Alfie's backed away. He had viewed the man in the mask as an enemy. 'Salix' had worked for Ronnie Birch and played a part in taking him underground to a place that only wanted to hurt him. Alfie couldn't believe he was staring at his father.

"I don't- you- I- what?" he stuttered, moving away until his back pressed against the cold wall. "Why?" Tom pulled off the mask and Alfie gripped the paint, trying to stay on his feet.

"Alfie," Tom said carefully, "it's okay-"

"Okay?" Alfie yelled and his voice echoed. "What are you doing working for Ronnie? Did you tell him that I was the one who could do what Koda could do?"

"Yes, but-"

"No, no, no!" Alfie shook his head, diverting his eyes to Enya. He didn't know if she was dead or alive, or somewhere in between. "You can't have done this to me, you can't!"

"I'm on your side," Tom said in a calm tone. "Let me explain while we have the time."

Alfie couldn't look his parent in the eyes. Seeing Tom validated that Alfie wasn't imagining him. "Fine. Tell me what the hell is going on."

Tom sat on the couch and Alfie hesitantly sat on the opposite end, keeping a clear distance. "So, I'll start off by telling you my job. I work for the SCS. Do you know what that stands for?"

Alfie shook his head.

"It stands for the Special Covert Service, and I've been working for the SCS for almost ten years now. It's not a secret that it exists, but the information and actions we take are often heavily classified. Your mother doesn't know because it's safer that way, which is why you don't know either. I trust my family to keep it a secret, but others don't, and I work undercover a lot of the time, so my face and name must be unfamiliar." Alfie's mouth had slowly propped open as he listened. "I've known about what's been going on down here for almost half a year. We've been trying to shut it down but it's a slow process. I've had to build trust in those who actually work here for me to be able to get the correct information."

Alfie looked at Ronnie who was already watching him with cautious eyes, but his father continued.

"As you know, the afterlife is one of life's biggest mysteries, and it's also no secret that people are trying to figure out what happens without accidentally killing themselves, but this organisation has taken an illegal route, and it has to be shut down. I took the case when I knew what it was about because a few months ago, Enya arrived in that state." Tom looked over to the body on the table. He grimaced. "And then Koda came into your life and I already knew who he was because of Enya turning up here, which is why I've been a little off when around Koda. It was horrible for me to pretend that his mother wasn't where he thought she was, and it was horrible for me to pretend like I didn't know who had taken her from his life."

Alfie's head spun like the room itself turned. He leaned back against the couch and breathed in as far as his lungs would let him. "Why did you tell them that I had Koda's gift?" Alfie asked.

"Because they had their eyes on you already and planned to take you from your home. I worried that they would kill your mother like they killed Enya when they tried to take Koda. Ronnie and I came up with a plan to get you here like this, so I could keep an eye on you and make sure Molly was safe too." Tom reached forwards and gently moved Alfie's head to the side. "Fran hit you pretty hard." A small bruise formed under his cheekbone. "Don't worry, she'll be one of the first to get arrested when this gets shut down."

"They tried to take Koda?" Alfie asked, starting to relax in his father's presence.

"Yes, but it didn't go as planned." Tom's hand moved to his son's shoulder. "Everyone here thinks you're Koda, and that Alfie is still doing his everyday stuff and has no idea about this. There are no plans to capture you, not now that they think they have Koda."

"They want Koda's gift?"

Tom nodded. "They want to study the Grim Reaper, so they can understand your world a little more, but they've murdered to get the answers and they have to be stopped."

Alfie looked over at Ronnie again. "You're undercover too?"

Ronnie nodded. "I'm not your principal either. I have no idea how to run a school, but your real principal is behind bars."

"I thought you were behind all of this. A ghost had been turning up for weeks with your name. They said you had been trying to find me," Alfie said.

"That was all part of the plan because your father knows you well enough to know that you'd selflessly give yourself up. And mediumship is not as rare as what people think." Ronnie's eyes flicked to where Alfie could feel Mister Dorinto's presence.

Alfie wanted to laugh at how he was so quick to point fingers.

"About your mother not knowing," Tom said and looked down to his knees. "There was a period where my loyalty here was threatened and I was getting followed every time I left to go home. If they found out I was your father, they would have killed me, or captured me and killed your mother. I couldn't risk my cover being blown, so I had to distance myself." Tom's voice grew weak, and Alfie's heart ached for him.

"Is that why you left mum?" Tom nodded. "Is that why I couldn't go to your new house?" Tom nodded again, and Alfie twisted the rings around his fingers, needing to fidget otherwise he'd start pacing. "I can't believe it. I thought you were just freaked out about all this ghost stuff, or me dating another guy. But you're actually a spy?"

Tom chuckled and so did Ronnie. "I'm so sorry, I know this has been hard for you and your mother. I didn't want it to affect our family life, but this job comes with complications like that."

Ronnie stared at the floor with knowing eyes, and Alfie was once again distracted by Enya. "What about Koda's mum. Is she alive or dead? I've been talking to her ghost for weeks."

"We think she was technically dead, or still is and floating somewhere in between, and that she has been in a permanent astral projection since she was taken," Ronnie said with a small frown. "They threatened to kill Koda and Morlen if she told you the truth. She has been lying about not knowing what happened to her to not only keep Koda safe but to keep those who did this to her safe too, because of their threats. Though recently, they've been trying to control where her spirit goes, and they've been successful in keeping her soul separate from the body and also having it on a short leash. I don't know about you, but that's a terrifying bit of technology. People think we have no free-will now. Imagine if they heard that scientists can control your soul when you're technically dead."

Someone knocked on the door and Tom quickly put his mask and sunglasses back on. "I'm going to get you out of here, but you have to pretend like you're Koda for now," he whispered.

"Also, tell your ghost friend to report back to Connor and update him on the plan," Ronnie said and turned towards the door.

"How-"

"It's our job to know," Tom said and stood up straight when Ronnie opened the door to the impatient scientists on the other side, falling back into his principal character.

Alfie was having the strangest day of his life, but he felt protected after knowing that Ronnie Birch wasn't some evil head teacher who was out to kidnap those who could see ghosts, and how Salix wasn't some bodyguard who worked for the corrupt principal. Salix was Alfie's father who was working undercover to take down the organisation that destroyed Koda's family.

* * * * *

"Keep thinking about it," Connor said, squeezing Koda's hands. "Come on Reaper. You know Alfie's in trouble."

The memory of the Grim Reaper lurking in Koda's bedroom soon started to feel comforting. The more Koda thought about the figure, the more he relaxed, and the more he relaxed, the more Koda slipped into his sidekick state of mind.

Connor could feel him calming down, and he tried not to smile at the memory when the love for death washed over him like a thick sheet, blocking out any other feeling.

After a while of silence, Morlen grew impatient. "Well?" he said, stomping to the couch and flopping himself down. Molly had started to nervously twist her hair in between her fingers. She had never felt so utterly helpless.

"I'm going to kill anyone who hurts Alfie," Koda murmured with such serenity, Morlen stared with wide eyes before he realised he was making the expression visible.

"That's it," Connor soothed. "The closer you are to the sidekick part of your soul, the more likely you are to reach out to Death."

Morlen studied his son's face. Koda, even though his eyes were still closed, looked amused at the thought of killing another person, and determined, and ready. Koda had always been a sweet person, too sweet for a man in Morlen's opinion. Though, looking at Koda now, he felt dark and intense, almost as if he was a drop of black ink in a clear glass of water. The black ink mixed and swirled until the entire glass was as dark as the Reaper on days of tragedy.

Morlen blinked away his peculiar thoughts and Connor's head tilted towards him. Morlen shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

Koda's thoughts engulfed in the feeling of taking another soul and locking it away inside himself for safe keeping. He knew the thoughts were sinister, but he couldn't stop them from appearing in his mind.

Meanwhile, Connor struggled to search for the Reaper because a ghost forced its way to the centre of his attention. Connor dropped Koda's hands as soon as he realised it was Mister Dorinto. "Is he safe?" Connor asked out loud and Koda opened his eyes.

Dorinto worked hard to tell Connor exactly what had happened. He even mentioned Enya's body and the light in Connor's blue fogged eyes started to die. Should he tell Enya's family? He wasn't sure how they would react.

"Okay, so things have taken a very surprising turn." Connor stretched his arms and breathed with ease. "I'm finding it harder to search for the Grim Reaper because Alfie has never been in the danger we thought he was in. He's with Tom and Ronnie Birch. Both are working for a secret force to take down the organisation that Murdered Enya Oaks." Connor's throat felt tight. He couldn't say how her body was there, but Enya's family had a right to know.

"My Tom?" Molly asked.

"Yes." Connor turned on the chair, feeling her energy all over him. "Alfie is with his father, and he is safe."