked the apartment building. Six passengers got off as he got on. A surprising burst of activity in a place he had assumed desolate. Other than Rai and himself, he hadn't seen a single person walking those streets. Three of the passengers were good acquaintances with one another, rambling away as they faded into the backdrop of old building fronts and abandoned construction zones. It was comforting to see some movements of civilization, of people, though they quickly dissipated across the gray lot.

He took a seat near the front. The bus veered away from the sidewalk, and when he once again saw the shadows of skyscrapers and heard traffic he was well and truly back in the real world.

The bus took a scenic detour through the upper-class suburbs and past the harbor, along the boardwalk. Sao set his chin on his arm and watched the waterway fly by. He had intentionally chosen the bus with the longest route. Rai had been right, he was tired. Although the woman and her baseball bat had tried their best to shock him off-course, Marina was still on his mind.

It was still somewhat early in the evening. The long ride would help him burn off some of that time and with any luck a few of his lingering thoughts.

Disappearances. Re-appearances. The chain. Massive vomiting spells. Zen’s police report, Marina’s locked apartment. His transcription work that had gone untouched all day. Rai’s night time business.

Listing it all out, his mind felt strained to capacity. If he relaxed for a moment, all impending disasters and fears would all come spilling out at once. The feeling made his palms sweat even as he sat there staring at his own reflection, floating over the backdrop of city lights like a ghost that could not pass.

In the end, his thoughts were not as strong as he thought. The bus rumbled onto the bridge and he dipped into a shallow but merciful slumber.

When he woke up, the seats were emptied.

He lurched up and checked the surroundings through the wide windows. Low-rise brick walls and iron lampposts. Trees in planters, bike racks - he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Having been transported directly from the bridge to here, having missed his stop and the entire central city entirely - it felt like time had warped. But no, here he was. And as long as it wasn’t a dream...

Sao stepped off the bus, far from home but only three blocks from Rai’s office. He was also just around the corner from the bar where Zen had first introduced him to Icey and Marina.

The meeting seemed a tiny speck in the distant past. What had he said to Rai? That his days weren’t such a drag as of late. That was true. Time passed well when life was going smoothly, it was nothing like life in the family 'home'. Even workdays were easy. Today, though…

Sao walked into the golden haze of the bar, keeping the door open for a mite longer to let out the cigarette smoke. The room was buzzing pleasantly with conversation, no large gathering of note but he did see a certain pattern in the crowd. The smaller companies ended hours a little later than the major corporations, and this was their time. The room was dotted with a number of people who were most definitely from the design houses nearby. Far more casual than their 9 to 5 counterparts (or extensible 8 to 10, in the case of Chimera top guns) there were nevertheless a good number who were dressed all the more impressive, with statement stripes and meshes, with massive black cloaks and hats hung over chairs.

Without Zen, his entrance went unnoticed. All the better. His own windblown jacket had crumpled against itself again. He sat down rested his fingers lightly over his eyelids. The background static of unrelated conversation was relaxing, but it was true. He was tired.

“What in the hell? No - I know that face. Sao?”

Icey was waving a friend out the door when she spotted him. She looked somewhat tired too, but beamed at him widely, approached, and gave him an invigorating slap on the back. He coughed and laughed, nervously. His phobia talk apparently hadn’t stuck with her.

“Icey, what a surprise to see you here.”

“Late night at the office?”

“A bit of that, among other things. Went out on assignment, inspected some carpet, got accosted by an old woman.”

“Them’s the breaks.”

Sao folded his hands together. “You’re looking fine tonight.”

“Oh, please. This is just what they force us to wear for the holiday dinner service. Hey, come over and sit with me. Everyone just left but I didn’t get a chance to finish my drink.”

The table was awash with napkins and crumbs. Icey picked at the remains of some bright orange chips and sipped a drink of a similar color. Slung behind her was a brutally red long coat, admirably robust and workmanlike, but a sore thumb among the sea of blacks and greys elegantly selected from local thrift stores. The artistic eyes around them were observing with mild interest. Crude for such a crowd, but nothing compared to Rai’s red eyed rays of judgment.

“So how are you doing? It’s been a while.” Icey crunched loudly. “Work’s been crazy, how early do celebration dinners start? There’s still weeks until the holiday itself and… god. But I’ll be off soon too, though family dinners are just as bad in my household.”

“Big family?”

“Depends on who you ask. Big appetites, sure. I always get an earful: ‘you work in restaurant, make us your special.' All of us – meaning 'we’ll just sit here in front of the TV while you do it all.’ Little do they know, not everyone in a restaurant is a chef. You know there’s a reason I man the customers, not the kitchen, right?” Icey took a long sip of her rather strong-smelling drink. “But I almost never get to see my folks, so I can’t just let them starve. Couple of cousins might get food poisoning, though.”

“Accidents aside, it sounds like a real delight, family and food. I’ve never visited your restaurant, have you mentioned its name to me before? My mind’s like a sieve these days.”

“Oh? I’ll bring you there sometime, but you probably won’t want to go on just any day. It’s out of the way.”

“I live in the city, is that any better?”

“It’s way, way out of the way,” she gazed up at the swirling shapes of the light fixtures. ”I live pretty far out too. I just come by here a lot because it’s where Zen always is, and the food’s a lot better. Easier for Marina to make it in too.”

They were silent. Conversation around them had grown hushed too. Icey had quite the voice and its absence left a ringing emptiness.

The haggard bartender took note and after shuffling his feet behind the bar in discomfort, turned on some music. Some oily-smooth jazz broke up the muggy air, just enough to breathe.

Icey squinted her eyes sorely and faced him again. “Another reason I’m always around this neighborhood, have you noticed all the buses seem to end up here? Tell me I’m not crazy.”

“I was just thinking that myself as I headed over. Or more accurately, as I ended up here.” Sao dusted away some chip crumbs and set his arms on the table. “Have you known Zen and Marina a long time?”

“Careful,” she drawled, “Your boss is rubbing off on you.”

“Oh lord, don’t tell me you know Rai too.”

“Really, Sao? Really?” She tilted her head as if trying to catch him out. He smiled. Icey sighed and flopped across the table. “It’s so much harder to say no to a question from a pretty face. Okay, okay, officer. No, I don’t know Mr. Rai personally, just heard the horror stories from Zen. No offense. He hears about a tragedy and comes running over for 20 questions, yelling edition. She also says he works like a maniac even without suspects, every new case is life-or-death, that he’s running around town at 3am knocking on doors. Oh, and he loses his head over the price of coffee. Figures that the most dedicated demi-cop in town is a tough customer.”

“I believe it. She talks about him a lot?”

“I see where you’re going with this. He’s a little special - but not by much. You got a special mention when you first turned up too, and she wasn’t tearing her hair out talking about you. We’re always talking wacko - oops - you know, storied patrons. Me and Zen go way back, high school years. We only got to know Marina once we started working.” Icey chipped at the ice in her cup with the stirring stick. “We both got to know her one random night, and invited her to another and it just went on from there. It was a surprise that she bothered to hang out with us all the time. Not a bad thing! She just seemed like she was… over our heads, out of our league, whatever. Rushing the pay the bills each night like it was no big deal. Talking about spirit capture and planes of reality like it was normal. Not making a show of it, nope, like it was just everyday talk. Like we were also rocket scientists.”

“I might know what you mean. Rai’s like that sometimes.”

“Marina was excited to meet him. He hadn’t come up on conversation for a while, until Zen said something like about him storming out of the bar one day and then he never came back.”

“I heard he was only holed up there while his apartment got renovated.”

“Is that so. Marina was thrilled to hear about him though, she recognized him from the name alone. Never saw her so excited about a guy before. But after that day he was never there when she was ready to meet. Talk about bad luck.”

“Indeed.” Sao said. “Bad luck.”

Talking about Marina brought them down again for a spell. Icey began to crush her ice more violently, pulping a mint leaf on the shards. “I used to think she was kind of a show-off, even if it wasn’t intentional, I mean, what’s a top corporate engineering lady doing with a bunch of waitstaff like us? Not you, I mean--” she scuffed the hair on top of her head. “It was insulting to think about, but whenever we were all around, it wasn’t. It was dumb of me. We were the ones standing over her all the time, at all the places we would go. Making a scene, talking over her head, scaring off the...”

“Some people prefer that sort of friendship. If she wasn’t your typical crowd, she made effort to come out and see you. Being around you might have made her feel...”

“Safe? You were gonna say that, right? What else could you be going with that.” Icey slapped the cup down, louder than even Rai would have. “Safe, like hell we could keep anyone safe. Look what happened. No - nobody knows what happened. Dammit. Where the hell is she? I’d take even bad news at this point.”

Another agitated silence. The bartender fiddled with the radio, causing a faint static to rise over them before settling into a muffled rock ballad from the pop rock station. Some of the other customers gave mumbles of disapproval. At least it was something to talk about while the rowdy middle table calmed themselves.

“Dammit,” Icey murmured again, “If she turns up, I swear, I’ll listen to any number of stupid superdimensional science rants. Dimensional engineering, what the hell. Every place we go, any way we take, any guy we meet, she gets first fucking dibs. Well, she was never interested in any of the chuckleheads we ran across but you never know. If she had the choice of bar every time maybe we’d actually meet someone for her. If someone isn’t I’ll… I’ll, you know, just break their neck. A bat and a table. Anything-”

Bats were in fashion, then. “Okay, hold it. What would she have to say about that?”

“She wouldn’t like it, but you know what we’d all like a lot less? The thought of some creep crawling all over one of our pals.”

“I see, one of those. In that case, swing away.”

“Oh, I didn't mean you. You’re one of the good ones,” Icey said, sliding down in her chair, deep in thought. “Or close enough. Kind of twiggy.”

Her fingers inched towards his wrist like a caterpillar. He snapped his arm away, onto his lap, and smiled blankly. “I don’t do touching. Remember?”

“Right, right. Dammit, I’m all over the place tonight. Hey, you get a creep on you, let me know too, okay?” She whistled, swung a punch in the air.

“Thanks for the offer.”

The lull resumed again, for some time. Three tables of design studio maestros paid their bills and left, trying very hard not to look in Icey’s direction after her grand declaration. Sao inspected his hand. Just below the sleeve, there was a patchy area of flakes, in the same autumn-red he’d had on his face earlier that day. It was most definitely time to go home.

He was so consumed by his own skin that he nearly jumped when Icey lurched onto her feet, on full alert. The door had just closed behind another small group of customers.

“Did you hear that?” Icey breathed.

“I’m sorry?”

“Shh.”

Without much choice in the matter, he listened. All right. Muffled guitar from the corner speakers; distant vocals faintly overlaid.

At the table furthest back, a couple. Here it is. Who’s paying? You? No, I’ll do it, I insist. No, me, I’m the one who… I could could never let you… A giggle.

A swarm of designers in their black sweaters, circulating some photographs on their phones. An airy snicker from one or all of them.

And at the door, another couple. Smooth voice. Let me get that for you, madam. A touch of humor to it. Then the madam, aw, thank you. I’m lucky to have run into you tonight.

“Marina-” Icey called, standing up so abruptly her chair and coat nearly ended up on the floor.

“Icey,” Sao hissed. He got to his feet and the look she gave him for interfering put Rai’s evil eye to shame.

“It’s her.”

It was. In the flesh, and yet… Sao bit his lip. He held up his hands in defense and hoped Icey would not take it as an invitation to grab and swing. “Sit down. Icey, there’s something I have to tell you. About this case.”

“Are you serious?”

“Deadly serious.”

“Did you know this would - are you-”

“No. It’s a surprise to me too, but Rai - we thought something like this might happen. Not here but... Icey, wait. The fact that she’s here is...” He glanced behind him. There she was, in her navy and white, grasping a stranger’s arm. “We need to be careful. If there’s some reason she was in hiding until now, she could easily bolt, and if that man has anything to do with her disappearance-”

“I’ll break his neck.”

“- then he might have something to do with Oliver and Locke’s disappearances too. We have to make sure we can catch him, and get an explanation. Make sense?” He took a half-second look over his shoulder again.

Icey was still as stone. “Why didn’t she notice me?”

“Maybe she did. We don’t know her situation. At least she looks unharmed, right?”

Those words were reassurance enough for now. Icey dropped back into her seat quietly, and Sao mimicked the motion of brushing crumbs off the table into a napkin, and settled into his chair.

Marina and her companion opted for an intimate two-seater near the window. Her fingers were playing on his sleeve the whole time. Sao looked his suspect over, a small wayward glance, but there was little point in his being delicate. Icey was eyeballing them like a demon.

Sao wished he could have seen a reason to jump into action, but the newcomer was altogether unremarkable. Moderately good looking, tawny colored hair, in a fitted wool coat. The coat was removed, and he saw a black suit. Probably a city trader just getting off work. He seemed sheepish yet pleased for the attention Marina was showering over him. The strangeness of that eclipsed anything coming out of the man.

She looked exactly the same as he remembered. Small and slender, smooth dark locks hanging just over her shoulders. But her chirping and needling fingers were entirely different. She had her left arm pressed against the man’s back, was looking up in doting. Not the careful distance she had taken from the near-50 or so fellows at the party where they had met.

“What the hell is she doing?” Icey whispered.

Sao was studying his phone. “They look close.”

“No way. She would have told us. Don’t you want to keep an eye on this?” Icey whispered, no longer particularly quiet.

Sao’s face stayed neutral, his phone in hand. He was waiting for a response.

“You know, I’m just going to say something.” She stood.

Sao set the phone done quickly. “Oh, good timing. You headed to the bar, can you get me something? Just a lime soda.” She was halfway out of the main dining area, glaring at him with some serious venom now. “Please? I’ll keep an eye out. On our things.”

As expected (though with a very small margin of confidence) she could not bring herself to punch him right in his simpering smile, so she conceded, and headed to the back of the room.

In the opposite direction, Marina’s male companion had evidently overheard them and hopped up to pick up drinks for their own table. Hands now empty, Marina placed her chin on her fingers girlishly and watched him go. From her seat, she could see the whole room. Icey stood in full view at the back, and Sao sat prominently in the near-empty dining area. But she only had eyes on the man she had come in with. Sao took up his phone again.

Icey returned and set down his drink with a cruel thunk.

“The hell is she doing with that guy,” she rasped. “Was this really her taste all along? Boy looks like a poodle. And a showoff. Pulled out a five hundred before he’d even ordered. Idiot like that, just asking to get mugged, and if he drags her in with him-”

“You’ve really never met him before?”

“Hell no.”

Sao ran his hand over his hair. “Something’s not right.”

“Oh, you don’t say.”

“She hasn’t looked in our direction at all. Their table is so close to the door, if she were here against her will, she could have run already.”

“Or yelled for help.”

“Unless there’s someone waiting outside.” Sao squinted out into the cold darkness beyond the window. He could see nothing more than the nearest sidewalk and a half of a thin, winter-worn tree.

“Dammit, you mean like a sniper? A gang ambush? Then we’re screwed too if we try to help.”

“Not exactly. The police should be here soon.”

Icey went silent.

“That’s what the posters say, right? Have any information about this person’s whereabouts? Call the police. Though, it was more of a text message.” Sao glanced down at his phone. “I have some internal numbers. Dispatchers, and the like.”

“Of course! You think of everything, don’t you? So that means we just have to…” Icey placed her hands on the table. “Wait it out.”

As if on cue, Marina was now looking their way, with considerably less pleasure than she had directed at her male companion. Sao smiled instinctively, and quickly averted his gaze in apology, but she hadn’t been looking at him. It was Icey. And that wasn’t a face a friend would be making at another friend. There was a twist of confusion, and unmistakable hostility.

Marina pulled her coat off the back of her chair, and set it on her lap.

Sao pushed back his chair and stood, alerting Icey. “She’s going to leave. As soon as her friend comes back, she’s going to ask.”

“Her friend?”

He shook off her accusatory hiss. “That man, whatever he is. I mean, whoever.”

“Then I’ll stop her. But what if he...”

Icey crossed her arms. The both looked towards the bar where the bartender was preparing a particularly tricky drink for his moneyed customer. Then to the door.

“Icey,” Sao said quietly, “Do you feel more confident talking her down or stopping that man if he tries to leave?”

She now twisted her chin in his direction. “Well, I’ll put it like this. You talk fine, but I don’t think you’ll be able to stop anyone from charging out.”

He smiled. “Okay then. You’ll be waiting outside then?”

Icey flipped her hands up and pushed her chair back. The red coat whirled around her, and she strode towards the door, flaring. Sao followed her, hands in pockets, but when he reached the last row of tables by the windowside, he paused.

“Marina! I thought I recognized you. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

She smiled right back. She had been given too much time to prepare while he and Icey had bickered over the table, but no matter. “Oh, yeah! I thought I’d seen your face before, but I wasn’t sure...”

“It’s me, Sao,” he said helpfully. “I'm a... I'm a newcomer to one of the offices around here. I was the -- lord I’m going to butcher this -- ‘haphephobic’ I think you called it. So you’ll forgive me for not shaking hands. I have a condition, something of a skin condition.”

“Ah, right. No worries. We’ve met already, after all.”

“No kidding. Remember that night? Everyone was coming to us for free drinks. Well, they weren’t free, but you know how people are, around people like-” He swiveled his head in mock suspicion and pointed from her to him.

She laughed. It was unusually loud. “Of course! So sorry I didn’t say hello earlier. How have you been doing?”

“Icey and I have been trying to reach you, actually. I hope you’ve been alright.”

Eyes on the door. “Icey…”

“She just walked out. You know what, I’ll let her know not to wait up.” He pulled out his phone and messaged a random number. He could apologize to the confused recipient later.

“She was looking over so intently! I thought I had done something to offend her.”

“We can smooth it over later. She thought you were ignoring her.”

“I may have done it accidentally. I’m so sorry, it’s been a rough month.”

“Nothing too bad, I hope.”

“I lost my phone a few days ago, haven’t found time to get a new one. And then I couldn’t make it into work because--”

“Not sick, I hope.”

“No, I wasn’t - it wasn’t me, but - it was a family emergency. I had to go out of town, and then the trip back got delayed by-” her voice petered out. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

Marina kneaded the blue wool of her coat, eyes down, now something close to his original impression of her. But it wasn’t time to let up.

The man returned, with two drinks. Marina thanked him, but before she could stand, Sao quickly centered himself. “What’s this, who’s your new friend? I don’t think we’ve met before.”

Marina’s head remained down, hair draped over her face like a curtain. The man bent over her, raised a hand to her shoulder, then lowered it. Now standing right behind him, Sao could see his suit was impeccable, especially for one coming out of a long work day. He had flawlessly polished golden cufflinks.

What had Icey said? Didn’t think that was her taste?

“I think you need to leave,” the man said.

“I’m sorry. Marina, I didn’t mean to touch a nerve. I’ll go in a minute. But-” now the hard part. He dug out his wallet, feeling his phone pinging off alerts beside it. “Maybe you’ll let me pay for this round of drinks, at least? Since I ruined it for you two.”

The blue Chimera administrator’s card gleamed hard as sapphire amongst the gloom, definitely smooth and thoroughly modern.

The man recognized it right away, though he would not concede its importance just yet. He did smile wryly and say, “What’s a Chimera guy doing around here?”

“I’m more of a corporate liaison. But it's nothing much, I never have much on my plate, so I was just meeting a friend for the evening. Guess I went a little late. Apologies, again.”

Marina was more openly impressed. Now this was odd.

Sao smiled at her. “No hard feelings?”

Clearly not, she was at her man’s arm again and smiling into his sleeve. “Come on, don’t let him do it. It’s not fair.”

They were babbling amongst themselves. Sao remained posed like an advert, card in hand, feeling somewhat foolish. It was too late for this charade, but at least it was almost over. His phone was buzzing away, the rumble of motors was coming down the long suburban road, he would be able to ride home and collapse into bed soon, Marina's safety comfortably put to rest. What time was it, anyway?

“We can split the bill, if that makes it any better, but really, I must-”

“That sounds good, sounds good, doesn’t it?” Marina asked the man. He nodded, flattered and dumb.

Smile still pasted firmly on, Sao’s hand lowered. This man wasn’t in control at all. Snipers, gangs - how stupid. But that didn’t explain Marina. It still didn’t…

Sao found himself being led to the register at the bar. He turned back. Marina was getting up. “I’ll wait outside,” she said. Her coat in hand. Flipped inside out. And there he saw it.

A car pulled up on the street outside. Good, no sirens.

Marina looked at her hand. There was a heavy silver watch buckled onto her wrist. It didn’t match her at all, not just her outfit, but the whole picture of her. Sao recalled Oliver’s poorly coordinated suit in his last known photo. His mysterious reappearance. Something that didn’t match the character - but who was the character?

“It’s so late,” Marina said. “I really have to leave first, I feel so bad leaving without finishing the drinks but… next time. Oh, I’ll be taking the car. Is that alright?”

Her smile had her date fully malleable to any agreement.

Sao’s own smile was feeling rather stiff. Another car pulled up, his phone received another message at the same time. Things were about to get solved, weren’t they? Taken to the station and handed off to the right people. He was already going over the line, he should have just told Rai that they shouldn’t get involved.

Marina’s coat rose heavily over her shoulders. She tucked one hand into the folds, gave a small wave with the other and exited. The door’s pneumatic seal began to squeal shut. Sao made it halfway across the floor before pivoting on his heel and dashing out behind her.

“Icey!” he called. Officers emerged from the unmarked car across the street.

Not two feet away, the dark blue square of Marina’s back stood just out of the light of a lamp. Icey stood before her, over her, wreathed in her fire-red coat. Marina turned to see him come. In the cover of shadows, was too dark to see her face, but the very sharp, very long knife in her hand had caught the lamplight and was shining white like the sun.

Apart from the edge of the blade, dark with blood. Teeth pressed together, Icey shoved Marina back and the smaller woman dashed, vanished behind the building, the entrance to the parking lot.

When he caught his breath, Sao found he had backed away. He hadn’t helped at all. Hell, even the nameless stranger, Marina’s abandoned date, had already run ahead of him to help Icey to her feet.

So Icey had been right. He hadn’t been able to stop anyone.

---

“I’m fine,” Icey started grumbling almost immediately. The inexplicable betrayal had hit her harder than the knife. She had only sustained a shallow cut across her side, though the crisp white top of her holiday service uniform now had a rather unhospitable red blotch. She was ushered into one of the police cars for inspection. So was Marina’s previously unnamed companion, who turned out to named Zeke C______.

The police that arrived had combed the area and found nobody of Marina’s description. A request for camera footage was put out for vehicles leaving the area.

“It’s dark,” Rai said. “And I’ve seen video from the traffic cameras around here. They’re trash. It’s going to be hard to catch anything useful.”

Sao just stared at him.

Rai had arrived in a taxi hot on the heels of the two police cars, in a deep argument, or possibly moral debate, with the driver who was glad to be rid of him. Rai stalked around the scene of the crime without a hint of exhaustion. Though the shadows under his eyes were pitch black, he was completely lucid. He practically ran up and down the street, twice. Sao’s eyes couldn’t follow him. It was past 2am.

“You look terrible,” Rai told him. “Weren’t you headed home?”

“Couldn’t stop thinking about the case, I guess. I missed my bus stop and wound up here.”

Rai only nodded. “It may have been lucky you did.”

The splatter of black blood on the pavement was screaming otherwise.

Rai circled it with hunter-like interest. “Even if you hadn’t turned up, that wouldn’t change the fact that Icey was here. And you don’t know what might have happened. She or that guy could have become the next in the chain.”

Sao chuckled.

“What?”

“Icey was going to beat that guy’s head in. That would have still been a scene. Marina gets away, another person vanishes, looks like all timelines end in tragedy.”

“What?” Rai echoed again. “Man, people get like this when they’re tired, huh? You really need to go home.”

Sao nearly fell asleep at the bus stop, but Rai startled him awake when the bus came - banging on the wall of the bus stop to accompany his voice. “It's here.”

Sao boarded in a slightly stunned trance. This time, he miraculously regained consciousness just before reaching his destination.

Collapsing into the fresh comforter on his bed, he felt as though a dream had just come to an end. It hadn’t been a particularly uplifting dream. Coming back to reality was almost pleasant in comparison, though the descent left his body feeling heavy as lead.