The Ferryman Institute by Colin Gigl

out.
    â€œWhoa, hold on a second.” Melissa’s voice had taken on a tone defensive enough to be used as a fortification. “When that case came over the wire, she had all the makings of a crazy cat lady, and you know how difficult they can be.”
    â€œShe was far from a crazy cat lady,” Charlie replied. “I mean, sure, she lived with a half dozen cats. That’s above-average cat ownership, I’ll give you that. But I’d barely gotten to cat number three and she was already ready to go.”
    â€œSeven cats,” Dirkley corrected, “and the two parakeets.” When Charlie looked over, he raised his arms sheepishly. “What? She really loved Snowflake and Rosebud. They were important birds to her.”
    Dirkley’s unerring precision was endearing at times. Emphasis on at times .
    Melissa weighed back in. “Either way, it was a good job. You guys are making it look easy out there tonight.”
    That’s because it was , Charlie thought. “Out of curiosity, Melissa, what was the grade on that last assignment?”
    The mild hum from the speaker droned on as the voice on its other end fell momentarily quiet. “Hmm,” she replied. “You know, I don’t remember off the top of my head. I’ll go back and take a peek after I finish this write-up.”
    Charlie stared at the speaker. Something wasn’t right. Melissa rarely forgot the grade of a case and, now that he thought about it, hadn’t ever forgotten a recent one. In fact, two weeks ago he’d asked her about a case from her first year as his manager. Not only did she remember the grade (an S10, S being the third most difficult rank overall and 10 being the lowest difficulty grade in that level), she’d casually rattled off the grades for the entire day with a stupefyingly sharp memory.
    Dirkley’s voice interrupted Charlie’s train of thought. “Right, let us know about that, Melissa. We’re going to get a head start on the next assignment. Temporarily signing off. Thanks.” Dirkley immediately flipped a switch on the desk, the quiet hum from the speaker fading away. Charlie realized belatedly that, not only hadhe completely spaced out, but Dirkley was now staring intently at him. If that wasn’t enough, the fact that Dirkley had effectively hung up on Melissa—something he never did—was proof enough the navigator felt something was up.
    â€œYou all right?” he asked Charlie.
    Charlie, who was only gradually coming back to reality, replied: “Yeah. Why?” The words felt robotic coming out of his mouth.
    â€œWell, your eyes sort of glazed over and you had this weird look on your face just now. Like . . .” He pantomimed a drooping motion with his hands. “I’d say you looked sick, but clearly I know that’s not the case.”
    Dirkley continued to study Charlie cautiously. His eyebrows met at an almost exact V, something that really only happened when he was in navigator mode. “I’m not one to pry—well, maybe that’s not entirely true,” he added quickly after Charlie rolled his eyes, “but is this . . . um, how should I put it . . . female -related?”
    â€œNo,” Charlie said. “Not even remotely.”
    Despite Charlie’s unequivocal response, Dirkley continued undeterred. “Well, I only ask because I know that before you were a Ferryman, you had—”
    For a brief moment, Charlie had a vision of her two brilliant green eyes, as if their irises were brimming with molten jade. Half-imagined laughter whispered in his ear, soft and lilting. But just as quickly as the memories came, they were gone again, an all-too-fleeting glimpse of what felt like—if not actually was, in a very real sense—a former life.
    â€œNot girl problems, Dirkley,” Charlie said, cutting him off. He left no doubt in his voice this time that this