Pacing back and forth in the living room, Arielle had been waiting for the ghost to return with news of Stella. For her to whoosh through the front door, all reassuring smiles and positive vibes, stating that Stella had figured out her unfinished business and found her path on to the mysterious Soul Realm.

But after the sun had set and darkness surrounded the house once more, Arielle had lost hope. Sure, it must take a while for a ghost to zoom across several states and look into the case of a dead girl who might have crossed on. But patience wasn't Arielle's strong suit. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

As she grunted and complained, a sudden set of bright lights shone through the living room curtains, blasting over her like a spotlight. Car doors opened and closed, muffled voices filled the clearance, shuffling footsteps neared the building, and the door clicked, creaking open—

Arielle skidded into the entryway and discovered them. Benny, the good-looking paranormal investigator, followed by Kylie, the hot FBI agent.

Oh shit. They came back... the ghost is going to be pissed.

Forgetting about her invisibility to the human eye, Arielle waved at them, determined to warn them. "You guys shouldn't be here. You should leave."

Neither heard her; Benny dropped his bag and extracted a flashlight, and Kylie grumbled about how much she loathed the place.

"Then you shouldn't have come," said Arielle, raising her voice, squinting as Benny directed the flashlight right in her face. "Dude, that's rude!"

On instinct, she moved out of the way as Kylie marched over to her, then took a narrow turn towards the stairs. Up close, Kylie was stunning, despite the faded colors Arielle was doomed to see people in for the rest of her afterlife. Her skin was flawless, her eyes luminous, her shoulders not too wide or too square. Her figure was curvy in the right places, and she appeared strong as someone who could lift heavy barbells and follow yoga routines like a pro.

Arielle spun to watch her, unable to stop herself from peeking at her well-formed behind.

If I had doubts about my sexuality before... it's for sure. I'm not only attracted to Jade, but to all women?

She chuckled, but as Benny approached and hunched over to look at the chalk outline—the one of her body—her smile melted. She lowered to his level to better gauge his expression, and caught him flinching.

"Hey, has anyone else come here since we left?" he said, brows scrunching, nose twitching.

Kylie replied something, but Arielle was too focused on Benny to pay attention. She gaped at what he'd seen, what had made him wary; scuffles in the outline, as if someone had tried to chip through the paint, to break the line traced on the floor.

"Whoa, that wasn't there earlier," she said, angling as close as possible without colliding into Benny's frame. He straightened up and got out his phone and took pictures. "Ohhh, man... the ghost won't appreciate that, either."

She had no means to stop him; no means to grab his phone and throw it against the wall, like the specter-girl had. And she wanted to, no matter how she hated the violent aspect of it. She feared for his life if he stuck around for too long and obtained too much information. Despite her claims that spirits couldn't murder, the ghost had been furious the day before, her cruelty simmering beneath a façade of nonchalance. And Arielle didn't like it.

I'd rather not see her like that again, if I can help it.

When she came to, Benny was holding the familiar voice recorder and a more compact, more modern-looking camera. He brandished both devices in her direction, but if he saw her, he had no reaction.

"This is Benny. Benny Brooks. I'm a paranormal investigator." His eyes lit up as he said it, charging with pride.

"Benny Brooks..." Arielle cocked her head and tapped a finger to her chin. "He... he's local, from Columbus, isn't he? Fuck. That's why he looked familiar!" She flipped through vague memories of Jade gushing over a guy in their area who conducted paranormal investigations and who put videos on his YouTube, desperate to convince the world of what he captured. He carried himself with the same snarky, smart-ass attitude as Zak Bagans, but a bit more humble, a bit less in-your-face about it all.

"Arielle? Arielle Daniels? Are you here?" He took a slight step forward, but Arielle spotted a subtle shake in his legs.

"I wonder how much he knows about me," she said, slithering closer, taking in every detail on his face.

Aside from the camera lighting the way, he was going in blind. And of course, he couldn't see into her dimension. It was nighttime, and there were no lights in the house. That part Arielle knew from experience, from when she'd been locked inside after sunset.

But now in her new realm, she saw it all. The look of curiosity and terror on Benny's face—that had been what she'd looked like, she had no doubt. Here in the Void, everything was sepia-toned, and the only obscurity was outside. So though he was clueless, she had no trouble studying the light scruff on his jawline and the faint bags beneath his eyes and the bushiness of his brows, the twitch of them as he narrowed his gaze and stared through her.

She watched as he retrieved a different device from his bag; one she immediately recognized from Ghost Adventures.

"An Ovilus?" She squirmed. Those were Jade's favorite pieces of equipment, as they had lots of vocabulary and whenever spirits used them, they always said all sorts of crazy things. Death, devil, despair—she and Jade had had many a scare watching the Ghost Adventures Crew using the Ovilus.

Benny's was an outdated model, but when he switched it on, it had that same screen—she recalled it was green—and the little dots at the top, showing how strong the signal was. And as he approached Arielle again, she noted the dots blinking, filling in—all three of them.

"Oh, that thing is picking up on my presence!"

She stilled, admiring the rectangular machine, curious how she could manipulate it in her favor.

Benny lifted it up and spoke of how someone had followed him to his hotel and destroyed the tapes from yesterday, and she grimaced.

His lips pursed. "Or was it you? Maybe you don't want to be found, don't want to be seen?"

Arielle huffed and crossed her arms. "Me? Fuck no, dude. I don't even know how to touch a curtain, how could I pick up your tapes?"

He waited, desperate for her to communicate. Eagerness showed in his leaned-forward posture and his tense arms.

"I... I have no idea how to reach out to you, Benny." She winced, worried the ghost would arrive at that moment and interrupt everything, shoo him off, scare the shit out of Kylie again. Yet she wanted to try to communicate. She wanted to speak to Benny, if anything to see if he'd get a message to her dad, to Stella's grandmother... to the world.

But how to do it? The ghost had warned her not to scream, as humans could hear that. So did she need to empty her lungs, to shout out, to hop from foot to foot until his camera picked up on her movement?

Then he gave her the answer. He gaped right at her—for the millionth time in minutes—and his expression was firm, fixed. "You... you can take my energy. Draw it from me, use it to use this device."

Take energy—that's what the ghost did!

"But I... I have no clue how to do that! Help me!" Her voice grew in volume, though she controlled it, still wary the specter-girl would catch her and scold her.

"Fuck," said Benny, his breath billowing out before him like a cloud of thick smoke. "Something is here."

"Yes, yes!" Arielle slithered closer to him, her body inches from his camera, her arm reaching through the Ovilus.

He shuddered, his teeth clattering, his breaths deeper and foggier. "Sh-shit."

Afraid of somehow harming him with her frigid silhouette, Arielle backed away. "Crap, he's going to freeze to death."

He perked up, brows shooting skywards. "Hey, wait!" His breath returned to normal, but he didn't appear pleased about it. Had he enjoyed the cold? "Don't go! I'm not afraid of you! I... want to chat! Let's chat!"

Arielle groaned, and frowned as the sound came out like more of a growl. "Dammit, if he captures that on his device... he's going to think I'm evil." She shook out her limbs and arched her spine and closed her eyes, begging the air to fill her lifeless vessel. Pleading with the atmosphere to give her the strength to activate his gadget, to touch his wrist, to prove her afterlife existence.

He stood there, peering through the obscurity, unaware Arielle was there. She was right there.

Nothing happened. Nothing charged into Arielle's body or infused her with energy or gave her the slightest inkling she might be able to manifest herself to this man.

"Benny!"

Arielle flipped to the stairs, and Benny lowered his devices, also gazing in that direction. "Kylie? You okay?"

"I'm fine—but come up here!" Her tone was scratchy, but powerful enough to flutter downstairs. Agitated, but tinted with a slight excitement that Arielle wouldn't have expected from someone so fearful of the occult.

"I can't... I've got something going on down here!" Benny sighed and began to raise his camera again, but Kylie's frustrated grunt echoed down.

She angled over the balcony railing, and though Benny likely couldn't see her, Arielle could. She gripped the banister for dear life, her eyes wide open, her lips parted, her demeanor on edge, anxious. "Get up here. I promise you it's worth it, Benny."

Dejected—and probably assuming he had no choice, or else she'd clobber him—Benny weaseled through Arielle and trudged to the stairs. "Fine, fine. On my way." He kept his devices up, filming before him, still waiting for the Ovilus to pick something up.

"Hey, you wait!" Arielle sauntered over to follow him, but the instant her foot hovered over the first step, a stabbing pain sliced across her stomach. It spread from her lower abdomen to below her breasts, pulsating and destabilizing. As if she'd been shot by fifty bullets at once, or knives had pierced through her at all angles, over and over and over.

She stretched her arm out, hoping to grab Benny, to block him from climbing. But the agony only intensified, knocking her backwards and away from the steps.

"Fuck." She hissed, and pressed a hand to her aching belly. "What is this?" An acrid taste developed in her mouth, and for a moment she wondered if ghosts could throw up.

She wouldn't take the risk. Overwhelmed with nausea, she tightened her fists as Benny proceeded upwards, out of reach, joining Kylie in one of the bedrooms.

Why can't I go upstairs, too?