“Alright, alright. I had the whole stretch of Gughwa Drive blocked off from all motorists and the traffic rerouted so we can work uninterrupted.” Siwon said by way of greeting as he strode into the PRIC office. “What’s the plan?”

“Plan Zero.” Heechul deadpanned as he looked up from the piles of reports and photographs the entire the team was looking through. “Also known as Plan-Does-Not-Yet-Exist.”

Siwon let out a chuckle at that, shaking his head before he settled on the chair between Kris and Changmin. “Anything? And I’d really appreciate a serious answer this time, by the way.”

Changmin grimaced. “Despite the way Heechul said it, we really don’t have a plan yet at the moment.”

 “We could do a séance.” Amber suggested. “It’s how we usually get things going, right?”

Changmin, Kyuhyun, Seohyun, Jessica and Heechul all exchanged a wary glance at that. “I’m not sure if that’s going to work well.” Seohyun replied with all honesty. “There are two spirits and one of me.”

“Is there a way of, ah, filtering which spirit gets to possess you during a séance?” Yoona smiled apologetically at the medium for the term she used.

“Nothing definite but it might be safe to assume that only a female spirit would be the one to possess Seohyun because… well, they’re both girls.” Kyuhyun flinched. “No offense meant and I’m sorry it sounds all ist or what but I’m pretty certain that if the spirit is male, he might not be willing to participate in the séance unless he’s really desperate.”

“Well, this is tricky.” Kris let out a sigh. “But I think it’s worth a shot. Better than nothing.”

When everyone else voiced their agreement, the soon moved away from the table they had been huddled around to prepare for the séance and head back to Gughwa Drive

~*~*~*~*~*~

Working outdoors was generally more difficult than walking indoors.

Working outdoors when it was snowing was different thing entirely.

As it was, preparation and set up took a lot longer than they were all used to and their winter gear made it difficult to move about in the pace that they were all accustomed to. Chief Ahn had been generous enough to lend a surveillance truck to serve as their base of this case and setting that up to meet the specifications they needed for the task at hand. Kris, Amber, Yoona, and Siwon were fortunately spared from the cold and were all huddled in the truck, watching the monitors like hawks. Sooyoung, Kyuhyun, Changmin, Heechul, Jessica and Seohyun had remained outside and Heechul, Jessica and Seohyun in particular were about to finish setting up for the séance. The cold but rather mild breeze did not help them any, especially when it kept blowing out the candles on the wooden table. Currently, Heechul was ‘arguing’ with the wind, the shaman already spending the past five minutes repeatedly lighting the candles only for the fire to die out. Jessica and Seohyun could only watch him struggle to keep the fire literally burning while the three standing off to the side could only shake their heads at the sight.

Heechul let out a sigh of relief when they all felt the wind calm down and he let out a triumphant yelp when all the candles remained lit up. “About goddamn time.”

Changmin rolled his eyes at that. “Are you three ready?”

“We are now!”

“You guys comfortable and warm enough there?” Kyuhyun asked.

As if on cue, Jessica’s teeth chattered despite the fact that she and everyone else were heavily and appropriately clothed for the weather. “Let’s just get this over with.”

In silence, Jessica, Heechul and Seohyun sat around the small round table they had set up for the séance, closing their eyes and reaching for each other’s hand. The chants left their mouths in soft murmurs as they attempted to channel one of the two spirits still lingering in Gughwa Drive. Everyone else waited with bated breath