1. A Bad Idea

I pulled my hair into a claw clip and looked over my shoulder. I smiled at the camera. The little light below the lens was glowing red, meaning I was being recorded. It faced me and my Partner Percy as we stood in the long hallway, in front of a door we were forbidden to ever open.

"Ashlyn, are you sure you want to do this?" Percy asked, having replaced his usual charisma with a kaleidoscope of nerves.

"Of course, I do," I said, watching a bead of sweat trickled down his thick brow. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

Staring at the door before us, he gave one quick nod and gulped. "Okay, then. Let's go."

I slid my hands into some latex gloves, to evade leaving the slightest fingerprints behind, and took a deep breath. "Ready?"

Authorised Personnel Only was engraved upon the smooth metallic surface of the door, and we were far from being Authorised Personnel. The metal was like a mirror and I could see that some of my mousy brown hair had already fallen from the claw clip behind my head. Glancing down to my clothes I could have kicked myself for the choices I'd made this morning. Not that I had originally planned on sneak into this highly classified room, but you should always be ready for the unexpected, so I should have known better. Especially in a job like mine.

Nothing I wore was particularly practical - not for stealth, anyway. Although, Percy's clothes weren't any better. Despite the covert aspect of our job, Percy's fashion never failed to catch people's attention. For as long as my family had known him, he'd always managed to flaunt colourful and extravagant clothing on every occasion. Even at work, this tall, slender, dark-skinned man, with a slightly graying goatee, could easily be perceived as some kind of Elton John impersonator. If his partner – me, for example - was wearing a white blouse and a tight high-waisted skirt, Percy would juxtapose that outfit by wearing a blue bowtie, lime green pants and a red jacket with gold trims.

To top it all off, when he punched in this morning, he was wearing a matching burgundy fedora adorned with a golden-peacock-broach. That was just Percy.

Maybe he would have chosen something less extravagant too, if he had known that I would ultimately be dragging him in front of a highly secured part of the building late this afternoon.

He held my elbow as I reached for the access card in my pocket. "Wait."

I froze in his hold. "What?"

"It's just," Percy stammered, "we still have the chance to turn back."

"You want to turn back?" My brows pinched.

"Yes. I've given it some thought, and I'm beginning to think that this is the worst idea we've ever had."

"Wha – No way. There's no way we're turning back now, Percy. I mean, when are we ever going to get an opportunity like this ever again?" I demanded, convincing myself that this was a good idea, just as much as I was trying to convince him to stay here with me.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

"Should I remind you that it was your suggestion to begin with?"

"I was only joking! You know..." He flailed his arms about. "Joking?"

"Oh, come on, Percy. Where is your sense of adventure? Let yourself live a little."

I pulled a card out of my pocket. A white card with a red band across it. The words U.N.P.A red access pass was written upon it. I hovered it above the scanner to my left, the light went green, and a soft beep emits from the machine.

"Quit stalling, and flailing around like a monkey, and let's go."

Percy seemed to gulp his courage way down. Wait. He wouldn't ditch me here alone, would he? "What if someone sees us, Ashlyn?"

"No way anyone else would come here. All the higher ups are having their Code Red meeting. They'll be locked up in that conference room for hours, trying to figure out a plan of action against that massive Meteor. They have only a limited amount of time to stop that space rock from hitting earth."

The United Nations Paranormal Agency, or U.N.P.A for short, has been under great distress lately, due to some asteroid the size of Australia on its way to our planet. It was reported that - within a single year – the big space rock would collided with the planet and all human life would be wiped out of existence. That is, if the government didn't do something drastic, and fast.

The situation at hand called for the attention of all the elite of our Agency. All higher-ups, managers, scientist - everyone who could potentially prevent Percy and I from entering this "restricted room," was currently too busy to keep us from sneaking inside.

It was said that this room hid all the paranormal paraphernalia that had been collected throughout the years. Things that me and Percy could only dream of ever seeing or touching. Today could change all that!

"Percy, this is our chance to finally see something that isn't a pile of paper! We do countless investigations, stake out in hot cars all day long, idling around like some kind of romance book stalker, and then we go back to the office, and do hours of paperwork to report that we, in fact, saw nothing." I shot him a look. "I'm tired of investigating nothing but false leads. I'm bored, Percy. I just want one interesting day. Just one, after an endless year of redundancy, before the world goes to shit."

"Girl, let me remind you that, when it comes to the Agency, you and I are at the bottom of the pyramid." He lifted his bright red glasses that had slid down his nose, pushing them closer to his chestnut eyes. "If you study really hard, you might graduate to Field Agent, like your brother Clyde, and then you'll get to see all the paranormal stuff your little heart desires. But as of now, we should really consider going back to our cubicles, where it's safe, and do what we were hired to do."

"Paperwork, really? We've come this far, we even asked one of your security friends to help us get here unnoticed, and even stole an access pass! And you just want to give up and go do some paperwork?"

You would think that working as an investigator for the U.N.P.A would be an interesting job, but it's not all it was cracked up to be. Mine and Percy's daily tasks are to investigate any paranormal sightings that occur in the state of Washington, and report back our findings to the higher ups. But about ninety percent of residential sightings end up being debunked by trivial events. Alleged pictures of ghosts turn out to be the image of a small light reflecting off a camera lens, unidentified flying objects turn out to be mere satellites flying across the skies, skin walkers wind up being a strange man in some Halloween costume, and so on. Only a measly ten percent of sightings or hysterical citizen calls turn out to be a real cause for concern. But when that is the case, different agents are called in to take over our investigation. They are called Field Agents.

There are multiple Agencies around the world. Their purpose is to keep all humans safe from the paranormal. Stopping all forms of haunting, abductions, pests, and even murders from occurring in our communities. But, us Investigators might as well be considered fancy secretaries for these Agencies. We are tasked with gathering evidence from eye-witness account, which, as I've mentioned before, often end up being swiftly debunked.

"Come on, Perse. It's not fair that Clyde gets to have all the fun?" I added. "I can't even live through him vicariously, because he's not allowed to mention anything he witnesses around the dinner table! Everything he sees is 'confidential.' Doesn't that just grind your gears that he's probably had more experiences with the paranormal than you've ever had in your entire life?"

Percy puckered his lips and shook his head in frustration. He always saw Clyde as his biggest competition. The two were in the same training classes when they started at the Agency, though while my brother quickly graduated to Field Agent (after only three years of training), Percy stayed as an Investigator for five. Meaning, Percy never got passed Level 1, and he always felt more than a little bitter about it.

At least, Percy ended up stuck with me, which made it a bit better for him. He loved having me as his partner. Said so, many times. I'm the Agency's new recruit, as of a year ago, special thanks to my father who insisted I be hired as soon as I turned twenty.

"Look, I want to graduate to Field Agent just as much as you do, Ashlyn. And you know what? Doing the paperwork and keeping our mouths shut, is how we'll get that promotion the quickest. Not by infiltrating the Agency's most highly classified room. We'll get in so much trouble if we get caught."

"Right." I furrowed my brows. "And... how long have you been waiting for that promotion?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes.

My grin spread wide. "How's that plan of yours going?"

"Smart ass."

I stuck out my tongue playfully.

"This is no joke, Ash-girl. Break any rules in this place and guess what happens? We could get canned, just like that!" He snapped. "So, for the last time, Ashlyn... Are you absolutely sure we should be doing this?"

"Well, I'm glad it's the last time you're asking." I roll my eyes. "Yes! Okay? Let's just go already, we are wasting good time just standing around here chit-chatting."

"Okay, fine." He shrugged. "But if something goes wrong, I'm blaming you."

"When do you not?" I grinned.