“Dallas, sir,” Nadroj said, stepping into his office, which had a low fog hanging in the ground that slowly flowed out the open door.

Her boss turned around, imposing and menacing. She had heard his regular form was just like a child’s, but like this, even she was scared at the six foot statue. Dallas stood tall, with a thick coak draping over his body, which looked ripped, tattered, and frayed in some spots. In one hand was his scythe as always, and around his hip hung a lantern that glowed with an eerie green flame. Inside his dark, deep hood she could see the faintest outline of a skull. She couldn’t even spot his eyes in there, which normally glowed on everyone else.

“Sir, I have a request,” Nadroj reported.

Dallas didn’t speak, but motioned with a skeletal hand for her to go on as he turned around. It looked like he was meddling with vials and liquids, probably for Lucas.

“I would like to be transferred to the anorexia division, sir.”

He stopped and slowly turned around again. This time Nadroj could certainly feel his eyes staring into her head.

“No,” said the raspy voice underneath.

“But sir, I-”

In a flash of movement, Dallas swung his scythe and hooked the tip of it through the hole at the base of the knife in Nadroj’s chest. The hole you’d use to hang it from something. She stiffened up in fear.

“No,” he repeated.

“O-ok,” nodded Nadroj nervously. “Understood, sir.”

Just as quickly, Dallas retracted his scythe, making Nadroj sigh in relief. He gave her a dismissive hand wave to usher her out, which she wasted no time doing. At least for now, Nadroj would have to watch her lover from a distance.

*   *   *   *   *

Diana was exploring the hallways of the Council Building, curious about what she would find. The place was sprawling, and was definitely bigger on the inside than the outside, but that wasn’t going to deter her. In retrospect, inviting Ann or anyone at all would’ve made the job easier, but if she got in trouble for some reason, she’d rather just have herself get punished.

“Hm… wonder if the secret good coffee maker is down here…” she wondered out loud. “Ann said her boss swears it exists…”

Diana was about to give up and turn back. She was like, really deep in the office now, and the lights were getting few and far between like a haunted house. Before Diana turned around though, she heard something around the corner. It was…

“Singing…?” she whispered. “All the way back here…?”

She followed the song deeper into the corridors. It was sweet but sad; Diana wished she could understand the words, but they were eluding her. The song was in English, but it was like every other word danced around her ears. Until at last she got to the door she could hear the song behind. Old and worn, with not even a crack of light coming from under the door.

Diana went to open the door, drawn in to know who this girl was that was singing, and why. She gently put her hand on the knob, and…

“Diana Hawthorne, you’re not-”

“-supposed to be back here!”

Diana nearly jumped out of her skin and turned around to see two girls. She knew them well; Skip and Sophie. Bosses of schizophrenia and one of Lucas’ most trusted employees. Even though they were standing right in front of her, the twins were hard to focus on. If she tried to shift her attention to one in particular, she got blurry and irritated her brain.

“I-I’m sorry,” Diana apologized, rubbing her eyes. “I didn’t realize-”

“Only bosses are allowed back here,” Sophie reported.

“Yep, nobody else,” nodded Skip.

“O-ok…” Diana said nervously. 

“Go back to your station-”

“-or we’ll report you.”

“Yes ma’ams.” Diana started walking away, and noticed the singing had totally stopped. “Um, may I ask a question?”

“What question?” the twins said in unison.

“Who’s singing behind that door?”

The twins kept their bright, beaming eyes on her and never broke their copied smiles. It was unnerving, the way they did that. Diana was pretty sure she had never seen them with any sort of upset expression.

“Nobody-”

“-you should be-”

“-worried about.”

“Understood,” Diana nodded, walking away. Though as she did, from the corner of her eye she could see the twins go into the room. She let out a shiver and ran back through the hallways, having had enough adventures for one day.