“I’m sorry. What?”

Albert couldn’t really believe what he was hearing. The man that had gotten him killed, held his soul hostage for personal gain, and forced him to complete spiritually damaging work was offering him a job? Of course he was. After thinking about it for just a second, it made complete sense to Albert. This was some other trick or method to get his soul. Death was never satisfied, and he wouldn’t be until Albert was dead. He felt it in his bones.

“Forgive me. I believe the modern parlance would be internship.”

Albert turned to Amy, but all he got from her was an ambivalent shrug.

“What kind of internship?” Albert couldn’t even believe he was asking the question, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed to know what he was planning on saying no to.

“According to my daughter, it would be inappropriate to remove you from your schooling completely. However, it would not be unheard of to arrange a credit exchange with your school. You would still attend several of your normal classes, but after those classes you would report here and assist with arbitration work under my and my daughter’s guidance.”

Albert narrowed his eyes at Death. The color had come back to his vision but there were still hints of the cracks and Albert needed to be sure Death was being straightforward with him. But Death seemed as genuine as possible, though Albert had no idea how to read the expressions or tone he was getting from him.

“Put your hands on the desk and tell me this isn’t some elaborate plot to kill me.” Ablert nodded down to the desk, placing his own hands flat against the wood himself.

Death raised an eyebrow before cocking his head to the side with a sigh and placing his hands on the desk.

“You have my word. I do not intent to abuse this offer as a means of killing you.”

Albert kept his eyes narrowed.

“I love…” Albert gagged on his own words. The familiar sensation reassured him that there was at least some sort of truth telling effect working. Still, to be sure, Albert turned to Amy and tilted his head towards the desk.

Amy shrugged and put her hands flat on the desk a short ways away from Albert’s.

“My hair is bright pink and my mother was a walrus.” Amy smiled at Albert and waggled her eyebrows.

“Ignore her, Albert. She has no soul. She cannot make the implied agreement.” Death sighed, though the edges of his mouth turned up in a subtle grin.

Albert wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the information he’d just received, but turned his attention back to Death.

“I don’t suppose you’d let me have some time to think it over this go around?” Albert really didn’t want to say yes. But there was something about the offer that piqued his interest.

If Albert performed more arbitration, this time with less deadlines and stakes, he could keep doing the things he liked about the work. Helping people like Arnie and Markus take care of the things they needed done before they lost any tether to their lives had been almost a noble endeavor. Giving the souls to Death seemed like a small price to pay, particularly if he didn’t have to force every soul to agree to a contract. Albert doubted there would be any sort of agreement made that he would have to be underhanded in the way he presented contracts, or that would prevent him from carrying out any well intentioned dying wishes on his own accord. It might also be a decent explanation to his mother if he could tell her he had been trying to get an internship for the last semester of senior year. There was probably a way he could spin it to her that made sense and wouldn’t put her at any greater risk.

But on the other hand, continuing to work with Death was the ultimate risk. Being around him definitely made it more likely that he’d be killed or terminated in some way.

“Of course, Albert. You may take as much time as you need. I would even be willing to extend the offer after your graduation, if you prefer. However, if you are as lucky as I have been led to believe, I am quite eager that you begin as soon as possible.”

“Thank you. I’ll let you or Hope… or Amy, know as soon as I’ve decided.”

“Talk to Hope then and see if you can arrange to have Amy linger in the area as a liaison. You two seem to have grown quite close.” Death gave Amy a dangerous look, but she didn’t seem to mind.

Albert gave Death a respectful nod and stood to leave. Amy lingered in her place, but Albert didn’t want to overstay his welcome or be at all involved with whatever conversation they were going to have.

Once he was back in the reception area and the door to Death’s office was closed behind him, Albert looked towards the clerk that had addressed Amy earlier, Milli.

“Yes?” She looked up at Albert after a brief awkward silence of him trying to make eye contact.

“Where can I find Hope?”

Milli snickered at the question, but nodded in the direction of the other rear office.

“She just finished her meeting.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, dear.” Milli gave him a halfhearted smile and returned to her paperwork.

It occurred to Albert as he approached the door to the other office that there was barely any sign of modern technology in the office. Electric lights and air conditioning seemed to be the extent of what he could see. Albert could hear a little movement on the other side of the door, which made him pause as he had his hand on the doorknob. The pause gave him time to read the placard on the door, which stated that the office belonged to Hope Grim. Again, Albert doubted that was her actual name. It was almost silly how obvious it was.

Albert knocked on the door as he cracked it open an inch.

“Come in.” Hope’s voice called from inside the office.

She sounded less than thrilled to have a visitor, but Albert did his best to ignore that and made his way into the office.

Where Death’s office had been furnished much the same as his arbitration room, Hope’s was much more cluttered. But also, more neat at the same time. There were bookshelves packed with books, many of which Albert recognized as novels he’d seen his classmates reading. The floor was carpeted and very well kept, in fact everything looked like it was cleaned regularly; unlike her father’s office. Her desk was smaller and more modern looking; it was made of a mix of lightly stained wood and metal. There were vibrant tapestry-like curtains hung over the window, but opened to allow light in. Albert could just see sparse trees and the fence outside the window. The bars on the outside of the glass felt like a stark contrast from the style of the interior. But it was this one room and not the rest of the building that was strange.

“Albert, what brings you to my office?”

“Your father offered me an internship… apparently at your suggestion. And I am going to think it over. We were hoping Amy could stay in the area to keep me in touch with the both of you when I make my decision.”

“You two are certainly chummy, aren’t you.” Hope frowned. “But if dad thinks its a good idea, I won’t disagree. She’ll be in town for as long as you remain undecided, then. But don’t take too long. She has other things she needs to do and I don’t want her getting lazy.”

Albert gave a nod and was about to leave when he found himself stopping. He really didn’t want to say what he was feeling the urge to, but there was a chance he’d never see Hope again.

“I wanted to apologize, as well.”

“Oh, don’t even start.” Hope sighed. “Don’t make me regret being nice to you.”

“That’s what you call nice?” Albert almost laughed at the idea that interrupting his makeshift therapy and forcing Amy to punch a tree for a solid five minutes was nice behavior.

“You were honest with me the last time we talked. I can respect that. People aren’t honest around me a lot. So I appreciate candor. If you start trying to suck up to me because of who my father is, I will personally wring your neck.”

“That’s not what I was trying to do.” Albert wasn’t exactly sure how to phrase what he was trying to do, but it certainly wasn’t what she was implying. “Your… attitude earlier today… it was a good… forgive my phrasing, but you made for a good verbal punching bag. I needed someone to be angry at.”

Hope raised an eyebrow in surprise. Albert didn’t like the way she seemed to be taking his apology, but he felt compelled to give it. Lashing out at her had actually helped him quite a bit.

“Sit down, Albert.” Hope gestured to the chair across the desk from her.

Albert was beginning to regret staying in the office as long as he had. But he wasn’t about to make an exit when Hope clearly wanted him to stay… and had just made a threat against his life that he had no doubt she could and would be able to carry out easily.

Albert pulled out the chair and took a seat.

“I overheard some of your conversation with my father. Just the beginning. Thin walls and all that, I realized what was happening and decided to distract myself so I wouldn’t hear anything private.” She waved her hand around idly as she attempted to explain away the casual eaves dropping. “I understand you wrote out a personal agreement and suffered some physical damage.”

“Yes. My eyes had some distortion and my body went numb.”

“How is that doing? Now that you’ve passed that soul on to dad, I mean.”

“There’s still some cracks in my vision… and I’m still a little numb. But I do feel a lot better.”

“Good to hear.” Hope nodded happily at the news.

Albert couldn’t tell where she was going with this, but he felt too deep into it to turn back now.

“Here.” Hope reached into a desk drawer and produced a water bottle, which she held out to Albert. “Don’t freak out on me. It’s just water. You probably haven’t had a lot to eat or drink over the last couple days, and carrying an extra soul in your body takes a lot out of you.”

“Thanks…” Albert took the water bottle and drank a small sip cautiously. It tasted like normal water, and Albert didn’t feel any different afterwards. He did recognize that he had actually been incredibly dehydrated, but didn’t feel comfortable downing the whole bottle while sitting across from Hope.

“I appreciate candor, and, if I’m being frank myself, I would much rather work with someone who is going to be genuine and honest with me… as opposed to the people I already work with. Amy is honest, of course, but I also hate her. I also wouldn’t mind working with someone a bit younger and less… refined as well.”

“That’s fair.” Albert hummed, trying not to take that as an insult. It was accurate, after all. He was still just a teenager and she was… probably an ancient immortal thing that he had no idea what she was capable of.

“That’s supposed to be a compliment.” Hope corrected herself abruptly. “Most of the people that end up working with us, for however long, are usually much younger than me… but still old enough to look at me and think about me like I’m a child. They have opinions and specific ways they want to do things. They treat this work like any other job they’ve had. And there’s a place for that sort of work mindset. But I hate it. I hate all of that.”

Hope sighed and took a deep breath, running her hand through her hair from the front to back.

“You’re still young. You look at me and you see an equal at the very least. Maybe someone you could consider a superior in a work sense. And you probably haven’t had a job before. You have no idea what you’re doing beyond what little bit of experience you already have from two contracts. And that sounds… just, really refreshing.”

Albert felt a little uncomfortable to have Hope talking about him the way she was. She wasn’t necessarily wrong about any of what she was saying, and it actually made a lot of sense. But It didn’t change Albert’s impression of her. She still came off as rude, volatile, and spoiled. If he was working with her, he could very easily see her killing him on a whim when she got upset and then signing some sort of contract to undo the casual murder of a coworker and go on like it was nothing.

“That’s nice. But why are you telling me about any of this? Are you trying to convince me to take the internship?”

“Yes and no.” Hope put her hands down on her desk in an effort to stop fidgeting with her hair. “You would, very likely, do good work with us. But you’re young enough you could probably still do whatever you want to with your life. And it would be nice to be able to work alongside someone like you, but mostly this is me trying to return the favor of the honesty that you’ve given me.”

“Thank you.” There was still apprehension behind the words, but Albert felt the need to show genuine gratitude. It felt like the display was hard for her and she was actually trying.

“I do regret that our first encounter was tainted in the way it was. But I think it might have also been for the better that you dislike me. You might not have been honest with me otherwise… so. Consider this our second first encounter. If you do decide to take the internship, this is how I’d like to act around you. And I hope you don’t take my behavior or personality into account when you make your decision.”

“If I put my hands on this desk, will I be forced to tell the truth?” Albert put a finger down on the desk surface.

“No. But I did spike your water with truth serum.” Hope paused, probably hoping for a wild reaction. But when Albert only gave her a silent, concerned look, she relented. “I didn’t actually spike the water, but I don’t intend to lie to you. Take that at face value, I guess.”

“Did your dad put you up to this?”

“Did he put me up to what?” Hope looked mildly offended, but also like she wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to be offended about.

“Being nice to me to try and convince me to take the internship.”

“No.” Hope frowned, but nodded like she was admitting it was something that he would do. “I think he intends to keep you close no matter what you decide, so he wouldn’t have any reason to force me to act any given way. Not that he has any real control over me. I mean… I guess we’re business partners… in a way.”

“That’s… I believe you.” Albert held up his hand to stop her from rambling. “I do think he has ulterior motives. And I don’t trust either of you. But, since we’re being so honest with each other, I do like helping dead people. It feels right.”

“That’s good to know.” Hope smiled and tilted her head to suggest that Albert could leave. “And thank you, for being honest.”

Albert stood up and walked out of the office. It was an awkward goodbye. But it did feel nice to have that small shred of guilt off his chest. Even if he didn’t particularly like Hope, he didn’t want to linger on that negative emotion he had let stay with him since earlier that day.

In the reception area of the office building, one of the clerks had left and Amy was spinning idly in their chair.

“Good meeting?” She gave Albert a sarcastic smile as she swiveled to a halt. “No broken bones or death threats?”

“One death threat.” Albert chuckled. “And some poisoned water. But apart from that, I think it went okay.”

Amy raised an eyebrow at the positive attitude Albert was giving off, but didn’t give any further questions.

“Let’s get you home before your mom puts out a missing persons report.”

Albert didn’t argue and followed Amy out of the building and to her car.