Albert’s fears about being in a car accident while Amy drove turned out to be completely unfounded. She was an extremely cautious driver and handled the sedan they were in expertly. Albert wagered that she probably could drive while experiencing that visual distortion from the glasses and be just fine; or at the very least, still be as good as any other driver he’d been in a car with. Her only likely reason for not doing that was to save herself the effort and possible headache. But, in a pinch... Albert didn't feel unsafe.

“So, did you have to spend money out of the arbitration fund to rent this car?” The thought had been on Albert’s mind since she had directed him to the vehicle.

It was a newer model four door sedan, tan in color, and it was entirely boring to look at. One could easily imagine leaving it in a parking lot and not being to find it again because of how innocuous it was. Albert figured that was intentional. Most rental cars he had ever been in either looked really flashy or were extremely nondescript. This was one of those nondescript ones.

“No, I took it out of my personal funds. Mostly because I don’t like walking everywhere. I figure it’s a luxury for me more than you, since I’d be the one complaining about it.”

__________

They had gone downtown. Amy had picked the location and stated that starting in the middle of the busier shopping districts gave them the best odds. She had also given Albert her glasses again to spot any wandering spirits, but Albert hadn’t seen anything. It was still earlier in the day than when they had gone out before as well, so Albert felt that had something to do with it. But then Amy started driving through poorer neighborhoods and shopping districts on the outskirts of the downtown area. Albert didn’t like the implications that crossed his mind, but didn’t question Amy’s judgement either. If he let himself get carried away thinking things over too much, he’d lose focus and they’d have to go through an area again.

That had already happened twice. And it was embarrassing both times.

“This might be easier if we go on foot through a few places.” Amy sighed as Albert signaled again that he wasn’t seeing anything out of the ordinary. “Is there a hospital down on this side of town?”

“Yeah, there’s… two now I think. Used to be three.” Albert pointed towards a direction of the downtown area he was familiar with. It had been a long time since he’d been to one of the hospitals, since the last time he’d gotten a vaccination required for elementary school, actually, but he still mostly remembered the way.

“Okay, we’re going to go wander one.” Amy made a turn in the direction Albert had pointed and went silent again.

It wasn’t until they had parked in a slightly sketchy lot by the one hospital that Amy actually turned to address Albert directly.

“So, we may find a lot of spirits in there. But most of them will be very weak, and probably of old people. Those ones will be harder to get to sign a contract. Old people are more irritable than younger people, and they don’t like being told what to do. As an extra frustration, their spirits will look like how old they feel and not necessarily how old they really are. So we could be guessing a lot.”

“Okay, so we’re looking for younger dead people.”

“Yeah. And there might not be any.” Amy was about to leave the car when she thought better of it and turned back to Albert. “Also, don’t make eye contact with any of them. If you let them know you can see them, they’ll just get in the way. So you might have to walk through some spirits.”

Albert cringed at the thought of walking through a dead person. It wasn’t a creepy concept the way people reacted to it in movies when they passed through a ghost or something, but it was more… gross. Albert wasn’t thrilled about getting in a dead persons personal space either.

Amy got out of the car and went around to the back seat where she had stashed her backpack and pulled it over her shoulder. Before she got it on all the way, she pulled her contacts case out of one of the side pockets and carefully put both contacts in.

“Okay, I’ve got about three hours. Hopefully it won’t take that long, and ideally we won’t wander for that long either. Actually, I think I’ll set a timer for two hours and we’ll call it then.” Amy pulled back her sleeve and pushed some buttons on a wristwatch that Albert hadn't noticed she had on her wrist—one of those super cheap electronic ones that could take a hit from a brick and be just fine. She wore the watch with the face on the inside of her wrist too, which gave Albert an even bigger impression of a military background than he'd had before.

Albert scrambled out of the car and had to walk quickly to catch up with Amy as she walked away. There was still a dull pain in all of his cuts and scrapes, particularly at his knees, but Albert managed to keep up easily enough after the initial scramble. Amy seemed particularly eager to get into the hospital, though she also looked uncomfortable as they crossed the street and made their way through one of the main entrances to the building.

As soon as they were in the building, the colors coming through the glasses shifted. The green tint became more of a yellow tint and the people at desks and sitting in waiting areas had a blue hue to them that Albert didn’t think was normal. Even Amy had a blue tint to her.

“Amy,” Albert whispered in a hiss as he struggled again to keep up with her, “Why does everything look different in here?”

“It’s the constant presence of spirits.” Amy whispered back, finally slowing once they made it past the reception desk with a nod and a smile. “They appear and dissipate here so often that they leave residue that stains the entire building. It’s like walking through the inside of a neon light. If you notice anything that’s particularly weirdly colored, try not to touch it.”

As Amy said that they passed a nurse who was emitting a blue-ish white aura.

“Like her.” Amy nodded to the nurse. “She’s not dead, so she must be a long time employee to have a tint like that.”

“How can you tell that she’s not dead?”

“Because I could smell her. Spirits don’t smell like anything, and in a hospital, everyone smells like something… usually a cleaner or some kind of sterilizing solution.”

Albert picked up on the smell immediately. It was more of a faint lingering odor, but as soon as they passed another member of the hospital staff he got another strong whiff of cleaner. It made him a little nauseous to pay attention to, but if it meant being more likely to pick up on if someone was a spirit he’d be willing to suffer.

Not very far into the halls of the hospital, they saw their first spirit. It was a middle aged looking man in a hospital gown. He looked to have a very similar tint to everyone else, but he was definitely out of place. He was shouting for a nurse and not getting any attention. Albert made an effort not to make eye contact as they approached. He followed Amy’s lead and looked dead ahead, until Amy veered to the side of the hallway and slammed her side into the man. Rather than go flying back, as Albert had seen happen when Amy attacked Arnie, the man dispersed into a cloud of yellow mist.

“Well, that’s one.” Amy sighed, waving a hand in front of her face to try and avoid breathing any of the mist in.

“Was he…?” Albert couldn’t form the words he was thinking.

“He was either very weak when he died, or he’s been here a long time.” Amy nodded as she answered. “That’s what it looks like when a spirit is forced to dissipate.”

“Right. I’ll… I’ll remember that.”

“Don’t freak out on me, Albert.” Amy turned to glare at Albert with a mildly disappointed look. “Most spirits dissipate anyway. Stress testing them either means they suffer in the in-between stage less, or they survive and you can try and make a deal with them. Try not to think about it too much.”

Albert had to actively distract himself from being overcome with thoughts about what it felt like to dissipate. He’d almost done it himself before he made his deal with Death. It had to be painful. Albert remembered trying to fight against Death, and that alone had been painful. He knew spirits could feel things like pain and fear, because he had been a spirit; even if just for a short time. He had still experienced a lot.

Further wandering found more spirits, all meeting the same fate as the first. Amy made an offhand comment about how hospitals were typically not a great place to make deals, unless they were visited and cleared out regularly. Albert didn’t like the implication of someone like Death maintaining the spirits of a place like a hospital and turning it into something like a soul farm. But Amy was letting on that that wasn’t unheard of. The longer they went without finding a sturdy soul, the less Albert wanted to hear Amy’s comments.

After about an hour, Amy had shoved six spirits into mist and they had been asked to leave by two different nurses. That didn’t actually stop them from moving to a different part of the hospital though. It was a big building and almost every floor had patients. Some floors didn’t have anyone seriously ill or at risk of dying, and Amy explicitly avoided the obstetrics wing. Albert didn’t blame her. That was the last sort of spirit he wanted to encounter and he felt the same cringe of sorrow that he saw slip past Amy's facade every time they past a sign or marker leading to that side of the hospital.

Albert was starting to worry that the timer on Amy’s watch would go off before they found a spirit that wasn’t too weak. But before it could, Albert passed by a nurse with an almost luminous blue aura around her. She didn’t smell like cleaner though, which Albert almost didn’t notice. Albert nudged Amy and tilted his head to the nurse, which garnered a raised eyebrow and a surprised nod. Amy made a subtle turn back around and shoulder checked the nurse. She didn’t turn into a mist, and for a moment Albert was worried that it was just a normal nurse. But when she tried to catch herself against the wall, her hand passed right through it.

Albert watched as Amy pulled the feather pen from a pocked and jabbed it into the spirit’s side before she could fully recover. Amy nodded towards a closed custodial closet and Albert followed her into the cramped space. For a moment, Albert thought about the stereotype of medical students sneaking into custodial closets. The thought was quickly dispelled by Amy thrusting the folder full of contracts and the ink well into his hands.

“Do you have a plan for her? She looked pretty worn out, so I think a notoriety contract might work.”

Albert vaguely remembered the notoriety form. He’d only glanced at it for a little bit while picking out the five that he thought would be most effective the last time. He flipped through the pages again and found it. The main exchange was that the contractee would be remembered for a significant advancement or deed after their passing.

“I’ll see, I guess. I’ll keep notoriety, material trade, parting farewell, and with prejudice on top. Those seem likely.”

“With prejudice? Really?”

“She looked pretty miserable. If I was that miserable I wouldn’t want people to remember me. But I guess it could go either way. Really depends on why she works so hard.”

“Okay.” Amy held out the pen. “It’s going to suck. You’re going to have a hard time. Good luck.”

“Right. This is going to suck. It's going to be hard.”

Albert let the advice sink back in before taking the pen.